Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1895-08-06


good tasfe. When his mother told him
what h,h occurred before Lali entered
the break kfast room, he went directly to
what hejbelieved was the cause and ad.
vised TAFT with Cancellation. He also
pointed but that Lali was something
taller than Marion, and that she might
be possesse Of that general trait Of hu-
manity.- lvanity Mrs Armour had not
yet got tsed 10 thinking Of the girl in
another ihanner than an intrusive being
Of q loyEer order who was therc to try
their patience, but also to do their bid.
ding. Shb had yet to grasp the fact that,
being hdt sons wife, she must have
thereforela a position in the house, exor-
cising certain authority over the serv.
ants, wlio. to Mrs Armour, at first
seemed OF superior stuff. But Richard
said to her; Mother. fancy you
don't quite grasp the situation The
girl il daughter Of q chief and the de-
sccndant bf family Of chiefs, perhaps
through ,hany generations In her own
land she has been used 10 respect and
has been looked up to pretty generally.
Her garments are. / fancy. con- idered
very anait in the Hudson bay country.
and finely decorated blanket like hers
Is expensive up there. You see, we have
to take the thing by comparison, so
please give the girl chance"
And Mk. Armour answered wearily:
81 suppose you are right, Richard You
generally hre in the end, though why
you should be do not know, for you
never soc anything Of the world any
more, and YOU moon about among fhe
cottagers. / suppose it's your native
sense and the books you read. "
Richard laughed softly, bat there was
n queer riig in the laugh, and he came
over stunt blingly and put his arm round
his moth,r's shoulder. Mover mind
how ! getlsuch sense as have, mother.
I have so 3nuch time to think it would
bo q wondlr IL / hadn't some. But
think we bad better try to study her
Sni coax Der along and not fob her of
as verylinferior person, or We shall
have our hands full in earnest My
opinion is thc has got that which will
save her AID rs, too-a very high spirit,
which onl, needs opportunity to develop
into remarkable thing. and, take my
word for ID mother. il we treat her as
a chieftainbss, or princess, or whatever
she is, and mot simply as dusky person,
we shall ctme of better, and she will
come of b. liter in the long run. She Is
not darkerIthan Spaniard anyhow. p"
At this point Marion entered the
room, and her mother rehearsed briefly
TO her what their talk had been. Marion
had had little sleep, and she only lifted
her eyebrows at them ut first She was
in little mdod Of conciliation. She re-
membered I'LL at once that at supper the
evening bifore her Gster-in-law had
said Howl to the butler and had eat
on the may ybnnaise with dessert spoon.
But presently, because she saw they
waited for her TO speak, she said. with
little futI Ter Of maliciousness:
"WouldII't it be well for Richard
he has p!elty Of time, and we are also
likely to hive IL now-to put Cs all
through cburse Of instruction for the
training oil chieftainesses? And when
do you thihk she will be ready for a
drawing roim-her majesty Queen VIC
toria's or ohrsi"
"Marionl' said Mrs Armour severe
ly, bat Richard came round to her, and
with his frelh. childlike humor put his
arm round her waist and adfcd, Ma
rion, I'd bd willing to bet (if / were in
the habit of betting) my shaky old pins
here against lock of your hair that
you may pihsent her at any drawing
room-ours ,or Queen Victoria sin two
years il we ko Mt it right, and IL would
serve Master Frank very we'll il we
turned her dut something, after al. "
Mrs. Armbur said almost eagerly: II
wish it wete only possible, Richard.
And what lou say is true, / suppose
that she is u rank in her own country,
whatever value that may have"
Richard s)aw his advantage. well,
mother" hk said. "a chieftainess is
chieftainess, and l don't know but TO
announce hek as such and"-
And be lproud Of IL, a. IL were,
put In MariCh. ''and pose her and make
her a prize-la Pocahontas, wasn't it,
and go on pretending world without
endr' Maripn's voice was still slightly
grating, but here was in IL, too. faint
sound Of hoIl Perhaps. )" she said to
herself. 'RiIhard is tight"
At this p!int tho door opened, and
Lali entered shown in by Colvin, her
newly appointed maid, and followed by
Mackenzie, hnd. as we said. dressed
still in her lIeaihenish garments. She
had a strong sense of dignity. for she
stood still anil waited Perhaps nothing
could have Impressed Marion more. Had
Lali been sui lservient simply. an entire
ly passive, ,jnintelligent creature, she
would probably have tyrannized over
her In a soft persistent fashion and de-
spised her geberally. But Mrs. Armour
and Marion saw that this stranger might
become very troublesome indeed IL her
temper were 10 have play. They were
aware Of cap }cities for passion in those
dark eyes. 81 musing. yet so active IN
expression, which moved swiftly from
one object d another and then sudden
ly became rel lolute
Both mothir and daughter came for
ward and hid out their hands, wish.
ing her PLEASANT good morning, ana
were followed by Richard and imme-
diately by General Armour. who had
entered soon after her. She had been
keen enough 10 read. IL little vaguely,
behind the scenes, and her mind was
Weakening sldwly to the peculiarly of
the position she occupied. The place
awed her and had broken her rest by
perplexing hSr mind, and she sat down
to the breakfast table with strange,
hunted look i'm her face. But opposite
to her was window opening to the
ground, and beyond 1t were the lines
and beeches ind wide, perfect sward
and far await little lake, on which
swans and wild fowl fluttered.
Presently, ,Is she sat silent eating
little, her eyet lifted to the window.
They flashed Instantly, her face lighted
up with wfird kind OF charm and
suddenly she kot to her feet with Indian
exclamations bn her lips, and, as If un-
conscious Of ,hem all. went swiftly to
the window abd out Of it. waving her
hands up and down once or twice TO the
trees and the {unlight.
"What did she say?" said Mrs. Ar
mour, rising fith the others
"She said, replied Mackenzie as
she hurried t'ward the window, that