The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-02-06
y n y q g
III Intercepted
Letter.

.u.no said Aurora, what shall we
! now" The dreary equinoctiai ram
81 over: the oNiaue autumn sun
s,,sd nm matted drifts OF wet leaves
"A nools of water in the road; SOL
u.rv red chrysanthemum lifted It's
..us If flowers under the window.
nv had opened the windows wide TO
]. Il the air and light, after great-aunt
wi,;am,s funeral. There was the
! ,heelmarks and deep ground ruts YET
!. the road where the hearse had been
,,,ven m to the gate; but the yellow
.itorv leaves, fiuttering down like
nlden rain at every gust OF wind' were
hst celebrating tlosm.
Grand-aunt Miriam was dead ana
IN Is rest in a sunny corner OF the
dlIaee churchyard, ana Adeline and
Ir,ora were left alone in the world.
arm sure" said the Widow Allston,
NO lived in the next house, i don I
NOW what's to become O them gals.
They amt been brought up TO 90
,othin'. And they're dreadful ordinary
lookin' gals. They wasn't pretty when
~ was young, and the youngest on
IA is turned forty now"
And that was precisely the problem
vhickoWas in Aurora Fields mind
vhen she sat before the cracking fire,
yith her elbows on her knees and her
ain in her hands, and looked dreamlly
ncross the hearthstone at her sister
A6s!ine.
aWhat can we do?" said Adeline,
Who was the meeker and less enter
nising spirit of the two.
we've got to live" declared Au-
ma
@Oh, Of course-we've got to live"
and we've got nothing 70 live upon
Ut this old house and thirty acres OF
rcky, uphill ground" said Aurora.
s0fand-aunt Miriam's pension died
With her. and she never saved a penny
ut Of although, indeed, how could
~. poor old thing? And l don't see
thA there's anything left for us but
b ksep boarders'
''But Who will board with u.s." said
Adeline, in her feeble, inefficient way.
Aurora shrugged her shoulders i'm
Dltiently. (9) ~
You never had any faculty, Addie,"
nd she, land s'pose it's too late for
~ TO begin to reform now. But l
aoah think you might have had the
/ common sense to put two and two to-
esher Amt there that big red brick
hctory a-buildin' by Jennings Falls,
o. wont it be full o girls in two
neatAs' time? And wen't thsy be glad
= have handy place to board? I've
80 counting up-there are four-five,
~ rooms we could spare, as we'll as
~ And I'm a pretty decent cock il
iceuh get the materials to cook with.
- ! s'pose you could, at least, look
uter the rest of the hoase?"
res, could do that, I think" said
lex Adeline, who always had sense
a lnferiority in her sisters presence.
4 least would try"
shen," said Aurora, lets go right
y work, and get the house thorough
y cleaned the very first thing"
8 now" gasped Adeline. 0
y course, now! Do you suppose l
mt next year?'' retofaed her sister,
alely The house is full of old truck
80 furniture. and will have to have
y : dozen bonfires, at least, before
lassH be decently cleared out. And
I've got to do it ourselves, Adeline!
~ can't afford to hire any one to help
And 20 the sooner we begin the
etter."
Ies, suppose so!" assented Ade-
Ia Sl
g. the next morning the Field girls
"a themselves diligently to work. Au-
nad certain hard-headed energy
5 purpose that rather enjoyed toll
hustle. but poor Adeline's heart
within her at the prospects The
came into her eyes, as she took
ne-aunf Miriam's old faded clothes
books and papers out of the
q -smelling drawers.
1aere am l to put these?" she
1oked.
hn emf" was her sisters curt re-
{z7s
eiine looked aghast. Grand-aunt
- mad been stern old tyrant to
was true-a domineering mis-
mo had exacted everything from
NC gave her, in return, nothing
.ne merest subsistence. Grand
if1am had ruthlessly crushed in
that one only little love affair
1ae had ever known. Not. shs