Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-02-03

young woman as a man could wish TO see.
Take glass of groG, Capt. Mel said the
old man, pushing the square bottle toward
him; you'll need it after the mauling tha.
brute Eayo YOU. By the wav.- | harcn't
thanked you enough for saving'my Elsie!
But | do thank you, yes, that do must
tell you that Bessie is my favorite niece
Never was there such girl-ncver Moves
like springbuck, and what an eye and formi
Work. too-she'll 10 as much work as three
There's no nonsense about Bessie, none at all
She's not O fine lady, for all her fine looks"
The two sisters seem very different" said
John.
"Ay, you're right there" said the old man.
"You'd never think that tho same blood ran
in their veins, would you? There's three
years between them, that's one thing Bes-
sizes the youngest, you see-shes just 90 and
jess is %. Lord, to think that it is twenty
three years since that girl was bornl And
theirs was a queer story, too"
"Indeedf" said his listener, interrogatvely
"Ay," he went on absently. knocking out
his pipe and rofillinS it ont of a big, brown
jar of coarse cut Boer tobacco; I'll tell it to
you if you like; you are going to live in the
house, and you may as well know it. l am
sure, Capt. Mel, that it will go no further
You see was born in England; yes, and well
born, too l come from Cambridgeshire-
from that fat fenland down round Ely My
father was q clergyman. Well, he wasn't
rich, and when l was 20 he gave me his bless
ing, thirty sovereigns in my pocket and my
passage to the Cape; and l shook his hand,
| God bless him! and off l came, and here in
tho old colony and this country have been
| for fifty years, for l was 20 yesterday. Well,
| I'll tell you more about that another time;
| it's about the girls I'm speaking now After
/ left home-twenty years after or hard on
| tiny dear Old father married again, a
youngish woman with some money, but be-
meath him somewhat in life, and by her he
had one son and then died. Well, it was but
little heard of my half-brolher, except that
he had turned out very badly, married and
taken to drink, till one night some twelve
years ago, when a strange thing happened.
was sitting here in this very room-ay, in
this very chair-for this partof the house was
up then, though the wings weren't bult-and
smoking my pipe and listening TO the lashing
of the rain, for it was a very foul night, when
suddenly an cid pointer dog I had, named
Ben, gave q bark.
"'Lie down, Ben; it's only the Knffirs,
said /.
| OuSt tHeil tuOuSig ne0Tu d 1dillt SOIt OI
rapping at the door, and Ben barked again,
so got up and opened it, and in came two
little girls, wrapped up in Old shawls or some
such gear. Well. 1 shut the door, looking
out first TO see if there were any more outside,
and then stool and stared at the two little
things with my mouth open. There they
stood, hand in hand, the water dripping
from both them, and tho eldest might
l h. L., Al. -
didn't say anything, but the eldest turned
and took tho shawl and hat of tho younger
that was Bessie-and there was her sweet
little face and her golden hair, and damp
enough both Of them were, and she put her
thumb i'll her mouth, and stood and looked at
me till began to think that was dreaming
s'Please, SIR said tho biggest, at Last, h
this Mr.. Croft's house-Mr. Croft, South
African RepublicF
ayes, little miss, this Is his house, and this
is tho South African Republic, and l am be.
And now who might you be, my doarsr I
answered.
"'If you please, sir, we are your nieces, and
we have come to you from England
"'Whatr I halloaed, startled out Of my
wits, as well might be.
"'Oh, sir. says the poor httls thing, clasp
ing her thin, wet hands, please don't send us
away. Bessie is so wet and cold and hungry,
too, she isn't fit to 20 any farther
"And she set to work to cry, whereon the
little one cried too, from fright and cold and
sympathy. ,I.EI.
swell, Of course, I took them both to the
fire and set them on my knees and halloaed for
Hebe, the old Hottentot woman who did my
cooking, and between Us we undressed them
and wrapped them up in some old clothes
and fed them with soup and wine. so that In
half an hour they were quite happy and not
bit frightened.
"'And now, young ladies' said, come
and give me a kiss, both of you, and tell me
how you came here
"And this is tho tale they told me-com-
pleted, of course, from what learned after
ward-and an odd one it is 1t seems that
my half brother married Norfolk lady a
sweet young thing-and treated her like
dog. He was drunken rascal, was my half
brother, and he beat his poor wife and shame.
fully neglected her, and even ill treated the
two little girls, till ut last the poor woman,
weak as sho was from suffering and i'll health,
could bear it no longer. and formed the wild
idea OF escaping to this country and throw
ing herself upon my protection. It will show
how desperate she must havo been. She
scraped together and borrowed some money,
enough to pay for three second class passages
to Natal and few pounds over, and one day,
when her brute Of husband was away on
the drink and gamble. she slipped OH board q
sailing ship in the London docks. and before
he knew anything about it they were well out
to sea. But it was her last effort,
poor, dear soul, and the excitement of
it finished her. Before they had
been ten days at sea sho sank and died, and
tho two poor children were left alone And
what they must have suffered, or rather
what poor jess must have suffered. for abe
was o,u enough 70 feel, Tod only knows. But
can tell you this, she has mover got over the
shock to this hour. 1t has left its mark ON
Ter. sir. But, let people shy what they will,
there Is power that looks after the helpless,
and that power took those poor, homeless,
wandering children under ito wing. The cap
tain OF tho vessel befrieuded them, and when
at last they got to Durham some Of the passen-
gers made subscription and got an old Boer,
who was coming up this way with his wife to
tho Transvaal, to take them under his charge,
The Boer and his vrouw treated the children
fairly well, but they did not do one thing
moro than they bargained for. At tho turn
from tho Wakkerstrcm road, that you came
along to-day, they put the children down, for
they had no luggage, and told them II they
went along there they would como to Mein-
beer Croft's house. That was In the middle
Of the afternoon, and they were until O'Clock
getting here, poor little dears, for the track
was fainter then than it is now, and they
wandered on into the veldt and would have
persisted there In tho wet and cold had they
not CHANGED to SEQ the lights Of the house.
And that was how my nieces came here,
Capt. Mel. And here they have been ever
since, except for n couple Of years when |
sent them to tho Cape for schooling, and o
lonely man was when they were. swav.n
"And how about the fatheri" asked John
Mel, deeply interested. ibid you ever hear
any more Of him"
"1car Of him, tho villain." almost shoutcd
the old man, jumping up in wrath. aAy,
d-n him, heard of him. What dc YOU
think! Tho two chicks had been with me
some eighteen months, long enough for me t.
learn to love them with all my heart. when
one fine morning, as was seeing about the
now kraal wall, see fellow come riding uu
on an old. raw boned, gray horse. Up be