Evening star., 1924-09-05
(Continued from Yesterdays Staro

(Continued from Yesterdays StarD
The tour was a triumph. Women
rushed to their cottage doors and
stared after her, goggling. At Prid-
den a party of hedgers left work
and raced across field to see her
60 by. Near Tire gadgwith q farmer
fell off his horse from sheer astonish-
ment. She was the sole topic of
the district for a week or more.
Johns memory was duly honored.
In a month Teresa was tired Of the
black dress; her fancy did not run to
black. The crisp and shining new
silk had given her a distaste for the
old silks. the soiled and tattered
salvage of wrecks. She stuffed the
motley rags back in the chests and
slammed the lids on them. She had
seen some taking rolls of
material in that shop in Penzance-
orange, emerald, turquoise, coral and
lilac. She shut her eyes and imagined
herself in a flowing furbelowed dress
OF each of these colors In turn-or
one combining a little of everythin g
oh, rapture.
She consulted Martha in the matter.
Martha was shocked. 1t was unheard
OF. She must continue to wear black
in public for a year at least. This
intelligence depressed Teresa, but
she was determined to be correct, as
she had now a position to maintain,
was next thing to a lady. Eleven
months more to wait, heigh-ho!
Then, drawn by the magnet of the
shops, she went into Penzance again.
Pen1ance had become something more
than a mere tin and pilchard port
visitors attracted by it's mild climate
came in by every packet; there was
good inn, the ship and Castle, and in
1852 a coffee house had been opened
and the road to Lands End made pos
sible for carriages. Many fine ladies
were to be seen tanning themselves
at windows in Chapel street or stroll
ing on the Green. and T'resa wanted
to study their costumes with view
to her own.
She dismounted at the Market
Cross, moved about among the booths
and peeped furtively in at the shops
They were most attractive, display
ing glorious things to wear and mar
veiouS things to eat - tarts. cakes,
Iutch biscuits, gingerbread shaped
like animals. oranges, plum and sugar
candy. SLY old women wheedled her
to buy, enlarging ecstatically on the
excellence and cheapness of their
wares. Teresa wavered and reflected
that though she might not be able 10
buy new dress for a year there was
no law against her purchasing other
things. The bag of silver burnt her
fingers and she fell. She bought some
gingerbread animals at four for a
farthng. tasted them. thought them
amhrosia and brought Sixpenworth TO
take with her, also lollipopS. She
went home trembling a her extrava-
gAnce, but when she came to count
up what she had spent it seemed to
imnYeSSiOn
Of silver. In six weeks she went in
again, bought a baSketful Of edibles
and replaced her brass earrings with
large gold half-moons. When these
were paid for the bag was badly
drained. Teresa took fright and Wis
tied town no more for the year-but
as a matter of fact she had spent less
than ECO in all. But she had got in
the way of spending now.
The tin works in which Johns
money was invested paid up at the
end of the year 'el26 II shillings and s
pence on this ocCasiOn}, and Tregors
rent came in on the same day. II
seemed to Teresa that the heavens
had opened up and showered un-
counted gold upon her.
She went into Penzance next morn
ing as fast as the bay mare could
carry her and ordered dress bor-
dered with real lace and combining
all the hues of the rainbow. She
was off. Never having had any
money she had not the slightest idea
OF its value and was mulcted accord
ingly. In the third year of widow
hood she spent the last penny Of her
income.
The farm she left to Bohemia, the
house to Martha, the children to look
After themselves. and rode in Pen
dred, TO parish feasts, races and
hurting matches, a notable figure
with her flaming dresses, raven hair
and huge earrings, laying the odds,