Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1898-03-17


.'You can co. Suzanne. You can keep
busy too. Weigh those crab apples for
the jelly, I will measure the sugar
when come out"
A wasted moment was the worst OF
crimes in Mrs. Strong's kingdom. Su-
zanne went out, closing the door noise
lessly behind her
A wondering smile broke over Liza's
face.
"And go that is black Suzanne! How
tall and stately she is. She looks like
an Indian princess. Gabrielle and used
to call her Pocahontas and teach her our
lessons Mt second hand She looks much
more like an Indian than negro
suppose she is invaluable after all these
wears of training. Mother tells me she
is quite an accomplished maid-sews,
does your hair, preserves and does lit
tie of everything"
Suzanne is very we'll IN her way"
Mrs. Strong said CURLY. She was fun
bling among the papers on her desk for
her eyeglasses They were rarely ever
lust where she could lay her hand on
them.
And mother tells me old uncle Dol
bear is still driving you.
Liza was purposely multiplying
words. Mrs. Strong had found her
glasses and poised them accurately upon
the bridge of her delicate nose. She was
scrutinizing Ebon Martins daughter
with that cool deliberation that finds
it's only justification i'll acknowledged
social superiority. She was devoted
adherent of the hereditary theory. There
was delicacy and refinement in this
girls personality that offered an i'll
tensely interesting physiological study.
Liza aeterward informed Strong that
she was prepared to give an accurate
description of a fiy's sensation under
the microscope.
"Dolbear is still active and hale.
It came to Mrs. Strong slowly that a
remark had been made and perhaps po.-
likeness demanded reply, but this
young PERSONS self possession was, I'M
ler the circumstances, trifie disturb
ing. She had completed her physiolog-
ical survey, so she took off her gold
trimmed glasses
1T is of yourself and your own af-
fairs I desire to talk, Eliza. You have
been exceedingly ceremonious with me
since your return.
Liza met the issue with pretty ges-
ture Of despair Why should she submit
to the probe held in that delicate, aristo-
cratic hand.
Il have no affairs worth discussing,
Mrs. Strong. My mother has urged my
coming up to the house, but l asked her
why and she could not say. No one
here needs me now Mile. Moncrief was
never tired of telling me that was
brought up from the quarters to study
with Gabrielle because she needed the
stimulus Of competition The taunt
made very little impression on me in
those days. Either must have been a
dreadfully spiritless little animal or
else love carried us triumphantly over
every social barrier We knew nothing
about class distinctions then, my dar-
ling and I. She loved me and loved
her."
"My daughter was very fond of you,
child. 1t was by her request that all
her things We're sent to you, said the
mistress of Sans Souci i'll the softest,
saddest of voices.
Liza's eyes were luminous with I'M
shed tears.
II know, I know. I miss her so. I go
. see her every day"
There was something weird in this
soul conlmuning. The narrow literal
ness of Mrs. Strong's comprehension re-
coiled from it.
lyon go to see whom, Eliza! don't
grasp your meaning"
Gabrielle, my dearest-out there
under the pine trees in the lonely old
burying ground on the point. She is
more real to me than you are, with your
whitening hairs and your blue veined
-emples; more real to me than my
>aother, who has accumulated flesh and
ears. Lookr' With hand that trem-
hled perceptibly she touched bunch of
hiue periwinkles pinned at her waist.
Il gathered them at the foot of her
grave. They remind me of her eyes.
20 out there and tell my darling every
ling. ! should stife to death, else. She
lMows. She understands. She pities."
The pathos in her clear, young voice
vaa potent to move Mrs. Strong to an
~ Of unusual condescension. She left
the writing desk before which she had
d, IN sitting all this time and came over
tc share the sofa seat with her over
seer's daughter.
"Gabriella's mother pities You, too,
Eliza"
"Yonl You pity me? Oh, why did
rJu urge my father and mother to send
ne away from them? I know it was
meant in kindness, but what has it
done but unfit me for-them-for my
lie?
"They do not know what all this
means to me. With Gods help they
uever shall. But what am l to do with
my spoiled self, my despoiled days,
shorn of everything I have been edu-
Gated to prize? Oh, what have you all,
in your laundering kindness, done to
;uo!"
II was the irrepressible cry of a soul
IL, protest against the eternal unfitness Of
Its environment.
Mrs Strong put herself on the defen.
siye with dizzy sense of topsy turvi-
ness What! She, the mistress of Sans
Souci, apologizing to Eben Martins
danghteri
Call it a mistake, if you choose,
ohild. 1t was certainly meant in all
&indness. I must confess did not an
.cipate-all-all this
"All what, Mrs. Strong?"
The lady moved uneasily under the,
quiet compulsion of the girls splendid
eyes.
Really child Won understand the