The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-06-23

inquiries respecting her Husband, she
had seen him ON parade, and hearing
that he was about to be married, had
come forward to assert her own claims.
In answer to all this, Capt. Willough-
by could give nothing but an emphatic
denial but he owned that appearances
were against him and Sir William,
whom Anne had summoned to the con-
ference, looked disturbed, and said that
it was just as well that Willoughby
should have to leave Agra now, before
the story got abroad. He would cause
the affair to be thoroughly sifted, and
the witnesses sought out whose names
were appended to the document, and
for the present, anyhow, the engage
ment had better be considered as at an
end.
Capt. Willoughby, whose pride was
deeply wounded at his word being
doubted, acquiesced, and approached
Indiana to bid her farewell but his Of
fered hand was rejected and haughtily
bowling, she turned away /; and when
that evening the One-hundred- d-and-
thrity-frst left Agra, in high spirits at
the prospect of an encounter with the
Sikhs, perhaps the saddest heart among
them was that of Henry Willoughby,
whose only hope now was that he might
fall in battle, and that Indiana might
then repent her injustice. But he was
disappointed, and passed through all
the battles of Moodkee, Ferozebah, and
Sobraon, without q scratch I; and though
risking his life on every occasion in the
most reckless and daring manner, and
performing feats of the most heroic
bravery, failed in finding the death that
he desired.
After Willoughby left her fathers
house, Indiana still preserved the same
stolid composure; her pride was deeply
hurt at the indignity that had been Of
fered her, and yet, with strange incon-
sistency, she insisted on Meenah Baee's
taking up her abode in the house, and
showed the greatest kindness toward her
and her child.
Perplexed by her sisters conduct,
Anne Keith knew not what to do, or how
to rouse her from her unnatural calm
ness; but this was suddenly ended, for,
as the troops left Agra, they had to pass
by Sir Williams house, and at the sound
of the drums and flies Indiana tainted
away, and it was some hours before she
recovered her senses. A long illness
ensued, and left her 80 weak that the
doctors assured Sir William that his only
chance of saving his child's life was to
send her back to England; and, as his
own health was giving way, he decided
on resigning his appointment, and re-
turning with her.
He had not forgotten his promise to
Willoughby. and every inquiry was made,
but in vain. The Rev. Mr.. Jones had
been dead for year or more; the
Dewan, though he had discovered that
his daughter had married an English
man, was either unable or unwilling to
give further information; and the two
native witnesses whose names were ap-
pended had left their country during
some troubles, and could not be traced;
and even Anne Keith's faith in Will
loughby was beginning to give way,
though she still clung to the belief that
some fatal mistake had occurred.
Indiana's long illness had destroyed
the freshness of her beauty, but she still
possessed sufficient charms to attract
numerous admirers, and one of the most
pertinacious was q Mr.. Spurgeon, who
had been long devoted to her, aud who,
on Willoughby's departure, and, it was
reported, dismissal, again took the field,
though with no more success than be-
fore.
Sir William had stayed too long in
India, and after leading an invalid life
for a year at Bath and Tunbridge Wells,
he died, leaving a fortune to his two
daughters, who thereupon established
themselves in Our Square, and led the
useful and secluded life that we have
described. Meenah Baee, who, though
she.had been baptised, was still known
by her former name, and the little Leila
accompanied them; and the child was
the object of the warmest affection of
both sisters, and more especially of In
diana, whose resentment had long since
been extinguished by Anne's kind and
Christian counsels, and who now felt
only pity for the unfortunate Willough
by, with au occasional feeling of pride
when she saw his name mentioned with
praise in the dispatches, and OF regret
at the thought that such brilliant quail
ties should be united with so much base
ness.
One day, ten years after the Misses
Keith's establishment in Our Square,
Anne was confined to the house with
cold, and Indiana went alone to the hos
pital where they were accustomed to pay
weekly visits. In one of the wards she
missed familiar face, and, in answer TO
her inquiries, was told that the poor suf-
ferer had died only the day after her last
visit. "He talked great deal about
your kindness to him, ma'am," said the
nurse, "and was very quiet and gentle
to the last. But the patient who has his
bed now is very troublesome. He was
brought in nearly week ago, having
been run over by cab, and was hurt so
badly that the surgeon doesn't think
he'll get over it; and am afraid, a'am,
that he isn't in right frame of mind,
for he used dreadfully bad language
when they brought him in, though lately
he has been duieter."
When Indiana had gone the round of
the ward, with few kind words to each
patient, and the reading aloud of a
psalm and prayer to such as could bear
It, she approached the bed of the man of
whom the nurse had spoken, and though
rather in dread of what he might say to
her, sat down by him, and, gently ex-
pressing her sympathy in his misfortune,
Il. A. l..