RED ROSES.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11491, 26 January 1903, Page 10

RED ROSES.

Br ASITA CtAT MC.N-07.. Miis Eleanor Driyton stood under tuo ■full glare of the lighted dwudelier, holding two unopened fetters in her hand. Nile was a tail, young woman, very beautiful, and exquisitely dressed in an evening gown of pure white «0k and soft tulle, the ekiit made long and trailing. Her tan neck and arms were bare; and gl»**im>S iv her hair and fastened on the folds ol her waist, ornaments of dazzhug gems tithed and sparkled. The maid who had just brought Uie noies waa busily in undoing a bos of liowets. Presently she lifted our a Urge bunch dark red roeses; Mac Drayif.n" looktd at them indifferently. -Where shall 1 put them, Miss Eleanor* ••Vou may leave them there. Wliat. t.tUK- is it? ' •• \bout- vino o clock, miss. 'You may go. Marie." SU* walked to a chair :ind .sal looking down U the two iN.us modita-tivoly. ""1 will read Mr iudrys riiet." she said, "he always writes *.;, .sciisibiv; Brandon k eui-e to have some heartrending, lovesick noruwns* in his. ' .■Mie reached over to a ta.We, picked up a pearl-handled paper cutter, iuid proceeded leLiurely to open the letter.

"My Dear Hiss Drayion,—l write to ask \-ou to be my wile. You are you Kg. well connected, and 'beautiful, and. I think, the moat proper' person I could select to adorn my house, aud be tfbe companion of lay declining years. 1 have made certain propositions to your fatter, which lie has accepted. This rvening I shall call.-Yours wrth great -c gard ' "JOHX BAILEY." She laid the note in her lap and looked before her steadily. -So that i-s what my father meant to-uiglrt- when ho said, that two of his girls hud married sensibly ; and he hoped the third would not make a, tool of him." Eleanor walked over uiid iooked at the Bowers. "Why, Mr Bailey is getting quite eentimentil in hie old age! My-favourite flowers, too!" she exclaimed, as she carelessly picked up the card' which accompanied them. "Brandon Boyd!" She drew back as if she had been struck and walked away with a. little laugh that sounded like a sob.

"Of course, I might have known that Mr Bailey would never have thought <>f anything so trifling and romantic n*. sending flowers! He is what lie said he was the other night—a weighty, substantial man, with no nonsense about him."

Eleanor paced slowly up and down the long room, her ekirts" trailing softly over the thick heavy carpets on the floor; then she pulled a cliair up to the lire and looted into it, long and earnestly, the other note lying neglected in her Tap. "Be happy, father, for I shall not make a fool of yon, nor of myself. Mr John Bailey with his millions, his palatial residences, his horeee, carriages and servants, is my accepted suitor." Slice Drayton leaned her head wearily against the back of the chair. "The problems of life! The problems of life!" die muttered. "Love without money is well enough for a woman who has always been accustomed to the disagreeable* necessity of economising, but even she, I am sure, when the cold winter weather sets in, and the children need to be well ied and warmly clothed, when the bills begin to press and the husband wears an anxious look, even she, I say, realises that love alone does not warm her through to the heart." Mifis Drayton raised the other letter as if to open it, hesitated, then put it down again and went on with her •soliloquy.

" But a woman raised as I have been, money always at her command, accustomed to every luxury, her lightest wish gratified, positively commits suicide, as far as the world is concerned, when she marries a poor man. What was it Brandon said yesterday? Thai if I would consent, we would start in a brownstone house on some good street, with two or three servants? He had the grace to admit that he was asking me to give up a great deal, but said that his prospects were bright; each year he was doing much better, that he was a rising man, and could promise better things in the future. Every luxury would come in time. In time!" she exclaimed, throwing up her head disdainfully. " Yes! After we have tooth, grown 'sick and weary of the narrow, painful grind of poverty. A woman is a fool who marries a man who has only good l looks and a profession! Money is the one essential. I have no doubt that Mr John Bailey and I shall jog along comfortably. Look at Cicely and Kate! They married the men father selected for them, and see what they have. There is hardly a house in the city grander than Kate'e, and who entertains more lavishly than Cicely? Why, think of tli» ball she is giving to-night. In the favours alone, for the cotillon, ehe has put a small fortune! What a fine contrast I should be, married to Brandon Boyd; receiving visitors in a ten-by-twelve-foot drawing room, and wandering round on foot, to call on my acquaintances." She arose and threw out her hand. "Mr Bailey, I will marry you with your houses and your lands, your old age included. Now for Mr Brandon Boyds letter."

