The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1892-06-03
ASTORYOF BLOOD.
ny N. Z. DRADDoN.
CHAPTER II.-coNrINUED.

&Ou DcyOnu llldb WcSIcIH Alu6 VI itNSl luuESn
and meadow, where they used to watch the
sun going down in golden bed behind the
tall black pOplars. To Kathleen II seemed
Asif the old sweet life, with father and
nurse, must have been a dream. One bitter
grief had come TO them in the last year
The good faithful Biddy was dead 1t had
been her custom TO visit them on the Last
Saturday In every month for an hour In the
afternoon, by special permission Of the
Superior; and neither storm nor rain, snow
nor hail, had ever kept Biddy away. Her
visit was bright spot in the lives Of the
girls. They chung to her and loved her In
that too brief hour as If she had been verify
their mother. The vulgar Irish face, the
hands hardened by toll, the coarse common
clothes, were, TO them, as dear as II she had
been the finest lady in the land She came
70 them laden with fruit and cakes, and she
brought them brlghtcolored neck ribbons
20 enllven their sOmbre black uniform. She
told them her scraps of news about the out
side world. She walked with them in the
garden, or sat with them in the visitors
parlor, and they were utterly happy so long
as she stayed.
At last after they had been four years
aud hgl? In the convent, there came one
never to be forgotten Saturday on which
there was no visitor for the Dem0iseles
Oliara. 1t was peerless June day, and
the girls had pictured Biddy as she walked
along the sandy road from Bruges, where
abe had a hardlsh place as maid-Of-all-wOTk
In a Flemish bridesmaids family. They
faRcied how she would enjoy the sunshine,
and the hedges all in flower, and the song
Of the lark. If they could but be with her,
thought Kathleen, dancing along beside her,
gathering the wild fOwersl But bark
Niere was the convent clock striking three.
In another moment the bell would ring, the
loud harsh bell, which sounded so sweet up
On that one particular afternoon. Blddy
WAS the soul OF punctuallty The clock
had seldom finished striking before the bell
rang. The girls were sitting In the garden,
as near the gateway and the porter's lodge
rs they we're, allowed to go. They waited
and waited listening for the bell, which
veVer rang; which never was again to b.
sung by that honest hand. At last the clock
struck four, and they knew that all hope
was over for that day. From three to four
waS the hour appointed by authority for
Blddy's visit. She would not presume to
come after that hour.
"There will be letter tomorrow, per-
Maps" said Rose, with sigh. Poor dear
Diddyl 1t Is such al effort for her tOwrlte."
But the days went by, and there was no
letter. The last Saturday In July came, and
there had been no sign ortoken from Blddy.
The rules Of the convent school were strict,
and the girls were allowed to write to no
one except relations
That last Saturday in July was a dull
stormy day, sullen sultry day, with heavy
thunder showers. Again the two girls pic
tured Their friend upon the sandy road, this
time wrapped In her irish freze cloak, the
eountrywcman's cloak which she had worn
ever since Rose could remember, and strug-
Cling against the storm with her stout Bel
CLAN umbrella Of dark-red cotton. But the
clock struck three, and the clock struck
four, the girls waiting through the hour
with listening ears and beating hearts, and
there was no touch Of Bridget Ryan's hand
upon the convent bell.
Then Rose grew desperate, and went
straight to the Reverend Mother, and asked
permission to write TO Bridget, who must
UN Ill, VI buLtlJ BIO WOulu unNO COlut. Inc
superior hesitated little; rules were strict,
and II once brokcn-and so on and 80 on.
But the pale anxious face and fearful eyes
touched her, and she gave the required per.
mission and the necessary postage-stamp.
Three days Rose and Kathleen waited
anxiously for the reply to their letter and
then came formal eplste from lawyer in
Bruges, who had the honor to acquaint the
young ladies that their late fathers old ser
want, Madame Ryan, had died at midnight
OH the last Saturday In June, after very
short illness, and that she had beQueathed
the whole of her savings to Mademoiselle
Rose O'Hara, said savings amounting, after
nayment of funeral expenses, to five hun
dred and fifty francs.
Deep and bitter was the grief of the sis
ters at the loss Of this faithful friend-the
only woman friend whose warm motherly
love Kathleen had ever known. Rose gave
q hundred francs to the Reverend Mother 60
be spent In masses for the beloved dead.
Kathleen wanted her to devote all the
Tnoney to that sacred purpose.
'What do we want with the poor darllng's
money@ she asked.
"Nothlng now, dear" answered the more
experienced elder sister; but the day may
come when little money will save us FROM
"a good deal Of misery"
The day came when those few gold pieces,
which Rose kept under lock and key with
all her little treasures in small Iapanned
box that had belonged to her father, made
the two girls independent OF tyranny, or Of
that which seemed to them as tyranny Of
an altogether unbearable kind.
The good Reverend Mother, under whose
firm but friendly rule Rose and Kathleen
had grown up, one to tall well-develOped
girl OF eighteen, the other to slim sapling
of eleven, was transferred to larger and
weather. convent, and was replaced by q
Sonr-vlsaged nun whose piety was OF the
wl0emy order, and who wanted to rule the
community with rodof iron. Everything
was changed under her dominion, every
rule made more severe, every littleinnocent
pleasure curtalled or forbidden. A dark
pail came down upon the convent and dis
content brooded like an evil presence by tho
hearth
Kathleen, In high health, active full Of
aite and spirits was one of the first to break
the new rules. Her gaiety was misconduct,
Ter fresh ringing laugh an offence. She
was continually getting into disgrace; and
Rose, who saw her punished by all sorts Of
small priyatons and by the burden Of extra
tasks. rebelled in her heart against the
tyrant, although she urged her young sister
to submission and obedience.
Th're came day-a bright summerday-
when the punishment lesson was heavier
than usual, although Kathleen's offence had
boon Of the slightest kind.
kathleen O'Hara has an obstinate tenn
pe-, and 1t must be conquered" said the