Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-05-10
CHAPTER XIII.
In Suspense.


There was considerable excitement
when Ethel Gordon once more crossed
the threshold of her fathers house
The servants looked at her in wonder.
What had happened to their bright
young mistress? She had left them
only few short months since. and
then no flower had been fairer or more
blooming. She returned to them, her
face colorless, her eyes Swallowed with
sorrow the brightness gone from her:
there were no smiles. no more sweet
snatches of song.
L can hardly believe" said the but
ler-an important person at Foun-
tayne-"that it is Miss Gordon; nor
can l think what has so completely
changed her,
they hoped that it was only fatigue
from the journey, and that in a few
days she would be her own bright, ca
PRECIOUS, charming self again. But
days passed on, weeks elapsed, and NO
change came to her; and they realized
! the fact that her girlish gayety had
gone from her forever.
The servants had been tempted at
first to resent Miss Digby's rule: but.
after time, they acknowledged that
1t was well that she was there. The
Wllitul, pretty, imperiOus caprices that
had made the amusement and had
caused the despair of the whole house.
hold were all over Neither rule nor
power had any more interest for Ethel
Those who went to ask her questions
hoping that she would evince some lit
tie interest, all received the same ans
Wer, the same listless, Indifferent re
ply. 1t was either Il know nothing of
1t, or, You had better ask Miss
Digby."
The old housekeeper would listen,
with tears in her eyes.
If she would only scold or go into
passions like she used to do, I should
not care; but what I cannot bear is TO
! see her sitting there looking as though
the world were all over for her"
1t had been terrible trial for Ethel,
that coming home She had been so
completely queen and mistress, her
reign had been SO undisputed. she had
| been so dearly loved Life had been
bright for her-bright with vague,
pleasing hopes. They were all blight
| ed now.
She had left home the fair, proud de-
| Scent 1t of a grand old race: she re-
| turne., the wife of a forger and a thief,
She had left Fountayne one of the han
p'"'t, g3yest, brightest of human be-
| ings; she had returned without an in
terest in life
| It had been terrible to her that COM
ing home; the sight of the familiar,
mucl-l0ved spot seemed to show her
more clearly than ever what DEPTHS of
degr2 5ation separated her from the
gay, proud young Ethel who had been
mistress there. She walked under the
shade of the tall, spreading trees. and
the rustic of the wind among the
branches seemed to have a voice.
That voice said to her:
You are the first degenerate Cor
don. Your predecessors were faithful
and true; you are the first who has
married forger and a thief"
She walked in the long picture-gal-
lery. and the fair, proud faces OF the
Gordons long since dead seemed to
look down on her with scornful pity.
"A forger and a thief" She fancied
each proud mouth repeated the words:
and she passed along the gallery. pale
frightened, the shadow of her former
self
In after-years she tried to remember
how many deaths she had died before
the golden autumn faded into chill
winter, She dreaded lest this terrible
secret of hers should be known. She
would have endured any punishment
rather than that
What if Laurie should write and