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
"Miss Lester, and the other girls call her Liane. It is a pretty name,
and, oddly enough, I read it once in a novel. She must have been named
from it; don't you think, Jesse?"
"Perhaps so."
He could hardly speak, he was so excited, and Lyde rambled on:
"We have fallen in love with each other, pretty Liane and I. She always
hurries to meet me and show me her gloves. Her eyes smile at me so
tenderly, as if she were really fond of me, and I almost believe she
is, for when I allow her to try on my gloves for me, she has such a
caressing way, I almost long to kiss her. But then, perhaps, she has
the same manner with all, just to get trade," disappointedly.
Devereaux recalled the caressing touch of her lips on his hand that
night by the sea; her pretty, bashful gratitude, and groaned within
himself.
"Oh, my lost love, my false love!"
Aloud he said cynically:
"I thought you were too proud, Lyde, to notice a pretty salesgirl."
"Oh, Jesse, I like to be kind to them all, poor things! And they
appreciate a kind word and smile more than you might think. And many
of these girls are so very pretty, too, that really, if I were looking
for beauty, I believe I should seek it among the working girls in our
stores. This Liane Lester, too, is lovelier than all the rest, and her
voice so soft and sweet that, really, I am sure she must be a reduced
aristocrat."
He wondered if he dare tell her the truth about Liane, the story of his
love. Smilingly he said:
"You will have me falling in love with your pretty glove girl."
"Oh, not for the world!" she cried, in dismay. "My dear Jesse, never
think of loving and marrying out of your own set. One can admire beauty
in a poor girl as one admires beauty in a statue, but, lifted above her
station, my pretty Liane would not be half so admirable."
"Of course not," he replied cynically, and decided not to make her his
confidante.
All the same, he determined to see for himself again the lovely face
that had won Lyde's admiration. He knew where she bought her gloves,
and that afternoon he was close by when the little army of salesgirls
came pouring out into the street.
By and by came two arm in arm, Lizzie White and Liane, and his eyes
feasted again on the lovely face beneath the little blue hat, noting
with gladness its purity of expression.
"They lied. She is pure and innocent still, in spite of pardonable
vanity and girlish coquetry," he thought, with a subtle thrill of joy.
Then he saw Granny Jenks dart forward with a skinny, outstretched claw,
whining:
"I came for your wages, Liane. I was afraid you might fool away the
money before you got home."
"The old harpy!" he muttered, with irrepressible indignation, as he saw
her clutch the money Liane had earned by her week's toil.
Then he drew back quickly, lest she should see him, a sudden resolve
forming in his mind.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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