The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-03-03

t place iver SIM Why, woman, they
stand in t. yard like lads at hiring
an you can have { best i u bunch fol
cockin' your finger; so pick one ou'
an let 'em fight.
Bethia IS cruel reference to her late
idolized father stung Mary to the quick
but she was learning caution like the
rest with this rough and reckless wom-
an, and so she choked back her tears
and was silent Aunt Bet was per
plexed; this was a new type of female
and she had not got her bearings yet,
so she changed her tactics and spoke
more gently.
"I niver seed nowt like it; some folk
won't have luck when it drops il big
Jumps into their mouths; any senser-
bic lass 'ud give hair Off her head
for a chance like yours. There's Bob
Chapple, - she went on, her small eyes
cleaning with mercenary eagerness,
"with a farm and farriery to boot,
and the two Clayton lads WI twelve
hundred apiece if they we penny, and
Red Tom Lee with a freehold coming
TO him, and Will Hallack makkin' tuns
O. money. hoss breedin all lined like
cock linncts. Why, woman, they we
hardly been of t'doorstan sin you
come "
The voluble creature paused for a
moment, and as Mary was too shocked
to answer she sat glowering at the fire
and following her own thoughts. NAy,
it S rum thing - she ruminated, "I We
thowt on it times and times, seven
farms i Crowbeck an not lass none
on 'em-ther-'
"There IS Lizzie Hallatt!" " interject-
ed Mary family, and with the hope of
diverting the conversation.
"Liz? You let her alone, she's
booked woman.
"Bookcd7" and woman s curiosity
for the moment got the better of
Mary's distress.
GAY, booked. Booked for our Ben.
Only the soft thing doesn t know it
yet. "
"Auntie!'
SAY, well that were slip. but it is
so, Lis 'ud had him long sin, but it
didn't suit my ticket; let me get you
fixed up an III soon sattle them.
''But Lizzie?'
Liz Halleck knows which side her
bread is buttered, ony woman i tn
void could twist our Ben round her fin
ger, but she knows she II have to Ak me
afore che gets him"
"But Benz
"B-e.nl" Bet made comtemptu-
ous gesture of dismissal as though it
were sheer trifling to consider his pos
sible view Of the case. ''You we plen-
ty to pick from and they re all da-
Your pick and be sharp about-but
they re here for their teas, - The kitch~
en- door opened and big Ben Greg
lounged in, followed by three other
young fellows who all fell TO downright !
sbeepishness as they caught sight of |
Mary.
Bet had already commenced her usu
al domineering chatter as she hustled |
about setting the table; and Mary who
often assisted watched her opportuni-
ty, and then with averted face escaped |
upstairs, leaving the visitors most un.
disguisedly chapfallen. Closing and
locking her door, Mary dropped with a
piteous wall upon the floor and gasped |
and shuddered as she realized the yawn-
ing gulf before her. She was not afraid
Of the clumsy young fellows downstairs
and not repelled by their shy attentions,
but she had been gently bred In an
unworldly atmosphere of idealism her
gentle mother and bookish father had
hlled her mind with ideas which made
ove divine passion and marriage the
holiest of mysteries, and the firss time
she had come into contact with the
outer world these things had been pre-
sented to her in their most gross and
sordld form. But the shock, revolving
though 1T was, was the least of her ter
rors. Aunt Bctbia, impusively gener-
'us and indulgent, was wlful, coarselv
and recklessly wilful it must be ac-
snowledged, in her tantrums:" even
Ben Greg, the master of the house.
luailed before her. But she was the
,nly thing that stood between her and
destruction, and Mary was but 10 and
nad seen nothing at all of tho world,
She had nowhere to go if she left Bos.
illl; no one to fly to, and not the faint
'st idea of providing for herself. She
lad lively sense of gratitude. how
,Ter, and could not ignore her obi
cations to her aunt. All the same, ev-
Try delicate fibre of her nature was in
'eVolt against the proposals that had
>een made to her, and the spirit they
evealed; and kpeeling there she felt
is though filth was being poured over
md she was to bo first defIed forever
md then sold like one OF the pigs on
he farm
I1ad she known. poor soul. that Beth
a s personal reputation was involved
u the transaction, she would have bee,
aore scared even than she was; for
ne truth must he told that Bethia. TO
trengthen her position with the neigh
ors and the Greg family, had boosted
or years OF the position of her brother
nd the prospects Of his only dauphter
nd when the end came she had taken
ne onll by the horns, calmly announced
nat Mary had sixteen hundred pounds,
M Drought her to Crowbeck to Justify !
er boastings and marry her to ono or
ther of the young farmers about: sac.
lhcing to her pride and willfulness her [
wn hard-sayed little hoard as an en-
owment. Had Mary Ashley, kneeIing ]
mere in her room, known that big Ben q
reg, who was supposed to have long
assed the time of counting, was mad j
: in love with her, her distress wonld
ave been even deeper: and as it was i
lie MD precious secret in her own d
reast that made the prospect before
cr more and more threntan;nr !.