CHAPTER XII. THE ADVERTISEMENT.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 122, 3 October 1885, Page 6

CHAPTER XII. THE ADVERTISEMENT.

It was summer, warm and sultry, and the door leading from the sitting-room into the little shop where Katie tended was open. Candice, watching the kind-hearted Irish girl at her work, thought and thought constantly about what she could do to earn money, but the baby troubled her. What could she do with it ? Little Mark was crying now, and Katie, bustling in from the Bhop, took him from his mothers arms. " Shure it's meself," she said, laughing gayly, "that can take care of baby better than its own mother ! Hush ! hush !me darlint, Katie don't abuse the boy and mamma does !" and she tossed him, tumbled him, until the little fellow actually laughed outright. Katie really took most of the charge of the baby, and Candice, nothing Katie's fondness for the child, was struck with a new idea. She would obtain a situation, and Katie could tend shop and care for the baby al6o. Yes ! yea ' sho must do something, and this was the only way ; with a roof to cover her own head, she would save all her earnings for Katie and the baby. " Bring me the papers, Katie, I want to look at them," Candice said, quickly. " I'll go buy one," Katie said, quietly, " for we none of us read, and there's none but wrappin 1 paper in the shop or house." 11 All right, Katie," Candice said, cheerfully, full of her new project. "11l take baby,and you buy one of the latest editions," and Katie, obeying, hurried out, wondering what new idea Candice had in her head. But it was soon explained to her, for the first thing that the eyes of Candice noted was an advertisement of a position that she felt sure Bho could fill. It ran thus ; " Wanted— A young woman as companion for an invalid j must be prepossessing and intelligent." Then followed street and number at which application was to be made. Candice noticed with satisfaction that no references were required, and calling Katie in she told her briefly what she was going to do. " Oh ! Miss Candice, you must not !" and Katie shook her head in a negative fashion, but when she found that Candice was determined she listened more quietly to her plans for the furture. 11 You must take care of Baby Mark," the young mother said, with tears in her eyes, ♦* and I will pay you for it, Katie." "No! no!" Katie said, decidedly. ''I want no pay for caring for the darlint ;" but Candice was firm, and atlaetKatie consented reluctantly. Now for the first tttne since her sickness, Candice thought with some interest of her appearance, and concluding to still retain the widow's costume, she manufactured a very becoming widow's cap from some lace that had been given to Katie by a kindhearted mistress, and was soft and delicate. Candice surveyed it with satisfaction ; it was rery becoming. But what troubled the young mother motst was this : her eyes had been weak ever since her illness, and it had become necessary for her to wear glasses to shield them from the light— dark, Bmoke-coloured glasses that hid her eyes so completely that one could not tell if they were black, blue, grey, or brown, after the first glance in the mirror Candice turned away sadly. She was not prepossessing ; they would not employ her ; but nevertheless she would try, and pressing her old black dress out as neatly as possible and donning it with the widow's hat and veil, she kissed Baby Mark sadly and started to search Chicago for the street and number designated in the advertisement ; but this time it was not such a useless quest as her search for Katie had been, and she soon found herself, trembling and excited, standing on the steps of a vast brown-stone mansion. Ringing the bell, quickly before her courage failed, she waited expectantly. Then she wildly thought of fleeing from the spot before the door was opened ; but it was too late ; already .some one was coming. It was a servant. ' " " I called in answer' to an advertisement I saw in the paper," Cftndice said, hurriedly, fearing lest she should sink fainting on the door-step. The man bade her follow him j passing through the marble-floored hall, he opened a door and ushered her into a room al warmth and Bunshine. A yellow bird hung in a gilded cage, nearly bursting its little throat in song, and an old man rose at her entrance. At first, almost bliuded by the flood of brightness in the room, such a strong contrast to the dark hallway through which she had just passed, she did not recognise him. '• I came in answer to the advertisement in to-day's paper concerning ft companion for an invalid," she said. She had taken a step forward eagerly, and now, for the first time, gazed at the old man's face ; a startled cry escaped her lips, for it was Unole Sam Desbro who stood before her j had he recognised her? But no sign of recognition appeared in the keen old eyea regarding her curiously, yet kindly. "Do you wish the position !" be asked. Should she tell him yes, or, turning, flee from his presence? But he had nofcreoog* nised her j why then should she give up this chance, if chance it were, for her own and baby's support ? He would not know her, she was so changed} and then those hateful glasses, how thankful "she was for them now 1 With lightning rapidity these thoughts chawdeiiolrother through her fofain, No,

