The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1897-03-06
mother bad night. Catherihey,

~ ~ So ~ sttS'
u seldom sleep well now she answered,
patiently,
"Iou don't give yourself q chance" Mrs.
Fiesiy demonstrated Here's fine MORN
ing-coDie ont Cor a sail on the lake. To-
morrow there's Il concert in the town-let's
take tickets. There's Il want of what | call
elastic power In Your mind, Catllerine-the
very quality for which Your father was Sc re-
marllable; the very quality which Mr. Presty
used to say made him envy MIR. Ornond.
Look at Your dress! Where's the common
sense, at Your age, of wearing nothing but
black? Nobody's dead who belongs to us,
and yet you GO your best to look as II you
were in mourning
81 have no heart, mamma, to wear colors."
Mrs. Presty considered this reply to be I'M
worthy of notice. She went on with her
knitting, and only laid it down when the
servant brought in the letters which had ar
rived by the mornings post. They We're but
two in number, and both were for Mrs. Lin
ley. In the absence of any correspondence
OF her own Mrs. Presty took possession OF
her daughters letters.
ing she announced; and one from Randall.
Which shall l open for you trstg'
"Randal's letter, il you please"
| Ahto. ! lSokS uilhVu ~ tlNlOSS Viz tttlt,
ANY news is n relief from the dizziness of
this place. she said. ST there are no secrets,
Catherine, read it OUT
There were no secrets on the first page.
Randall announced his arrival in London,
from the continent, and his intention of stay.
ing there for a while. He had met with a
friend formerly an officer holding high rank
in the navy whom he was glad to see again
"a rich man, who used his wealth admirably
in the interests of the poor and helpless fel.
low-creatures. A home established on a
new plan, was just now engaging all his at
tention: he was devoting himself SO unremit-
tingly to the founding of this institution that
his doctor predicted injury to his health at
no distant date. Ii it was possible to per.
euade linn to take a holiday Randall might
return to the continent as the travelling com.
mnion of his friend.
"This must be the man whom he first met
at the club" Mrs. Presty remarked. well,
Catherine, | suppose there is some more of
it. WHAT'S the lnatter9 Bad news?"
Something that / wish Randall had not
written. Read it yourselt-and dent talk of
it afterward.'
Mrs. Presty read:
Il know nothing whatever of my mfortu-
nate brother. If you think this a too-indal-
gent way OF abiding to a man who has so
shamefully wronged you, let my conviction
that he is already beginning to suffer the
penalty of his crime plead my excuse. Her
hert's nature is, i'll some respects, better
known to me than it is to you. | am per-
suaded that your hold on his respect and his
devotion is shaken-not lost. He has been
misled by one of those passing fancies. dis
astroIs and even criminal in their results, 10
which men are liable when they are led by
no better influence than the influence of their
senses. Ii is not, and never will be, in the
nature of women to understand this. ! fear
! may offend you in what | am now writing,
butt must speak what i believe to be the
truth at any sacrifice. Bitter repentance-if
he is not already feeling it's in store for
Herbert when he finds himself tied to a per
son who cannot bear comparison with you. l
say this, pitying the poor girl most sincerely,
when | think of her youth and her wrctchcd
past life. How it will end | cannot presume
TO say. | can only acknowledge that do
not look TO the future with the absolute de-
spair which you naturally felt when l last
saw YOU"
Mrs. Presty laid the letter down. privately
resolving to write to Randall and tell him to
keep his convictions for the future to himself.
A glance at her daughters face warned her,
il she said anything, to choose anew sub
ject.
The second letter still remained unnoticed.
'Shall we see what the lawyer says"' she
suggested-and opened the envelope. The
lawyer had nothing to say. He simply i'll
closed a letter received at his Office.
Mrs. Presiy had long passed the age at
Which emotion expresses itself outwardly
by a change Of color. She turned pale, never
~iiieless, when she looked at the second letter.
The address was in Herbert Linlcy's hand
writing.
XXIY. 4,
When She was not eating her meals or
asleep in her bed absolute silence OH Airs.
Presty's part was a circumstance without
precedent in the experience of her daughter.
Mrs. Presty was absolutely silent now. Mrs.
Linley looked up.
She at once perceived tho change in her
mothers face and asked what it meant.
Mamma, you look as If something had
frightened you. Is it anything in that let
ter?i She bent over the table and looked a
little closer at the letter. Mrs. Presty had
! turned il so that the address was underneath,
, and the closed envelope was visible still i'll.
tact. why don't you open it?" Mrs. Lin
ley asked.
/, Mrs. Presty made Il strange reply. ~ am
thinking of throwing it into the fire."
My letter.
r Yes, your letter.
/. Let me look at it first"
I, you had better not look at ii, Catherine
t Naturally enough, Mrs. Linley remon.
strated. Surely | ought to read a letter for.
J warded by my lawyer. Why are you hiding
g the address from me? Is it from some per.
, son whose handwriting we both know? She
looked again at her silent mother, reflected
and guessed the truth. "Giye 1t to me di
/, rectiy," she said; my husband has written
/. to me-
! Mrs. Presty's heavy eyebrows gathered in
to Il frOwn. "ls it possible" she asked
: sternly, that you are still fond enough>o1
that man TO care about what he writes tt
9 you" Mrs. Linley held ont her hand fol
the letter. Her wise mother found it desir
| able to try persuasion next. IF you reall,
/ won't give way, my dear, humor me for once
l Win you let nc read it to you?"
Yes, if You promise to read every word o
it,
: Mrs. Presty promised with Il mental res
revation), and opened the letter.
AT the w first words she stopped and be
gan to clean her spectacles. Had her ow,
eyes deceived her, or had Herbert LIME,
actually addressed her daughter, after hav
$ ing been guilty OF the cruelest wrong that
4, husband can infict on a wife, as Dear Cath
crime? Yes, there were the words. whel
she put her Spectacles on again. Was he il
his right senses, or had he written in a stat
= of intOxicatiOn?
Mrs. Linley waited, with q preoccupie,
mind; she showed no signs of impotence 0