Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-02-19
CHAPTER I.

OF thirty there Is nothing else IOr neI
but 10 do good. ] am going to make
clothes for the poor. Hand me down
that roll Of flannel, Rachel; / mean 10
begin st once"
at won't suit you, Sylvia. You are
not at all that style, and the curaJes
here are not worth sacrificing ones SELF
for In that way. You will only waste
good material. and no one will think any
better Of you for IL"
"My dear child, arguments are use
useless. intend to lead 3 pnhSn-
thropic life IN the future. 1 repent
deeply all the gayeties snd frivolties OF
my youth. III had 8 large fortune leIt
me now-nOw, this minute kachei-I
should found an almShOuse or an or
pbanage or something. l tell you i
never felt so good in all my life.
"Apd what about the dance next
week? Shall you ALLURE the world for
ever?"
Il may have one more nlng oeioTe /
make all these petticoats, SAID SYiV'a'
frowning at the scarlet roll before her'
"Weli, II it will be any comfort 10
You. YOU needn't despair yet. l heard
George Brett say yesterday that you
we're the prettiest girl in the place"
1.-The angel! Did he, though? l a.
ways thought him rather an outsider
before, but now / shall be very nice 20
him. But then, be doesn't know that
am thirty. Rachel"
If 10 will be any comfort 20 you, my
dear" began Rachel again, sOothnglT,
" monotoDOuSly," I read the other day
that women Of thirty were all the FASH
ion. and that girls of twenty were quite
ont OF it-cQusidered 20 be simple,
childish little things, in fact, whose &C
ouaintance it wasn't worth while cult
vating."
That was written by person Of
forty, then, my dear, said Sylvia, In
convinced tone. Take my word FOR II,
Rachel, an women ought 10 be young
and beautiful; IL they are not they don't
maryland sometimes they don't marry
il they are-witneSs myself! am
failure, Rachel, dear"
you have Tilted four men" said
Rachel biting of 3 thread. 81 don't
wonder that IL weighs upon you some
times. This ft OF virtue is only heetlng.
! shall wait with patience for he NTH
to turn up"
AAb VIII nFNEl Wa u 20 p 9tAe-'a
never marry said Sylvia, Sentlmen-
tally. 81 really was very fond Of Jim
Leslie, Rachel. He was a goose 20 take
me at my word" She vas silent for q
minute, and then began 70 iouusL -er
scissors again. ''To tell you the honest
truth, Rachel, I mean % make dead
)set at the new rector, and II ike him
well enough l shall marry him, and set
tie down among You, ana make clothes
for the poor every day Of my ltie-ano
sour" added Sylvia, as an aiterthought,
waving her scissors again. "How nice
10 all sounds"
How DO you know anything about
the new rector? He may be q married
man"
"But he IS NOT, praised be Providence,
which sent him down here especially
for me-"
"You are horribly fippant, Sylvia,
really! / do wonder what will become
Of you eventually. You are curious
com pound.
= 81 wonder, too, said Sylvia, with en-
tirely imperSOnal curiosity; "but on the
whole 1 think it will DO the new rector,
Rachel. i suppose / had better part
my hair. They always like that sort OF
thing. To looks less frivolous and
firty," she added, rufling up her pretty
fair curis with an absent hand
'DO as you like, my dear. ] shall en-
10y seeing you In a new character. But
in the meantime ] am going home. "
"You are going TO do no such thing.
Papa has been IN town all day and will
come home ia a vile temper TO dinner, /
know. want you too soOthe him."
'And tell him ABOUT your p.aDs?"
asked Rachel. subsiding into the chair
again in token Of having accepted the
invitation.
I'll you Ike. Papa would be de-
lighted TO get me of. Col. LennOT is
not at all the sort OF man 10 care to have
a spinster daughter Of uncertain age sit
ting in his pocket all day long. When
ever he is angrier than usual with me he
always says:
"sYour poor, dear mother married me
when she was only seventeen, Sylvia.
cannot think how it is you have m2u-
aged so badly
She spoke in a laughing voice, but the
tears were very near her eyes. She and
her widowed father, struggling along
together on an elegantly small Income,
were about as badly assorted couple as
could be found. Handsome, selfish, and
careless. Col LeEnOX never gave q
thought to mis- motherless daughter, ex-
cept TO anathemat.ze ner slOwneSs in
getting Of"
ut is a most astonishing thing" be
had said one day 10 q friend, "but
- though Sylvia'S a deuCed pretty girl and
gets Oh with the men unCOmmOuly well,
She always manages % hang fire at the
laat. What she found TO quarrel about
With Jim Leslie / Can'timagine. Pom
my soul, its very hard on me TO have her
hanging about getting older every day. "
And the juveniie-lCOking Colonel
twisted his black mUstache and looked
fierce.
be was all politeuess and amibility
that night, however, In Rache.'S pres
ence. As his daughter had once said,
somewhat bitterly. he was always
pleased to see any woman except her
self.
He affably followed them into the
drawing room after dinner instead Of
)lingering over his wine, and made him-
self very agreeable 20 Rachel Desmond.
by tue u40s SYLVIA no Set~' "Ac" o
pause had occurred in the conversation,
1T saw the rector to-day. Travelled
down with him, in fact
Rachel shot a glance st her friend,
and Sylvia smiled.
"Is he likely to be an addition to
Carleton society, papa? she asked.
Hes rich enough 20 do anything he
likes" returned her father, terSely; "but
he struck me as being very heavy"
THAT means that he talked about
politics, I suppose, and didn't kCOw the