Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-03-14

''Of course, she had gone 10 join Arthur;
it was . preconcerted plan between
them" and the mother as she thought
of it became perfectly miserable.
No more talk about gallons of milk,
London market, home consumption. etc.
She was tired, she said, and If Hannah
did not mind, they would return to the
house. They reached the bottom of the
garden, which lay in front of the draw
ing-room windows, just a Agatha, &C.
companied by Arthur, strolled up the
terrace toward the wood.
The sight was past bearing; this then
was to be the end of her loving care for
Arthur; he was to marry Hannah's pen
niless companion. Nor did Hannah's
remark, a she, too, perceived them,
tend to calm the excited mothers fears.
ooh! they are going to have q little
chat. I told Aggggy the sooner it was
over the better. "
ga chat with my sonP Has this-this
Miss Burghley met Arthur beforepn,
Hannah laughed. "Did o not
knowp Oh, then L must not tell the
secrets of the p~rison-house. But pray
don't look so rueful, aunty mine. The
secret is not of a very dreadful nature"
Lady Best was, however, by no means
comforted by this intelligence. car
thur had been carrying on with the girl
unknown to her, and hence the reason
of his detection and listlessness; of
course the neighbors were right, love
was the root Of all evil. And to think
of the little mink forcing herself in here
under Hannah's auspices! Oh!it was too
bad-very much too bad; she had been
treated shamefully!"
And, her heart too full to speak with
out committing herself, which pride
prevented when she remembered that
this niece had been conniving to deceive
her, she went indoors, up to her own
room. of which she locked the door, and
then INDUCED in the luxury of q tempest
uous burst of tears.
For more than an hour she remained
there, sobbingg and composing herself
by turns, till at last she heard voices
under the window. Carefully conceal
ing herself, she peeped from behind the
curtain.
There they were, all three talking and
laughing, q 'woke-up' look on Ar.
thurs face which she had not seen there
for months.
1t was strange, very strange; and as
she stood and watched them, she could
not make up her mind whether she had
not made a mistake in asking these peo-
pie to come. After all, if his love for
Agatha saved Arthur from dependency,
and made a man of him, she ought to
consider her object gained.
Anyway, she made up her mind to be
silent for the present, end take notes;
and so deciding, she washed her face,
smoothed her ~silvering hair, set her cap
daintly on her head, and went down.
stairs, where the luncheon was far more
CHEEKY than the dinner had been on the
previous evening.
And the days passed on-life at the
Cottage seemed very bright to all but
its mistress, who could not reconcile
herself to the fact that she had been de-
ceived; not even though it gladdened
her heart to hear Arthur laughing mer-
rily, as he sometimes did at his cousins
s~allies, or to see him take an interest he
never took before in the farm and its
workings.
Agatha's pale, beautiful face would
come between the mother and the
change her presence seemed to have eff
fected, and Lady Best felt that she could
never love Agatha, even though Arthur's
whole happiness was conferred in her.
But if she had lost a son she had
gained a daughter, for. approaching
Hannah merits as she did to the fullest,
she felt that she was each day learning
to love her more and more. Many
times was it on her lips to tell her how
grieved she was at the direction Arthur's
fancy seemed to have taken, but pride
held her back.
At last, almost before they could be-
lieve in its approach, st. Partridge ar
rived, and with it q letter from MIR.
Milton, saying he should be back in
less than a week, that he would take the
Cottage on his way, see his sister, and
escort his daughter home.
What tears and heart-burnings did
this letter produce! Hannah was evil
IDENTIFY in despair at leaving the Cottage.
Arthur became as respondent as, he was
wv Wou'no oSoi oAAy dSdtna 600uleQ
TO have no regret.
"Of course not, since she expects to
stay here always, not with me, though.
She will not live here with me-" ragged
Lady Best to herself.
And in this mood Arthur found her
one morning when he sought her in the
little morning room she called her den.
He broke the ice without any pre-
liminary skating over it.
Mother, will it not be a pleasure to
you I'll bring you . daughter to well
comeeh
"Oh. Arthur, if you only knew how I
have dreaded this question:"
Dreaded it, mother? I thought O
would be delighted"
Glow could you? A penniless, Lack
adaisical, intriguing" the rest Of her
sentence was q sob, interrupted: how
ever, by an exclamation from Arthur.
"Penniless-Hannah? Why, her only
fault in my eyes is that she has money,
and my uncle may think"
"Hannah7 You don't mean to saw il
ia Hannah van lo1oS M -