The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1907-03-21
cinderella e
to Date.
By HELEN MAXFlELD.
Copyright, 1866, by May Mckeon.

arrested Mr.. Hartley and Mr.. Manners,
but that does not help the rest of us.
In short time presume shall be on
the county. If you had married Dan
Martin, as l wanted you to do. should
not be facing this terrible situation,
but you always were headstrong, and
my whole life has been sacrificed to the
effort to raise you as your dear dead
mother would have had me. Even
now Dan is willing to forgive your
folly and marry you. He will have
the house all done over, and his sister
will 60 to Johns to live, and there will
be only Dan and you and me-"
The letter covered five closely writ
ten pages, and Annabel read it through
twice with firmly set lips and dry
eyes. Then very deliberately she put
on her coat, hat and gloves and went
out for q long walk in the snowy park,
where motor cars filled with fur clad
figures flew past and laughing children
pelted her with harmless balls Of feath-
cry whiteness. 1t was a glorious day.
and when she came back to her dingy
hall room she was smiling. and the
hard lines had faded from her face.
Then she wrote her answer:
My Dear Aunt Molly-I am so grieved
to hear Of the bank wreck. I had not
read Of it in the papers. because we have
been enjoying the privilege Of some spe-
cial instruction under Professor - OF
7
the academy night and day. Perhaps the
bank receivers may save something, and
in the meantime you must not worry.
will have the store decided to you, and
the rent will more than keep your house
going, and each week I will send you
some of my. earnings. l am inclos1ng
money order for SIS that l happen to
have in hand. Have Mr.. Gregory ar
range the transfer of the store property.
AS to Mr.. Martin. please do not urge that
upon me again. still feel that / have
some right to happiness and l know 1t
will never come to me through Dan Mar
tin.
Not one word Of reproach, no re-
minders of q dun colored childhood
and a dreary girlhood, spent under
nagging of the most trying sort; no
reference to the fact that her own
patrimony had gone under with her
aunt's small fortune in the bank
wreck: no intimation that she had
sent almost her last dollar in the
money order and must now drop her
art studies and seek position in the
workaday world. She smiled grimly as
she mailed the letter. Her aunt would
accept the sacrifice and wall to Dan
Martin over Annabeps lack OF appre-
citation.
Dan Martin! How she hated every
inch of his undersized person. his
small beady eyes, his perpetual smile.
his weak. receding chin! She mailed
the letter with a strange feeling Of
independence achieved, for now she
had paid to her own satisfaction the
debt Of gratitude imposed by her aunt,
which had hung over her young life
like pail. She was free now to work
out her own happiness.
But for the next week happiness
seemed to move farther and farther
away. In later years she never
thought Of those days without shud-
dering.
The sholidays were over. Nobody
wanted to hire clerks or buy illuminat-
ed cards or telephone records or any
of the pretty things she painted. The
room rent was again due. She might
sell her few casts and painting outfit.
She set her lips firmly and climbed the
stairs to fashionable employment
agency. The manager was sitting at
the telephone when Annabel entered.
She hung up the receiver with an I'M
patient frown.
What do you want-a position as
governess or companion? Nothing Ike
that in view; a hundred applicants
for every position. Oh, wait minute!
You look bright. Can you do manicur-
ing and dress hair a bit and mend
laces? If you can do it even halfway.
wish you'd try this place. I've sent
the customer a dozen girls, and they
always part after terrible scene.
The woman's a crank, but you look as
II you had tact"
The upshot was that Annabel, win
Is cents In her purse and a notice OF
rent due under the door Of her hall
room. went to see Mrs Cartwright
Brown, and that highly strung person.
age said with dissatisfaction and sus-
picion In her voice that she would give
the girl trial.
The Cartwright Browns were newly
rich. The father had made an enor-
nous fortune through his own efforts
and was proud Of 1t. The mother was
so burdened by it that she was on the
verge Of nervous prostration. Annabel
saw it was nerves and not temper and
took heart. Later she learned that
there were a son and daughter away
at college who were Just a little
ashamed Of their new riches.
Nobody, Annabel least Of all, knew
how it happened, but she became the
virtual head of the Cartwright Brown
household. Mrs. Brown vowed that
she could hire a visiting manicurist