Bad Hugh

"Yes, Hugh, she's your half-sister. Forgive me that I made her so," and

the poor mother wept over the heartless girl. "But go on," she

whispered. "See where 'Lina is now," and Hugh read on, learning that old

Mother Richards had returned home, that Anna had written a sweet,

sisterly note, welcoming her as John's bride to their love, that she had

answered her in the same gracious strain, heightening the effect by

dropping a few drops of water here and there, to answer for tears wrung

out by Anna's sympathy, that Mrs. Ellsworth and her brother, Irving

Stanley, came to the hotel, that Irving had a ticket to the ball offered

him, but declined, just because he did not believe in balls, that having

a little 'axe to grind,' she had done her best to cultivate Mrs.

Ellsworth, presuming a great deal on their courtship, and making herself

so agreeable to her child, a most ugly piece of deformity, that cousin

Carrie, who had hired a furnished house for the winter, had invited her

to spend the season with her, and she was now snugly ensconced in most

delightful quarters on Twenty-second Street, between Fifth and Sixth

Avenues.

* * * * *

"Sometimes," she wrote, "I half suspect Mrs. Ellsworth did not think I

would jump at her invitation so quick, but I don't care. The doctor, for

some reason or other, has deferred our marriage until spring, and dear

knows I am not coming back to horrid Spring Bank any sooner than I can

help.

"By the way, I'm somewhat haunted with the dread that, after all, Adah

may take it into her willful head to go to Terrace Hill, and I would not

have her for the world. How does Alice get on with Hugh? I conclude he

must be well by this time. Does he wear his pants inside his cowhides

yet, or have Alice's blue eyes had a refining effect upon his

pantaloons? Tell him not to set his heart upon her, for, to my certain

knowledge, Irving Stanley, Esq., has an interest in that quarter, while

she is not indifferent.

"He has his young sister Augusta here now. She has come on to do her

shopping in New York, and is stopping with Mrs. Ellsworth. A fine little

creature, quite stylish, but very puritanical. Through Augusta I have

got acquainted with Lottie Gardner, a kind of stepniece to the doctor,

and excessively aristocratic. You ought to have seen how coolly her big,

proud, black eyes inspected one. I rather like her, though. She and

Augusta Stanley were together at Madam ----'s school in the city.