Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-05-17


of disaster, she was raised from the
ground.
Miss Grey-Alice, darlingl look upr'
As if in a dream she heard the i'm
paSsioned words, and opened her blue
eyes. Then recovering from the shock
which had only stunned her, she tried,
with 4 deep blush, to rise, saying:
L am not hurt much, DR.. Howard. "
Then Roland came up, full of anx-
ious soiicitude.
I fear, Mr.. Audrey said DR.. How
ard, that my sudden appearance
around these bushes was the cause of
your cousins accident. :"
Merely acknowledging his remark
by 4 Slight bow, Roland placed Alice
on his own horse; bat Alice leaned
down and held out her friendly hand to
the speaker.
DO not think You have the slightest
cause for reproducing yourself, DR..
Howard, for, beyond the fright, it has
done he 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 a 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 a
wiusome child; but as she grew up,
that liking had deepened into 4 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
time the words she had heard when re.
covering from her Inconsistencies:
''Alice, darlingr'
Could it be possible that those words
had been spoken by her grave pastor?
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 Nitar'
Fiercely shaking the tender hand
from off her shoulder, Mia sprang to
her feet. InvoluntariIy 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 dusby shadow, the great
eyes fairly blazed with their bitter
scornful look.
My poor Nitan' she exclaimed mock
ingly. "Why do you come here with
your fair face and sympdthy?"
Suddenly casting her eyes downward,
they lit on tie still form on the bed,
and with a thrilling, piercing cry, she
again flung herself upon her knees by
her dead mothers side.
Again Alice approached, world of
pity in her soft eyes.
''Why, Mia, love your mother, too.
Why should not SORROW for her?n
Then Mia rose, this time more quiet
", and laying one hand on her moth
er's cold one, with the other she point
ed to the door.
go, Alice Grey! Leave me with my
sorrow Go'-wildIy before | break
my resolve and say what l should not!''
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
girl to make the Towers her home; but
she persisted in her refusal, and in Il
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 Durham race married,
now echoed with Mandelssohn's grand
march as the wedding-party slowly
paced up the wide aisle.
BLESSINGS on her pretty FACET was
the thought Of all the villagers, as they
thronged the church to see their Young
lady married.
The solemn service began.
IF any man can show just cause
why these two may not be lawfully
Joined together read the minister,
and made the customary pause.
A yelled figure pushed forward
'sThere is a cause. | forbid it!'
There was q Mortified hush, and then
confused murmur. Flinging back hel
black veil, the speaker stepped close to
the chancel rail. 1t was Mia.
There is q cause" she repeated.
''He is married already"
Roland Audrey raised his hand to his
head, and opened hislips as if to speak;
but no sound came.
Alice gave one long look into his pal
lid face, and, reading there, as she
thought, confirmation Of Nita's start
ling words, sank in swoon upon the
steps where she was so soon to have
knelt as bride.
It was a sad sight to see the innocent
young thing lying there in her filmy
lace robes, the orange flowers hardly
whittier than her white forehead.
With one long, lingering, plying
look on the helpless form they were
carrying down the aisle, Dr. Howard
came forward, and taking Audrey by
the arm, and motioning to Mia, led the
way to the vestry.
1t was soon explained; but it was not
after all, quite as he suspected.
Roland would not have been guilty
in the eye Of the law if he had married
Alice. for poor Mia was not his legal
wife, as she thought He had deceived
ho1. hrr t,nnI- N, 1.1.. go On fi,Iirll. I,ic