, 1888-09-14
%CORNELIA'S SURPRISE.

Miss Bysshe was a gentlewoman, even
though she did let furnished rooms. Her
birth md education showed It, and her
manners confirmed 1t. 1t was no ordinary
lodging house, but O mansion In a fash
ionable quarter, with its well furnished
apartments filed with gentlemen dodgers,
who had their breakfasts and suppers
sent in from a ~neighboring restaurant
and who ate their midday meals down
town. And Miss Bysshe owned the house
and its contents. She kept dodgers, and
she also kept a skeleton In the closet.
Most people do. The skeleton of Miss
Bysshe was the Fear of Need. He was
kept in the closet as much as possible, it
not being the pleasure of his owner that
he should be seen by men Not that Miss
Bysshe liked deception. By no means.
She was naturally frank. But the skele-
ton was a private possession. That she
had a skeleton; that he would come out
of the closet at times and, despite the
fact that she had several thousand dollars
to her credit in the savings bank, sit at
her table and point his bony right fore
finger at her; that he would enter the
privacy of her chamber and disturb that
slumber which good health, good temper
and good digestion-to say nothing of
good looks-otherwise assured her, made
up a distressing fact: but this was no
ones concern but her own, she thought.
In this conclusion she was right.
That this skeleton should exist at all
was her own fault, for the house that
Miss Bysshe owned was q four story and
basement double brown stone front, on
the corner, with an extension to it and a
huge sub-cellar under all. 1t was an
enormous house-a mansion of pretense.
1t was furnished In a style hat showed
the furniture to nave been built, not
made. 1t had twenty-eight chambers.
There was a library in 1t of over 1000
volumes cher dead fathers delight), which
occupied two large rooms on the first
floor. The apartments were all lofty and,
with the exception of four hall bedrooms,
capacious. Twenty of the chambers were
rented at al aggregate rental of over
twelve thousand a year. She should AVE
been contented. Her surplus income was
large and was accumulating in the saw
ings bank. Why was need to be feared?
Why should that skeleton not be quiet
forever in his closet. like any other set of
articulated bones2
The truth was that Miss Bysshe had an
other cause of fear-not a skeleton, for it
was young, plump and pretty-in the
shape of a younger sister, Adela, a girl
just turned of Is. There had been four
of them-Cornelia, Grace, Blanche and
Adela. Grace and Blanche had married
u%nhappily and had atoned their fault
one within q year of her marriage, and the
other about two years after-by dying.
Shortly after this their father died. Pre-
vious to his death he made his will, and
having, as he wrote therein, ''full conf
dence in the prudence and discretion Of
my beloved wife, Barbara" he had left
her all his personal property, in which his
wealth mainly consisted. The only real
aofo4a he hAI ~ Isa Co. @-ru, .Nasl~n-a
and this, with his furniture, plate, library
and belongings, he devised and bequeathed
to his elder daughter, Cornelia. She had
an annuity of three hundred a year,
which had come through a whimsical bit
of humor on the part of her father. Cor
nelia always went to her father for pocket
money. "See here, Cornelia," he said at
one of these visits; you bother me In the
midst of my reading. I'll stop 1t. III
pay all your bills for dress and such
things, for they come at the right time,
and l know you are not extravaganza; but
I'll buy you an annuity of three hundred,
and you can go to yourself for pocket
money" and he did.
The confidence of William Bysshe in
the prudence and discretion of his be-
loved wife, Barbara, was not justified by
the sequel. The widow married again
within a year, which would have been a
compliment to the memory of her dead
husband had she not linked herself to one
whose good looks and dashing manners
were his only good qualities. The quiet
life of Barbara Bysshe was not continued
by Barbara Barton. She and her husband
had "a good time" They spent right
and left until the ample fortune was i'm
paired, and then, in the hope of r~etriev-
ing the loss, Joe Barton went into Wall
street, and his wife with him, as inveter-
ate a gamester as he. Alasl the bulls
tossed them in air and the bears tore
them, and one fine morning Joe Barton,
having been detected signing a name not
his own to a check, levanted and was
seen no more. The Bysshe fortune was
no more. Mrs. Barton took to her bed,
where her daughters faithfully attended
her. But Cornelia's care and a physi-
clans skill were useless. The mother
died of a kin of galloping consumption,
and Cornelia was left with her house, her
annuity and her younger sister. To Adela
she was mother as well as sister, and the
female Benjamin of the house. her ad-
vancement in life and her rosy future &C.
cupied her mind.
Miss Bysshe's friends suggested that
she might sell the furniture and library,
n on the rent of the house, which
would bring at least 5000 and probably
$4,000 a year, live very comfortably.
But Cornelia had different views. The
furniture was good, the house had been
newly carpeted the year before, and she
determined to let her furnished rooms,
which would add at least so per cent. to
her income. There was something, too,
that was attractive in being at the head
of a large establishments fashionable
tenement house. She had been born with
a golden ladle in her mouth. and the
spoon she found there instead should
at least be gilded. So she advertised
Furnished apartments to let, " and they
were taken up rapidly. She had nothing
to do but receive her rents and keep a
loving but sharp eye on Adela.
The greater part of the first floor was
taken by a rich Peruvian, Gen. Juan Mar
tinez, a middle aged millionaire. who had
made up his mind to spend the rest of his
1;fa -. a. IT-.AzI Co.. O.. Nit