The Irish standard., 1892-02-06
CHAPTER III.
FOOR JANE.

Mrs. Challock did not disapprove Of
Olives intimacy with her next-door
neighbors; but she was slow to believe
that her daughter could really learn
useful art from Lucy Crolner. Peggy
and Jane looked on in wonder and
doubt while Olive wove her garlands,
and Tom Challock laughed the whole
business to scorn.
$50 Olive wants to go to London and
earn her living, does she?" he said,
about a. week after Michaels visit
'sWell. Pee no objection; but don't tell
me there's living to sbe made out OF
''HE's TOO HIGH AND MIGHTY FOR OLIVE. :"
posy-mak1ng. It's nat"ral enough Jna0
she should want to be running after
that young man of hers, and keeping
sharp eye upon him. It's my belief
that he's too high and mighty for
Olive"
''But if he hadn't cared for her he
would not have come here again.
cried Jane.
Peggy sighed and shook her head.
She was d young woman who was
naturally disposed to see the gloomy
side of life.
''I'1n afraid father is right" she said.
''He is very high, and ( think he came
partly to show himself off,
just then Olive herself appeared at
the open door. and there was a flush Oh
her face which told that the words had
reached her ears. Her mother, who
sat sewing, gave her a quick glance
and little nod. She did not wish her
daughter to pay amy heed TO any thing
that Peggy or her father might say.
Mrs. Chal]ocl lived OH the whole
peaceably enough with her husband;
but although she would not quarrel,
she quietly resented his unkind
speeches about Olive. How differently
he had talked when he came counting
the pretty widow! She was a weak
woman, and she knew that her second
marriage was a mistake, but she would
not let the whole village know her
secret.
ooh, Olive, what have you there"'
asked Jane, suddenly catching sight Of
the figure in the doorway.
Come and see,:' said Olive, vanish
ing; and Jane threw down her needle
work and ran after her.
The two girls stood together outside
the cottage, and Olive displayed
wreath of fern and moss studded with
punches of violets and primroses.
Even Jane, inexperienced as she was,
could see that the garland was the
work of artistic hands; the flowers had
been arranged as deicately as if a fairy
had touched them; it was ''an odorous
L..
showers.
':And this is your DOING" said Jane,
admiringly, "and people would buy
this thing in London shop? Well, I
am sure they would in spite of fathers
sneers. He knows nothing of great
towns and their ways; old Fenlal<e at
the inn is a good deal wiser than
father''
Olive smiled, well pleased with such
simple praise. She was happy this
evening; the light wind rufded her
thick hair and blew it into little curls
and rings about her temples; her eyes
We're full Of sunshine. The letter
which had come that morning from
Michael had made her very glad, and
already she had forgotten the words
that Peggy had spoken few minutes
ago.
'"The kingcups will be out soon," she
said. S'Lucy tells me that she has
made lovely sprays Of them for the
ladies in town. and yet who thinks of
them here? Only the children, who
gather them by handfuls and throw
them away. They last a long time
with their thick stems and shiny yellow
flowers"
''Your heart is in London, Olive"
Jane remarked, keeping back sigh.