The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-08-05
bat poInl AZ rest,O added tho sehOOl.

absent from Ms manner
"Lat us leave this place as soon MS We
can" said Stella, looking through the
small windows towards the mere
| glimpse OF sky they otlorded. She
seemed as a bird ENGAGED.
"The sooner the better, my dear" re-
piled her father,
Before ten days had passed they were
settled in Abbott's Field, an old-world
village surrounded blythe Sussex Downs,
across which swept for many q mile the
bEiay breezes from d bordering sea- No
| view OF the ocean was visible, Tor to
north to south, to east and west,
stretched p%ndnlattng plaina-great bill
lows OF pasture land, and teeming fields
rich and cultivated, with here and there
upon the heights a windmill with brown
sails lickoring across the open blue,
the whir OF their movements heard
from afar like the voice OF the waves.
The village itself vas a long wide
street that suddenly expanded in the
centre TO q great space resembling u
square, where a rough stone cross had
stood since the days when the old faith
held sway. At one corner was the
principal inn, matched and gabled,
with great gargoyles at the caves, stolen
from some monastic building, worn
stops giving entrance to its snnded
floors, Its windows small, q s~ign-boOrd
swinging from a post close by. Almost
facing it wRs the vicarage, u long, low
building, with Il spacious garden living
around II, the fruit trees OF which
temptingly hung their branches over
the wall and above the street, inspiring
greed and wicked desire in the hearts
OF youth.
From this point the village struggled
into the country proper, the few houses
II contained being semi-detached, Fo-
sembling cottages, and having gardens
to front and TO rear, the latter divided
only by hedgea from the meadows where
cattle peacefully pasture.
In one of these dwellings, q building
larger than its n%oighbors, and far apart
| from them, stood tho house where the
schoolmaster and his daughter found
lodgings, But one story high and
matched, its caves were deep, its win
| dows latticed, its door sheltered by q
porch, its walls covered with honey
suckle, jasmine and woodbine, its old
fashioned garden abloom with lilac,
beds Of mignonette, sweet William,
stocks and early rose.
At first sight OF the cottage Stella aud
| her father were delighted, aud grato.
fully accepted the offer OF sharing 1t
with ita present tenant, Mrs. Byschree,
IN elderly widow, who some few months
previously had become MI lnhabitant Of
the village. An arrangement was read
ily arrived ut by which they were to
| occupy one side Of the house and Mrs.
! BysChree the other, so it would be I'M
necessary the tenants should meet ii in
clination kept them apart.
After their entrance into their now
home some days passed before they
again encountered the roma who
| shared the shelter Of tho same ROOF,
| This Stella regretted, for from the first
she had liked Mrs. Byschree and felt
that the Widows personality Inspired
an interest which was |inseparable from
speculation. Her appearance aud man.
ner declared her TO be OF gentle birth.
| Her face, long and narrow, well mould.
cd and refined, was pale eVon to pnitid.
ness, and yellow.tinted like old ivory;
her hair brushed low upon n wide, high
forehead, was silvery white, her large
grey eyes had a faded look and an ex-
| preston OF dreaminess and abstraction,
| as II the world around had less reality
for her than the world within; her fig
ure, which was above the middle height
| OF woman, was still graceful, and must
once have been beautiful, but what
were formerly curves had now become
angles, and her shoulders were slightly
stopped:
In guessing her ago one might have
imagined her close on sixty, II not be-
yond three score, vet at times her face,
Notwithstanding its unmistakab!e signs
OF suffering, bore n %singularly youthful
look. Her voice was low; her manner
restrained and absent. She never
smiled. Subsequently,, on becoming
better acquainted with her, Stella
noticed that Mrs. Bysehree occasionally
spoke in an undeatone that was almost
o whisper, as II communing with her.
self rather than addressing others; like.
wise had sho q habit OF turning hor
head abruptly whilst others spoke, as
If straining to hear that which could
reach no human cars; and now aqd
then her large gray ayes wandered as'if
following figures moving through space
unpeopled to othpr sight.
There was q certain dreamlness and
air of mystery about her which con-
yeyed tho idea Of her living u life apart
from hor kind, one in which they had
no place. Stella thought Of her us II
fate haunted woman, and, feeling that
she had suffered, tho girl's heart went
out to this lonely and stricken mortal.
Whatever crisis her life had passed
through, hor love OF nature remained
fresh aud keen. Flowers bloomed upon
the mantle piece, brackets and tables Of
her sitting room, and every morning
the square outside its windows was filled
by q hungry, eager.eyed, impatient,
twittering crowd; sparrows from their
nests in the thntch, robins, l%innets,
fnehes from the hcdgerows, blRCkbirds,
thrushes and starlings from q copBe
close BY, and skylarks from the meadow
lands, all waiting ongerly TO ho0r tho
window-sash being opened, and to see
showers oftcrumbs flung amongst them.
1t wal in her garden, however, that
shc took chief delight, and here she
wandered continually about the flower.
beds, leather gloves upon her hands,
scissors by her side, clipping deRd
leaves and withered branches, or cut
ting the flowers she gathered. Jacob
Solwyn, Joining hOr II day, asked II
he might bU permitted to help, aud OK.
planned that gardening had been his lG.
vorite employment In this manner
the iCinoss OF their acquaintance was
broken through; u common pursuit