The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-03-15
CHAPTER I.

Mrs. Bissell's cottage windows stood
wide open, and the Nottingham lace cur
tains few out of the south room, where
the scent Of the damask roses and old
fashioned pinks arose in warm puffs from
the pretty garden. Mrs. Bissell. a
checked handkerchief pinned over her
head, was briskly sweeping the ingram
carpet with a quick, short motion of the
broom; the narrow hall was incumbered
with chairs and tables, and horsehair
sofa blocked the front door. The honey
suckle vine above the porch was thickly
hung with blossoms, and piazza chairs
with scarlet cushions were set out in the
shade, with the inviting air of summer
repose. A door through into the back
regions was also open, and delicious
odor of baking bread came fronl the
kitchen. From the dining room arose
slight clatter of dishes, the sound of
clearing away after breakfast. the trip
of girlish feet, and pleasant young
voice hulnming tune.
sAnne," shrilled Mrs. Bissell from the
south room, s'look out for the bread in
the oven and see that it don't get a
scorch."
1--WE must make haste" responded
Anne from the dining room, still invisi-
BE, cor he viii be here before the room
is ready"
..Ain't / making haste" piped Mrs.
Bissell, also invisible, on her side and
with d touch of asperity in her voice.
A woman Of Mrs. Bissel's active tenn
permanent never likes to be hurried, es-
pecially by her own daughter, an mex
perienced slip of a girl. with no proper
idea Of turning off work. 81 guess it
won't hurt him to wait few minutes if
his room amt ready she added, max
ing her broom fly at a more rapid rate.
II didn't say it would, retorted Anne
on her side, just interrupting snatch
Of song on her lips, as she put tbs blue
edged plates on the cupboard shelf
Miss Caryer's room door was also open
Just at the head Of the stairs. She had
heard every word that passed between
Anne and hen mother, for the little house
was Like q sounding board. and Miss Car
yer could absorb its sounds without max
ing the slightest effort to listen. It oc-
CARED to her now, as it often did, that
Anne was rather impertinent to her
mother Miss Carver gave little inn
patient sigh over the degeneracy Of
modern youth. She was one of the old
inhabitants Of Littlefeld, born and
brought up there, knowing every family
history from time immemorial, every
mote in neighbor's eye, all the town
affairs, to the probable amount of change
that people carried about in their purses.
People consulted her about the past as
they would go to a gazetteer or town
history, and the present poured itself
into her ears.
She had boarded many years with Mrs.
Bissell, SO exactly calculating her ex-
penditures that they came out to within
fifty cents Of her income every LIST of
january. She invariably allowed for a
month of visits to OH friends during the
twelve, and if she was invited for only
three weeks it involved little extra
pinching, and If for five or six weeks
corresponding financial ease. Miss Car
yer had little industry by which she
occasionally earned trihe She made
paper flowers and sold them for the
adornment of Christmas trees, children's
festivals and church fairs. It was easy
work of clean kind, such as a gentle
woman could do whose father had been
high sheriff of the county without de-
tracing from her social position in Lit
tleield. She called herself an artist in
flower work, and on this particular
morning she had arranged her little tai
BILE with bright tissue paper, fine wire,
scissors and glue pot, but it was i1npos-
sible for Miss Carver to settle to any
thing. She sat by the window, and
through her spectacles spied the coming
of the new boarder, gazing out under
the great elm trees that shaded the brown
road in front of the Bissell cottage.
It was not matter of small impor-
tance to Miss Carver that new doctor
was coming to Littlefeld. The old doc
tor, whose place he was taking, had
been a great friend of Miss Carver and
Of her family, when she had family,
for now she wasan alone in the world,
with no kin nearer than second cousins.
ne 9ioaeA CottaSSs u UuaIulng HOuSe Oh
the cheapest and humblest sort, gained
Kind Of Importance from the fact that
The new doctor was to establish himself
there for the first experimental months
Df his stay in Littlefeld. Miss Carver
ielt this added importance as slight in
rease Of her own individual respecta-
bi1ity. She would no longer feel obliged
10 excuse herself for living at Mrs, Bis
seIl's by the fact that she liked the air Of
hat end of the town, leaving it to be in
ierred thst she GOULD i she chose live at
he Oak HAl hotel or any Of the more
fashionable places.
She had talked the young doctor over
It many tea tables. In her set he had
Ilrnost supplanted Mrs. Bissell and her
hpses in management, the ineHciency
# Bissell, and the independent, slightly
mpudent air assumed by Anne in the
tousehold.
There was only one thing that trou.
Ned Miss Carver: the doctor belonged
b the wrong medical school She had
lws2s beenaser4 sstznrh IN her orthodox