Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-05-19

little amusement of a higher kind in
the place, and a dearth Of work, or,
more truly, a sleepiness in the atmos-
phere, which tended to destroy the
faculty for work, there was some eX-
cuse for this.
The arrival of visitor at the dean
cry was sufficient to set all tongues
in the place going, and when It
gradually became known thai the
dean had adopted his niece, and that
she would thenceforth live at Riches
days wonder"
Had she only come to the place
earlier in the year, when every one
was full OF compassion for the whole
French nation, she would have met
with much warmer welcome; but
the horrors of the Commune had
quite altered this feeling. and to be Of
French birth was the reverse of a.
/ recommendation.
! Her appearance was criticised Sc
verely, and strange stories were set
afloat as to her history; one old lady
! -Well-knOwn as the greatest gossip
in the clOse-had told her friend that
the dean had been seen to flush quite
angrily when some one had made in
! Quiries after NJ de Mabilon-she
, feared he had been a most notorious
! characterize dean had felt his sis
ter's marriage most acutely, she knew
this as a fact
| From this beginning arose a wild
| story exaggerated still more at each
| repetition, in which it was stated that
| EsPerance's father had ended a most
ubiquitous life by attempting to betray
his country to the Prussians, and had
| in consequence been shot, while her
brother had assisted in the murder of
Clement Thomas, and had subsequent
ly been killed as a communistic in
surgent When it transpired that he
was alive and we'll in London, a mar
velous escape was first supposed, and
afterward added to the story as a.
fact.
Of course the subject was avoided
| both with the COllinsons and with Es-
perance herself so that it was long
before the truth was really known.
Esperance, in consequence, thought
the Rilchester people hard-hearted
and unsympathizing. 1t would have
| been relief to her to talk sometimes
of her father, and of thir troubles in
the siege, but no one opened the sub
! ject, and if she ever alluded to it, they
ah 20 ho
reality from kind-heartedness and a
wish to g~are her, but with what
seemed CT course, to her, an utter
want of interest.
Those first few months tried her
! severely. She was very lonely
anxious about Gaspard, and out of
harmony with her surroundings
| Cornelia was cold and sarcastic, and
her time for study was a real trial.
Mrs. MOrtlake was unjust and irritat-
ing; Bella, cross and spoiled; Bertha,
disappointing and reserved. This, at
least, was Esperances view of the
family. She had yet to learn that
q" It's We, not they, who are in fault,
When others seem so wrong"
Of course her grievances were not
wholly imaginary, but she magnified
them greatly, and would not see the
good points which counterbalanced
the failings.
Her letters to Gaspard, which had
at first been brave and cheerful, were
now either in a strain of forced merri-
ment, or with an undertone of bitter
ness which was very foreign to her
nature. She never complained, it is
true but she INDUCED herself more
and more in little sarcasms at the ex-
pense of her friends, and Gaspard
grew seriously uneasy about her.
He wrote to her at last with very
gentle remonstrance, and entreatine
her to tell linn if she were really I'm,
happy; but the reply was far from
satisfactory, and only made him still
more anxious. It ran as follows:
"The Deanery, Rilchester, 18th
September, 1871
MY Dear Gaspard,-A Thousand
thanks for your welcome letter, ant
for the scolding you gave me, only
can hardly call it by such name
since l am accustomed here to q
much more severe fault-f1nding. Sc
you really think I am growing sar
castle! Well, I am hardly surprised
for l am a great deal with Cornelia
and she is just one great piece of sar
casm-I suppose it is infectious
Not in nartic111ar has hanneneC
since I wrote. Bertha is still ava!
and the house is very dull, the mos
enlivening thing being one of Bella
screaming fits, which are like kline
of intermittent fever, and come ever.
. other day. In between she is wha
} Christabel calls good really pettet
l and spoiled! She is indeed an enfan
t terrible. | forget to say that l have
= had my first experience of an Englisl
t dinner-party. l wish you could hav
g seen it, it was most amusing; that /
to say, the evening was, for l did no
:, dine, thus escaping an infection O
|, two hours. The ladies come to tn
: drawing room about nine, or perhap
e later, looking very sleepy and bored
and then they sit trying to talk 70
& about half an hour, footman bring
- ing in first coffee and then tea to pre-
b vent them from quite going to sleep
7, l must tell you that they are a
n dressed to match, the married ladie
: chiefly in grays, mauves, and violett
e and the young ladies in limp whit
l. muslin. I suppose it is the wa