Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-01-01
Continued.

Dear me, dear me, Inat Is just
what l was afraid Of" she cried, as
if in great CONSERVATION. CAS- for
distinguishing any sense at Miss
Bowye tea-parties, that is impos-
sible, for obvious reasons. But
thought you could not know what you
were talking about when l heard you
say things to her which will GER
tainly result in her sending you
billet doux tomorrow. They say she
was once the plaintiff in breach OF
promise case: though l don't XII wv
whether it's true
On the other hand, Mile was GER
tainly his guiding star through many
of the teacup storms which he soon
found to be for ever raging in the
quiet neighborhood. She warned him
not to mention the stage to Mrs.
Cakes, who had nineteen years ago
found a photograph of a dead and
gone prima donna in her husbands
coat pocket; not to touch upon the
Turf i'll the presence of Miss Shannon,
who had had a brother who once lost
five pounds at the Derby, and came
home with a smashed hat, to which
events she traced his subsequent
death of bronchitis at the age Of fifty
two; and, above all, to keep away, in
the presence of the vicar, from the
subject of church-lighLing, as the
whole parish had seethed over huge
brass chandelier, presented to the
church by one of the congregation, the
tiny winged figures upon which, after
being overlooked altogether or
reverently looked upon as angels, had
suddenly been pronounced to be
cupids, and had been the cause of as
much controversy, not to say scandal,
as if the whole Of the congregation
had found themselves involved in a
bacchanalian riot
Armathwaite listened to these
admonitions with much scorn, and
protested that a doctors trade was to
heal diseases, not to play tame cat to
a bevy of assorted old women, and
that, as for their petty wrangles ana
squabbles, they were the parsons
affairs, and not his Mile let hun
talk, and then quietly assured him
that if he were to hold himself above
the consideration of their prejudices,
they would soon find out that he was
incapable of curing their ailments.
And when Maud catches the measles,
Maud's mamma will send for a doctor
who will sympathize with the strong
feeling she entertains on the personal
chastisement of little boys at a public
school" she ended confidently. she
was so kind and SO sensible that she
kept his contempt within due bounds,
though she scarcely succeeded in re-
ducing it; and it was certainly to her
beneficent influence that he owed his
retention of that high position in the
good graces of his Well-to-do patients
into which he had jumped so sudden
ly. He found his consolation for the
Irritating pettiness of this side Of his
life in his professional ministrations
among the poorer classes, who, accus-
toned only to see a doctor when they
really needed his advice, and not al
ways then, excited his compassion,
woke his interest, and kept alive his
pride in an affection for his own
calling.
For ten days he saw nothing either
of the kildonans or of the Crosmonts,
except for fieeting glimpse he caught
one evening, when he was out late on
his rounds, of the sleigh and its occu-
pants. 1t was hard winter, and the
frost still held; and though on bright
days the sun melted d little of the
upper snow on the more open parts
the great mass of it still spread over
the hills and Choked the valleys, the
ice on the lake grew thicker and thick
er, and at night the hard roads rang
under the tread of man or beast. The
ground was too slippery for Anna
thwaite to care to trust himself to the
old cob, which had now been placed
at his service in sign of his installa-
ton as DR.. Peele's representative He
was returning on foot at a good pace
from tramp to an outlying cottage
among the hills beyond Mereside,
where an old man lay hopelessly i'll,
when, not far from the spot where he
had first heard them, the sleigh-bells
struck upon his ears, followed by the
sharp sounds of the ponies hoofs. He
drew beck and raised his hat as the
sleigh passed. Lady Kildonan. who
was driving, uttered a c~y of recOgni-
ton, and pulled up to speak to him:
but hA-' cOmOaniOn Snatchpd tho rninc
from her hands and drove on with a
muttered oath, which, in the clear
air of inc frosty night, reached the
young doctors ears with perfect dis
tinctness. This was the only occasion
when he came to anything like close
quarters with any of the four people
in whose history he took such a vital
interest until he received towards the
end of his second week at BranksOme,
note from Lady Kildonan. invit-
ing him to skating party to be held
on the lake on the following afternoon
from two till five. There was 4 post
script. Of course: Mrs. C.osmont
has been invlted. | trust to the NUT
ual attraction to bring you BOTH
Armathwaite wrote back. accepting
the invitation, and wondered whether
his walk back from the station with
Ms. Crosmont had reached Lady Kill
domains ears, and had been used by
that imperious and spoilt beauty to
irritate CrosmOnt against the man he
chose /, consider his rival He had
already discovered that life in this