Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-09

want
'.That may be very serious piece of news
for our young frlend," said Sir Henry
gravely.
"Her money comes chiefly from real es-
tate, !" said Lady Bagshot; "she told me SO
once. Real estate means houses, doesn't itT
And if Gettysburgville is all blown down,
she may have lost everything"
THAT is hardly probable, said Sir
Henry. but she must have lost good deal,
| 1 should think. And then, with her ex-
pensive habits, and you know how she's
been taken up A dethroned heir
| ess w
'Oh, I wonder" sighed her ladyship,
''if we could contrive to get the Marquis
back. He never reads the papers, or any
thing else, and he mayn't have heard of it. F"
"You must break the news to ,her," said
the baronet, inwardly glad that the disa-
greeable task couldn't be assigned to him.
Lady Bagshot read the column through half
dozen times in the vain sttempt to extract
some spark of comfort, or at least of hope,
from it. Then, the paper still in her hand,
she went to the room where Evangeline was
writing.
''This is dreadful piece of news, my
DEAR" she said, 'but don't be frightened.
Things may not be so bad as they look.
These newspaper correspondents exaggerate
| dreadfully." Miss Short read the telegram,
and looked grave.
"What dreadfulscalamityr she said.
"And Washington street, where we stayed,
| quite destroyed. 1t was really fine street,
too"
Lady Bagshot saw that the personal aspect
of the calamity had not dawned on the in
experienced young girl.
Twill YOU lose nuch?" she said.
ZIP" said Evangeline; "oh, no. Mamma
and Aunt Lydia are at Newport"
81 meant In property-your real estate. !"
The young lady sprang up and rushed to
the window. When she turned round again
her face was scarlet.
'sLady Bagshot." she said, ''I have a con-
fession to make. have been deceiving
you. don't belong to Gettysburgville; 1
was only there about a month. 1 haven't
any property there. "
"Then you are not rich, as everybody
supposes?" said Lady Bagshot.
''Excuse me-" said the young lady with
an almost imperceptible shade of hauteur
in her tone. 81 do not know what people
have been good enough to suppose about
nv circumstances; 1 am not responsible for
their suppositions. But 1 imagine I may
call myself rich, for have got things as 1
wanted them, and have never spent more
than small part of my income"
Lady Bagshot looked little reassured.
"How then have you been deceiving me,
my dear?" she asked.
EvangeIine smiled little and looked con-
fused. "I am not an American, she said,
| sand let you think was"
'sNot an American gssped the elder
| lady. Surprise almost overcame her.
'No," was the reply, 81 have been in
| America, that is all. I am really a cock
ney, born within the sound OF Bow Bells,
and the money 1 have was made in Lon
don."
"You said something about oil,
remarked her ladvship, still bewildered.
81 was right" said the young lady, calm
". "Not oil wells, however, but oil shops.
There are don't know how many of them,
from Hornsey to Peckham, and from Poplar
to Shepherds Bush"
81 don't know where these places areP'
interrupted Lady Bagshot feebly.
well, you know Kensington; there's on e
there-Hilton, Basset & Short; you may see
the name over the window. Ny poor papa
was the Short. He was the Basset and the
Hilton, too for that matter. It's limited
liability company now, and hold nearly
half the shares. Then papa had built lot
| of houses between Bow and Stratford. You
won't know where those places are, but the
rental of the houses comes to something con-
siderable"
"But why did you pretend to be an
| American?" inquired Lady Baeshot, duly
impressed by E7angeline's last words.
The young lady was silent for a little
while
'It was an idea that came to me-" she
said. She was again silent, her cheeks COL
oring. Then she went on:
'Listen, Lady Bagshot. You have been
very kind to me, and 1 will tell you all
about it. After papa died, mamma and 1
lived in our new house at Leytonstone. You
must come and see it some day. We didn't
see many people. and used to read a lot of
novels-society novels, you know. And I
used to think how nice it must be to be in
society, and to meet such nice men, so hand
some and refined and interesting. But
didn't see how to manage it, and mamma
didn't know anything about it either. Then
we went to America to see married sister
of hers-Aunt Lydia, you know, and while
we we're there I met young lady belong
ing to the place who had been in London
and had mixed with a lot of very nice peo-
pie. 1t is so easy for Americans, whoever
they are--rich Americans, I mean. Then /
thought that I-you know what happened,
Lady Bagshot. The worst of it was had
to leave poor mamma on the other side; she
couldn't pass for an American, she drops
her his. Now, can you forgive me?"
''Forgive youl' said her ladyship. ST
like you very much indeed. Of course am
sorry that you are aAthat you are not an
American, but then that can't be helped 1
must tell Sir Henry; he will enjoy the joke
immensely. How did you manage it so
cleverly?"
"Oh," said the young lady. 'I tried to
get the accent as we'll as could. And
wrote out lists of American words, with the
English opposite, you know: 'bootlace'-
'shoestring;' 'station'-'depot,' and so on;
and used to look it over every now and
again, and see what words could bring
in. But felt that 1 was doing it very
clumsily, and that should betray myself
give myself away, would have said half
an hour ago"
''You did it wonderfully we'll, said Lady
Bagshot. 81 can hardly believe now you
are not an American. Did Sir Englefeld
Green find it out?"
81 told him" the young lady said, with a
slight blush. "and then he withdrew the
proposal he had done me the honor to make.
If had been an American ne was ready to
love me with all his might, butt think he
had seen the name over the shop door.
thought of telling him that it was American
oil, but didn't"
"Sir Englefeld is. a parvenu," inter-
rupted Lady Bagshot. ellis grandfather
was something or other; Sir Henry will tell
you"
Perhaps ought to say" said the young
lady, 'thst he wrote afterWard to make it
up, but declined with thanks
"But the Marquis, my dear, did you tell
him, too?''
"No, 1 didn't" said the girl, slowly. ST
don't care for the Marquis. You know,
Lady Bagshot, society isn't what expected
to find it, when 1 read novels in our garden