Beautiful but Poor — page 19: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

i a Ee OR 4 lime ag Yon, by « Ye ‘ . . eae BEAUTIFUL BUT POOR. ing ‘‘stamed’’ letters over her “‘tay-kettle’”’ and then opened them. “This is a man’s handwrite!’’ muttered Miss Scrimp. ‘I don’t like my boarders having men to write to’em. But this one is away off in Californy —like as not, rich as all creation. I wish I knew who he is and what he wants. J’ll hand her the let- ter afore all the boarders at supper to-night, and if she opens it, ’ll watch her face, and maybe I can guess from that what’s up. She’ll never tell no other way. She has just the closest little mouth I ever did see. But come to think, she mightn’t open it at the table. She wouldn’t be apt to, for all the girls would be curious to know if it was a love-letter, aad plague her, maybe. And she is too good a girl to be plagued. Ili keep it till after she has had supper and gone to her room, and then I’ll go up, friendly- like, and take a chair—if there’s two in her room, which I’m not sure of—hand her the letter, and wait till she opens it. And J’ll ask her if her brother in Californy is well—make as if some one had told me she had a brother there.’’ | This plan, talked ever to herself, satisfied Miss Scrimp, and she put the letter in one of her capa- cious pockets, there to remain till evening. scOmMmIcbooO cS