The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-08-08 00:00:00


" And why not let your brother share your corm-
deuce? Trust him, if not your father."
"No, I cannot, because I would not grieve him.
And when that wicked Maxall wants to compel me to
do all that he wishes, he threatens to go and tell it all
—all that he has found and scraped together with his
nasty, prying ways; and then—and then—l will do
anything for him. He has made me go down on my
knees and lick up the dust beforehim with my tongue,
and I have done it rather than he should tell, and
would do it again a thousand times over."
I well believe she could suffer any torture for Ross's
sake. There are some masculine natures woman love
and worship irresistibly; this boy's is one of them,
and he inherits it from another.
I inquired who this Maxall was, fancying he might
be a discharged servant.
He was her father's ward, she said, and older than
she or her brother. He was " a beast of a ler ow,"
and had always lived with them, and was now at
college.
What could I do, and what say? My proper
course was far from clear. I had no right to wrest
Cleland's secret from her, still less to betray it; and
yet I felt such another meeting must not be allowed.
But she would not pass her word that she would seek
this person no more. She said, in her blunt, honest
manner—
" No ; I'll not make a promise, because I may have
to break it."
So we walked on in silence to the end of the
avenue., when she looked up with imploring face, and
said—
"Miss Waco, you will not tell? "
"No. I will think over it, Cle, and see what I can
do for the best."

destruction of property, and en-
countered Ross going on the same errand, for he,
too, had seen the funeral pyre. His face was very
quiet and spirits subdued; we both hurried on, and
reached the bonfire together.
"Oh, Cle ! what have you done ?"
"Burnt it!" was her triumphant response; " it
will all be gone in a few minutes. Have I not done
quite right, Ross ?" she said, with a smiling and sooty
face.

"No, I don't think you have, Cle. That habit
was papa's present to you, and I do not think you
should have burnt it like that; he will not think it
kind of you at all."
"Oh, dear! and I thought it was so right of me,
and just what I ought to do. I believe I never shall
know right from wrong, because when I think I am
doing the one, it always turns out I am doing the
other."

I could not restrain a smile at her perplexity, but
did not offer just then any advice on the subject.
As we entered the house again by the back yard, I
saw a poor foxhound lying on the stones, with its
body all bleeding and torn. It was whining feebly,
and turned its large, mournful brown eyes upon us
most pitifully as we passed. A groom wa3 standing
close by, and I inquired what had befallen it.
"Master lashed her rather badly this morning.
The doctor says it's a bad case, so I am going to put
it out of its misery in a minute or two; I am only
waiting for some shot to load the gun."
Ross trembled all over, and his pale face became
paler still, and I heard him mutter as he hurried
away—
" And that poor animal suffers like that for my
fault!"
He left us, and went in by himself. A little time
after I heard the report of a gun, and the next
instant a heavy fall in the room over that in which
I was. _ _