The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-06-22
BLANCA.


cousin OF yours is coming to Oakwold. )"
"Why, Anthony"
"Because you need society, and that
of Eastbury is rather too orthodox and
primitive for your tastes. As for my
own, my medical labors have become no
longer sinecure since old Doctor Par
tons death, and you see very little of
me during the daytime, just at present. :"
Indeed, that is true, Anthony" and
beautiful Blanca Stanley clasped those
graceful arms of hers very lovingly
about her young husbands neck ct
miss you more than words can tell, some
times. You remember what pleasant
mornings we used to spend during May
the first month after our arrival at
Oakwold: You read me those charming
tIdyls Of the King, and it was all SO
delicious and now y
Now / am man of leisure no lon
ger, Anthony Stanley interrupted, but
one of the busiest doctors in all the
county, perhaps. But, Blanca, / want
to ask you a few questions about this
cousin. Do you exactly relish the idea
of her coming here to pay for her board
/ confess, candidly, that do not"
bltIlCu IduHueu uelrlly.
"Perhaps / ought to feel very much
ashamed of our limited circumstances,
Anthony; that's the way to express
yourself elegantly, believe, when you
want to say that you are not well off !;
b9t, somehow, / would just as lief the
whole world knew exactly how we are
situated. OF course, Ellinor under
stands I'll about it. Not having seen me
since her return from France. she is
anxious to spend few weeks here at
Oakwold Cottage, and am immensely
anxious to have her. Accordingly, she
proposes doing so, instead of accompa-
nying her mother and sisters to Scar
borough. She is not willing to make a
third member of our family, you know,
without -
Eyes, yes, understand. Well, BIZ
ssnca, you may take her payments for
pin-money, if you choose. And now tell
me something about your cousin. What
is she like?"
Like very lovely woman, An
thony"
Handsome ?"
Very.
"Clever
''As a schoolmistress. You will be
delighted with her conversation, 1 know.
She has faculty, people say, of making
all other women appear stupid and triv-
ial by contrast"
Nonsense, Blanca. That smile of
the schoolmistress was very poorly
chosen, if you want to progresses me
with your cousin. 1 abhor schoolmis-
'tresses. Just hand me that bottle di-
,rDctly behind your elbow, that's dear. !"
Mrs. Stanley turned toward the row of
5Jttaes placed upon shelf in her hus-
bands surgery, in front of the desk at
which he was then seated.
80 Which, Anthony? This one, con-
tanning white liquid9"
Gracious, no. That's o horribly
poisonous compound. Imagine poor
Mrs. MarlOwe's feelings if 1 took over TO
hex s5ek baby a vial of that deadly stuff.
The one % the right of it, if you please.
Thanks, my dear. And now, one more
question. When is Miss Ellinor Erskine
going to make her appearance at the
cottage?"
@ETo-morrow morning, she writes me.
And we may expect her, for Ellinor is in
fallible about keeping promises.
The next morning Miss Erskine justi-
fled her cousins remark by arriving at
Oakwold. The greeting which she re-
ceived from Blanca Stanley was warm
and affectionate. The two ladies had
been intimate friends for almost as long
Ms each could remember, and the love
which existed between them was, on
Biancas side, at least, of the sincerest
nature. Physically, they formed a
striking contrast, Mrs. Stanley's delicate
pink-and-white complexion, pale-gold
hair, and petite figure being widely diff
ferent from her cousins statuesque,
stately beauty.
1t was beauty of superb type, most
people were fain enthusiastically to adj
init on seeing Ellinor Erskine for the
first time Unusually tall, but of such
perfect grace in her every posture and
gesture that tallness was charm, not
defect; possessing a skin of the purest
Wilderness, hair of that glossy blue-black
hue which is so rarely seen, and eyes OF
a deep, lustrous hazel; showing, in her
manner and conversation, all that the
most cultivated and fastidious taste
could desire, Miss Erskine was what we
may term fascinating woman in every
respect
The first evening following her arrival
at Oakwold, she accompanied her host
and hostess on twilight walk along the
exquisite wooded shore near which the
cottage was situated-a line of rugged
picturesque land, where rocks, and
powders, and fringy cedars made quite a
battle for predominance, yet mingled
their wild elements in one wilder sort of
harmony beautiful beyond expression.
1--WE must show Ellinor the arm
chair, Anthony" Mrs. Stanley remarked,
as the party stood on a low cliff over
hanging the waters beneath, bathed Just
then in the soft purple of sunset. "Its
only about a yard from where we now
are"
"The armchair 1" Miss Erskine said