ROSE MARY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 23, 20 February 1909, Page 3

ROSE MARY.

\\heu Christinas, with its attendant gaieties, came round, it brought with it 110 variation or anticipatory joy to Hose Mary. Christmas was in Aunt Lavinia's household in every respect the drab reileclion of any other working day, save that Kose Mary duliiullv pre*suntcd her elderly relative with it pair of uiullettees, and Aunt Lavinia invariably bestowed upon Kose Mary a crown piece and some small religious manual. The crown piece Kose Mary accepted cheerfully, the religious manual of ueecessity. Tile crown piece spelt a gayer length of ribbon than usual, perhaps a pair of gloves or slippers thrown into the bargain; the religious manual merely mirrored forth a length of dreary Sundays, when its perusal should be undertaken beneath the supervision of Aunt Lavinia's lynx-like eye. Kose Mary sighed a little as she turned over the leaves of "Sinner, Pause!" or "Words of Warning to the Heedless,'' then smiled as her eye rested upon the crown piece, recalling .a certain pink ribbon coveted for weeks in the village haberdasher's shop window. Aunt ijiivinia's bell roused Kose Mary J from those momentarily pleasant thoughts. Aunt Lavinia herself stood at the to]i of the stairs, gaunt and spare, clad in an uncompromising grey ilanncl dressing-gown.

"I'm a bit sick, child. That mincepie of Cousin Melinda's 1 ate yesterday lias disagreed with me. 1 reckon. So I'll lie stiil a spell, and you can bring me up a cup of tea and a bit of dry toast by and by. And, Kose Mary, it anyone calls, you can tell Jane Weeks, when she conies, to say i'm sick 1 can't be bothered with folks fussing around to-day."

Jane Weeks was a young person of tender years and inferior intellect, who, for the consideration of a few shillings weekly, undertook the rougher morning duties of Hiss Lavinia's house. Rose Mary nodded. Although it was Christmas Day, she did not think it likely that anyone would come "fussing around.'' People rarely came "fussing around' 1 to Miss Lavinia's house, be it Sunday or Saturday. "Will you have the doc-tor, Aunt Lavinia'/ Jane Weeks can run for him as easy as not- when she comes in." ''Doctor?'' Aunt Lavinia tossed her night-capped head derisively. "I hope I'm as lit to doctor myself as any doctor living. Cio right away down to your breakfast, l!ose Mary, and don't trifle over it. Though I'm abed, that's no reason why you shouldn't be getting on with the fine stitching of those new linen sheets to-day." "Rose Mary trilled neither over her breakfast nor the ''Words of Warning to the Heedless" that Christmas morning. She carried up Aunt Lavinia's favorite hook ot sermons to her with her tea and toast as desired, and only when she came downstairs again discovered that she, liaii quite forgotten Aunt Lavinia's book-marker. Aunt Lavinia, being of a frugal nature, was fond of using old letters for her markers, and this particular one Rose Mary recollected receiving from the postman a day or two earlier, though she had never read it after it had passed iuto her aunt's hands Aunt Lavinia had been unusuallyl irritated l after the receipt of it, and said "Tut, tut!" a great many times, and had dropped more stitches than usual in her knitting. Kose Mary recalled all this as she stood indeterminately with the letter in her hand. She would have liked to have known the contents of that letter. Could it possibly be that old Cousii, Johanna, who once, more years ago than Rose Mary cared to remember, had promised that some day she should be invited to visit her in the city, had at lust sent the longed-for invitation, and that Aunt Lavinia had made up her mind to forbid the acceptance ? The thought sent the quick scarlet to Rose Mary's cheeks. Without rhyme or reason, she felt a growing sense of irritation against Aunt Lavinia. "I am a child no longer. I am twenty, and have a right to know what is in the letter," Rose Mary said, with a Hash of her blue eyes. "Was life for all time to be cribbed, cabined, and confined merely because Aunt Lavinia had willed ii so r" ,

Rose Marv drew the letter out of its envelope in'a little whirl of righteous indignation. Surely, if anyone had, she had" a right to know the purport of Cousin Johanna's communication.

And then liose Mary, hurriedly scannil)" the few lines, grew suddenly searlet again. This was not from Cousin Johanna, this brief, concise communication, signed with an unknown name. Host' Mary drew a quick breath as she read: -Dear Aunt Lavinia.—l very much regret that you should have found it nece-sary to' dc-nv mv request. With vour permission, 1 shall call upon you on Christmas Day, as I have to be •within a few miles of Denver at that time It is my hope that, by putting matters more clearly before you, I ma> be aide to induce you to reconsider your decision. —Yours sincerely, "Charles Linlev.'

"And lie is to call to-day—to-day!" Rose -Mary saiA Sh« drew a quick breath again. then grew sober, recollecting that Aunt had denied Herself to ail visitors. U was nothing to Rose Mary whether this' unknown Charles Linley were old or young—it was mainly that he was a stranger, a break in tiie almost unbearable stagnation of her youthful existence. Why had Aunt Lavinia chosen to lie abed this morning of all mornings? Was '.t I within the range of possibility—Hose Mary's heart thrilled indignantly again at the thought—that Aunt Lavinia had made up her mind to 'feign invalidism rather than grant her young relative the audience which he craved?

