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Show 7 i I THE LIONS WHELP A Story of Cromwells Time BY AMELIA E. BARR. Author of Th Bow of Oruife Ribbon." I. Thou and the Othor One." "Tho Maid of Maiden Lane." Etc. (Copyright, 1901, by Dodd, Mead & Company. ... ' CHAPTER All rights reserved.) - XIII. autinn found the family still at de (Continued.) Then he turned to Matilda and led Wick. Stephen had escaped, as had her to a sofa, and comforted her; and also his companion conspirators. Mathe came and took away son and Blythe; and Matilda could not the dead body and laid it, as Anthony but compliment herself a little on her wished, on bis old masters bed. share in securing thrir safety. And In the great salon, now cleared Towards the middle of September of its offending visitors, Cymlin sat Sir Thomas roused himself from his comforting Matilda and finally ques- life among flowers and shrubs, and tioned her in a way that compelled said he must go back to London. He her to rely, in some measure, upon had a sudden desire for his wharf and him. hi3 office, and the bearded, outlandish Stephen was here yesterday?" he men that he would meet there. And asked. as the ladies also wished to return to "Part of the day. He left here at London, the beautiful home quickly four in the afternoon. put on an air of desertion. Boses litYet the mail-rideunder oath, tered the hall; they were only waiting swore this morning that it was Ste- unul the September rain-storshould phen who robbed the mail." pass away, and the reads become fit She laughed queerly. for travel. But if it was not Stephen, who was At this unsettled time, and In a it? he Insisted, and he looked with driying shower, Cymlin and Doctor such a 6teady, confident gaze into Mar Verity were seen galloping up the tlldas face that she crimsoned to her avenue one evening. Every one was finger-tipShe could not meet his glad at the prospect of news and comeyes, and she could not speak. pany, Sir Thomas so much so, that he "I wonder .who played at being Ste- went to the door to meet the Doctor. phen de Wick, he said gently. And Nobody could be more welcome, he the silence between them was so sen- said; and pray, what good fortune sitive that neither accusation nor con- brings you here? fession was necessary. I come to put my two nephews In I wish that you had trusted me. Huntingdon Grammar school. I want You might have done so and you them to sit where Cromwell sat, he know It. answered. After Anthony was burled, his will Ah! this great Cromwell! said was read. He left everything he pos- Lady Jevery; but if he has the wily sessed to the Lady Matilda de Wick, Mazarin at his disposal, why can he and no one offered a word of dissent. not find out something about that poor Sir Thomas seemed unusually de- Lord Neville? Has Col. Ayrton repressed and his lady asked him "if he turned, or is he also missing? was in any way dissatisfied? He returned some time ago. He No," he answered. It is the death discovered nothing of importance. of the young Lord Neville that gives Then I suppose we shall see no me constant regret. more of Lord Neville. I am very sorIs he dead? Alas! Alas! Such a ry. He was a good youth, and he loved happy, handsome youth. It is incred- Jane Swaffham very honestly. A week after this evening the Jev ible, said Lady Jevery. I thought he had run away to the erys were In their own house, and MaAmericas with your gold and my tilda had sent word to Jane Swaffham aunts Jewels, said Matilda. that she wanted to see her. She I wronged him, I wronged him opened her heart on various subjects grievously," answered Sir Thomas. to Jane, more especially on Anthony men-servan- ts r, s. for you, I am Indeed! How can you bear it? I have cast over it the balm of prayer; I have shut it up In my heart, and given my heart to God. I have said to God, Do as thou wilt with me.. I am content, and I have found light in sorrow, brighter than all the flaring lights of joy. Then you believe him to be dead? Yes. There is no help against such a conclusion, and yet, Matilda, there comes to me sometimes, such an instantaneous, penetrating sense of his presence, that I must believe he is not far away, and her confident hearts still fervor, her tremulous smile, her eyes like clear water full of the sky, affected Matilda with the same apprehending. And there was such a haunting sweetness about the chastened girl that Matilda looked round it was as if there were freshly gathered violets in the room. She remained silent, and Jane, after a few minutes pause, said, 1 must go home, now, and rest a little. Tomorrow I am bid to Hampton Court." And you will come and tell me all about your visit. The world turned upside down is an entertaining spectacle. Ann Clarges the market woman in one place,. and