The Wahpeton times., 1891-01-29

She had been my housemaid; she left
me, to marry a wretch who deserted
her, and left her to support herself
and her year-old-baby. She fell i'll,
and l went to see her two or three
times, and when she died, as there
We're no relations, brought the for
lorn baby home till something could
be done with it. The whole Of it was,
| determined to keep it together.
That was why your father was so
angry. And that child is Mabel Verdi"
Lionel whistled softly.
"And that was all?" We are an
obstinate family, Lionel. The more
your father objected to my
bringing the child up, the more re-
solved l became"
"H'm! 1t was very good of YOU.
The girl must have been no end of
trouble. And you have brought her
up to be your maid or companion!"
"she is my adopted niece" l said,
rather stitily, for his tone hurt me in
some way. 81 shall leave her every
thing l have"
He said no more 1t seems to me
that he too thought had lost caste
by what l had done. l was sorry, for
| had taken strange liking to the
boy.
Soon after he took his leave, prom
Using to come on the following day and
bring his Craps" No sooner was he
gone than Mabel came back dressed
for dinner.
"Aunty, do you know it is nearly Z,
and you are not dreesed?"
"Never mind, love-" 1 said, gather
ing up my knitting. 'Dinner can wait
for me for once. Mabel, the long
family disagreement is at an end.
That was my nephew Lieonel."
cat an end?" Mabel cried. "Oh,
Aunt Dorothy, l am glad of that!
Now, perhaps, you will tell me what it
was"
I shook my head and laughed, for
that was q point on which, though
shewas shev very curiours, Iwould never
enlighten her.
"Isn't he handsome, Mabel?" What
did you think of him?"
81 scarcely saw him." she answered
indifferently.
She laughed at me many times, that
evening for my absence of mind, told
me that took salt to my apple tart
at dinner and never knew it, and that
l smiled at my tea and everything.
1t may have been trne for. could
could think of nothing but the mes
sage of reconciliation after SO many
yeals. l wrote a long letter to Julius,
that is my brother, that very night.
The next afternoon Lionel came.
81 hope you're prepared to have me
on your hands for at least fortnight.
aunt said he, as we sat together chat
ting. "In fact, l shall very likely stay
for good-you look so homelike and
and comfortable here"
"Armitage hall used always to be
homelike and comfortable enough"
remarked, and then regetted the
words, for cloud came over his face.
"Ah, yes, in my dear mothers
time," he answered softly.
"It is all this sort of thing that does
it, ] think" he said, after a pause,
picking up my knitting work from O.
gypsy table and letting two of the
needles slip out so that an endless
number of stitches wereinstantly lost.
81 hope haven't done any damage,
and he stuck the needles in again at
random and laid the work down. "All
these dainty womanly trif1es"-And
he raised some pretty crewel work of
Mabel's from the workbasket on
which it lay. He looked at it medi-
tatively, then turned his attention to
the bas ket and it's other contents.
The little silver thimble he tried on
his little finger, which would not 90
fairly into it, then looked up and
caught me smiling.
"Don't laugh at me, Aunt Dorothy.
Somehow the sight OF these brings
back many things. "This, for in
stance" he said, still looking at the
tiny thimble, sis just the size of my
mother s.
He broke off, for Mabel came in lust
then. | introduced. them ut once,
Mabel blushing as though it We're she
who had been caught inspecting some
one else's property, Lionel gravely,
courteous and perfectly at his ease.
] received kind letter from Julius
very soon after, in which he told me
how glad he was for his son to be
with me, and plainly intimated that
he would be pleased if l persuaded
him to stay MS long as he would, for
he, julius, had no intention of coming
up to town ut all this winter, and he
was afraid the boy would be bored to
death if compelled to remain through
out December at the hall. And so the
fortnight heightened into month, and
Lionel was still with us. He escorted
us to theatres, concerts and the opera,
and We had @ gayer winter than
usual.
At first I was half afraid he might
fall in love with my pet. but 1 soon
came to the conclusion that such an
idea was altogether absurd. The two
conversed SO little-for Mabel was a
quiet girl who never talked very much,
but merely listened to other people,
with her expressive eyes saying a
thousand things, she would never put
into words.
On the whole, I believe it must be
disconcerting to any man, after deliv-
ering what he thinks rather a neat
speech, to meet pair of eyes dancing
with fun as Mabel's often did. She
had a gift of seeing the ludicrous side
of everything, though her secret
amsement never showed itself except in
those black eyes or the slightly COM
pressed lips.
Consequently it was both surprise
and a shock to me when six weeks aft