The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1897-07-01

Pretty Mrs. Cloverdale had put
her foot down. Tt was a very dainty
little foot, incased in a white canvas
bottine, but the fact that it was
small and attractively shod made
little difference in the force with
which it emphasized a decision.
Mrs. Cloverdale was reclining in a
bent wood rocker, and her tiny foot
scarcely reached the floor, but at
that moment she had rocked far
forward and had brought down mar
row toe and high heel simultaneous
ly upon the cool Japanese mating
that half hid the parquetry of her
library.
"Once and for ALL Molly, dear"
she had said, mo. Under no cir
cumstances will I ever give my con-
sent to your marriage with that
meier do we'll.
Although Molly knew her mis-
tress well enough to understand
that it was quite useless for her to
plead further, her opportunities did
not cease with the coming down of
the little foot. With a panied ex-
preston upon her rose leaf face and
tears in her voice she defended her
adored Andrew to the best of her
power.
"Oh, no, Mrs. Cloverdale, = she
exclaimed, mot that! Andrew is
not a meier do well. He is honest,
and he is willing to work, but he
has been unfortunate. am sure
that together we could get along
admirably. There is a vacancy, you
know, in the stable since Barney,
the second groom, left, and'-
Nonsense, girl" cried Mrs. Clo-
verdale, taking up a fan from the ta=
BILE at her side and beginning to
sway it with some energy. Do you
think I would permit you to marry
stable boy2 There is young Alex
ander, the son of Captain Silvester's
farmer, for instance. He would be
much more suitable husband for
you.
"But do not love him, objected
the girl in all innocence, just as
though love were a necessary adj
iunct to marriage in these days.
Whereas I'm very, very fond of
Andrew, and he simply worships
me. We were playmates as children,
you know, and I can never forget
when Andrew risked his own life to
save mine the time that I fell into
the river and was being carried by
the current down to the rapids. He
is waiting for his answer now, and
I do so want it to be Yes. .
The girls mistress continued to
fan herself, unmoved by these en-
treaties.
81 know what is best for you,
Molly. !" she said. 1.-THE answer that
you will give is Nor Some day you
will thank me for insisting upon
it.
Then it was that the tears that
had been in the young woman's
voice began to flow, and, with a
handkerchief pressed to her eyes
and her young, supple frame shak-
ing with sobs, she left the room.
The relation that Mrs. Cloverdale
bore to her maid and companion
was, as may have been inferred, not
merely that of employer. Servants
are not in the habit of seeking Ell
Their counsel or consent from their
mistresses when they desire to take
upon their shoulders the connubial
yoke, and had MolIy's allegiance
been measured simply by the wages
of e2 a month that she received,
she would in all probability have
sought the village parsonage with
Andrew by her side and have told
Mrs. Cloverdale of the momentous
step she had taken when it was all
over.
Molly was a native of the Berk-
shire hills She had been born on
the farm that had belonged to the
Cloverdales for generations. Her
father had titled its soil and her
mother had churned the cream of
its Attorney COWS into yellow but
ter, and then both father and
mother had gone the way of all
flesh, leaving Molly, a budding little
pink and white beauty of ID or
thereabout.
That summer Mr.. David Clover
dale of the old established firm of
Cloverdale & Lowry, leather mer-