Elizabeth Cromwell in another The Cromwells are my friends, Matilda. And I will assure you that Hampton Court never saw a more worthy queen than Elizabeth Crom- wan-derlngl- y; well. I have a saucy tongue, Jane do not mind when it backbites; there is no one like you. I love you well!" These words with clasped hands and kisses between the two girls. Then Matildas face became troubled and she sat down alone, with her brows drawn together and her hands tightly clasped. Did Rupert kill Neville? she asked herself. Oh, me, I do fear it. He lied to me, then; of course he lied; but that was no new thing for him to do. What snail I do? Sne went over and over this train of thought, and ended always with the same irresolute, anxious question, What shall I do? The next day Jane went to Hampton She was conducted to an apartment in one of the suites formerly occupied by Queen Henrietta As she dressed herself she Maria. thought of the great men and women who had lived and loved, and Joyed and sorrowed under the ancient roof of Wolsey's splendid palace. In a brilliantly lighted room Mr. and Mrs. Claypole and Mr. and Mrs. Richard Cromwell and Doctor John Owen, and Mr. Milton, and Dr. Verity were grouped around Ijer highness the Protectors handsome wife. She sat at the Protectors right hand, and Jane Swaffham sat at his left. He was in an unusually happy mood and Doctor Owen, remarking it. Admiral Blake said, They had been Court mobbed mobbed by women and Domestic Blunders of Women By MERE A (VI A INI THE MISTAKES OF THE MISSUS." It will be in the minds of all my readers that I opened up the question of Servants and Mistresses by showing that, whatever faults servants Lave, women are responsible for them. That, I admit, was an impeachment of The Missus. I admitted, that servants were far rrom blameless. I shall endeavor to develop this side of the question, and point out some further faults of the servant system, and suggest some remedies. I showed that servants are what their mistresses make them. Let us see why mistresses make bad servants. To do this, we must get back to the purely business side of life. Here women are again at fault. In every business in' the world which is managed by men, and where novices are employed, they are taken as apprentices and are taught their trade, it is owing to the lax way in which women do their wTork that all servants are more or less amateurs, in the sense that they are incompetent, I do not or, at least, not qualified. suppose that there is a single servant in your employ', fair reader, who could tell you how she acquired the rudiments, to say nothing of the finesse, of her trade. The result is, almost Invariably, the disaster which follows the blind leading, or driving, the blind. It may be said that I am not quite fair in judging mistresses entirely from the point of view of professional men. Let me, therefore, take another example, which is rather of the accidental order of profession, and has to do with the lighter side of life. Take a man whom fortune, or misfortune, makes a Iheatrical manager. To be successful he must acquire a knowledge of many things. He has to learn something of literature, something of music, something of painting, something of dresses,, something of carpentry, mechanics, finance, acting, and many other things, and not only learn them In a general way, but must know exactly how much every little item costs, the price of canvas, nails, wood, glue, needles, silk, printing, etc., etc. That all managers know all these things I am not prepared to admit, but it is quite clear that the man who does not know them invariably falls in the long run, even though he is prepared to employ people who do. now-eve- r, the Protector had the best of it and that was a thing to pleasure any man. Then Mrs. Cromwell laughed and said: Your highness must tell us all now, or we shall be very discontented. Where were you, to meet a mob of women? We were in London streets, somewhere near the waterside. Blake was with me and Blake is going to Portsmouth to take command of an expedition. Where to? asked Mrs. Claypole. Well, Elizabeth, that is precisely the question this mob of women wanted me to answer. You are as bad a they were. But they had some excuse. "I kissed the rosy little brat" That wretch of a woman at The Lynns dramatic life and death, and Hague never paid him a farthing, the money and land he had left her. never even saw him. She intended to Of course, she said, it Is only temrob me and slay him for a thousand porary. When the King comes home, pounds, but under question of the law Stephen will he Earl de Wick, and I shall willingly resign all to him. In she confessed her crime. "What do you think has happened the meantime I intend to carry out to him? Anthonys plans for the improvement