The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1899-07-28
CHAPTER NII.-tContinued)

oAi-hi L LII ~Aii.--tLOulluutuJ
Father, do forgive me, but cannot say
Yes l know" added Mabel earnestly,
that you would not associate with bad
peoplc-we never thought of that-but l
do know your voice. and know, too, that
there is secret. Yes; must tell you all.
a. little while ago, in the library at home,
when ! was sitting there one day behind
the curtains with a book, you and Uncle
John came in; and heard you say to him
that there was a secret-somethlng that
we were not to know. When all these
other things happened L connected it with
them--1 could not help it. And now,
father--now, when Neville has asked me
to marry hint seems frightful to let him
think himself engaged to me if there is
any dark secret mixed up with our family
history
Mr.. Charlford listened, with smile.
My dear Mabel he said, you are very
young, and you have all that delicate care
for one you love which your dear mother
possessed in such a marked degree. [
sught not 10 be displcased that it is such
a feature in your character, though in this
instance it has told against me. Well, I
forget the particular occurrence you al
Jude 10, but | do fully remember speaking
to your Uncle John in the library. at home,
on more than one occasion. too, about a
circumstance which has annoyed and trou-
bled me good deal. and which J. certain
ty never intended either you, or even Dick,
to hear OF. 1t grieves me to mention it
now, but. after all you have been imagin-
ing and suffering, am constrained to tell
you plainly. You remember that woman
Farley who lives in the cottage just out
ir cub, 1,N,,, Io
bel, Were always going With some gift Or
other?"
Yes. father" answered the girl.
you may remember, too that forbade
sou 10 goto the house any more, or to give
her moaeyfor anything else-for which l
an sure that you thought me very tyran-
nicali'
Yes. father she faltered.
We'll, my veto was not uttered from a
tyranuical motive. but because Of the
knowledge that she, the mother Of eight
children, was behaving very. badly indeed
Very disgracefully She has now run off
with the village carpenter, leaving her
husband to shift for himself and his eight
boys and girls as best he can. And, as if
this scandal was not sufficient Mrs. Far
tey's eldest girl-not yet sixteen-has gone
SiL " IN IL lltuu w uu LAS Two Cuil-
dren. | am soRy enough to have had to
mention such subject to you, Mabel, and
ite have shocked your deicacy as l see
ihaNe done, but you left me no alternative.
We'll, what will you do? There is really
nothing more that can say. But there is
O thing which l must do. If you yourself
90 not tell Lord Wynmore all this, must
On nc account would l allow daughter
nj to oil
with whom, unless it was warmly desired.
We will have no concealment from Lord
NNnmore, and then there can be no re-
aproaches afterward."
AIabel heaved deep sigh, and remain
eG iosi IN thought.
III was your voice l heard, father" she
sad, raising her head; but of course un-
.acrhand dealings with people of no charac-
Ter would be abhorrent to you; still L
thought that something disgraccful-some
ehin;: which happened long ago, and with
which YOU might have had nothing to do
-clung 10 our family name"
"A nd you are not yet convinced to the
coEtgary? Well, Dick, is your opinion un-
echanged?"
NO, father I ought to tell both you
and Mabel that I think it very possible she
has made mistake. At the same time
there is a good deal of foundation for the
mistake. Probably someone did person
ate YOU for his own safety. Perhaps those
men had plan for robbing Uncle Johns
house, or, as you have said, Nab, who was
gerry much agitated, may have fancied
that one of them resembled you. Again,
the resemblance may have been real
enough, but of course chance resem-
blance. Nab, dear, L wish you could
think as l do
When she heard Dick reason thus, she
wayercd for the first time in her own firm
conviction that it lad been her father, and
10 other, whom she had encountered by
the pool, and her heart was lightened of
load that was almost too heavy for her to
bear.