Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-09-08
THE cushion STORY. "
What Jen Found in Her Strange
Legacy.

Going again to old Madame Skin
dints. and in this sum-
Ieddys voice. usually a good-natured
draw, 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 ems face reflected the look. 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.
We'll Jsddy Barry" Jen said, turn
Ing full around.
That's the name" said the undi s.
concerted Ted. Il was only wonder
ing, my child. why you wasted so much
time over that old French woman. You
-broil yourself every day going down
there to make mp her room, and wash
her, and cook for her. and read to her
Oh. L know, Jen, you're always back
when the milk comes in to do your duty
here; bUt what hurts me is that you
seem to feel it equally your mission in
lie to waste your sweet strength on
her"
Ted'S haranGue was over. He
clasped his strong bronzed hands back
of his head, and looked to Jen for an
answer. She was slim slip of a 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 youug lips which made one feel
instinctively 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 year ago
had kept house for him. Ted. brought
up with her from childhood, had just
returned after a two years absence
west, to find i'll health. worry of mind.
and advancing age had SO enfeebled his
uncle that the old homestead was DOW
his date to foreclose.
Ted" said Jen, very gravely, ''do
you think if you We're a poor lonely old
woman. Tou would like to be entirely
deserted? You know Mime. Dupre
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 gentler
in expression by this time. ''Jen," he
said, smiling in his slow way. You're
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, because
As Jen hesitated, Teddy supplement-
cd with n wicked but triumphant
laugh: .Ch. Jent Because, Does the
old miser erer give you anything to eat?"
TEDDY" Jen's eyes We're grave with
reproach. do you know she has just
a very little money in an old silk glove?
! take n few cents at time, and spend
il for her on the barest necessaries.
There have been times my heart has
ached to think / could not do more for
her"
By this time the step-cousins We're in
the porch of the old farmhouse. &
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
earliest recollection: and where the
bean poles stood near an old plum tree
was the place made years ago for a
special planting of radishes, which
Jen. a six-year-old girl, had declared
would thrive best there! 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
Poor old garden!" sighed Jen.
ssWell, 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-
ments in silence. His western venture
had proved unsuccessful, but through no
against his will, given up his chosen
career in life-eivil engineering-to set
tie matters on the old farm, after which
he went O3ch uO the "tSl-
work under hampered conditions All
his savings had been sunk in trying to
extricate his uncle from his bondage.
He had returned to find Hiram Dali
ready and anxious to foreclOSe at once.
Meanwhile Jenny had reached the
bridge which spanned small brook
near old Mime. Dupre's lodgings.
She felt as though a step from child
hood to woman's kingdom had been
taken since she had learned the actual
emergency which had confronted her
home life, and like many another girl
similarly placed the question: What
can Idoe- was uppermost in her mind
There were her nimble fingers ready
with the needle; there was her farming
was a speciality with
her. She was young, strong. unham-
rered by nerves or foolish fancies.
.IouoAfto do something" Jen thought,
almost audibly, and lifted her eyes,
with a deep, earnest look in them. to
suddenly meet the small sharp orbs of
Lawyer Dali. He, too, was crossing
the little bridge.
..Wen. Jenny" he half sneered.
awhat do you want-all the earth, and
the bridge, too? Now / guess l know
your errand; you're bound for mad
ame'k"