Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-04-17

an elderly widUwcr i'm Bayswater and in
this place she rensunod for seven years,
leaving it only because the father now
wished to send her pupils abroad
Shortly after her dismissal Nurse Math-
ers died and Miss Brown was the recipient
by will Of the whole of her savings.
With this legacy, and the amount she
! had laid by during her residence in Bays
water, she found herself possessed of be-
tween goo and $500, and she felt she was
entitled to take holiday, or, to put it
more explicitly, to crafty taste for travel
! by indulging in "a few months sojourn in
! Paris and Rome.
She was, however, entirely friendless,
the dear old woman who was gone being
the only creature she had had in the world
to love, and the drawbacks to her scheme
speedily presented themselves. After all
, 1t might be more expedient to find some
lady going abroad and obtain the post Of
companion" to her. She decided to ad
vertise and for the present, unoppressed
! by anxiety she Installed herself in comfort
able apartments to await replies.
1t will be seen that for discarded child,
o stray who was taken to the workhouse-
albeit she had boon brought up in igno-
rance of the fact-Miss Lily Brown had got
ON fairly we'll.
If she herself might be said to have pros
pered her mothers career had been one Of
almost uneXampled splendor After re-
fusing half Il dozen offers brilliant even for
her position and being the rciyning beauty
beyond dispute for three sri' ons she had
at length accepted the Earl ct Barbclion,
and the Earl OF EdrhCllion, having the
grace To- die within - year Of thciralliancc,
had left her with rent roll of 70 ue
and daughter, who il she did not
exactly inherit her mammals attractions,
was quite sufficiently ph~sHhlc in view Of
the settlements she could bring.
Remembering these settlements, it was
! odd Lady BArbcllion somctimcs reflected,
that Isabel did not go oil moro quickly
Until Lord pecrgloss had appeared on the
SCENE really no one had seemed to take"
to her at all. And she wanted her to
marry very much, dear, good girl, but
| trying, very trying occasionally and awk-
ward to get ON with, incOmprehensiblu
and full of whims
Her latest within was that she needed a
companion in fact, she absolutely re-
fused to winter in Rome without one, ard
it was essential that she should winter in
Rome, since Pccrgloss was there and it
was not desirable that his fancy should be-
/ given time to cool.
She was not, however, easy to suit. Ono
person was too old and another was too
7 plain and n third did not appeal to her
somehow" 1t was not for several weeks
after they had begun to scan the ADVERTISE
mcnt columns of The Post that anybody
presented herself who appeared to fulfil
the fa-tidious young lady's requirements.
The successful applicant certainly had
everything in her favor possibly except.
ing that Lady 3arbclun opincd she was
too good looking for "a dependents posi-
ton. Still the main thing was to settle
with some one and capture Pecrglo~s
while ne was in the mood, 50 she was en-
gagged and HE trio departed.
Mildred had cause to congratulate her
self on the step when they arrived. Peer
gloss was unfcgncdly glad to see them,
and after few days they met constantly,
walking, driving and dining together, to
Isabel, evident delight The young man )
attentions did not, it is true, mature and
eliminate quite 80 rapidly as the COUNTIES,
had expected but he was doubtless an cpi
cure in the emotions and preferred to pro-
long the pleasure of Irritation To its fullest
extent before proposing.
Alas This amiabe delusiOn on tho
widow part was destined to have an ig-
numinuus end l3y dcgrccs--sluw de-
grces, for she WAS very luath To acknOwl.
edge tit became evident to her pcrcop-
ton that, whatever attraction Isabel might
have exercised earlier over his mind that
attraction was suffering IA certain eclipse
through the destinations of her companion.
Ii was shOckiug-it was hurrible-but sho
was "A clear sighted woman and she knew
that it was true. There was only ono
course to be aduptcd-tU give the pres um-
ing adventures her congo before things
had gone too far. She did not explain her