Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-03-23
MAGDALEN'S VOW. !
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.

down to her evening cup of tea.
The Peckham Seminary for Young
Ladies had been unusually trying to
the temper and spirits of it's proprie-
tress that day, and Miss Barbara stood
in serious need of her cup of tea.
She was tall and spare and usually
wore rich, lustreless black silk dresses,
and heavy gold eyeglasses; her private
sanctum was comfortably, not to say
luxuriously furnished, with curtains
of claret-colored cloth, a deep red car
pet, and an aviary in the bay window,
whose feathered inhabitants were
mostly red-for Miss Peckham be-
lieves in correspondence of colors.
'Now," said Miss Peckham to her
self, 'for half an hours peace -
Vain hope for scarcely had the ac-
,omplished preceptress poured out
her first cup of tea, and buttered her
first muffin, than stormy knock came
to the door, and tall, blooming girl
burst into the room.
''Magdalen Moore !'cried Miss Peck
ham, in surprise.
II won't stand it any longer % said
Magdalen Moore, her cheeks growing
scarlet, her eyes aflame with dusky
fires. "I'll go home tomorrow %
''Miss Moore, am surprised I"
enunciated Miss Peckham, wiping the
tips OF her fingers on her double dam
ask napkin, and taking off her eye
glasses.
'It's Charlotte Courtenay I" cried
Magdalen, throwing back her masses
of purple back hair, with quick,
spirited motion. ''She has twitted
me with being workhouse girl,
though 1 never was in the work
house."
''It's all as true as Gospel" said
Charlotte Courtenay herself tall,
self-possessed girl of eighteen, who
was in Miss Peckham's graduating
class, and one of the ''show scholars"
of the establishment ''And when
Magdalen Moore tries on those high
and lofty airs of hers, she'll find her.
self mistaken in the tack"
"Young ladies, l am astonished at
you" said Miss Peckham, taking ref
uge in the feeble conventionalities
which are of so little avail in actual
wordy warfare.
Sand, went on Charlotte Courtenay,
breathlessly, cher father was con-
vict-a convict in Sing Sing prison!
My uncle saw the man there in gray
prison suit, making barrel hoops. And
my uncle says it's pretty thing for
us, the daughters of gentlemen, to be
crowded in here with the child of a
convict No, not even if Miss Jessur.
who is worth million of dollars, has
chosen to adopt her out of the work
house %
1T was not work rkhouse," defiantly
gasped Magdalen, on whose cheeks
the crimson and white had alternately
tiuttered. cit was an asylum p
where's the difference?" sarcasti-
cally demanded Miss Courtenay.
''You are beggar's brat all the
same -
Magdalen looked at Miss Peckham
for protection, but Miss Peckham was
as limp as rag. The secret was out
which Miss Jessup had so vehemently
enjoined her to conceal. The sharp
young eyes of her five and twenty
young ladies had pried out her
mystery at last. Magdalen flashed
around upon Charlotte.
"You are most noble and generous, -
said she, bitterly, ito taunt me with
what is no faalt of mine-to humble
me before all those girls. But, as
truly as live, Charlotte Courtenay,
will be revenged upon You for this
nights work -
And she went out of the room, cold
and pale as a statue, except where
two scarlet spots glowed upon either
cheek.
Magdalen Moore left the "Peckham
Seminary" the next morning before
the big bell rang for prayers, and
Charlotte Courtenay had triumphed.
Newcomers, eh ?'said Miss Antonii
Jessup, looking at the Visitors Reg
istry through pair of double
glasses; for Miss Jessup was going
on sixty, and her sight was not wha
it had been. ''And Americans, too
registered at the Hotel Polonia.
'Let me see," said her adopted
daughter, looking over her shoulder
ooh, yes, General Courtenay ant
daughter, from New York; Mr.. and
Mrs. :Dalzell, Sydney Egerton, Colone
Ward. Well, hope they'll be agree
able"
For Rome was very dull that season
and Magdalen Jessup, as she was uni
versally known, was becoming terribl,
lonesome.
"By Jove 70 calculated Genera
Courtenay-a tall, gray whiskeret
officer, with a deep bass voice, and {
complexion painfully suggestive of oil,
port--t'I never saw such peerles