Eleanor walked and stood under the chandelier to read it. "I do hope be is not stupid and tiresome, for even to a sensible woman of the world like myself, it is hard to say 'no' to Brandon. We have been such good friends, such congenial companions for so long! I knew father was thinking of him when he epoke tonight. Brandon is a foolish fellow to wear his heart on his sleeve. Pshaw 1 what is the use of a heart, anyway! Well," with a sigh, "I suppose I must read hie letter." "Dearest Eleanor,—YesterdVy, wten I asked you to be my wife, you told me not to press you for «n answer, to allow you to think it ever, and you would let id« know to-day. I could not fbeai it, Eleanor, if you were to tell me 'no,' so I eend you a bunch of red roses, and if you love me and will be my wife, bring them with you to-night. I will be waiting in the haH, and if you have them in your hand I will come to you, and we will go into the room together. But if you should walk before me with empty hands or carrying some other man's flowers, I will go away out o>l the door into the dark night, and out of your life for ever. EleSnor, dearest, for jrle&ven's sake, do not send me away brokenhearted, the man whom, you love and who loves you better than hie Tife.

"BRAMDON BOYD." She put her hand on the back of a chair to steady herself. "I'm stifled, the room is warm. Pah! It is the smell of those roses that makes me ill." She walked over and rang for her maid. "Take those flowers out of my sight." Marie looked at her in surprise. "Shall I put them in one of the drawing rooms, Miss Eleanor?" "Anywhere." Eleanor threw herself wearily into a chair. The little gilt clock on the mantel gave out one clear stroke. She raised her eyes and looked at it. "Half after nine and the carriage is ordered for ten. One halfhour to sit by myself. I wonder what hae detained the gallant Mr Bailey. Old Bailey! That i 3 what we used to c&ll him when we were children. 'That is old Bailey's house' we would say a« we Went by it on our way to school. How I should have laughed at the idea then, if anyone had told me that some day I would be mistress there^—and old Bailey's wife!" The door opened. A girl about fifteen years old, thinly and shabbily dressed, wearing an Alpine hat and carrying a lt-"ge dressmaker's box, came hesitatingly into the room. At the sight of Miss Drayton, sitting there resplendent in her ball drees, ebe stood wonder-stricken.

"What is it?" Eleanor inquired, as she saw her.

"The man at the door said, miss, that I could go up until I found one of the maids, but no one seems to be about, and there are so many rooms I'm that dazed and frightened, I could cry," she replied, timidly.

"For whom are you looking?" The girl put th« heavy box on tl»e hoot, and, kneeling down, looked closely at tbe address, "Jliss Eleanor Drayton, from Madam O'Connor," sb« read slowly.

'"Oh, my new opera cloak!" Eleanor cried. "I had forgotten all about it. Open the box, please." With her stiff r«d fingers—for the night was bitter cold—the girl tried to unfasten the knots, but. b«r hands were so numb sbe could not use them. She knelt there rubbing them together and breathing on them. Miss Drayton brought scissors and cut the twine, saying kindly, "Your hands are "cold and you are almost frozen. Here, «.«.».«%»*• m+u **»;«« >j,w* #I.™ *»a* Iμ *v.»

fire and warm yourself. Did you W" all the way from the tar?" W "Yes, miss. It's just frwiia'. ««. J* %* now the snows falliii'. Madame «iZl?! M to send mv away up here, fcgt eb/2* W that Mis* Dray ton wanted thi» naniS? ft' {or tonight." i" , * "And so I did, but, I never thoeaU A. ■' would send a poor little thine js? * >■ up hero with it, this dark,' coll ■? She lifted a long velvet cloak, © trimmed with ermine, out of the'l*** fltt folded it and throw it over her JSfal*V.M Then *he walked to the mirror «3k*'H ed in. Tne sight she saw W for she gave a sigh of pleasure ,2 B faction. She turned and met tlwfew* 5 of tiie girl, who was staring »t &m£'| open mouthod admiration/ •Well, how do I look?" -[M "Oli. ju.-t like a quet-u! But 1 AaLh I voti was a bside when I first looS3j M you!" l B Eleanor threw the heavy cloak'^fjJuV '■■ toiiL-h, ;uad came and took a seat I tire, opposite to the irnl T*^T'-B "What is your name?" slie '-'Jβ "Johanna Baxter. , ■ ■- "And you thought I iooked like abijfc^e sho said earnestly ; "like an old m!Si.^B bride. Johanna.?' , "'■-■ "Oh. no, miss!" the girl cried, ex«ttdjj«B ' like a young man's bride, like a WiC'B ful young man's bride I" '•'•'M Muss brayton winced. It woold ]U-m s.ift>r to change the subject. Whit M 1 this ignorant girl know of the worldf pM? I abiy she revelled in trashy novel*, and W ■ head was full of that iinaginery thing tktt I tail ill fiction-—love; so she said: I "Where do you live, Johanna?" ■ '"In Forsytiie street, miss." . I "Have you any parents';" , 1 "No, mm: paw, he dkhl ten yean igt aud now maw's took away. JJe «nd i» little brother lives with my siekr l&tifi* "Are you comfortable theiv?" "Yes. mm, quite so. Xelb>, sfa U, seven children, and Mike he drinks hirt but she has got three , nice rooms." "Three rooms!' , '"Ves'in, but the rent worries her dntj. ful. .She takes in washing, and \ ta»ht ■ three dollars a week, so we get s&jbj. Sometimes Mike brings his wages Then Nell's boy sells newspapere." "And you say your mother was away?"

