Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-01-13
reused by Louise.

"Yes; Ill sing if am here that even
ing" replied Stuart, with n feeling that
he was fast losing all his interest in the
things that once amused him. He had
a splendid baritone voice and was a ia
vOrite singer with all his friends.
"Why, ere you planning to be away"
"No; | did not know what might
happen under the condition of the
strike and ALL"
"We've invited the Meltons and the
Vasplaines. They would be very much
disappointed if you were not here"
said Aunt Royal.
81 shall probably be here" said Stu
art briefly.
Louise rose suddenly and went up to
her brother.
"And l invited Miss Dwight, Stuart.
She refused to come, but don't you
think l am too aristocratic for any
thing to invite herr"
Stuart looked at Louise in astonish-
ment. The words sent the color to his
cheek and set his pulses beating.
You knew she would not come" he
said in low voice.
Louise started as if she had been
caught in her lie to Rhena. She went
back to her seat and was silent. 1t
was at times q mad freak with Louise
to say or do the unexpected thing. She
was not original, but she sometimes
took malicious pleasure in startling
people.
81 am glad she refused" said Aunt
Royal, who sometimes forgot her diplo-
macy in her qualification at things.
"She certainly would have felt very
much out of place among u.s."
Eyes, that's So" said Stuart, provOk-
ed into a statement he could easily
have made before his conversion. 'tShe
would have been out of place among
your other guests because most Of
them are uneducated Doors and clowns
in comparison with a lady like Miss
Dwight"
Aunt Royal was speeches.. She
could not find anything to say at first.
Finally she began in her usual gentle
voice:
81 am surprised, Stuart, to hear you
speak that way of a common Salvation
Army
That was as far as Aunt Royal could
get. Stuart interrupted with an en-
phasis that petrifed both the women:
81 will not allow you or any one to
speak a disrespectful word of the wo-
man l love and who, if God is good
enough to me, will some time become
my wife!'
With the words Stuart walked out
Of the room, leaving his aunt and
Louise gasping as if pail of ice wa
ter had been thrown over them. And
what they said when they recovered
history saith not, and Stuart never
knew nor cared.
He went away to his room and sat
there without turning on the lights.
He knew that he had precipitated mat
tiers in the home by his brief but out
right declaration of his purpose. He
did not regret it, but he was a little
afraid he had shown the un-Christian
spirit in his words or manner The old
Adam had place in him yet? No, he
said to himself; he was Il new man.
The very best evidence of it was his
present action. He knelt and prayed to
be forgiven if he had spoken wrongly.
He was still praying when a servant
brought word that he was wanted at
the telephone.
He went down and was informed by
the clerk in the Office that two of the
miners had come in, and, acting under
instructions, the clerk had called up
Stuart to come and see them. Stuart
told the clerk to hold the men until he
could get down. He went out at once
and drove into the town.
The men who had come to the office
were residents of Cornishtown They
had come for help in a case not their
own, but that of miner who lay sick
and in need at the farthest limits of
the settlement.
Stuart hastily loaded his cutter with
necessaries, and with one of the men to
direct the way he started out. The
night was dark, and fine snow was
| failing. The drifts were piled high on
either side of the road. Stuart knew
he could drive only part of the way. AS
he went by the Salvation Army hall he
stopped a minute to speak to one of the
men standing on the steps. The hall
was lighted, but there was no meeting
| going on.
! Miss Dwight went up to Cornish
/ town this afternoon with some clothes
to distribute and is not yet back" the
man said in answer to a question of
! Stuarts.
He drove on with a great feeling of
uneasiness at his heart. He recalled
Andrews words about the abandoned
| pits and prospecting holes all about
! Cornishtown and on the side hills. The
thought that Rhena might be in peril
there quickened the stir of his blood.
He drove his horse with a reckless dis
regard of the speed or the danger. The
miner who was with him in speaking
of it afterward said, Tell you, boys,
thought most | was with the doctor,
| and I EpDt 1viDp nv little DIa