Year: 1873

~ No"iuh Dc l'lcdoaho Ioi Cl'ilCl Pai
ty, you know" With this veiled illu
sion to his possible rejection, Ton
took his hat and left the room.


Our household was rather queerily
put together There was no particu
lar reason why | should have been O
it at all for | was notreally related t(
Tom, nor even to ''mother," as / calleC
her, though am sure, we were as deal
to each other as mother and daughter
could be. She was the second wife Of
my father, who like most ministers
who had been richer in grace than il
goods, and had left us at his death
with very little to live on. Then il
was that Tom Dean had to come for.
ward, and insisted upon givinga home
to his aunt and me, whom he had
scarcely seen u dozen times in his life
before. That was exactly like Tom
"queer Tom Dean" as his friends were
fond of saying, "who never did any.
thing like anybody else" | suppose
in spite Of his clear head for business
there was no denying he was whimsi
cal; but am sure, when think OF
his untailing generosity and delicacy
| can't help wishing there were a few
more such whimsical people in the
world.


Naturally, at the time am speak
ing Of, my opinion had not been ask
ed; all / had to do was to 90 where
mother went, and while she gave her
energies to the housekeeping, gave
mine to growing up, which by this
time l had pretty well accomplished
But perhaps for that very reason-fol
one sees with different eyes at twelve
and eighteen-my position in the
house began to seem unsatisfactory tc
me; and the morning words put it in
a clearer light since it had been used
as an argument, against Toms marry.
ing. | knew that mother had spoken
honestly, believing that such a ster
would not be for his happiness; but
was not he the best judge of that?
knew him, if reflections should bring
him round to her opinion, to be per-
fectly capable Of quietly sacrificing his
own wishes for my sake, who had not
the shadow of a claim on him; so il
must be my part to prevent his own
kindness being turned against him
now. Still, it was not so easy to see
how | was to provide for myself, in
case it should become advisable. What
could | do? Draw and sing and play
tolerable, but not in a manner to com
pete with the hosts that would be ir
the field against me. Literature
had read so many stories whose hero
ines, with turn of the pen, dashed in
to wealth and fame. That would be
very nice, only was not the least
bit literary; I had never even kept ;
journal, which is saying a great dea
for a girl in her teens. "The fine
arts,' then being out of the question
Tor me, what remained? There wa.
some clerkship, or place in some fami
ly, and.-there was Will BROMLEY


That may seem like going away
from the point, but it was not. I wa.
matter -of-fact, but could see very vel
what was going on right under my
eyes, and | had a pretty clear ide:
of what was bringing Will to th'
house so often as he had taken to com
ing lately. There was the situation
that would give me the home life
liked best. and felt myself best suited
for, but would it answer in other re
spects? | overcast the long seam
was sewing twice over, l was so bus,
trying to make up my mind whether
liked Will BROMLEY well enough tc
pass my whole life with him; and ever
then | had not come to any decision
when | was called down stairs to Let
ty Walters.


Lefty was the prettiest, | think o
all my friends, and certainly the liveli
est. Tom called her the ''tonic,' an(
used to laugh heartily at her brigh
speeches. | suppose it was this thai
made mother fix on Lefty as his choice
When l came into the sitting-room,
found kind of examination going on
1t was amusing to anybody in the Sc
cret, as was, to watch mothers art
full way of continually bringing th'
conversation round, as if by chance
to bear on what she wanted to know
But it all amounted to nothing, eithe


Lefty was to good a fencer, or becaus
she really had nothing to betray. Blu
when Tom came home mother tool
| roo6 poro fo mention fbot T ofty bo