Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-11-09
SHORT STORY FOR
EVENING HOURS
MISS SlLVER'S BIG ATTIC
Concluded from Yesterday

went ON happening. Lizzie blushed as
she acknowledged to herself, once on u
summers evening, that II generally re
,quired a man to make things happen:
they seemed to be an indispensable
part Of all happenings-and there were
no men near Lisnabeg. There never
had been. The sons of the doctor. of
the rector, the schoolmaster, and the
debatable gentleman.farmer went away
to Dublin, or Belfast, or Australia. as
soon as their knickerbockers were eX'
changed for peg.top trousers, and only
the daughters stayed.
Sometimes there was a sewing meet.
ing, or very small school treat: once
OI twice the excitement of a missionary
address. The women called on each
other, and went out to tea with each
other. and talked about tach other, and
each others maids. Their dresses
turned Lizzie Silver nearly sick: the
horrible puCes and magentas, the glar.
ing puppies. hurt her like a discordant
scream. She used to make herself
skirts and polonaises of common peas.
ant stuifs--in those days unknown to
the educated classes-and took com.
fort In mediterranean llannels, or
homespuns of heatherbrown despite
Charlotte's step.sisterly admonitions
against making herself look affected
and absurd"
The bead.work and Berlin woodwork,
b. which their tiny income was pleas.
antly enlarged, was a source of abso.
Lutte torture TO Lizzie. The patterns
were so ugly to her mind, so beautiful
t. everyone else, that she used to weep
Ia secret over her own bad taste. She
knew the fat red and purple roses, the
brown and white spaniels on aniline.
pink backgrounds, must he lovely, be.
cause everyone said so, but she stitched
at them with heavy heart and half.
ayerted mind. Nevertheless, her man.
ual dexterity became great, and Char.
lotte praised-for once Lizzie was
emboldened TO make pattern of her
own, and work IL secretly--a strange
mosaic OF the clearest and deepest col.
ors In the work.box mingled In odd
geometric shapes. But when she
ought 1t out in fear and trembling,
Charlotte. and Miss Mccoy, who had
dropped in to partake" OF a o'clock
tea, chorused their united horror at
the wicked waste Of good materials
over unstable rubbish; so she un.
picheu all the beads and cried once
more. After all, the beads were mostly
ugly So was nearly everything in
peoples houses, poor Lizzie made up
her hind-there were only the sky and
the sea and the sunsets, and the green
grass on the elf, and ,..e flush of sea.
Pinks In the sprlngtime, to look at with
pleasure.
Undoubtedly, she was odd" or al
lea't her eyes saw oddly. Lizzie placed
I! tslroom glass fun In her window
&C G"y, ID looked at her eyes. They
wer" not very odd to look at--gray,
like II bids. ia color; prominent, clear
and sandy'eyellshed. Her hair, she
knew on. TO We, was sandy and
scanty. lie" F.in va nett or bright
nor pale. Her north vas large, but Il
was very red, t.. Lizzie thought this
not unpleasing, at all events. Yet.
when one was thirty what did anything
matter? Perhaps, after all. books were
wrong about that. II they gave false
ideas OF life In other things, mightn't
they be wrong about ages, too?
She had not time to think It out be.
fore Charlotte died.
In the intervals between the death
ana its anniversary, something very
small mad happened. II was not a hap.
pening in the real sense, only after a
relative fashion. Lizzie heard by
chance that the captain of the Liver.
Tool to Derry tourist steamer had
bought a case of beads from Murano.
very cheap, out of shipwrecked YES.
GERS cargo. She took the next train
TO Derry, saw the captains wife (the
captain being away and bought the
case outright for three pounds fifteen
shillings-half the savings out of her
secret tea-canister In the bedroom
chimney. The captains wife was well
pleased to get the money having bitter.
~ grudged the whole golden sovereign
spent by her husband on hundred.
weight OF stun that was not even fash.
tonable.
Miss Silver had the case carted from
the terminus at Portrush, down to Lis.
nabeg-a weary and expensive journey
OF many miles, during which she sat
upon the case under her umbrella In
the pouring rain, perfectly happy, and
blind to public opinion. She saw her
treasure safely carried up to the attic
door and left 1t there. 1t was only
three weeks until Charlotte's ami.
yersary, and she determinedly waited
until then, saving up the treat of open
Ing the case, from which she had only
seen a sample or two as earnest of its
rich contents.
Now she was out on the rocks, sitting
with her chin in her hands and her