The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1899-06-23


disappeared into the house Mrs. De
lane returned to the tea table drawin,
in her lips and shaking her head. an,
we read in the combined action wha
would be the verdict of the Row.
The result of further observation
served only to deepen first impressions
The manner and extent of the pairs
divergence from High Row notions O
genteel living became the fayorite sub
Ject for discussion at all the tea parties
Each one of us was eager to contribute
his or her mite of evidence. One morn
ing, when the little maid of all work
had gone out of the house in garments
suggestive Of days holiday, one of us
had seen Mrs. de Nilliers (the incredible
high-hown name they gave out as their
OWN dress herself up in the servants
cap and apron and dab about the room
with a broom and duster, for all the
world like a stage soubrette. Her hus-
band had stood by, laughing uproar-
iously, and the whole had concluded
with an affectionate skirmish, in which
the broom had played an important
part. The pair made daily excursions
to the shops, she carrying on her arm
a preposterous market basket, itself an
insult to the dignity Of the Row.
On hot summer nights, when we sat
and stewed respectively in our front
parlors, these people would bring deck
chairs on to their doorstep and lounge
there till bedtime in shameless disha-
billie of teagown and smoking jacket.
Hitherto the respectable remoteness Of
High Row had been appreciated by
/ hawkers and street minstrels and they
had seldom troubled us with their Wis
it's. But now the charm was broken.
Some instinct seemed to urge them
daily in our direction, an instinct justi-
fed by the behavior of the newcomers,
who bought shrimps and water crosses,
and threw halfpence to the man with
the cornet. Indeed, the dark suspicion
rested upon them of having inflicted
the squeaking vulgarity of Punch and
Judy show upon the peace of High Row
by deliberate invitation. They had GER
tainly sat at their window throughout
the performance, exhibiting marked
signs of appreciation.
Calling on them had from the first
been out of the question. Now when we /
came across them in the row, or street, /
our countenances were wont to put on /
the most unapproachable look, where /
by we hoped they would gather the ex-
tent of their offense, and be induced,
perhaps, to mend their ways
Yet am glad TO say, for the charac-
ter of the row, that we were all of us
shocked at Mrs. Delane, who, when lit
tie Mrs. de Villiers stopped one morn
ing in front of her veranda to say pret-
~ words to the parrot summing itself
there, darted out red and wrathful and
bore the cage back with her through
the parlor window, as though she feared
contamination for the bird. But while
we watching grew red and white in the
girls behalf, she resumed her saunter-
ing walk with a little smiling twist of
the mouth that expressed more of
than of annoyance.
We had become aware, and the fact
lay perhaps at the root of our hostility,
that we, the original inhabitants,
formed as important an element in the
of the pair as the pump
at the corner of the rusty clump of
shrubs that did duty for garden in the
middle of the Row. And so they con-
tinued to stand on their heads, meta
phorically speaking, exasperatingly in
lifferent TO the existence of an audi &
nee trying to frown them down into {
more conventional attitude. +
Yet it was strange that they should j
eem content to be let severely alone, {
or as far as callers went they might l
ave lived on a desert island; the post j
nan rarely brought them a letter And
IS summer merged into autumn, a
hange like that affecting the season
anne ever the offending household.
he girls smart toilettes, of which no
iem was ever renewed, began to look
AIDED and shabby. She drew the light
loak, designed for summer weather,
lore closely about her shoulders, but j,
hewind blew cold through the laces and -
hiffons, and she shivered miserably. !.
he little face under the big hat, whose !
andsome feather had long been inno- -
mt of curl, grew white and pinched, ~
nd the eyes had a frightened, wide +
pen look. The same look was reflected
J the face of the man, as he stood for =
ours together drumming aimlessly on ~
le window pane. Men who looked like -,
lns were seen to frequent the door =.
ep. The girls appearance in the street =,
'ew an occurrence of increasing rar-
y, then ceased altogether, and had it a.
It been for a glimpse now and then of =,
pale face fitting past an upper win l.,
w, we might have believed she had J..
'en spirited away. II was the man II
no went to market now, mostly of an -
ening, and armed always with the of 80
nding basket, a melancholy relic of o.
e time when life had seemed a game
be played with appropriate toys. vi
would have given something to dare ,,.e
cross the row and open my arms to II,
ose poor, forlorn things. But Mrs. n
lane kept lynx-eyed watch. The row as
a row had shown no sign of relent- ite
2. Who was /, to fly in the face Of the oh
neral verdict? So just did nothing.
d was miserable. trying in vain TO "II
ep my eyes and my thoughts from wl
: house over the way.
)ne day matters approached a crisis. yor
ssie, my maid, had just informed me q
cLo L. coo.. IL Z L..