Mrs Connor, therefore, felt both pity and sympathy for Miss Dumont,
whose position in the Palace she knew to be a difficult one; and when
Preston Cheney came upon the scene the romantic mind of the motherly
Irishwoman fashioned a future for the young couple which would have
done credit to the pen of a Mrs Southworth.
Mr Cheney always had a kind word for the laundress, and a tip as
well; and when Mrs Connor's dream of seeing him act the part of the
Prince and Berene the Cinderella of a modern fairy story, ended in
the disappearance of Miss Dumont and the marriage of Mr Cheney to
Mabel Lawrence, the unhappy wash-lady mourned unceasingly.
Ten years of hard, unremitting toil and rigid economy passed away
before Mrs Connor could realise her ambition of becoming a landlady
in the purchase of a small house which contained but four rooms,
three of which were rented to lodgers. The increase in the value of
her property during the next five years, left the fortunate
speculator with a fine profit when she sold her house at the end of
that time, and rented a larger one; and as she was an excellent
financier, it was not strange that, at the time Joy Irving appeared
on the scene, "Mrs Connor's apartments" were as well and favourably
known in Beryngford, if not as distinctly fashionable, as the Palace
had been more than twenty years ago.
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