Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1900-12-22
CHAPTER L.-(Continued.)

''She has been little absurd about it
all along" says Mrs. Darcy mournfully
.One would think it was a crime she had
committed, or her poor father, instead OF
that miscreant, who never was brought
to justice. But she has always been ter
ribly sensitive about it, and she is a child
that one must give in to, she is so sweet
and SO impetuous, and so endearing. Oh,
when it happened-although she was sc
young, only years old-it seemed Il
crush her little spirit to the earth. 1t
would have broken your heart to see her
pretty face. She was too young. surely
TO have been capable of feeling so acute
": yet she suffered as certainly no child
ever suffered before or since. She was
motherless, you know. and she and her
poor father We're all in all to each other
He was wrapt up in her and she in him,
When first the colonel brought her home
to live with u.s. | thought she was going
TO die.
Poor child" says Mr.. Blount gravely.
1T was not all grief, perhaps, though
that was very strong. You see." hest
tating she had had fearful shock. 1t
was she who discovered the-the body.
She was the first to enter the room and
see her father lying dead. He was a
very old man to be her father. He had
married late i'll life He was lying as
child ran up to him and looked down.
and there was some blood. and it was
creeping into. his parted lips" shudder-
ing. 'and--"
7Stop! Stop cried Mr.. Crawford,
throwing up his hands, and staggering
back against the wall.
oh. if you feel it so much for her,
what must she have felt?" says Mrs.
darcy. She looks at him in wonder
ment How fond he is of her, How
terribly fond, She had heard from Mr..
Vaudrey and others of his kindness. his
sympathy, but that he should feel like
this for another's grief, is beyond any
experience she has ever had. Il really
think she would have died" she goes on
presently, IF it hadn't been for Jimmy.
He was quite little fellow then-a mere
baby, and she grew SO fond of him: she
took him right into her. as it were.
don't think she is quite so devoted to
him now says Mrs. Darcy, with a
nervous little laugh. "They squabble a
good deal; but inst at that time Jimmy
was a mine of gold to her
But why did you change her name"'
asks Blount, who has been profoundly in
terested.
Well You see. Darcy and Darling
have something of the same sound. and
Jimmy's nurse, stupid creature, would
from the first call her Miss darcy; and
it struck the colonel that it would be a
good plan to adopt the nurses stupidity.
and SO separate Evelyn's mind as much
as possible from her unhappy past Be
Sides" says Mrs. Darcy, I'VE grew so
fond of her that | believe we liked to
fancy our name was hers. And by de-
grees, as the servants were changed, all
the new ones naturally called her Miss
Darcy, that is when she grew too old
TO be Miss Evelyn, and so it became a
habit, and remained SO"
Strange" says Blount. ''To lose
ones identity so entirely, to actually give
up ones name, must be a singular eXpe-
rience."
Not so very singular, after all. Not
more singular than when a girl marries.
She gives up her own name then, too,
but no one thinks anything about it. Mr.
Crawford, you look very ill. Sit down
there, and let me get you a glass of
sherry
have difficulty about uttering even
these few words. He is still leaning
against the wall, looking shrunken, old.
ashen.
Blount once again regards him curious
ly. Is it going to be a fit-or--
"A little brandy, them says Mrs
Darcy, who is growing frightened. She
castsan eager, supplicating look at Batty.
as if DESTROYS of his opinion as to what
is best to be done with the pale, shaken
man before her. 1t is perhaps the one
and only time on record that Mr.
Blount's opinion has been sought. And
now in vain. His gaze is still riyeted
upon Crawford.
As if disturbed by it. and conscious of
1t, the latter rouses himself.
You are very good-too good" says he
family. "But-nothing. thank you. I
feel upset unnerved. / have an old en-
emy'-with faint smile-''that often
does battle with me, and | meet him best
when alone. You will give my love to
Evelyn. and tell her how-how--" He
stops short as if unable TO complete his
sentence. Tell her | had to GO
III tell her everything kind, You may
be sure" says Mrs. Darcy genially
And indeed if he believed in nothing else,
he may be quite sure of that. But are
YOU equal to the walk home? Can
not"
II shall like the walk: the rain-good-
BYE He finished his adieux with
unconscious Indispensable the ever
kind and gentle-and leaves the room
with strange abruptness. To Blount it
suggests itself that the 'od enemy"
whatever it is, would have taken posses
SION Of him then and there had he re-
manned moment longer The "old en-
emy-was it the devil?
Mr.. Blount's Lively mind flies DER I'M
known spaceless tracts.