The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-03-24
THE JILTING OF JANE.

AS / sit writing in my study I can
hear our Jane humping her way down
stairs with a brush and dust pan. She
used in the-oldy days to sing hymn tunes
or the British national song for the
time being to these Instruments, but
iatterly she has been silent and even
careful over her work. Time was when
/ prayed with fervor for such silence.
and my wife with signs for such care.
but now they have come we are not so
glad as we might have anticipated we
should be. Indeed, 1 would rejoice Sc
cretly, though 1T may be unmanly weak
ness to admit it, even to hear Jane sing
DAISY or by the fracture of any plate
but one of Mariana's best green ones to
learn that the period of breeding has
come to an end.
Yet how we longed to hear the last of
James young man before we heard the
last of him. Jane was always very free
with her conversation to my wife, and
discoursed admirably in the kitchen on
a variety of t~opics-so well, indeed. that
l sometimes left my study door open
our house is a small one-to partake Of
it. But after William came it was al
ways William, nothing but William:
William this and William that, and
when we thought William was worked
out and exhausted altogether, then Will
liam all over again. The Engagement
lasted altogether three years, yet how
she got introduced to William and so
became thus saturated with him was al
ways a secret. For my part, I believe
1t was at the street corner where the
Rev. Barnabas Baux used to hold an
open air service after evensong on Sun
days. Young Cupids We're won't to fit
Hke moths round the paraffin flare of
that center of High Church hymn sing
ing. l fancy she stood singing hymns
there, out OF memory and her imagina-
ton, instead of coming home to get sup
per, and William came up beside her
and said, Hello" Hello, Yourself"
she said, and, etiquette being satisfied,
they proceeded to talk together.
AS Mariana has a reprehensible way
of letting her servants talk to her. she
soon heard of him. He is such a re-
spectacle young man, ma'am,' said
Jane, you don't know ignoring the
slur cast on her acquaintance, my wife
inquired further about this William.
He is second porter at Maynard's,
the draper's," said Jane, 'and gets
eighteen shillings-nearly a pound-a
week, MN, and when the head porter
leaves he will be head porter. His rela-
tives are quite superior people, MN.
Not laboring people at all. His father
was a green grosher, MN, and had a
chumor, and he was bankrup' twice.
And one of his sisters is in a home for
the dying. 1t will be a very good
match for me. ma'am,' said Jane, me
being an orphan girl"
Then you are engaged to him % asked
my wife.
Not engaged, ma'am, but he is saw
ing money to buy a ring-hammyffst."
We'll, Jane, when you are properly
engaged to him you may ask him round
here on Sunday afternoons and have
tea with him in the Kitchen" For my
Mariana has a motherly conception of
her duty towards her maid servants.
And presently the amethystine ring was
being worn about the house, even with
ostentation, and Jane developed a new
way of bringing in the joint, so that
this gage was evident. The elder Miss
Maitland was aggrieved by it, and told
my wife that vi ought not to wear
rings. But my wife looked it up in
Inquire Within and Mrs. MotherIy's
Book of Household Management, and
found no prohibition. So Jane remained
with this happiness added to her love.
The treasure of James heart appeared
to me to be what respectable people call
a very deserving young man. will
liam, ma'am,'' said Jane one day sud
denly, with i'll concealed complacency.
as she counted out the beer bottles,
"William, ma'am, is a teetotaler- Yes,
MN; and he don't smoke Smoking,
ma'am,'' said Jane, who reads the heart.
10 make Sucn d uuSI ABOUT. bcSlueS
the waste of money. And the smell.
However, / suppose it's necessary to
some"
Possibly it dawned on Jane that She
was rejecting a little severely upon
Mariana's comparative i'll fortune, and
she added kindly: TIN sure the master
is a hangel when his pipes alight. Com
pared to other times
William was at first q rather shabby
young man of the ready-made black coat
school of costume. He had watery gray
eyes and a complexion appropriate to
the brother of one in a home for the
dying. Mariana did not fancy him very
much. even at the beginning. His mi
nent responsibility was vouched for by
an alpaca umbrella, from which he
never allowed himself to be parted.
HE goes to chapel" said Jane His
papa, ma'am-
His what, Jane"
His papa. ma'am, was church, but
Mr.. Maynard is a Plymouth brother,
and William thinks it policy, ma'an1, to
go there, too. Mr.. Maynard comes and
talks to him quite friendly when they
Amt busy. about using up all the ems
of string and about his o He takes
a lot of notice, do Mr.. Maynard, of Will
liam, and the way he saves string and
his soul, ma'am."
Presently we heard that the head por-
ter at Maynard's had left, and that VIII
liam was head porter at twenty-three
shiIlingS a week. II is really kind of
over the man who drives the van,' said
Jane, and him married, with three chill
dren.' And she promised in the pride
of her heart to make interest for us
with William to favor us so that we
might get our parcels OF drapery from
Maynard's with exceptional promptitude.
After this promotion a rapidly increas-
ing prosperity came upon James young
man. One day we learnt that Mr.. May
nard had given William a book.
Smiles Flip Yourself it's called" said
Jane, but it amt comic. 1t tells you
how to get on in the world. and some
that William read to me- was lovely.
ma'am."
Mariana told me of this laughing, and
then she became suddenly grave. do
you know, DEAR she said. Jane said
one thing l do not like. She had been
quiet for a minute. and then she sud
denly remarked, William is a lot above
me. ma'am, amt heg
II don't see anything in that" I said.
though later my eyes were to be opened.
One Sunday afternoon about that time
/ was sitting at my writing desk-possi-
bly, L was reading a good book-when a
something went by the window l heard
h@hsr 40 a-1