The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-01-19
Is IS: II
Il Il VACABOND HEROINE /
81 BY ANNIE EDWARDS. ~
BY ANNIE

Providence in its wisdom should pc
pleased to sign my recall tomorrow
me angel Belinda would have her
mothers fortune to stand between
her and starvation"
And so until she had reached the
age of seven me angel Belinda" was
in~differently boarded at the rate OF
about forty pounds a year and no
holidays in a Cork convent. Then
O'Shea brought his face and lineage
once more to the marriage market, on
this occasion winning no faded scion
Of nobility, but the still blooming
widow Of a well-to-do London law
yer, and Belinda, for the first time
since her birth, had to learn the
Observation-Disclosures than sweet, poor
little mortal, in her case-of the
word home.
The second Mrs. O'Shea was a wo-
man whom all the ladies of her &C.
uuaintance called 'sweet"-you know
the kind of human creature she must
be. A blond skin, the least in the
world inclined to freckle, blond hair,
blond e~yelashes, eye of a dove, voice
Of a dying zephyr. A sweet little
woman, a dear little woman, an ad-
mirably we'll dressed and, what is
more, a we'll conducted little woman;
but-not fond of children. :
Belinda's small body nourished on
the accustomed roast mutton and rice
pudding of the English nursery, and
her soul-eager, fervent, hungry lit
tie soul that it was-was left to
starveI
With all the might of her ardent,
keenly strung nature, Belinda,
throughout those early years Of iso-
lation and neglect, loved her father.
Little enough she saw of him.
O'Shea had come into a fortune of
some thirty or forty thousand pounds
by his second marriage, and was
spending it like a man. (Like a
monster! Mrs. O'Shea would declare
piteously, when the inevitable day Of
reckoning had overtaken. them.
Would she ever have consented to a
brougham and men servants and Sun
day dinners-Sunday dinners! With
her principles!-if she had known
that Major O'Shea was a pauper, not
| worth the coat he was married IND
Occasionally, twice in three months
perhaps, the fancy would strike Cor
nelius to lounge, his pipe in his
mouth, into the child's nursery for
a game of romps. Occasionally, after
entertaining some extra fine friends
at dinner, perhaps he would bid the
| servants bring Miss O'Shea down to
| dessert, chiefly it would seem (but
Belinda was happily indiscrimin-
ative) for the opportunity her pres
| ence afforded Of airing his connec-
ton with the Earl of Liskeard's fam
lily. On a few blissful Sundays
throughout the year he would take
her out for a walk through the parks.
This was all-the sole approach to
parental love that frightened Belin-
da's lonely child's life, and as years
went on ever this scant intercourse
between O'Shea and his daughter les
! sened.. Difficulties multiplied around
the man; truths of many kinds
dawned upon the poor pink-and-
white fool whose substance he had
wasted. determinations, long alb
sences, cruel retrenchments of ex-
penditure, falling off of fair-weather
friends, all followed in natural Sc
uuence. And then came the crash In
earnest; Belinda's pittance their only
certain support for the future! The
house in May Fair must be exchanged
for one in Bayswater; the house in
Bayswater must give place to lodg-
ings; the lodgings from elegance,
so-called, must sink to respectability;
responsibility to eighteen shillings a
week, no extras, and dirt and dis
comfort unlimited. Belinda, instead
of roast mutton and rice pudding,
must eat whatever cold scraps
CHANGED to be over from yesterdays
meal, and no pudding at all; instead
of yawning W. French verbs, or
! drumming scales on the piano, must
! run errands,. mend clothes, crimp
chignons, pleat false t~resses, and gen
orally make herself the milliner,
lady's maid, and drudge of her step
mamma, Rose.
Cornelius descended the ladder OF
life with a philosophic, gentlemanly
! grace that added the last drop Of Bit
terness to Mrs. O'Shea's cup.
Belinda, who could see no evil in
What she loved, thought Dapa's resig-
nation sublime!
His dress from s~habbiness degen-
Grated to something worse, his nose
grew redder, his hours and his gait
alike more uncertain. In Belinda's
eyes he was still the best and dear
est of fathers, the most incomparably
long-suffering of husbands. Rose
must have her chignons crimpea.
must put on her pearl powder and
her silk dresses, as if we were rich
STILL" the girl would think with the
blind injustice of her age, while
papa, poor papa. wears his oldest
clothes and broken boots; yes, and
will sing a song at times to his little
girl, and be gay and light-hearted
through it all" .
! The truth was this: Cornelius
knew that his last trick was made,
Rose that she had the possibility of