Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-08-19
MY LADY GRACE.
IRy MARY KYLE DALLAS.

out the great SoLe vi HIS AL go
did farm, she did it with an air Of con-
descension which would have been
quite edifying to any Yankee among Us
all. for how could We comprehend, in
this land of freedom and equality, how
very much beneath my Lady Grace the
handsome farmers son was felt to be
by her. Il needs to be born in old
England, or in some other land where
titles are respected, and pedigrees re-
membered at every step, to understand
her feelings. While she talked to him,
she pitied him for his Lowry estate, in
her own girlish mind, and wished him,
of course Tor his own sake, her equal in
station. She knew that ne had had ad-
vantagcs that few farmers sons were
SLOWED by their parents. He was an
educated man, and a handsome one,
broad-shouldered, ViOlet-eyed, with
peachy cheeks, and gold brown hair, and
soft full lips, and broad white teeth,
that gllttered, when he smiled, like
IVORY. She acknowledged him her
physical equal and mental superior;
but, oh. how MI ch she felt above him,
lust because she WAS Lady Grace and
he plain Gilbert Acres, yeOman! Yet,
i'm her mOtherlcSS babyhOOd, his mother
had nursed her, had been all any wO-
man could be To another wOman's BABY,
and had gladly givenca are and kindness
for six long years.
She had not understood that she was
Lady Grace then, and this, her foster.
brother, had been her playmate, and
had had many a baby kiss from her
Iips. Bat at last the widOwer took his
daughter home, aud q gOverness and y
host Of tOadying servants taught her
her great Importance, and Gilbert
learnt To know his place; but not before
certain soft emotions taught him the
danger OF forgetting it; not before he
was quite a man, and-whisper low,
for he would not have told the truth to
N mortal for his life, not before he
loved Lady Grace, as men who love
only one woman all their lives.
Loving her, he stood opposite her
pony carriage and listened 10 her,
kept his place
Her dainty airs and graces might
have offended many people, her evil
dent self.satisfactiOn vas provoking
enough TO some who knew her, but she
WAS simply perfect in his estimation.
When you love any n extremely, the
faults and blemisheS of that one grows
into beauties in your eyes.
Her affection was graceful, truth to
tell, and her supercilIOuS face was a
a.. 49,. ,ral -. bod uynn his hanrf
when her sixteen schoolgirl years had
not quite spoiled her, and when she Of
ten sat chatting in the farmhouse
home with her old nurse and the boy
: Gilbert.
Twerty-One years belonged to her
now. She was i'm society. n AL
monitions of Miss Malt, the gOverness,
and her chaperod, Lady Elizabeth
CASTOR, al made a due impression
upon her. and Der scOrn of common
people was intense. 1t seemed right
enough TO Gilbert that she should show
him by her mighty air the broad
chasm between them. Not all the
money that ne might some Gay have
could fill il up. Not ali that he could
ever do or be could raise him to her
level; so he profoundly believed. II
would have been hard to teach this
truth to a stalwaTt young Yankee farm
er, | fancy. To prove tOa son Of Untle
Sam that a man with u good education
and a fine mind, and plenty of land
and money, was so much the inferior OF
a rather SHY Pretty girl, whose father,
though he had a title, was deeply III
G,ut, Just because that girl had the
prefix Lady" to her name. But Gil.
ieTt understood il very well; aud the
uui,t Iespec. Of his "GOOd-day, my
lady," prov, d il. But i'm the clover icl
when the pony carriage had faded out
Of sight, and when there was no one
near to see or hear, he cast himself
down in the midst Of tie fragrant white
blossoms, and uttered 3 strange prayer
not down in the prayer book provided
for the use of good members Of the
Church of England: LET me be man
enough to crush this mad love in my
bosom. Teach me to forget her..
Patty Whimple could have said
Amen to that prayer, had she heard it..
She always liked Gilbert so. She al
WAYS hopcd that he would come to her;
hut he had never even known how
buxOm and rosy she was! Her pretty
arts to attract him had fallen short Of
their mark; her pink ribbons and her
plaid silk, ard her fine brooch aud her
earrings, and the kindly black curlS
and the bright flush on her cheeks
might as well not have been, for all the
effect they had upon his heart.
Lady Grace watched Patty often from
her high-backed pew in church, and
thought what q bold creature she was
to try 80 hard To attract q man who did
not even heed her.
Gilbert was lust the dirt beneath the
feet of my Lady Grace, you know; but
he was far superior TO that country iltrt.
He had an education and excellent
manners.
People ought to know their places"
said my Lady trace, and she swept
past Patty Whimple with such scOrn
that Patty hated her, lust for taking
airs not, of course, because GllberG
looked at her stealthily from behind
that big ~cOlumn-Oh, no.
Patty hated my Lady Grace for her
naughty ways, and Lady Grace disliked
Patty for stepping out Of her place and
Over-dressing, and not because Of Gill
bert. Oh, dear, no, II would be a
dreadful thing for the young man to
have such a vain, vulgar wife, that was
all.
AS she drove on homeward, past the
farmers well-tilled fields toward the
m~Ortgaged lands of my Lord Cuthbert,
the Lady Grace said to herself, what q
pity il was that no man Of her set had
Giibert's beauty and Gilbert's wit, and
Gilbert's grace and goodness! and what
q pity il was that he was so very poorly
born! And then she sighed and thought
of that young dandy, the Duke Of
and OfOld Lord Happercraw, the Scot
fish nObleman, and wished that time
could stop and lever bring her we'd
ding day, unless it brought some man
with it more charming than her pres
ent Ooer
'How pleasant it used to be, when |
was q little schoolgirl, to go to the old
farm and talk to Dame Acres" she
sighed, "and TO ride the donkey, and 10
have great lunches of coarse garden