Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-10-03
CHAPTER II.

young lady to whom it was addressed,
Miss Garnham' No. :, St. Philips Gar
dens." When it arrived, as it did at the
proper time, the sight of the closely-scrib-
bled yellowish square was sweet indeed to
her, though the foreign stamp showed how
far off he was. mo, not so far off to-day
as when he wrote it, she said TO herself,
as with a smile that meant protest against
her folly, she softly kissed the ATTEMPTING
morsel of paper
Soft gray eyes, with your shadows and
brown fringes; wise, sweet mouth of the
pink coral hue of health; firm, oval face,
with the ghtforward look of trusty
soul; how often you had been pictured in
the long nights of sickness and the short
hours of rest between work, loathsome
and holy, done in that stricken city of Ma
plies.
Out Of the wreck of very bright paint
ed, ight-winged ship of life but two, dear
er than herself had been saved to Anas-
tasia Garnham.
These two were her little sister Lottie
and cher humble and loving servant to
command" Osmund QueStin.
He had indeed been this and more to the
queen elected of his heart two years back,
oANA eA1lo AO LOU II dAON4ys "4OnOOO any hOl
oaths, declared he would ever continue to
be, though his equity old father threatened
to hold the door against the bride for as
long as he lived, and bequeath him shil-
ling when he died if he yentured to cross
his stubborn will even then.
Mr.. Questin, senior, had put it plainly
to his son, who was his only living child.
Had his own father started with bod and
a trowel, or had he not? Had he built up
for himself an immense fortune? Had he
left it all to him, cutting off his elder and
younger brothers because one smoked and
the other parted his hair down the middle
or not? Was it likely that he, having
cherished this massive fortune and lived
always in view of his responsibility toward
it, should deliberately put it into the hands
of one of that butterfly, spendthrift, IRE
sponsible lot, the Garnhams? Nay, the
daughter of that very man who had ig-
nored. snubbed, and otherwise affronted
him personally? Osmund might marry
any other girl he chose; but he would
hear no more of any Garnham, be it the
prettiest lass that ever was born to that
handsome, worthless family. Osmund's
mother had been a lady of good blood, but
home-staying and sensible; let him look
out for such another.
Having said that no Garnham could be
worth her salt, no spoken evidence in the
world would have made him alter his
opinion. He was not a vulgar old man,
but, on the contrary, well read and highly
respected, afraid Of no man, currying favor
with none, and Osmund had a strong af-
lection for him. This made matters more
ha had TO nj, Of In
Cancellation of two impossibilities.
Having been to Cambridge, he decided
that there was enough to do in the world
for a willing man with brains and health,
without crowding into one of the over
crowded professions. "What is mine is
yours, my boy" said his father until the
question of marriage arose.
OF all the girls, Osmund naturally set
his heart upon the one his father most OBJ
jected to, was the elder daughter of the
late ruined squire of the Warwickshire par.
ish, in which Questin hall, his own place,
was situated. And now came the deadlock,
because even if Osmund had been able to
find anything to do, which he had not,
Tasia would have refused to marry him
against the will of his father; that is, with
out giving the jealous old man plenty of
time to change his mind.
"a letter next time, not postcard that
anyone can read" thought Tasia, but to
her surprise, post after post went by with
out bringing it.
Lottie, for the sake of whose schooling
they lived in London had supply of ex
plantations on hand for the comfort of her
sister, but one night Tasia heard her sti-
fling sobs, and she made the confession in
the dark that she believed that wicked old
ogre, Mr.. Questin, had by some great eX-
ercise of tyrrany got his son to swear to
break with them forever-"with u.s."
Lottie sobbed, claiming her share in Os.
mund.
Disloyalty on the part of the lover who
had never vexed her soul with the trifiing
cruelties common to the race of lovers APP
peared impossible to AnaStaSia whose
own faith was entire, so that the blow
which presently fell upon her was like
thunderbOlt from clear sky. When she
was sick with hope deferred. came a letter
from Paris so constrained in tone, and
dwelling so hOpelessly upon the barrier
raised between them by his fathers oppo.
sition, that it needed not the brevity for
which he excused himself by saying that
he had hurt his hand, to show the poor
girl with cruel distinctness that she was
virtually forsaken.
Horrible blow to her love, her pride, her
hopes-nay. it destroyed even the past that
had worn too false a sweetness, for it
proved his heart to have been unsound,
his mind wavering all through
For Lottie's sake she tried to rouse her
self, but succeeded indifferently Drag
ging herself to the task she wrote to free
him from the engagement, and read the
answer which came by return of post with
a bitter contempt that only added more
cutting pain to the wound.
Doubtless he had fallen in with some
woman who had for him so strong a fas-
cination that his old dear admiring love
for her had sunk into a passing fancy
And yet, how could any sudden attraction
have so deep and true an existence as that
gradually developed affection in which all
the best part of his nature had been called
out?
Slowly covering her incurable wound,
she looked around her-ah, the world was
full of inexplicable wrongs and transform
ations; she wondered she had never no
ticed it before; and ceasing to wonder at
her own share in them she resolved to
guard Lottie from such treacherieS. Lot
tie should be hard-hearted, and give all
her love to learning, for books betray not,
knowledge certainly rewards its lovers;
and she would rather see her in spectacles,
with short, unkempt hair, than wasting
her heart on man, who is unstable as
water.
And so, with gallant strivings to fill up
the rent made by falsehood with wisdom