The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-04-09
CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVI.
Sarah Eastbell went back TO Sedge
Hill with her maid, in a disconsolate
frame of mind. She had left home full
of confidence in the result of her mission,
full of faith in being of service to Reu-
ben Culwick, and Of Reuben being CRATE
full for her efforts in his behalf, and the
result had been nm gnominious discom-
future. She had left home against the
wishes Of her grandmother. and in oppo-
sition to the advice of her grandmother S
companion Mary Holland. Still the
granddaughter was not sorry that she
had been to London. although she had
failed i'll being of service to Reuben Gull
wick. She had seen him; he had prom
Used to come to Sedge Hill some day. he
was not altered SO terribly as Miss Jen-
nings had asserted; he had spoken kind
ly to her; he was not jealous of her pc
sition in his fathers house; he had suf-
fered more from his own ventures in life
than from his disinheritance it was not
the one misfortune. but the many, which
had altered him and aged him, and he
would be the same frank. warm-hearted
fellow presently, she prayed.
She reached Worcester in safety, and
hired fly took her the rest of the way
home. 1t was between 8 and 9 o'clock
of that autumn evening when the great
front door was opened to admit her. The
stad man servant wore so grave an ex-
preston of countenance that Sarah said
quickly:
"All is well. hope, Wills? Mrs. East
bell Is upstairs, | suppOse?"
'She is downstairs this evening. In
the drawing room"
''She has been ill-advised to go there.
The place is large and cold, and
Sarah Eastbell paused in mute aston
ishment, for the sound of violin, not
unskllfully played, came from the di-
rection of the room in which she had been
told her grandmother was. Music had
filed the house with harmony of late
days, for Mary Holland was a fair plan
list. and Mrs. Eastbell was fond of music
it had been ascertained but iolin-play-
ing had not been one of 'the compan-
ions" accomplishments.
who is III" she cried.
IT'S Captain Peterson, Miss Eastbeli
If you will allow me to explain how"
But Sarah Eastbell was of too excita-
BILE nature to wait for an explanation.
when the mystery was to be cleared up
iirst-hand. and she swept by the servant
and went at once to the drawing room
There were four persons in the room be-
sides herself, and she looked from one
to another with keen watchfulness that
hardly died away when her appearance
was observed. Her heart sank a great
deal, but she had the self possession to
keep bold front to the enemy-for sure
ly it was the enemy who had appeared at
Sedge Hill in the unlucky time of her alb
sence. and whose coming she had feared
before that day. although not expecting
II in this fashion.
Half sitting. half reclining by the great
! coal FIRE burning in the steel CRATE. was
the old blind woman. her spare form
draped in heavy ruby velvet. over which
neandered gold chain thick enough for
a door fastening. On her gray hairs had
been set a turban kind of headdress. but
1t had slipped sidewise. and preserved n
grotesque appearance. Mary Holland sat
quiet aud grave over her wool work, and
near her were two visitors.
The younger of the two was her broth
er Tom, glossy as II raven in a brand new
suit of black, and the stranger was a rid
dle-sized, good-looking, highly colored,
dark man of eight or nine-and-twenty.
who at the moment of Sarah's entrance
was playing violin fantasia for the ben
eht of the company.
1t was Mary Holland who first per
ceived our heroine, and rose as if to cross
the room toward her. subsidng into her
seat again as Thomas Eastbell sprans,
from his chair with shout of welcome
that nearly scared his grandmother into
| the fire.
What. al-Sally-Sarahr' he ex-
claimed, correcting his address to her as
he proceeded, ito think that you werent
at home 10 say how dye do to your only
brother after all these blessed years, Kiss
me, gal-how are you? SILVER my tim
beers, what beauty you have grown tor
Keep back, please-wait moment"
she said in low, suppressed voice.
But Thomas Eastbell was impetuous
like his sister. He flung his arms round
her. and clasped her to his bosom, crush
ing her hat and fall in the process.