"And 1 now Jane Weeks will send him away. I shall not even see him," Rose Marv murmured disconsolately. "Is it always to be like this, all through lifeAunt Lavinia; nothing, nothing but Aunt Lavinia," She clenched her hands almost- fiercely: the light Hashed again to her blue eyes. "There must be a difference—some time. Why should not the 'some time' be now?"

Rose Mary did not pause to consider. Unbuttoning her shabby brown morning gown as she went, she flashed up the shallow, shabbily-carpeted stairs to her own little bedroom beneath the eaves. Aunt Lavinia had denied Charles Linley entrance; but Rose Mary would assert herself for once—Rose Mary would see Charles Linley. And Charles Linley, be he old or young, was surely worthy of something better than the old brown

" Rose Mary's wardrobe was not extensive. Auiit Lavinia. in an unexpected burst of generosity, had made over to her an old green silk, a relic of her own youth, a month or two earlier, and the green silk gown had been accorded the position of Rose Mary s "'best.' Tt seemed almost desecration to robe herself in it of a morning, vet surely

diaries Linlev was -worthy of even si royal a welcome. liose Mary liesitatei nit longer. She dressed herself in th "Ti'cii silk gown, fashioned accord-iii" ti till' dictates of Aunt Lavinia's far-awa; Viintli, twined a green riblxni union" {!,(. masses of lier fair luiir, ami went |

down to await Charles Linley's pleasure it lid' coming. Jane "Weeks was busy in the kitchen, clattering among her pots and pans, when Charles Linlev came up the garden path. Rose Mary K'vw pale with terror at her own "daring when she lieaid I his step, then turned scarlet as the rose | whose name she bore when she saw that Charles Linlev was a young man instead of an old. For the moment Rose Man felt, inclined to run awav and hide, green silk gown and all. Tl. next she had

rallied, telling herself that "something w is going to happen, after all, and went to open Un> Charles Linlev was a tall, pale-faced voung man. with pleasant grey eyes and :,-i even pleasanter smile. Momentailh bewildered by the apparition in green -ilk anil "I'cen ribbons who stood before him.' he "collected himself, and. raising I'is hat. enquired' politely if Miss Lavinia Maine was at home. Rose Mary, casting down her eyes and blushing more prettily pink than ever, held the door ajar for him to enter, the ' while she informed liiin that, though

Hiss Lavlnia was sick a lied. slip, Rose ijfarv. would lw happy to net as l»-twi-tii Jiotwlxl tile suppliant 11)1(1 her aunt. , "\V.hv, I've lifnvil of yon! Vhi must I lip little T!uso Mary," Charles Unlnv saiil "01(1 Cousin .Toliannn used to talk I no pud of you. Tt isn't my fault that i T've 710VCV mot you licfoi'o. Because Aunt Lavinia quarrelled* with my fathw. she could never bear the slglit of me."

■ Something" h;n| hnppi-ncd at hint, vu-o Alary j ( . ( j \ VUV parlor. u-mo-i unconscious 01 the unwonted glory nt |, u - „,. cou siu . vu> sq cun V'" a , slle oi lhe oi ll is undoubtedly interesting young *! a , A,lnt l-aviula's uld, .high-biiL-k..<l armchair and listened to his pleasant talk. She learnt that it was a muter concerning money which he l'-ul imondcil In discuss with Aunt LaNi.ua iiuu Liiristiuas morning. "Uld Cousin .Johanna—vou remember lur -has lost what little she hail, and I thought that if your aunt i-ouid see her way to helping her, 1 would lie "'.ling to do niy share. It lies between that and the workhouse, anil Aunt Lavinia is a l-ieh woman."

.~, s '"' , ' K '' l ' I had never thought it. Kose Marv said innocently. She thought of their shabby, straitened homo, the occasional help of Jane Weeks, the numberless places where the shoe pinched so sorely. "If i could but help, but I have so little-only this." She tumbled ill her pocket and produced the crown piece, deposited carefully there, while the religious manuel sprawled beneath Aunt Lavinia's armchair

"Aunt Lavinia does not tell you much, 1 think," he said, smiling. Rose Mary shook her fair head. She was thinking how Aunt Lavinia had never even so much as told her 01 the

young man. "Your grandmother was mine, and our grandfather loved her, so I think we should be good friends," he told her then.

Kose Mar.y blushed very prettily again. It pleased her to think that slic should have this link with Charles Linley—that it should have been his suggestion that they should be good friends. ilow long they might have sat thus, chatting ovvr things past, present, and to come, it is difficult to determine, hail not their solitude a deux 'been suddenly broken in upon by an unexpected apparition—that of Aunt Lavinia. Anns Lavinia still wore the grey dressinggown aforetime, referred to, ami her glance was terrible.

"Kose Mary, are lily eyes deceiving me?" Aunt Lavinia's lynx-like eyes had never deceived her before, but the implied sarcasm of her tone was too scathing to be ignored. Kose Mary turned from lily-white to rose-red, and from rose-red to lily-white again. Only Charles Linley was equal to tlip occasion.

