Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-10-13

u"'0 A"u AcWcI opportunities OF
seeing her.
One day, after irritating me by call
ing my penstemons antirrhinums, when
l should have disliked to hear her be-
stow such an appellation on my snap
Dragons, she, who knew nothing of our
secret hopes. suddenly exclaimed: .Mr.
Peveril, don't you think that Mr.. Ducie
VINO comes to your house is q very
charming young man? We have asked
him to the Cottage, and he is coming!
There are a great many nice young men
in this neighborhood! 1 am going to
invite my sister to come and stay with
me-she is such nice girl, and so beau
tiful!"
L could see the connection of ideas.
she was going to invite her sister to the
Cottage in the hope of fascinating some
one-most probably our Mr.. Ducie F!
This was fatal, for if Mrs. Shute made
up her mind to deprive us of ANYTHING
which seemed good in her eyes, nothing
remained to us but to resign ourselves
to letting her have it.
My poor Dorothea! I sighed heavily.
That marriage on which we had set our
hearts was not to be-. Mrs. Shute's sis
ter, a Wilmot of Taunton, and probably
also a creature of impression, would
come and win away MI. Ducie's affec-
tlons from my daughter, and my wife
and | would be such fools that even we
would allow ourselves to be drawn into
doing our part toward producing that
result. l was silent for some time I; I
was afraid she would notice it I did
not want her to know how we felt about
MIR. Ducie, so [ said II suppose your
husband is hard at work this fine morn
ingg?"
:'Yes, he is busy copying-painting,
l mean," said she, in some confusion.
Copying nature, 1 suppose" said I /;
but it occurred to me that considering
he was a landscape painter, Mr.. Shute
staid a great deal indoors.
Miss Wilmot came. She was as
bright and rosy as Mrs. Shute was pale,
and hardly had she arrived than the
Shutes began to borrow our pony car
riage freely, and asked us to lend them
our lawn for a tennis party they wished
to give to introduce her.
''They want to invite Mr.. Duciew I
exclaimed, when my wife told me this.
cit is too much! It's like SETTLING q
kid in it's mothers milk!'
"And we shall have to supply the
strawberries, and the cream, and lend
the teacups and teaspoons, and a couple
of servants! And she wants to borrow
our long dining-table to place under a
tree on the lawn, and has not got a ia
ble-cloth long enough to cover it, but is
sure that we have, andwon't mind lend
ing it, and"
"Say no more" said /, decidedly.
"We must draw the line somewhere,
and 1 draw it at giving up MI. Ducie to
them"
He was there even while we were
speaking; he told us of his visit after
ward, and said he thought Miss Wilmot
a very charming girl, though it was
easy to see that, like the fat boy in
"Pickwick," che knew a nicerer;'" but
how long would he continue to put my
Dorothea in the first place if these
Shutes began to angle for him in ear
nestP Our experience was that they al
ways managed to get what they wanted.
He begun to go to the Cottage a great
deal more than liked. My wife said it
was because from the Shutes' windows
he could sometimes see Dorothea walk
ing in u garden. I did not know.
Why did he not come to us?
He did come to us, and sometimes
asked Dorothea to stroll with him in
the garden, but no sooner did they 20
out than Mrs. Shute and Miss Wilmot
! Joined them. 1 called the latter '.the
Abominable, that unlimited came,' but
how could the mind revert to poetry in
the midst of such vexation as this?
While everything was in this wretch
eddy uncomfortable state I received a
letter from my uncle-the uncle I did
not want to offend. 1t was rather cold,
and it ended thus: II think, John, you
must now see that I had every reason to
warn you against taking that foolish2y
expensive house of yours, but you need
not have sold your Turner and you
ought to have had at least another hum
bred for it. Besides, 1 would infinitely
rather have lent you some money my
self than have that exquisite drawing
go out of the family"
1t had not gone out of the family
had not sold it, and never meant to do
so! 1t had been an act of great self-sac-
ritice to let it go to the Cottage for a
few days, but now / had got it back and
would keep it. My uncle's letter made
me feel inclined to go and look at the
drawing. l took it down to enjoy it
thoroughly. 1t had been taken out OF
its frame. Why had that been done? !
at once went to the Cottage to ask the
question. The ladies were out. They
had hired a carriage and gone to spend
the day with Mr.. Ducie's mother. They
were evidently in terrible earnest about
that affair, and it was a most significant
feature that they had hired a carriage,
instead of insisting on having ours.
"Mr. Shute is in the studio, sir; will
you walk up stairs?' said the servant.
I walked up stairs, but he was not
there. On the tables and easels [ saw
q number of water-color drawings in
various stages of progress, all Of which
he was copying from others. Mr.. Shute
copied Turner drawings and sold them
as originals! l saw it in a moment. And
he had copied mine! Or had he, per.
haps, sold the original and sent me back
the copy? Then the drawings on his
walls were copies, too, and l had moi
such a well-to-do tenant after all, fol
those Turner's on the walls had been my
sheet-anchOr of safety. PERHAPS the