Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-04-17
CHAPTER XIV
THE TITLE DEED TO nRoxroN HALL

NSA SOA VIII " lily SdhC
and yours, too, all this wild talk about
q few lost papers may be dropped for
the time being? 1t don't seem quite
respectful to her, lying there so still
and helpless, with us questioning her
meanings and criticising her acts. I am
only asking you to wait a little while"
Forgive me-"
She slipped out Of Miss Malvina's
clasp and dropped on heF knees by the
bed. Malvina left her there. 1t would
do her good to wrestle with herself
alone. She passed into the desolate
little sitting room and paused by the
table with its burden Of rarely used
books. Ollie Joined her there presently.
Il have asked her to forgive me. I
have told her that 1 forgive her. OF
course she did not know what she was
saying"
"Thank you, my dear, for trying to
be just to her"
Suddenly the girls eyes widened.
And that is the very chair. Promise
me. Miss Malvina, promise me-" she
went on, with growing excitement,
'sthat when it is all over-I mean when
there is nothing more to do for her
you will let me come back here and"-
I'll be only too glad to have you
come whenever you can spare a mo-
ment from your W dear invalid"
"You don't understand me-" Her
eyes were burning feverishly. ~ mean
may l come back and examine that
chair?'
1t was on Miss Malvina's sorely tried
heart to ask, Are you. too, going daft
over Thomas Broxton's affairs?" but
the girls hot cheeks and shining eyes
aroused her grave apprehensions. What
IT she should break down under the
strain, with a greater ordeal ahead of
her?
So she said so~othingly: "You can do
Just whatever you choose with any
thing that is mine, Ollie. Tie old
chair has served it's purpose. 1 don't
care II you pull it all to pieces. Mother,
] am sure, would be the first one to say
'Humor her. Now go home, my dear.
Your father may be calling for you. 1
wish I hadn't sent Jimmie Martin for
Mrs. Lyons. I've got no one to see you
home, and 1t is a real dark night"
Il am not afraid. I am coming back
rs soOn-as soon
Z YES, as soon as we have put mother
away by fathers side in the little
c~hurchyard. But now go home"
She watched the small, graceful fig.
nre until it became invisible by reason
OF the twisted road and then closed
her front door softly.
Could there be anything in all this
talk about some lost papers? s'Suspi.
ci0n is catching, I do believe"
Mrs. Deb Lyons and Miss Laetitia
Gaines, who were what might be call
ed mortuary ministers to all defunct
Mandevillians, stood drawing on their
outdoor things with evident reluctance
and inward resentment. 1t was the
first time in long years of service that
they had been informed that they need
not stay all night. 1t was unprece.
denied.
"You are quite sure, Malvina, you
would rather have us go than stay?"
/, quite sure, Mrs. Lyons" the
mourner said, with firm lips.
"And; you won't be afraid to spend
the night here all alone"
Afraid? Haven't I spent every
night Of the last 80 years right here?"
eyes, but not
us 1t mother you are thinking
about? You want to know if / am
afraid to stay here alone with mother?
oh, no! She and I are used to it,"
Miss Laetitia gave a little gasp and
glanced toward the room for whose
passive tenant she and Mrs. Lyons had
done everything decently and in or
der.
YES; but, Malvina, you know it is
different now"
Yes; some things are different. 1t
is not q very far cry to your house or
to Mrs. Lyons either, Lefty, if I
should need anybody, and you have
both been awfully kind"
After that there was nothing to do
but to leave her alone with her dead.
The clock was striking 10 as Miss
Malvina turned the key in her front
door, shutting out all intruders effec-
tuaiiy. Lifting the lamp from the cen
ter table, she passed with it into, her
mothers presence. Cfasped in the fold
ed hands were some flowers that Oliv-
10 had come back to bring as a peace
offering.
wanted to bring them MYSELF
she said, lifting heavy yes to Miss
Malvina, $50 that you should feel very
sure that all the hardness had gone
out Of my heart. 1 could not stay at
home. Father still refuses to let me
come into his room. I wanted some
thing to do, 81 l came.o Then she
had fitted out into the darkness again,
q lonely. pathetic figure.
Malvina stood bordering, not. the
flowers, but the act she had resolved
~hRpopAE~ ---~r