The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-02-14

well, yeS-n0t bad; forward III manner
though, just what I told you a daugh'
Ter OF Mrs. Fergusson's must be
Thank you, Janep' She was buttoning
his coat across his chest, in fond feaI
Of the mild all of the soft spring
night. my own dear Jane, so good,
so kinda thousand-fold above all the
Matty FergussOns living"
Then-apd remember, be knew quite
we'll he admired Matty, and was on
! the eve Of a Irritation with her-Mohun
had the exceeding baseness to hold
poor James hand fOndly, and ever
press it to his lips, as he had not done
for a very long time past, before he
left her.
I don't think she was quite r~eassured,
but she tried to say to herself that she
was happy, and that she had misin-
terpreted all the looks that Giford's
and Miss Fergusson's eyes had been
exchanging duringth last three hours.
At all events, she went in again with
a strong determination to succumb no
more to any of the tOrments of idle
jealousy, and was much moro genial
in her tone. to .Matty now they were
alone than she had found it possible to
be while that young lady was appeal
ing at'eyery instant to MI. Mohun 1or
sympathy Standardization.
Miss FERGUSON, however. after say
ing "yes'' and mo" at the proper inter-
vals, for about five minutes, was seized
with the most violent intermitten fits
of yawning, and gave evidence OF ex-
IRENE abstraction in her " replies.
How very different some young peo-
pie are when they have not the stimu-
lus of a mans presence thought Miss
Grand. I'm another five minutes the
girl would be asleep in her chair"
Still, she was not sorry herself Of any
excuse for escaping from the society
of her visitor; and as Miss Matty
eagerly jumped at the first mention OF
going upstairs, it fell out that long
before Mohun had reached his own
house the little society, so very much
awake when he left, had retired, quite
worn out with fatigue; and with each
other, to the silence of their own rooms,
Jane to perform the accustomed pious
offices with which every day of her life,
whether happy or disappointed, was
closed; Miss Ferguson to unpack her
dresses, think over the success of this
her first evenings campaign, and finally
write a letter to a sister Of hers, Miss
Fanny Ferguson, of ~Cheltenham.
Of this letter, reader, you may, II
you will, have the benefit. 1t would
have been we'll for Clifford Mohun
could such a privilege have been ex-
tended to him as well.
Here I am, Fan, in the heart Of the
enemy's country, not a mile and half
from MI. Mohun of Yatton's place,
and Mr.. Mohun of Yatton has been
spending the evening here and has
looked vastly fattered by my pretty
speeches to, him, and, he is a, very
heayy-looking MAI of 'thirty, dressed
like a gamekeeper, and with no man
ners ut all, and l should say fond OF
eating and drinking, the latter pre-
eminently; ard l do think I've got an
excellent chance before me, and l nope
you will be most careful in all your
letters, when you write, as l am stay
ing with an old maid, and there is no
saying she might not be opening some
of them by mistake. Tell dear mamma
her plan was an excellent one, and l
carried out everything just as she SAID.
Miss Bristowe was very cool and very
much surprised to see me at first, II
pretended quite to have forgotten that
she had ever been to school with
mamma; but when I brought in Lady
Churchilps name, and told her also that
.papa knew Mr. Mohun Of Yatton, h
got decently civil, and said / might
stop on a few days, though she couldn't
do anything in the way of recommend
ing me.herself. l lost no time in send
ing the note mamma wrote to YattOn,
and next day-will you believe it,
got a letter, signed Jane Grand asking
me to come for a week, and promising
to do something to help me. q hope
the something will be substantial, for,
tell mamma, 1 bought a hattie new
shapras ! passed through Bath, and
I've only eleven and eightpence left
out of the three pounds l started WITH.
OF course, l accepted, and came here
last night. Miss Grand is an old maid,
rather snappisil and suspicious, but |
should think, from the look Of the
house. with a tidy little income. l
suppose she is 4 relation Of the Mohun,
for she calls him 'Gifford'-such q
name:-and he puts his heels upon the
sofa. Oh. Far, what bears, what cubs,
what Goths these English country. gen.
tlemen are compared to such men as
YOU and I have known! Poor Alexis
to think, after caring for him, I could
bring myself to look sweetly on such a
being as the Yatton pumpkin!
what a thing poverty is, and what
it brings one to! Be sure you keep III
all you can with Lady Churchill, and if
any one asks for me say I'm staying
with a relation of MI. Mohun's, Of Vat
ton. She looked very suspicious at my
dress-I saw that before she opened
her lips; but, which %chayacter was to
do, the dowdy nursery g~overness for
her, or Matty Ferguson at her best for
Mohun? l decided I liked Matty Fer
gusson the most, and that he was the
most important to win, au premier
coup. Discrepancies of dress could be
explained away to the woman after
.x.aul L.,E ,,a4l;nn nnnLl oxnlnin nu.aN