Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-03-11

ears needless Oh Uno NolVoUy 1OOGldl
which ceased beside her bed.
"What must you tell me, dearNursey
Cooker" the girl soothingly queried
as she placed her satiny white
hand, adorned with the scintillant
diamond, on the bony and callous
finger tips Of the sick washerwoman.
Then the unbeautiful old eyes fared
widely open; an expression of agony
and warming unutterable came upon
the unrefined old face.
'"The telling can harm no one now"
the woman muttered as if celebrating
with herself HE made you fine
and dainty lady-John Estcote did
lust as he promised so we'll and fairly
when he took you from my breast and
put YOU in the wee cradle of his own
dead baby-the tiny dead body |
carried in the storm and the dark
away from his grand house that night.
No one knew, no one ever will know,
and you are the heiress-the fine and
dainty heiress.
The tuberoses perishing beneath her
heavy mantle were no winter now than
was Clare's proud face.
"She is not delirious; she is entirely
sane, and the dying do not lie," was
her rapid mental reasoning as with a
look of piteous appeal she turned to
Mr.. Chandos, who had remained just
without the open door.
But there was more sympathy than
astonishment upon his attractive fea-
lures as he attentively regarded her.
"You are the heiress," the woman
| +,J { TNhY, Ec+oOto'O
heiress. safe and sure; for the lad he
loved never came back and if ever he
may come, Chandos is not the one to
make trouble for you, presumlng he
might suspect what henever will right
ly know No one will ever know; your
own mother is too fond of you, child,
not to keep the secret close and fairly"
'My mother-my own mother! +"
Clare painted in cruel bewilderment.
For some moments those piteous
sobs were the only sounds that inter
upted the narrowing silence of the
humble room.
Then presently Mr.. Chandos placed
a gentle hand upon the fair bowed
head. But when Clare looked up, the
face beside her own had changed; the
gray pallor of death, awful and I'M
mistakable had come upon the coarse
and shriveled countenance of the
mother whose cherishing she had
never known-the mother to whom,
despite the error that was beyond re-
demption, she still owed the duty of
daughter.
'My place is here" she maintained
with simple dignity, when Mr.. Chandos
would have persuaded her away.
And there she stayed until the last
melancholy rites were ended, and
when all was over and done she yet
declined to listen to his earnest expos
tulations.
~ must renounce all that have so
long held as my own" she said, with
some pardonable bitterness. "You
are the rightful heir"
~ choose neither to urge nor admit
any right of mine,'' he said gravely,
excepting always the right to serve
you Come back, Clare, to the home
which is yours by every claim which [
honor. | advise you, | entreat you to
return! You have the opinions of
your promised husband to consider,
you know" he reminded her.
Then she yielded. Like the Lady
Clare Of certain poesy, she had re-
solved
-"But l will know
If there be any faith in man.
And perhaps her trust in the loyalty
of her promised husband was not as
profound as might have been supposed.
Certainly she manifested no surprise
as the days and weeks elapsed, and he
did not again present his bland and
polished self in her elegant drawing
room.
And he came no more; instead, he
sent a plausible missive absolving her
her from her allegiance to him.
II am immensely sorry-upon my
honorI am, +" he wrote, with audacious
confidence; "but I feel compelled to
suggest what your own sense of the
iudicious must sanction Of course,
no inauspicious promises are really
obligatory: and to consider yourself
free is quite the best thing that you
can do"
With a little gesture of supreme dis
dam the girl flung aside the specious
and evasive missive, and her lovely
cheeks flushed crimson as she noted
of Mr. Chandos, who was lingering
near her. E
~ judged Brian correctly" he said
Indignantly, but in a voice of re
pressed gratitication. "But [ believed
you loved him; I believed that his der
election would be a relief to you"
''And that; perhaps, is why you al
lowed me to be deemed an heiress and
when you must have been aware of
my true parentage," she said, less
with inquiry than with reproaehful
conviction.
@I should have done that always for
your own sweet sake" he returned
with sudden, passionate tenderness.
II loved you always, Clare
She was silent; but with a sweet,
blushing silence that thrilled him.
"Can you sometime give me love for
love, my darling?" he questioned, as
he drew the dropping golden head
against his heart.
~ have long ago given you that"
she confessed with q shy glance of in
effable trust and gratitude and affec-