"It's Christmas Day, Aunt Laviniti, and I've been making Rose Mary's acquaintance. Are you going to wish me a merry Christmas, too'/" Rose Mary had never wished Charles Linley a merry Christmas, though his words implied that she had Aunt IjHvinia. for her part, utterly ignored Charles Litiley, while her eye, with one massive and all-embracing sweep, took in the green silk gown. "I'rinked up like a popinjay! You'll end in the workhouse, and so I've told you often enough ibefore, Rose Mary, iio and take off that dress at once!" Rose Mary had never disobeyed Aunt Lavinia, and she did not disobey her now. When she came down again, redressed in the old brown gown, she found, to her astonishment, Charles LinIt v alone, and staring out of the window. his hands in his pockets. He wheeled about as she came in. "Aunt Lavinia's told me to go." His eyes sought hers daringly, laughingly. "You don't want me to go'" he questioned. Despite the daring, of his eyes, there was an almost wistful note in his voice. Rose Mary's quick ear caught the wistfulness, and her tender heart melted.

"I don't want you to go. But"—she hesitated—"Aunt Lavinia!"

"Bother Aunt Lavinia!" protested this daring young mail. "Aunt Lavinia's gone off to bed, sick over somebody's pie—or, at least, so she told me just now. If she told the truth, she might as well confess instead that she's siek at the idea of having to give old Cousin Johanna any of her money."

"Aunt Uivinia won't ever forgive me,'' Aunt Lavinia's niece said. But she sat down, notwithstanding, in Aunt Lavinia's high-backed chair again, and proceeded to lend a willing ear to Charles ljinley's talk. That she might as well, in forcible phrase, "be hanged for a sheep as a lamb", was probably Rose .Mary's nuixim now.

Jane Weeks duly served up the dinner of cold mutton and rice pudding at the appointed time, and Rose Mary, .blushing very charmingly, and wondering greatly at her own temerity, acted for the first occasion on her own responsibility and invited Charles Linley to stay' That young man only smiled and shook his head. "I'd get you into no end of a row, and that isn't to be thought- of. But I've enjoyed my Christmas Day no end. and it's thanks to you, little Rose Mary. You'll let. me come again, won't you, now that I've found the wav'i'' "Oh, I'd like to; but, then, there's Aunt. Lavinia!" Hose Mary's voice trailed oil' miserably. She also had eiljoved her Christmas Day quite how* miich she did not inform Charles Linley then. Later, she knew only too well, there would be a reckoning—with Aunt Lavinia.

Charles liinley "came again'' a few weeks later, lie brought good news of Cousin Johanna. Cousin -lohanna had come into a comfortable little legacy, which would keep her iii moderate ailluence for the remainder of her declining years. Moreover. Cousin .Tolianna. who had wearied of city life, wished, il conr.mieni. in ihat ladv. to come and board

wilh Aunt l.avinia. Aunt Lavinia was not hard to persuade. Hcenting possible heirship to the legacy in coming days, she assented only tern gladly. I f she did' not receive Charles Unley literally with open arms, she at least did not feign sickness and lie abed to escape his coming. Perhaps Rose Marv upon this occasion would rather that Aunt lavinia had lain abed. For Charles Linlev, with the wisdom of the historic serpent, devoted himself assiduouslv to Aunt Lavinia, and only found opportunity for a, whispered word or two with Hose Mary as he bade her

farewell in the hall. "T niav come again, Boso Afary. mayn't 1 when' Cousin Johanna comes?" Rose Marv nodded, l.lnahinpr P 1 ahove her old lirown jjown. He had | asked the same question before. She wondered! why lie did not ask Aunt l*ivinia, who was the house's mistress in name as well as everything else, it .;e ! "come again.'' But she w<i^ v ci^>

"lad' to see hiTn upon the occasion of his wcortina old Cousin Johanna to her nexv home. ' It then transpired that Charles Linlev had promised Consul Johanna to visit her from time to time ni |„ M . m . w abode, and learn from her own lins how she fared. Aunt Lavnua alone HIS anv objection to offer. Tt was upon cm' of those visits that she aiu-d hci grievance. , „_,i -Cousin Johanna can do verj vu| without you. She lias me »n<l »<>=<• ' Marv. S(| what else, can she. wa.it. diaries Linley only smiled lnscnitablj. He took the dissentient old ladys luinds in l)uth of his. it, "But T want a great deal, Aunt Uvinia. I have brought yon Cousn. , <>• hanua. Will yon give m exchange-Kosc * W'ni'l. Liviuia was about to say ''So" had some dilliculty in persuading I n that liose Mary's opinion on the i matin must be invited before any decision could Jw come to. . . I And when l<ose Mary's opinion ( «.s asked, it transpired that she ' wanted Charles Unlcy, too Hut it is quite ■within the bounds of probability that Hose Man's lover had asked Hom. Mary's opinion first. —Mollie lv Jaimeson. ill "M.A.P."