Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-09-23

/ so.s $say.. air. was educAt0 Nc .
SCHOOL for young ladies' In the Green
| Mountains. IL it concerns you to Know
as I think 1t may"
..And ns I should think 1t did" re-
n,ied the man. emptying a jar or DUN
fries orange marmalade into his piate.
..Nr. Rumford, l was about 10 ask
Won 10 give me an interview this morn
! ing. that need not detain you
than twenty minutes.
..You shall have it, my girl, Directly
after breakfast! You might have II
now. ONLY that / cannot eat ana taih,
or even eat and listen with advantage,
at the same time" said the planter
handing his cup for a second supply oi
coffee.
Astrea filed and returned 1t in ST.
elnce.
The planter was a gourmand, ana so
tho ~breakfast seemed interminaDle.
A. length. however, it was finished,
and the man arose and touched the
hell summoning Cybele to clear away
tho table. Then, reckoning Astrea 10
follow he opened the communicating
door leading from the dining Don into
tho adjoining front parlor, which was
q pleasant apartment, furnished like
the others with stray mating, straw
window blinds, and straw-bottomed
chairs and ~settees, and adorned with
pictures, statuettes, vases and DOCKS.
..Now. then, my girl, what Is IT,, IN
nuired Rumford, throwing himself al
ease upon n settee that stood between
the two front windows.
Astrea. standing before him, pom
dered a moment how best to open
the subject.
Rumford misunderstood her hesita-
ton and said: :,
..Some one you have left behind, l
suppose, whom you wish me to pur-
chase and bring out here! Some old
mother, or young sister, or little chlio,
perhaps, without whom you cannot
make Yourself %contented! Well! speak
ont let us know which it is; and as |
am a good-natured fellow, who knows,
if YOU please me, but that | shall salts
fly you"
for an interview with you concerned
none Of those things which you have
mentioned. What | have TO say Is not
only of vital Importance TO myself, but
it may be of advantage TO you."
what is 1t, then, in the deuce's
name, my girl?"
.sSir. it is this-that / have been
greatly wronged. and you have been
much deceived by the man who pre-
tended to sell me to you'll l should
have told you upon the deck OF the
ship, before the nefarious sale was ef-
fected. but for two ~reasons-in the first
place. If | had ventured to speak, /
should have been contradicted, brow
beaten and silenced, while you your
self might have believed the false cap
tain instead OF me, or else, believing
me, might have declined the purchase,
and left me still In the clutches OF that
ruthless man, when l was most n
ious to leave the ship. These consid.
erations determined me to continue ST.
lent until / should he safe out of the
ship, and then to speak-appealing 10
your sense of justice and humanity.
and feeling sure, besides, that If you
had suffered loss by the ~nefarious
transaction to which my own silence
seemed to make you a consenting par
t., my friends, who are wealthy, would
recompense you ten-fold."
what in the name of sense are you
driving at. my good girl? You talk
like an orator: but I'm dashed IL | can
understand youi' said the man, with
his fat eyes ~protrUding in astonish-
ment.
Sir" replied Astrea. with grave
dignity, II am by education, habit and
position a lady. | am the adopted
daughter of Captain William Fulljoy.
of Fuljoy's Island. and wife of Colonel
Fulke Greville, of the United States
army. On my bridal eve | wa druggcd
and abducted by this buccaneer and
his piratical crew. l was brought to
the mouth of the Mississippi river and
sold TO yourself-not, l fancy, for the
sake of the money received from you
when you believed that you were pay
ing for a mulattO girl. but for some
deeper motive, of which l can only
form b vaguest conjecture. Let that
pass. | a now told you who and
what | am, and | have now only TO add
that IL you will Immediately write TO
my friends, and, while waiting for an
answer from them, cause me 10 be
treated with the consideration due to
my position, my friends, when they an
swer you, which they viii do by COM
ing In person to fetch me. will be sure
to compensate you ten-fold for any loss
you have suffered on my account
Astrea spoke these words with q qui-
ct strength Of faith that must have
forced conviction of its truth upon the
mind OF Rumford. had he not been
fore-armed by falsehood against It's
power.
so. then, this Is the breaking out of
the monOmania against which I was
warned by Merrick,' he muttered to
himself; and then. as IL to draw his
captive out, he said:
This is a curious story you tell me;
would like to hear all its particulars
Il will give them to you, so far as |
can remember them; for, as I said be-
fore. some of these events took place
while | was under the influence OF
some powerful drug
"Humph. that must be when she
bad the brain fever muttered the
man as before. Then he motioned for
her to go on.