The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-02-13

| uOSC
s:"s'Than wbat?'
'"Tba:n, Miss Lin1den's going ANA,
| Just inox?" :.....'.'
ill "Why just now, my dear ?"
~"1 don't mean particularly just now,
said Mrs: Braddick; II mean that sh
is going'at ALL"
81 suppose you can find some m,
e'se, returned Mr.. Braddick, divin,
'''o'a a fresh bundle of papers. "It !,
easy enough to advertise; and vou o;,.
a good salary"
! "lt is easy to advertise, but then
there is all the trouble of seei,o neon1<
and arranging, and finding out who vii,
suit and who will not. / don't belicv,
any one will after Miss Linden, ani
why she is going is more than I ca,
teliY ,I',:' ,"" '. -.
II supposed Miss Linden has eoot
reasons Of her own."
II can't think what they can be
then; for it seems to me that no one
IN her circumstances could be more
pleasantly situated than she is With u.
more like one Of the family. But" !"
said Mrs. >Braddick suddenly, II be-
lieve that, after all, the reason she is
gong Is because you have come home
Charles"
Mr. Braddick looked up-a sharp
quick glance, but the impassiveness ol
Mrs. Braddick's face convinced him
that no suspicion of the true cause had
entered her mind, so he replied quiet.
ly:-
"Perhaps I had better return to
India, my love. Shall we suggest it to
Miss Linden p
Nonsense, Charles. I wish YOU
would be serious when I want your ad.
vice and your opinion"
'"Well, and have I not given it ia
you! You; tell me that you do not
know what you shall do without Miss
Linden, and that Miss Linden il going
because | have come home so the onlV
suggestion thst offers itself to me is
that | should go away again."
"Now you are quite aware, Charles.
th't 20. aciN not understaud what i
mean. l mean that 1 think Miss Linden
must imagine that you have some unac-
countable dislike to her. am sure /
should, were in her place. You are
quite unlike yourself With respect to
her. Richard, too, took the same preiu-
dice; but I think Miss Linden was be-
ginning not to care for it, though Of
course it annoyed her At first and now
you wao generally differ 10 opinion
from Richard, seem to have entirely
entered into his feelings"
Mr.: .Braddick rose-he came towards
his WITCH. took her hand in his
Should he tell her the story Of the past!
For one moment he was even tempted
to do so. For one moment there came
into his mind that it might be the be.
ginning of a fresh life to them both Il
ne could pour out his heart freely t
the wife whom he had taken. Bu,
would it do any good? ae began tt
look with a,man's eyes upon the subject
aud arguments came fast to turn him
from his momentary impulse. There
was the effect it might take upon Mrs
Braddick to be considered. Women can
never be answered for: they NAV see q
matter in an entirely different light
from what you wish; they may take
just the opposite line of argument to
the one you think most clear and lceical.
Then there was the possible. injury it
might be to Adriana; aud, lastly be
was not quite sure whether confessions
were altogether pleasant.
Mrs. Braddick remained in some
perplexity. She saw that something
had made Mr.. Braddick feel as serions
as she could wish; but as she never
lcaped to conclusions, she waited pa-
tiently until her husband should speak
After slight pause, still holding her
hand, he spoke:-
81 am quite serious now, Margaret.
| have no dislike to Miss Linden; but
| discovered, even sooner than YOU did,
that her position here is one that for
reasons Of her own is distasteful to her.
Do not distress her by endeavorins to
alter her determination. have seen
enough Of Miss Linden to know that
nothing will deter her from carrying
out a purpose when she has once rcsolv.
ed upon it,"
Mr.. Braddick had made the best
speech possible on the occasion, still he
could not help feeling that it was
slightly jesuitical.
D.: Mrs. Braddick still wondered.
~ do not understand you in the least
Charles. Has Richard been saying
anything to you against Miss Linden ?"'
':NotLing."
"You think she has some reason i?
You think nothing will induce her to
stay?"
u am sure that nothing will"
"lt seems strange that you should
Miss Linden so much bet
ter than | do, when l like her so much
better than you do. I think l have
the same sort Of feeling 1 should have
had towards sister if 1 had ever had
one. Yet I did not like her at first,
but she gains upon one; she is a per.
son l could trust in, and do not often
feel great faith in any one"
Certainly Mrs. Braddick did not
1t was curious to see tho influence that
the woman to whom Chad she known
it) she shoald have been most alien had
exerted over her. Scarcely excrted
either, for Adriana had used no effo,,
to gain her rivals good opinion. She
had pursued str.ightfo, wardly and con-
scientiously the duties she had under.
taken. She had devoted herself low.
lngly to the children, and yet had not
weancd their affections from their moth
cr indeed, that mother felt that thev
were nearer and nearer to her now than