The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-01-17

N E6S4I he asked Lady Ross
:s W. more what she sup
"a NX#sI/9$ posed the trouble was.
Sf>AS&kEqI She answered. tran
eo5IS| gully:
ooh. ats some notion OF hers, you never
chn tell. She's a Sellers all through-at
least in some of her ways; and a Sellers
can't tell you beforehand what he's going
to do, because he don't know himaelf till
he's done it. She's all right; no occasion
to worry about her. When sle's ready she'll
come or she'll write. and o can't tell
which till it's happened"
II turned out to be a letter, It was handed
in at that moment, and was received by the
mother without trembling hands or fever
ish eagerness, or any other of the NANTES
tations common in the case Of long-delayed
nswe to imperative kilograms. She pol
ished her glasses with tranquility and thor
o%ughness, pleasantly gosaiping along awhile.
then opened the letter and began to read
aloud: 59
K~EN1LwoRrH KEEP, RED GAUNTLET HALL,
RoWENA, lyANHoE COLLEGE,, THURSDAY.
DEAR PRECIOUS MAMMA RossMoRE-Oh,
the Joy Of it!-you can't think. They had
always turned up their noses at our pretsn-
sions, you know; and I had fought back as
we'll as l couldb by turning mine up at THEIRS.
They always said it might be something
great and fine to be rightful shadow Of an
earldom, but to merely be shadow of a
shadow, and two or three times removed at
that-pooh-pooh! And I always retorted
that not to be able to show four generations
of American and
Salt-Cod-McAllister nobility might be en-
durable, but to nave to confess such an
origin-pfew-pfew! Well, the telegram, it
was Just a cyclone! The messenger came
right into the great Rob Roy hall Of audience,
rs excited as he could be, singing out:
Despatch for Lady Gwendolen Sellers!"
and o ought to have seen that simpsriug.
ohattering assemblaQe of pinchbeck aristo-
Gratis turned to stone! I was off in the
corner, Of course, by mysalf---iS's where
Cinderella belongs. l took the tele-
gram and read ii, and tried to faint
and I could have done it if l had had
my preparation, but it was all SO sudden,
you know-but no matter, I did the next
best thing; / put my handkerchief to my
ewes and fled sobbing to my room, drop
ping the telegram as I started. I released
one corner of my eye a moment-iust
enough to see the herd swarm for the tele-
~gram-and then continued my broken
hearted flight, just as happy as a bird.
Then the visits of coincidence began, and
/ had to accept the loan of Miss Augusta
Templeton-Ashmore Hamilton's quarters
because the press was so great and there
isn't room for three and a cat in mine.
And I've been holding a lodge Of sorrow
ever since. and defending myself against
peoples attempts to claim kin. al do
you know, the very first to fetch her tears
and sympathy to my market was that fool
ISL Skinparton girl who has always
snubbed me 80 shamefully and claimed
lordship and precedence of the whole coll
lego because some ancestor OF hers, some
time or other, was a McAllistes. Why it
was like the bottom bird in the menagerie
putting on airs because its head ancestor
was a pterodactyl. I'LL"
But lne ger eatest triumph of all was
guess. But you'll never. This is it: That
little fool aud two others have always been
fussing and fretting over which was en-
Titled TO precedence-by rank, you know,
They've nearly starved themselves at it;
for each claimed the right to tako. prece-
dence of all the college in leaving the table,
dinner, but broke off in the middle and
tried to Get out ahead of tho others. Well,
after my first days grief and seclusion-I
was fixing up ~ mourning dress, you see-I
appeared at the public table again, and
then-whut do you think? Those three
fluffy g%eoslings sat there contentedly land
squared up the long fa1nine-lappsd and
Tapped, munched and m%unched. ate and ate,
till the gravy appeared in their ewes
humble, waiting for the Lady Gwendolen
to take precedence and move out first, you
see!
Oh, yes. I've been having a darling good
time. And, do you know, not ono Of these
collegians has had tho cruelty to ask me
how | came by my new name. With some,
this is due to charity, but with the others
it isn't. They refrain, not from native
kindness. but from educated discretion. /
educated them.
Well, ~ soon as ! have settled up what's
Left of the old scores and snuffed up h few
more of those pleasantly intoxicating
clouds of incense, I shall pack and depart
homeward. Tell papa l am as fond of him
as am OF my new name. | couldn't put it
stronger than that. What an inspiration
it was! But inspirations como easy to him.
These from your loving daughter,
GwENDoLEN.
Hawkins reached for the letter and
glanced over it. 5
Good hand,'' he said, land full of conf
denoe and animation. and goes racing right
along. She's b~right-that's plain"
- Uni shSy AZ ai pAikAE-tu0 Cell6EB6Ss
Anyway, they would be if there were any. I
Even those poor Latherses would have been /
bright if they had been Sellerses. mean
full blood. OF cou So they had Il Sellers !
strain in them-a big strain of il, too, but
being a Bland dollar dom make it a dollar !
just the same"
Ih seventh day after the date of the tel
egrHm Washington cane dreaming down to |
breakfast, and was set wide awake by an |
spasm of pleasure. Here was the
most beautiful young creature he had ever
seen in his life. II was Sally Sellers, Lady
Gwendolen; she had come in the night. And
it seemed to him that her clothes were tho
prettiest and the daintiest he had ever
looked upon, and the most sxquisitely con-
trived and fashioned and combined, ss to
decorative trimmings and filings. and melt |
ing hnrmonies of color. 1t was only a
morning dress, and inexpensive, but he con-
Tossed to himself, in the English common
to Cherokee strip, that it was n 'oorker."
And now, rs he percsiyad, the reason why
the Sellers household poverties and ~Hterili-
ties had beon made to blossom like tho
and charm the eye and satisfy the
spirit. stood explsined; here was the
magician: here, III the midst Of her works. |
and furnishing in her own person the
accent and climaxing finish of tho
whole.
MY daughter, Maj. Hawkins = come