Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1884-02-28

dalntily on her head and went down.
stairp, where the luncheon was decided.
" 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 her.
sell to the facts that she had been de-
celyed; not even though it gladdened
her heart to hear Arthur laughing mer-
rlly, as he sometimes did at his Cousins
sallies, or to see him take an interest he
never took before in the farm and it's
working.
Agatha's pale, beautiful face would
come between the mother and the change
her presence seemed to have effected.
and Lady Best felt that she could never
love Agatha, even though Arthur's
whole happiness was centred in her,
But if she had lost son she had gain
ed a daughter, for, appreciating Han
nah's merits as she did to the fullest.
she self that she WAS each day learning
to love her more and more. Many
times was it on her lips to tell her how
grieyed 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 letter from Mr..
Milton, saying he should be back in
less than week: that he would take
the cottage on his way, see his sister
and escort his daughter home.
What tears and heartburnings did this
letter produced! Hannah was evidently
in despair at leaving the cottage. Arthur
became as Respondent as he was two
months ago; only Agatha seemed to
have no regret.
"Of course not, when 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 he1
little morning she called her den,
He broke the ice without any prelim-
mary skating over it.
"Mother, will it not be pleasure to
you if 1 bring you daughter to vel
Gomez"
ooh, Arthur, if you only knew how /
have dreaded this question!''
"Dreaded it mother2 I thought YOU
would be delighted"
"How could you? A penniless, lacka-
daisical, intriguing rest of her
sentence was sob, interrupted, howey-
er, by an exclamation from Arthur,
"Penniless-Hannah? Why, her only
fault in my eyes is that she has money,
and my uncle may think
Hannah! You don't mean to say it
is Hannah you love? Oh, you dear Ar
| thur-my own bowl"
You did not think it was Agatha?
Why, she has been engaged to my old
college chum, Lawrence Wilmot, for the
last year. They had little breeze Just
before che came here, which had the
pleasure of making up, I could not tell
you, because the whole thing was q se-
cret on account of his uncle. The old
gentleman, however, has given in and
they are to be married very soon."
Lady Best soon forgot all her ankle.
ty and the unhappiness Of the last few
weeks in her present Joy; and of course
she promised to negotiate matters with
Mr.. Milton when he should arrive, and
she did SO most effectually, for he
seemed as pleased as she was; and from
the day that the marriage was finally
settled, she began to unbend and find
a place for Agatha in her capacious
heart, showering upon the girl-in very
gratitude for finding that her love for
Arthur was all mistake-as many
kindnesses and presents as she bestowed
on her well-beloved Hannah.
And when, at last, the two marriages
took place at Milton Hall on the same
day, the uninitiated would almost have
thought that Lady Best was the mother
of both the brides.