The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1891-05-24

pretty wooded island carpeted with
fegEs, and Miss Trevor was brourht ofF
the yacht and arranged with rugs and
pillows tliat she might enjoy the feast
without injury to her health The SCENE
WAS perfectly idyllic under the trees
and tho manners OF this family toward
each other were 50 beautiful and cour-
teons that Ldith's young imaginative
head was quite turned She rernern pered
wandering round the island long time
with Harold IN such state Of bliss chat
never for moment had she thought of
her shabby clothes. 1t was a species Of
intozication from an unwonted draught
Of pleasure as heady us rev wine. and
III this unreal state Of entertainment she
had forgotten her long days of labor and
hardstalp, her garnet chamber and her
neglected story. She returned home ia
the twilight, and found Mrs. Nertluu on
the front doorstep enjoying the cool Of
the day, while Margery skipped about
among the flower beds and chased a
great brown moth Mrs. Northup no.
ticed the large, live look IN Edith,s eyes
and her air Of suppressed, joyous excite
ment
/ guess you have had a splendid time,
Miss March, and no mistake"
Indeed have, said Edith, laughing
softly as she drew in her breath
And how ia the world did you ever
get SO thick with them Ashleys, Miss
March, They're the most exclusive, top
loftical people III Littlefield.o
tfIo.1aa1 1,<,,s4 ,f-..rS.-- n 1.As
with a happy sigh "TLe fairies must
have done it."
fairies, boshl" returned practical
Mrs. Northup 81 guess Harold Ashley
is pretty guy young man, and Of course
you know he, has been engaged to Miss
Trevor for some years. Mr. Ashley is
Miss Trevorss guardian, and she is tire
mendously rich, somewhere up in the
millions, they do say, and Of course they
wouldn't think Of letting the money go
out Of the family
Miss March brushed brislyly past her
landlady in the dark hall, mounted the
stairs to her own room and closed the
door 1t was nasty Of Mrs. Northup to
say such things to her, and yet it was
kind, truly kind. The words had shat
tered her little spun glass house, and
suddenly her feet felt as heavy as lead,
and she was conscious that her head was
aching. What fool she had been to
think for moment she could associate
with people like the Ashleys and particle
pate in the life they led-she, poor
scribbler, with scarcely enough money
IN her purse to pay her weeks lodgingl
She had taken q bewildering draught,
and 1t had gone to her brain, but now
she was sober and well awake she must
put by all these lovely Elusive visions
and shut the door and buckle to her
task. Shame on her for having forgot
ten Wills future for a single momenti
That night Edith slept but little. She
had hard tussle with herself. but she
conquered IN the. end, as she always did,
and fell asleep at last resolved as to what
she must do.
A soft rain was pattering on the roof
next morning, mixed with the clirp of
nesting robins and bluebirds The odor
of growing things and opening flowers
came in at her window as Edith ar
ranged her little work table, everything
severely rectangular, to check the play of
Grant fancy and bind down her mind to
the grindstone of duty There she sat
and wrought hour after hour, with the
monotonous scratch of the pen going on
over the paper without pause. Trains
rushed by, shaking Mrs. Northup's little
house with a giants hand every fifteen
minutes. The storm had cleared away,
and now the sun blazed on the sloping
roof and turned the attic room to a fire
bath. Wasps and flies buzzed about.
The lovely blue sky, full of floating
white clouds, invited her to look, but
still Edith wrought on, feeling neither
hunger nor heat, nor the small earth
quake shocks of the trains
1t was four in the afternoon. She was
still sitting at her task with bent head
when voices were heard outside her
door Mrs. Northup was saying to
some one behind her:
Il keep a tellin' her she'll kill herself
writin' day and night, and forgettin' to
eat. but it don't do no manner of good. I"
Then came dainty little rap, and
Fanny Ashley, in an exquisite light sum-
mer gown and full feathered hat, stood
smiling in the doorway.
You see have hunted you down; l
told you should And this is the room
where you spin your pretty webs" and
she glanced lightly about at the little oil
stove. the two cracked tea cups on the
shelf. the breadth of faded carpet before
the lame bureau.
sBut don't intend to leave you here
Shaving away all this beautiful afternoon.
We are to have matched game of ten
mis- and then tea on the lawn, and later
drive in the cool evening air, and have
been ordered to fetch you straightway."
Il thank you so much" said Edith,
her voice quiYering a little, tbut | can't
possibly go; | have so much work on
hand" She had not even asked her
guest to sit down.
But you must, Miss March. Papa
has been reading your story in The Fire
side and he wants to know you; and it
is 80 seldom he does care to know any
body especially here in Littlefeld."
ii am so sorry, Miss Ashley, but
have no time to spare.
..Bnt YOU must come Harry viii be
dreadfuily disappointed, and will blame
me If | don't fetch you, and sowih Mary
4. - - fa Efrr4r n.y.