The Washington times., 1903-08-02

wlckedness and sorrow of the world.
Or the great staff of servants there
had once been al Waring only few, too
old to make new venture. or too at
tached, remained. Besides Mrs. May
thorne and Mrs. Susan. there was Love-
kind the gardener. waggett the butler
and couple of elderly housemaids.
Even though no one came. the house
went on in its formal. stately way: the
rooms occupied by Miss Mary. the gar
dens and terraces over which her win
dow looked, had nothing different from
old days. when there was the eye of
master over the place.
The good people would have scornei
To cheat anything so innocent and so nm
susDecting as Miss Mary.
So the terraces shone like green satin.
The beds were full of scarlet and gold.
as OF old: the peacock screamed as he
spread his fans In the sun: the goldfish
swan in clear basin; the gardens sen.
uD their hot watts of fragrance. as
though tomorrow or the n4xt day the
place might not be shut up, going to
ruins for want of a master or mistress.
Maythorne and Susan between them
petted Miss Mary as much as any child
was ever petted. To see Mrs. Susan as
she laundered and got up the delicate
white muslins and Iaces for her mis-
tress. she might have been a mother
over the dainty little garments of a
child OF evenings she dressed her lady
in some soft thing of white silk or fine
wcolen. with a string Of pearls about
her neck and blue ribbon in her soft
hair; aud no one seemed TO find ii in
cong-uors that a woman nearly half
way through her century should be so
attired
Miss Mary did not seem to remember
the passage of the years. 1t was ONLY
lately that Mrs. Susan, dressing her mis-
tress one evening when the summer sun
vet fingered saw line OF bewilderment
Mary stared at herself in the glass as
she might at a stranger.
After that the glass met with an acct
dent and was puc out of sight other
glasses followed its example. The long
mirrors in the drawing room were
swathed. Miss Mary did not seem 20
notice. She had forgotten that momen-
tary scare. since it had not been re-
peated. as though it had never been.
She wandered about a good deal py
herself-safely. for Warning land was all
about her. and even the bay where the
lost ship lay buried was caught like a
kalf-moon into the arms of waring
woods. Sometimes she had Mrs. Susan's
attendance. Sometimes she had not. If
she did not choose to have 1t. she could
refuse it with a sweet imperiousness
which showed she had not forgotten how
TO be mistress.
She loved the woods. and would sit
there for hours while the sun was high
doing nothing but dreaming. Sometimes
the dreams were happy ones. and then
she smiled; sometimes they were sad.
and then the bewilderment of her face
was a piteous thing to see for anyone
who loved her
Some one from outside. catching a
glimpse of her one day, had incautiousIy
remarked to Mrs. Susan that Miss Mary
would never make old bones.
The good woman turned on the gossip
furiously. with almost hysterical anger.
Why, what would all Miss Mary that
she should be going when there were so
may old TO go before her?
They thought of Miss Mary still as
young. To the old servants she was a
perpetual child in the house. 1t did not
occur to them TO think of what would
happen TO her II she remained when they
fell off. one by one. Only 1t sometimes
troubled Mr.. Freke. the lawyer. who was
kindly as well as shrewd. and kept the
affairs of Waring straight He spoke
of it once to HE old wife.
1T would be worse" he said, than
changing nurses for a year-old child
who had known but one nurse and never
any mother"
But more than the woods Miss Mary
loved the bay-Deadman's Bay, the
country people called it. Her wander
ings always ended up there. Mrs. Susan
had found her in the twilight more than
once, sitting on the hull OF the lost yes
sci where 1t projected a foot from the
sands. Doubtless her sitting there had