Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1897-11-25
CHAPTER x.

LAC was olu anu IeeDle, anu SOmetlIneS
prosy, but he was a mine of information;
he loved learning for learning's sake, and
ne loved Stella. He carried on her edu-
cation from the point at which Lord Lash
mar had left of. He cultivated her love
OF the classics, reading Homer, and Virgil,
and Horace with her again and again,
dwelling on the passages he loved, in
granting their beauties into the very mine
of his pupil. He taught her French and
German, and together they read the class
les Of both languages. They had nothing
to distract them from their books, no Wis
itors, no pleasures. In summer Tine they
sat in Il quiet spot on the edge of the river,
a little nook below the towing path, out
of every ones way, under a willow which
Lashmar had loved. In winter they sat
opposite each other by the trinity kept
hearth, like two old cronies.
She spent at least half of every day in
Lady Lashmar's rooms, and was often
summoned late at night to sit beside her
ladyship's bed and read till three or four
o'clock in the morning. She performed
her task with a cold placidity which was
agreeable to the high-bred dowager, who
detested fuss and would have been dis
gusted by servility or oficiousness. Later
on Lady Lashmar allowed her slave to
write all her letters to Indifferent persons,
and sometimes ever a letter of friendship,
but the umanuensis was never employed
in writing to her ladyship's son. Those
letters were always in the mothers PEN
manship.
Stella had filled this Office for nearly
two years and had been Of the utmost
service to Lady Lashmar. Yet the stern
dowager had but in the smallest measure
relented of her original aversion from her
stepson's protegc. She used her as a
companion and slave, but she never forgot
that this thoughtful looking girl with
the large dark eyes was Jonathan Bold
woods daughter, and that the venom of
radicalism ran in those blue veins which
showed il: such delicate tracery Upon the
slim white hands and on the ivory pallor
of the forehead. The old prejudice still
existed in full force, and the dowager
in no wise relaxed her hauteur because
Stella Boldwood had become useful to
her. In her Utmost heart she was angry
with the girl for the very gifts which
made her an invaluable companion. She
resented that force of character which
had enabled the child-dependent to rise
superior to her surroundings and to make
herself a lady in manners and superior
to most ladies in education. She vas
angry at that native grace which gave
elegance eyen to the black merino gown
which was the livery of servitude. Moth
ing could vulgarize Stella or reduce her
to the level Of her ladyship's other de-
pcndents.
1t was the end of September and Lord
Lashmar and n little lot Of distinguished
visitors were expected at the castle, some
intent on the slaughter Of the pheasants,
others only desiring rest and respite after
| the ~fatigues of a London season. Among
these latter was Mr.. Nestorius, the great
party leader, original and chief of that
| political sect which was known as the
| Movement Party, who, having retired
from public life, finally, after the defeat Of
his ministry, now, like Dante's swimmer,
looked back breathless, after striving
with the waves, upon the raging sea of
politics from the calm shore of domes-
ITCHY.
Nestorius had been a protege of Lady
| Pitland when his brilliant career was in
its dawn, and the friendship with that
wonderful old lady and her family had
never been interrupted, albeit their politi-
{ cal opinions were as the poles asunder.
| And now that the politicians distinguish
| ed career was a closed book, and that he
had withdrawn into the haven Of private
life, without the faintest intention of ever
reftting his damaged craft, again to en-
counter the buffcts of ocean,, it pleased
Lady Lashmar that the great man should
, enjoy some portion of his well-earned leis-
ure under her roof.
Lord Lashmar arrived. fresh from a
Yachting excursion in the Hebrides,
bronzed and bearded, broad shouldered,
muscular, the manifest Of young men,
with a fresh open air look about him, yet
intellectual withal. 1t was a fine face,
as even Stella was fain to confess to her
self as she withdrew from the morning
room after his lordship's arrival, leaving
mother and son together.
Yes. It was a fine face, but far from q
pleasant face, Stella thought. There was
the naughty expression of his grandmoth.
er's old Northumbrian race-the Fitz Rol.
los-who claimed to be descended in a di-
rect line from those Norsemen who swoop'
cd like a flock of sea birds on that bleak
coast in the dim beginning of English his.
tory.
He gave her a distant bow as she passed
him. q salutation which she acknowledged
with an almost imperceptible bend of the
long. slim throat, while the look in those
dark eyes of hers expressed absolute dis
like. She had not forgotten his parting
speech in the library seven years ago, Of
the air v it'll which he had flung open tht
door and told her to march" he woult
tell her to march again, perhaps, il sh'
should happen to be in his way at any
time. This was the first time they TIVE
had net face to face since that day.
He looked after her wonderingly til
the p~o,tiere fell behind her and he ant
his mother were alone.
"Your protegc has improved" he said
"She is not half Sc ugly as she was sever
years ago."
.Pray don't coll her my protege. You
know she 10 n legacy from poor Hubert
IA incubus which his Quixotism has im
posed Upon me-"
.But I take Il she n useful to you Q
t1Ss vould hare sent her about her bus'