The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-14
Che Bot1le Reading Circle
The GIRL OF THE WHITE butterflies.
BY KATE UPSON CLARK.
Copyright, 1885, by the Bachelor syndicate.l


slowly. AT any rate it is a beautiful
omen. It betokens a white soul"
I'm me?" questioned the girl, half
mockingly
Yes, you"
ooh, you don't know!" she murmur-
ed, bitterly.
What did you say, RIP" demanded
her mother, suspiciously Take care!"
Mrs. Collins Wood felt uncomfortable
and rose to depart, more interested In
this strange girl than ever.
"Then you will come on Sunday?"
she said.
NO" muttered the woman thickly.
"She can't go and she knows she
| can't"
Dorilla said nothing till she handed
| the reins to Mr. Wood. Then the girl
! intimated that she might appear at the
school house on Sunday afternoon after
! ALL and only laughed at the rather
! shocked and doubtful expression which
| appeared on her visitors face. She
! drove away, with the vision in her
mind of Dorilla standing there in the
| sunlight, with delicate, whlte-winged
| things settling down upon her. Beside
with its vulgar mistress and it's sinister
atmosphere, sank into significance.
Sure enough, on the following Sun
day, the girl appeared at the school
house, and after the lesson was over
and the others had left, she explained
to Mrs. Wood that she had come with
out he knowledge of her parents, "but,"
she went on, sit didn't make any DIFF
Co fri de
| came from the city last night, and we
had to get a big dinner for them this
noon. Father does some of the cooking,
and Mickey and the others help. Mother
| doesn't like to have me spoil my hands.
| She and her father care a great deal
| more about keeping them white than
/ do--ard while they were eating, l
| just crent away. They think l am in
the wood3--for / go off there by myself
a great deal. It's no matter, anyway"
"Ohw Horeathed Mrs. Wood, still
somewhat dubious as to the propriety
| of receiving Dorilla into her class under
| the circumstances, and wondering why
| these strange parents should wish to
keep the girl cooped up by herself on
! Pine Hill; but her delight in the class,
| her evident love for her young teacher
| she came, her high ethical perceptions
| and her thurst for spiritual light, de-
! termined Mrs. Wood to let things go
| as Dorilla wished. She said one day
| to her: 1T is just as l said, Dorilla-
| the omen is true--you have a white
SOUL You always know what is right
| and see it more quickly than any of
| the resi- of u.s."
IN ha hn1 ictr Il
look came over the girls face and her
eyes filled.
You don't understand" she repeat
| ed in a voice full of misery.
Mrs, Wood did not cal! again at the
| house at Pine Hill, but sometimes she
| drove past it, on the chance of catch
! ing glimpse of Dorilla. One day she
had seen a man who was undoubtedly
Mr. Thomas Keasbey. He was short,
thick-set man, slovenly, yet fiashy, like
! his wife.
Occasionally Mrs. Wood managed to
get Dorilla to spend an afternoon with
! her in the village. Then they had long,
affectionate talks, in which each told
| the other of the chief events of her life,
though Dorilla was rather provokingly
| reserved in her accounts. Mrs Wood
gathered, however, that she had been
born on her grandfather's farm, a little
way from New York city; that later the
family had removed to the town, where
they had lived above Mr.. Keasbey's
locksmith shop; that they had periods
of prosperity, during which they had
Travelled abroad, dressed well and had
everything. These had been succeeded
by times of poverty. Dorilla spoke
most lovingly of the sisters at the con-
vent where she had been so long. 81
had been sick, sbut 1 grew we'll and
strong there" she said. "Oh, I loved
the convent so! If 1 were only there
now" She burst into tears as she
spoke, and sobbed long and passionate
ly
Don't! Don't, Dorilla!" begged her
gentle hostess. "You shake so and sob
so, you frighten me-"
"Oh, you don't KNOW" wept the girl.
Don't know what? Aren't they kind
to you at home?"
"Oh. yes My father is good to me
and proud that I have had some edu-
cation. He somehow expects to be,
come rich again, and then he will make
a fine lady of me, he says"
AS Mrs. Wood stroked the girls silk
en- head, she cast about in her mind for
threads Of recollection which might
unravel the mystery of Dorilla's tears
She remembered seeing once a pleas
ant-looking young man sitting beside
Dorilla on the Pine Hill doorstep. She
had spoken often of certain "Mikey. d
Gould there be a love affair at the bot
tom of this grief?
A few questions revealed the fact
that Dorilla did, indeed. cherish an af.
fection for Mickey" which was disap.
proved by her father, who said thai
"Mikey" had no nerve" and woulC
never amount to anything"
but he is a gentleman through and
through" Dorilla concluded, with di.
lating eyes and blazing cheeks, land
shall never like anybody else half Sc
much. ] know his name isn't pretty
but neither is mine. Dorilla! 1t is tht
softest, sckest name l ever heard of
My mother got it out of a novel. Blu
] must 60" Dorilla had stolen awaN
from home as usual.
II wish they would not keep you 81
| al clio