The Opelousas courier., 1893-01-14

below our old house, and l can double
~ just as well as not"
You almost take my breath away"
said Mary Alice. tIt frightens me to
take such a risk-but dear me- You
know so much more about these
things"
MI. 1awry called that evening. He
had come two or three times during the
winter.
"Have you heard of Resiy's new
scheme2t asked Mary Afce, i~nnocently,
Regina bit her lip, but preferring to
tell Of her plans in her own way, nov
the cat vas out of the bag, she went on,
'Im going to stack some ice. Our house
holds only FIVE thousand tons and | may
as well stack five thousand more"
Mr.. Lawry became grave. Him
Ny experience with stacked ice hasn't
been very satisfactory" he said, with a
faint smile,
There, Rely" exploded poor Mary
Alice, with a nervous start;
Regina turned a flushed face to her
sister, but bit her lip again and smilingly
appealed to Mr.. Lawry. 'fYou wouldn't
have me let the chance go by, would
you2"
~ wouldn't have you make a mis-
take" he said, quietly. "Your old house
is well filed with good ice, and is pretty
sure to pay you a fair profit, but if you
put up a stack you risk everything"
"Never mind" laughed Regina, in a
tone that seemed very strange and un-
pleasant. "I'm in for it. Nothing ven
ture, nothing havel"
"Reeiy," said Mary Alice, after MIR.
Lawry had gone, "I'm really afraid
about that ice speculation"
N"Pshawl" said Regina. "The big
companies are always Jealous if we little
operators branch out"
And she stacked the five thousand
tons of ice on the lowlands, within a
week. "Mary Alice" said she one April
day, "you shall have a sealskin sack
next winter" and the rainbow of
bright hope spanned the skies of early
spring.
But hahel Hear the great sheets of
rain storming down upon the roofl
| Listen to the bowling of the gale as it
drives the food against the panes and
tears at the quivering shutters! Three
days of steady rain vera followed by
warm, damp weather. Themelting snow
poured down the hillsidesnand the ice
began to break. Daily ting river rose,
struggling masterfully with its frozen
barriers and then, swollen to an alarm
ing tide that still rose shigher and
higher, it hurled the ice foes oceanYard
In leaping, crushing masses. 1t was the
greatest, most frightful ice freshet ever
known on the Kennebec.
Regina stood out on the bluff, watch
ing its furious progress. They had told
her of disasters up the river, and she
was nerved for the sight when the hurl-
ing tumult of ice and water attacked and
quickly undermined her ice stack and
swallowed up its ruins. 1t crumbled al
most like a heap of sand, under the
beating Of that fierce torrent.
$50 much for women fooliug with the
ice business!"
The brusk old villagers remark was
not intended for Rsgina's ears, but she
heard it.
Mr.. Lswry came up and spoke en-
eouragingly. "Your house on the bluff
is safe, and you'll make enough from
that to set you right" said he.
Regina was brave, but she couldn't
keep back one insistent tear.
SIT hurt more to show him my weak
ness and to feel that he had a chance to
crow over me, than to lose the ice," she
sobbed, when she reached home.
"Poor dear crooned Mary Alice,
otis all for the best-of course it is
and I don't believe Mr.. Lawry would
wish to humiliate you."
"That shows how little you know
about the meni" retorted Regina, with
gall and bitterness, and Mary Alice's sus,
picions were strengthened.
Three anxious months left their marks
upon Regina. She grew pale aud worn,
and Mary Alice said che didn't eat enough
to keep a canary alive. She fed mostly
on the weekly market bulletins of the
Ice Trade journal, which grew less
uourishing as the season advanced.
II hope it won't be any inconvenience
to you, Miss Reejy." said the President
of the village hank, "but We are callslR
in our ice loans and must ask you to pay
your notes within thirty days. There's
big lot of ice on the market, It seems
as if everybody put up some, and the
bank can't risk such collateral any longer.
If you've a mind to mortgage your home.
stead, now"
ooh, I'll take up the notes." inter
rupted Regina, but her q~ueenly spirit
quaked. : How could she raise the
money! She had been unable to get an
offer of more than a dollar a ton for her
ice, and that would not bring enough.
Oh, if she had not put up that unlucky
stack
Mr.. Lawry had been coming quite of.
ten, of late, to sing to her accompani-
ment on the jingling old piano. When
he called, the next Tuesday evening, she
put it of till the last moment, but in
sheer desperation appealed to him Just
as he arose to 60. What would he ad-
wise her to do2 Did he think there was
the least prospect of a more favorable
marketa
am tell you what I'll do" said he,
briskly. I'm always specializing, and
will make you an offer for your Ice. You
see ! have better opportunities than you,
and can take more risk. I'll give you a
dollar and a quarter a ton for the lot"
A sudden citation took possession of
Regina. Before she fairly realized what.
she vas doing, she had accepted the,
proposition and signed a bill Of sale.
SiYtv.two und and f;ftp dollars |