The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-02-07
1--WE promised Lady Henrietta to give

!. y. xe promased Lazy i1ehrletta 70 give l'e.
as eqsff aia ss Y fhs 55es &
son--to keep order for her, he would
have said, had the duchess questioned
him. So he stayed to keep order for
Claudia, which was quite superiiuous,
for it her manner of administering i'll
struction was not of u nature to keep the
attention of restless children. there We're
trinkets, not to speak of the charm of
her face to hold her audience spellb6und.
And when. the lesson was over, he had
got into the way Of walking with her
ladyshlp along the school lane and
through the park. He escorted Miss
Putnam today, because he wanted to ask
how long his liege lady's Punishment was
to last
i don't know" ,wns Miss rutnam's
iii the duchess %pss' Chooses ee H'' come 'aek
The children win miss her sadly"
moaned the curatc.'' ,>'"
Guess we must make it up to thcm,"
S4ia Claudia; grraciously; ''!'ve promised
Atiitietta 70 stahd as hutch in the gap
He gave her Il grateful look. ). <':.
when shall | come and give another
o 9oS St 'eSson'" she went on. ''"romor-
ooh, no." said the curate, Tomorrow
geography day. Her ladyship always
gives geography lesson on Thursday"
SO Claudia put OH another bewitching
frtck, ,thtieu her tfihkrts, and did her
best with a geography lesson on Thurs
day, which was mainly devoted to Il
flattcring but inaccurate description of
the United States. On Friday she wrest
led with sums. and by degrees she learned
" In hN al VIC
tied, under Mr.. Gibson's escort, one or
two of Henrjetta's old women. who, he
thought, would feel themselves neglected
in her absence.
Her tiance' laughed at her. II see
what you're up to-. he said; 'of course
it's clever move, but its rather rough
Why do You call him an ass?' asked
Miss Putnam, shnr9ly: because his fa-
IT'S splendid opportunity for you
to make yourself popular in the parish,
dear said the duchess. "Of course
When you are. mistress here you will
like to be popnlur among the people,
Il suppose shall, said Claudia, mus
ingly.
But in spite of her incipicnt popularity
she would not have the marriage hurried
on; she was equally deaf to the dukes
imlatience and the duchess hints.
There arc such heaps of things to do
and to think of before anything can BE-
fixed" she said. vaguely. when her tiance
urged the matter upon her.
!, "W:ll. get on with ting heaps Of. things,
Them he retortc1: land don't pitile away
so much time at that confot,nded school,"
And Lady Henrietta was still in BAN
isbn.ent in South Wales
Finally. Miss Putnam's stay at Long
lands came to a rather unsatisfactory
end, tor she went away to London lcav-
ing the wedding day unfixed and the
hahSlngs for the new drawing room un-
chosen.
The day after her departure there were
two letters for the duchess; one from
the curate, the other FROM Miss Putnam
She opened the former first, because she
felt more curious as to it's contents.
Madam. it ran, although your Grace
ana not seriously entertain my proposal
for the hand of Lady Henrietta. l feel
myself in honor bound to let you know
folly and rnsuita bility of the marriage
for which would fain have had your
sanction. have written to Lady Hen
rietta explaining. as far us / can, the
folly of our past. and begging her to for
give me if she be iii any way a sufferer
by our mistake. am leaving Longlands
at once, therefore the embarrassment of
Yours faithfully. W. Gibson.".
The duchess heaved Il sigh Of intense
relief. This was Claudia's doing Clau.
dia Was Il right-down clever girl. She
had certainly spent great deal of val
liable time i'll trcadng in Hcnrietta's
footsteps, but she had discnchantcd Mr.,
Gibson, and lifted horrible incubus off
the family shoulders. She was really far
too good for that stupid, muddle-headed
son of hers; still she, the duchess. sup
posed that IL title was an infinite attrac-
ton to Il born democrat. so things were,
after all, not so very uneven Then she
took up Claudia's letter. Dear child"
she murmurcd as she broke the seal.
My dear duchess" she read. and with
each succeeding line her disnayed aston.
ishment increased: I'm glad I came tc
stay at Longlands before took the ire
vocable step to the altar. l don't want
to say anything nasty or mean, but real
only accepted him because l thought
you'd made up your mind to have me for
Il daughter-in-law; l should have made
him perfectly miserable if | had married
him. Mr. Gibson finds. too, that he made
great mistake in thinking he cared for
Henrietta. He explained it all to me-
and l am quite satisfied. He and I are
going to be married before Advent.
sban't mind having saddler for ia
ther-in-l;lw.-Yours always. Claudia Put.
nam.
The duchess threw the letter across
the table to her son. Read that, South.
down. she said: we've got Henrietta
out of her scrape most splendidly."
1t really was too hard on the poor
duchess.-St. Paurs.