The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1900-09-07

i
done for a long time, and scene after
scene seemed to rise before her.
Mollie could not remember her IA
ther at all, for he had died when she
was but a few months old, but her
pretty young mother had been her
playfellow, and until her sixth year,
her constant companion. Then came
the days when q tall, dark man was
always with her mother, and that
dearly loved parent was somehow not
the same to her, while the dark man
used to bring her sweets, and smile
grimly when she put her hands be-
hind her back, and refused to accept
them.
Yes, from the very first Mollie had
disliked and distrusted Leonard Bar
lowe, and he had cordially returned
the feeling. With her mothers sec
ond marriage all her troubles began,
and the child would often sob herself
to sleep at night, feeling neglected and
forlorn, missing the tender voice, the
lullaby ever since she could remem-
Der.
Afterwards Mollie grew to know
that her mother had not forgotten her,
but that her stepfather, jealous and
morose, resented even the affection
she bestowed to her own child, and
timid and clinging by nature, she had
not the strength of characterize oppose
him in any way. Mollie was sent
to school soon after the birth of her
half-sister, Kate, and though she spent
the holidays at home, Chalfont House
was never the same place again.
Looking at the past through the
softening vista of time, Mollie knew
that her woes had not been imaginary.
She would have been fond enough
of the little usurper, who seemed to
have pushed her out of her place, had
she been allowed for she was neither
jealous nor revengeful; but Mr. Bar
lowe, while spelling Kate until she
was unbearable, resented the least at
tention shown to Mollie, and the
holidays had been misery, school a
refuge. She gradually grew to know
that her mother was miserable, that
she only dare caress her in private and
that she feared her handsome dark
husband more than she loved him.
How we'll she remembered the last
time she had any talk with her
mother! 1t was the night before her
return to school, and her mother came
into her room as she was preparing
for bed. and, closing the door, took
her into her arms as II she were a
baby again, kissed and cried over her
in passionate, heart-broken way,
saying that whatever happened to the
future, she must never doubt. her poor
mothers love, that save her dead ia
ther. no one was so precious to her,
no one; and that her last thought and
prayer would be for her own Mo.lie.
1t was not until her death a few
months later that Mollie understood
what she meant, Chalfont and good
income had been Mrs. Barlowe's pri-
vate property, and she left them to
her husband for his lifetime, and then
to her daughter Kate, no mention be-
ing made Of her elder child, save that,
failing them, she would be her heiress.
This had not been her mothers
wish. Mollie knew as well as If she
had been told-and the fierce anger
burned in her heart, not for the loss
of the property, but for what Mr..
Barlowe had made her mother suffer.
oh, how she hated him as she saw his
fine eyes rowing with an air of pro-
prietorship round her mothers room!
In her childish heart she felt that he
had got what he had schemed for, and
1t mattered little to him that he had
ruined her mothers and her life to
obtain it.
They lived at open warfare during
the months before she was sent to
Hanover; and 1t was an additional
blow to find that he had constituted
himself her guardian. in her mothers
place. His motive was not far to seek.
Mollie was her fathers heiress. and
though he could not touch the princi-
pal, a handsome allowance was made
for the care of Colonel L'Estrange's
daughter.
And now he, too, was dead, and she
was going back to live at Chalfont
House with her little half-sister and
Madam Dubois! Were brighter times
coming. she wondered, as, In company
with the English governess, she once
more set foot on her native land, or
was Madame Dubois but repetition
Of Leonard Barlowe?
Ut was bleak March day when. the
governess put her charge into a first
class carriage at one OF the great Lon
don stations, and reluctantly babe her
farewell. after carefully scertaining
that two elderly ladies in the further
corner were going the same Journey,
and Reverton would be reached In lit
tie over an hour. where Madame Du-
bois was sure to be at the station.
So she kissed the pet and pride OF
Frau Seckendorfs school with fearful
eyes, and hurried away to catch her
own train, while Mollie sank back in
the corner Of her carriage, sorry to
part with her last friend, yet excited
ct the prospect before her. q.
For little while she occupied her
self In watching one familiar object
after another appear. as the express
left the chimneys behind and rushed