Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-10-03

4
ners, and he stood with hungry eyes fixed
on the masters white, haggard- looking
face, shrewdly guessing it was from the
long absent daughter, and trying TO divine
the contents Of the epistle.
| Presently the old man looked YEARLY
sadly from the letter TO the anxious face
bending over him, and said, as il measur
ing each word by its sorrowful meaning
'He is dead-Fairfax is dead, and Miriam
is widow" Then he turned his white face
away in the shadow of the curtain, and
motioned To John his dismissal
"Miram has wrltten,' said the tender.
hearted John to the servants, as he wiped
his eyes with his handkerchief. "Her-
husband is dead; yes, Arthur Fairfax Is
dead %
A moan escaped the lips of the little
group gathered about their lonely dinner al
the close of tins memorable day. 'PooI
Miriam, and John made another applica-
ton of the handkerchief to hide the tears
gathering in his honest eyes.
''An' it's dead We say he is9 Obi this
wurruld is full of throuble. Dead, an not
pairsOn 10 comfort the misthress. OH
Oh expected it," And Peggy bowed her
gray head on the table ana wept aloud
"Dead" echoed Ancil, shaking his
whitened locks as he knocked the ashes out
OF his pipe against the broad, hospitable
lamb, and came over and sat down by his
wife. 'An' now the masther'll be Arthur
sendin' fur the heart bhroken misthress
an repintin' ov his SINS" ventured he
further as a sort Of comfort.
'tAn' he won't naytherl" blazed Peggy,
angrily, and suddenly forgetting TO sob
IN her resentment of any thing humane
as expected of Sir Rupert "Niveri whln
he let the young gintleman wurruk hisself
into the grave, and niver welcome loine
could he sind mot even to her."
As usual, Ancil subsidized with his notions
of charity and devoted himself TO his dinner,
| while Peggy enlarged on the doings of the
past and wandered of INTO the future, with
very severe opinions concerning her mas
ter
She wac the ruling faction in the west
wing, and when any one of its inmates ex-
pressed the hope, or belief, that Sir Rupert
would send for Miriam, or may be go TO
| her himself, "seeing she was in mourning
so soon again. Peggy would shake her cap
rutiies into confusion dire in her authority.
Her negatives usually silenced all hopeful
expectation as with the spell of a seer,
capped with her ALDERMAN climax of
''niver bit will the haythunish masthur
go to the childer; he wud doie forninst the
day of puir stubborn manenessn
And uncharitable as Peggy seemed, she
was, nevertheless, right in her assertions,
for not word of coincidence or pity did Sir
Rupert send to his bereaved daughter,
neither did he express any sympathy he
might have felt for her in her sore be-
reayement.
But Peggy, good old soul, sent letter
brimful of comfort and loving sympathy to
the lonely-hearted Miriam, ''unbeknowin'
to the masthur," for, as she confided to
John, who smuggled the missive in with
the mali of the Hall, "he needn't think as
how the whole wurruld is goin' to walk in
the loikes OF his name footstheps." And so
the long letter of coincidence indicted to
Miriam by the faithful Peggy was sent,
and all the servants promised to keep it
secret from the master. They never forgot
his commands of four years ago, to never
mention Miriam's name in his hearing, nor
to appear concerned in her welfare for
fear of his wrath. These orders they had
never broken, with the exception Of the
time when they heard of Arthur Fairfax
having gained in wealth and position. In
keeping their thoughts far from the masters
ken they had ''grown wise as serpents and
harmless as doves"
Some weeks after the cuckoo had sound
cd Its note along the sunny hedges and told
the pleasant story that spring had come,
there fell another memorable day to the
Hall.
All winter long the inmates of Heather
leigh had lived in utter seclusion from the
merry outside world and catered patiently
to the whims of Sir Rupert And when
the SHOWS vanished from park and lawn,
and the dry alder leaves whirled sorrowful
ly into odd corners at sight of budding
life and the dark budded Gins bowed gent
ly to the great En- glish ivy which had been
clutching with naked arms at the wealth
er-stalned facade and dreary dormer win
dows in their wealth of bursting new life,
there came a bred in the routine.
Up the long silent avenue came, winding
slowly as if in fear of intrusion, close
carriage. Sir Rupert was in his own apart,
ments, and the servants were lolling list
lessly about the grounds, when the sound
of wheels came to their ears. They started
up with beating hearts as the welcome
break in the monotony dawned on them
and an exclamation of surprise burst in
voluntarily from their lips while they
came together on the tagging as If by
magic, and GIzed at the carriage and into
each others faces in an inquiring, mystified
way
When the carriage stopped at the front
entrance lady dressed in deep mourning
alighted, and leading a bright little child
slowly along over the flags, she came to-
ward them. And when quite near she
threw back her black vail revealing very
sad, but familiar face. 1t was Miriam; Miri-
am, the lost-lost daughter
"Oh, blissed Vargin. an it's none other
than the young misthress, the swate little
Teddy herself. An she's bringin' the
angel of a darlin' by with her" And the
excited tragical old housekeeper rushed to
ward Miriam, with the overioyed group in
her wake.
Sir Rupert looked from his window. he
had Weakened from his drowsy, listless
dreaming he so much INDUCED in, and
heard the unusual stir below. And, hurry
ing to the pane, he was Just IN time TO see
and hear the tumultuous greeting Of the
servants. II was some minutes, however,
before he could make out who il was that
had come and raised such an unearthly
hubbub among the generally well-behaved
inmates of the hall.