The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-13
CHAPTER XIV.
BAFFLED.


suburbs Of Manchester, Polly Tarrant sat at
the open window busily engaged in sewing.
Already she recognized that the labor neces-
sary for their support would fall mainly
upon herself Dick was by no means estI-
mated by his superiors at the value ne
placed upon himself. LaXity of dntg upon |
his part brought upon him rebuke' "hich
petulant reply to those administering the
"wigping' did not tend to soften. Coh-
tinual carelessnesS on petty points Oh us
cipline brought still sharper repriiil'uu'
Mr. Tarrant was bv 10 means of the sweet
est of tempers. and thought fit to indulge IN
recriminatIon with those having authority
over him Had he bowed meeklv to re-
proof. he might have weathered the storm,
Int defance to those in command admits OF |
no toleration among disciplined bodies; and 4
so. as the inspector politely put it, Police |
Constable Tarrant left" he might have
added. not altogether at his own request. /
And not only did Dick by this forfeit the !
very substantial wages he was receiving II !
the force, but that Utopian dream Of his, Of
living rent free, as a caretaker OF empty
houses, also TELL TO the ground. As police
man his position was O voucher for his IN
tegrity, but now be was neither OF them,
nor recommended By them. His capacity
for regular work was OF the frailest, and
Polly soon discovered with some dismay |
that what her husband picked up by odd /
Jobs he for tie most part expended on his |
personal pleasures, Wills; for the keeping up |
of their home she must fam rely upon the /
Droc4eds Of her needle. She shut her eyes /
close to the bitter, bad bargain she had |
made e such women often DO. II he was 1
short u his TEN per at times, well, poor fell
low. be had s good deal TO worry him, he
couldn't help II, there were those inspectors,
thev bad naCsed at bun until be could bear
il 10 longer, and was obliged 70 leave the
polica
Work wzs hard to come by, and. Of
coursa. : clever man like Dick worried at
uos bSlaE site 70 90 more 10 keep up his
hcrDs. Sc stitched harder and harder. aud
would noi Sc tbs lmqertecaOnS Of this false
lido! that she had set up, and made the most
Of two somewhat negative virtues. de did
not get drunk, and he did not il-uss her, so
Polly tollei on, and strive hard TO hope for
better times.
twas q warm summer day, and the cot
tsge door stood open. Polly, as before said,
was sitting al the window, and SO engrossed
in her sewing that she took no heed Of !
hight footstep that crossed her threshold.
The door OF her room was ajar, it was 5
pushed gently open, but it was not till
dark shadow fell across her work that Polly
lifted her head and became cognizant of {
visitor.
For an instant she sat spellbound, looking l
at the dark-robed figure before her, and then
springing to her feet exclaimed: l
20, Miss Nellie, dear Miss Nellie, how I
glad am to see your
''Pve been looking for you two or three
days. replied Miss Lynden, bravely. |
"And if it hadn't been for cook, should I
have been puzzled to find you. Our old {
grocer told me where she was in service, &
and she told me you were married, and q
where you were living" /
Eyes, miss, said Polly, land Dick and t
me stayed on in the old house as long as '
they'd let u.s. But the landlord said we
must 60 at the end Of the half year, and :
that he would put 10 a caretaker OF his own. I
Is the doctor quite well, misss" continued
Polly, with some slight hesitation, and a b
quick, nervous glance at Miss Lynden's t
black dress
my father is no MORE" replied the girl,
and her lips slightly trembled. ut is that, v
principally that. that has brought me to n
Manchester Till the lawyer here who had C
charge of his affairs has wound them up, | C
do not know what have to live on but
I'm told it won't be very much. Are you t
well and happyT' Q
| V
tected that wealth was, at all events. no O
ingredient to such happiness as there might U
be.
"Yes, thank you. miss" said Polly, some> b
what hurriedly. Il brought away what b
letters there were for you when we left
Denton Lodge. | didn't like to leave them @
with the old lady who succeeded US, and |
didn't know where to forward them.n S
Quite right; though It's not likely there | c
are any of Importance
None of Importance, miss" exclaimed {
Polly, triumphantly. "Whv. there's three
from the Crimea;" but, to the girls aston
ishment, her young mistress only replied
YEARLY: 6
The Crimea is thing of the past, and I
many dream connected with 1t. How
ever. get them. all the same"
Polly's domain consisted of but two
rooms, that III which her visitor had found
her, like the cobblers stall, was a combina-
ton OF kitchen and dining-room, and al
thought was summer, there was a spark of
fire burning IN the CRATE wherewith to boil
the kettle. Disappearing for a moment into
the adjoining bedroom, Mr. Tarrant speedily
returned with the letters. There we're two
or three for the doctor and five for herself
The first she opened was from Frances
Smerdon, imploring her to let her know
where she was.
A sweet. womanly letter, which, though
touching on the close of the war and the
prospect of seeing their old friends home
again. never alluded to her engagement.
She pressed Nellie to come and pay her
good. long visit at Twmbarlym, saying she
quite yearned for a regular afternoons
gossip with her; but she never mentioned
Hugh Flening's name, and she had never OF
late omitted TO inquire after him In her let
ters.
Dear Frances muttered Miss Lyn-
den, "she knows all, and lets me see she
does, but she's too much dei1cacy 70 allude |
to it,.
The next letter she opened was that in
which Byng had informed her that Hugh |
was alive, though wounded and a prisoner. |
She read 1t attentlvely.
s'Yesr she murmured, bitterly, 'it was |
more manly not TO speak till he was sure, |
than TO go away with a lie upon his lips; |
and after recking a woman's heart strings |
for a whole year do his best to break it in |
the, end. Yes, and here are two Of his leL- |
tiers written by his lsdy-love's side. l Won
der whether he gave them to her to read be- |
fore posting them TO the poor fool at home |
who believed in him"
The third letter Nellie opened was from |
Mrs. Montague. A commonplace epistle of
vulgar coincidence, expressing her opinion
that Capt. Fleming had behaved shame |
fully, that no man alive was worth break
ing your heart about, that a captain In the
army was no such great catch, and that she
had never been able TO make out that Capt
Fleming had any expectations. Up to the
reading of this precious note, Nell Lynden's
face had been sad aud sorrowful, mingled
with slightly contemptuous expression,