Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1898-01-27

= a
day with her face beaming. ~
Mr.. de We're will call tomorrow euo
nlng, she said. Il suppose Won save
no objection, Mater?'' -+e'0
When was your age" began Melt.
/ cent-and then she stopped. TT knor,
several artists, she concluded lamo1,r
I'm aware of what you were about
to say, Agatha retorted.- "Well ba
may not have long mustachios like
your German count, but, at all events
he's not after Pater's money! ''
Forgive me, Agatha said Melt
cent. Il spoke before I thought ;,
Having nothing to forgive. Agatha
was magnanimous. She even asked
Melicent to lend her her silk dress -
wear on the following evening.
Il am so glad,' said Melicent when
Agatha came into her room one night
several months later, and told how
he had proposed at last. 81 know
you will be very happy"
Thank you,' remarked Agatha.
Mellcent told Mater the next morn
ing at the breakfast table. She did
not wish to disturb her rest with sucb
startling intelligence.
! L do so want Agatha to have beau
tiful wedding" said Melicent.
Il don't know" Mrs. Pennington
rejoined, reaching for the patent malt
preparation which seemed to serve her
in place of food-3'I don't know where
the moneys coming from, Nellie"
Agatha, who always arose an hour
later than the rest of the household
was asleep up stairs.
but we must make the child hap
py,' insisted Melicent.
Then came days of scrimping and
saving.
The two youngsters whose parents
had sent them from the West to be-
come boarding pupils of the School of
Observation looked dolefully at each
other across the morning repast. The
soupmeat of the day before had been
converted into hash. The coffee seem
ed principally grounds. The oranges
were small and shriveled.a One of the
youngsters had the temerity to ask for
a poached egg one morning, and the
injured air with which Melicent refus-
ed it still fingers in her memory.
Melicent and her mother partook of the
same frugal fare; but there always was
bit of steak or nice chop for Aga
tina.
Mater" said Melicent, one evening,
eve might sell that ormolu clock un-
Gle gave me-"
The ormula timepiece went to deal
er in antiques, and several heirlooms
of guinea gold found their way to a
smelling shop down town.
Packages of all kind were being de-
livered at the Pennington house now;
but the neighbors did not notice that
almost as many packages left that
house as came into it. Harlem cliff
jewellers are not very curious.
what are you doing to do with
that mahogany table?" asked the Bry-
son girl, who was always about at the
wrong time.
cit is to be repolished," replied Nell
cent calmly.
The School of Observation for
Young Girls began to show alarming
symptoms of disintegration. The girl
with the red hair suddenly announced
that her parents had decided to send
her to seminary in Fifth Avenue,
Melicent held up her hands to observe,
to think, and to study, with no higher
ideals before her than French lessons,
department, and dancing? The back
ward child, who never could get her
lessons, went home crying one day, be-
cause Melicent had grown impatient
when she translated vouleur as a bird,
and she did not return.
cit seems to me, Nellie" said Aga
tina, several days later, 'you and Mater
are neglecting the school dreadfully.
You seem to think that Mr.. de We're is
going to marry the whole family.
Please don't get that impression, or the
first thing we know he'll break off the
engagement.
Melicent bent over the wedding dress
she was making for Agatha, and said
not word.
''That wasn't exactly pleasant thing
to talk about" Agatha, told herself,
after she had left the room; "but Rich
ard insisted on the matter being de-
finitely understood
In the weeks which followed, Nell
cent worked bravely to keep that hand
full of pupils together. She spent the
greater part of the night in tolllng
upon Agathas wedding down.
cts a labor of love-" she said. i
was afraid I was getting selfish"
While the cliff jewellers on either side
of the Pennington house were asleep,
the little, old fashioned sewing ma
chine buzzed until long after midnight.
BY the light of a kerosene lamp-for
gas was considered too expensive
Melicent toiled and toiled over the
white satin and the ornaments OF pearl
Her eyes were red and swollen Wnen