Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-03-19

tA\A2 HE.su hNe Thought tnaC she
&S& meant to do harm OF
HM& some sort to him or his
~ interests.
And indeed Madame Bouvier had good
cause to be angry. She hal struggled
hard and long for success and now lust
as she had attained it it seemed to her
that its fruits were to be gathered by
another. 1t was all too cruel. Her
husband, Paul, had established the bust
ness many years before and she had been
good and kind and helpful to him in
those days, which, now, as she looked
back upon, through the intervening
years, seemed to her to have been such
happy ones. 1t may be that her memory
gloritied them; but she herself was very
certain. Even then it was a hard strug-
gle, though Paul was skiful and hard
working. Perhaps the struggle was the
harder because Paul was so skilful and
knew so well when the feathers were
properly curled aud as smoothly and
evenly dyed as they should be. He
worked so carefully and neither his own
work nor that of the young girls he EN-
ployed to help him was permitted ever
to go out unless it met his own approval
And there were others with, may be,
larger establishments, who could sell for
much less than Paul could; but whose
work, although it met in some measure
trade requirements, was not yet as well
done as Pauls.
Yet they struggled on and slowly their
market grew. Then Paul fell ill and
things looked very dark for them; but
Louise, his wife, found somehow tina to
carry on the business aud to take good
care of him, too. However, notwith-
standing her good care and her
prayers, he died and the poor little
widow was very lonely. but she had
never given up courage or lost hope.
Aud she had worked on with the bust
ness, and had paid the debts Pau's long
sickness and death had forced them to
incur, and she had done so well that she
could not only be sure of her livelihood,
but could even look forward, old though
she already was, to the possession of a
competency for that time which was GER
tain and soon to come when she woull
be no longer active or able to work as
she had. And now it was all brought
to an end, she thought.
"We shall see, she had said almost
threateningIy to the laudland, "You can
not turn me OUT you cannot, you can
not, will not So"
"But you will go" he had responded
angriIy, for the interview had made him
impatient. 81 can turn you out. Your
lease has expired and will not renew it.
And out you will 60"
He had not been a good landlord or a
kind one. He hal declined to do almost
anything Madame Bowler had asked him
to, and he had been exacting and I'M
yielding toward her, no matter how cir
cumstances were with her; but in this
case he had tried to be fair. He had
spoken calmly enough at first and had ex-
planned that the building was old and no
longer profitable and that he intended to
tear 1t down aud build large fine one
in place of it and the two or three SINH
lar and neighboring houses; but she had
not believed him. No, it could not be
that he had spoken the truth, she
thought. 1t was here that she had lived
and worked. AnC it did rot seem posi-
Bile TO her that she might move and do as
well elsewhere. 1t was here that the
work was done; it was here that the
business was established; it was here that
her customers came and made their pur-
chascs. The place was known and now
some one else was to be brought in to
reap the reward of Paul's knowledge and
Of both their work and patience, some
man maybe, or some younger, prettier
woman. Besides, it was here that she
J ad lived and suffered and been happy
with Paul; it was here that he had died
She was determined that no one else
should live there
As the door closed upon the landlord,
she did not cry or make useless lamenta-
ton. She looked upon the closing door
with her swapping bright eyes; she
clenched her hands tight, and it was
through her teeth, tight closed, that she
said to herself, "Yes, we shall see, we
shall see. 1t shall not be. No one else
no one shall have this place. "
Throughout the afternoon matters
went on as usual in the establishment.
The work of the girls was brought to
Nina. Bowler for her inspection, and
criticism. She examined it as carefully
as ever. There was no manifestation of
indifference, no neglect. When the
finished work was brought to her, some
of the glossy feathers were approved of
and put away to be afterward boxed,
while some were sent back to be i'm
proved. Customers called and with them
Madame Bowler dealt as shrewdly as
ever; goods were shipped, aud Madame
superintendent the packing and delivery
as was her custom. There was IN her
appearance or manner no sign of the rage
and anger within her, and no indication
of what it was she meant to do.
But she had determined upon a plan
almost before her landlord had left his
building. All through the afternoon, no
matter how busy she was, no matter how
occupied she appeared to be with the
.Tairs of her daily life, her indignation
and resentment at the injustice which
was about to be done her grew, and she
nursed her wrath until it was far might
Ter than she was. Her plan developed
and all its details were worked out in her
quick and active brain. She longed for
the time 20 come when she might exc
cute it. -e
Slowly the day wore on,.and at length
the last of her work girls nut ON her