The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1892-09-15
THE cushion STORY. .
What jon Found in Her Strange
Legacy.

Going again to old Madame Skin
Gint's. and in this sum, s.
Teddy's voice, usually good-natured
drawl, had an accent now keener and
sharper than Jen was accustomed to-
She was pinning on her hat in front of
the kitchen mirror, while Teddy, his
long legs dangling down, sat on the
edge of the table, regarding his step
cousin with an expression in which
surprise and ANNOYANCE were mingled
j MS face reflected the oelx@she had
long been used to regarding Teddy in
the light of an abject slave to all her
caprices, and this faint sign of disap-
probation startled her.
well Teddy Barry" Jen said, turn
~ ing full around.
That's the name" said the undi S.
concerted Ted. IL was only wonder
ing, my childSwhy you wasted so much
time. over that old French woman. You
T'broil yourself every day. going down
there to make up her room, and wash
her, and cook for her, and read to her.
Oh. | know, Jen, you're always back
when themilk comes in to do your duty
here; but what hurts me is that you
seem to feel it equally your mission in
life to waste your sweet strength on
her."
Ted's harangue was over. He
elasped, his strong bronzed hands back
of his head, and looked to Jen for an
answer. She was slim slip of girl,
not quite. eighteen but there was a
look in her fearless gray eyes and some
thing in the curve of her very sweet but
proud young lips which made one feel
: instinetivcly that she-not only had the
Courage of her convictions" but she
had weighed those convictions before
accepting them. She was the niece of
Teddy's step-uncle, old John Barry,
and since her aunt's death a year ago
had kept house for him. Ted, brought
up with her from childhood, had just
returned after a two years absence
and advancing age had so enfeeb led his
uncle that the old homestead was now
in the hands of a man only waiting for
his date to foreclose.
Ted" said Jen, very gravely, ''do
you think if you were a poor lonely old
woman, you would like to be entirely
deserted? You know Nine. Dupre
came. here first trying to find some of
her old friends. Her daughter was to
have been married during the war, and
the officer was shot down in battle the
day set for the wedding. She was
looking for his people. She couldn't
find them. She is so sick and poor!'
Teddy's face was decidedly geptler
in expression by this time. ''Jen," he
said, smiling in his slow way. YOU'RE
all right. It's only that know how
hard you work at home; and when |
see you going down to spend your leis-
ure over the French lady-well, it goes
against me-
"I'll be back to tea for sure" said
Jen, "bccause-"
As Jen hesitated, Teddy supplement
ed with "a wicked but triumphant
laugh: N'Oh. lem Because! Does the
old miser erer give you anything to eat?''
Teddy" Jen's eyes were grave with
rcproach. do you know she has just
n very little money in an old silk glove?
take few cents at a1time, and spend
it for her on the barest necessaries.
There have been times my heart has
nched to think could not do more for
her."
Ry this time the step-cousins were in
the porch of the old farmhouse. 1t
was at the back. facing the garden
which they both had known and loved
from childhood. Jen's bed of valley
lilies, her sweet-pea vines, the long
strip Of box border, belonging to her
he, he
bean poles stood near an old plum tree
was the place made years ago for a
special planting OF radishes, which
.Icn, . six-year-old girl, had declared
would thrive best therel Teddy and
she, had been SO proud of that special
garden given them long ago! The real
farm lands stretched below-rich, fer.
tile, beautiful to see, save for that one
fact that they lay under the dreadful
weight of Dall's mortgage.
81 "Poor old garden!'' sighed Jen.
''Wcil, Teddy, we'll have to do the best
we can, suppose, when we leave it"
Ted watched the girls slim upright
young figure down the road few mo
mcnts in silence. His western venture
had proved unsuccessful, but through,ne
fault Of his. At twenty he had, sorely
against his will, given up his chosen
career in life-civil engineering to set
tie matters on the old farm, after which
lie went back TO the west. resuminq
work under hamrered conditions. Al
4 his savings had been sunk in tryingt Il
cxtricate his uncle from his bondage
lie had returned TO find Hiram Dial
ready and anxious TO foreclose at once
Meanwhile Jenny had reached ths
bridge which spanned small brook
near old Nine. Dupre's lodgings
She felt as though step from child
hood to woman's kingdom had beer
y taken since she had learned tho actua
emergency which had confronted bel
!, hemeflifa and like many another CIR
timilarly placed the question: ''Wha
y can do?n was uppermost in hermind
T'erc were her nimble~ fingers ready
Nth Tia needle; there was her farming
~ dairywork was speciality will
lsSs,;hc Was young, strong, unham
n.s}<sl by oervesn or foolish fancies.
.s,q1fto do something, Jen thought
&ndibly, md lifted her eyes
81 HI Il decc, earnest look ~ them, Z
ss.s.a~bsy Neet The small sharp 2rhs q
Jawk err lay ne, too, xqs erosainl
&c little brilge I u
.'weii. Jenny, = he half suesr<1
"hat do You want--ail tlse earth, IN
re bridge too?2 Now Il R,,sxs knee
~ ssi.and; you're bound ior'Inef
ane's."