Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1897-07-22


dim remembrance of dark-browed men
raging and storming in Erceldean Castle,
of looking at tall, angry man, who stood
in the picture gallery, raving against her
dead father-called him '.predigal" and
"spendthrift"- a servant trying to
quiet him, saying:
"Hush! the child is listening"
''The child had better be dead than a
beggar," he answered.
'Here is my lady coming" said the
servant.
"And my lady had better be dead, too, !"
declared the man sayagely.
She remembered hundred similar
scenes how her mother came to her one
morning dressed in deep mourning, her
pale face looking quite colorless and con-
trasting with her black robes
'Beatrix," she said, ''come with me,
child, and say good-by to your home. You
are little child, but you are Old enough
to remember what I am going to say to
you. Look at that beautiful castle; it
should be yours. You were born heiress
of Erceldean, yet you have not 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 lady,
II am lady" said the child, proudly,
''not beggar as that man called me,
but a lady"
promise me, too, my darling, that, it
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.'
81 Will, mamma" said the child.
Remember another thing, my darling.
They used to call you Prince Charles,
daughter in the days when feasting and
revelry wasted your fathers substance,
when men fattered him and borrowed
from him and led him to ruin"
"Poor papar' said the child, with fast
dropping tears.
''Dear, noble, generous papa!" cried
Lady Lennox. "Oh, my little daughter,
he has left me almost penniless; yet, l
declare to you that would rather be his
widow, left poor and obscure, than the
widow of king. But you do not under
stand me-"
eyes, 1 do, mamma. understand you
loved papa. So did ]"
Then came a journey over the hills.
Beatrix asked her mother whittier they
were going. Lady Lennox said:
"You have never heard of the place,
child; we are going to the old Grange
at Strathnarn, am old house left to me
years ago, and an income of hundred
year with it. I smiled at the time l
heard of the legacy; now l thank heaven
for it."
Stra-hnarn was reached at last. The
Grange was large, rambling building,
pleasantly situated. The house stood on
the summit of a richly wooded Hill, and
a beautiful lake, called Loeb Narn, lay
at it's feet. No scenery could have been
richer or more picturesque; no landscape
more lovely. The Grange itself was a
dreary habitation. In that great lonely
house there were no carpets, NO pictures
nothing but old oaken furniture quite
out of date, long, dark passages, and
gloomy rooms.
There was one servant, Margaret by
name, staid, warm-hearted 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 pitifully at the beautiful child with
the bright face.
IL Will Ue u QucSlSUlue pndCc Luz utI W
grow Up in, my lady" she said; 1--WE never
see the sight of human face here from
one year to another. Perhaps it will be
only for time that you will stay here?"
cit will be for life" replied Lady Len
nox sadly-"for life; but if heaven is
good to US, that life will not last long"
And Lady Lennox found it even worse
than she had expected and feared Just
at first there was glimmer of hope that
something would happeTr-some source of
relief would be found; that glimmer of
hope died, and the full sense of desola-
ton came home to her at last. The only
thing that saved her from despair was her
little daughter; to teach her, to brighten
the little life, to make herself 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 a beautiful girl, while
she herself seemed to grow more helpless
and feeble every day.
(To be continued.