St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-29
NINETTE'S IDEAS


was in its usual condition OF quletude.
A dull street in dull town of small
midland county, there was never much
excitement to be found On its pavement;
but, to-day, within the bow-windowed
shop of ''Miss Clay, milliner," was be-
ing fought a battle. Mounted on
short pair of steps, and armed with
bright steel tongs from the best parlor,
Miss Clay lifted from the stand wherein
it was placed little bonnet, and hold
ing it at arms length, while she en-
phasized each remark with shake of
the unlucky article, she exclaimed in
shrill tones:
ut is a disgrace! an insult to my
name and my customers; thing made
out of bunch of forget-me-nots and
whisp of lace to be put IN my window
beside my goods! How could you dare
to allow it, Susan?" and as she said the
last word Miss Clay, with deXterous
whisk, deposited the bonnet in large
dustpan at the other end of the shop.
Her sister, Miss Susan, limp and tear
full, was sobbing behind an enormous
pocket handkerchief, as she sat amidst
a heap of head Innings, wire edgings
and other disagreeable materials apper-
tanning to the drudgery which was her
share of the millinery business; while
framed by the doorway leading to the
parlor stood lovely girl of eighteen,
whose large eyes were bright with
angry tears, and whose flushed cheeks
and tightly clasped hands betrayed the
passion that was agitating her, although
she managed to steady the voice in
which she said vehemently:
Aunt, you are wrong, you are cruel;
chapeauX like that are pretty; we have
sold many while you were away, and
every one has admired them"
She spoke with foreign accent, but
her tones were refined and clear, and
she gazed at the angry lady Oh the steps
without flinching from her wrath.
''Be silent, Ninette!'' was the reply.
chow can you dare to argue with me.
For thirty years | have made bonnets
for the whole neighborhood of the best
materials and in the first fashion, and
now directly my back is turned you
cOncoct quantity of rubbish, which
you put in my window, and have the
audacity to tell me it is pretty!''
''But, aunt" Ninette was beginning,
her handkerchief, said do go to your
room, Ninette; you must not answer
your aunt; 60 away, DEAR" she contin-
ued imploringly; and the girl, with
look of affection and pity at the tear
stained face. stopped and kissed it, then
gently lifted the abused bonnet, turned
and went to her sanctum at the top of
the house.
Left alone with her sister, Miss Clay
continued her scOlding, rearranging
the desecrated window the while, until
the entrance of a customer put an end
to her obiurgations.
The Misses Clay were SpinSters of I'M
certain age, but Miss Susan was greatly
the junior of the apple-cheeked, be-
wrinkled old lady with the sharp voice
and the black eyes, who held despotic
sway over every one beneath her roof.
She did not even allow her customers to
have their way about the fashion of
their headgear, and yards of lace, rib
bon and velvet, nosegays of flowers and
handsful of feathers were piled whole
sale on the heads of the weaker-minded
of the townspeople. Miss Sphinx, the
sister of a departed rector, had been
heard to declare that she could make
two whole bonnets or trim three shapes
with the materials presented to her on
one work of art by Miss Clay. When,
therefore, Ninette, the orphan daughter
of her brother, Robert Clay, was sent
by her mothers relatives to the
care of her aunts at Glemsbury,
Sarah Clay thought 0lly that she
had another pair of fingers to use in her
service; and her establishment was
great when she found the head to which
the fingers belonged entertained en-
tirely different ideas from her own on
matters of taste, and that her niece
often met her most cherished dicta with
fiat contradiction. Skirmishes had
taken place all through the spring, in
the dull red-bricked house facing the
open space, where stood the great
CHURCH of st. Giles, in the High street
of Glemsbury; for Ninette wished to
use third Of the materials expected to
dexterous fingers would so manipulate
and rearrange the bohnets and hats
constructed by her aunt that when that
lady saw them on the heads of their pur-
chasers she very frequently could not
believe they had been sent from her
emporium. She had been from home
for few days, on ap annual visit she
paid to town, whence she protested to
return laden with the newest materials
and the latest ideas, and during her alb
sence Ninette had worked increasingly
at the production of stock of fairy-like
hats, caps and bonnetS, which she had
placed in the large window on carpet
ing of black velvet. Owing to the near
approach of flower show, and the ad
vent of market day, these had been
sold with great rapidity, while orders
for more of the same style flowed in
apace. One specimen of her skill only
had remained, and Miss Clay, on the
morning after her return, going into the
street to see If her sister had property
front, beheld it with wrathful eyes, and
had taken prompt measures for its de-
struction.
Poor Ninette! her life was rather a
sad one, and at present she was entirely
out of favor with her severe aunt. Miss
Clay believed she had many reasons for
the dissatisfaction she felt; to begin
with, her niece was the daughter of a
"fOreign woman" and when she first
came to Glemsbury she spoke English
but imperfectly; then her ideas had
been adopted by many customers at the
Widowed shop, and her sugges-
tions had even been approved more
than once by the ladies who belonged to
the county families, who occasionally
employed Miss Clay for themselves and
their children. Another great cause OF
offense to Aunt Sarah was that Ninette
had a lover-a Frenchman-and for him
the uncompromising Englishwoman felt
a positive aversion. Poor Achille Du-
rand! he was such harmless young
fellow, so Woodworking and steady, an6
his devotion to Ninette would have
touched any heart less hard than that
of the elder Miss Clay. He had left his
beloved France, and taken up his abode
in this triste town of GlemSbury. solely
to be near Ninette, and withoutthe least
idea that any of her relatives would
scout him for his nationality, or despise
him on account of his trade, which was
that of a confectioner. Day after day
the delicate patisserie he made enliveneC
the shop of the chief baker of the town
John Smiths customers had nearly
doubled in number since Achille ha(
been his assistant, and he valued and
almost loved the young foreigner who
helped him so cheerfully and success
fully. OF all subjects surely the mys
terry of caste is one of the most difficult
TO understand. and to Ninette her annt's