The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1903-10-01

been left upon the premises went
about gathering up the camp equip
age, which had been badly scattered
in the melee, and caring for the
wounded comrades who had been left
behind in the general pursuit of the
Americans. Jane ordered these
carried into the house, and made cots
for them in the wide hall, turning
the residence into u temporary hos
pital.
She had just finished breakfast
when an orderly arrived with a note
from Bessemer, filled with grateful
appreciation of her hospitality to
him and his men, and with regret that
it should have caused her to be the
victim of an ~unmannerly invasion by
a horde of ruthless desperadoes, upon
whose trail he and his soldiers were
then hot.
Jane thought it a most mannerly
note, and if some of the sentences
were so fulsome as to almost draw
from her a smile, she was vet
accustomed to such gallantries, hav-
ing spent two winters in Charleston
with her mothers Hugenot relatives,
mingling in that polite society whose
daily conversation was a shower OF
bouquets; though, indeed, sometimes
the bouquets were made of flowers
which pricked.
She could not but contrast Besse-
mer's polished Difference with Worth
ington's abrupt ways. What
had her stepmother SO often termed
Godfrey-a rude boor? And she,
Jane, had ever come to his defense;
yet what thanks did she get? He
would have roasted her alive in her
fathers house without a qualm in
order that he and his lawless band
might slaughter those who were her
guests.
The next few days, after Bessemer
had sent to take away his wounded
and she had no longer their care to
occupy her, were lonely ones for
Jane. She was tempted to follow the
advice her stepmother had given her
before leaving home and send for
some of her girl friends to keep her
company, but the mail brought her
such u~nfavorable news of her fathers
condition that she had little heart
for the entertainment of guests, and,
moreover, the war had either
~estranged or separated from her
those whom she liked best.
Even her own Aunt Susannah, to
whom her heart turned more warmly
than to any of her other relatives
and whose affection for herself she
could not doubt, had vowed never to
step her foot within her brother-in-
laws's door as long as his Tory wife
was it's mistress. This rupture was
brought about by one of those caustic
speeches for which James stepmother
had no little reputation in the neigh
borhood.
Jane knew her aunt too we'll not
to realize that she would keep her
word; but if she would not come to
Jane, at least Jane might go to her,
SO one morning she ordered the car
riage and set out for her Uncle
Elijah's in no little state, for, though
her stepmother had taken the gilded
coach with its painted panels and it's
six black horses to Charleston that
she might impress her royalist
friends there and overawe her hus-
bands first wife's relatives, yet the
equipage in which Jane set forth
with its maroon cushions and it's two
negroes on the box seat in their
white-and-maroon livery made an at
tractive appearance.
The sunlight flashed on it's polished
lamps and turned into gold such of
the hair of it's fair occupant as could
be seen under her beribboned bon
net. On the front seat facing her
sat Aunt Rachel and Nanny Anne.
Jane, always a kind and considerate
mistress, had not the heart to make
a visit to their old home without
taking with her as many of her Uncle
Elijah's former retainers as she
could. Neither of the men upon the
box seat was a regular Ellery coach
man. One was Gabriel and the other
was Absalom, who had been her
Uncle Elijah's footman until the re-
verses came.
The faces of the darkics beamed
with satisfaction, except that of
James black NANNY, who resented
having her drive with her mistress
shared by Aunt Rachel. In truth, NO
little jealousy existed between the
two old women, and their mistress
affection was the bone of contention.
The day was as brilliant as bril-
liant could be-flled, indeed, with
that sparkling brilliance never seen
save after a hard storm, for the
night before there had been another
of those South Carolina tempests
which, having it's birth in the sea.
augmented it's force as it swept
across the marshes and threshed it.
self out among the woods.
The two stout gray horses had all
they could do to draw the ponderous
vehicle. and they had not traversed
more than Il third of the distance tc
her aunt's before Jane began tc
realize that she had made a mistake
In her choice of coachmen. Gabrie,
was only a house servant, unused tc
horses, while Absalom, though a
dapper, graceful and sprightly foot.
man, did not compare as a driver
with her w Uncle Timothy.
The carriage was rolling along the
edge of a piece of woodland, the low.
hanging branches SWeepinp ifs for