Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1907-04-18
Cinderella e
to Date.
By HELEN MAXFIELD.
Copyright. 1906, by May McKeon.

4.
anything except yourself-that the
Westfield bank is wrecked. They have
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 wanted you to do, 1 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 go 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 II through
twice with firmly set lips and dry
eyes Then very deliberately she put
on her coat, hat and gloves and went
out for long walk In the snowy park,
where motor ears filled with fur clad
figures few 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 Moly--I am so grieved
to hear OF the bank wreck 1 had not
read OF IL in the papers. because we have
been enjoying the privilege OF some spe-
cial instruction under Professor Of
New York, and / have been working at
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 win send you
some of my earnings. I am inclosing
money order for SIS that I 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. I still feel that l have
some right TO happiness, and ! know II
will never come to me through Dan Mar
tin.
Not one word of reproach, no re-
minders of @ 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 Annabers lack OF appre
citation.
Dan Martin. How she hated every
inch OF his undersized person, his
small beady eyes, his perpetual smile,
his weak, recedlng 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
ught OF those days without shud-
derfng
The holidays we're 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 a 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 like
that In view; a hundred applicants
for every position. Oh. wait a minute'
} You look bright Can you do manlcur-
ing and dress hair a bit and mend
laces: If you can do 1t 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
IL you had tact"
The upshot was that Annabel, with
rs cents In her purse and notice of
rent due under the door of her hall
room, went to see Mrs. Cartwright
Brown, and that highly strung person
ARe 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
90 burdened by II that she was on the |
verge Of nervous prostration. Annabel |!
saw 1t was nerves and not temper and F.
took heart Later she learned that
there were son and daughter away |
at college who were just a little /
ashamed OF their new riches.
Nobody, Annabel least OF all, knew
how 1t happened, but she became the
virtual head of the Cartwright Brown
household. Mrs Brown vowed that
she could hire a visiting manicurist !
and hairdresser, but no one could stand
between her and domestic and social
worries as Annabel could.
II was Annabel who reorganiZed the |
STAFF OF servants and installed a COM
petent housekeeper. 1t was Annabel
who had the Conservatives brought up !
30 date, Annabel who made out con- !
genial dinner lists, Annabel who con-
ferred with Mrs Browns modiste and /
Mr.. Browns tailor, Annabel who ship
ped smart. suitable clothing and room
furnishings to two colleges
Annabers position I'm the household I
was peculiar. She was neither house, /
keeper nor private secretary-just
Miss Annabel." She did not receive
with Mrs. Brown on Wednesday after
moons, but she did join the family oc-
sionally at the theater or in viewing
art exhibitions. And Il was after one
OF these rare occasions that she real .
lied the full extent Of her happiness. !
She had been hunting congenial work, /
not an art career. She knew now
that her small talent for drawing had |