"ONLY JACK."

Waikato Times, Volume 2537, Issue XXXI, 13 October 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

"ONLY JACK."

BY KATE DANTON LESLIE. "How fortunate !" exclaimed Mrs Malcolm, as she folded her hands over the letter she had been reading and looked beamingly at her three daughters—the "three graces" of the Malcolm family. "Well?" said Beatrice inquiringly, languidly glancing up from the latest novel, and adjusting her skirts to properly expose a small, well-shaped foot, encased in a perfectly fitting kid slipper. Beatrice was the beauty of the 'family, and no one knew it better than she did herself. "If anything is fortunate in this house, do not keep us in suspense one moment longer than is necea?ary," said Marian, the artist, from the alcove by the east window, where she sat sketching the beauties of nature. "Maud, my love, can yon neglect your practice to hear good news ?" asked Mrs Malcolm, turning to the third angel of the household, who was developing an astonishing talent for music, at the expense of other peoples' nerves. "Certainly, tnamma, if I am only certain that it is to be good news. That article is almost unknown to all of us at present," she answered, leaving the piano, and seating herself upon a low stool at her mother's feet, " Please proceed. I'm all attention." " You all remember hearing your poor father often speak of an old friend, John Adams," she began, with a complacent glance at her listeners, "but for certain reasons, which you will readily understand, he never mentioned the son. He always said the time had not yet come to do so. It was ever their wish that the son should choose a wife from our daughters. So long as your father lived I did not think so much about it, but, as you all know only too well, he left us in rather straitened circumstances, and— well, the Adams are very wealthy. I need not say any more upon that point—you understand it, my dears !" The daughters answered by significant smiles and faint blushes as she proceeded : — This letter, which I hold in my hand, is from John Adams, asking me to take the son into onr family for a season. He is somewhat, of an invalid, having just recovered from a dangerous fever, and his physicians order sea air and quiet. How fortunate that \vu happened to rent this cottage, just at this time !" "Fortunate, indeed I" chimed the sisters. " I don't know asl am p-ir'ioular which one he chooses," Mrs Malcolm went on coolly, "Uf course it will be one of you three." — --- But tho arlance at Beatrice's serenely beautiful faces told that she had already decide 1 the question in h-r own mind. " I hope Jack will bihsive herself, she has such ridiculous no'inns about the household dn'ics of wo'iie i," said Marian ,i - s!w- tnri ed aglin to her pastime. " She int-'. stay out -if srirht. ' said her ~r , tdecidedly," "S'ie would as soon r ..;| we wanted M " to marry on ■ ■ f tho t'rnily a* any wiv and think H'thie.-'"f if. In ill te'i !i»rii: tho a r-riiis/r-n-n's at. nn-p, an 1 a'< • that it \vuii!d be advisable fct' hur to • v IMary

in tho kitnheu. That is tho kind of work sho prefers anyway. To be. sure, jslio is now oighteen, but sho is and always will bo " " Only Jack," interrupted a laughing voice, and a young girl sprang through tho I'jw, o[)"n window that overlooked tho lutlo verandah, much to the horror of tho mother and sisters. "No need to I ell me, rnamsy, I heard it all, and won't tell of you either. I don't want to 'play the agreeable to a whimsical young m iu with a view to the permanent situniou of nurse. After all, as he's sick, I'll take tho charge of his room, just to see that ho is kept comfortable and his mind serene. Just to help the thing alone", you know. How I ih> pity him, ooining like alainb to the slaughter." "Jacaeinth! When will you learn refinement?''said her mother with severe reproof. " Never, I hope, if by that you mean to get accustomed to living a lie as we do, making tho world, or rather 'our set' think wo are rich just to get us girls well settled iu life," retorted the girl, drawing her figure erect, with flashiug eyes and crimson cheeks. " Yes, I'll help j\lary in tho kitchon with a hearty good will, and you may call me a servant. Pll never angle for a rich husband, you may all set your minds at rest on that point. I intend to marry a farmer and keep a summer resort for the rest of you —there now !" and with this parting shot, she disappeared as sho had come, through the low window, and walked rapidly down tho path to tho seashore, throwing herself upon the sand to watch tho restless ocean, as sho always did when excited, because it seemed so much like her own mind sho would say with a nervous laugh.

Meanwhile her mother and sisters resumed their occupations with evident relief. A week later, Mrs Malcolm gave Chancy Adams a warm, motherly welcome, and the three sisters hourly talked music, art and poetry for his benefit in tho parlour, while Jacaeinth flitted to and fro making arrangements for liis comfort, herself unseen.

"How pale he is, poor fellow!" she said, peering through the blinds at him, as he sat with Beatrice on the verandah. " There—everything is as nice as it can be, now, and she placed a vase filled with fragrant water lilies on the stand. " Some people think that flowers are hurtful iu a sleeping-room, but I don't."

