Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work

Tom Gates shrank away from her as if he had been struck.

"You can't be Lucy!" he murmured. "And yet--and yet--oh, you _must_ be

Lucy! You must know me! Look at me, dear--I'm Tom. I'm your own Tom,

Lucy!"

"It's very gratifying, I'm sure, young man," said the girl, a touch of

scorn in her tones. "If you're my own Tom you'll perhaps stand out of my

way and let me go to my work."

Without another word he backed up again; the wall and permitted her to

sweep by him, which she did with a gesture of disdain.

When Eliza Parsons had disappeared down the back stairs Beth drew a long

breath and approached Tom Gates, who still stood by the wall staring at

the place where the girl had disappeared.

"I overheard," said Beth. "Tell me, Tom, is she really like Lucy?"

He looked at her with a dazed expression, as if he scarcely comprehended

her words.

"Could you have been mistaken?" persisted the questioner.

He passed his hand over his eyes and gave a shudder.

"Either it was Lucy or her ghost," he muttered.

"Eliza Parsons is no ghost," declared Beth. "She's one of the maids here

at Elmhurst, and you're quite likely to see her again."

"Has she been here long?" he asked, eagerly.

"No; only a few days."

"Oh!"

"When I first saw her I was struck by her resemblance to Mrs. Rogers,"

continued the girl.

"But she's so different," said Tom, choking back a sob. "Lucy couldn't

be so--so airy, so heartless. She isn't at all that style of a girl,

miss."

"She may be acting," suggested Beth.

But he shook his head gloomily.

"No; Lucy couldn't act that way. She's quick and impulsive, but she--she

couldn't act. And she wouldn't treat me that way, either, Miss Beth.

Lucy and I have been sweethearts for years, and I know every expression

of her dear face. But the look that this girl gave me was one that my

Lucy never could assume. I must have been mistaken. I--I'm sure I was

mistaken."

Beth sighed. She was disappointed.

"I suppose," continued Tom, "that I've thought of Lucy so long and so

much, lately, and worried so over her disappearance, that I'm not quite

myself, and imagined this girl was more like her than she really is.