Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-09-24
CHAPTER XII,

Notwithstanding my conversation with
Mr.. Gaseoigne, when Annis next invited me
to 90 with her 10 Gabriel's Walk, | refused.
Viola" she cried you must not refuse
me! What cam do? Hilda says she will not
help me any longer, and | cannot go by my
self. / thought you were 10 be my friend!'
Are you sure It is a friends part TO go
with you?'
Yes" she said. II am not afraid of my
uncle. | would not give up Uric for all the
uncles and all the riches In the world. You
do not think he suspects anything? He has
not forbidden you 10 go with me, has hep
mo, he has not forbidden me. i would
not do anything for which | feared discov-
cry. II | 90, Annis any one who chooses may
tell Mr.. Gaseolgne, so far as l I'm concern
ed"
Then you will come. / knew you could
not be so cruel! Whatever happens, Viola.
you shall not suffer; when Uric and l are
married, you shall live with US and be my
companion
Still l hesitated.
"You have another sister," | said-"Lady
Martin. Would she not 20 with you to meet
your cousin
II have not asked ~Gwendoline," answer
ed Annis. But | know she would refuse.
She says l am a fool to throw away my lib
erty by getting married. Poor G~wendoline!
She does not know how good Uric is. But
she herself is married, so her real reason
must be fear Of angering uncle Richard"
SO | ven with Annis-not that day only.
but often afterwards. Sometimes Uric was
alone, and We would all walk and talk mer-
ill, &.o.tbar Cx,.attnas and ,ra g.
quently, his brother Gilbert came with him.
Wa it not natural then that we should leave
the lovers, and should ramble together by
the lake and the park-side?
How l loved that gloomy dark water, with
the wild INTENDED eyergreens by its bank,
and thai low stone wall, with its gray
lichens and soft green moss, and the little
postern-gate on one side of which only WIS
liberty to us all!
We watched the first buds of s~pring-time
open on the oy~erhanginy trees that shad-
owed the lane, the soft dropping cstkins 1T
the willow, about which the bees clustered
thick, and the ash-1owers AS they changed
from close blackberry-like heads into hang
ing clusters, and the bursting green sheath
of the chestnut, and the soft pale leaves OF
the lime. 1t was in that ane that the
thrushes and blackbiris SAM their sweetest,
and a nightingale had its nest in the copse
by the watcrsidc. There the first violet
opened Its scented flowers, and the earliest
primrose was pulled TO be placed In my
dress. / have that primrose still. There
never were found flowers 80 sweet as those
that grew in Glbriel's Walk; there never
were heard birds songs so sweet as those
We listened to that spring.
What is the meaning OF the song
That rings so Gear and loud,
Thou nightingale amid the copes,
Thou lark above the csoudf"
i seemed to be living two lives through
that sweet ~spring-tide at 81 Gabriel's Grange.
One life was formed of the strange unonoto
nous hours spent In Mr.. Gascoigne's room,
the other OF those In the company of Lady
Martin Pomeroy and her sisters, and those
walks with Annis.
One day l met Gwendollme In the hail. In
her brown homespun walking-dress, aud
noticed that she was alone.
'Shall | go with you, Lady Martin" !
asked, IF Miss Farquhar Is not goingy'
'Ililda Is MT inclined for walking" she
answered quickly. II thought yoa would
be with MIR. Gascoigne at this time"
lie does not want me this afternoon. ]
can be ready In . few minutes. Shall come
with youy'
swhy doesn't he want youg' she said
sharply. "Am | never to 90 withouta keep
er? You can tell him. Miss Thorne, that I
am takiag my maid"
As she spoke. Mathilda appeared from the
inner hall, and her black eyes glanced i'm
solcntly at me AS she passed. l liked this
French maid Of Lady Martins less and less;