The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1913-05-02

on her commences sufficiently to
make her marriageable to Mr.. James.
OF course nobody wac to meet her,
but then the Staceys hadn't any friends
anyway they weren't that kind. A
few acquaintances. and once in a
while one of them to dinner. But even
then they wouldn't meet Miss Polly,
and II they did they wouldn't know,
because she came to us as a compan-
ion to Mrs. Stacey.
Think of that, sir, to make your
sons future wife companion And
she was TO study and have a tutor and
learn deportment-but 1t was all done
in such sly, malicious manner /
don't see how any girl could have
stood for it.
But Miss Polly was a brick. She
knew that Mr.. James loved her and
she was willing to undergo good deal
for him. / know that he went down
on his knees to her when she refused
at drst and begged her to overlook his
mothers oddities. when we are mar
ried it will be different, DEAR" he
said.
And IL Mr.. James had been the right
sort 1t mightn't have mattered much,
because, after all. we can make pretty
nearly what we wish of ourselves. But
between them they gradually crushed
all the spirit and brightness out Of the
girl.
They used to tell her little things at
the table. Don't hold your fork SO
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be drunk from the side. not from the
point of the spoon" do not cut your
bread-break it. And remember never
to ask for butter at dinner" And ten
minutes later Mr.. James would be
begging her pardon and pleading with
her to stay.
She used to confide in me little,
and sometimes she'd stop in when /
was polishing the silver and speak to
me. And she knew that knew.
It was after a couple Of months of
this that heard Mrs. Stacey say to
her son that Miss Polly would never
do for wife for him. "She would
make a capital helpmeet for William"
she said, "but not for you, my dear.
Come, now, be man and conquer
your infatuation. Will your
Half an hour later Mr.. James came
out. looking very white and shaly, and
asked Miss Polly. knew then that
he had been won over and the pair OF
them were going to turn her out into
the street. Because of course she
had never accepted a penny from
them and never would, and she had
no place to go to. But wasn't going
to let her leave that night.
Miss Ryland has a headache, Mr..
James" said. Il heard her telling
Mrs. Simmons that she was going to
bed
"All right, tomorrow will do,
guess" he said, and went away with
sort of relieved air about him.
But what / had said was a lie, be-
cause at that moment Miss Ryland was
sitting in my pantry, where I'd been
telling her about my home, and how it
was near to hers, and I'd made her
laugh with my stories and the color
had come back into her pretty cheeks.
and she flashed her eyes in the way
she had and laughed more merrily
than I'd ever known her to since she
came into the Stacey home.
When l came back from speaking to
Mr.. James outside the pantry Miss
Polly was standing up, rather white
again. What made you tell Mr..
James that awful falsehood?" she
asked
He's awful peculiar. Mr.. James is.''
answered Maybe he wouldn't
think it fitting that you should be in
here talking to me-"
And pray why not?" she asked.
because" answered, I'm ser
want and you are a lady. Leastways.
hope you'll never be the sort OF lady
Mrs Stacey is" continued.
She was going to fash out at me.
thought, but instead she suddenly
burst into tears and put her hands
out on the table and her head in her
hands and / think she cried. then for
all the days of misery that those two
had made her go through.
You are my only friend, William"
she said to me. "You don't know how
unhappy am here. love James and
he loves me, but we were never made
to live the same sort of life. / can't
understand all those things they tell
me and they make my head ache
and"
It'll be worse after you're married,
my DEAR" l says. You see, felt now
that we were equals in spite of our
stations, and thought good deal of
Miss Polly-as a friend, mean.
It'll be worse after you're married"
says. what they do to you now
won't be particle to what they'll do
to you then"
You understand. sir, it was up to me
now to get Miss Polly to break it all
OF, so that she should never be hui
initiated.
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