A Struggle for a Ring — page 70: what you’re looking at

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

66 WELCOMING A SON-IN.LAW. remarkably high-spirited and independent; it was impos- sible to patronize them—they were quite as good as any one else, and they did not hesitate in telling you so. They were ambitious, too, and some of John Derwent'’s best pupils lay among the factory girls of Rudeswell. Then some of the tradesmen’s daughters learned dancing ; among them he contrived to eke out a very spare in- come. His wife helped him to the best of her ability; she gave lessons to very small children. It was by no means a prosperous household, and John Derwent had something to do to find them all in bread. How many times he anathematized the fate that had made him a dancing-master, who shall tell? His soul was indeed weary of the fray; he was tired of the sound of music, of the incessant fiddle, of the rush of feet, of the never- ending one, two, three; he could have danced the quad- rilles in his sleep; his nightmares took the shape of waltzes. | | He had four children—Alice, Rose, Harriet, and Frank, Alice, by the generosity of her uncle, was educated; Rose, a nice, pretty, refined girl, had already shown great artistic talent, and was able to make money by her designs; Har- riet was a loud-spoken, brusque, vulgar girl; and Frank was—what word could be more expressive ?—a boy. ‘They were not a very happy family; John Derwent, when he had a few minutes to spare from his business, spent it in rebelling against fate; his wife was always complain- ing of her lot, and of the mistake she had made in her marriage. Rose was the general peace-maker. Har- — riet’s despair was that even the factory girls, were better dressed than she herseif; and Frank grumbled that he could not have things like ‘‘ other fellows.” | Not a very inviting circle for the dainty, fastidious