The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-10-08
The Enshnnement of an Idol.
From Temple Bar. In Three Parts.
PART1

| (clOm Temple DIR. Ii 4AIcc "a IS<
PART1.
IT should say" remarks Miss Elizabeth
critically, that it's made on pillow"
Maybe it's knitted?" suggests Mis-;
| Letitia.
Never" shifts the former. with the su-
periortty of connoisseur.
'Well, her ladysh:p's maid do say as my
| lady pad fine sight for it at one them
nunnery places abroad-nigh on five
pounds" says Mrs Twiggs Importantly.
Dear, dear" calculates Miss Elizabeth.
81 should have thought his lordship would
have chosen A good Protestant at any rate.
/ but there's no telling who's what now
adays, what with their candles and such
! Ike. Well, good afternoon, Mrs. Twigg.
Letitia, it's four o'clock, and We only
meant to stay a minute. Then you viii send
/ jamie with the hen tomorrow? Thank you
! good afternoon"
Good afternoon echoes Miss Letitia.
| Miss Elizabeth and Miss Letitia Peach
| had called on Mrs. Twigg for the purpose
| of borrowing a broody hen.
That Mrs. Twigg should, on this partic-
| ular afternoon, be getting up some Of her
! ladyshp's rousseau was, Of course, only
/ coinc.dental.
When the Misses Peach, an hour and a
half earlier in the afternoon. had stated
/ their errand, il was only polite on Mrs.
| Twigg's part to ask the ladies TO step in,
and on their part to refuse was out of the
question; they would not have hurt Mrs
/ Twigs's feelings by appearing proud for
/ the world.
If any one limited at curiosity, Mss Le-
! tt:a would have answered with the eyes
of wonder for their astuteness. and Miss
! lizo Oft will he
scorn for their aspersion.
And so the clock in the corner of the
. kitchen had licked on, and the round jovial
moon on its face had smiled indulgently,
while Miss Elizabeth exclaimed, in sur
prise at the number of frills on Mary
| Bates petticoat-oh, her ladyship's, was
it?-Miss Elizabeth had no memory for
such things And the embroidered scarf
her ladyship had worn last Sunday, was
that In the wash, too: (Miss Elizabeth
was a regular church-goes, SO regular. in
deed that the clerk would hardly have
considered 1t Sunday If Miss Elizabeth had
not erred and strayed" with the rest)
Miss Letitia counted the tucks on this
garment and that, each article seeming TO
assume more wondrous proportions than
the last, as Mrs. Twigg sprinkled and
smoothed and pinched them from crisp OBJ
st:nacy into billowy and manageable pro-
portions.
The eliminating point OF admiration was
reached when lace handkerchief was
exposed for manipulation
Miss Elizabeth could do many things,
and lace-making was one of them. And,
to 90 her justice, she made IL well, with
out the least idea of its market value.
That a piece of lace not much finer
or more elegant than her own patterns
should be worth five pounds, was, to Miss
Elizabeth, a surprise she would have
scorned to betray to either Mrs. Twigg or
Mss Letitia. So, under cover of admira
ton and criticism, in less than five minutes
she had the knots and twists and turns Of
the pattern firmly fixed in her minds eye;
and. thus rewarded for a long walk in the
sun of a May afternoon, she took her de-
parture, followed by her sister.
The perversity of Miss Elizabeth's char
acter was well known, and 10 no one bet
ter than Miss Letitia Many years of close
companionship had taught the latter that
a direct question had no other result than
that of sealing Miss Elizabeth's lips for
ever on the subject. The most effective way
of eliciting an opinion was to state some
facts more or less mer;ting contradic-
ton.
Now two miles Of a dusty lane, even
a lane with pr:mroses on each side of it,
blue sky above it. and tea and scenes at
the end of II, is not so delightful that it
may not be made more so by converse ton.
At east, so thinks Miss Letit:a as she tries
in vain 10 keep up the pace of the stawart
figure in front of her and so avoid the
clouds of dust left in Miss EIzabeth's
wake.
Therefore-"I thought her ladyship's
things would have been finer. Elizabeth"
she ventures complainingiy. not however,
from disappointment, but from dust.
IF you knew anything about it, you
would have seen that the work on most
of her ladyship's garments-mind, L don't
say all-is of the very finest quality"-paus-
ing to fix Letit:a with her eye.
SO far so good; they are abreast now;
but. alas, elation snares Miss Lettia into
ger interrogatio n-"Will you be able to
copy the handkerchief. think you, sister,
But the pioneers answer is a cloud of
dust as she stalks onward two yards
ahead.
The Misses Peach lived at farm on
the outskirts Of a small north-country
town.
Tine was when May had brought them
new millinery, as Il does to many women,
a visit for Miss Elizabeth to friends here
and there, presents brought back 10 little
Lefty az home-for there were ten years
between them.
AS years went on. was May less bounti-
full than of yore, or were her recipients
more exacting?
How was it Miss Elizabeth's visits be-
came things TO be remembered only; That
Letty's presents, even when counted over
and over again, always remained the same
number? That Mrs. Peach's silk bonnet
went for five years to church in the same
state exactly-well, perhaps, a little diff
ferent; the green ribbons frayed where
they tied beneath the patient face-and was
it the silk or the soft bands of hair that
looked altered in color? Then-many years
ago now-May had brought flowers, white |
ones. for mothers grave. And. when !
the petals were scattered, and Autumn had /,
lighted her funeral pyres in the hedges /
with hips and haws and mountain-ash |
berries. flaming and growing redder and .
reddsr. in a last farewell TO earth, Miss /
Elizabeth went on a journey. a long one |
from which she returned with a bundle /
of letters in her own handwriting, and 4
what was now her dearest earthly pos
sess. OF.
Only a photograph on glass, in a large /
black leather frame-an attempt 10 make /
immortal the image OF a young man lean |
ing against a marble pillar, with a min /
gled expression OF tim.d expectation and 7.
.lnplorng remonstrance such as the early /
martyrs TO the Photographic art usually !
wear \ comedy face enough. above large ,
and spreading cravat, which threatened 70 4
smother rose in the wearer's button
hole.
Ii was Miss EliZabeth's daily regret that
the rose whitehall, how well she remsm-
l---, i-uas Nhlta lad heen .cnlnrai rni,s