Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1898-01-27
gGgTHa'S
WEDDING
BY John Walker Harrington.

The day that Agatha's engagement
was announced Mrs. Pennington!
school was in turmoil of excitement
Melicent was In charge, for Agatha was
at the dressmaker's, and Mrs. Penning
ton had put on her best black bonnet
and FASTENED out to tell the news tC
her relatives and friends. Intelligence
OF this sort Is best made public at once
'I'm so glad to hear Agatha is to be
married." said Judge Bryson's daugh-
ter, red faced girl who was always
saying the wrong things. Il wish
might hear of your engagement, Miss
Pennington.
Melicent Pennington flushed angrily
and threw back her thing shoulders.
There was a compressed look about
her lips.
do not concern yourself, my dear
she said. II could have been married
long before was your age"
Everybody who knew the Penning-
tons had heard of Melicents proposal
of marriage. 1t was her first and her
last. She was travelling in Europe,
and in Paris pension she met Ger
man count who proposed to her, after
a frenzied courtship of two weeks.
Melicent was then but sixteen years
old. Mrs. Pennington was fond of
saying. {: "Melicent had such a car
riage. She looked as though she were
twenty"
The head of the house of Penning-
ton-Pater, the daughters called him
set his foot down squarely. No child
of his should marry titled foreigner;
the count was mere fortune hunter.
Pater had no fortune worth speaking
of, but that made no difference. What
Pater said was right, and Melicent sent
the young member of the nobility
away.
''It's just as WE'LL" she often said.
II find my ideals are changing as l
grow older. l shall never marry until
/ meet a man as good as Pater."
Melicent waited fourteen long years,
but the paragon never came. Her
cheeks were not as plump as they had
been, and her features were becoming
angular.
Pater fell down the steps Of his house
one night, six years before, and few
days later died from the effects of the
HE was a good fellow" the world
said. "He was kind to his family,
anyway"
Affairs had not gone well with the
Penningtons since then. Barring a
law library, a few outstanding claims,
and house with mortgage on it, the
father left little. The house-and the
ynsatisfied mortgage-were about ell
that remained after the debts were
paid;
Think how much worse it might
have been, Mater DEAR" said Melicent
to her mother, after it was all over.
$50 long as Aggie doesn't feel how
hard 1t is, / shall be satisfied"
Mrs. Pennington and Melicent be-
lieved that young girls lacked the pow
and they issued their theories in the
form of four page pamphlet, which
they mailed to the families whom they
had known in the days of their pros
perity, and to most of the pewholders
Of st. Sebastian's. And thus 1t was
that the Pennington School of Observa-
ton for Young Girls was established.
This institution occupied the parlor
and the second floor of the mortgaged
house. The house was in Harlem
street, lined by two brownstone shells
pierced with holes. Some of the holes
had glass over them, and the others
had doors, behind which cleaned rows
of brass letter boxes. Before the era
Of fiat building came, houses surround
ed by lawns filled the street, but the
homes of the Harlem cliff jewellers
crowded out the old mansions. Pater
bought the house years before, but in
time Of financial stress-his money
AFFAIRS nearly always went wrong-he
sold the land on either side. In the
deed 1t was mentioned that only pri-
vate houses were to be erected there;
but as soon as Pater was gone the in
sidious work of the fiat builder began,
and the Penningtons' house was shut
In on both sides. 1t was useless to
lament over the loss of light from their
side windows. The house, wedged in
between huge structures of brick and
mortar, was the only private dwelling
which remained IN all that street.
Mrs. Pennington taught sciences,
languages, and the art of thinking;
Melicent inculcated the principles Of
mathematics and music; and Agatha,
n red faced, freckled girl Of twenty.
who went to the art school, was in
structress in free hand drawing.
Agatha is so different from Nell
cent" everybody said. "She never
will have the carriage her sister has"
The younger woman came home one
day with her face beaming.
'Mr. de We're will call tomorrow eve
ning," she said. II suppose you have
no objection, Mater?"
when / was your age" began Nell
ocnt-and then she stopped. tt know
several artists" she concluded lamely.
I'm aware of what you we're about
to say" Agatha retorted. well, he
may not have long mustachios like
your German count, but, at all events,
he's not after Pater's money"
Forgive me. Agatha" said Nell
cent. II spoke before I thought"
Having nothing to forgive. Agatha