The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-06-21

every OccaSlOn IN the most reckless
and daring manner, and performing
feats of the most reckless and dar
ing bravery, hesfailed in finding the
death that he desired.
After Willoughby left. her fathers
house, Indiana still preserved the'same
stolid composure; her pride was deep.
~ hurt at the indignity that had been
offered her, and yet. with strange in
consistency, she insisted on Meenah
Baee taking up her abode in the
house, and showed the greatest kind.
ness towards her and her child.
PerpleXed at her sisters conduct.
Anne Keith knew not what to do, or
how to rouse her from her unnatural
calmness but this was suddenly end
ed, for as the troops left Agra, they
had to pass by Sir Williams house.
and at the sound of the drums and fife
Indiana tainted away, and it was some
hours before she recovered her senses.
A long illness convicted SirWilliam that
his only chance of saving his child
life was to send her back to England :;
and, as his own health was giving way.
he decided on resigning his appoint
ment, and returning 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 q year or
m>re; the Dewan, though he had dis
covered that his daughter had married
an Engllshman. was either unable or
unwilling to give further information :
and the two native witnesses. whose
names were appended, had left their
country during some troubles and
could not be traced; and even Anne
keith's faith in Willoughby was begin
ming to give way, though she still
clung to the belief that some mistake
had occurred.
Indiana:s long illness had DESTROYED
the freshness Of her beauty, but she
still possessed sufficient charms to at
tract numerous admirers. and one of
the most pertinacious was a Mr. Spur
geon, who had been long devoted to
her, and who. on Willoughby's depar-
tlue. and. it WAS reported, Dismissal
again took the field. though with no
more success than before.
Sir William had stayed too long in
India, and after leading an invalid life
for Il year in Bath and Tunbridge
Wells, he died, leaving a fortune to
his two daughters, who there,lpon es-
tablished themselves in our square.
and led the useful and secluded life
that we have described. Meenah
Baee, who, though she had been bap-
TIED, was still known by her former
name. and the little Leila, accompa-
MED them; and the child was the OBJ
ject Of the warmest affection of both
sisters, and more especially of Indiana,
whose resentment had long since been
extinguished by Anne's kind and
Christian counsels, and who now felt
only pity for the unfortunate Will
loughby. with an occasional feeling of
pride when she saw his name men,
toned with praise in the dispatches.
and Of regret at the thought that such
brilliant qualities should be united
with such baseness.
One day ten years after the Misses
keiths' establishment in the square.
Anne WAS confined to the house with
a cold, and Indiana went alone to the
hospital where they were accustomed
to pay weekly visits. In one of the
wards she missed a familiar face, and
in answer to her inquiries was told
that the sufferer had died only the day
after her last visit. ''He talked a
great deal about your kindness to him.
a'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 a 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 I'm afraid. ma'am.
that he isn't in a right frame of
mind, for he used dreadlully bad Ian
guage when they brought him in.
though lately he has been quiet.''
When Indiana had gone the round
of the ward, and with a few
kind words to each patient, and the
reading aloud Of psalm and a prayer
to such as could hear it, she approach
ed the bed Of the man of which the
nurse had spoken, and, though rather
in dread of what he might say to her,
sat down by him, and, gently express
ing her sympathy for his misfortune,
asked if she should read to him. The
man, whose eyes had followed her
with interest ever since she came in,
assentcd with a readiness and civility
that surprised the nurse; and as she
read on in her sweet low voice his
groans and restless movements grad
ually ceased, and he gazed on her still
beautiful face with an expression from
which all ill-humOr and suffering had
vanished. When she had finished one
psalm, he begged for another; and
when at last she prepared to go, he
said: ''Did 1 not hear them call you
Miss Keith g
my name is Keith, she wondering
ly replied.