The Pleasant Street Partnership | Page 7

She was careless,--as Charlotte had noticed, she
sometimes forgot the fastenings of her skirt; when she wrote, she
invariably inked her fingers; and she was constantly losing or breaking
her glasses. She treated these matters lightly herself, but tried to
conceal them from her sister.
In their girlhood this sister, a few years older than she, had been the
object of her deepest devotion. Caroline was beautiful and clever, and
to question her opinions never entered Miss Virginia's mind. It puzzled
and hurt her loyal heart that she could not quite get back to the old
attitude when Caroline returned to her home a widow. She submitted
when Caroline assumed command of the household; but after their
father's death relieved her of the position of devoted nurse, Miss
Virginia found life a little empty; and what made it the harder was that
she no longer felt herself altogether in sympathy with her sister's
opinions and methods.
Her aspirations had never gone beyond making home pleasant for
somebody, and now even this was taken from her. The things that most
absorbed Mrs. Millard were of little interest to her; she began to feel
useless and unhappy. She was a failure. Life had somehow slipped by
unawares. She felt old at forty-eight.
Above everything she disliked change, and the sale of the corner lot
and the building of the shop caused her many a pang. In the midst of all
this disquietude Mr. Landor's letter arrived.
"I have most agreeable recollections of your home," he wrote, "and I
realize I am asking a good deal of you, for our little niece is a
somewhat tumultuous person. She has suffered from both over
indulgence and neglect. She needs a different atmosphere, and much in

the way of training that her old guardian cannot give her, so he ventures
for Helen's sake to ask if you will take charge of her daughter for a few
years."
This half sister, twelve years younger than herself, had come and gone
like some happy dream in Miss Virginia's life. She had grown up under
the care of her grandmother, almost a stranger in her father's house, to
which she returned in her gay young girlhood, and for the one time in
her experience Miss Wilbur had been swept into a whirl of gayety as
Helen's chaperon. Her charge had married early, and after a few years
went abroad with her husband and little girl in search of health she was
never to find.
The thought of Helen's child aroused memories both bright and
sorrowful, but at least here was an opportunity to be useful again. It
would be pleasant to have a child in the house, Miss Virginia thought,
studying the photograph of Charlotte at seven, bright-eyed and demure.
The tall, well-grown girl had been a surprise to her aunts. Her assured
manner and pronounced style of dress were not exactly what one
desired in a girl of fourteen. At sight of her Miss Virginia had been
seized with a fit of shyness; in consequence the reins had been taken by
Mrs. Millard, who was not shy and was, besides, a born manager.
Miss Virginia felt a sympathy for Charlotte, even while disapproving of
her; she felt her sister to be too peremptory. In the matter of the novel it
would have been better to allow Charlotte to finish it, with the
understanding that it was to be the last. What could be more
aggravating than to have to give up a story with only two-thirds of it
read? It was an interesting story, too. Miss Virginia herself sat up till
midnight to finish it. Some time perhaps she would tell Charlotte the
end. Then she reminded herself that this would never do.
It was no use talking to Caroline, and yet Mr. Landor had asked her to
take charge of Charlotte, and Caroline had no right to assume command.
Miss Virginia wished they had not agreed to take the child.
She paced back and forth on the front porch one afternoon, thinking of

all this and of the peaceful days of the past, feeling that dulness was
better than problems like these. Across Pleasant Street was the little
shop already showing signs of habitation. As she stood idly with her
hand on the rail, a boy came up the walk and handed her what at first
glance she thought was a note, but it proved on investigation to be an
announcement.
THE PLEASANT STREET SHOP WILL OPEN WEDNESDAY,
OCTOBER SECOND
Dainty Turnovers Pretty Draperies Ribbons Bright Chintzes Baskets
Pottery Needles and Pins and Other Small Matters A Specialty.
"How absurd!" thought Miss Virginia. "A shop of this sort in the
Terrace!"
"Have you heard about the new shop, Miss Virginia?" called Alexina
Russell from the gate.
Miss Wilbur