she would not throw ttiia ohance away, but trust to the changes in her to conceal her identity. So, in answer to the old man's question, she responded low and tremulously that she would like the position if be thought he would suit. Mr Desbro asked several more questions, which she answered as quietly as sne could, and then in braver tones as she saw she was not recognised she told him she was a widow with one child, a baby boy, and needed work so badly, Mr Desbro was very much interested in this pale young woman who stood almost like a culprit before him ; he thought she was timid, and pitied her the more, but willingly as he would have taken her the baby was a great drawback, and he told her so in gentle, kindly tones. "My dear Madam,' he said earnestly, "1 like your face, and would give you the preference over all the other applicants if it were not for one thing, your baby. My ward is in a very precarious condition, and the least noise excites her, so we could not very well manage with a baby in the house." "Oh! sir," Candice said, eagerly, "I did not mean that I Indeed, I would not bring my baby here; 'twill be well cared for elsewhere ; I would only ask that I might see it once in awhile, whenever you could spare me from my duties." "Poor child," he said, kindly, "you can come then and try it for a time ; i? you do not like it, of course you need not stay, and you can go and visit your baby when you choose. Would you like to see Miss Lome, the lady you are to attend ?" Candice answered in the affirmative, anxious now to have the ordeal over, and see if she could withstand another pair of eyes and come off unknown. Alda was reclining in an invalid's chair, white and weak ; her hands, which lay idly clasped in her lap, were almost transparent, and the blue veins looked nearly black by contrast with the marble flesh. She was surely approaching closer and closer to the other shore ; only a few more weeks at the furthest could she linger on earth. MrDesbroapproachedtheinvalid.andsaid, softly ; " Alda, this is the young woman I have engaged as companion to you. She will read to you and amuse you when you wish." "You are very kind, Guardie," Alda said, tremulously, and then a spasm of coughing shook and racked her frame ; after this was over ehe gazed curiously at the slight figure before her, and then, ever courteous to strangers, said, kindly : " You do not look veiy strong and you are tired ; will you not have a chair ?" "No, thank you," Candice said, gratefully, feeling as if she were in an angel's presence. " I will hurry home, make a few preparations, and return immediately." Mr Desbro led her back to the cheerful room she had first entered, and then told her gravely the price he would pay for her service. "Does it suit you?" he said, wondering at her start of surprise. " Suit me !" she said, sobs almost choking her utterance. "If you only knew what it will be to Baby Mark and me !" She said this quickly, gratefully, not thinking ho might recognise that name, but he did not, and with a feeling of thankfulness in her heart that she would nc longer be dependent, she hurried rapidly toward home and Baby Mark, and catching him up from the bed where he was crowing and sucking his thumb at her entrance, ehe hugged him to her heart, thankful for the privilege of caring for her darling, her precious baby boy. Katie was informed of the decision and listened wonderingly when Candice told who it; was wanted her services. "And they did not know you, pooi darlint '." Katie said. "No wonder, for 1 would niver know you meself if I had noi tinded y«u through it all I" So Candice, after nearly smothering littlt Mark with kisses, left him, jumping and crowing contentedly in Katie's arms, and re traced her steps toward the house she had loft a short; time before. Her step waa almost light, and the future looked brighter to her than ifc had done foi month 3 ; no longer dependent on others bounty, she would work, live tor babj Mark ! No rustling breeze whispered of the sad eyed young husband of Valley Farm, mourning her loss as one dead, and blaming himself for her shipwrecked life, while his sun seemed for ever set in darkness ! She imagiued him always gay, laughing and in dolent, with scarcely a thought for th« young wife he had wronged so cruelly !