The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-24
THE Il o roc

ind hens-sle' my mother. yon know!
Harriet ETancnne Croker IN judge
THE WRONG STOCKING.
LucilIe's Rect Were bigger Than He
Mothor's-A Sad Heart.
TIlere was mist and fog without and mis-
and fog within. but that which filled tht
warm parIor back Of the bar of the Grown
tavern in Chaplain arose from a steamlns
punch bowl, which filled the air with fra
4 and from four church warden pipes
in the hands OF IA many men grouped aboa'
the old deal table in front of the CRATE.
The liquor in tho bowl Was at low tide
Won could even see the blu onion pattern
at the bottom, and in proportion as this
beverage disappeared down the throats o.
the quartet 80 their volubility increased,
and old stories OF the past were brought
forward as fast as the punch washed away
the cobwebs of memory.
Az ii was Christmas eve every man
thought ii his duty to give some remlnls-
cencs Of bygone Christ,nastides except one
who sat q little apart from the group and
rlowared whenever the name of the holiday
Was mentioned.
III is your turn now" said the sexton OF
Isl. Chrysostom, a meager little body IN
rusty black, with a sharp red nose. as he
helped himself to the last drop Of punch IN
the bowl. s'Tia easy to see. Master Wal
louchby, that Christmas il a day of PEN
ance to you, rather than pleasure. Had You
bat followed our advice and married and
gathered a brood of brats about you, you
would feel like making merry with the
rest
t.Ah,,, said the man who had been ad-
dressed as Willoughby with a melancholy
shake Of his head. land if ! were to tell
you that it was one Of your blessed Christ
mas customs that lost me a wife you Will
not marvel Why I feel bitter IN Christmas
eye., And he looked down in the punch
bowl and sighed, either from some paint III
"Reminiscences or because he found 1t empty.
He was q f~ne-looking young man with
Just d touch Of gray in his hair, and the
general appearance of q well-to-do store
keeper.
ing down his pipe and running his fingers
through his curly hair, II will tell you the
.Nothing We should like better, if the
telling does not pain you," put in the sex
ton, sympathetically.
Willoughby coughed, turned his eyes to-
ward the fire and began:
I had been in London severalyears work
ING with a haberdasher in Cheapside, when
one day it occurred to me that / should like
to get married. / dom mean to say, gen.
tlemsn, that / had never thought of the
matter before, but on the day in question
d very foggy one-a sudden disgust for my
lonely life in a lodging house came over
me.
It was the day before Christmas. and
every minute the area bell was jingling as
the butchers and bakers delivered their or
ders, and the children were singing carols
on the stairs, and even the slayy had washed
her face and wore a holiday look, and all
the Young married men in the house
seemed particularly gay, while | in the
fourth story, back, was growing at my long
face in the mirror.
the next question was to find the lady; that
was Indispensable. So far | had the pleas
ure Of knowing only a few shop girls !
met at a dancing school in Iottenham
Court Road; very honest young persons.
whose idea of pleasure was a Sunday after
noon at Apply 'Ampstead, butnot just the
sort that / should choose for a wife.
Well, the holidays passed: | had been
raised to the position of head clerk at
New Years, and i'll proportion my ideas
rose regarding the kind of a girl ] wanted
to marry.
She did not put in an appearance, how
ever, and l did not know exactly how to go
about looking for her, and all the time I
kept getting more disconnected and lonely.
Well. one evening the old man for whom I
worked sent for me, about 8 O'Clock, and
said:
James, here's a package ] want you to
deliver to Miss Goldfnch, of Great Porter
square, No. 8. It's very valuable-some
presents she ordered for her brother, and
she was particular about getting it tonight.
The errand boys have gone home. ! will
trust it to you"
I accepted the trust and started out.
Now that particular night l was going to a
ball at the Thespian temple, and as Great
Porter square was on my way, l thought it
would be a good idea to 20 home, dine, put
on my dress suit. and deliver the package as
] passed Miss Goldfinch's house.
No. 8 was the SWEETEST residence in the
square, and | was ushered into a hall all
hung with tapestries and brass lanterns and
q floor covered with rugs it was a delight to
walk over. *E@
Even the the servant maid who opened
the door was dressed better than the lady of
the house in our quarter. Well she took
the parcel, ushered me into a little back
parlcr all hung with ambersatin. and said
she would take the bill up to Miss Gold
finch and see if it was all right.
! don't know whether it was the heat of
the room or the hard work of the day that
brought on q sudden drowsiness, but any
way | fell asleep. How long | slept l have
means of knowing, but it must have been
least two hours.
When ! awoke I heard a confused sound
voices beyond the drawing room, and
through the curtain, [ saw that a
ball was in progress. It was my first i'm
of high life, and you can imagine
interested was in every movement of
the guests.
Well, to make a long story short, while /
was .peeking through the curtain, who
should enter but Miss Goldfinch herself,
she took me, of course, to be one of the
and sat Town and talked to me for
half an hour before / had a chance to ex-
plain.
Her father happened to como Ill while we
were talking, n as she wanted to intro
duce mo-, asked me my name, as it had es-
capped her. Then, with many bluahes and
stammers. | out with the truth, that | was
not an invited guest, but only a simple hab-
OK dasher's clerk of Cheapside.
~Isthoupht the father would cut up rough
and order me out of the house and abuse
me roundly, but he didn't do ANYTHING of
the kind-not bit of it.
lie was a jolly old party. who had worked
his VI Way up from the ranks and was not
of it. They both were highly
amused over the affair, and, would you be-
llsss ~ when was going away father and
daughtar asked me to call again,
Tbs acquaintance begun in such a pecu-
ifar EaT aeepened into friendship. You
sses ! was rather difident at first about call
slR 200 often, but thew made me- feal en- |