Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-03-08

i
her disapproval to the young lady, but
rushed off to her husband to acquaint him
with her disappointment.
81 thought it was as good as settled"
she said, "she seemed TO like him so much.
| What can she mean? There was Duke
who Can she be thinking of the Duke,
the only marriageable Duke?"
Sir Henry Bagshot laid down the paper
he was reading and looked at his wife.
"Have you seen the Iimes?" he said.
Then he pointed to column, and Lady
Bagshot, reading, saw the connection of
ideas A great cyclone had swept over
some of the Western States OF America,
causing immense damage; lives had been
| lost, property to the amount of millions of
dollars had been destroyed. Gettysburg
had been almost completely destroyed the
inhabitants escaping only with their lives,
Thousands had been reduced from opulence
to absolute want.
''That may be a very serious piece of
news for our young friend, 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
it? And if Gettysburgville is all blown
down she may have lost everything"
"That is hardly probable" said Sir
Henry, "but she must have lost a good
deal, should think. And then with her
expensive habits, and you know how she's
| been taken up. A dethroned
heiress. <"
"Oh, wonder" sighed her ladyship,
"if we could contrive to get the Marquis
hoa II he
thing else, and he may not have heard of
it."
"You must break the news to her"
said the baronet, inwardly glad that the
disagreeable task couldn't be assigned to
him Lady Bagshot read the column
through half dozen times in the vain
attempt 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 exagger-
ate dreadfully." Miss Short read the tel
egram ard looked grave.
"What dreadful calamity she said.
"And Washington street, where we staid,
quite destroyed. 1t was really fine
street, too"
Lady Bagshot saw that the personal as
pect of the calamity had not dawned on
the inexperienced young girl.
"Will you lose much,' she said
'T?" said Evangeline. ''Oh, no.
Mamma and Aunt Lydia are at New
port"
81 meant in property-your real es-
tate"
The young lady sprang up and rushed
to the window. When she turned round
again her face was scarlet.
"Lady Bagshot," she said, 81 have a
confession to make. have been deceiv-
ing you. l don't belong to Gettysburg
vile; was only there about month. l
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. Il do not know what people
have been good enough to suppose about
for their suppositions. But | imagine |
may call myself rich, for have got things
as wanted them, and have never spent
more than small part Of my income"
Lady Bagshot looked little reassured.
GLOW, then, have you been deceiving
me, my DEAR" she asked
Evangeline smiled little, and looked
confused. 81 am not an American" she
said, "and let you think l was"
"Not an American !" gasped the elder
lady Surprise almost overcome her.
NO" was the reply. 81 have been in
America, that is all. | am really cock
ney, born within the sound of Bow Bells;
and the money l have was made in Lon
DON"
"You said something about oil" re-
marked her ladyship, still bewildered.
'I was right" said the young lady,
calmly. "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 are"
interrupted Lady Bagshot, feebly.
"WelI, you know Kensington; there's
one there-Hilton, Basset q 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 a 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 these
houses are, but the rental of the houses
comes to something considerable"
"But why did you pretend to be an
Americana inquired Lady Bagshot, duly
impressed by Evangelines last words.
The young lady was silent for little
while.
at was an idea that came to me-" she
said. She was again silent, her cheeks
coloring Then she went on:
'eListen, Lady Bagshot You have been
very kind to me and will tell you all
about it. After Papa died, mamma and
lived in our new house at Leytonstone.
You must come and see it some day. We
didn't see many people, and l used to read
lot of novels-society novels, you know.
And l used to think how nice it must be
| to be in society, and to meet such nice
men, so handsome, and refined and inter-
esting. But l didn't see how to manage
| it, and mamma didn't know anything
about it, either Then we went to Ameri-
ca to see a married sister of hers-Aunt
lydia, you know, and while we were
there met a yonug lady belonging to the
nlace who had been in London and had
mixed with lot of very nice people. 1t
is so easy for Americans, whoever they
are-rich Americans, l mean. Then
thought that You know what happened,
Lady Bagshot. Theworst of it was, 1 had
to leave poor mamma on the other side;
she couldn't pass for an American, she
drop's her his. Now, can you forgive me?'
''Forgive youI'' said her ladyship, Il like
vou very much indeed. OF course, | am
sorry that you are a-that you are not an
! American, but then that can't be helped.
| must tell Sir Henry; he viii enjoy the
Joke immensely. How did you manage
it so cleverly?"
ooh" said the young lady, u tried to
get the accent as well as l could. And |
wrote out list of American words, with
the English opposite, you know; boot