Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-11-30
SW EEl NELLY 81
q HUNTINGDON.
CHAPTER yI.-Continued.)

CHAPTER yI.-COntfnued.)
II love your daughter, sir" uttered
the young nan quite simply; Il want
her to be my wife"
And / utterly decline any and every
overture from you or any member or
your family. and l request you to leave
my house this moment"
The words were as measured and pas
siopless as il the speaker had declined
to accept some farmer for a tenant.
Surely" said Lord Langhoime,
warmly, you will not allow your
daughters happiness to be Influenced
by any old family feud that may have
existed between our houses! l come
to you honestly and straightforwardiy,
to ask your daughter fer my wife.
l love her dearly if you give her to me.
I swear hat neither h nor you shall
ever have cause to repent trusting
me-"
He spoke with the warm light COM
ing full into his handsome face, looking,
as he stood there, the yely incarnation
OF all honesty and chivalry.
Il decline to entertain any PROPOSE
ton from you whatever" said Mr..
Huntindon, still in the same unmoved
tone. You have forced yourself II
my presence. If you are a gentleman,
'you will hardly require me TO repeat
my request that you should leave it."
Papa" murmured Nelly, in a stified
voice.
Eleanor" cried her father, leave
the room at once"
"Nelly,' said Lord Langholme,
stretching out his arms to her a she
gave a choked sob.
NO! by c. this is too much!' cried
Mr.. Huntingdon, ~pasSionately. Nelly,
If you let that b~lackguard lay as much
as n finger upon you, you leave my
house tonight and forever, to your
eternal disgrace! Go to your Dol this
Instant" and in a paroxysm Of terror
the poor child obeyed.
Then there were harsh, passionate
words between the two men, and then
the door opened again, and Lord Lang
hOlme strobe away down the avenue
and Mr.. Huntingdon sat oonvulsed with
passion alone in the darkness. Bitter
were the ~reproaches he heaped on
Nelly the next day when he sent for
her. and she with trembling steps
obeyed his summons. His cruel. icy
words cut like a knife. That she, 4
Huntingdon, should have had clandes-
tine meetings with a nan. above all
a Langholme-shculd have suffered her
self to he wooed like n peasant girl
should have forgotten alike her own
dignity and that of her house!
Il shall know better than to trust
You again." he said, with the bitterest
infection of his cruel voice. You shall
never 60 out of sight of my window
alone. And If you yer attempt to see
that-to see Lord Langholme again, or
to hear from him, / take God to wit
ness that the heaviest curse with which
a father can brand a child shall lie upon
you. Now, go. 1 have lost all conf
dence in you; henceforth you are no
daughter of miner
And poor Nelly, covering ami shrink
ing, left the stern, angry presence,
and went to cry her poor little heart
out on Wilson's faithful breast.
Il shall never see him any more"
she moaned to herself; never hear his
voice again; but | shall think of him
always. How could / forget him here
even If l would? But he will 20 back
to the world-he will see many beauti-
full women, and they will make him
forget me. How could he ever care
for a poor little ignorant rustic like
ne? He said / was pretty and the
girl would go to the glass, and stand
there Il long time looking ut herself,
and after all go away unconvinccd.
She could not see any beauty in the
white skin, clear as the velvet leaves
of a white rose; in the brown eyes.
so sad and wistful now; i'm the full
curved lips, not rosy any longer as they
used to be. Then she was fain to
think Of her ~day-dream long ago by the
brooE-that first day that she met him
of the forbidden passion and the
wasting pain, and the little dead maiden
with the lilies on her breast and in
her hands. But that last part would
not come true. She could not die for
love, like the women In romances the
keen vitality in her young frame would
not succumb to sorrow and heartache.
No, there was only a great blank void,
a dreary waste that nothing came to
I'LL up. To think he should have been
Lord LanghOlme after all, and she
had talked against him, and vowed she
hated him! Could she find fault with
him now! No. he was everything that
was dear and good and noble: there
was not n fault or flaw in his gener-
ous heart, in poor Nelly's eyes, more
tiut IL hho iiuih HdhuSDlilc lace. III
she could only hear of him sometimes.
know where he was, whether he still
thought of her; but beyond the infor-
nation that he had gone away again.
and that the Court was shut up, no
ddings ever reached her.
Lord Langholme had written n very
temperate, straightforward letter to Mr..
Huntingdon, begging him to reconsider
his decision, and speaking with honest
~eloquence of his great love for NELLY:
but the inveterate foe Of his house never
even yoCchsafed him an answer; and
with a sore, angry heart, the young
man went away and tried to divert his
thoughts from the pain of his unsatis.
fled longing.
The dreary days crept into autumn.
and autumn into winter, with a dull
stagnation that tried poor Nelly sorely.
then. at last, came a terrible event
to break the monotony. One frosty
morning Mr.. Huntingdon went ont
riding, as usual, and three hours late-
was carried back to the Hall, dead
The horse had stumbled violently. and
Mr.. Huntington was thrown IN his
head with sAlch force that he never
spoke again. oh! the terrible DAYS ond