The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-09-06
my cousin, whom I mentioned

my cousin, whom I mentioned tt
you"
When Lord Southdown died his sur.
| viving family was the centre at once
| of that typical tragedy of English life
/ that springs from the genteel habit oil
entailing properties.
| The instant that the breath left his
| body he and his were Immediately
| stripped of the title to the famous
| Southdown estates in land. For these
vast estates had been conferred by
some ancestor upon Lord Southdown
| and upon his heirs male.
| Heirs male he lacked. and while his
soul was fiuttering away the title to
| the lands lowered for an instant in the
air and then swooped down upon a
distant relative-some remote South
down unknown even to the late in
cumbent.
Lord Southdown was not childIess
for he left behind him the Honorabl
Peggy Southdown, fair, slender and
some 10 years of age. And he left also
his worthy sister, the Honorable Caro-
lima Southdown, gentle spinster of
resource and tact.
Ddl "lleu lHiS StHtle SpinSCer began
to realize as she did soon after her
brothers death, that her brothers en-
tire wealth was now the property of
some one else, her tact and her re-
source seemed incontinently to abandon
her. However, she kept the news from
her fair and slender niece
IF it were not for Peggy she kept
exclaiming to herself, ct would not
mind. I could get along, But Peggy
-" With a mist floating before her
eyes the tender<hearted spinster watch
ed her young niece as she swung along
the green.
We certainly must do something"
walled Aunt Caroline to herself. What
can we do-what can we do? Poor
Peggy! She'll know it all too soon.
l must keep it from her while cam
One day the Honorable Carolina was
exceedingly bef1ustered to receive for
NAL looking package by the post. When
she had opened it, however, she ut
tered a sigh of relief It was a brief
note from the London solicitors of the
new Lord Southdown, stating that their
client would refrain from demanding
possession of his estates until some
time during the middle of the summer.
Thank goodness" calculated Aunt
Carolina. ''This gives us plenty of
time to turn around. And now I must
get my wits together and arrange some
plan of action
Aunt Carolina was good at arrang-
ing anything, and she was past mis-
tress in the art of planning, but the
present situation put her to it beyond
any experience that she had ever had.
Aunt Carolina was not a woman
with an immobile face. and though she
told herself that she was keeping her
secret well and safely from the Hon
orable Peggy, this same Peggy finally
put two and two together
Poor Aunt Cardinal she said to
herself when she found it out. What
will she ever dor
Now, on a certain memorable day
in her career, Aunt Carolina shut her
self up in her rooms in the east wing
and surreptitiously united a bundle.
When she did so, every daily paper in
the Kingdom fell out of it and Aunt
Carolina began her systematic search
for profitable and dignified employment.
In the very first paper she tackled
a small notice in a corner attracted
her attention. She read it through and
then gasped with horror.
Dear me-" she exclaimed, "that any
gentlewoman would so demean herself.
Wait, let me read that over again.
Then, after reading it, she shook her
head.
mo, MOI" she exclaimed, that would
never, never do. I could never do it,
and if Peggy ever found it out
She continued her perusal, but ever
and anon she returned to that small
notice.
ct wonder if it would be so bad
she reasoned. Perhaps I could man
age to keep it from Peggy after all.
And I could tell her that-that they
were-were distant cousins, or old
school friends-or anything"
She glanced about uncertainty.
ct is just awful think of it; but
why not, after all? Needs must when
when there's Peggy to be considered.
And we'll have four months more here,
and in that time, why"
Aunt Carolina rose and, taking a
pair of scissors out of her workbox,
cut out the little notice.
I'll do it, she continued firmly.
Its awful, but I'll do it,
Halliburton was young man who,
for a time at least, had nothing to do.
He sat at one of the windows of his
rather expensive London lodgings,
yawned once or twice, or thrice, and
then rose and stretched his arms a.
bove his head, after the manner of
young men when all alone. He frown-
e.
"Confound it," he exclaimed. This
is the first time in many years that I've
had absolutely nothing to do. 1 feel
like cat in a strange garnet"
Halliburton, who had been standing.
somewhat confused, with his eyes up
on the ground, made an obeisance.
Then he looked at the girl for the first
time AS he did so, he started. So
did the girl.
Dear metz exclaimed Halliburton.
Tim very glad to meet you. Our
people in Hertfordshire so often speak
Of Ycu>'
The Homo, able Peggy smiled.
and yCu," she said, genially, do
not seem a total stranger, for singu-
larly enough. you bear a strong re-
semblance to a London girl I know
Halliburton WINGED, but the girl kept
on.
THAT London girl" she said, lis