The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1901-05-09
CHAPTER XIII.


left the next morning to be driven to
the house of Rev. Mr.. strothers a thin
white carpet lay on the earth and fine
feathery flakes continued to fall.
The servants had been appraised of
the astonishing event and they gath
erd at the windows which look out
upon the drive.
"a very sensible thing for 'em to
do" said James. "She is the sort of
mistress I want to work for. I should
have left the other if she hadn't gone
to the bottom of the Atlantic. I
haven't lived with the ~aristocracy for
ten years without knowing a sample
when I see it. The good Lord has
been kind to the major"
81 wish she had waited awhile, just
for the looks O. the thing" said Katie,
B%lanche's favorite maid. "Then she
could have had a swell wedding, plen-
ty of presents, and"
and give you all her old Clothes"
sneered James, who was too fat to
make use of the majors discarded
apparel.
81 get everything I want anyway"
was Katie's defense. 'It is only be-
cause I think she deserves all that any
rich young lady has that I object to
this kind of a marriage; but if she is
only happy, I won't complain"
These gossiping hirelings were at the
windows when the returning carriage
appeared in sight an hour later. The
| hri1aSc hoo11tf,1 fo1a xro~ A,el,aJ 1,
the contact with the wind, and she
had ley looked so happy or moved
with SO much grace. Talley and Miss
Dean had very serious faces as they
came up the veranda side by side.
swell, it is all over" said the major
to his bride when they were alone in
the luxurious company chamber, where
q red fre~glowed. He had never been
such a mystery to himself as now. He
felt as if he were drunken with de-
licious memories of their old court
ship.
"Yes, I I'M your wife at last" she
said, with a smile. II am your wife,
and I am going to make you happy. I
feel it away down in my heart"
"You feel it," he repeated, as if in a
dream, and he helped her to take off
her cloak. He felt her warm breath
on his face. He laid the cloak aside,
then drew her into his arms and kissed
her. Sand so do I, dear girl. And so
do l."
At that strange moment Jeanne
Goddard and all her evil plans seemed
as much removed from his life as if
she had never entered it. 1t was as if
the old life had come back to him
the life in which his love had for it's
object a creature SO pure and unde-
filed that it lifted him up and opened
his eyes to spiritual possibilities.
81 was at first afraid you would not
consent so soon after-after her
DEATH" he said.
81 felt that it was my right to have
you now" said Blanche, frankly.
"She told me how she had deliberately
beguiled you from me when she dis
covered that you loved me. The night
before she sailed she confessed she
had >resorted to every trick and arti-
fee within her power to make you
cast me aside"
"she told you that?" the major ex-
claimed.
"Yes, and not only that, but she said
she had some sort of presentiment
that she was going to die abroad, and
said if anything did happen to her
she hoped I would marry you. Oh,
I've tried to regret her death-to feel
sorry for her at being taken away in
the midst of such sins, but I cannot.
She even tod me-oh, I can't tell you
what else she said. 1t makes me al
most hate her memory"
"Piease go on" said the major.
"She confessed that she was un-
happy with you-that she wanted to
get away from you-that she married
you simply for your money"
81 suspected that" said the major,
dreamily.
It seemed so wonderful to him that
he could now calmly contemplate
Jeanne's shallow faithlessness with
out the pangs such thoughts had al
ways caused him. Was it because he
really loved his ward and that he had
never loved Jeanne-that his passion
for her had been only a base infatua-
| ton which had already taken wings?