Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1878-04-17

stairs and down Agin these four days"
Dear me r! began Mrs. Lennox.
But Felicia, moved by an impulse. broke
in.
Il think must have come in on
the same train with Mrs. Dalrymple
wonder if l fright go up and see
her :" 80
Rather to her surprise, Sally made no
objection. :.
She haint said she wouldn't see
nobody. and mebbe it'll rouse her up o
Bit" was her ultimatum, and Miss
Mallows ran lightly up. A door stobd
half open; she tapped, and in answer
to = faint = Come in" entered the bed
room, where, covered with q resplen-
dent star-patterned patchwork quilt,
lay her late feliow-traveler.
The pale cheeks, from which much
OF the childish roundness had wasted,
flushed at sight of her.
p" l hope you will forgive me for COM
ing up SO unceremoniously," began
Felicia, speaking rapidly to hide her
own nervousness. "Your old house
keeper gave me leave, and-well, | felt
sorry for you, sick and alone in a
strange place. that wanted to con- e.
II 1t tires you, you must send me
away"
The girl looked at her moment in
silence. Then she said, won't you sit
down? There's a chair"
Miss Mallows sat down. She was a
pleasant object too look at in her olive
green's and pheasant browns, with
cheeks and eyes frightened by the
frosty air, and the invalid felt it.
You was in the car the day l came,
wasn't your she said. 81 recollect
your hat. I've been sick most ever
since. 1t seems long time"
"The first few weeks in new place
are apt to seem long," replied Felicia,
kindly; and l dare say you miss your
home"
II haven'tany home to miss sadly.
" Indecd!"
Ono. don't remember my folks at
all, or scarcely. My father, he died
when l was born, and mother when l
wasn't but two. hadn't anybody else,
so they sent me to the orphan asylum,
and lived there fifteen years"
3" Poor child! Did You? And what
them"
"Then was took by Mr.. Parker over
to Cheshire. l was their help, but they
was very good to me, and it was most of
a home I'd ever had. Miss Parker, she
liked to have me call her ma and l
did,"
And then you married Mr.. Dali
rymple."
Yes" The blue eyes clouded over,
and the lips closed tightly over the one
word.
"And now hope you'll have a real
home of your own at last. What a
pleasant old place this is! Even at this
season one can see chat. And my
friends. tell me that Mr.. Dalrymple is so
kind and good and clever, and so much
respected in the nighborhood. am
sure you cannot fail to be happy with
him, though just at first the farm may
seem n little lonely ane strange"
The reply to these we'll meant remarks
was unexpected, for the bride burst into
a violent fit of crying, which no sooth
ing on the part of her dismayed guest
awaited to check.
"Tll tell you about it," she sobbed ut
last, quoting little. and won to con-
fidence, as it were, by the tears in Fell
cia's own eyes, 81 haven't had any
one to tell before, and Pm so unhappy.
/ didn't think ever l should. feel so
when l got married. They all said l
should be fool if l didn't take Mr.
Dalrymple, because he was so well of,
and he wanted me so much; even Miss
Parker said she couldn't countenance
no such thing as my sayin' no, and
I'd never have such another chance the
longest day I lived. Then I'd meyer
had no one to do for me before, and he
gave me such lot of things, and did
SO love to look nice and pretty like
ladies do, and sol did. And then,
somehow, when it was all over and l
had to go Oft with him, it come to me
all of sudden what I'd done, and how
my whole life was a-going to be just the
same thing always, and he was al
ways a-going to Be there, and l know
the girls laughed at us behind our
backs, and Louisa Brooks called him
'Spindle-toes,' and yet I'd got to stay by
him and never go anywhere else, or
be anything else. And it all come over
me, and it was awful. l hadn't realized
it before" And she looked with pite-
Gus eyes into Miss Mallow's face, who
stroked her hand gently, but wisely
made no answer.
"I suppose folks do call this a
pleasant place." she went on, after a
little pause, but it don't look pleasant
to me. Iain't used to country, or to
being alone all day. There was two
hundred of us at the asylum, and at Miss