The Miller sun. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 190?-19??, 1904-11-02
CHAPTER XIII.

more becoming. But with all my pains,
4 cut but a very sorry figure.
Dear me, how spruce you look this
morning. said Martha, as l came down
10 breakfast. "And quite elated, too!'
Before 10 o'clock / was In the neigh
borhood Of her house. 1t was too early
10 go there yet: SO l fingered about for
"a time. How very awkward it was that
q had no knowledge OF her name! / had
cutie forgotten to ask it. As the time
drew near l began to feel nervous. A
church clock struck eleven as l timidly
Knocked at the door. / was answered by
q stout, good tempered looking old lady.
You have a young lady staying here"
q began, in a hesitatipg tone.
'"Oh, you are the young man that Miss
Clara expects, / suppose" Saying which,
the old lady deliberately drew a pair
pf spectacles out of her pocket, and adj
Husting them, carefully scrutinized me.
my appearance seemed to satisfy her, for
she said, in a more friendly tone, walk
I'm, young man; Miss Clara will be with
Hou directly"
She showed me into a neat little par
Dor. Upon the table were several water
Folored drawings, some finished, some I'M
bhrished; also some Berlin wool work.
bouquets of flowers were everywhere;
upon the table amidst the work, upon the
mantelpiece in two vases, upon a little
STAND facing the window, and upon the
cottage piano that stood in a corner. The
lair was loaded with their perfume. In
10 few moments the door opened and
CLARA came into the room.
You have come, then" she said. with
her sweet, melancholy smile.
As il aught but death or Imprisonment
could have kept me away!
She painted water-color pictures, and
did Berlin wool work for the shops, she
told me. She sat down at once and be-
gan her work, and / waited upon her,
washed her brushes, ground her c%olors,
adjusted the blind, and between these
little offices I watched her busy fingers;
but oftener my eyes were upon her face,
igraving its every lineament upon my
memory. Never have | looked upon an
other face so spiritually beautiful. 1t
WAS one OF those heads that the old Ital-
Pan painters loved to give TO their An
gels and Madonnas, so prefectly serene.
80 utterly free from human passions.
The fair wavy hair. Wttrammeled by
art, the oval face, neither full, nor thin,
but perfectly smooth; the low forehead;
the blue eyes; the straight Grecian nose;
the small mouth; the swelling, gracefully
nrched neck; the skin so delicately white,
hinted upon the cheeks with the ~faintest
carnation. Her figure was OF about the
middle height, exquisitely graceful, yet
painfully fragile. She wore a black
dress, made high to the neck, with a
small, plain white collar.
We talked very little; she was too busy
with her work, and silence was more
congenial with our mood.
AT 3 o'clock Mrs. Wilson called IS to
dinner, which we took in a breakfast
parlor below. The old lady was very
chatty and very curious, and asked me
IA great number of indirect questions;
those l did not care to answer / con-
trived pretty skillfully to evade.
"You must excuse my questions, sir"
she said; 'but although Miss Clara Is
no relation of mine, and, indeed. l know
nothing about her, still | feel as much
interested in her as though she were my
own child; she is SO innocent, and knows
SO little about the world, that it's quite
necessary that she should have some one
tc look after her. Now, you are the
first visitor that she has ever had. and
she has lived with me these two years.
but, when she came home last night she
kold me that she had met an old nc
uuaintance who was coming to see her;
that he had come to the city in search of
employ ment, and had no friends nor ac-
qu~aintanccs, and was so ~dreadfully mis-
erable that it made her quite unhappy
TO see him. At first, l set my face
against it. but she soon coaxed me over,
and / compromised the matter by saying
that you should come this once, but that
III l did not approve of you, 1t was to be
the first and the last visit. But / must
say you seem n very nice, quiet, modest
sort of young gentleman. And what kind
Df employment might you be seeking?"
L told her I had been usher at a school,
but that at present l was doing copying.
q did not say of what kind. The old
hady remarked that an usher's was a
very genteel sort of employment. Alto
gether she seemed very well satisfied
with me.
In the evening Mrs. Wilson brought
her sewing up into the parlor, and pro-
posed tl.at / should read to them. And
SO the evening glided on, oh. so rapidly.
until I could no longer see in the dark
lening twilight, and then we all sat near
Tine window; Mrs. Wilson chatting, i and
CLARA silent. She gazing into the street,
with that absent look so common to her;
n watching every motion of her face, as
At grew more and more indistinct In the
d~eepening shadows. Lights were brought,
and then we went down to supper, and
then 1t was time to 20.
"You will come and see me again.
won't you?" she said, as she gave me her
hand at the gate.
I wanted no pressing, and arranged
that / would come again on Monday. She
wished me good night. and went In and