The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1895-06-13
CHAPTER XVIII.
1T MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

pointed that the boy should hav,
died-the boy who he hoped would
one day succeed him and become {
better man than his father, but hi
heart was not touched in the lattel
as Lady Gertrude's was. That is, il
was only touched indirectly. 1t was
in seeing her suffer so acutely thai
he suffered most himself.
She was quiet and accomplishing,
"~resigned to the will of heaven,''
she said, but for all that she wal
fading away from very grief, ant
each day grew paler and winter.
Poor Gertrude, she could not b,
Clement D~unraven's reputed wifi,
without sharing his heritage OF woe
Indeed, she seemed to have to suffeI
more a~cutely for his trausgression'
than even Lisbeth did, and yet Lisbetl
had 10 an extent helped him in hi!
sin, whereas Lady Gertrude was
ignorant even of the knowledge OF
it.
She did not take to her bed or
wall or weep, but tried to go about
her daily ]avocations as usual, after
the poor little baby was buried.
''Glve sorrow words, the grief that does not
speak,
whispers the DER ~fraught heart and bids it
break"
Every morning she took a basket
of flowers and strewed them on the
tiny grave, herself as white and
fragile as the rare exotics she scat
tered on the earth.
For a whole month this went on,
and then came a day when-the
churchyard being nearly a mile from
the house-she tainted on her return
and DR.. Watson said that the walks
must be discontinued. In fine
weather she might 60 in the pony
carriage, but in rain or east wind she
was to bide at home-he hoped by
thus rendering her visits to the grave
less frequent that they would dis
continue altogether in time. But
neither DIR. Watson nor even Clement
knew how grief was consuming this
desolate mothers heart, only Lisbeth
knew, since she gagged Lady Ger
trude's feelings by what her own
would be if she lost her darling Lisa.
And on the days when Lady Ger
trude could not visit the baby's
| grave, it was Lisbeth who went in
her place.
She thought she owed some repair
alton for the jealousy she had felt
about the poor wee mite, and her
sorrow oven his death was consider
ably increased by the knowledge
that, when in life, she had more
than once wickedly wished him
dead.
The leafy month of June was once
more filling the whole country side
with foliage, fragrance and roses,
yet neither to the inmates at Aboyne
Court nor to her who was SO deeply
interested in both their lives, did it
bring gladness.
Sir Clement walked about looking
like a spectre, Lady Gertrude
seemed to be shrinking away from
life, and to grow smaller and winter
every day, while Lisbeth wept bitter
tears she had lever wept before as
she thought that but for her how
different it would all have been.
AS for fussy, CHEEKY DR.. Watson,
he was almost beside himself. He
hated the sight of trouble and suffer-
ing, and for that very reason, as he
himself said, he devoted all his time
to a desperate endeavor to stem it.
''The epidemic of misery" as he
forcibly called it, which seemed of
late to have broken out in the dis
trict, was beyond his power to grasp,
and he was considerably worried
thereby.
He had patched up Elvitha Delane
to a certain extent, and sent her off
abroad, very soon he had intended
to have a conversation with Sir Miles
Berkeley and have sent him after
her, to see if a happy combination
for them both could not be brought
about; but the death of the little
heir at Aboyne Court had upset all
his calculations and the little doc
tors equilibrium 30 completely that
he was at his Wits end.
Disease he could combat as
bravely as most men, he thought,
but not mental suffering, that was
out of his province. 1t wanted a
woman's more tender manipulation.
He would 60 and have a chat with his
good friend Lisbeth, and see if she
could not help him.
With all his acumen DIR. Watson
had failed to discover how very
closely Lisbeth was mixed up with
those troubles he wanted her to help
In dispensing, and that it was not
merely, as he supposed, the foul
suspicion that for a time had rested
on her father, that had temporarily
affected her. He occasionally looked
in at the cottage to see how Jim
Glendinning was, and to give him a
tonic or any little thing that he
thought would better his condition.
He would go there now, he de-
cioed, one very hot day, when he