Mary Marston

clear, except for a few clouds in the west, hardly visible in the dazzle of the huge light, which lay among them like a liquid that had broken its vessel, and was pou

d suffered. From many a porch, and many a latticed oriel, a long shadow stretched eastward, like a death flag streaming in a wind unfelt of the body-or a fluttering leaf, ready to yield, and flit away, and add one more to th

London itself than at the shop of Turnbull and Marston, whether variety, quality, or price, was the point in consideration. And, whatever the first impression concerning it, the moment the eyes of a stranger began to grow accustomed to its gloom, the evident size and plenitude of the shop might well suggest a large hope. It was low, indeed, and the walls could therefore accommodate few shelves; but the ceiling was therefore so near as to be itself available for stowage by means of well-contrived slides and shelves attached to the great beams crossing it in several directions. During the shop-day, many an article, light as lace, and heavy as broadcloth, was taken from overhead to lay upon the counter. The shop had a special reputation for all kinds of linen goods, from cambric handkerchiefs to towels, and from table-napkins to sheets; but almost everything was to be found in it, from Manche

hings he had been showing to a farmer's wife, who was just gone. He was an ordinary-looking lad, with little more than business in his high forehead, fresh-colored, good-humored, self-satisfied cheeks, and keen hazel eyes. These last kept wandering from his not very pressing occupation to the other side of the shop, where stood, behind the opposing counter, a young woman, in atten

g talk; "but don't you think it a great p

last you a long time. Just look at the work, Mr. Helmer. You see how they are made? It is much more difficult to stitch them like that, one edge

ho had been listening to all that went on, "for I h

gly, and laid the gloves on the bo

em, and began

y glove where there is much

dour says of them," r

ering his voice, "when did yo

n the town yesterday

y with

came in for just

s she l

s Marston, with what to H

er with the same eyes as we. I grant Letty is not very tall, and I grant

ry, with a smile, "if I don't choose to discu

not likely to say anything against her. You know perfectly well I a

d Mary, in the tone of

of age in a few months, and then my mother may-think as she pleases. I know, o

such an absurdity? Not you, surely, Mr. Helmer? What would

rted the youth angrily. "I shall mind mine.

ve her boy's confidence, any more than to gain it; for she treate

Miss Marston?" resumed Helmer, aft

ay evening

me wit

What are you dreami

e for a good talk with L

ade no

etulantly, after a vai

s Marston, as if she could

with you

d quietly, but wi

he youth, in a tone mingled of expos

n doing," answered Miss Marston. "Besides, Mr. Helmer, I do

y n

ther would not like it.

the dentist. Come, come! that's all nonsense. I shall be at the sti

think," she added with half-amused indignation, "I would put up with having all the

es, threw the price of them on the counter, and

elmer had just left opposite Mary; "what did you say to the fellow to send him of

f I did scare a customer," she added, laughing, as she dropped

When is Mr. Helmer likely to come near us again, after such a

impression on me, and so he'll come again to remove it. After all, there's something about him I can't help

, you could not have c

hat els

ould not hear from the lips of

But Mr. Helmer can

would be of age in a few months? The fellow is

You at least are n

you call yours

twenty last

differen

erence, it seems, between s

that does nothing from morning to night but run away from his

t more sense than most of the young men I see in the shop-on both sides of the counter, George-things would soon be at a

was spreading his tail for you to see,

ot even an acquaintance of hers. He was cousin and friend to Letty

ors, George," she returned. "Mr. Wardour is not to be thought of in the same moment with

, and turning placed i

choose to count a gentleman, you look down upon! What h

wered Mary. "Why shouldn't I? It is

e, contemptuously. "You c

lady; and inside of me, please God, I will be a lady; but I leave it to othe

contradict you. Only just tell me why a well-to-do tradesman sh

ll as a squire, or an ea

own upon a fellow, and calling him a counter-jumper; but, upon my soul, it's too bad when a girl in the same shop hasn't

ough the grounds of it were hardly such as to enable Mary to answer his appeal in a

ge," she answered. "Mr. Wardour would be a gentleman

d been born with an old tumble-down house on my back, and a few

that makes the difference, you

hem than therein lay. But common people, whether lords or shopkeepers, are slow to understand that possession,

happen to know, for all he rides such a good horse, he's not above doin

ned Mary. "He must be more of a g

u count him a bette

do if he were a shopkeeper: he would not, like you, talk one way to the rich, and another way to the poor-all submission and politeness to the one, and familiarit

I just like my father to hear you! I'm blowed if I know how a fellow is to ge

. But, while her dark-blue eyes flamed with indignation, her anger was not such as to render her face less pleasant to look u

nd exorbitant development whatever is ugliest and least lady-like in the fashion of the hour. It had a natural wave in it, which broke the too straight lines it would otherwise have made across a forehead of sweet and composing proportions. Her features were regular-her nose straight-perhaps a little thin; the curve of her upper lip carefully drawn, as if with design to express a certain firmness of modesty; and her chin well shaped, perhaps a little too sharply defined for her years, and rather large. Everything about her suggested the repose of order satisfied, of unconstrained obedience to the laws of harmonious relation. The only fault honest criticism coul

had been the backboard of a cart, shouting as he did so to a boy invisible, to make haste and put up the shutters. Mary left the shop by a door on the inside o