The Irish standard., 1892-07-23

!
without him being grudged to me, when
my sister had the attentions and love Of
everyone else. thought that with all
she had, might be allowed the pleas
ure of one friendship uncoveted, and
| for the first time in my life I was
slightly inclined to contend for my
rights. Not that I did contend in the
least, by word or act, but simply that
! felt the inclination.
From that day my stepmother took
every precaution she could to keep VIII
Hanley ard I separated. She never
! permitted me to go to Mrs. Browns if
she could prevent it, and she was usu-
ally prepared to do that, and when
Will came to our house she managed
very well, by one device and another,
to keep me out Of his company, general
ly sending me to the kitchen to assist
Aunt Mary, there to remain hour after
hour, though Aunt Mary declared she
did not need me and would rather have
me out Of the way.
Will and I contrived however, to
spend great many hours together, and
he plainly showed that he retained
preference for my company over that OF
my sister; and many were the we'll
meant compliments he paid to my char
acter and personal appearance. True
! to his promise, he always spoke of my
| hair as auburn or golden locks, and he
never failed to address me as Agnes or
Aggie. He was SO kind, and SO consid-
crate of my feelings, that grew to love
| him more and more as the days passed.
| One day, after l had known viii
/ Hanley for several months, my step
| mother was, for some cause, in an I'M
commonly bad jlunor with me, and: be-
sides slapping and knocking me about
numerically, applied tome al the vile
| epithets of which her tongue was mas
ter, She berated me for a hundred
faults of which was innocent, and
spoke in the most sneering and abusive
| manner of my looks. do not know
WHY it was, but for some reason l felt
the reproaches she heaped upon me
more keenly than ever had before,
| and could not tamely submit without
offering word Of protest. Her words
stung me to the quick, and for the first
time in my life dared to speak in self
defense.
what you say is not true" said,
fatty, when she ceased a TRADE Of the
bitterest accusations.
! I do not know how I ever had the
courage to utter that speech, and no
| sooner was it out Of my mouth than
| was struck dumb with establishment at
the thought of my audacity. My step
| mother, too, was evidently surprised
| almost out of her wits. and for full
| minute she stood staring at me, her
| face picture of wonder.
"Well," she said, at last, the look OF
! wonder giving place to a flush OF anger,
show dare you? How dare you say /
! He?"
My courage rose as her anger in
| creased, and with warmth retorted:
because am not guilty of the mean
things you say of me, and I'm tired OF
| being beaten and quarreled at for
| things amt to blame for"
My stepmother made no reply, but
stood looking very hard at me, her face
flushing and paling alternately. knew
enough of her to realize that I had
| stirred her anger to the bottom and
that should have to pay dear price
for my daring speech, yet my courage
! did not wane, and in sheer desperation
I continued:
! ''You all hate me, and you beat me
| worse than people beat their dogs, just
for nothing. You accuse me of being
mean when I'm not, and you tell people
! things about me that amt true, so they
won't like me. Nary has all the love
and all the favors, and I get all the
abuse, and yet I'm as good as she is,
| and better, too, because Will Hanley
says 500 -.....
:Win Hanley?" my stepmother re-
peated in harsh, grating tones.
eyes, Will Hanley," replied, nothing
daunted. s'He says Pm better than
Mary and prettier, too. He calls me
! Agnes, and says my hair is not red but
| golden, and he likes me-
/ uttered these last words with a
! proud defiance that must have been ex-
treme]y exasperating, I never saw any
| one so affected by speech as my step
mother was by mine. Fer eyes fairly
sparlxled with anger while her face
| HSS@NSSSA
| by a passion that was uncomfortable.
| She did not speak. was standing
before an open fire roasting coffee, and
she came toward me with firmly CON-
pressed lips and set teeth. I shrank
from her, for saw hatred as deep as
| death written in her features and ac-
| tons, and I feared for my life. She
grasped me by the hair and without a
! word dragged me to the fire. She
| placed my face in the flames and held
it there till I sank down breathless.
Then she dragged me away and left me
lying on the floor to writhe and moan
| with the most excruciating pain.
| Oh, what suffering, what suffering!
What agony racked me from head to
foot! longed to die, and begged my
stepmother to kill me. She stood by
and looked on unmoved. I even think
she enjoyed seeing me suffer, and would
rather have added to my pains than to
have done aught to alleviate them.
s'We'l see now" she remarked, with
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