Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1905-07-14
Lit lie, Old Hiss Lavender
) BY Ethel. M. BRInBLE.
By ETHEL M. BRIrlBLE.



won't matter to me a bit" she went
on, bravely; "but l think If auntie
knew, it would break her heart. She
thinks l have secured a post as COM
panion to one of the leaders of the
four hundred and is quite delighted
at the idea of my being In society;
but, in reality"-and here, for a mo-
ment, she hesitated; then. as If max.
ing a final effort, went on, hurriedly-
sit is not as companion that this So
ciety woman has engaged me, but as
sewing maid"
For one second we were silent.
"A sewing maid?' echoed my sister.
quickly. "Oh, Lillian, what will you
have to do?"
Live with the servants, for one
thing" answered Lillian. Eyes,
know that-we all have meals to-
gether in the servants hall-only the
uppers have their dinner in the house
keepers room, and I shall not even be
an upper she added, sadly. "Oh, l
know well enough what you would say,
but when all is said and done, what
else can l do? Mrs. De Voore treats
her servants well; l shall be earning
my own living, and earning it in the
only way l am competent to do. I
have no talent, nothing to recommend
me above the thousands of other far
cleyerer girls, all anxious to make
living nowadays; and, after all, 1t
won't be so bad, as long az auntie
does not know-you will never, never
let her even suspect, will your" she
entreated. "She cannot live long now;
the doctor says that at any moment
her heart attacks may prove fatal,
and as long as she thinks l am well
and happy, and she has no anxiety
about money matters, she will go on
happily and we'll. Nothing would induce
her to let me go If she knew the real
truth-she must never know-promise
me?" she insisted, entreatingly.
What could we do? We could only
promise, and walk sadly indoors. Our
mother tried to do something about
it, but when she was driven, as a last
resort, to give sort of half hint to
Miss Lavender, we could see, by the
way she took it, that she had not
shadow of an idea as to the real truth,
and, in honor bound to Lillian, we could
do no more.
Well, she went, and what that girl
gently nurtured, and always aects-
toned to a certain atmosphere of
delicacy and refnement-must have
gone through makes me shudder to
contemplate.
Her letters to the cid lady were per
feet marvels of ingenuity. Always
rigorous as to truth, she managed in
the cleverest possible manner to evade
all unpleasant items, and yet appear
to be having perfectly delightful time,
by her accounts. 1t was only to us
who, knowing the truth, could read
between the lines, that these letter,
appeared one of the saddest and most
touching tributes to the love she bore
her aunt, and we learned to dread our
weekly visit to the little, red brick
house when Iilian's last letter was
invariably brought out for our delec-
tation.
The girl always wrote describing
the events which took place in Mrs.
De Voore's household, and when men,
ton was made of certain smart
dance which had been given, she de
scribed the decorations and the young
ladies' ball gowns so wildly that Miss
Lavender remarked, complacently:
1T is easy to see that they treat
her as one of the family! Why, the
dear child seems to know all about
their pretty frocks, and the little ms
and outs of their li@esl You see,"
she went on, tapping the letter, which
we noticed she seemed Id love to
handle, as if the feeling of the paper
conveyed some impression of her dear
ly loved niece, Il feel that dear Lillian
is now partaking of some of the ad.
vantages which she ought to have had
all along. l did my best for her,"
with slight sigh; 'but now she Is
seeing something of life, and enjoy.
ing herself in natural way, and it
ooSo hiy ASdtt S0Ou W t1uAh nOW tIuly
happy my little girl isl
what could we say? l know Molly
and l left the dear, old lady that day
with terribly guilty feeling in our
hearts.
1t was always most painful to us to
see those bravely written letters, con-
veying so much of the WEAKNESS and
heartache beneath the carefully word.
ed lines to those who knew the real
facts, and could realize how Bordid
and bitter her life must be, ia reality
Sometimes we wondered how 1t
would all end, and if ever in this life
Lillian would win her reward for the
pluck and tenderness she was show
| ing toward her beloved guardian.
The end came sooner than we ex-
pected, however.
We went as usual to pay our week
| ly visit at the little house just off the
highroad; but, to our surprise, there
was no lace-capped, black-clad figure
to greet us at the door, as was the
| general rule.
She may have forgotten, and he
upstairs | said. quickly, though a
sudden feeling of foreboding seized
me; and, fearing know not what, we
silently entered the tiny hall. All
was silent, and we stood, hesitating,
not knowing exactly what to do.
At that moment, Miss Lavender's
little maid-of-all-work appeared at the
top of the narrow stairs and one look
at her frightened face was enough to
tell US something gravely wrong had
occurred.
What is it? What has happened?"
Molly asked, anxiously, and it was
only after many inherent speeches
and much lamentations we learned
that Miss Lavender had been seized
with one of those attacks which
Lillian had SO dreaded for her, and it
was with difficulty the little maid mad
managed to help her mistress to a
| couch and revive her from a doath-