A Modern Cinderella | Page 8

with them; some of my best lessons have come to me among
them; and when my fortune is made, I intend to show my gratitude by
taking three flat-irons rampant for my coat of arms.
Nan laughed merrily, as she looked at the burns on her hand; but Di
elevated the most prominent feature of her brown countenance, and
sighed despondingly,--
"Dear, dear, what a disappointing world this is! I no sooner build a nice
castle in Spain, and settle a smart young knight therein, than down it
comes about my ears; and the ungrateful youth, who might fight
dragons, if he chose, insists on quenching his energies in a saucepan,
and making a Saint Lawrence of himself by wasting his life on a series
of gridirons. Ah, if I were only a man, I would do something better than
that, and prove that heroes are not all dead yet. But, instead of that, I'm
only a woman, and must sit rasping my temper with absurdities like
this." And Di wrestled with her knitting as if it were Fate, and she were
paying off the grudge she owed it.
John leaned toward her, saying, with a look that made his plain face
handsome,--
"Di, my father began the world as I begin it, and left it the richer for the
useful years he spent here,--as I hope I may leave it some half- century
hence. His memory makes that dingy shop a pleasant place to me; for
there he made an honest name, led an honest life and bequeathed to me
his reverence for honest work. That is a sort of hardware, Di, that no
rust can corrupt, and which will always prove a better fortune than any
your knights can achieve with sword and shield. I think I am not quite a

clod, or quite without some aspirations above money-getting; for I
sincerely desire that courage that makes daily life heroic by self-denial
and cheerfulness of heart; I am eager to conquer my own rebellious
nature, and earn the confidence of innocent and upright souls; I have a
great ambition to become as good a man and leave as good a memory
behind me as old John Lord."
Di winked violently, and seamed five times in perfect silence; but quiet
Nan had the gift of knowing when to speak, and by a timely word
saved her sister from a thunder-shower and her stocking from
destruction.
"John, have you seen Philip since you wrote about your last meeting
with him?
The question was for John, but the soothing tone was for Di, who
gratefully accepted it, and perked up again with speed.
"Yes; and I meant to have told you about it," answered John, piunging
into the subject at once.
"I saw him a few days before I came home, and found him more
disconsolate than ever,--' just ready to go to the Devil,' as he forcibly
expressed himself. I consoled the poor lad as well as I could, telling
him his wisest plan was to defer his proposed expedition, and go on as
steadily as he had begun,--thereby proving the injustice of your father's
prediction concerning his want of perseverance, and the sincerity of his
affection. I told him the change in Laura's health and spirits was
silently working in his favor, and that a few more months of persistent
endeavor would conquer your father's prejudice against him, and make
him a stronger man for the trial and the pain. I read him bits about
Laura from your own and Di's letters, and he went away at last as
patient as Jacob ready to serve another 'seven years' for his beloved
Rachel."
"God bless you for it, John!" cried a fervent voice; and, looking up,
they saw the cold, listless Laura transformed into a tender girl, all
aglow with love and longing, as she dropped her mask, and showed a

living countenance eloquent with the first passion and softened by the
first grief of her life.
John rose involuntarily in the presence of an innocent nature whose
sorrow needed no interpreter to him. The girl read sympathy in his
brotherly regard, and found comfort in the friendly voice that asked,
half playfully, half seriously,--
"Shall I tell him that he is not forgotten, even for an Apollo? that Laura
the artist has not conquered Laura the woman? and predict that the
good daughter will yet prove the happy wife?"
With a gesture full of energy, Laura tore her Minerva from top to
bottom, while two great tears rolled down the cheeks grown wan with
hope deferred.
"Tell him I believe all things, hope all things, and that I never can
forget."
Nan went to her and held her fast, leaving the prints of two loving but
grimy hands upon her shoulders;