The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-08-24

BELTS our famiIy's birth and breed
ing, while YOU"
II and Aunt Hosie have had as busy
a day as l remember" says Daphne,
with the conscious homage that lin
real life) the Industrious Apprentice
never offers to the idle one. First,
there were the currant cakes for to-
morrow's haymaking-you know Aunt
Hosie will never suffer any II but me
to beat the eggs. and then l had TO
print all the market butter by myself.
. Target could scarce SINCE 'Diguedon,'
in her fever to get away from the
homework to the bayfield,. so /"
II cannot, for the life of NE, under
stand performing mental work for
pleasure" interrupted Miss Theodore,
with q downward turn of the eyelids
upon her own dainty dress and use
less, delicate hands. "'Superintend
YOUR domestic concerns as narrowly as
YOU will our poor papa used to tell
US. Give your orders every morning.
to the housekeeper, and let her be re-.
sponsibIe for their non-fulfillment. But
never, if you wish your servants to re-
spect you, step beyond the precincts OF
YOUR drawing ROOM Now. really. why
should not Margot compound the Ia
borers' cakes and print the butter for
the market as well as Henrietta and
yourself?"
Daphne makes no reply. Faded re-
iuvenated silks, useless hands, elegant
literature, and mystic duties performed
toward society in general have long
AGO invested Miss Theodore, in the
eyes of the whole household, with the
sacred halo of responsibility. Little
Paul himself, the very dogs and cats,
seem to know that Theodore Vansit-
tart is not Of the same work-a-day
commonplace sort of stuff as Aunt
Hosie and Daphne.
ut is futile to argue. l know Hen
r~ietta's eccentricities do not, alas. de-
crease with age. But it does seem a
little hard that others should be made
to suffer for what I cannot but regard
as the very refinement Of se!fShness.
You. pool grandpapa, child, Colonel
George Tansittart, the sweetest tenn
pered, most forgiving Of men, used to
saw that the one unbearable trial of
our career as pilgrims was to be kept
waiting for ones letters. Now, my
dear Daphne, may I beg of you to put
on your hat, take Paul as your COM
panion, and run up to Quernac with
what haste you can? Margot is absent
from the kitchen, you tell me-for the
sake, it must be assumed, Of meeting
her lover in the hayfeld-so I fear
I must ask you to hurry back with as
little delay as may be, in the event OF
visitors"
Twelve ladies' perhaps, on q liberal
average, arrive at Fief.de-la-Reine dur
ing q twelvemonth. A stray, open
ended circular finds zig way thither
occasionally, Miss Theo1ora having, in
an u%nguarded moment. addressed q
London stockbroker, years ago, on the
matter Of investments, and being for
ever after treated as q speculative
capitalist by the whole stockbrokins
fraternity. Once a week the sisters
got a "Cheltenham Looker-On," three
or four days old, together with an
antediluvian "Court Journal" Christ
mas brings its modest, very modest,
stock of tradesmen's bills. Yet so in
e%radicable is habit the two elder Miss
Vansittarts still look out for the post
rs in those old, long dead times OF
youth and property, when the post
man really used to bring them COM
munications of living flesh and blood
interest-invitations to dinners or balls,
letters Of friendship, letters of love!
Rain or shine, ever much, Daphne
Chester walks to the village shop at
Q~uernec, where by arrangement the
overworked country factor goes daily
through the transparent fiction of de-
posting the Fief-de-la-Reine letter.
bag.
IF the thermometer did not stand
at eight, Paul would enjoy the walk,
Aunt Theodora! AS it is"-with half
guilty consciousness Daphne makes a
suggestion that involves Theodore
Vansittart doing anything-"as it is,
if you would not mind looking after
the child a little tin 1 come back? He
will give you no trouble if you will let
him stay in the garden. Paul is al
ways good when he is out Of doors"
paul is never good-out of doors
or in," says Miss TEeodora, with Bis
MARKHAM decision. "But I am, OF
course, ready to keep watch over him
in your absence, if you consider such
watching necessary. When I was a
child" adds Theodcra devoutly, "peo-
ple Of education believed the world
TO be under a moral government. Par
ents had faith in Providence"