Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-09-19

| 10 De counted dmUuS lHe real lEUuDIeS
of life.
Il am going to Huston" she said,
when she met Mrs. Atherton at din
ner, land I have written TO Laura to
say she may expect me ON Saturday
next"
Every good, dear" said Mrs. Ather-
ton, smiling, II think you need the
change"
That was Tuesday, and by saturday
morning at breakfast-time Lefty had
al her preparations completed. Her
boxes were packed and corded and
her parcels were all piled together in
the hall; and Lefty herself pale and
tired-looking, sat at their late break
fast, her nair pushed into a silk net
her feet in slippers, and one of the
oldest and plainest of her morning
wrappers around her.
It was not a very becoming toilet
for a young heroine. but then there
was not a particle Of heroine in Lefty.
She was every bit as tired as she
looked, and three times as miserable:
all her best dresses were lying neatly
folded in the hail. her hair would have
to be plated and twisted up artistfcal-
ly for the journey: or rather for in
specti0n at the end of it. and what
more reasonable than to let it be now.
and to take her breakfast in peace
and quiet, undisturbed by thoughts of
stray visitors or shabby morning pa
perS.
Lefty did not escape this fate-why
should she? Heiresses are only NOR
tails, and breakfast was scarcely over
when, CHANGING to look up. she was
astonished, startled almost. to see her
father pass before the window. Ernest
DevereuX with him. Mrs. Atherton
saw them, too, and settled the ribbons
of her cap complacently-she was not
IN dishabille; but Lefty rose hastily.
too disturbed to remember her fatigue:
she was a true woman. and her morn
ing dress was fright. SO with a few
rapid bounds she escaped I'D the stair
case, as Mr.. Leigh and his companion
came into the hall.
why, who is come Mrs. AthertOn ?"
was Mr.. Leigh's salutation to that
lady, as she came gracefully forward
to welcome him.
mo one, my dear sir" was the re-
ply, but we are about to lose someone
instead. Miss Lefty is going today on
visit to Hulston.'
Ernest stopped short in his greeting
tn orla Si1 ar 10 milo
and then at Mr.. Leigh's cloudy face.
''Confoundedly hard,'' he thought, 'if
| have gone through all the bother of
the past few weeks, and come here
only to find my last chance slipping
ont of my fingers; may pack off back
to Calais as soon as l please, after
this
Just like her perversity, and the
perversity of things altogether" Mr..
leigh was thinking, ''but I'll see to it
that those boxes are unpa cked before
the hours out, or I'll know why"
The two gentlemen had walked from
the station; they were dusty and tired,
and Mrs. Atherton's cup of good tea
was very welcome to them.
After breakfast Ernest DevereuX
went to his room, the same he had
occupied when with Charles Temple
on his former visit. He found fire
burning brightly ON the hearth, and
everything looking home-like and COM
Portable. But he did not look very
comforta BILE in mind, whatever he
might be in body, as he flung himself
into the low, chintz-covered rocking
chair, and throwing his legs over buff
fet sat smoking modify His face
was pale and set. his hard mouth
harder than usual, and there was
sullen light in his blue eyes that re-
minded one irresistibly of an animal
that felt itself in the tolls, and saw
open to it but one doubtful chance
Of escape. His one chance lay in
speedy marriage with Elizabeth Leigh,
heiress in her own right. Lefty Leigh
he liked very well: but Lefty the heir
ess he was not only willing, but eager
to marry. His chance of ever doing
that seemed small enough just at pres
ent. The respite he had won, with in
finite pain and endless promises, from
the more pressing Of his creditors, was
but a short one: and if this throw
failed. he had nothing to look forward
to but an exile in France or else
where, until such time, as his credit
ors, wearied of watching for him, gave
up all hope of ever getting their dues.
He had lived a gay life; he Ihad
frothed and fioated among the creme
de la creme, a penniless heir Of a good
old name, with nothing to keep it up
on. He might have been said to have
lived by his wits ends for some years,
but that is such a vulgar way Of eX-
pressing it, and Ernest DevereuX and
his kind so shrank from vulgarity. He
could live so no longer, and he knew
it: not because his wits were growing
less keen, but because dearly bought
experience was sharpening the wits OF
many round him. The great shark
had gobbled up all the little fishes in
it's neighborhood so long, that the lit
tie fishes were growing cautious and
the great shark found it necessary to
move into deeper water, or be gobbled
up in turn.
by Jove!" he thought, as he sat
! there, ''if she goes today it's all up,
and I'm not quite sure the old fellow
can stop her.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Atherton, commits
stoned by Mr.. Leigh, had sought Lefty
cho ho