Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-09-15

| iron nerves, and h iIsli bag ed OF her.
| since they could 400 IN .nd tue matter,
| to discuss it with n no more. On one
| point he had been firm. that when they
| met Lord LOYel, either abroad or in the
| village, she should accord to him the
| recognition that was suitable. consider
| ing the friendly relations that had ex-
! listed between the two families, all the
more so that the county had received
| him with cOlInas5. and subjected him
| TO Sights that. wuI.e borne by Frank
| with simple herOSm. reused every in
| stinct of manhood in Mr.. Eyre. and
| madeahim curse the day when tbrO IGN
Hester he had lost his independence.
| And Madcap had so far Obeyed him
| as to sweep Frank 4 magn licent c1arJ-
| esq when she met him at neighbours
| house. then turned on her heel the next
| moment. and this she called a recOTni-
ton more than equal to his merits, as
| she told Mr.. Eyre later. And he had
| laughed grimly-somehow he was al
ways grim now, though more her lover
| than ever; sometimes she thought his
| fathers death must have shocked him.
he had become SO gray, and the lines N
! his face so deep. Perhaps. too, he falJ
| for her bitter disappointment in Frank,
| as he had loved the lad, even while he
| robbed him.
But she had never dreamed LORI
! LOvel would dare approach her in her
| own home till to-day. when, Oh lOok.n :
up. she had seen NJ. Eyre with Frank
| beside him; and though the latt had
! the grace to pause at a distance 30 r.
ceive her slight Acknowledgement Of his
| presence, she nOle the less felt thtt
here was the beginning Of an inJim .ay
that could never prove anything b II III
! tOlerable to her.
And what a lack Of delicacy," she
| thought, lifting her eyes to face that
| gave no sign for he was by now recon
ciled to standing in her opinion LOT
what he was nOC), AMI, indeed, showed
| so much health, sweetness, and good
| humOr is provoked her with him mo e
| than eVar. AMI showed him ugly as Sill
beside Mr.. Eyre's virtue. To the child
rem no such defOrmity was apparent as
| they left Madcap, and ran to him with
| a familiarity tnat even their fathers
| presence could not check; and at this
fresh proof of how all things loved him.
she thought OF Hester. and turned her
eyes away from behOldng the blot that
he had made on her landscape. 4 ID in
Hester, too, she was bitterly disap-
pOlnted-that one interview between
them had not prepared her for a woman
willing to sink into mere hang ron
at the gates Of the man who had wrong
ed her, even if that man were so hard
ened in sin as to permit it-and gradual
ly the passionate bond Of sympathy
with Hester had slackened, and the
longing to speak with her, to try an
help her, died out in Madcap's heart,
and nearly equal in guilt stood both
man and woman in her eyes.
Perhaps the touch of ingratitude to
herself shown in HeSter'S persistent
avoidance Of her ,cOntrlbutedtOMadc
senses of disappOlntment-We find it SO
much more easy to forgive the sins o.
others when our forgiveness is specially
entreated-but this pair Of ,nner5 asked
no mans dissolution, and were even
careful to parade their WrOn@-dOmg on
the house-tOps, so that Madca IS att. ude
only family shadOWed forth that stern
er one of the whole county toward
them.
wait till the Duke comes" Mr..
| Eyre had said one day when his atten-
ton had been drawn to some fra5l
slight to Frank; and within an hour
had written a letter that he rode some
ten miles to post, but which, oddly
| enough. was addressed to the Duchess,
not the Duke.
But Madcap had little faith in Frank s
| rehabilitation nOW-it would be only
WhiteWashing Sepulcher, Sne thought.
as she looked down into the little ugly
face of a grGen-man OrchiS that Dolly
had plucked out of the. hedge and
brought to her; and the uglineSS Of that
little freaked representation Of m ~
hood showed handsomely to her ba5 de
the outward preSentment Of Franks
moral iniquity.
pobj,,J hon, bo ba1rro o,,r1yo1 che ,.,,1
on either side, so thai she SCENE to sit in
a green eibOW-chair, whence to gaze ouC
at the moving panorama Of life i'll the
meadow beyond. Now and again,
blown by little puff of air, came from
a neighbOring field the delicate perfume
of poisoning beans, creSting all other
scents as a minor key of music will
separate itself from the louder chords
around it to penetrate to the inmOSt
sense and heart; and as Madcap leaned
back, with DOdy'S green-man in her
hands, she forgot Frank in a thought
subtle and sweet as the scent itself.
There had lately come a change in
her looks-the difference between a
June rose stepped in sunshine, spark
ling with dew, and q white musk rose,
that in its Titania-like tender beauty
woos us nearer to gaze at the purity
|
this change in her that moved both the
mems hearts as one, and set them Shout
der to shoulder, to guard her against
the mere possibility Of harm.
And thus hedged round by a love
| vigilant, devoted as q mothers, it seem
ed as though no evil could reach her;
but the intense stain, the ever-recur-
ring dread, were becoming too much
| for even Mir. Eyre'S iron frame, though
he had not yet realized that, beyond a
! certain point, suffering might pass be-
yOnd his own control, or that physical
effects Of mental causes might take
matters into their own hands and carry
him beyond his Will; but Frank ob8erV-
ed many signs in him that escaped Mad
cap. and entreated him in vain to seek
| change OF Thought III travel.
Mr.. Eyre, however, stood firm; he did
not believe IN running away from fate,
he said, and Madcap was better at home;
there was his book, too, that he was
just then busy on, and If he could ward
off those sudden fits of sleep that over
| powered him at odd moments, he would
be as we'll as ever.
Even to Frank he did not show what
was in his mind; his habltual reserve
made it easy to drop the veil as he
| pleased; but could Frank have looked
! within, he would have been appalled, at
the glimpse afforded. a proud man,
hitherto above the necessity Of lying
IIr. Eyre found his present life of dis
honor and subterfuge worse than death:
his freedom gone, with that sense OF
security in his life that he had 50 keen
! " valued-fettered, poWerleSs, the part
that he had perSonated becoming hardai
to him each day-he might have ex.
! claimed with CaI1SSin that ha who foCoc