The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1897-07-31
MONA'S CHOICE.
BY Mrs. ALEXANDER.

BY Mrs. ALEXANDER.
Now this unsracetui, shy, i%narticulate
young man was thrust upon her by Lisle,
vino had so often turned him INTO ridicule.
Anything was good enough for q girl who
was penniicss and almost unprotected 1t
would gohnrd with her. she thought, while
her cheeks giowed, and her heart beat fast
very hard. before she would consent to
marry him. And poor grannic! Mona's
heart rcprouchcd her for having utterly
forgotten grannie, who had been SO stun
ned b. 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
we'll, even while she tyrannized 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 crum-
bled into the dust.
The Hon. Mrs. Newburgh, sister of the
late md a,lnt of the present Niscount Sun
derlinr, had had much disappointment in
her long life. Beginning with all the nd
vantages of rank and beauty, she refused
numerous excellent offer tic accept, ut
the mature age of thirty-nve, the good
looking horsey son of II Yorkshire squire.
He loved hei:, but he also feared hcr-which
condition of minded to much concealment
of difficulties, and their consequent com
plication. Mrs. Newburgh was Il woman
of'strong will, and some business capacity,
and she always held on firmly to her own
sn;il fortune. Her only son went into
the army, and was killed Mt Inkerman.
Her only daughter, who resemhled her
father in character. formed n strong at
tacllment TO an obscure young Scotsman,
whom she met accidentally in the High
lands, under somewhat romantic clrcum-
s%taucas. Mrs. Newburgh set her face
against so disgraceful aunion; she dragged
her pretty daughter from one continental
court to another, and finally tried to force
her to marry an linglishman of high posi-
tion andlar,c fortune. This was loo much,
and the weak, simple, frightened girl fled
to her Scotch lover. Hermother renowned
her, and never saw her face again.
From this time Mrs. 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 to commune
cate with the bereaved husband, and
seemed to forget she had ever had adaugh.
ter. About five years later she was star
tied by a letter from the minister of d
church in the neighborhood of Glasgow,
describing the last moments of Kenneth
Craig, who had been a broken man ever
| .;,,n, tho lanth of bia vita and itrlpSipr q
brief letter to Mrs. Newburgh from the
deceased. In it he simply said that the
pay Of a bank clerk had been TOO small tc
permit him to lay anything by for his little
girl, that his own people were poor, that
he trusted her mothers mother would SC
far forgive as not to punish the innocent
and begged her 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. Newhurrh answered this appeal By
sending for the little bright-eycd stx-year-
ling, and placing her at a school specially
arranged for children whose parents were
either dead or absent. 1t was in the coun-
try, and kept by aquict motherly old maid.
For SOME time her grandmother neversaw
Mona, but one spring, when the child had
nearly attained her tenth year, scarlet
fever broke out in the school. md little
Mona was sent Off without n word of warn
ing to Mrs. Newburgh, who had been
spending u few months in town, and was
packed up aud ready to start for the Con-
tinent.
Though drcadfully annoyed by the con
tretenlpS, Mrs. Newburgh was struck and
pleased with the improvements and promise
OF her granddaughter, especially as she
va very like her late uncle, her reddish
hair being ii legacy from the plebelan
Craigs. Finally she ook her abroad, and
placed her first at Il convent school in
Paris, and after in an educational estab,
lishlment of a very superior description at
Dresden. Here Mrs. Newbui gh occasion,
ally visited her, and she remained till she
was seventeen, when she went to reside
with Der grandmother in London; she con.
timed to study music under the best mas
tiers. and was always present when Mrs.
Newburgh received. The spring before
the opening of this story she had been pre-.
scented, her grandmother was well satisfied
with her social success, and hoped for /;
brilliant marriage, when the blow fell
which ruined them.
1t was quite dark when Mona reached
ST. PancraS; she was utterly weary, and
profoundly still.
As n 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
aud spreading out roundly above, put hin
aside. Raising his hat he said in German
welcome, my fraulrin! l hope you art
not ~fatigurd.'
Yes, a little, Wehnerl How is my
graadmothcrs"
Better. my fraulein! bat weak! all, yer,
weak. She is looking a~nxiously for you
II you get into the cab, ! will find YOU
baggage"