I think robbery and murder. Some- of the estate. one has known, or suspected, that he When this subject had been tailed had treasure with him. He has been well over, Jane named cautiously the folic ed and assassinated, or he ha3 lover in France. Much to her surlougnt and been killed, and little Jane prise, Matilda seemed pleased to enSwaffham is slowly dying of grief and large on the topic. She spoke herself cruel suspense. She loves him. and of Prince Rupert, and of the poverty ard suffering Charles Court were enthey were betrothed. There was a short silence, and then during, and she regretted with many Matilda said: Many brave young strong expressions Ruperts presCace All he makes Is swallowed up lord3 have gone cut from home and tnere. sne friends these past years, and never iu the bottomless Strait pit, Is Neville's life worth said; even ray jouth ar.d beauty have come back. more than my brothers life, than gone the same hopeiec3 road. There was a queer story about thousands of other lives? I trow not! But in the privacy of her room she Stephen robbing the mail and tearing 1 could not preserve this temper. up the three warrants for the arrest wonder If Rupert slew him, she mut- cf Blythe and Mason and himself, said Jane. tered. And anon Did you believe that, Jane? He would think it no wrong only The mrll was robbed. The wara piece of good luck. He might also be jealous of Cluny. rants were never found. Stephen has a daredevil temper at Ernes. When I spoke often of the youths beauty did you hear from him? I did that out of simple mischief I hear from him very often now, but Rupert Is touchy, sometimes cruel for It is the old, old story Jane! Poor for Jane, gold. eager always money, money, money. But I am not CHAPTER XIV. going to strip de Wick a second time for them, then drawing Jane close to A Little Further On. her, and taking her hand she said with Anan Impulsive tenderness: of of affair the settlement The Jane, dear Jane, I do not wish to thony Lynn occupied 31r Thomas Braeh longer than he expected, and the open a wound afresh, but I am sorry Pray what excuse, sir, that I have not? They were the wives of the sailor men going with our admiral on his expedition. And they got all around me, they did indeed, and one handsome woman with a little lad in her arms she told me to look well at him because he was called Oliver after me took hold of my bridle and said, 'You wont trample me down. General, for the lads sake, and tis but natural for us to want to know where you are sending our husbands. Come, General, tell us wives and mothers where tho ships are going to? And there was Robert Blake laughing and thinl.irg it fine sport, but I stood up in my stkruns ar.d called out as loud as I couH, Women, cau you be quiet tor one minute? They said, Aye, to be sure v. e can, if youll speak out, Cerer..!. Then I said to them, You to know where the ships and ,75.1 vonr men arc going. Listen to me! V ie Ainkas;adors of France and Spain rttulJ. each of them, give a million i: ds to know that Do you underAnd for a moment stand. women? there vas a dead silence, then a shout cf coiunrchersicn and laughter, and the woman at my bridle lifted the boy Oliver to me and I took him in my arms and kissed the rosy little brat, and then another shout and th mother said, General, you be right welcome to my share of the secret, and mine! am. mine! and mine! they all shouted, and the voices of those women went to my heart and brain like wine, they did that. They made me glad; I believe I shouted with 1 them. (To be continued. The absolute chaotic state of the servant question is due to generations of women who have let things slide. The sooner they return to first principles, the better. What are these principles? Go and see how your father, your brother, or your husband manages his business. You will find that it is on precisely the same principles that men have managed their business for generations. Why is domestic servic-- the only profession or trade In the world which is overstocked and detested? Simply because it is the only one over which women preside, and the only one which is villainously mismanaged, to the disadvantage of the mistress and the servant alike. The cause for this is not far to seek. Domestic service is the only labor in' the world where the duties and obligations of the employe and employer are not definitely defined. The result is constant frice tion. There is but one remedy. There be the written or printed agreement, which exists in all other paths of business, between the mistress and the servant. I suppose that the first thing I shall be told is that no servant would sign such an agreement. With all respect, I join issue with this statement. If the agreement were not entirely every servant in the world would