Prettiest of All

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1356, 19 June 1905, Page 4

Prettiest of All

CHAPTER 11.

(Continued)

"So sad, anil yet ab true, dear Maud," Baid the blonde, with tears in her blue • eyes, when the other ceased to sing. " Tes, Grace—there is more truth thon poetry in tho sobg, and for the lifo of mo I oan't see why yon liko it." " I like the plaintive air, dear Maud. and yxiu singit aa if you felt tho truth of everv word. Gh, what a hard. hard life is onrsl" "It will bo harder, Gra»e, my dear, it the rumour proves true that tho firm for which we have workel so long, even at starvation wages* bus failed—for if they , have, almost a month's work is in their ■ '; hands unpaid for, Our room rent will bo ;V duo to-morrow, and even our money for bread is reduced to enough for only on a mote loaf." "I pannot believe it, said>Gf aoo with a . ji R b. "But we will know this afternoon, , when we carry in the two dozen vests ' which are. now so nearly done, 'What will we do if we cannot get the Bum duo us—over twenty dollars, and all of it worked for so steadily, so faithfully ?" "Do? Bather than face old Mother ' ■■ .-Flint when she asks for our rent, and W. wt have no money to pay it, I would ■jump off th'e dock into the river, You remember what cruel words she nsod to poor Eva \Valfcors When she was sick, / helpless, and penniless; and how she kept i hor clothes, when the poor thing staggered off to a hospital to die." "Heavens! yes. She told hor, wan and thin as Bho was,'she had beauty left, and she might sell it! I have liatod tho old .wretch ever since, and I would not be in for the world, Let us hurry, darling, atid finish out work. They will surely pay us up at the store, even if they have failed to latgat • creditors. They could not be so heartless as to defraud th 6 poor sewing girls who bavo worked bo .hard for; them," "Wo will soc," said Maud do Lisle, plying her needle swiftly on the white v Marseillesi while her face settled into a item, grave expression. At that moment a light tup was heard at tho door, and then the person who knocked, without waiting a second for an invitaiion to enter, threw opened tho door, ; and with alight, quick step, enteroJ. " It is Mary tho Mute!" cried Grace, and she smiled sweetly on the tall, slondef dark-bairsd girl, Who:0 eyeslieamod with an intelligence which her lip< could not speik/for she was both; deaf and dumb. The lust oomer, like ihe other twe, was ' . young—none of them had yet reached her .twentieth year, though all were in the early bloom'of womanhood, She bore in her hand two little jars, each containing a / small roso-bush in bloom, and with a , gentle, and loving smile and gesturo, bljo .•"placed one of tho flowers before each of . the girls' while with a ripid motion of her ' . whiie, tapering fingers alio toll Grtoo in ','j' .mute sings that she had seen tlioße flowers in tho market as Bhe came by it, and bought them for her friends. .; . Grace told this to . Maud, who had never y. possessed the tact or patience to learn the mute signs, and Maud impulsively threw his arms about. Mary's neck, and kissed , . .<• ' her gratefully again and again. \.; " Oh, tell her, Grace, how thankful WO arc!'' cried Maud, "We both love flowers so, and—we are too poor to buy them, and I can't seo how sho could, either, for '. . she can't make mnch more than wo do, though she embroiders so very prettily." • .. .Grace, With hor fingers, quickly ex- ■ pressed her thanks, as also those of Maud ; . and Mary, arid the latter sat down op the ' . 'little sofa bed, which served the poor sewV.v ing girls as it place of rost, whon they could rest, and took from her pocket throe ... oranges, and with a happy smile, jossed ; .V one to Maude, and one to Grace, while she ■ proceeded herself to enjoy tho third, "Oh, what a treat 1" said Grace. "Shall we not keep onrs till wo come ' .backfrom Grimßbaw, Speck and Com- ' pany'e store ?" H No I" said Mand. "We may not have the heart to eat them that wo have

BY JULIA EDWARDS,

now, if thoy wiled, aud wo do not got ou money. God in ITfitvou help us! j -Mary tbo ilutc, witti that imuitivo sensitiveness peculiar to hor class, saw nt a (jlanco in the facts cf hor friends that somotbiug was wrong. She asked Grnee what it iva«, and the ,'utter by sigus toid hor, fpr alio would have folt hurt al any concoalmcnt on tho part of thoao sho loved, For an instam the bouutiful niuto seemed ikied at tho thought of tho uiislorluno which her fait Mends fcntetl. Then, by sings and ijosiuros, ahetiiodio ohoer them, and told Graco witb her fingn'o to say to Maud that sha would share hor laft ponny and her last morsel with him. Gracefully draco replied, and stud they would hopo for tho best till tho ovil came, and all tliroo ate thair oriuijjM with a jest which the pampered child of fortune may nev#r lmoir. y (To bo continued.)