Evening star., 1897-03-20

out of her just due of argument by the
silence of her dversaY4tthreatened to lay
before her husband 6ei appalling results
of overeducation upon an already naughty
nature that some glimmer of the old re-
bellion flashed out between them: vet the
Righteousness. like ths hauteur. had been
changed by the two years residence at
Eastbourne. That Edna was angry at
this proposed appeal to- her father was
evident; still there was reserve and re-
straint in her Indignation which Mrs Sart-
we'll could not fathom. The girl stood for
a moment looking at her, then said very
quietly:
my father has enough to worry him
without Icing bothered by our small af-
has made you like me better than you did
before I went away. and 1 wish him to
continue thinking So"
Like you better? Ny poor child, it is
the love have for you that causes me to
endeavor in my humble way-praying that
my efforts may be blessed by a higher
power-to correct those faults that will
be your undoing some day.
1 am speaking of what my father thinks
The moment he finds things are just as
bad as they ever were, then ell your hold
over me is gone. / am now trying to bear
patiently and uncomplainingly all l have
to put up with in this house. and l do so
for no other reason than to save my father
unnecessary trouble. You say / am proud
resentful stubborn and all that. 1 am
far worse than even you have any idea of.
of woman 1 shall become if l am much
longer under your sway.
Il feel like a hypocri:e when / remain
silent under your taunts, for l think sucn
things that If were to put them in words
well, we won't talk of that. If you imagine
that l have learned meekness because |
have lived in a really Christian family for
TWO years, you are very much mistaken:
but have learned that true Christianity
does not consist in nagging, with text at
Now, being woman, 1 understand you
very much better than my father does
You said once that, if he chose 1ne to be
mistress of this house, you would Law down
your keys and depart without a murmur
You would do nothing of the kind. You
would fight for your placa Therefore, /
want you to understand thoroughly what
you may expect If you appeal to my father
The moment you complain of me in any
way or lead him to think there is the least
friction. l shall go to him and say that l
must be mistress here What will happen
then?-you know as well AS l do So long
as he Is not troubled with our affairs /
shall say nothing, and will try to be as
dutfful and obedient if l were your own
daughter.
Mrs. Sartwell sat down, buried her face
IN her hands and wept softly, as one does
whose tenderest feelings are wounded 1t
was hard that after having lifelong con-
test with one stubborn person. resulting in
most uncertain and unsatisfactory vic
tory-lf 1t could be called victory at all
she should be called upon to face the same
problem over again. She knew that if Ed
ma appealed to her father anything might
happen He would be brute enough to take
another house somewhere and live in peace
with his daughter The man was capable
OF anything. in spite Of all the precepts she
had flung away upon him., However, there
was still the consolation, that she might
save the girl by earnest and devoted I.r-
sistence In well-doing, and she knew Edna
would not protest SO long as her father as
unmolested SO Mrs. Startwell agreed that
her husband should not pc made the referee
between them. and peace once more folded
her white wings over the happy home.
Edna had developed into a beautiful wo-
man; more beautiful, indeed, than she her
self had any idea of. She.was more sedate
ana reserved than when she had left home,
and more prone to sit ttsoughtfuly chin in
hand, and ponder, with her dreamy eyes
trying to peer into the future Resolutely
as she had set herself to put Marsten for
ever cut of her thoughts. she never sue
ceeded, and his vibrant, sdeep-toned voice
often came back to her.s Although she had
been brought up in a democratic way and
theoretically held that one person was
!echnicaiiy as good as another, yet she lived
In country where grocer's daughter con-
siders IT quite beneath her dignity to be
seen in company with a green grocer's 5
daughter; while the daughter of draper,
from her serene SOCIAL altitude, would have
some d1fflculty In distinguishing the rela-
1--WE status of the other two although she
would be we'll aware that the adjective
green carried comparative degradation
Win II. Edna was the daughter of man
VINO had been workman; yet, when she
thought over the proposal she had received
In the school garden. she was slightly
to think that workman should
aspire to the hand of his masters daughter
She had conversed With Marsten and dis
cussed the problems that had interest ed
them both. yet never for a moment had the
thought OF equality between them entered
her mind He was merely Il worku;, ard
when that was said d gulf yawned But
love levels all ranks as a distinguished
man has sung, and, the young woman
medltated on the subject IN all its bearings |
the social barriers seemed to become less
and less tangible. She remembered that no |
thought of social inequality had ever oc-
Cured to her while in his presence. She |
got no further in the understanding of her
own feelings than the conclusion that she
liked him very much indeed and had a |
strong admiration for his maniness and his |
to succeed
When the strike came on, and she knew |
that her father and lover We're opponents, |
her state OF mind was one of great perpleX-
ity 1t was hard that one or the other must |
be defeated, and she sighed when she |
thought of the relentlessness of fate in |
bringing into savage opposition the two
men who We're now dearer to her than all
the world beside.
AS the contest went on and she saw her
father bending under the storm, aging !
perceptibly day by day, becoming more
and more Silent, her strong affection for
him grew stronger; she yearned toward |
him, wishing she could comfort him, yet !
Knowing she was helpless. Sometimes a |
herce resentment against Marsten would |
spring suddenly up in her heart. He had
all the world to fight against, yet he must |
cheese as his antagonist, out of the many |
millions. her father. 1t disconnected her |
to perceive that tnls resentment never last |
ed lcng; that she found herself sympa thiZ- |
ing too, with the younger of the COM
batants and making excuses for him. A |
partisan has an easy time of it in this |
world compared with one who sees that |
all the good or all the bad rarely rests |
with one side solely. but is interviewer like |
the cotton and the wool in piece of cloth. |
Sartwell and Marsten each believed he |
was fighting for the right; but Edna saw
wrong on both sides and right on both |
sides. although-once the fight was started |
she had not the courage to say this to
her father.
But as war goes on, the original right |
or wrong almost invariably sinks out Of
sight. and we choose our side from other
considerations than those which appeal in
times of peace to thinking beings. He who