Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-22

her dear relations to stay with them"
paula, you are ridiculous, and you have
such strange notions for so young girl II
isreally very impolitic to talk in the way you
do However, Pm too busy to scold now
"For small mercies let us be grateful" muir.
INJURED Paula.
Miss Price may be here at any moment,
and l must see about her ROOM" and Mrs.
Grenoble hustled out of the room.
Half an hour afterward there was meek
little rap at the street door. In few min
utes Miss Price and her companion were ush-
cred into the room.
Hiss Price was little thin old lady of over
60 years old She wore her light hair, which
was streaked with gray, in tiny little curls
on each side of her cheeks. Her face
was little and shrunken, her figure pincheC
and small, her hands and feet small.
But the worst thing about her was the ut
terly careworn and miserable expression of
her face. A listless wretchedness had, as if
were. eaten itself into her withered counte-
nance, and was shown in every gesture of her
knotted, veined hands and bony neck
And yet she has four thousand year,
said Paula TO herself.
Miss Price appeared in mortal dread of her
companion, and yet totally unable to do
without her. Mrs. Mount tyrannized over
her IN the most shamefaced manner, and
poor bliss Price submitted meekly in the list
less, hopeless way her face betrayed.
"Wili there ever be time when compan-
ion will be necessary to my well being?'
thought Paula.
The next morning wss fine, and Miss Price
elected to do her shopping. A carriage was
ordered, for Miss Price was not strong, and
TIE rattle and noise Of omnibuses did not
agree with her. But she grumbled at the e1-
pense, and feared she was running herself
Paula and Mrs. Mount accompanied her. And
what q time they had of it. Miss Price
wanted dresses, but nothing suited her The
cheap ones were too common. and the better
ones too expensive. Her unhappy face was
bont over the goods, comparing them, finding
fault now with the color now with the tex
ture, but generally with the price Finally
she chose an expensive silk and some brown
cashmere, and her face looked more misera-
bic still after she had paid the bill And
then TO the miliners, and the same scene
enacted over again. Paula watched, as in
a dream, the pretty tasteful bonnets
changed, as if by magic, into dowdy
surrounded Miss Prices disconnected old face.
1t seemed TO occur to Miss Price also that it
did not much matter which she chose, for she
kept her face turned resoiutely from the mir
rors, and deferred, at last, to Mrs Mounts
Judgment. Paula shuddered as she thought
that she might come to just such an unpleas-
ant old age. To be dependent on the taste of
a companion for the selection of ones clothes
To look SO wretched and woe begone as to
come to Shun the sight of ones own counte-
nance!
Paula was thoughtful that evening and
very silent. Mrs. Grenoble told her it was
time, full time, to send an answer to the let
ters. Paula said she would write them to-
morrow before breakfast Her mother said,
of course, there was no doubt as to her choice
No child, blessed with such a mother as she
had to advise her. would hesitate a moment.
Paula answered gravely that the advent of
Miss Price had left no doubt in her mind as
to which course she would pursue Her
mother looked at her doubtfully as she made
this last remark. lighting her bedroom candle
meanwhile, but Paula gave a prodigious
yawn, which entirely destroyed any express
sion her face might have possessed at the
time. and vanished from the room
When Paula reached her bedroom she
placed her candle on the toilet table, and,
sitting down with her elbows on the table
and her cheeks resting in her two hands,
calmly surveyed her reflection in the glass.
1t was certainly pleasant to look upon, with
Its piles of chestnut hair crowning the pale
oval face and its steady, clear eyes shining in
the dim lighu. But as she looked Paula, as
tnrOr, .yt, mist ,aI 70
hair grown scanty and Streaked with gray,
the face thin and lined, the mouth with its.
alasl already Goo disconnected droop, intensi-
fled and hardened by years of loneliness and
unhappiness or what use would fine clothes
be then with a facs like thats To live alone,
uncared for, unloved, would soon sour the
young face, and then-she would grow like
Miss Pricel
NO" said Paula resolutely, ''no--I cannot
do it. Not for $4,000 can consent to run
the risk of growing like Miss Price dare
say when L am as old as she is shall be fat
and have red face, but then Charlie will be
old, too, and probably fat also, so we shan't
be able to reproach each other. And we
shall be together, and we shall have got over
all our little quarrels and misunderstanding.
and we shall by that time understand each
others peculiarities. We shall be horribly
poor, 'bcastly poor as Bella Wifer
Used to say; but for all that l would
rather be with Charlie than with mamma
all my life. And then the fine cothes-what
good are they after one has grown old and
ugly! And as to travelling about and seeing
things-why, | would rather stay at home
than have to go about alone or with-a Miss
Price. | wish-I wish could choose Charlie
and the $4,000, too. l don't suppose that
anybody with more money than Charlie
would ask me to marry him. 1t wouldn't do
to run the risk of waiting. No. 1t is my
fate TO be Mrs Etheridge; and-well, its a
better fate than to be Miss Price"
The next morning Paula went down to
breakfast with a .iemure countenance. She
and her mother were alone Miss Price was
in bed, and Mrs Mount was
bearing her company. Mrs. Grenoble looked
at her daughter inquisitively, but Paula SUBJ
sided languidIy into a chair and asked for a
cup of coffee. Then she took up the paper
and became apparently immersed in the
political crisis.
at last Mrs. Grenoble's patience gave way.
Have you written those letters, Paula!'
what letters9'
"You know as well as l do. The letters to
Mr.. Ethelidge and the lawyer"
"Yes l have written them"
And your decision is what was to be ex-
pectedr
Precisely"
You have written to Mr.. Etheridge, break
Ing off your engagement
Il have written TO Mr.. Etheridge, telling
him would marry him when he pleases, re-
turned Paula. calply.
What! What!H burst forth Mrs. Grenoble
in fury
We'll, that was what was to be expected,
wasn't it We have been engaged two years,