The record-union., 1897-04-11

Yer. The Squire himself, who had
| never called on 'old Miss Belmont"
said he must "leave a card; the
| Squires lady signified her intention of
! doing the same; and the Squire's
| daughters observed with much grace
full tenderness that they would take a
| basket of dollhouse grapes to dear
Miss Belmont" And lady, who was
staying with the Squire on a visit-the
I Hon. Mrs. Maddenham. parsonage
understood to be of immense influence
at Court and much liked by all Great
| People (bv which phrase we nowadays
understand the Great of Purse and not
the Great of HearD, said she would like
nothing better than to be introduced to
such an interesting person as Miss
Belmont Introduced she was accord
lngly-and at once fastened on Jane as
pertinacioUsly as blood sucking CAD
fly. Everywhere Jane went, there would
the affectionate Mrs. Maddenham also
go. Jane was her sympathy" she de-
clared; for ages she had been looking
Tor woman in all points resembling
Jane. 1t was an affinity of souls
And curious to relate, after very lit
tie while, Mrs. Maddenham completely
dominated and took possession of Jane.
| Now, up to this time ''old Miss Bel
| mont had been credited, rightly or
wrongly, with the quality of having a
will of her own but with the advent
OF the Hon. Mrs. Maddenham she APP
peared to resign herself to the force of
| circumstances and most meekly to do
Whatever Mrs. Maddenham bade her.
1t was Mrs. Maddenham who impressed
| her with the fact that she must "go
into Society,"" and Into Society Jane
plunged accordingly. Accompanied by
Mrs. Madcenham, she left Ashleigh in
Notwithstanding over Restful Har-
Dor with all it's china and mignonette to
the care of her gardener and his wife,
VINO We're charged with the business of
Keeping it clean and in order Without
a tear or sigh she turned her back on
the pretty village which had been her
nome for years, and went, by tearing,
10 London. Within that huge vortex,
Jane, like the helpless wooden dummy,
disappeared under the wild and whirl-
ing wing of the Hon. Mrs Maddenham
Ana FOR some time she seemed drowned,
lost and gene forever-when suddenly
she emerged from the seething whirl-
ers on her dear old head and a long
silver-gray train, trimmed with Won
derful old lace, pendant from her shout
ders, which, by the by were still shape
ly and would bear showing in daylight
for Jane was a WelI-made woman
with a white skin. In this guise. and
with some qualms of uneasy shame
concerning these same shoulders, Jane
made her courtesy to one of the con-
Venient representatives. of absent mai
esty on dEawing-room day, and her ap-
pearance was duly chronicled in the
fashionable news among the presenta-
tons thus: Miss Jane Belmont, by the
Hon. Mrs Maddenham
Then it was that people began to talk
and say What an odd thing!' The
natives of Ashleigh-in- the Dell i'm
proved the statement by adding that
it was the oldest thing they ever heard
off, Jane had gone into society,"
she had %come outn'-and not only had
she come out" but Pilotelle had
sketched her in THE Lady's Pictorial
in her court gown-with a waist of six
teen inches, the contour of a broom
stick and the head of a noodle But
that was the fault of the court modiste
who had made her gown. The court
| modiste had put the gown on one of
| her ''collapsible' wire frames and had
! turned the scollapsible" round and
round like a teetotum for the delecta-
ton of Pilotelle-and Pilotelle had
sketched it, as he sketches every sort
of costume, with nothing of figure, but
all of millinery. And seeing poor Jane
thus stuck up for show in The Lady
Pictorial" Ashleigh-in the-Dell was, as
it We're, convulsed-and worthy persons,
who had known Jane for years, shook
their heads and said, Can it be posi-
| ble?"
Law" murmured the gardener s
wife, as she busted the deserted little
rooms in Restful Harbor-"who'd a.
thought it at her time of life?"
Which we never knows what we
shall bel" returned the gardener HIM
self gloomily, as he trained the Gloire-
de-Dijon roses to grow more symmet-
rically around the windows of the
house. she was such a real lady. I'd
never a. believed she'd a gone adver-
Using of herself in one of they public
Prints,
But the reckless Jane, in happy ig-
norance of the comments passed upon
| her actions by her country acquaint-
ances, did not stop in her mad career
with her presentation at court and her
broomstick portrait by the renowned
| Pilotelle. AS a matter of fact, she had
only just begun to move her arms in
what is called the swim" Supported
by Mrs. Maddenham, who never left
her except to take the sleep which is
necessary even to society vampires Jane
spent good deal of money. She bought
a magnificent house in Grosvenor Park,
| fully furnished, from an impecuniouS
nobleman, who told her languidly that
| he was ''stoney- broke on the turf an
expression which she did not quite I'M
derstand - but vaguely grasping the
| fact that he had once been a gentle
| man and was now compelled to be a
slang talking beggar, she delicately re-
ferred him to her lawyers in order that
| the purchase of the property might be
arranged to his entire satisfaction,
without inficting upon him any I'M
necessary degradation or pain. The
matter was finally settled and Jane
| found herself mistress of what the auc-
| tioneers call "a palatial residence"
which palatia1 residence necessitated
her hiring an equally "palatial' staff
of servants to keep it in proper order.
| One would have thought that the
trouble and inconvenience generally at
| tendant on a luxurious establishment
would have been too much for Jane,
and would have put her out of humor.
she having been SO long accustomed to
| the simplest habits of life-but on the