The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1909-01-09
through the ball and into The parlor.

through the hall and into the parlor.
She paused only long enough to bow
to the caller, and then said, quietly :
Hazel, our poor servant has fall
len on the stairs and hurt herself
badly. Can you go for the doctor 2"
For just second after she had ut
tered the terrible words, Ruth felt
afraid of the issue. If Hazel should
fail-if the canker of thoughtlessness
had eaten too deep-she knew that
she should never forgive either her.
self or her niece.
But the girl, as the meaning of her
aunt's words made itself plain to her,
rose to her feet, and over her face, to
the very roots of her hair, poured a
flood of crimson which quickly gave
place to deadly pallor.
1t is my mother" she said, with
a dignity which no one had ever no.
ticed in her before. "Let me go at
once"
Then she turned to her visitor,
wholly indifferent as to the impress
sion she might make, anxious only to
atone for her previous cowardice.
"I know you will excuse me, Mr..
Bennett" she said. "It is my mother
who has fallen. NY aunt is punish
ing me very justly for not having
told you, as l should, that the lady
who opened the door for you this
afternoon was not our servant, but
my mother. We have no servant" F"
People had often said that Mr.. Ben
nett was fastidious. He may have
been, but he was also a gentleman.
The scorn which Hazel's confession
could hardly help arousing had no
chance to show itself in his face. Pity
for the girls embarrassment and suf-
fering, and admiration for her final
courage and loyalty and frankness,
blotted out every other feeling.
''It was my mistake, Miss Love-
joy" he said, gravely, and am
afraid an objectionable one. I am
more sorry than I can tell you."
Then, before anyone could object, he
had seized his hat and started for the
doctor.
He found him and brought him
back, and remained to help him lift
and move the sufferer /; and by and
by, when there was no excuse for
staying longer, he said to Hazel's
aunt, with an almost boyish difidence
and hesitancy:
"Miss Lovejoy, please do not think
me presuming, but my father and
mother are both away, and our SER
wants have almost nothing to Go.
Will you not let me send one of them
to help you-a woman who has been
with us great many years? She
would be most willing to come, and
I'm sure you would find her of as
sistance."
With all her independence, Aunt
Ruth was almost tempted to accept
the offer, but it was Hazel who de-
cided the matter.
1T is very kind of you, Mr.. Ben
nett," she said, land please don't
think us unappreciative; but just
now, at any rate, we shall get on very
we'll. / have a vacation now, and I
can give all my time to my mother
and the house. / want to do it. She
has waited on me all my life"
She was equally determined when
her father came home and somewhat
excitedly urged the necessity both Of
a nurse and a kitchen girl. She con-
vinced although he knew it
only too we'll before-that they could
not afford it, and she had her way.
Like all young pilgrims, Hazel
found the road long and sometimes
rough, and she travelled it often with
aching feet. But she never turned
back, and in the long days which fol-
lowed, filled as they were from early
morn till late at night with petty
household duties, she learned as she
could never have learned in any other
way the cost of that mother-love
which had SO long and jealously shell
tered her.-X Youths C0nsbanfon.