The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1892-04-22


CASTING SLEEPS EYES AT THE HAND
SOME PAINTER.
earnest and fed, carrying his darling
boy with him and accompanied by his
faithful retainer, William Bladon.
"And Wanda"
"You shall lear. Of course my lady
was mum as q mouse as to the true
state of affairs and all the county called
at the hall to express their sympathy,
even those who had held aloof before
on account of my lady's origin, but pub
licity did not suit her book and she de-
clincd to receive anyone"
'Playing the role of wifely martyr,
I suppose?"
Eyes, sir. Now just four months
after the earl's departure, Wanda was
born. Then, see what happened. Will
you believe it, sir, but that woman
hated that poor little child with an aver
sion that was sicllening-aye, loathed
it from the very hour of its birth?"
"What a wretch!' Harry burst forth
in honest Indignation.
"You may well say so, sir; for her
conduct towards it became so brutal
that even Hayter interfered, and can
assure you, sir that he is not one to
evince sympathy for the suffering of
another"
''Did his remonstance do any good,
Mrs. Horner?'
''Yes. The baby and 1 were removed
to the Dover house,
'The Dover house?"
aye, a fine old-fashioned stone man.
sion about half way from here to the
hall. You will see it if you go up to the
hall to-morrow-stands in a fine garden,
laid out in the Dutch style, after the
manner of the grounds of the kings
palace at The Hague, I've been told"
''With a very high porch approached
by stone steps?" Harry interrupted.
"Whoever told you that, Mr.. Eves-
ham?" the landlady asked in surprise.
"Wanda-our Wanda across the ocean
when she described you to me, Mrs.
Horner-for the old house and yourself
were the only objects of her early life
that clung to her remembrance.
''Now, God bless the little golden
haired darling, and did she remember
me?" the woman asked, deeply affected.
''She did; but do go on with your
story, if you would serve one you ap-
parently loved SO much"
"Well, sir, somehow or other Mr. Am
brose-who ought to have been Lord
Arundel, you llnow-got to hear of his
sisters i'll treatment"
The woman wept bitterly. To turn
her thoughts Harry asked: SIS Lady
Arlington now at the hall?"
''She is. But have not told you all
about her. Strange to say, during the
past year, she has changed so that she
is but the shadow of her former self
her old arrogance is gone, her beauty
fled-she goes about the grounds like a
ghost
''Contrition?"
"Abject remorse. If it were not that
Hayter holds her in hand of iron, she
would confess to the world her base sin.
AS it is, she is treated in her own house
as harmless lunatic, guarded by the
creatures that wicked man has secured
to do his bidding; for he rules house and
estate as though he were the lord of it."
And does no one interfere?"
"No one knows, sir. The servants
are all Hayters people; the gentry have
no suspicion but that my lady's health
has broken down under my lords de-
sertion; and there is not a more re-
spected man in the country than Mr..
Hayter-so proper, so sedate, so regular
in his attendance at ehurch-such a
paragon of perfection.
The woman spoke bitterly.
Zone more question, Mrs. Homer
Did that first wife-I mean the one
Lord Arlington married in secret-leave
any children?"
"Pshaw, sir that was only cock.
and-bull story got up by Iayter. She
died, just as my lord supposed,
within six months of her marriage"
We'll" Harry said emphatically, 81
think there was some poetic Judgment
in the suffering Lord Arlington endured,
for he must have deserted his French
wife"
Nay! even In that he was more
sinned against than SHINING. You see
he married her when he was q mere
She was bad, dissolute woman, and
left him of her own accord to share the
fortunes of previous lover"
"What a hellish conspiracy! Now,
Mrs. Horner, you and must try to
straighten out this tangled coil. Do
you think that YOU could contrive for
me an interview with Lady Arlington?"
st is possible, sir. But, if you will
take my advice You will get the young
lady here before you act. With her
daughter by her side, believe she
would have courage to face even Paul
Hayter. And, if the new lord-your
George Arundel-came too, he would
be power to shield her in her efforts
to free herself from the malign in
fluence of that scheming villain"
'An that would take time" Harry
objected.
'And it will be work of time any
how. The hall is guarded like prison,
and you have no authority to break the