The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1888-05-26

ed no longer in the bright entertaining
way which so amused her, and seemed
absent-minded.
At last, laying little hand on his
arm, she said:
"Cousin Roland, is anything wrong7"
His face flushed as he replied quick
..Wronql what could be wrongp"
Then, with an abrupt change to his us
ual merry tone: ..Come, bonny Alice,
for race-who'll reach yonder clump
of bushes frst?''
! Away they went, the two spirited
horses each trying his best to reach the
goal, and soon Alice's fiery little chest
nut began to creep ahead-at first only
little, but at last wide gap opened
between them. Alice turned in her sad
die, her fair face flushed with excite
ment, to wave her whip at her defeat
ed cousin, when suddenly Brown Bess
reared, and a moment later her rider
lay prone in the dust.
Before Roland arrived at the scene
of disaster, she was raised from the
ground.
'.Miss Grey-Alice, darling! look up!"
As if in dream she heard the inn
passioned words, and opened her blue
eyes. Then recovering from the shock
which had only stunned her, she tried,
with deep blush, to rise. saying:
Il am not hurt much, DR.. Howard" F"
Then Roland came up, full of anx-
ious solcitude.
II fear, Mr.. Audrey" said DIR. How
ard, 'that my sudden appearance
around these bushes was the cause of
your cousins accident. -"
Merely acknowledging his remark
by slight bow, Roland placed Alice
on his own horse; but Alice leaned
down and held out her friendly hand to
the speaker.
do not think you have the slightest
cause for reproaching yourself, Dr.
Howard, for, beyond the fright, it has
done me no harm, am sure, and Brown
Bess is no doubt far on her way home
by this time"
! DR.. Howard was the minister Of the
parish.
Ever since, when little girl, she had
spent her vacation at the Towers. he
had known and loved Alice Grey. Then
with the calm affection of man for
winsome child: but as she grew up,
that liking had deepened into a strong
enduring affection; but he had never
spoken of his love, and he knew that
Alice was engaged to her cousin, and
that on that union depended her inner
itance.
| But Alice did not forget for long
<;,,~o tho r-or1o cha haS hoard when rp-
/ covering from her unconsciousness:
"Alice, darling!"
Could it be possible that those words
had been spoken by her grave pastorp
But the approaching wedding soon
drove all else from her mind.
The day after her eventful ride, Alice
started out to visit the sick occupant Of
the lodge. She reached the cottage.
door and knocked. No one replied, and
/ she went in. Then. through the open
bedroom door beyond, she saw sight
which drove the blood back from her
cheeks. There, on the low bed, lay the
! one for whom her delicacies were in
tended-dead; and kneeling by the
bedside in an abandonment of grief,
was Nita.
Swiftly Alice went to her side.
My poor Nita!'
| Fiercely shaking the tender hand
from off her shoulder, Nita sprang to
her feet. Involuntarily Alice covered
her face, and well she might.
AS the girl stood there, she might
have been taken for an avenging fury.
Her black dishevelled locks flowed
/ loosely over her shoulders, and from
under their dusky shadow, the great
eyes fairly blazed with their bitter
scornful look.
''My poor Nitaw she exclaimed mock
ingly. .Why do you come here with
your fair face and sympathy"
Suddenly casting her eyes downward,
they lit on the still form on the bed,
and with thrilling, piercing cry, she
again flung herself upon her knees by
her dead mothers side.
Again Alice approached, a world of
pity in her soft eyes.
sWhy, Nita, love your mother, too.
Why should / not sorrow for her?''
/ Then Nita rose, this time more quiet
ly, and laying one hand on her moth
er's cold one. with the other she point
ed to the door.
s,Go, Alice Grey! Leave me with my
sorrow. wildly before l break
my resolve and say what should mott"
| Sadly Alice went, a feeling of intense
pity in her heart, but no anger for her
rejected sympathy. She knew Nita's
excitable nature, and she laid her
strange manner entirely to her great
grief.
In few days it was all over, and
Nita's mother was laid in her last rest
ing-place. Mrs. Grey urged the orphan
pirl to make the Towers her home; but
She persisted in her refusal, and in
little while she left the neighborhood.
| Alice often met DR.. Howard, and at
last came to look on those passionate
words as an incongruous fancy.
Il must have imagined it, she
thought.
! Meanwhile the wedding preparations
progressed, and at last the day came.
! The old church. which had seen SO
many of the Dunham race married,
now echoed with Mendelssohn's grand
march as the wedding-party slowly
paced up the wide aisle.
Blessings on her pretty face!' was
the thought of all the villagers, as they