Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-27
OLIVES STEP-MOTHER.

ULI Y u y O1EG -MUIHER.
''She is the sweetest, dearest erea-
ture in the worldr' said Olive Ogilvie
enthusiastically.
''Humph!'' said Miss Jane Darlington.
'People didn't use to talk so of step
mothers in my day."
''But then, you see," retorted Olive,
with the air of one who effectually 81
lences argument, there never was ex-
actly suclf step-mother before"
''She's not ten years older than YOUR
SELF" said Miss Jane Darlington.
''And that is the very reason that she
sympathizes in all my interests and
pursuits so heartily"
'She married your poor, dear pa for
a home and to avoid the necessity of
going out as a governess, uttered
Miss Jane Darlington with acerbity.
lit is falser' cried Olive. ''She mar
ried him because she loved him.
'Humphr' said Miss Jane Barring
ton. you're bewitched, | see. You're
under the glamour, if ever woman was.
But you'll have disagreeable awaken
ing some day Miss Ogilvie; see if you
don't. Perhaps you haven't noticed
Noticed whatP" exclaimed Olive
with spirit, as the malicious spinster
paused second.
''Oh, never mind" said Miss Jane
harrington, tanning herself and rolling
up her eyes. I'm not one to make
mischief. If you haven't perceived it
Perceived what?" demanded Miss
Ogilvie, impatiently. "Oh. dear, how
dark innuendoesi If you've got any
thing to say, Miss Darlington, do say
it out and have done with it, If not,
I'll 90 down to the river and see how
the children are getting on with their
stone grotto.
Thus driven to the wall Miss Jane
Darlington said her say, with a relish
in the communication which can scarce
" be decribed.
LAS | remarked BEFORE" said Miss
Darlington, L am the last one to
promulgate idle reports; but it is quite
plain to all disinterested eyes that your
young step-mother, the charming
widow, whose deep weeds are so ex-
ceedinglJ becoming"
'tDo 60 ont" cried Olive, in agony of
suspense.
1T is quite the gossip of the place."
went on the backbiter, ''that Mrs. Hay
den Ogilvie is carrying on lively f1irta-
ton with Albert Stanfield."
with Albert Stanfield! Impossible!'
cried Olive incredulously.
"Just what I should have said N.Y.
self" said Miss Jane Darlington, pious-
ly, IF I had not been an eyewitness
to all her goings-on with her poor, first
husband not yet cold in his grave, and
BE silentw cried Olive, springing
to her feet so suddenly that Miss Jane
harrington started backward and tum-
bled with more precipitation than grace
over square ottoman. How dare
you utter such slanderous falsehoods?
and to me, of all other persons in the
world, who owe everything to her low
ing care, her more than maternal kind
ness! | despise myself for standing
here to listen to it!''
And she swept away with the royal
face of princess, her cheeks dyed car
mine and her eyes glittering like
wrathful stars
Straight as an arrow she went to the
suite of apartments occupied jointly by
herself and her young step-mother at
the Crown hotel, a summer resort of
some celebrity among the mountains
that wall in the blue waters of Cum
berland lake.t
The door was open, the soft August
breeze blew the muslin window dra-
peries to and fro, and a piece of en-
broidery lay on the table with the nee
die yet sticking in its folds and the
thimble beside it. All the tokens of
recent presence were there, but the
room was empty.
''She has taken her book down to the
little woodland spring" said Olive to
herself; and she ran down the cool, Sc
cluded path, where intermingled sun
shine and shadow made a moving
checker-work at her feet calling,
Mammal where are you mammal" as
she went.
But no answer came. The wood
land spring dubbed out in cool drops
over the ferns that Swallowed its pool,
the birds sang overhead, and that was
all.
'Oh, dear! SAID OalYe to herself,
"where can she be?"
She wandered along farther down
the glen, swinging her hat by its strings
as She walked, her footsteps falling
noiselessly on the velvet turf, until sud-
" she paused, stricken to the heart as if
a barbed arrow had pierced her CULVER
ing flesh.
For, hidden away by the leafy covert
of tremulous birches and white pines,
upon the moss-covered trunk of a fall
en- tree sat Mrs. Ogilvie, in her deep
mourning robes, her face turned visit
fully upward, while in an attitude of
the intensest devotion Albert Stanfield
leaned over her.
Olive Ogilvie did not mean to listen;
she was an honorable girl, with keen
sense of delicacy; but all volition
seemed gone from her at the moment.
She leaned. pale and trembling, up
against tree. and could not but hear