"Maw wasn't very strong after pis/ died, and when the insurauce money xv used up she could not earn but a and she worried awful. This winter fcfcV rent got behind a month, so old put us out in the street. Then Itufi eh* went insane, and they took insanitarium, and Billy and me \ren| t»< Nell's." * ,^'.s Eleanor rose and began to walk up iiijji' down the room, a very serious on her face. * &$ "They put you out on the street, tljfc. bitter weather!' , sW exclauned. the landlord? Who did you say cwwj' the houses?" "John Bailey, the man who iivea belit - here on the Avenoo," Johanna l-eplied. "11l poor folks who rents his tenement* detltown calls him 'the devil,' miss; -.icy 4, .ways cay to each other, 'The de-vil is co»----ing to-day; 'have you got your rent!' Aai if they haven't got it, they knoflr tbatoi' they go." The girl looked up and siw Miss Drtjtng standing transfixed in the middle of 'tbl room, her face as white as her dresg. Johanna drew a long breath of astoniit m.tnt.

"Does he own your house, too, nuaf I slie asked. Eleanor came to herself with a tittk mirthless laugh.

"No, not this house, Johanna; be is tbt owner of a house into which I am gUBf to move, however."

"Don't gp, then, miss. Whatem jgi do, don't move there." ■ The gad;** very much excited. "H* never Kadi «| agent, he always cornea himself, and unless you are sure of your rent, old will put you out." Johanna clasped M*: hands together and lifted her earnest face to Miss Drayton's. is a hard man, miae, without no ml his body. You would not be ia m~l house a month before you'd be collteg Wl.:. the devil, as we do. There is ai'fjC'* man who lives across the hall from His daughter is one of Bailey's kifd« girls. The stories Tilly tells an «■*•, thin' terrible. He is so close, he fflttftfer everything, even to what the eervut*i|*V and "his wife—his poor wife died of* broken heart." " '' > , Eleanor fell on her knees by tie «Wr.~ and buried her face in her hands. -Mm a while she said in & low voice: ■' *■>' "And old Bailey's wife died of tie fe*jfa»t: heart, Johanna,?" 'js["Hiu wife died of the broken hMILvIV "And he grinds poor widows fawtPiMf puts them out in the enow, to &(■•'■•<„ go crazy?" ' '~ "If they don't pay their rent Iμ tmjh." miss." : £*' She knelt there, looking into thtlillfe ~ Johanna staring at her wonderingJf. *^ : Marie came in. V^.l"" "Miss Eleanor, the carriage M •*s■•., door." / *$V, l; Mise Drayton sprang to her feet * jMf did not notice the maid's eurpriwd"'■J*")"as her eyes fell on the visitor, talt hurriedly" to" a ■wardrobe, took warm cape of dark cloth, brought it IMj£ threw it over Johanna's shoulders, &MX woollen scarf, tied it around her head, and told Marie to bring a fleece-lined overshoes to put' on ortrjMj| thin, worn boots. . "Those are for you, Johanna, to Wfjg you nice and warm all winter. And BBg§| Probably his clothes are worn out.", *&mj< put some bills in the girl's - '.!fr|| - "God bless you, miss! Nell wiBAjJ so pleased when she sees me." " 'ife'j^ Tears filled Johanna's eyes and down her face. She got up froei«j|

i niuKi oe going, Quas. .._Tj<Eleanor etood before the mirror, Ijf', ting tiie finishing touches on her heir •*■ dress, the maid waiting near, holdißf *••■■ velvet cloak. -jj'' "Sit down, Johanna," Mies Draytee ***j^ gaily. "You are going to drive t» ■* bail with me, and then you can «t*y>**the carriage and Wilkins will tak* JJj home." She stood before the giri, !j*p pure, and radiant, in her white drew* <W_N dazzling gems, her face .lmppy and gttMyj "And «o you thought I looked like.*****'-. Johanna. Like a beautiful young *•* bride?" . « X "Oh, yes, miss." The girl l«*w||J{ her from head to foot, and gave a «V e £ admiration. . .jS A c;ud was brought to the door- *„'!£ "Mr John Bailey." - *4$ Eleanor's face grew stern. Aji "Tell Mr Bailey that I <-annot ■** M J J ;' lam engaged. To-morrow I will wri**?f him." •, As Marie put chocs lined with far * "& mistress's little slippered feet, """"ffH her in the long cloak of velvet and "^SBS Eleanor unconsciously sang a B*^'2*l tune. In a few momenta they wnt.e^gy the stairs together. Miss Drayten , * jjjflfi resting on Johanna's shoulder, and walking seriously behind. The "^JHi opened the door, and the cold, roegk *B| blew in on them. At the fo "V?^S| stairs they paused. The man op* ,, **^! door still" wider. Johanna ttarted ouely to go, but Eleanor kept a hand on her. She ktood, her «yw ffffH| ing joyfully, looking expectantly drawing-rooms. "My roses, Marie. Bring mf roses!" ''^μ