Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1903-10-29
! The : : :
! Curse ., Darlington
y BY X. TEMPLE MOORE.

By X. TEMPLE MOORE

shops. 1t means a world OF wealth
and fashion that brushes it's silken
skirts against a world of poverty and
ignorance in callous indifference.
Down Regent street-down that
| great vein in the heart of a great city
--drifted one atom with which our
story deals-a woman.
A woman, clad in dark. mournfui
robes, with a black scarf wound above
her bright, rebellious hair: a woman
with a face that might have been torn
from beneath the brush of an Angelo.
A face exuuisitely chiseled, abso-
lutely ~colorless, beautiful with the
beauty Of its own pathetic despair.
More than one Of those languid loi-
terers started at sight of the girls I'm
girlish face; more than one paused and
looked back.
AT an Italians fruit stand, in a bleak
corner, she stopped in blank uncer-
tainty.
viii you show me the way to Lin
coins inn?" she questioned gently.
The little foreigner looked at her a
moment in wordless admiration. Then
he stepped forward and pointed out
the direction in which she should so,
with grinning gallantry.
'Bellisima!" he muttered-"bellisi-
mai"
She hurried along eagerly, blindly,
quite unconscious of the curious
chances bent upon her.
She found Lincoln's inn. She found
the house and the number Of him
whom she sought. She remembered the
address and the name of the lawyer
whom her grandfather had mentioned
in his letter TO her father as residing
in London.
There were several clients in the
| ante-room when she entered. She
must wait her turn. A clerk placed a
chair for her, a look of curiosity Wis
ible In his face.
She sat down by a window and
gazed out on the dreary world beyond
her, with a face as hopeless as the
wintry day. Her e~yes-purpie, blue
as sapphires. seemed unnaturally large
and brilliant in her white face. Her
cheeks had lost little of their delicate
r~oundness, but all Of their rich, soft
bloom,
Tick. tick, tick. droned the clock,
with maddening monotony. Rumble,
rumble, rumble went the wheels on the
road beyond. and still that quiet fig
ure by the window did not move nor
speak nor seem to breathe.
She sat there, calm, with the very
apathy OF desolation. Her black, mon
astIc robes trailed round her; her lit
tie, childish hands lay loosely on her
lap; her face was turned away.
A carriage dashed into the court
and drew up before the door below
a carriage drawn by spirited horses,
bright with Gappings of silver. On
the panel was a carved crest, on the
box were servants in livery.
An Office boy glanced out of the win
dow and caught sight Of the handsome
equipage.
Hellol" he cried, "her's the Car
rington turnout"
Darlington! The black-clad figure
pear him started sharply.
A clerk writing in the corner Of the
room left his desk and came over to
look, too.
"A footman opened the door OF the
vehicle, and a lady a~lighted-a lady
young. but with the figure of a Juno
tall. regal, well developed; a lady with
a certain imperious grace in her slight
est movement; a lady clad from head
20 foot in royal purple velvet.
The Office boy contemplated her a
moment with pleased approval.
"Now. she's what | call a stunneri"
he remarked to his friend. in a tone
In which affable patronage and DELHI
erative discrimination were blended.
did you say Carrington2 r lues-
toned a faltering voice beside them.
The lad turned and looked a little
~curiouslv at Mr.. Bowers strange eli
ent. Her face was lifted 10 his with
an appealing earnestness pitiful to see.
Yes, ma'am." with ~loquacity, that's
the Darlington carriage, ma,am. The
family Is in town now. And that yonng
lady as you've seen is Miss Cynthia
Lennon, Lady Ca~rrington's ward. Oh,
she's powerful rich!" shaking his head,
slowly and impressively. "And they
do SOY, you know, as how she's a-going
to marry my iady's son, Mr.. Give Car
rington. He's han'sum enough to mar
ry a queen, he is! You-you are III,
ma'am?"
"Oh, no-no!" she answered, paling,
and forced her. pale lips to a smile,
and crushed her hands together In a
straining clasp.
And at that moment the door was
flung wide. and with a soft sound OF
her heavy skirts, that was not yet a
rustic. Miss Lennox came into the
room.
Tell MI. Bowers that ! wish TO sec
him" she commanded, and began 70
walk rapidly up and down.
And she was well worth looking at
as she paced to and fro with that long.