Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-10-06
NJ AID CAP;
% R.
THE STORY OF A SIN.
81 HELEN B. NLTHERs.

truant, fOrgetS the unlearned lesson
thas will stare him in the face when to-
morrow he returns unwillingly to schools
And though he felt and knew Madcap
a little estranged from him for while
sure Of his love. the touch of unscrupu-
louSnesS she had discovered in his char
acEer had sunk him IN her estimation,
and it was less as disciple, than judge,
that her clear eyes now and again met
his), yet he would not hurry himself to
please her, and she must go hungry for
a sight of her darlingS, for he knew
that if he once took her over to see
them, it would be beyond his power to
persuade her back again to the White
House.
But when the Eyres had been about
ten days there, it happened one morn
ing, for some reason lnScrutable to mid
dleaged minds, that two young people
chose to get up very early, though nat
uraIly the woman was first in the field;
she had even time to wash her face in
the dew before she CHANGED upon the
humble cause of the disasters of that
fatal day-the Deus er machina in this
case being an ass, who had no idea of
any higher destiny than to carry the
gardeners wife once a week to market,
where she disposed Independently of
her husband) OF such green-Stuff5 as
she had herself tilched during the
week from his Grace'S garden.
Being In certain sense cOntraband,
like tile wares. he occupied an clubhouse,
into which, by mere chance, Madcap
happened to look; and being struck by
a WakefulneSS in his glance that limited
at an older acquaintance with the dawn
than her own, she approached MIN with
carrot that Providence had placed just
beyond his reach, and so established 81
bond Of sympathy between herself and
him.
She regarded him affectiOnately while
he ate it; thinking o. those lOng-diStant
jauntS in which she and Frank had been
used to indulge. Somehow she seemed
to be always looking back now, not 1Or-
ward, and many of her stajd ways were
vanishing in the delightfully."- youthful
influence that Frank had brought into
her lie.
CHANGING round, her eyes fell on an
old sideSaddie, with bit and bride be-
side il; and almost before any definite
idea mad formed itself III her mind, she
had picked the saddle up, aud laid it
across the ass.
He took the proceeding quite natural
ly, and when she had SadIled and bri
died him, walked of his own accord to a
block OF wood at a little distance, upon
wniCl she might mount. and so reach
his ba k. This she did, and rode out of
the doorway, with a pleasant sense of
going nO-Whither, yet with a chance of
adventure that warmed her young blood,
and made her think with fine pity of
The souls she had left sunk deep in
slumber behind the suffered windows
Of the house yOnder.
Now the ass WAS accustomed to fol-
low one invariable path, which led by
cross cuts and unexpected lanes to the
market town of MarmitOn, 50 that
presently Madcap, who had abandoned
herself to his will, found herself jog
ging along in a direction that seemed
familiar to her; and all at once, with a
thrill OF delight, percelVedsthat she was
on her slow way to LOvel.
1t had been the longing to see D0dy
ana D2une that had kept her wake
half the night, and brought her out SO
early, nova look of inspiration flash
ed into her eyeS-Why should she not 90
to them? The ass plOdded determined
ly on; relieved of that dread of being
expected to trOt, which is the distin-
gushing characteristic of his race, he
WAS honestly bent on reaching Marmi-
ton IN good time, and if he had known
OF a Providence, would have thanked it
for the unusual lightneSS Of the burden
on his back.
SO Madcap, not without some back
ward thought of Mr.. Eyre, but with
vague feeling that the ass was more to
blame than herself, ambled along be-
tween tie fresh hedgerOWs, realizing
that Nature in undreSS far Out-matches
charms \ 2turp pnuinnQ6 q all nnJnfS
for cOnqueSt-felt that the first wan
cloud in the sky, the first sharp scent
IN the air, the first sound almost harsh
III the intense, pure air. of life in the
hedge, struck chords in her soul that
more closely touched pain than pleas
ure. 1t is when the breath of God has
faded from the morning, when we only
see 1t IN its dimmed purity and silence
that we are able to regard it as mere
accidental arrangement of form and
color, only made beautiful by our own
perceptions.
For the first two miles. Madcan
scarcely thought of her children, and
not at all of herself-she was tasting
one of those new experiences to which
youth lends itself SO graciously; bat in
the third mile something set her off
laughing, and after that she was just
herself though rather tired, for the sad
die was hard, and the too willing jog,
jog OF the ass set up running accom-
panlment Of bumps that made her long
to descend, though doubts as to how she
was to get up again, kept her ia her
seat. She was growing hungry, too,
and had not passed single farmhouse,
or met so much as cowherd. and wheR
her attitude in the saddle was becom-
ing a somewhat bowed one, perhaps she
was not sorry to hear in the distance a
sound as of human approach. But sud
denly the pangs of hunger receded, and
a sense of fun and frOlic seated her
firmly. while with one hand she drew
over her head and face the white hood
that hung on her shoulders; for she felt
that this swift, nervous tread was no
yOkel'S. but that of a man as bent on
enterprise as herself, and she drew her
hood closer, smiling in her sleeve at the
thought of how Mr.. Eyre, Weakening,
had set out in hot pursuit intending to
bring her back.
She felt the footsteps approach, then
slacken beside her, but keeping her
face to the hedgerOW cOnsOled herself
by thinking that one WOman's white
gown is so like another; and there was
not an inch of cOuntenance visible to
which even husband might swear.
But pair of feet may sometimes
have distinct physiognomy Of their
own, and those slender ones of Madeap,
high and dry on the ASS side. struck
the beholder with a sense of familiarity
that arrested his steps, and enthis keen
glance over the lines of her shape, and
the little ungloved hand that held the
reins.
Can you tell me the way to Lovel?"
he said. respecting her evident wish not
to be observed. yet convinced that this
was Madcap, and Madcap bent on seri-
Gus mischief, since she would not take