Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-12-14

hAft SoAiiCiLliE tlSt W uO tIul Sdu-
ding about ali day. and her n widow
with her first mourning on her back
CHAPTER III.
Mrs. Jack lived in a queer lite nook
of a street leading nowhither. and
bounded ut an end by a high garden
wall. The other END opened out of a
quiet street behind the High street.
The house she lodged in was an old
stone house of two stories, with a
green door in the middle of it and
green shutters, bliStered by the sun,
hooked back against the wall on either
side OF each of the ground floor win
dows, The green door bore a brass
plate with this singular inscription:
MRS. 4. PETHERICK, X. y.
Strangers might stare and smile
when they saw IL, but did not every
man, woman and child in Codlington
know that Mrs Petheriek was the
widow Of Thomas Petherick. master
In the Royal Navy? And did they not
know, moreover, that when her hus-
band died she had the letters NJ. 7, S,
squeezed in between the rim of the
plate and the name of Il. Petherick?
And was not that a measure of simple
and laudable economy, much more 10
be commended than the purchase Of a
brand-new d~oor-plate, which would
have been mere waste of money? To
be sure. and as to strangers-in the
first place, strangers are very rare
birds in CodllnGton; in the second, il
Mrs. Petherick, r. N, had caught any
such staring and smiling at her door
plate il would not have put her u at
all.
The good woman lived on her pen
sion and by the letting of lodgings.
Besides Mrs. Jack and her servant and
her child, there We're two other dodgers
Ia the house. One was a compositor in
the printing office of the Codlington
Chronicle, who slept in a garnet at the
top of the house and took his meals
with Mrs, Petherick and her son Tom
in the kitchen. The other was n Ger.
tain Miss Barnasconi, teacher of music
and singing, who occupied the parlor
and a tiny bedroom behind it. Mrs.
Jack lived on the first floor.
1t certainly was a humble place, but
the young widow thought it looked
homelike and cheerful when she went
into her sitting room,w where white mus
lin curtains Were fiuttering at the open
window, and a bunch of buttercupS
and daisies We're arranged in a blue
china bowl on the side table, and there
was Il shelf full of books-mostly school
prizes, with the name of Miss Isabel
Parsons inscribed in them in Il series
of elaborate iourishes made by the
writing master, but with one or two
r~usSet-eoated worthless of sterling mer-
ii, among the bright blues and bright
scarlets and gilding-and a little old
fashioned upright pianoforte, with scat
tered sheets of music strewn upon il.
and n very small. ssluare-toed shoe
that had lost lost a strap, lying ON the
threadbare carpet.
All these objects, poor and common
rs they Were, looked pleasant TO Bell
Lilly. The place was her home. She
had found kindness therefore kind
ness than she had ever experienced mt
Perciyal House, as she thought with
some bitterness: and then. for / do not
mean to disguise Mrs. Jacks little
foibles, she was praised and admired
and petted in her lodging in Old street,
whereas at Perciful House there never
We're any sugar plums of tlattery forth
coming for her. The widow had two
original and indelible sins in the eyes
of her husbands family. The first sin
was that she had brought Jack Lilly
no penny of money; the second that,
despite her poverty, she had an as
pect of g~entlehood and refinement
which could never be attained by the
daughters of MIR. John Lilly. Those
young ladies declared that Bell gave
herself airs. But the airs had in fact
been given to her by Nature. and they
We're very pretty, graceful airs indeed.
Mrs. Petherick was very fond of her
lodger. To be sure. she had neither
married Mrs. Petherick's son nor com
peted with her in the matter of per-
sonal attractions. Mss Barnasconi. the
s'nging-mis tresS, was her great friend.
and Biddy, the Irish maid-seryant,
adored her mistress and ~tyranized over
her from excess of devotion. But.
pleasant as the petting and the praise
might be Ii would not stretch out her
income to pay the butcher. and poor
Mrs. Jack came home from her father
in-law's house in very low spirits.
Her little girl and Biddy had not vet
come in from their afternoon mmble.
She sat down and took off her bonnet
and her heavy widows cap. and her
pretty auburn hair fell down in ten.
drilly curis on each side of her face.
She pushed IL back impatiently. and
sat for some time with her bonnet in
her band, In n melancholy reverie.
Its TO good; / can't make UP my
mind to IT." she exclaimed, suddenly.
And. springing from her chair. she ran
down stairs and tapped at the door of
Miss Barnasconi's parlor.
Barney, Barney, dear, are you mt
hemeg" she said.
Just h a latch key turned in the
door, and Miss Barnasconi entered tn
house. Want me. my dear?'' she said.
Walk in, I've only just got back from
Miss Crosby's school. Go into the par
Tor. III make a cup Of tea. and we can
talk comfortably
Miss Barnasconi was a spinster OF
hfty-five. She had a broad. square ilg-
ure. a broad, square face and n mus
tache. She was very dark, brown
skinned and black-browed; and with
Immensely thick and coarse black hair.
q hste streaked with gray. growing
low on her forehead. She wore a blue
musin gown. a straw bonnet trimmed
with white ribbon and cheap roses. an
imitation black lace shawl a pink six
handkerchief at her throat. and brown
gloves. Three or four steel chains, AT,