Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-09-05

t old Judith, and made shift himsel
5 with her niece. Perhaps he though
that faithful servant, close-mouthe'
and cautious, the fittest to listen t
? such words as he had listened to tina
} day. Perhaps he knew that thougl
} their meaning might be penetrated
! for he by no means moderated the oil
woman's shrewdneSs- they would o.
! as safe with her as with himself
Miss Leigh recovered but slowly
and DR.. Lennard still continued hi
visits. He came as friend nova.
, more than a friend; the bright ant
sudden flushing Of Letty's cheel
limited he was welcome; but then tn,
!. doctor was not bound to see that. H,
!; read poems to her; he took her out OF
sunny afternoons to look at the see
from a seat in her little garden. He
bent over her and watched over hel
i like a mother might over an ailine
child, but he never forgot that she was
j the heires,s of his dead wife.
! DR.. Lennard did not dream that Il
was anything but friendship that
drew him SO often to that quiet little
! cottage, but its shy young mistress
did; still, as she seemed, she knew il
! was love.
/ While the young girl dreamed and
sighed, and the strong man played
+ with the fire, Mr.. Leigh was looking
! out for a husband for his daughter.
i To find one that suited him proved
rather difficult. Those who might
have sought the hand of the heiress. if
3 time and opportunity had been
granted them, the old man looked upon
with the utmost contempt. He was 40
miser. He did not want to mate with
gold. He wanted a gentleman for his
child, and, to find one, he went to
LOpdOn. That city was the universe
, in the eyes of Leigh. His brilliant
youth and doubtful manhood had been
passed among it's glories; and in his
age, its charm was as great AS ever
for him. SO he went, and Mrs. Ather-
ton remained In charge of Lefty.
The corn was ripcning for the sickle;
the low, marshy grounds were putting
on their autumn CARDS of purple and
deep rank greenery, and the little cot
tage was in a glowing tangle Of
blooms when it's master returned. He
came alone, and he looked haggard
and anxious: but he would be cheer.
full, and he told them that he ex-
pected company following him.
Mrs. Anterior was all complacency.
She was overjOyed at her dear mas
ters safe return; she was pleasantly
excited over the coming guest, and de-
lighted with everything.
Not 50 Letty-the girl was tired out;
the new hats, and dresses. and sum-
mer mantleS had been worn again
and again; the gushing young lady
friends had sunk from patronizng
celestials into positive bores. The
novelty Of being an heiress had worn
off, and she sickened at it's monotony;
and that the life Of an heireSs, be it
lived in town or country, is monotOn-
Gus, let no one deny. Her money had
opened for her the gates Of many long
coveted pleasures, but it had barred
the only one she cared very much for
entering. 1t found for her many new
friends; it lost for her one OLD one;
and the waywardneSs of a child she
turned her back to them all, to grieve
and cry out for the unattainable.
DR.. Leonard was everything a rich
lady patient could expect or desire,
but SOmething-What she could not tell
had changed her at once and com
pletely. He never called her Miss
Lefty now; he had ceased to come in
when the delicious twilight was drop
ping down over the hsat and hurry Of
the long summer day; he never
walked out with her; he never sat IN
the shady little parlor and read favor
tie authors, as he had done in those
first er-to-be-forgotten days of her
convalescene.
SO, wanting all this, the girl had
grown tired Of everything, and Of her
self above all; and there were times
when, if she could have gone and laid
this heavy weight Of gold in the hand
that had dropped it as a curse at her
feet, she would have done it. At
others she tried to think Of the pleas
ures it had procured and would still
procure, her father, now getting an old
man; when she tried to look bravely
out on a lonely, barren, life-track,
where her one star should be the faint
glimmer Of her fathers love, her only
solace the attendance Of him.
: Altogether it was not much wonder
that the thought Of strangers just at
that particular time was the reverse
of welcome to her, but that she kept
to herself, and began to lavish her
| love on her father, in the vain hope
that the more she loved him the less
she would grow to love Paul Len
nard.
! Almost the first question Of Mr..
Leigh had been:
where's Doctor Lennard?"
! Mrs. Atherton explained that since
Mr. Leigh had left for London there
seemed to be no attraction for the doc,
tor at their quiet little cottage, and he
had ceased to call altogether Of late
She looked up under her lashes al
Lefty as she spoke, and Lefty, meet
ing the glance flushed crimson.
i Il wanted to see him." continued
Mr.. Leigh. u must get him and Cap
, tain Hanker, and Wilkinson, anc
Dodd, to meet my friends when the!
come"
These mysterious friends, whose
. coming made such commOtiOn in The