New Britain herald., 1921-08-04

NANN
Days companies and had died when
Nora was a little girl. She told of
her father, New England college
professor, and that he had died soon
after her mother, of a broken heart.
Il was brought up by the aunt
whose portrait you saw" Nora went
on. I'VE lived in Framingham and
[ went to Miss Parsons school there.
1t is very well known school and
girls go there from all over the
world. 1t was there that I first
knew Inez Rutledge.
I knew her very well, for we were
both immensely interested in the
pageants and amateur theatricals
which were part of the course had
always been a good mimic and I used
to initiate our old maid of -all-work.
Rose Brady, so that Aunt Louise
couldn't tell which Of us was sneak
ing If she didn't see u.s. 1t ANNOYED
poor old auntie very much and she
used to scold me about it. I didn't
understand it at the time, but
know now that she had a great aver
sion to the stage as a profession and
was afraid that I'd follow. in my
mothers footsteps.
Aunt Louise died two years after
graduated and left me all she had.
poor dear, but on the condition that
should not go on the stage I saw
from that how keenly she felt about
it. I would have respected her
wishes in any case, 1 think For
tunate1y, or unfortunately, 1 had an
other talent against which the New
England conscience hasn't quite so
| much of a prejudice. I could draw
pretty we'll and I loved it. We had
an unusually good teacher in school
and I had the right kind of training
from the start. So I took what little
| money had and went to New York
to study.
ct found a cheap room in old
Greenwich Village and in the studio
of a fe1low-student I met Vincent
QuartIey. She showed him the min
iature I had painted of Aunt Louise
and he thought it promising and Of
fered to get me some commissions
among his friends. That was early
last winter. I thought I had enough
| money to go on then, not having had
any experience of how much it costs
to live in New York and I told him
I'd like to wait until I had little
! more training. Then, toward the
| middle of the winter there was q
terrible slump, think you call it, in
the stock market, and the dividends
should have had on January first
| didn't come. I did4t tell any one but
wrote to my aunt's lawyers in Hart
ford. They wrote back that the
| stock was good and would be sure
to pay more dividends by spring; that
| had better keep it and not worry"
I Ivy cl/o cd
Mr.. Quartley, then, to get me some
commissions if he could, but he didn't
know of my necessities and nothing
came of it. Pretty soon my money
was all gone and didn't know what
to do.
lone day, while riding in the street
car, 1 heard two handsomely dressed
women taking. They were rather
common and spoke SO loudly that l
could hear almost every word. They
were renarking upon the difficulty
Of getting servants and one of them
said, L pay my parlor maid fifty dol
lars month and she has good
home and no expenses and still she
| isn't satisfied I didn't hear any
more. I knew that was one thing I
could do and made up my mind then
and there to be such a housemaid as
had never been seen before on sea
or land. It was the only decent and
honest thing to do. It amused me
to think how startled my prospective
mistress would be at my projections.
I would make it a stage part, said
to myself, and I would play it as
beautifully as it could be done.
ct saw an advertisement for par
llor maid and it gave the initials II.
.lG. r. and the address. 20 East Six
Itieth street You know, from Miss
lMacLeod's story, what happened
When I saw Inez I was so startled
THAT I couldn't speak. She took me
Into her room and l told her frank
Nv all nv troubles. She was kind ano
offered me money, but I wouldn'1
take 1t.
s'Since I wouldn't have help in any
other way, she took me as a maid
I'm sure she meant to be kind, poor
girl, but she had changed goo6
deal-or I had been too young, whe1
II first knew her, to realize the pos
sibilities of a nature like hers-ant
at last we had a bad quarrel over he1
miniature"
You painted the one you gave me-
to take care OFF, said Dick eagerly
I"By Jove!-A clever piece of work.
Yes, when 1 told her what my am
billions were she gave me minis
/ sion to paint one of her. She sale
she would pay me for it, which would
have been great help, and that sht
would show it to her friends and ge
me many orders. I was very happ,
about it and I worked on it all he1
free mornings. So, you see. whe1
the awful tragedy occurred, I wa:
simply swept off my feet and wha
had been rather lark, though
|. necessary one, became serious enough
If the miniature had been found,
! should have been obliged to tel
everything to the police. I could Sc,
it all coming out in the papers; ant
what chance had I, in my real pro
fession, after that? Even Vincen
, Quartley, with all his friends, would
have found it impossible to get com
missions for me, and he was my bes
L