Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-06-11

He had bestowed his preference on lilly
Dillingham; of late; but he was leaving
lilly severely alone at present because
she had .'other company" when he had
invited her to the last sociable. He was
a short, bony young man, with small
dark eyes and a prominent tooth. He
had clerked for a month o so in a shoe
store in the nearest town, and his met
ropolitan experience showed itself in his
spotted cravat and his celuloid cuff-but-
tons.
'.There's a smashing girl down to
Baldwin's," was Lyman's opening re-
mark. 1t was a term which had been
frequently employed at the shoc-store.
Stephen Pinney, his wife and the
If it had been Biar they would have re-
tired to the back part of the house, be-
cause Biar was ''steady company" and
steady company was never infringed
upon by the family in general.
81 met her and Biar Gillett out walk
ing jest now," Lyman pursued. ''They
say they're going together"
Louise looked at him. Her thin
cheeks grew hot, and then colorless.
Stephen Pinney and his wife and the
hired girl looked at her anxiously, and
the former addressed a remark to Ly-
man Baker concerning the working out
! of taxes on the road. He, himself, was
road-master, and he didn't calculate to
have any Sinking this season. Louise
sat silent, smoothing down her black
a~lpaca-Lyman had come before 100
and saying nothing. But when he fin
ally got up to go, she rose also.
'Be you certain it was him?' she
said.
''Nho?" said the young man.
"Be you certain it was Biar?"
"That l met walking with that girl
that's to Baldwin's? Oh, land! YES"
Lyman responded.
The hired girl looked sharply at
Louise where she stood without moving
after Lyman had gone. She was not a
cook nor a servant-she would have re-
sented being called such; she was q
''hired girl" She was on equal terms
with the family; she ate at the same
table, occupied the sitting-room when
not engaged in the kitchen, and entered
into the family discussions.
Il declare fort Louise" she said with
s%ympathizing asperitys ''if I'd take on
to worry. Biar Gillett amt the only
Teller in the world-great spindle-legged
thing!'
Louise only looked at her silently. 1t
was beyond her power not to worry; it
was beyond her power to be any thing
but utterly lost and miserable under this
great calamity: and she was too simple
and honest to pretend to any thing else.
She had never thought much about her
feelings toward Biar Gillett, but now
she realized dimly that the pale-haired,
solemn-faced young man was i'll some
way necessary to her only happiness,
and that now it was probable She had
lost him. She did not give up all hope.
Sunday afternoon she put on her black
alpaca and her red and black shawl, and
stood watching for him in the front
window. She could not believe that he
would not come; and when she saw the
two-seated buggy coming down the
road, with BARS lanky form on the
front seat the dull weight at her heart
lifted, and left her in a joyful glow.
The mud was dried to-day; the wheels
of BARS buggy were black and shiney;
Biar himself had an unusual air of
smartness, and wore a new hat-a vide
brimmed felt. But he drove straight by
without turning his head. The hired
girl had been watching from the other
window.
"Wal, l never!!" she calculated.
"He's going down to Baldwin's after
her," said Louise unsteadily.
oval, there-!' the hired girl be-
gan, with some motive of consolation;
but she stopped then, powerless before
the look of suffering in the girls face.
She watched her with helpless sympathy
as she went upstairs t o take off the black
alpaca.
Lyman Baker came in the next even
ing, and again three days afterwards.
On that occasion Mr.. and Mrs. Pinney
and the hired girl went out into the
kitchen; it looked as though Lyman was
going to be steady company. The
young man sat in a large rocking-chair
with figured calico cushions and GRO
cheted tidy. Louise had been sitting at
the table, with it's stamped oil-cloth
cover and its red-wicked kerosene lamp,
with a small paste-board box before her,
whose contents she had been soberly
lingering over. 1t held all that Biar
had ever given her, q plain silk hand
kerchief, a small tintype of himself and
a red carnelian bracelet. She put the
cover on the box and dropped it into
her lap when the visitor entered. She
knew quite well that Biar had deserted
her; that he was drawn away and held
fast by the superior charms of another
girl, and that he was "going with" her
steadily; that there was no hope of re-
gaining him. She had settled down
into a hopelessness which was worse
than the first sharp pang; and her de-
spair had developed a quiet passivity.
She was not troubled by Lyman Bakers
visit; she had not the jealousy for her
trampled hopes nor the self-assertion
necessary for rebelling against him,
even in thought. She accepted him as
part OF her misfortune.
Lyman broke the long opening 81.
lence by a remark concerning the
weather. He followed it up, after an
other pause, with a piece of informa-
ton.
''They say hat Biar Gillett and that
girl to Baldwin's-what's her name?"
"Mandy Sawyer" said Louise, rails
inc her eve in quick aDnrnhenc;on