My Pretty Maid; or, Liane LesterMiller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.
Philosophy
My Pretty Maid; or, Liane Lester
Miller, Alex. McVeigh, Mrs.
Dime novels; Foundlings -- Fiction; Identity -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
"Let me go with you," pleaded the girl, with a vague hope of meeting
Devereaux somewhere on the street, all her thought clinging to him with
tender persistence.
"No, I won't have you along with me, but I'll come back for you as
soon as I find her," snapped granny, so sharply that Liane gave in and
watched her depart with keen regret.
"I should have liked to go with her to see some of the sights of the
great city," she sighed, so forlornly that the landlady said cheerily:
"Well, come in here and sit a while with my sick sister, and I'll hurry
up my morning's work and go out with you myself this afternoon."
Lizzie White was a pretty shop girl, just recovering from a spell of
fever, and she took an instant interest in the pretty new boarder.
"Sister Annie can show you all over the city," she said. "But,"
hesitatingly, "haven't you any other clothes to wear?" her glance
falling deprecatingly on Liane's simple dark-blue print gown and summer
straw hat. "It's time for fall things, you know," she added.
Liane blushed at the poverty of her attire, but answered gently:
"These are the best clothes I have, but I have a little money of my
own, and if I knew where to go, I would buy a blue serge suit."
"Sister Annie can take you to a place this afternoon--the very store
where I work when I am well," replied Lizzie encouragingly.
Afternoon came, but no granny yet, and Mrs. Brinkley offered to take
Liane out, saying it was such a pity to stay indoors all day when the
sun shone so bright and warm.
Liane accepted eagerly, and then her new friend, Lizzie, shyly
proffered her a new fall suit of her own to wear.
"Do wear it to please me, and because people will make remarks on your
print gown," she said eagerly, and the girl, fearful that Mrs. Brinkley
might be ashamed of her shabby attire, accepted gratefully.
Her appearance was indeed quite different when clothed in Lizzie's
brown cloth skirt, scarlet silk waist, and jaunty brown jacket, with a
brown walking skirt to match.
CHAPTER XVIII.
LIANE'S FLEETING LOVE DREAM.
Liane was enchanted with the beautiful city, and Mrs. Brinkley, who
felt a proud proprietorship in it, was delighted with her praises.
They went from one grand building to another, but the good woman soon
noticed that Liane seemed best pleased walking along the crowded
streets, and that instead of observing all that she pointed out, the
girl's eyes wandered wistfully from one face to another, as if in
search of some one.
"Are you looking for your grandmother?" she asked.
"Oh, no, ma'am," and Liane blushed like a rose.
"Then it must be your beau, you look so bashful. Have you got a beau in
Boston?"
Liane shook her pretty head, but she looked so conscious that the woman
plied her with curious questions, until the young girl owned that she
knew one person in Boston, a young man, who had spent several weeks at
Stonecliff. Then the curious matron did not rest until she had learned
his name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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