Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1897-09-10

Then came a long interval. She had a
dim remembrance of dark-browed men
raging and storming in Erceldean Castle,
of looking at a tall, angry man, who stood
in the picture gallery, raving against her
dead father-called him ''prodigal" and
"spenlthrift"@of a servant trying to
quiet him, saying:
FLUSH! the child is listening"
"The child had better be dead than q
beggar," he answered.
Here is my lady coming" said the
servant.
and my lady had better be dead, too"
declared the nan savagely.
She remembered a hundred similar
scenes-how her mother came to her ono
morning dressed in deep mourning, her
pale face looking quite colOrless and con-
t%rasting With her black robes.
"Beatrix," she said, .come with me,
child, and say sood-by to your home. You
are a little child, but you are old enough
to remember what l am going to say to
YOU. Look at that beautiful castle; it.
should be yours. You were born hciress,
of Erceldean, yet you have not a penny in
the world. BeatriX, only heaven knows.
what hes before us-what is to be our
fate: hut promise me always to remember
that this is your home, always to remem-
Der that you We're born q lady"
Il am a lady," said the child. proudly,
mot 4 beggar as that man called me,
but a lady,"
"Promisc me, too. my darling, that. if
in the years to come you should be fortu-
nate or prosperous, you will, if you can.
buy back THE Old home Of the Lennoxes."
II will, mamma" said the child.
"Remembcr another thing, my darling.
They used to call YOU Prince Charles
daughter in the days when f~easting and
revclry wasted your fathers substance,
when men tlattered him and borrowed
from him and led him to ruin"
Poor papa!' said the child, with fast
dropping tears.
Dear. noble, generous papa! cried
Lady %1lennoN. "Oh. my little daughter,
he has left me almost penniless; yet, l
declare to YOU that l would rather be his
widow, left poor and obscure, than the
widow of a king. But you do not UNDER
stand me-"
YES, l do, mamma. I understand you
loved papa. SO did l."
Then came n journey over the hills.
BeatriN asked her mother whittier they
were going. Lady LennoN said:
you have never heard of the place,
child; we are going to the old Grange
at S%trlthnarn. an old house left to me
years age, and an income of n hundred IL
year with it. l smiled at the time 1
heard of the legacy; now l thank heaven
for it,"
Stra-hnarn was reached at last. The
Grange was Il large, rambling building.
pleasantly situated. The house stood on
the summit of Il richly wooded hill, and
a beautiful lake, called Loeb Narn, lay
ut it's feet. No scenery could have been
richer or more picturesque; no landscape
more lovely. The Grange itself was Il
dreary habitation. In that great lonely
house there were no carpets, no pictures
nothing hut old oaken furniture quite
out Of date. long, lark passages, and
gloomy rooms.
There was one servant, Margaret by
name, Il Staid, warm-ilearted ScOtchwom-
an. who had long been accustomed to the
Grange. She had lived there alone since
her late mistress death, looking after the
gloomy house as we'll as she could. She
gazed p%itifnily at the beautiful child with
the bright face.
cit will he Il lueersolne place for her to
grow mp in. my lady she said; I'VE never
soc the sight of Il human face here from
one YEAR tn another. Perhaps it will be
only for Il time that You will stay tere?:'
ut will be for life" replied Lady Len
o s.dly-'for life: but if heaven is
good to us. that life will not last long"
And Lady lenroN found it even worse
thar she had expected and feared. Just
at first there was a gIimmcr of hope that
something would happen-some source of
relief would be found; that glimmer of
hope died, and the full sense of desola-
ton came home to her ut last. The only
thing that saved her from despair was her
little laughter; to teach her, to brighten
the little life. to make herself a child for
the child's sake, was the only thing that
kept her from the very madness of de-
spair. AS the mournful years passed
without change. without event, she busted
herself thus. only waking at intervals to
the consciousness that her daughter was
rapidly becoming q beautiful girl, while
She herself seemed to grow more helpless
and feeble every day.
ITO be continued