Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-09
MISS SHORTS STRATAGEM.
A STORY.

replied. "You just write out q slip Of pa
per, and put down as much money as you
want, and then you write your name on the
back, and they give you the money.
Business is very easy when you come to do
it. Only you ought always to 60 to the
bank yourself because when they send you
the money by post they cut the notes In
two, and then sometimes I get the wrong
halves"
Miss Short took out her pocketbook, which
her visit to the bank had filed with notes.
Then an idea seemed to strike her.
"I know" she said, "you are Just real
mad with me because 1 have been round the
city by myself. I am sorry didn't think.
If I am going to do anything wrong, tell me
right away. can't keep track of what one
may do and what one mayn't, but I'll DO
everything just as you tell me-"
Lady Bagshot kissed her friend in enthu-
siastic forgiveness, and promised the easiest
and gentlest of guidance.
"GIrls have great deal more liberty than
they used to have" she said, land don't
see that they are any the worse for it. "
The next few days were very delightful to
both ladies, for Evangeline, after pro-
longed inspection of the contents of the four
trunks, decided that new dresses would be
necessary; and. though Lady Bogshot did
not see the necessity SO plainly as her young
friend, she carefully abstsined from offer
ing any opposition. Her own relations
with her dressmaker were Just at that time
lowing to Sir Henry's meanness) little
strained, and she was very pleased to be
able to introduce a customer who ordered
freely, was Indifferent to prices, and shared
the transatlantic partiality for paying cash.
And then the consulting, the choosing, the
fha 70 b in nd 1affI0O
fitting and the trying on-an these are
pleasures too subtle and "too sweet for
words" and not even to be dimly appre-
hended by that half of humanity which is
prosaically clad by tailors.
1 do not propose to give an account of
Miss Shorts triumphs in society-equipped
for conquest, she conquered. Girls who
were envious of her good looks couldn't help
admiring her frocks, and though she neither
whistIed nor played the banjo, she was still
a striking social success and got almost as
much attention as the Manganese monarch
himself
''She is really very entertaining" said Sir
Henry to his wife. ''It is like q page out
OF Bret Harte to listen to her-the Society
Upon the Stainslow, 'Heaving Rocks, and
ali that sort of thing, don't you know?"
Miss Shorts career can be traced by the
curious in the columns of the society papers,
and details of her dresses can be gathered
from a morning paper which devotes good
deal of its space to millinery and the kim
dred subjects.
"Gettysburgville Takes the Cakew is the
heading of the paragraph which describes
Evangeline's attire at the very distinguished
garden party have alluded to.
And through all these splendors Miss
Short bore herself with tact and dexterity
which won the enthusiastic appreciation of
her chaperou. And even if she was some
times little unguarded in her talk, this
very indiscretion seemed to have its pur-
pose.
For example. one Sunday she and Lady
Bagshot were sitting for a little while in the
park, and Sir Englefeld Green had come
and secured the next chair. A young lady
passed and bowed slightly to Miss Short,
who returned the salute.
"You know Miss Phipps?" queried the
baronet
"I met her last night at Lady Bounder's
She didn't t seem to know a soul, and sat in a
corner. thought she must be just taking
root"
''I wonder" remarked the baronet, ''that
she could get in there at all. She is rich,
you know, but bad style. Her fathers in
the city, in the tallow business. Her brother
him Dips, YOU know"
Miss Short didn't laugh.
"Well,'' she said, 81 suppose it is very
funny; but then my father was in business
too, and there is not mighty much diferenc,
between taIlow and oil.
The baronet looked very serious.
"Oh. but, Miss Short" he said in an
anxious tone, you know you are an AmerI-
can, and that makes all the difference, you
know"
"Why does it?" she inquired.
''Oh, don't know why it does, but it
does, you know. ASK Lady Bagshot. Be-
sides, most Americans have made their
money in oil"
Miss Short did not reply, and after some
cogitation Sir Englefeld continued:
"You see, Miss Short, if you had been in
business here you wouldn't have been SO
charming as you are. You would have
dropped your his and talked about your
marI''
81 did not notice those peculiarities in
Miss Phipps," the young lady replied with
an entire change from her usual manner.
Lady Bagshot rose and reflected, as she
walked home with her young friend, that
she had managed difficult point with the
greatest dexterity. For Sir Englefeld
Green was after this more attentive than
ever to Miss Short, as if anxious to show
that the oil of her deceased parent did not
in the least diminish the admiration which
her charms had excited in his bosom.