Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1868-01-10

The Mouth Of the Leamy.
BY THE AUTHOR OF 1.-THE HEIR OF
REDCLYFFE,"
CHAPTER III
IONGINGS.

A-Sir Walter had predicted Master Stat
ford : illness was severe, aud his condition
Tor u time required such perfect stiffness
that only Mrs. Lunch and old Honor were
admitted 10 his rnon; hut long before he
nrcainc visible. the rcst of the famiI; had
hecoilc accustomed to heal his praise per
pctnally sung by the old lady. first far $
,,iety aud patience. and then iorolhrfqnal
ties that revealed themselves as he grew
better. Her motherly tenderness. so new
and precious to one who since he had los,
his par, his by a horrible death had never
COME INTO close contact with woman. was
responded to with gratitude and affection
tliat touched her; aud when he was
able to he moved into the hail. the adnis
sion TO peaceful, united home life Wis nu
less new experience to the homeless man.
He was not at all what Grace and Amisc
expected of the dauntless western mariner:
it was not merely the ianguor of Illness
that uiade his movements sluw and grace
full. his Voice low and soft. The pale soft
olive check the sleepy depth of his dark.
brown eyes, the spieniid make of his frame
showed constitution that would better
have fitted the poet than the sailor; and
there was an anXlous precision in the style
Of dress, dainty choiceness in his Language
and pronunciation. eonrtly deterence III
MS manner toward woman, that Mark
would have cnpteinned, but for what he
knew of his deeds.
Grace and Amise would have waited ON
their hero like two slaves, if he would have
allowed it, but he met their first cndeavors
to fetch and carry for him much as he wo%ld
have done if the Queen had tried 10 attend
ON him and as they found that strenuous
rejection Of their services made him cX
haust himself. they learned reluctantly to
desist. They could but half understand oi
endure it when the eOuyalescent turned the
tables on them. and. weak as he was. rose
on their entrance, bowed when they lef
the room, tried to carry for them whatever
they held in their hand, and treated ,heln
with all the defcrential observauces of IA
court page.
Grace with downright uncOnsciousness.
walked through it all, submitting quietly to
wahatever courtesies she did no; think per
ilous to her patients feehleness, though
sometime with an odd, humorous counte
nance; hut Amise, after the first surprise
made a pretty. coquettish Jest OF the thing
.laughed sometimes at Master Stafford.
sometimes at herself, and playfully required
to know what was expected of her in re
turn, how NV Lady this or my Lady that
would requite such grand dcings. and then
would make Stafford set her in the right at
ntudes, and train head hand foot. and eye
while she merrily obeved, with the pretty
arch airs and graces that beftted the kitten
child that she was.
Master Stafford played his part with the
same languid ease that marked all his do
ings and though Mrs. Eynch more than
once rebuked Amise for being Overfoward,
it was only as she would blame child, AS
in truth she still regarded her intended
daughter in law If grace's heart some
times ached over different opinion, it war
in silence and indeed the alarm was more
than half dispelled hy the timid, furlid
slances that in her naughtlest tro!ies Am.
,se would sometimes steal from under her
long eyelashes at Mark.
Nothing, however seemed to disturb what
looked like "a stold indifference to the girl
Oh Marks part he was much ahs'rbr'.
in the stranger himself, attended on hir
assduously and piled him with questions on
his adventures, aud the scenes he had Wis
tied. growing eontemptuonsly at any inter,
rup,ion, either from the ynung ladies. oi
from the politeness that Stafford never fall
ed to exercise toward them, twas inter
terence with his monopoly by Amse's tr
fling that was his annoyance. lfthrre were
any jealousy in the matter, the rival, not
the object oft, was Amise.
Aud it was provoking when this man, so
slow to speak of himself, s. Reluctant to re
call to memory the scenes OF slaughter, had
inst hecn stirred into an animated descrip
lion OF fierce struggle with the Spaniards,
and, warmed by the recital, was. with fash
ing ewes. speaking of the lion-like demean-
Of of Sir Walter. that. in the ve-y crisis,
Amise's entrance with bashct of straw
berries wonld sweep the whole matter from
discussi on. aud there should be nothing
more than play ful toying courtesies, and
prattle about Queen Elizabeth and her la
dies and their punctilios. or, worse still, a
continual Jest going on about euphrmiste
language. which Amsle would attempt
laughing at herself all the time, and laugh
inp the more at Master Staffords polite,
thong merry, corrections of her mistakes
Alter such IA food OF nonsence it was sci
dom that Mark could ever Ontain the rest
of the cruelty broken story. Indeed, if he
l. L.,. IN IN