Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-08-21
MISS i.ASCELLES'S DISAPPEAR
ANCE.


ARE you going to Saratoga, Nina ?"
mo"
ITO Long Branch, them"
No
ITO the White Hills?"
No"
Then where are you going?" was the
genera, cry.
Il am going to disappear" answered
Miss Lascelles; and it was the only an
swer her curious friends could get from
her, let them try as they would. At every
fresh surmise she shook her head and
smiled mysteriously. II am going to dis
appear" she persisted.
Miss Lascelles kept her word. She did
disappear, and nobody could find out
whittier. In fact, there was no one to find
out from, no one to whom she was in the
least degree responsible for her comings
and goings. An orphan without near rel
atives-an heiress, mOreOver-she was en-
tire mistress of herself, and had she pro-
posed TO 90 to the moon, SO far as this
earthly planet is con cerned there would
have been nothing to hinder. But for
certain atmospheric difficulties being in
the way Of such tour, her acquaintance
would have been inclined to suspect it
was the very one she was making at pres
ent-that Out-Ofthe-Way sort of thing eX-
actly tallying with her oddity; for, by
COMMON consent Nina Lascelles was
dubbed odd" bright, sensible, at
tractive, certainly, but for all that with an
odd streak about her.
But where had Miss Lascelles gomez
Not quite as far as the moon, and yet to
region almost as remote from the sphere
Of her dear five hundred friends. One
day there had CHANGED to present itself to
her recollection the picture of certain
weather beaten, gambrel-roofed house up
among the rocks and hills of one of the
Northern States, where she had passed
The happiest summer of her life. Miss
Lascelles thought she would like to try
If that OLD time could not be brought back
again. To be sure, she had been only
twelve then, and the tastes of twelve and
twentY-One are apt to be somewhat differ
ent. but at least it would be novelty.
Sne was tired and over-tired of the pre-
seribed pleasure tread-mill, every step of
which she knew so YEARLY we'll Briefly,
she had set her heart on the experiment;
and when this young lady set her heart
on doing anything, it was very likely to
be done.
Besides, II was not simply her own in
Clination she consulted in this choice
Among her poor people-for poor people
were one Of Miss Lacelles' oddities-were
two young English orphans, a brother and
sister whom she had discovered one day
in a crowded, unwhOlesOme city back
lane, where they were breathing distilled
dirt, and cheating their young, growing,
hungry muscles with a sort of refuse
which il was the highest strain of cour-
tesy to call food No wonder if their
poor cheeks became paler every day, and
that the boys strength was hardly sutti-
cient to earn the pittance which just kept
the life in MS sister and himself These
children were special favorites with Miss
Lascelles whether because of their singu-
lar attachment to one another, or because
they were orphans with no ties of kindred,
even as she herself was; and marking
their increasing delicacy, it occurred to
her that to take them out of the close heat
of a city summer into the free air and
life in which she herself had once thriven
would be no bad way of spending the
months usually allotted to the busy idle
ness of watering place existence.
SO, with her two young proteges, Miss
Lascelles disappeared, to come to the sur
face again in the little town of Stonebor-
ough. The old gray house and the scat
tering village appeared to have undergone
as little change as the eternal mountains
themselves that closed around.
sis this place really in the world,
wonder?n said Miss Lascelles to herself,
with smile. surveying it, at seems to
be out of Times way, at any rate. | don't
believe a creature has been born or died
IN it since I was here. | could almost far
cy myselfstill the slip ola May-pole was
then, with eyes several sizes toe large for
my face, and a skin the color of the but
ter Mrs Hutchins is working there"
Miss Lascelles laughed again at the
recollection. It was only a recollection
and she could afford to laugh at it now
for there was certainly no butter color in
the glow on the clear cheek, and the full
vet firm and free figure suggested any
thing but May pole. Good Mrs. Hutch
ms, herself as little changed as all the
rest. would have been astOnished to learn
that this handsome young woman was nc
other than the sallow little heiress she
had shaken her head over so doubtfully
nine wears before Such an idea never
occurred 10 her, either that it was thai
particular heiress or any heiress at all
for it was not precisely Saratoga ward
robe that Nina had brought to Stone
borough; and then, through some mis-
understanding at the outset, Mrs. Hutch
ms had taken up the notion that hel
dodgers were relatives. Miss Lascelle:
did not correct an error which was 81
very convenient to her purpose, since
under strange name, she would escape
a good deal of the watching and gossip
which, in her own proper person, sh,
would have had to encouter So Jimm,
and Kitty were privately drilled init
their new relationship by "Aunt Nina,
who was known to the neighborhood a
Miss Neeny Pratt, and, taken at the valu
alton of her cotton gowns and gyps,
straw, attracted no notice more burden
some than an admiring glance from som
young farmer whom she passed in lie
daily rambles with the children. TIL
villagers indeed. opined that Miss Neen
was little fanciful-which was thei
gay of calling her "odd"-b0t, the We