The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-09-23
HELEN and JAGK.'
BY katherine MARIluER

uTcdm1uS IT, "ucu "OIc lily udAI 81
long and my dress so Intentionally neg
lige that the street boys greeted me as
shakespeare" when I was poor, and
aAsocialist and aSentimentalist,a and had
plenty of time to fritter away, I used
to be regular attendant at the Monday
popular concerts. I was too poor to
take reserved seat, and too enthusi-
astic to be content with a bad one. I
never failed, therefore, to be at the side
door of St. James hall so early that
had little difficulty, week by week, in
securing my favorite place in the front
row of the orchestra. Truly, after the
scramble in getting in, it seemed at
first but sorry, tedious business to
sit waiting for an hour until the con-
cert began. The evening paper was
soon read, and the ceaseless chatter
and restlessness that prevailed on every
hand did not allow of any pleasure in
more solid reading; but soon found
in the fellow-creatures who surrounded
me ample amusement and food for re-
Fiction.
There were others who worshipped
as devotedly as at the shrine of music,
who came as early to St. James hall
and got their seats almost as regularly
as I got mine, every Monday evening
during the season. There were two
girls in particular, whom I soon came
to look for quite eagerly. They usual
~ sat Immediately behind me, and I
became silent party to all the gossip
they retailed, to all the condolences
they exchanged. knew the prices of
their hats, how much yard they gave
for their winter gowns, and for how
long they wore the same pair of gloves.
Moreover, 1 learnt that sequins had
gone out of fashion, that an evening
bodice is more becoming "cut square,
than 'cut round" and that crinkly
hair=pins ''stop in much better than
straight ones. It was a revelation to
me-a youth destitute of ssters-to
hear what girls talk about and how they
seem to look at the affairs of this COM
pick life through medium of mil
Gnery. These two addressed one an
other as "Grace" and 'Muriel," varied
by "dear," and I gathered that they
were bosom friends whose sole oppor-
tunity of meeting during the week was
afforded by the monday Pops" One
of them, it TRANSFERRED, was a student
at the Royal College of Music-a vio-
linist; the other took to be school
mistress. But, after all, it was not they
themselves so much as a third person,
OF whom they constantly talked, that
excited in me the profoundest curiosity.
remember well the first time heard
of Helen Ambrose. 1t was one evening
when Grace was rather late in ar
irving at the hall, and ''Muriel'' had had
to so through good deal of maneuver-
Ing in order to keep a seat for her
friend, a circumstance which had not
improved her temper, nor mine, either,
for in her shutting endeavors to occupy
two seats at once Miss Muriel had unin-
tentionally dealt me several nasty
kicks in the back. However, in those
days l was more accustomed to kicks
than to the proverbial alternative
ha'pence. When, at length, the late
conner appeared it was evident that she
was in a state of intense excitement.
Scarcely had she clambered to her place
before she burst forth breathlessly:
"Muriel, what do you think? You'll
never guess. Who do you think is in
town."
I'm sure don't know. Put your hat
straight. Who?"
"Helen."
"No!" exclaimed Muriel, with an
amazement that must have satisfied
her informant's appetite for creating
sensation. 'Why has she come? Is
she going to make her debut at last?
How on earth did she manage it? Have
you seen her, or heard from herr"
Zone question at time, please. I
haven't either seen or heard from her.
AS you know, she has dropped me. She
has come, imagine, in pursuit of Jack.
How she managed it is a more difficult
problem to solve. But, did you ever
know Helen set her heart on thing
and not get it? Penniless as she now
is, she seems to have retained that pe-
culiarity."
Come in pursuit of your brother
Jack?" came from Muriel in dazed
tnterrogative. II didn't know she
knew him. Lou always said you meant
to keep him at safe distance, and that,
SO far, they had never met"
20, bother, didn't mean to tell YOU
that; but as I've told you so much you
may as well know the rest. 1t wasn't
my fault, their meeting-I did my best
to prevent it. It was fate. It all hap
pened in the strangest way. Last sum-
mer Jack set his heart on having q
month in Scotland. Finances didn't
admit of his taking holiday pure and
simple, so he advertised for a locum
tenens in a Scottish country town.
specifying certain conditions. The re-
suit was an offer of old DR.. Slater's
practice in Peatburn (of all places in
the worldly, which he accepted. Then,
without a word from me, he remem-
bered that had friends in that part of
the world, and onesday shortly before
he went to take possession, he said to
me: I say, Grace, isn't that place in
Scotland, where you used to stay, some
where near Peatburn? If your friends
are worth knowing, you might give me
an introduction'-I knew what the re-
suit would be if did. And much as I
admired Helen as friend, 1 always
thought her too clever by half for a
sister-in-law; so I got out of the diff
Guilty by telling him-what after all
was perfectly true-that there was only
mother and daughter now; that the
father had died lately, leaving them mis-
erably poor; and that they were not by
way of entertaining just then. He
merely said: % all ripht II doesn't