The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1883-11-17
CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VI.
RUPERT. IS X
Margaret dined alone with Mrs. Las
celles. Her husband said the lady, had
been called away to York on business
connected with the county magistracy;
she hoped he would return that night,
but it was not absolutely certain. Da-
maris did not appear again After din
ner they went into the drawng-room.
Il am sorry your son is ill.," began
Margaret, 81 fear he is sufferer"
'Therewas pause ere Mrs. Lascelles
replied; "He is indeed great sufferer.
l want to speak to you about him now"
Eyes" said Margaret, struck with
the extreme gravity of her tone.
"When your engagement with us was
written about, it was understood that
you were to have two pupils"
Eyes. And am | not to have two?"
"That depends upon your own wish,
Miss Percival. -
Margaret started. She wished Mrs.
Lascelles knew that she was not called
Miss Percival, for there was something
in the earnestness and sorrow of her
tones and gestures which made Marga-
ret's trivial little plot suddenly appear
very trivial, indeed Mrs. Lascelles
went on: -s'. - ~
Il am encouraged by your kind face,
and by your evident love of children, to
toll you of the difficulty in which am
placed, l have had many children,
these two are the youngest, and the last
whoasurvive. My other children have
all'died-and have suffered in losing
them" ss
Margaret was silent Mrs. Lascelles
went on, after-a pause: "You will nat
urally understand that my only boy,
the last boy | have left, is, very precious
to nfe.'' ISL. .ttitbtB[E
Eyes, indeed"
"Not only that, but much hangs on
his life Heis the only heir to alis faith
er's name and property. Great hopes
hang upon him, and he is grievously
afflicted"
She paused, anguish in her voice.
Margaret's attention was almost breath
less.
lis he? How?v she asked. 81.
"When he was mere baby a careless
nurse let him fall over the bridge at the
bottom of the garden, yonder." She
pointed to where the gray stone bridge
spanned the stream. ''He' escaped
drowning, but he fell upon the rocks,
and was very much injured. He has
been a sufferer, in mind and body, ever
since. All! sometimes | feel how
wrong l am in wishing to keep him.
For we have nursed him and helped
him through his peril for what?'
''But how? How do you mean?"
asked Margaret, thinking of the vague
chill she had felt as she drove up to the
house that afternoon.
"He has suffered from hip-disease
ever since"
Poor little fellow!"
'But that would be comparatively
easy for us, and for him, if there were
nothing else. There are times when he
suffers so strangely, mentally when he
has such terrible and ineXplicable at.
tacks that-that we can scarcely believe
him to be quite sane-quite like others.
Like others!-no, that he never will be,
my poor boy' exclaimed the mother,
with almost a cry of pain in her voice.
"And yet, when he is Il little better, he
is so bright, so c.ever; he has flashes of
light which are almost like genius. OH
if he were but well! If he were but
well! If he were but free from this
curse, this blight that hangs over him,
what might he not bep How might our
lives be frightened, and what happiness
his father and might yet know"
"And the doctors--do they give no
hopep" asked Margaret, awe-struck, and
softly.
1--WE have consulted many doctors
who have prescribed many remedies,
none of which have been of the least
avail. Now we never have any enc but
our old friend. Mr. Baldwin. If he can
not release our boy from his sufferings
he can relieve them; he can soothe and
sympathize, for he has very kind
heart
ayes. 1 am so sorry for the poor