The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1893-10-14
MISS BARRINGTON'S
ANGEL CAKE

The tip, tap-tip, tap, of dainty heels
A futtering cloud of filmy white mus.
lin and lace! A slim waist zoned with
blue ribbon! And a laughing, white
rose face looking forth from a great
disc of leghorn, heavy with white
plumes!
Dear me! what a babyish dress fol-
a young lady to wear on the street, and
Tor a morning call, too," Miss Della
harrington remarked, in acrimonious
disapproval.
Mis& Darlington herself wore the
frayed and faded remains of what had
Cnce been a snowy apricot-colored
dinner gown. Her feet were shod in
a dilapidated pair Of French boots,
buttonless and own at the heels; and
her tarry hair was still adorned with
curling pins.
But I am not a lady, you know,
now since we have become bankrupt
and poverty stricken" the latter an
swered with a ripping little laugh
of merry music. And not being a lady
of fashion, l can dress to please myself.
And white Muslin is so delightfully."-
COOL"
How silly you are, Aida! OF course
1t Is nice enough for a proper occasion.
And I don't see how anybody can laugh
ut being poor; l am sure I should feel
more like crying" Miss Darlington
shifted, with a contemI tuous shrug of
her narrow, angular shoulders.
oh, well, it's just as n looks at q
thing. l suppose one can see lots Of
horrors almost everywhere, if one real
ly has a yearning for the lacrymose.
Life is what we make it, as they used
to write in u dear old copy books"
Aida Maury replied cheerfully.
Il didn't send, for you to talk nom
sense her cousin said sharply. II
wanted to know if you can get me
an angel cake for my five o'clock tea
like the n you got for Mrs. Dupuy
last week."
Certainly. I make them myself
said Aida, her gray eyes sparkling with
mischief.
"You-make-them?' Miss Darlington
1altered in perplcXity at her cousins
maDI er.
"Oh, yes; l make cakes and pies and
cookies and doughnuts, aid everything
In that line. Mamma and I have Just
the sweetest little shop, and we're max
Ing lots of money" said Aida, looking
very innocent and demure.
do you mean that you and your
mother have opened & bake shop: a
vulgar Bale shop?" Miss Darlington
demanded severely.
Most certainly not. I mean that we
have opened a very a%ristocratic shop"
Aida answered with a ringing laugh
of girlish amusement.
Good gracious" Della Darlington ex-
claimed with her black eyes up-rolled
! p horror. Il must say ! am astonished.
What next will you do to disgrace your.
relatives, l wonder? But you must not
expect us to recognize you after such
a degrading exhibition of yourselves.
l don't believe actually that Jack Ham,
lin would want me for his wife if he
knew we had such people in the fam
ily."
Jack Hamlin?'
There was no mirth now in the sweet
young voice.
The white-rose face was colorless,
with a strange, unnatural pallor, her
eyes dilated, and her lips %quivering.
"Oh, you weren't likely to have met
him ever,' said Della. He belongs to
the very best people,"
Aida had reached the door of the
richly furnished, but untidy budoir.
Shall l bring you the ar gel cake?"
she inquired briefly.
"Of course; and you neenn't be up-
pish at my plain speaking. I am al
ways truthful myself" was Miss Bar
rington's lofty RESPONSE.
A moment later Aida Maury was
walking slowly hnmcwarl, along ,la
quiet avenue.
But she was not like the merry
creature, with buoyant steps and spark
ling eyes, who had luttered into Miss
B~arrington's boudoir a little while be-
fore, and had laughed at poverty and
Knocked at tears.
Her gayety was all dispelled, not by
the unfeeling insolence of the brainless
woman she had just left, but by the
mention of a name which always had
power to torture and unnerve her.
How dear-hoW ineffably dear-Jack
Hamlin had been to her once! Alas!
how dear he was to her even yet!
And how proud he had been of her,
how devotedly he had loved her, until
that miserable quarrel which estranged
thelr foolish young hearts.
They shared the blame equally. One
was no more in the wrong than the
other.
Aida realized that now.
All, heaven! how grief clears ones
vision! After one has wept and az
onized how easy it is to discern the
mote in ones own eye!
After these long months of unavail-
ing tears and prayers, how wildly she
realized her own wrong-doing in pre-
cipitating that fatal quarrel.
Poor Jack was intensely, p%reposter-
ously jealous sometimes. He could not
help it; or at least he had inherited the
tendency, and he had never tried to
overcome It.
Aida had no patience with his be-
setting fault; or it had never occurred
to her that patience might be wisest
and most kind. She felt vexed with
him instead; and she vas still child
enough to delight in teasing HMM be.
slowing upon the individual who had
crossed his jealousy a dangerous redun
dancy of false smiles.
At his passionate circumstances she
had only laughed-a forced laugh OF
pretended Indifference, but none the
less maddening to the jealous lover
When she had finally goaded Jack tc
fierce anger, his inconsiderate reproach
es kindled her own undisciplined tenn
per; and then bitter words were spoken
by both-stinging, haunting words which
could never be recalled.
The next day Jack Hamlin was gone
nobody knew where. Days and weeks
and months rolled by, but he did mo-
come back. And then Aida and hel
mother, nearly beggared by the insoly