The morning call., 1891-03-30
FFFIE'S LOGGER.

"Perhaps I'd better give 1t up. Sarah ?"
GAS You please, Miss; but it's little tne
| furniture will bring you, and theIe IL po
| rent for another three-qu arters, ana IL Sou
have to pay for lodgings. you'll hnd 'hem
dear and uncomfortable .,.,
Hes very respectable old gentleman
you sayP" ua; :, .,fs
bouse for months at time. He gives very
little trouble, and pays most regular. You
needn't never see him yourself. Miss; not
unless you liked. I'll take his orders; he's
used to me, bless you. You've just to make
| his bills and I'll take them and get them
paid. His coming now would tide us over
the time till the ladies came back"
"Then. Sarah, you may write and tell
! him he can come. You may say that Mrs.
| Brown is dead, but the lady who Is keeping
on the house has everything just the same.
| / daresay it was silly OF me to make any
| difficulty"
And so the matter was settled, and Ellie
| knew that she would be able TO pay her
rent Us before. Also, when old Mr. Tomp--
| kins took posse ssion of his rooms, he proved
q harmless, quiet and pleasant old gentle
man. He greeted Effie with courtesy when
| he met her on the stairs and she saw him at
no other time. He paid his bills with the
utmost regularity.
"My laudlady looks young" he remarked
| once to Sarah. I" suppose she ola MIS-
| Browns niece?'
81 don't know as she so near q relation
as that" said Sarah stolidly, but the impress
snn remained in Mr. Tompkins' mind that
| Efie was his late landlady's niece, and that
her name was Brown. This impression was
likely to be confirmed by the fact that Fife
! continued to make out her accounts on the
same printed forms that the late Mrs. Brown
had used. Mrs. Browns husband had been
| a grocer and he had, shortly before his de-
| ceass procured n new and very large stock OF
bill-heads, on which to send out his accounts
20 his customers. When his widow took up the
clearinghouse business she made use OF these
bill-headS for her own accounts. only crossing
out Of the word Grocer" which followed
"R Brown" And now Effie used them IN
her turn. She had no proper right to do so,
because her name was not Brown; but she
| she diSliked to put her own name at the
head Of these bills; so she just wrote over
the name "R. Brown" the words successor
to-" A lodging house bill is not usually q
very formal affair, so that nobody noticed
the custom or inquired into is meaning.
Her own signature, ''E. Bruce" was never
very egibly written, and passed with most
persons under these circumstances lor T.
Brown" The tradespeOple often called her
'Miss Brown" and she never objected to 1t
or corrected the mistake.
But of her own name she was secrety
very proud, so proud that she would gladly
have dropped it altogether in her present
| obscure circumstances. She was member,
a poor and solitary member of great house.
| and she had teen reared in luxury and re-
tinement The uncle who had educated her
had kept large establis hment, and liked to
have 1t full of company. Eftie had had
| pretty gowns to wear. and good horses 10
ride, and had known what 1t was 10 Dc HAT
tered and COurted rs the mistress of house
where the hospitality was lavish ana the
| COMPANY agreeable. She had known, too
all l,,f ,f, Nl1 Of 4xrt n n
beautiful dresses and social advantages at
her command.
Her uncle's property was, however en-
tailed and he had never saved any money
He had DO children of his own, aud did not
perhaps consider that E!hc's claim on him
could extend to a provision after his death.
Probably he expected her 10 marry; and
she might have done so, if he had not died
suddenly, when she was only 20. Three
years had passed since then, and Ettie had
| learnt what it was to be very poor aud very
| lonely. The kindness of her uucle's friends
toward her had promised to be of a slack
B Rd %RG eh Rd
studied hard, and WAS not qualihed 10 take
a really good place as goveTness; but she
had a lovely voice and a great taste for
music. She determined therefore 10 60 TO
London and to take pupils.
She took lodgings with Mrs Brown, who
had been her mothers maid twenty years
before, and who continued TO treat her, IN
spite of her poverty, with the deepest re-
spect But Ellie had not prOspered. she
was not experienced in the ways of the
world, and she avoided rather tnan sought
her old friends. Often she had dfhculty IN
earning enough 10 live. But Mrs Brown
was ALWAYS kind TO her, and at last would
have been glad to let her live in tho house
for nothing Then Mrs. Brown died, and 1t
was found that she had LETT her furniture TO
Fife She had spoken of it before her ser
want Salah.
/ saved when / was with Mrs. Bruce, she
declared, land it shall go back where 1t
came from so long as I've nc heir Of my own
to give 1t to. AMI there's mary daughter
wouldn't have been as good as she's neen
10 me in this illness. NV bit of savings
goes 10 YOU, Sarah, as Eve always promised,
because you've helped me make them. But
the furniture will help to keep a home for
that ponr young thing and | don't see why
| the house shouldn't go Oh as before Win
Won to manage it,
The house had gone on as before, until the
| two maiden ladies who occupied the best
rooms were ordered TO the south OF France
for the winter, and the widow, who had been
a fixture Tor years in the dining-room suite,
went away to live with married son. Then
it was that Mr.. Tompkins made his applca-
ton aud was accepted Etfie had thought
that she would not like to take gentlemen as
dodgers; but business could not be conducted
on such principles Of fastidiOusptSS and just
now she was very short of pupils. So Mr..
Tompkins came. His coming seemed at first
to make no difference to Ettie.
1t was about month atterward that she
came in very tired from long walk. She
had been giving lessons in the afternoon and
she had come through the park on her way
back. She sat down to the tea-table in her
little back silting-room. but ate nothing.
"Come, now, Miss Etfie, what's the mat
ter?" said Sarah cheerily.
81 can't tell you" she said, pushing her
chair from the table and looking round her.
What dreary little place it was! She felt
choked bv the meanness of its dark and
dngy walls. The life that she lived seemed
at that moment intolerabe both IN its
poverty and its loneliness. She had no
friend in the world-nObody to speak to Of
her own affairs except this good-natured
servant
''Something's happened" said Sarah,
ave never seen you like that before"
ITS only" Effie answered, That I've
seen ghost" Aud further than that she
would say nothing.
AT this time she had ceased to think of
Mr.. TomplIins, leaving him entirely to the
management of Sarah. He had the week
before gone into the country on a visit, but
he retained his rooms and paid for them as
usual.
There's a letter for you to look at"
Sarah remarked after little while, and
Effie reused herself to open and read 1t. 1t
was addressed to Miss Brown. so she knew
IL contained nothing of any private inter-
est. When, indeed, cid any letter come to
her that did?
1T concerns you more than me-" she said,
| tossing it across to the managing Sarah;
't's from Mr. Tonlpkins. He has offered
the use of his room to a friend for a few
nights and the friend will arrive tomorrow.
| / suppose it will make no difference" Then
she went back to her own thoughts.
That night she dreamed strange dreams.
Once more in those dreams she lived in lofty
rooms and wore beautiful raimant. Men
smiled when she entered and women kissed
end caressed as they welcomed her, She
listened TO sweet music and pleasant voices,
she wandered through gardens rich in flow
ers. 1t was a selfish and soIdid dream, per-
haps. but it was like a taste of heaven after
the life she had lately led; and into that
dream there came at last voice pleasanter
than any of the others, and The touch of
hand that made her own tremble there was
such thrill of emotion in the meeting that
she was startled out of her sleep and awoke
sc bling in the darkness.
Oh, how cold the room was! How empty
ana ugly the world about heri She could