Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-07-31
MONA'S CHOICE.
By Mrs. ALEXANDER.

young man was thrust upon her by Lisle,
who had so oft n turned him INTO ridicule.
Anything WINS good enough for n girl who
was penniless and almost unprotected 1t
would 20 hard with her, she thought, while
her cheeks glowed, and her heart beat fast
very hard, before she would consent to
marry him. And poor granniel Mona's
heart reproached her for having utterly
forgotten grannie, who had been so stun
ned by the terrible loss which had befallen
her. How her proud, worldly, yet sound
nature would wither under the disgraces
of poverty. Grannie who loved her so
well. even while she ty%rannized over her
she had often been rebellious, selfish, now
she would try and comfort the poor old
woman. She had built such hopes, too, on
Mona's success, now everything was rum
bled into the dust.
The Hon. Mrs. Newburgh, sister of the
late and aun of the present Viscount sun
derline, had had much disappointment in
her long life. Beginning with all the adj
vantagcs Of rank and beauty, she refused
numerous excellent offers to accept, at
the mature age of thirty-five, the good
looking horsey son of a Yorkshire squire.
He loved her, but he also feared her-which
condition of mind led to much concealment
of d'ficulties, and their consequent com
plicatiOn. Mrs. Newburgh was "A woman
of strong will, and some business capacity,
and she always held Oh firmly To her own
sln;dl fortune. Her only son went into
the army, and was killed mt lnkerman.
Her only daughter, who reSembled her
father in character, formed n strong at
tachment TO an obscure young Scotsman,
whom she met accidentally in the High
lands, under somewhat romantic circum-
stances. Mrs. Newburgh set her face
against so disgraceful union; she dragged
her pretty daughter from one continental
court to another, and finally tried to force
her TO marry an Englishman of high posi-
ton and large fortune. This was too much,
and the weak, simple, frightened girl fed
To her Scotch lover. Her mother renowned
her, and never saw her face again.
From this time Mes. NewburGh devoted
herself to increasing her fortune, both by
saving and specializing. She returned to
London, and once more took her place In
society.
the announcement of her daughters
death made little or no change in her way
of life; she made no attempt 10 communi-
cate with the bereaved husband, and
seemed TO forget she had ever had adaugh-
ter. About five years later she was star
tied by n letter from the minister of a
church in the neighborhood of Glasgow,
describing the last moments of Kenneth
Craig, who had been a broken man ever
since the death of his wife, and inclosing q
brief letter to Mrs. Newburgh from the
deceased. In ii he simply said that the
pay Of n bank clerk had been COO small &c
permit him TO lay anything by for his little
girl, that his own people were Door, that
he trusted her mothers mother would Sc
far forgive ~ not to punish the innocent,
and begged hor To give the child sufficient
education to earn her bread hereafter. She
was named, he said, Mona Joscelyn, after
her mother and her uncle.
Mrs. Nevhuroh answered this appeal By
sending for the little bright-eyed six-year-
ling, and placing her ut a school specially
arranged for children whose parents were
either dead or absent. 1t was in the III
try, and kept by a quiet motherly old maid.
For some time her grandmother never saw
Mona, but n spring, when the child had
nearly attained her tenth year, scarlet
fever broke out in the school, and little
Mona was sent off without Il word OF warn
ing TO Mrs. Newburgh, who had been
spending a few months in town, and was
packed up and ready to start for the Con-
tinent.
Though d~rcadfully annoyed by the con-
tfetGnipS, Mrs. kewburgh was struck and
pleased with the improvement and promise
OF her granddaughter, especially as she
WINS very like her late uncle, her reddish
hair being a legacy from the plebelan
Craigs. Finally she too her abroad, and
placed her first Mt n convent school In
Paris, and after in an educational estab
lishment of a very superior description al
Dresden. Here Mrs. Newbui III occasion.
ally visited her, and she remained till she
was seventeen, when she went to reside
with her grandmother in LOndon; she con
tinued TO study music under the best mus.
ters. and was always present when Mrs
N~ewburgh received. The spring before
the opening of this story she had been pre-
sentcd, her grandmother was well satisfied
with her social success, and hoped for 4
brilliant marriage, when the blow feL
which ruined them.
1t vas quite dark when Mona reached
ST, Pancras; she was utterly weary, and
profoundly still.
As u porter threw open the carriage door
n respectable foreign-looking man, some
what tan-colored in complexion, and pea
shaped in figure, going small to the fee
and spreading out roundly above, put hin
aside. Raising his hat he said in German
"Welcome, my frauleinl hope you arr
not ~fatigued."
Eyes, n little, Wehnerl How Is my
grandmother"
Better, my fraulcin! but woakl all, yer,
weak. She is looking a~nXiously for you
ii you get into the cab, | will find you
baggage"