St. Paul daily globe., 1895-08-11
THE STEPFATHER.

Nurse Barby brought her, was taken
SO i'll she was compelled to go to her
| chamber.
Then Nurse Barby came to Eloiss
and, while she pretended to dress her
pretty curlS, asked her is she could
bear to hear a bit of good news. The
| tears came into Eloise's eyes.
How can any news be good news to
me now, nurse?' she asked, reproach-
| fully.
But if the news was that somebody
| whom you love was not. Lie back
in your chair and be as still as death.
or will never tell you, miss. It's as
much as my life is worth doing what
| l am doing
II will be still if you speak quick.
| clasping her little hands on her bosom.
Well, then, miss, your mamma is
not-not-"
Not Not d dead? Oh Barbyl oh, dear
iooked for T moment omen so onH ike 'ae floWer eNleq
| that a sudden burst of sunshine had
stricken down that Barby's heart mis-
gave her
You wouldn't tell me a story, Bar
| by-I know you wouldn't. Kiss me,
| Barby, if it's true" And Barby kissed
her: Then she said:
You must hurry and get well now,
dear, for mamma is in great trouble,
! and there is no one to- help her but you
and me, and I'm only old Barby, you
| know. No one would believe me-
When can 1 see her, Barby?" the
| child asked.
it" she said, doubtfully You must
get well and then we must watch our
| chance
What made him tell me that she
| was
| He wants your mamma to make A.
| VIII and leave him all the money away
| from you, deary, and now he's made
| everybody believe she's dead, he can
keep her shut up till she does it, he
Where is she, nurse?'
| Not far, but you mustn't ask any
more questions now, and don't you look
! 100 happy, there's a darling, or the
| master will suspect u.s.
| Inc weeks moved by slowly to this
! anxious little heart.
He's a fox, that he isl said Barbara
to herself, .'and We'll never match
him, If We don't look Wild
once more at dead of night. AS she
hurriedly dressed her she whispered:
i put something in the master S
Sidnt TiG ID Sare maze e nm sieep n sound but
| he should suspect; and the t'other one
has got beau
The ''t'other one' was her poor
mothers paid keeper, as Eloise learned
in time. Now, without explanation, she
| was whirled away by Barby, noiseless-
ly, though, as a watt of thistle down,
down this passage, up that, of. the
great rambling "a nar+dn old pis hSHse til they the
/ fallen into disuse, partly because of
| decay, and partly because of some an
| clent superstition such as often fingers
| about such old houses.
| In the inner room of this wing EloiSe
| found the wan shadow of the mother
her poor little heart ached for so long.
To describe the mingled ecstasy anu
pain of that necessarily brief meet
hA 10
fined to her bed by an illness that
| was lingering and painful, but not like
! ly to terminate fatally for years per-
haps, Mrs. Herbert, whom her un-
dead, was completely in his power, SO
| far as her personal liberty was con-
cerned but she had up to this time
remained firm in her opposition to his
wishes concerning a will, and perhaps
if she had yielded it would only have
shortened her days, for a man who
would do what Sidney Herbert had al
ready done would not be likely to stop
at worse, if it served his purpose.
How to help the poor lady-that was
the question, and 1t was decided that
Eloise should try to obtain permission
to visit some friends at a little dis
tance and should take advantage Of
1.-The opportunity to tell her mothers S
story to a lawyer whom she knew in
the same town, and ask his advice.
To the afflicted lady and her two
| simple adherentS 1t looked like a very
difficult matter to circumvent SO bad a
! man as Sidney Herbert.
AS it CHANGED Mr.. Herbert had at
this time a new scheme for molding
his wife to his wishes, and he was
quite willing, therefore, to have Eloise
out of the way for a little while, so
she was sent off to make her visit
Mr. Macy, the lawyer, listened to her
story incredulously at first. He thought
without doubt that the child was
crazy, but she succeeded finally in so
far impressing him that he caused
what was supposed to be Mrs. Her
berts grave to be examined. When he
found a coffin filled with stones and
other rubbish his blood began to tingle,
and he was not long in making raid
upon Sidney Herbert's premises, armed
with due process of law.
Herbert was taken completely by
surprise, or he might perhaps have
spirited his unfortunate wife to some
other quarters.
AS it was, the poor lady was freed
from her cruel Imprisonment, and in
due time set at liberty from him by
one of those laws which he had so dar-
tngly outraged.