HER RENUNCIATION.

Evening Star, Issue 11890, 19 May 1903, Page 2

HER RENUNCIATION.

Surely the sun must have been shining his hardest when Mollie was bom, for some of his beams certainly found their way into her heart. She had" the gentle eyes of a woman who is bom with the heart of a mother. She was everything combined—mother, counsellor, and housekeeper—to her i brothers, and sisters. I When they wanted to take friends homo i to tea Mollie was always agreeable. When ! the merry-making was’over Mollie always' did the tidying-up. She was the moving spirit in games, and if things seemed to be going flat Mollie would throw herself into the breach, and sing and laugh everyone back into good temper again. Her father’s chief anxiety being as to the future welfare of his girls, she volunteered to “ learn something,” so as to be independent in case of emergency. So it came about that after “ the children ’’—always children to her, despite the broad shoulders and incipient moustaches of the boys and the long frocks of the girls—had been given their breakfast, the meals arranged for the day, and the household wheels set moving generally, she would go off to a typewriting office in the City, and study bard for three hours. “ I can’t give any more time to it, Miss Knight,” she had) said to her manageress, “ for they want me at home.” ’ “ They want me at home! ” —this was the keynote of her life. So the days went on—never long enough for Mollie. The eldest of her sisters was married, and already a younger one talked of leaving home. But though men in. plenty had come asking for her, Mollie remained. She could not be spared, "I can never love any husband so well as my dear boys and girls—and I could never, never leave them.” This was the answer she made to one and all. But at last on the horizon of her life came one whom Mollie thought she could love well enough to take even this step. He was a young doctor whose acquaintance her brother Jijn had formed. Most of the boys’ friends were her juniors, but Dick

Thornton waa just a year older than she. But at firsrtvthe -- same insuperable obstacle j presented itself. Mollie was firm in her) resolve ot to leaved the “ children.” - ■ “ l ojte’t,. I she said over and over Hgam hig passionate entreaty. Don t ask, n4e«ll)kkiv'. They want me at home!” “ Then they’ve got to do without you,” answered flhe other, sturdily, “ because I want you most. Sooner or later you’ll hava to lehye them. The boys will go out intdj the world themselves presently; Margaret". already married; Hilda is and at for Letty she’s nearly seventeen—surely she can keep house for them? You did, at. her age.”

“Pm different. Betty's such a child, and then she could never make the boys happv —Arthur is so delicate, too—and, oh, it won’t do at all,! ”

But he was a persistent wooer, and not the man to reddily give up such a one as Mollie, a'Avoinan. worth a dozen battles. So he asked her again and again, and at last obtained her naif-promise “to think it over.” ******** That evening at tea-time she timidly broached the subject. ” Thornton wonts to marry you? What confounded cheek ! ” “I wouldn’t have thought it of Dick.” “As if you’d look at the fellow! We couldn’t spare our Mollie, could we, girls?” "I should think not, indeed! Off course, you sent hlffi-Hpay,,-like the others?” “ Y-yes—l sent him —away.” Then they all commenced hugging her. She was not going to desert teem. She was their own after all. ' * * * V■* * * * * Presently she crept away to her own little room. Unlocking her writing case, she took from it a photograph that none but- herself out of all the household had ever been permitted to see. For some minutes she looked at it yearningly. "Good-bye, Dick, dear, good-bye, mv love,” she said, softly. Then her face grew set, as of some great purpose, and holding the photograph in her hand, she went towards the brightly-burn-ing fire.—‘Leisure Hour.’

Tho most troublesome and fastidious visiter to the King’s Palace is the Czar of Russia. He insists on having his food cooked by his own servants, who travel about with him, and- his bedroom must be carefully examined by his valet every night before he retires. He is also funny in the' choice of his drinks, and if the particular thing he asks for is not at hana immediately he would mark his disapproval by refusing to continue the meal. He is the least welcome of all-the mouarchs of Europe at Buckingham Palace, as far as the servants are concerned, although in the matter of tips he is the most generous. Emperor William is the easiest to wait on. Neither is he fastidious in the choice of his food or drink, but the temperature of his bedroom is a matter of the greatest moment to him, and the servant who neglects instructions in this respect Is to be pitied.

Kerosene, best quality, large tins, 3s 54. At Warden’s.—[Advb]