The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1907-02-01
Ny Lady Lettuce

OlrIn WHICH cOSL ner genLIe, 1TdSl1e
mother her life; and as the years roll
led on the title was none the less hers.
The Earl of Cranston, her father,
took very little notice of her-he never
quite forgave her for being the uncon-
scious factor in her mothers early
1eath-and she grew from childhood to
girlhood solitary, yet by no means
unhappy person, dimly conscious that
here was latent feeling of luminosity
toward her small and wholly sweet self
IN the part of the being who ought to
have loved her more than the whole
vide world put together, but utterly un-
able to account for its presence.
She understood that Lord Cranston
preferred to see her at distance-that
he just tolerated her at the head of his
table, when her long skirts and turned
up hair precluded once and for all her
retention in the schoolroom.
But the cause was not borne in upon
her until one certain hot summers day,
when in the light of others, eyes she
saw what she had hitherto been q
mystery to her.
A pure accident put it into her pref
ty auburn head, and when once she
knew there was no longer any peace
for My Lady Lettuce.
She had been out in the cornfields
that surrounded her country home,
gathering in her brown arms, barred to
she elbow, great handfuls of regal Grim
A erIn r1iof
she made as she stood "breast-high"
holding her spoils against her nut
brown cheek.
Had My Lady Lettice's mother been
alive that same cheek had been care
fully shielded from the too eager kisses
Of the summer sun; but having no one
to take care of her the girl had
wandered at her own sweet will in her
own fashion once she was emancipated
from governesses and such like impede
menta that surround the ordinary bud
ding young lady, and her face was a
sure index of the use to which she had
put her time and her liberty!
The Earl never inquired for her; If
she was late for meals he made no COM
ment; he utterly refused to secure @
chaperon for his pretty young daugh-
ter, averring that while he lived his
daughter had no use for one.
He did not intend to present her at
court OF give her a season in town
such as befitted one of her rank and
beauty-and in the country espionage
was necessary for My Lady Lettuce
And his would-be councillors withdrew,
and the Earl went on in his own obsti-
nate way, until suddenly pulled up
short.
And his awakening happened in this
wise:
The day that saw My Lady Lettuce
breast high among the corn" brought
two ladies to the court on a visit to
my lord.
One was Madame Ronteuil fasci-
mating little Frenchwoman, who loved
Ia belle Angleterre," and had made it
her home; and the other was friend
who had come to stay with her.
Now, My Lady Lettuce was on the We
randa arranging the peoples she had
that morning gathered, and the win
dow being open on to the balcony every
word the two good ladies uttered while
waiting the arrival of their host car
ried to the girls ears as she stood idly
caressing her beautiful flowers.
She had no intention of eavesdrop-
ping, but she also had no intention of
making her presence known in case
her father should object, and it was
with sudden start that she heard his
name mentioned by Madame.
The visitors were evidently discussing
the absent gentleman. and Madame
was enlightening her friend with a
vivid description.
And" she wound up 1.-The sad part
is that he hates his only daughter-his
only child, in fact, because her mother
died at her birth. Inhuman, call it
but the girl doesn't seem to mind-I
don't think she quite understands"
Visiting the sins of the father upon
the children, call it," purred the
other lady, mildly, How very shock
ing-quite case for the Society for
the Prevention
He sentence was cut short by the
arrival of her host But My Lady Let
tice had heard, and her cheeks famed.
So that was the reason-her father
hated her! Oh! she was glad, ever
SO glad, that at last she had found out.
What a fool she had been not to guess
it! Many things became clear to her,
viewed in the new light
Her mind was instantly made up.
Her father hated her-she would not
remain any longer to remind him so
constantly of his grief She would go
away, right away into the world, where
so many girls earned their own living
She could earn hers, too; the last
governess had been wont to admire
her pupils dancing, and to say that
she had fortune in her feet.
Why should she not turn those most
useful members to account?