Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1898-04-02
CHAPTER XIII.

Miss Darrell preserved a dignified silence
during dinner: but when the servants had
withdrawn, Sir Oswald, who had been
charmed with his visitors, said:
II am delighted, Pauline, that you have
secured a young lady friend. You will be
pleased with Miss ROCKFORD"
Pauline made no reply; and Sir Oswald,
never thinking that it was possible for one
so gentle and lovely as Miss Rocheford to
meet with anything but the warmest praise,
continued:
IL consider that Lady Hampton has done
us all a great favor in bringing her charming
niece with her. Were you not delighted
with her, Pauline?'
Miss Darrell made no haste to reply; but
Sir Oswald evidently awaited an answer.
81 do not like Miss Rocheford," she said at
length; lit would be quite useless to pretend
that | do"
Miss Hastings looked up in alarm. Cap
tain Langton leaned back in the chair, with
n smile on his lips-he always enjoyed Pau
lines scenes when her anger was directed
against any one but himself; Sir Oswald's
brow darkened.
Pray, Miss Darrell, may ! ask why you
do not like her?"
"CeItainly. / do not like her for the same
reason that ! should not like a diet of sugar.
Miss Rocheford is very elegant and gentle,
but she has no opinions of her own; every
wind sways her; she has no ideas, no force
of character. 1t is not possible for me to
really like such a person."
but, my dear Pauline" interposed Miss
Hastings, ''you should not express such very
decided opinions; you should be more reti-
cent. more tolerant"
'If | am not to give my opinion" said
Pauline, s%erenely, II should not be asked
for it,"
pray, Miss Hastings, do not check such
delightful f~rankness,' cried Sir Oswald, an.
grily, his hands trembling, his face darken.
Ing with all angry frown.
He said nc more; but the captain, who
thought he saw a chance of recommending
himself to Miss Darrell's favor, observed,
alter on In the evening:
Il knew you would not like our visitor,
Miss Darrell. She was not Of the kind to
lttract YOU"
'Sir Oswald forced my opinion from me-"
he said "but l shall not listen to one word
If d"lsparagement Of Miss Rocheford from
you, Captain Langton. You gave her great
attention, you fattered her, you paid her
many compliments; and now, if you say that
you dislike her, it will simply be deceitful,
and / abominate deceit"
1t was plain that Pauline had greatly an
nOyed Sir Oswald. He liked Miss Roche
ford very much the sweet yielding, gentle
disposition, which Pauline had thought so
nonotonous, delighted him. Miss Roche
.ord was so like that lost dead love of his-so
ike! And for this girl, who tried his pa
ience every hour in the day, to find fault
With her! 1t was too irritating; he could not
endure it. He was very cold and distant to
Pauline for some time, but the young girl
was serenely unconscious Of it.
III one respect she was changing rapidly.
The time had been when she had been indif-
ferent to Darrell Court, when she had
thought with regret of the free, happy life In
the Rue d'Orme, where she could speak
lightly of the antiquity and grandeurs of the
race from which she had sprung; but all that
was altered now. 1t could not be otherwise,
considering how romantic, how poetical,
| how ilnpressionable she was, how keenly
alive to everything beautiful and noble. She
was living here in the very cradle OF the
race, where every tree had its legend, every
stone its story; how could she be indifferent
while the annals of her house were filed
with noble retrospects? The DarrelIs had
numbered got warriors and statesmen
among their number. Some of the noblest
women in England had been Darrells' and
Pauline had learned to glory in the old
stories, and to feel her heart beat with pride
as she remembered that she, too, was a Oar
rell.
So, likewise, she had grown to love the
Court for its picturesque beauty, its stately
magnifcence, and the time came soon when
almost every tree and shrub was dear to her.
1t was Pauline's nature to love deeply and
passionately il she loved at all; there was no
lukewarmness about her. She was incapa-
BILE of those gentle, womanly likings that
save all wear and tear of passion. She could
not love i'm moderation; and very soon the
love of Darrell Court became a passion with
her. She sketched the mansion from twenty
different points OF view, she wrote verses
about it; she lavished upon it the love which
some girls lavish upon parents, brothers, sis
tiers, and friends.
She stood one day looking at it as the west
ern sunbeams lighted 1t up until it looked as
though ii were bathed in gold. The stately
towers and %turrets, the fiower-wreathed bal
comics, the grand arched windows, the Gothic
porch, all made up a magnificent picture; the
fountains were playing in the sunlit air, the
birds singing in the stately trees. She turn
ed to Miss Hastings, and the governess saw
tears standing warm and bright in the girls
eyes.
"How beautiful II isv she said. II cam
not tell you'll have no words to tell you
how l love my home"