Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-06-10

and admired by everybody who was ac-
quainted with her. 1t is needless TO make
this long letter longer by dwelling on the
girls miserable story. You have heard if of
other girls, over and over again. She loved
and trusted; she was deceived and deserted.
Alone and friendlesS i'll foreign county
her fair fame bIemished, her hope in the fut-
IRE utterly destroyed-she attempted to
drown herself. This happened in France.
The best Of good women-a sister OF charity
happened to be near enough to the river to
rescue her. She was sheltered: she was
pitied; she was encouraged to return to her
family. The poor, deserted creature abso-
Iutely refused; she could never forget that
she had disgraced them. The good sister of
charity won her confidence. A retreat. which
would hide her from the world and devote
her to religion for the rest Of her days, was
the one end to her wasted life that she long
ed for That end was attained in a priorv
Of Benedlctine nuns established in France.
There she found projections and peace-there
she passed the remaining years OF her life
among devoted sister friends, and there she
died q quiet and even q happy DEATH
You will now understand how nv moth
ers grateful remembrance associated her
munity Of nuns: and you will not need to be
told what she had in mind when she obtain
ed my fathers promise at the time of her last
illness.
He at once proposed to bequeath the
house as free gift to the Benedictines. Ny
mother thanked him and refused She was
thinking Of me. If our son fails to inherit
the house from his father she said, 1t is
only right that he should have the value of
the house in money. Let it be Sold
$50 here am-rich aIready-with this adj
ditional sum Of money in my bankers care.
My idea is to invest it in the funds, and
to let it thrive at interest until grow older
and retire, perhaps, from service in the navy
The later years of my life may we'll be de-
voted to the founding Of charitable institu-
ton, which [ myself can establish and direct
If die tirst-oh, there is a chance of it! We
may have naval war, perhaps, or | may
turn out one Of those incUrrigible madmen
who risk their lives in arctic exploration. In
case Of the worst, therefore, [ shall leave the
interests Of my contemplated home in your
honest and capable hands. For the present
gOOd-by and prosperous voyage outward
bound"
SO the letter ended.
Sydney dWeIt with reluctant attention or
the latter half OF it. The story OF the UNI
happy favorte Of the family had its own
melancholy and sinister interest foHher She
felt the fOreboding that it might, in some Of
its circumstances, be her story toO-WithOut
the peaceful end. Into what community of
mercifuI women could she be received in her
sOrest need? What religious consultations
would encourage her penitGnce? What pray
erS, what hopes, Would reconcile her, Oh her
deathbed, to the common doom?
She signed q, she folded up Capt. Benny
decks letter aad put it i'll her bosom to be
read again. ~ my lot had fallen among
good people" she thought, perhaps l might
have belonged to the church which took care
Of that poor girl"
Her mind was still pursuing its own sad
course of inquiry. She was wondering in
what part of England Sandyseal might be.
She was asking herself if the auns at the old
moated house ever opened their doors to WO-
men whose one claim on their common
Christianity was the claim to be pitied, when
she heard Linley'S footsteps approaching her
door.
His tone was kind, his manner was gentle
His tender interest in her seemed to have re-
vived. Her long absence had alarmed him.
He feared she might be i'll. Il was only
thinking" she said. He smiled and sat down
by her, and asked if she had been thinking
Of the place they should go to when they left
London