HER ONE ACCOMPLISHMENT

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 36, 8 September 1904, Page 24

HER ONE ACCOMPLISHMENT

Old Brown stood in his private office, with his back to the fire and his coat tails balanced in either hand. He was a bald-headed old gentleman with a ruddy complexion, keen black eyes, and leg-of-mutton whiskers, which were while as snow. And Miss i Nelly Torrance sat looking at him timidly from the depths of the big armchair in which he had beckoned her to seat herself

' S*o you are my Cousin Adrian's daughter ? ' said he, after a long pause. ' Yes,' said Nelly, wondering what was in all 'hose mysterious tin boxes, and whether the 'monster iron safe was full of gold and silver pieces. ' And you want something to do ? ' ' Yes, please.' ' Humph ! ' said Mr. BroWn. Nelly glanced shyly up into his face. ' But,' she added with some spirit, ' I am not asking for chairitv. I am willing to work.'

' You mean you would like to aaub canvas, or sew yellow sunflowers on green plush screens,' satirically observed the old gentleman. ' I don't call that work.' 1 Nor I, either,' retorted Nelly.

1 Then what do you moan ) ' said Mr. Brown. ' I mean tWat I shall toe glad to do any sort of honest work by means of which I can earn my own living.'

' Hiumph ! f again interjected Mr. Brown. ' Can you cook ? ' 'Yes,' Nelly answered. ' I don't believe it.' ' B,ut I can.' 1 Very well,' said Mr. Brown, releasing his coat tails anid sitting down at Ins desk, as if the question Avas definitely disposed of. 'My cook went away this morning. I haven't engaged anyone in her p^ace. You may come this afternoon and see what you can do for me.' Mr. Bnnvn fully expected Uial his young cousin would recoil indignantly from his proposal, but she did nothing of the suit.. She simply said, ' Yes, Cousin Joto, 'and asked for his private address. ' Mimd you're punctual,' said he, as he handed, her the pencilled card. ' I am always punctual,' calmly responded Nelly. Mr. Brown watched her out of the office with a quizzital twinkle in the corner of his eye. ' She won't come,' he said to himself. ' I've seen tho last of my fine relation.' Nelly Torrance went home to a little seconid-fioor room, Mhe cheapest which the widow and her daughters could find. Mrs*. Adriain Torrawce was dressed in black. She was a fair, delicate piece of human china, who had been like the lilies of the field ; in that she toiled not neither did she spin. LuceMa, the oldest daughter, was trying, unsuccessfully enough, to trim a black crepe bonnet by the window. They had come up from the country at Lucetta's suggestion, to appeal, in their poverty, to this rich cousin of the dead father and husbamd, but iume of them anticipated any very satisfactory results from the experiment. ' Thcfee rich people are always miserly,' said Miss Lucetta. 1 And I've understood,' sighed the gentle little widow, ' that he was not pleased when poor dear Adrian manric/d me.' ' Well ? ' cried 'Mrs. Torrance, eagerly, as Nelly entered. ' What doow he say ? ' questioned Lucetta, dropping the folds of crepe which she was vainly endeavoring lb fashion into what the fashion-plate called an ' oblong bow.' / I have seen him,' said Nelly, untying her* bonnet strwigp, ' and I'm going to his house in Grantioveir Park this afternoon.' ' You don't mean,'' cried Mrs. Torrance, with a spasmodic catching of her breath, ' that he is going to adopt yc/u 9 ' Not in the least,' said Neflly. I am to be his cook.' ' An,d you ? ' gasped Mrs. Torrance. • ' I said yes, of course.' ' P]]pa,nor,' cried Lucetta, ' I am scandalised by yaur conduct i Yes, perfectly scandalised ! You will do notfiing of the sort ' ' 1 (Vtainly not,' s»aid Mrs. Torrance, developing hysterical symptoms. 'If your cousin Brown intends to insult us ' "But he doesn't,' pleaded Nelly. He iritended the offer in good faith, and I accepted it in the same spirit.' ' You .siirely do not mean to 'degrade yourself,' cried Lucetta, 'by fuming cook— for any man living ? ' 1 I don't see,' argwti Nelly, ' t<hat it is any more degrading to co oik for Cousin John than it wauld be to embroider sliptpers for him, or to read the newspapers aloud to him of an evening.' ' Eleanor neVer had any proper pride,' said Mrs, Torrance, wringing her hands-. '' Never ! '(ethoed Lucett'a. ' And,' added Nelly, 'mv cousin would have every reason to helidve me an impostor if I told him I wanted work and then refused the offer he made.' It was six o'clock exactly when Mr. Brown let hinvsclf i/nto his hduse with the latchkey which always depended from his watch chain The gas jet burned softly in the hall ; the fire clicked merrily in the grate of the parlor. ' Humph ! ' he muttered ; she Tiasn't come. Thought so. There's no such thing as a practical woman nowadays.' At the same moment a light, white-aproned little figure came cut of the dining-room beyond, 'and Nelly Torrance's voice uttered the words : ' Dinner is ready, Cousin Johin.' The old man smiled. He had a pleasant expression on his face whdn he smiled, arid Nelly iwondered that she had not noticed what a handsome man he was. ' Oh,,' said he, ' yotu did come, then ? ' ' I always keep my engagements,' said Nelly. Punctuality is the soul of business, isn't it, Cousin John ?■ At least that's what I used to write in my copybooks.'

Mr. Brown patted her hand as she helped him with his overcoat.

' You are a good girl,' said he. And in his 'secret nnnd he determined to «put up with any deficiencies in the cooking of the girl who had such excellent business principles. But to his infinite amazement ttheire were no deficiencies to overlook. He ate and relished and wondered by turns. t

' My dear,' said he at last, when the cloth was removed, 'aM is very nice. I'll concede you are a tiptop housekeeper. But of couise you ordered all this from Moncrato's restaurant, 9 '

' But of couise I didn't, Cousin Brown,' said Nelly, decidedly. ' I cooked it myself.'

Mr. Brown closed his eyes and made a hasty calculation. His life had been ' worried out of him,' to use a common expression, by capricious housekeepers, inefficient cooks, and untrained servants. At last there was a gateway out of all his tribulations. ♦ My dear,' he said, ' I should like to have you come and f Jive here. 1 (As a codli, Cousin BrxtWn ? ' 'No ; as my adopted daughter and housekeeper. I need someone to take the helm of my affairs.'

' But my mother,' hesitated Eleanor, ' and my sister Lucetta.'

' Let them come, too ; there's plenty of room in the house. Can they cook, too ? '

' No. Cousin Brown,' confessed Nelly. i Well, perhaps, itfs iust as well,' said Mr. Brown. ' There can't be more than one tiead to -the household.'

So the' "Torrancc family found a comfortable refuge for the soles of their feet, and Nelly's despised accomplishment proved the sword wherewith she opened the wood's oyster Lucetta sighed and wondered why she, too, had not taken cooking lessons.

' Nelly is tho old man's favorite,' said she. ' He'll leave her his money when he dies. And all because she accepted tihe ridioulous ofter oi turning cook for a living ! '

Mr. Brown, however, looked at the matter in a different light. He said : ' Nelly is not like the typical young lady, too lazy to work and too proud to beg. She does wittfi her might whatever her hands find to do.' — ' Woman's Journal.'