The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1905-11-23

CHAPTER I1I.-(Continued.,
By CHARLOTTE M. BRAEME

ing look, and the blood danced IN his I'M
gers as he recalled the warm, clinging
pressure of her hand at parting.
Il think | must be mad when she Is
near me, for somehow / always manage
to believe in the possibility of her love
for me when in her presence" he NUT
tered, remorsefully. "And, if she did
love. what then? Could 1 throw Ethel
over! My sweet, pure little Ethel, it
would break her heart! l must get rid
of this folly. III finish Ethel's letter at
once, and send it off by the morning post.
I'll write a long, loving letter to the poor
little girl; it will do me as much good to
write it as it will her to receive it"
This time he commenced with MY
lear Ethel" and then. before proceeding
further, he made a close examination of
the beautifully executed address and
crest on the paper.
The crest of "Mallyngs"-as the name
was originally spelled-a tigers head and
front paws in repose, with the motto,
Let the sleeping lie" particularly In
terested him. He had stood for many a
minute during the past week in front
of one o., these emblems of the family
circle-6erce, ungovernable-and ponder
ed the probable events that had caused
it to be bestowed on them as their
badge.
Il wonder why she never marriedT'
he unused. IL wonder if mine is the true
reason, n there really is some poor
beggar in the background awaiting her
twenty-ffth birthday? l shall have a
chance OF finding out If l accept her in
vitation for the partridge shooting in
September, for Lord Summers told me
she would be twenty-five in that month.
Ought l, in justice to Ethel, to place my
self in the way of such temptation
Bosh! l must be a weak fool indeed if i
cannot live in the society of q beautiful
woman without making an idiot of my
self! Besides if l come and see for my
self that she is really gone on some
lucky fellow. it will be the most complete
cure l could find for my own folly"
But Jack knew this to be false rea-
soning; nevertheless he would not listen
to conscience, and, with a gloomy brow
and tightly compressed lips, sat glazing
modify at the blank sheet Of paper be-
fore him.
will you take your luncheon in here,
sir? 1t will seem less lonely than in the
dining room, 1 think"
Jack looked up In surprise at the
housekeeper.
II must have been sitting here nearly
three hours. l { don't mind where l lunch,
Mrs. Perkins"
Then I'll put it in here, sir; it's
brighter and more cheerful than the din.
ing room"
Mrs. Perkins walked to a sideboard
and ficked away an imaginary speck OF
dust.
Were you here in Sir Paul's time 2"
he asked, more because the old lady
wanted to talk than from n interest he
took in the matter.
"Bless you, sir, I've been a servant in
1 this hous for turned fifty years!
began as under housemaid at sixteen,
and here I've been ever since; so I'm
what you may call an old servant"
"Of course you remember Miss Mall
ing's mother? She must have been q
beautiful woman"
Sometimes she was and sometimes
she wasn't. She was handsome enough
naturally; but she had such an awful
temper that it quite disigured her al
times. I've known her to sulk about
the house for a month at a time because
her brother, the late Sir Paul, had re-
fused her some trifing thing. We were
quite relieved when she got married
and went away on the Continent with
her husband. You see she was many
years younger than her brothers, Sin
Paul and the present ba4onet, Sir Geof'
frey, and was a bit spoiled in conse
quence-though there is an old saying
in the family that a Malling's daughter
is always a iend, asking your pardon
for the word, sir; SO it's lucky Miss
Pauline is only a Mailing by adoption
"'Then you think she has escaped the
failing usual to the ladies of the fam
ily?'
IT should not like to give an opinion
Of my mistress disposition. 1t would be
very bad taste on my part, sir. Miss
Mailing, during the six years she has
been mistress here, has been everything
one could desire"
sI beg your pardon" he said, politely
II did rot wish to betray you into dis
respect for Miss Mailing. Ny question
was the natural outcome of your remark
as to Miss Malling's being only a Mall
ing by adoption"
ITO be sure, sir; and that takes me
back to what l was saying. Miss Paul
ines mother was away on the Continent
with her husband directly after they
we're married, and roaDed about fol
years from one country 20 another with
! him: she never came hone again, poor
dear! She died when Miss Pauline was
fifteen years old; and then 81: Paul was
anxious to have the child with him In
England, as he had made her his heiress
in consequence of the other brother
Geoffrey, having married without his
consent. But Major Luton would not
part with his daughter, and refused ever
to let her come on a visit; so we none
of us ever saw Miss Pauline until she
came here, a grown woman, to take her
place as mistress of M~allingford."
II suppose you knew her at once by
her likeness to her mother"
Strange to say, we didn't, sir! To be
sure she was very Ill, for her father had
been dead six months before she heard
d word about being heiress to this prop
erty, and all that time, to keep herself
from starving, had been teaching in some
Spanish convent. But ever as she re-
covered her looks we watched in vain for
something in the voice or the expression
of the facet that should remind us of her
mother. There are the same beautiful
hair and eyes, and there the likeness
ends"
do you say she never knew about
her heiress-ship until after hes father
deathY' +.
Eyes, sir. She says he would not tell
her becanse he was afraid she might be
tempted to leave him. | believe they
were in dreadful straits sometimes"