The Elbert County tribune., 1903-11-05
cHAprER xx-contInued.

CHAPVEH AHs0CCntinted.
Mrs. Allen was in an adjoining room
reading to Mrs. Green. Mrs. Green
was woman one could love at a
glance and love always; her sweet old
face was flushed with pink. her brown
eyes were soft and gentle. her silken
white hair was brushed in waves back
from her face and softened by cap
of lace: her voice was what woman s
voice should be. sweet but firm. low
but perfectly modulated. She took
Dolores right into her motherly heart,
knowing every word OF her history
so far as ber son knew It, knowing,
too. without being told. that this was
the girl her son loved. And the slen-
der. silent girl seemed to melt toward
her as toward no one else. though at
first II was very bitter this having to
accept hospitality from the mother of
the man who had been SO wronged.
She had been forced TO accept the
hospitality of his mother-been forced
and with no excuse to place the ac-
ceptance out of the question. because
there was no excuse she could offer
when they took her father from the
little house, bearing him carefully to
the carriage waiting for him at the
gate. soft with cushions and pillows OF
down, to the station and the city some
thirty miles below the town down the
valley, with Doctors Dunwiddie and
Grey and her uncle. They had every
thing that money could buy to gain
comfort for him. A car was reserved
for him on the train; everything abb
solutely was done that could be for
his comfort. And then they had
forced upon her the acceptance OF this
hospitality.
Mrs. Green was watching Dolores
through the open doorway. leaning
back on the cushioned sofa. her soft
hands folded in her lap at this her
''rest time" of the day. as she listened
to Mrs. Aliens reading. her thoughts
somehow tangled with that and the
girl at the western window in the sun
set lights and the boy OF her heart
their only child. the best son. she often
said, laughing, that a mother ever had.
Dora was partly in shadow though
~>r face. too, caught the glow from
2. The silence that had followed
all her life seemed to fall like
ound her, and even to her
the time. The sunset lights
died: mellow darkness
he eastern slope of the
he road that wound up its
slender thread in the
suddenly the sound of
mote the air and Dolores
ming from the window.
it?" she asked OF Dora. and
as she answered her:
bells, Lorie," touching the
est her shyly. as though sne
afraid This is Wednesday
and the bell is ringing for
.eeting."
--vres made no further remark on
subject. She knew nothing OF
aver meetings or church bells: they
had little interest for her; her
thoughts were with her father with
young Green. with many things out
side of this commonplace subject.
She turned from the window. however.
bringing her face into shadow Mrs.
Allen had ceased her reading, and was
watching the girls with an inscrutable
expression in her eyes. Had she failed
after all her planning? There seemed
no difference In the friendship be-
tween this girl and the son of their
host. And as she could not win Dora
from her cousin she could at least
make this stupid girl feel some OF the
bitterness she held in her own heart.
That, at least, was worth planning
for. She was SO deeply buried in
these thoughts that she started ner-
vously when Mrs. Green called the
girls in her soft, low voice.
my dears," she said. ARE you not
ready to Join us now? We have watch.
ed the picture you make until now we