The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1896-07-04

over she felt that her visitor must be pin
ing for another face. beside her sad one.
AS a matter of fact Miss Theodosia had
lot u particularly sad face ut this time;
she thought that she had. she truly and
co%nscientiously believed that the depth of
her grief for Lavinia equalled the depth
of the Grape tiounces on her gown, but in
reality such was not the case. During
the whole of her life Miss Lavinia had
been more or less of n trial to her sensible
elder sister. of late she had been the cause
of considerable anxiety also. for there
was very little Stiffness of which Miss La
vinia was not capable and she had had in
later years hut very little care for the dig
nifty of her old name and noue at all for
the dignity of her old self. So on the
whole the relief to Miss T%heodosia's really
well-organized mind was n great deal
more than she was herself aware of as
yet. Still it must be acknowledged that
Mrs. Trafford, who was n little woman OF
an extremely sociable nature, did pine for
the sight of n fresh face or two, so that
when she had been at Boscombe close
upon a month, and Miss Theodosia sug.
gested for about the twentieth time that
she felt sure she was dreadfully bored
and that really they might ask somebody
else now, she accepted the new idea with
alacrity.
"You must be getting tired of me, dear
Miss T%heodosia, she said, sweetly. Sup
posing that you ask some other friend
down and l will make way for her"
OH! l did not meat that at ALL" cried
Miss T~heodosia, looking at Mrs. Trafford
with wide open eyes OF alarm. "You don't
want to desert mech! pray don't dear.
You just suit me and you are so kind and
bright and sympathetic-pray do not talk
of leaving me to my loneliness-don'tl"
OH! my dear, l shouldn't think of leav-
ing while it is auy comfort to you to have
me stay" exclaimed Mrs. Tratford, visions
of that twelve thousand ayear floating be-
fore her mind. But l do not want you to
be getting weary of seeing me here. You
am still herep''
Eyes, precisely So" replied Miss Theo-
dosia, meekly. "You see, dear, this is
just the best month of the year for the ISL
and, and ! don't think there would be any
improperly in my having u few visitors
now. thought we might ask Mr.. and
Mrs. Stephen down. Do you think they
would Gomez"
II should think they would be delight
&c" answered Mrs. Trafford, promptly.
though us a matter of fact she was by no
means sure that either Stephen or his wife
would care to leave London just then.
But at all events it will be very kind il
you ask them, though, of course, l cannot
answer for their being able to come"
Later in the day therefore n pretty note
OF invitation was sent off to Mrs. Stephen
Howard. aud by the same post went an
urgent letter from Mrs. Trafford begging
her, if possible-for her sisters sake-to
accept it.
81 know 1t will be most ~inconvenient
for you to come here, dear, just now,n
she wrote. "but if it is possible to do so, |
beg you to come. The island is looking
lovely, the house is most comfortable and
the carriage and horses are always at my
disposal. Miss T%heodosia is very anxious
sake l trust you will be able to come" =
Thus urged. Julia wrote back that they
would come on the day after tomorrow
for ten days, that they could not possibly
stay longer than that because they had
accepted an invitation to dine at the
house of a cabinet minister whom they
only knew slightly, and could not. with
out probably giving great offense, get out
of it.
"There is something for nearly every
day between this and then" said Julia, in
conclusion, but only four or five formal
dinners which | think l can easily get out
of by explaining the circumstances"
On the day appointed, therefore, they
went down and reached Boscombe in time
for dinner. Everything went well. Miss
Theodosia cried Il little when she received
Julia and embraced her tenderly and re.
peated her little speech about the hous SO
of mourning and her kindness in coming
to it.
"Oh, no!' cried Julia, at is no great
Kindness on our part, dear Miss Theo.
dosia, unless It is kindness to ourselves.
We were delighted to come, weren't we,
Steyie?"
"Thut we certainly were.'' said Steph.
en-, thus directly appealed to for an opin-
ion.
at is most kind of you to say so, my
d~ear-kinder still to feel so towards q
lonely old woman who has very few ut.
fractions to offer you" said Miss Theo.
dosia, in a shaking voice.
But after this, the old lady did not talk
much about her loss and Julia quite gath.
FRED that Miss Theodosia had already got
the worst of her grief over. The dinner
that evening was quite bright and decor
ousiy jovial, aud the next morning their
hostess met them at breakfast time with
a really checrful-''Well, my dears. it is
IL lovely day and l want to make the best
of it and take You for n long drive. What
time will Won he oh1n tn StnrfSJ
"Oh! whenever you like" answered
Julia. reudily. Il can be ready in ten
minutes IL necessary
"Then shall we say half-pastten?" asked
the old lady, to which they all agreed and
already standing at the door. They were
all ready, too, aud soon took their places,
Julia sitting next to her husband with
her back to the horses in spite OF Miss
Theodosia's protestations that she did not
MUD that place in thu least, and. in fact,
had all her life been used to giving ur
the best seat to Lavinia who was more
delicately organized than herself, and
never could bear the motion of riding
backward.
Miss T%heodosia,'' said Julia, firmly,
II am not going to move-and l want to
sit next to Stephen n then if he does
not behave well l can administer a sharr
pinch without anybody being the WISER
So, with a laugh, they settled Themselves
aud Started for their drive. And a very
lovely drive they had, worth leaving
London for" as Julia said in her delight,
to the great satisfaction of the old lady
whose conscience had given her many
qualms for some days past. And Their
just as they were returning home, Miss
Theodosia uttered an exclamation OF SUI.
prise, and called out, 'James--stopv'
julia turned her head to see the cause OF
the pleasure on Miss T%heodosin's face and
saw n tall well-built soldierly man with
ciose-cut white hair aud II well-waxcd
white moustachc, just in the act of lifting
his hat to her.
my dear Frank!' exclaimed Miss Theo.
dosia. leaning over the side of the carriag'
and holding out her hand. my dea,
Frank, how very glad I am to see you
When did you come? Where are you stay
fne' And how long are you going I,
stop2"
The gentleman had by this time put hi
hat on his head aud had reached the sid,
OF the carriage. my dear Miss Staun
ton" he said, 81 had no idea you were il
the Isle of Wight. IL" and then hi
1,,.,l1 Z, ar el,,,,l -, ;r L.. an ..4..:. 1.a.,