The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-06-03

the steward had never mentioned her
to me, now-but then he did mention
her, tnd here she is."
There she was, and there she stayed,
Apt to learn, willing 10 be taught
CRATE full for the real Kindness she me t
with, Matte was soon the best hand at
milking for miles round, soon devoted
to the baby. Three years passed quietly,
and then came the romance of Mattie's
life.
She was twenty that summer and
Adam Armitage, grave man, was fully
ten years her senior. A great traveller,
member of a world-renowned scientific
society, student and discoverer-h he
was, between two scientific expeditions,
refreshing heart and brain by a walk
ing tour through the home counties.
Adams walking tour ended at the
farm Drew had taken only year be-
fore, and the dwelling house it had been
found more convenient to .inhabit than
the smaller building on the old land
close to the road. Mr.. Armitage found
the pure air of the Downs good for him
He made friends with all the family.
To Matte it was delightful to meet once
more some one with all the tricks oil
speech and manner of the more refined
society amongst which her youth had
been passed. Little Harry followed
this new friend wherever he went
Harry's mother called him right-down
pleasant gentleman the farmer called
him good man.
They all missed him when he went
away. Matte most of all; but the fol.
lowing summer saw him there again, q
welcome old friend this time, and nc
stranger.
Drew, a keen observer of all that
went on around him. was not so much
taken by surprise as his sister was,
when one day, toward the end of this
second visit, Adam and Matte were
both mysteriously missing. A strong
armed country lass made her appear
ance before night. She was the bearer
of note from Matte, confessing that
she and Mr.. Armitage were married,
and hoping the servant sent might sup
ply her place so that no one would be
Inconvenience. Drew might shake his
head and look thoughtful, but Mr..
Armitage was his own master, and il
was net the first time a gentleman had
married a country lass. Besides, the
deed was done and past recall. They
had gone quietly to one of the churches
in the town from whence the sound oi
bells hoated up to the farm, and had
been married by special license. Adam
had taken a lodging for his bride, and
there they passed one brief. bright week
OF happiness; then one morning walked
quietly back together, Matte blushins
and smiling, and looking so lovely and
lady-like in a simple dress that she useG
to wear before she came to the farm
that they hardly knew her.
Adam explained that he meant to
leave his wife for two days-no more =
i'll the care of her old friends; at the
end of that time he would return tC
fei ch her. There were arrangements tc
make with regard to the scientific ex.
petition about to start Immediately. Il
would sail without him now, but it be-
hooved him to do his best that his place
Should be as well filled as might be
There was also his mother to see, and tc
prepare for receiving Matte.
Matte walked little way with hel
husband and the farmer along tn,
breezy uplands, and then Adam sent hel
back, and hastened his own steps in tn,
direction of the little station at the foo
of the Downs. When he came again, ht
said, laughing. that it would be from
g. station, and that he would driv,
in fly through the Stonodene gate anC
along the track, the only approach to s
carriage road leading to the farm.
Matte went away smiling as he mean
she should do, and only paused now anc
then to look after the two men as Ion!
as they remained in sight. 1t wa
natural that she should feel a littl
afraid of this unknown lady, Adam
mother, but that fear was the onl,
shadow on Mattie's path. 1t was al
idyll, a poem, as true love story as tn
world has seen, that had written itsel
here in this out-of-the-way spot on tn,
lonely Sussex Downs.
On the third day they might look fo
Adam to return, but that day passed
and many another, until the days wer
weeks, and the weeks months, and h.
neither came nor wrote. Matte remem
bered how when she had turned TO lool
back for the last time upon that home
ward walk, she had seen his figure dis
tinct against the sky for one instant
and in the next lost it entirely as h
passed out OF sight over the swelling
line of hills Just so she seemed to hav
lost him in one instant out of her life
And yet, she never lost faith and trus
IN him; never ceased to watch for hi
Drew after time, either goaded t,
the step by his sisters loud-voiced argu
ments, or prompted to it by his oW,
sense of what was due to Matte No
only took pains to ascertain that th
marriage was real enough, but tn,
further pains of searching for and find
ing the address of Adam Armitage h
London. 1t was strange how this cir
and her former master both truste,
Adam in the face of his inexplicabl
silence; in the face of even a NOR
ominous discovery made by Drew wheI
in town-the discovery that he ha
never mentioned Mattie's name to hi
mother. or alluded to Matte at all, A
for Adam, Mrs. Armitage had declare
he was not with her then, and that sh
could not give an address that woul
find him; an assertion that contirme
Matte in the idea that he had started O
those far-away travels he had so ofte
spoken of to her.
AS autumn passed and the evening
grew chill with the breath of the comm
winter, Mattie's health seemed to fail
The deep melancholy that oppressed he
threatened to break the springs of life
| In order to escape from Mrs. Bankes tn
girl took to lonely wanderings over I'll.
Downs; wanderings that ended alway
at Stonedene; until, with the instinct {
a wounded animal that seeks to endur
its pain alone, or from the ever preser
recollection Of the last words of Adam
when he had said it was by way {
Stonedene that he would return, sh
besought the farmer to send away th
woman in charge of the house and allo,
her to take her place.
Drew yielded to the wish of the wifi,