Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-12-03
nnything-but she would have Winnie for

nnything-but she would have Winnie for
her WI pet and prOtcgce and companion
from this evening forward.
She determined on it instantly, and fain
would she have imperiously carried her
desire into execution instantly also; and
her disappointment came with a blow that
shattered n whole fabric Of pleasant hopes
when she learned that Winnie Caerlyon
was beyond the need of any money bride
that she could offer her to become her
patient little reader and companion as OF
old.
Two hundred a yea?! Why, you are
quite a little heiress, WiIsnie!" remarked
the old lady, with a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
smile. And what are you going TO do
with it2"
Winnie never dreamt of rcsenting the
inquiry, although the other listener ut the
workable curled her naughty lip rs she
went on assiduously with her gold-fring
ing.
"Oh, there will be plenty Of use found
for ii, Madam, or three times as mSch, in
such "A house as oursl' she remarked cheer
fully.
And are you going to give it all to youl
G~tep-mother and her seven childrenS" Mad.
am demanded, sharply.
II am goingto share it all, of course,
Madam, to the last siXpeuce, with them,'
replied Winnie, 50 quietly, and with such
simple earnestness and dignity, that Mad.
am felt deeply rebuked.
"Oh, certainly; they are your fathers
children" Madam said, hastily; you Tre
always extremely fond of them, Winnie.
l believe. All, there is half-past nine
Ginning"
And it is quite time for me to return
hcme," remarked Winnie, rising from the
low ottoman at Madam's side.
She understood the arching of Madam's
eyebrows, and the change OF tone that nj.
ways meant dismissal from her presence
in the old days. She accepted il quietly
and meekly, as merely Il return to the old
days. Her money made no difference to a
great lady like Madam Vivian-her hand.
some, high-bred, wealthy patroness. whom
she had been accustomed 10 describe with
such loving pride to her American friends
in Winston as the very personific alton OF
the blUe-blooded English aristocracy whom
they had never seen.
The young girls money, however, had
made q difference. Winnie Caer!yon.
come back as poor az she went, hoping and
willing to be taken up again by Madam
Vivian, petted, blamed, indulged, tyran.
nized over, treated as "A friend and as an
Intruder, as an equal and q servant, which
ever way the naughty Old lady's capricious
moods inclined her, would have been, at
least on this evening, rs dcmonstratively
welcomed rs if she were n returned prodi.
gal. If she had only cried and begged
Madam to forgive her for going away
without her knowledge or permission, she
would have put her arms around her aud
kissed her; but this cheerful, gentle, dig
nified young lady, with her moneyed in.
dependence, and a certain pleasant indie.
pendence of word and manner, who needed
nothing from her, and had but come to
visit her from an old kindly remembrance
all this displeased and disappointed the
poor old lady in her peevish loneliness,
and she could lot help showing it. There
fore h dismissed the girlish presence
that was better than sunlight on the
dreary waste of her friendless life, and
would not even say to her, Come soon
again to me; / have missed you sorely."
Goodnight! Goodnight, my dear!'
she said, extending her little, plump,
satin-fair hand, with the icy br~illiance or
its splendid rose-diamonds restlessly scin-
tillating, the object of Winnie's most fer.
vent admiration and admiring memory
through nearly eleven years.
There was a rustic of sweeping silken
robes as she babe Winnie the coldly-polite
farewell that she might have bestowed as
well after an absence of seven days as
seven years, and from the depths of the
chair by the distant table, where she had
been partially hidden, Lady Mountrevor's
tall imperial figure moved forward, and
stood at the opposite side of Madam Wv.
ian's chair.
Winnie had not ventured on more than
a swift passing glance when she entered
the room; now her eyes fell, and the shy
color rose in her cheeks beneath the steady