Bad Hugh

There were piles of handsome dress goods upon the counter at Harney's

that afternoon, and Harney was anxious to sell. It was not always that

he favored a customer with his own personal services, and 'Lina felt

proportionably flattered when he came forward and asked what he could

show her. Of course, a dress for the party--he had sold at least a dozen

that day, but fortunately he still had the most elegant pattern of all,

and he knew it would exactly suit her complexion and style.

Deluded 'Lina! Richard Harney, the wealthy bachelor merchant, did not

mean one word he said. He had tried to sell that dress a dozen times,

and been as often refused, no one caring just then to pay fifty dollars

for a dress which could only be worn on great occasions. But 'Lina was

easily flattered, while the silk was beautiful. But ten dollars was all

she had, and turning away from the tempting silk she answered faintly,

that "it was superb, but she could not afford it, besides, she had not

the money to-day."

"Not the slightest consequence," was Harney's quick rejoinder. "Not the

slightest consequence. Your brother's credit is good--none better in the

country, and I'm sure he'll be proud to see you in it. I should, were I

your brother."

'Lina blushed, while the wish to possess the silk grew every moment

stronger.

"If it were only fifty dollars, it would not seem so bad," she thought.

Hugh could manage it some way, and Mr. Harney was so good natured; he

could wait a year, she knew. But the making would cost ten dollars more,

for that was the price Miss Allis charged, to say nothing of the

trimmings. "No, I can't," she said, quite decidedly, at last, asking for

the lace with which she at first intended renovating her old pink silk,

"She must see Miss Allis first to know how much she wanted," and

promising to return, she tripped over to Frankfort's fashionable

dressmaker, whom she found surrounded with dresses for the party.

As some time would elapse ere Miss Allis could attend to her, she went

back to Harney's just for one more look at the lovely fabric. It was, if

possible, more beautiful than before, and Harney was more polite, while

the result of the whole was that, when 'Lina at four o'clock that

afternoon entered her carriage to go home, the despised pink silk, still

unpaid on Haney's books, was thrown down anywhere, while in her hands

she carefully held the bundle Harney brought himself, complimenting her

upon the sensation she was sure to create, and inviting her to dance the

first set with him. Then with a smiling bow he closed the door upon her,

and returning to his books wrote down Hugh Worthington his debtor to

fifty dollars more.