Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-12-09

her, but have declined to take baby at
present. Hone YOU will derive more
benefit from the air ut Seayiew than
Won appcar to be doing at present.
With love To you all.
.'Your affectionate daughter,
Judith"
Ry the time she had finished her let
tiers it was half-past nine. Giving no
tice of her intention to Jane, she put
on her hat and walked up To the top
of the road to post them. Everything
was so quiet, and the sweet night air
so scent-ladeil, thot on her return she
STAYED Il little while in the garden,
leaning over the gate to muse.
What were all the family doing mt
Seayiew now: she wondered. John
and her mother would be indoors, of
course-thcy could not bear the night
air. Equally OF course, the rest would
be out Of doors-her father, most prob
ably, pacing the Esplanade, with his
eyes |yacantly taking in his surround
ings. while his mind was centered upon
his next plot and the creatures of his
imagination who would work il out.
BERTHE would he with him, perhaps,
s%auntering along silently with his Gus.
tomary expression of boredom. even
while he made eyes ut every pretty
girl he met-she knew the vain boys
tricks So well. Lucy and Frank ought
10 be in bed. but of course they were
not; and she could just Imagine how
the young monkeys We're enjoying
themselves.
Her thoughts. ~inyoluntariIy, flew to
Elsie and Claude. Where were they:
In Paris or London! They had had n
very long honeymOon-eight weeks. Ii
was proof that they must be happy.
and she was glad of il.
Having thus decided, she took 4 Inst
look up AMI down the road, with the
intention of going indoors. The wide
pavement on either srde seemed de-
serted, the yellow lamplight fiickered
faintly III the summer breeze, which
gently RUSHED through the tall poplars
in the next garden. and there did not
seem 10 be- u soul about. Well, she
supposed she ought to 90 in, and was
just turning from the gate wkhen she
caught sight OF the figure Of a man
who had turned tn ecorner on her side
of the road and was leisurely making
his way down il. She watched him
listlessly, not knowing who he might
be-: but, as he came on very slowly,
like one in indecision, she recognized
his figure with Il start of surprise. 1t
was Claudei
'Then they are here at the Priory,
How strange not to have let us known.
But perhaps they wanted to take us
by SURPRISE was her first thought. as
she moved to go in, bur. afer "A mo-
ment's hesitation. she remained ut the
gate waiting for him.
Once Mr.. To~wnshend stopped and
turned, as il To retarce his steps, and
three or four minutes elapsed before
he was near enough to hear her soft
greeting:
Claude. where have you sprung
from!'
rs that you, Judy? How glad |
ann he exclaimed, as he hurried up
TO the gate. where he stood looking AT
her, silently. neither extending his
hand nor offering 10 take the one she
held out: but. suddenly, as she won
dered at his strangeness, he asked:
Are you alone? Is Elsie herey'
Elsie! Why, no. Claude. Did she
tell you h vas coming herey'
NO he answered. slowly: but |
thought she might have come here
first. l have made a mistake
How is She. When did you come
down.
by the 4.4O. Elsie is very well. But
| won't detain you any longer. Judy:
l Lesitated about coming at all to-
night-it is 80 late
He raised his hat and was moving
away when Judith asked.
VIII Elsie come to see me- in the
morning, or shall | run up to the Pri-
nrt-g 1Nhnyr ay.n oil ~ Su,rsN., t-@ -
course you have had u letters?"
"Yes-oh, yes, But l don't know
what TO say about your coming to the
Priory, or whether Elsie will come
down! Suppose we leave il until the
morningt G~ood-nightt' he answered,
h~urriedly. and walked away, leaving
Judith. looking after his quickly .reced-
ing figure I'm rs much bewilderment as
II he had just awakened from sleep. |
Gould Claude and Elsie have quar-
relied? But surely that could hardly
be after two months marriage. Ii
might have happened that they had
had a little tiff coming down. and that
Elsie had driven home, leaving her
husband to walk, after refusing to tell
him. in that tantalizing little way of
hers, whether she intended to GO first
to the Priory or to her old home.
Judith smiled at the notion and went
indoors; but Claude's short, unsatis-
factory visit had so unsettled her that
size hardly knew what to do with her
self. She went OF the window and
iooked out half a dozen times-why
she scarcely knew.
With the glorious sunlight that ush-
cred in the Sabbath her ~apprehenslons
vanished, so that it was with her usual
calm that she dressed and set out for
morning service. The church lay be-
yond the Priory, which was an old tur-
reted stone mansion but of small di-
mansions for its style, enclosed with
formidable looking high stone walls.
~ was impossible 10 see anything of
grounds between it and the gate being
SO thickly set with trees; indeed, il
was a rather eerle place, and had been
occupied for SO long that, when first
The Claxonites heard that a wealthy
bachelor had taken it, they thought he
must be quite a misanthrope.
AS Judy passed, she found thai
there were no fresh wheel marks be-
fLvak IhA