San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-08


she was well. She was on the whole
rather trying invali2, disposed-be-
cause she had lost so much-to take
hard and bitter views of things and peo-
| pie. She had liked Esther we'll enough
from the first, but she had been rather
contemptuOus of Gabrielle's enthusi-
asm about her. "Gabrielle'S swans
turn out geese" she had been used to
say.
But in this particular instance, the
swan had kept its swanhood, and-more
than that-seemed not unlikely to end
by appearing a swan even in Helen's
eyes; for it was with Helen more than
with any one else that the longer part
of Esther's days were spent-though she
did not care for Helen most. Gabrielle,
who was dearest to her, led sort of life
in which to great extent Esther could
take no part; she huttered hither and
thither, like the butterfly she was, and
ran in and out of the house a score of
times day; but Helen was always
stationary, with rarely either play or
work to occupy her, and it was at Helen's
side therefore that Mrs. Hill soon
found her most frequent and natural
place.
1t was place too that Helen liked
well enough to see her occupy. Don't
stay with me if you are tired: / can't
bear people to stay with me If they want
to be somewhere elSe," she would at
first say occasionally, with considerable
ungraciousness; but presently Esther
patience and sweetness began to mollify
the irritable temper. 1t happened, I'M
luckily, that in their daily intercourse
together Aunt Susan, brimful of kind
ness though she was, had an unconscious
trick of rubbing Helen the wrong way,
and there was something in Gabrielle's
buoyant health and brightness that not
unfrequently reused the sick girls
spleen; but Esther with her pale noble
face, and her soft voice and gentle ways,
always soothed and was pleasant to her.
''They are all so restless; nobody
seems to me to sit still but your she
would say to her sometimes. And then
the querulous-"I can't bear people to
stay with me when they want to be
away began to change to half visit
ful-''Do you want to go? won't keep
you if you are tired" and she would
touch Esther's hand sometimes with a
sort of caresSingness in the touch, and
would make her sometimes stoop down
and kiss her.
Il know l am very bad-tempered;-
and | try everybody" she said to her
with rare truth and frankness one
day, but l almost think could grow
good if you were to be with me always"
And then one other day
Il am very selfish to let you do SO
much for me-yOu see take everything
you give me, but if you knew how much
l like it, l almost think you wouldn't
mind" she said.
Perhaps, if her gratitude to them had
been a less absorbing feeling than it
was, such large attendance as Mrs. Hill
gave to Helen might have become some
thing of tax upon her; but by this
time she had so thrown her heart into
their interests that think no woman
ever gave her time and thought and
sweetness to the soothing and amuse-
ment of somewhat of an ENJOYABLE and
sharp-tongued invalid with more ready
and single hearted willingness than she
did.
"She behaves to Nelly like an angel"
Gabrielle broke out once in her eXag-
gerated way. "She does more for her
than all the rest of us put together"
One day too, in the abrupt manner in
which he often spoke
do you think l don't know how good
you are to my poor Helen?" Mr.. Dun
stan said to her. Il thank you for moth
ing you do so much as for that" And
then after moments silence-"Go on
being patient with her." he said, in
a tone that showed Enthusiastically how
much his heart was in the request.
She had been two or three weeks with |
them when Mr.. Dunstan said this, and |
so entirely separated as she appeared |
to be from all other ties-they had in- |
stinctively by this time got to some eX- |
tent to think of her as belonging to |
them. To whom indeed did she belong,
or could they think that she belonged, |
half so much? Silent and reserved as |
she was, there were none of them now |
who had not come to feel that she loved |
them, and their certainty of this gave
them comfortable belief that they |
could rely upon her,-a confidence that
she had made their interest her inter-
ests-that in fact she was theirs.
There was not one of them that did
not trust her. To her, as she would do
to no one else in the house, Helen, as
time went on, began, to confess some /
of the bitterness of feeling that she |
was generally too sore to speak about,
and from her lips to bear to take con-
ISOLATION that she would have borne from
no one else. In her ears Aunt Susan
poured her various domestic troubles |
and burdens, and let herself be soothed
and helped and sympathized with over
them; and Gabrielle, you know, had
fallen in love with her long ago, and if
the widow had been wicked woman,
or even an artful woman, she might
have wound that foolish and warm
hearted girl round her finger. Uncon-
sciously to herself she was making her !
way to the heart of every creature in the
house. They cared for her, indeed, in