be only too ready to sign it and abide by it. This is proved by the fact that, wherever a union of men or women i3 formed, the first demand is for definite rules and a definite agreement. An agreement, if properly drawn up, would be for mutual protection. It would shield the servant from being imposed upon, and from being thrown out at the mere whim of a mistress in the tantrums. It would secure for the mistress that the work of her should one-side- Louse was properly done, and protection from the neglect and destruction of her property. The present lax system breeds nothing but mistrust rather than confidence. This, as every one must agree. Is the root of dissension. As matters are at present managed, no servant knows exactly what' her work is, and she never has any idea that good conduct and faithful service will result in any reward but when she is getting to the kick-ou- t that age when it is not very easy to find a place. If I were managing a house, and about to engage servants, I would re quire each person whom I employed to sign an agreement. In this doct ment, of which the servant should have a counterpart, signed by myself, it would be set forth that, in the case of, say, a housemaid, she should properly clean, every day between the hours of certain rooms which would be allotted to her, and for which she would be responsible, and perform such other work as was reasonable and was agreed upon. I should also furnish each servant with an inventory of such property as was in her charge, and when any article was broken or missing I should require her to report the matter at once, and, if the amount of damage was over and above a certain percentage of fair wear and tear, I should possess the right to deduct so much . Why do women JaiL from her wages. On my side, I should pledge myself to employ, and pay her a certain wage for a certain time, the said wage to increase after certain dates if still in my employ. I should further insist on my right to mark her character with such offenses as she might be guilty of from time to time, but which should be considered as atoned for after a certain period ot good conduct, and I would pledge myself to substitute for that agreement a character which would correspond with the marking of the agreement at such time as she left my service. For instance,' supposing that a cook got tipsy. If she were a good servant, I should be inclined to look over the matter the first time, but I should insist on marking the agreement. This sne would naturally agree to, as It would be to her interest to live down her offense by remaining sober for a year, at which time her sin would he considered as purged, and, if she chose to leave then, I should be bound to give her a character saying she had been in my service a year, that she waB a good cook, and was clean, economical, honest and habitually sober. Besides this, I should take stock every six months. This is usual In all businesses, and it is eminently desirable in the management of a house. Every mistress knows that when anything is missing it is said to have been broken a long time ago, and, unless some servant has left, it is impossible to discover who was the delinquent, more especially as nobody is responsible. Another thing which is in the experience of all housewives is that there is such a thing as wilful destruction, or what appears to be remarkably like it. The knowledge of this only comes when you engage a new servant. The morning after her arival she invariably reports, if she is a cook, that there is nothing in the kitchen, and pots and pans, and everything appertaining to kitchen utensils have to be replaced. If it is a housemaid, she demonstrates that there are no brushes, that the handle is broken, that all the of the dust-pablacking is used up, and the dusters are a mass of holes. If it is a parlormaid, there are no cups, tumblers, or and she sajs she finds all the tablecloths and napkins are in a very bad way. I do not depart from my original statement that the real fault of all the discomfort and extravagance of Home life is due to the Missus, but I hope I have shown that my eyes are quite open to the servants share Jn it. Servants, however, I think, cannot be expected to take much pride where they have no responsibility, and no reward for looking after interests which are not their own. A system which exists in no other branch of life, and which is eminently unsatisfactory where it flourishes, must be in need of some remedy. I make the suggestion modestly, but I am deeply interested in its reception, and I trust mistresses and servants alike will give It consideration. That things are in a very bad state nobody can deny. The question is, can we arrive at a solution? (Copyright, by Funk & Wagnalls Co.) n glass-cloth- |