Nor did Chancy Adams, as he stooped over them halt'-au-liour later, wondering which of the sisters had divined his passion for flowers. Each day he found the vase replenished with the creamy blossoms, and the sisters silently blessed the self-constituted chamber-maid, while they each smilingly accepted thanks for the beautiful floral offerings. He grew rapidly stronger in the bracing air; his step became more elastic and his face was browned by long tramps among the hills. It was one of these trips that he saw, about a mile from the shore, a boat laden with fragrant water liliies, rocking idly on the glassy bosom of a tiny lake. In it, with her back towards him, sat a young girl singing in a low, clear voice, and, as the words " A rich man camc a courting me, And suing' (or my hand, My parents bade mc marry llim, And be at his command," came from her lips in such sarcastic earnestness, Chancy Adama loaned forward and applauded. At the sound of that laughing " encore " the girl turned suddenly with flashing oyes and crimsoned cheeks. But, whatever the saucy reply that sprang to her lips, it was never spoken, for tlio treacherous bank loosened beneath his feet, precipitating him into the shallow water near the shore, an accident made serious by the nature of the place. " Wait, sir ! Keep perfectly quiet. Yon are in the quicksands !" cried the girl, as she rowed towards him. " Take hold of tho boat—easy—so I there I Keep perfectly quiet, and hold firmly while I push off. Standing erect in the frail craft, she slowly pushed it from the shore, and Chancy Adams has always said that he learned then how a man feels when being hauled out of his boots. Five minutes later he stood upon the firm shore at the landing place. '' Now, Mr Adams, the very best thing you can do is to hurry homo and ask mamsy to order you some catnip tea. You are not strong yet, and you may get a cold," she said, its she gathered her liliies into a huge market basket. " You know my name?" he ejaculated. "And you are " "Only Jack," answered the girl with a merry, roguish laugh. "I beg of you not to mention meeting me to my mother and sisters." "Ah, my father said there were four daughters, but I had forgotten it," he said musingly. "So this is where my lilies come from, eh ?" " Yes, sir. I gather them here twice a woek, and keep them as fresh as I can," answered Jack demurely, watching him from beneath her long lashes. " And I may help you sometimes?" be asked. "As you please. This lake is on the public lands, and this boat is public property. I suppose anyone has a right to use it," she retorted. " Thank you, my pretty water nymph. I'll remember," he answered with a bow, and then they parted-she to cross the fields to the back door, ho to go to the shore to bribe Tom, the fisherman's son, to go to tho cottage for dry clothing. The days passed, and, while the sisters were wondering why Mr Adams did not make known his wishes in regard to matrimony, he was learnina - the lesson of love, old as the Garden of Eden, aud yet ever new, in the endless succession of teachers. He sketched with Marian, practiced duets with Maud and discussed the latest novels with Beatrice, but the real happiness was in the stolen walks to the little lake, with Jacacinth at his side. One d iy he caused an anxious flutter in Mrs M ih'olm's heart, by asking a private interview. "You have my consent and blessing which evc-r one it is," sho said, smilingly, when he had asked tho hand of one of her daus-hters. "I think I can guess which it is, and I know that our dear Beatrice "

"It is not Bjatrioc, my dear madam," he answered with a strange smile. "No? Then perhaps it is Maud," suggested the bewildered lady. " Shu possesses a f/ood, kind heart, and will make you " " It is not Maud," he answered again, "nor ia it Marian. I admire them all irreat'ly, I assure you, and will give them brotherly nffoctirin and cherish them as sinters, but for a life-lons* companion, fur a wife in the dear homo nest, for a help mate in all things, I wurit ' Only Junk.' " "JiiOHcint.li ! That child!" oriel the surprised mother. "She tells ma she is nearly niiietjen,'' s n'd he quietly. "So sho is!" sighed Mrs Male >1 n. "But it is so sullen—:il cmr-e you have my conßent and ble*.sinir, and —and I be the ohilJ will m ike vou hippy, after alt." " I believe sho will," ho responded Orli'll'vstly, " It really won'r. mik" any different", inv dears, mil J rifoiuth isVta in irivyiiu' Di'i'srui in our o-.vn kb\ you know,' 1 siid tli'i li-'lv to In."' thr.'o d i'i /liter-*, vvlinn O'l incv h i 1 >r 'ii" !') !i i 1 hi* b 'hu' " Ivill hi> a'l in tiin f niii''. a'i-1 (!ih A 1 mire iinm"M-(il>' linb. Hit [ nuvi" - w m » -urpii-iii.l i:i ail in>' ir'" ! T.i fiin't t'l it bdU'-td yf tlis ariiitj tiio (mat/, or thn

mMcieian, he should clvmis-.; the kitchen maid.' [wonder h<nv lie came to luiow her. Not that she laclt.l in education for ske i>l :iywell, sinirs weli, paints well and reads well —/'jy ///r, but she is so queer ami domestic. Ah, well, there is no accounting for tastes.'' lint Chancy Adams, secure in the love of his " kitchen-maid," looks around his happy )jo:ne, Jiiul ii«?vor re«rroU that ho cho>e a.s liia wife li Only Jack. '