Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-02-01

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and wiping his forehead with a blue
checked handkerchief as he presented
the letter to Mrs. Jack with, the other
hand. He had taken the precaution Of
wrapping 1t in bit Of thin paper that
1t might not be soiled by his inky fin
ger and thumb.
"a letter for me, Mr. Mills?"
Eyes, madam. took the liberty Of
carrying it up myself without loss of
time, thinking that it might be Of con-
sequence. 1t was directed care of the
office, madam"
"Oh, how very kind of you, Mr.. Mills.
am afraid you have put yourself into
a great heat by coming SO quickly.
Thank you very, very much.''
mot at all. madam. I hope you will
excuse the liberty" N& &
And Mr. Mills modestiy Withdrew.
carrying with him the recollection Of
a smile and "a blush, which danced
through the dingy printing office all
the rest of the day, like a will-o'-the-
wisp. And he began mentally to COM
pose a poem-in fancy he saw it al
ready printed in the poets corner of.
the Codlington Chronicle. and entitled
''Stanzas TO *"-which, however,
was not destined to proceed further in
concrete form than the line, "Oh,
lillybell! Sweet lillybell!"
Meanwhile Mrs. Jack tore open the
letter. 1t was addressed to j. L., Office
Of the Codlington Chronicle, and con-
tanned request that the lady. whose
| advertisement, numbered thirty-seven,
had appeared in last weeks Chronicle,
would be kind enough to call the fol-
lowing day on Mrs. Boddington, Beech
Grove, Codlington.
Bell rushed breathressly down stairs
| with the letter in her hand to show it
to Barney" Brit Barney was out
as she might have known would be
the case If she had taken time to think
for a moment. Falling Barney, Bell
ran into the kitchen to tell Mrs. Petite
rick her news. Somebody she must
confide in.
Mrs. Petherick vas duly interested,
end paused in the act of rolling out the
paste for 4 pudding to listen to the
letter. Lard! Mrs. jack" she said,
heartily, I'm as pleased as Punch to
see you pleased, but I can't abear to
think of you toiling and moiling and
trapsing out wet or dry to give les
sons"
Mrs. Jack was too pleased and excit-
ed to discuss the point But who Is
Mrs. Boddington, Mrs. Petherick?" she
added, eagerly. Mrs. Petherick did not
know; but she knew that Beech Grove
was pretty house, with a garden,
standing about half mile from the
town, on the London Road. perhaps
this lady Is q newcomer" said Mrs.
Jack. "All the better. I would rather
be employed by stranger to Cooling
ton. wonder how many children she
has! [ hope she's nice. lis nice let
ter, don't you think so, Mrs. Pether-
lex ~
Mrs. Petherick gravely gave her opin-
ion that it was VERY nice letter In
deed" And then Bell ran up stairs
again, and selling Popsy-who had just
come in from her mornings walk-by
both hands, performed wild dance Of
delight, jumping round and round with
her rather stolid and very fat partner.
Popsy's mode Of joining In the dance
was to swing herself up by her moth
er's supporting hands, with both feet
off the ground at once, and to come
fat down on the square-toed little feet
again, with a bang.
Mother and child were in the midst
of this performance, when they were
brought to sudden standstill by the
&C ind Of a well known voice.
II did knock, Bell" said the voice.
wonder you did not hear the carriage
drive up"
Bell faced ro' nd, flushed, painting and
dishevelled, and confronted her mother
in-law and Rebecca.
Mrs. Lilly face evinced no kind Of
emotion. Rebecca looked Mt her with
slightly raised eyebrows. Rebecca was
rot Ill natured o. bottom. She never
said the spiteful things which emma
was apt to launch at her sister-in-law.
But Rebecca had way of assuming
q tolerant kind of superiority which
Bell sometimes resented with quick.
impulsive Indignation. Bells anger was
usually Il fire Of straw, however, and,
on the whole, she had stronger re-
gard for Rebecca than for any other
member of the Lilly family. Neverthe-
less she was nettled on this occasion
by Rebecca's raised eyebrows and the
tone in which she said:
Il am glad to find you in such good
spirits, Bell.''
It did seem rather hard to be caught
capering about as If she had not
care in the world, when only half IN
hour ago she had been oppressed by
the sense Of her money difficulties, and
painfully bordering how to pay her
debts. If Mrs. Lilly and Rebecca had
but come half an hour sooner they
would have seen for themselves that
she was neither insensible nor careless.
''But it seems as if I was destined to
look like thoughtless fool before the
Lillys," thought poor Bell. "And now,
If plead poverty and debt, and ask
them to help me, I know exactly what
they will say"
However, it proved unnecessary for
her to plead her cause this time, for
Mrs Lilly began at once with the an
nouncement that she had come pre-
pared to settle any outstanding bills
that might be owing by her daughter
in-law up to that date.
II should have told you Of this SOON
er, Bell" said Mrs. Lilly, 'but put it
off day by day thinking to see you at
Percival House. knew you We're not
I'LL for I heard of vour being soon