Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1905-06-02

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and shining around them, and the au-
tumn- tinted woods were glorious in color.
To these, or any other passing object,
1olande, in her capacity of guardian,
drew cheerful attention, treating the
| journey, indeed, as a very ordinary ev-
ery-day affair; but the sad-eyed mother
seemed hardly capable of regarding any
| thing but her daughter-and that some
times with a little bit of stealthy cry
| ing.
"Ah," she said in those strangely hol-
| lowed tones, sit is kind Of you to come
and let me see you for little while
"A little while? What little while,
then" said Yolande, with a stare.
Until l go back, away from you,"
said the mother, regarding the girl with
an affectionate and yet wistful look. at
was in a dream that l came away from
the house with you. You seemed call
ing me in a dream. But now l am be-
ginning to wake. At the station there
were two ladies; I saw them looking at
us, and l knew what they were think
ing. They were wondering to see beau
tiful young life like yours linked to a
life like mine; and they We're right. l
could see it in their eyes,"
'They would have been better employ
ed in minding their own business said
Yolande, angrily.
| The mother seemed more and more fas-
cinated by the society of her daughter;
and appeared quite absorbed in regard
| ing the bright, young, fresh face, and in
| listening with a strange curiosity for the
slight traces Of a foreign accent that re-
manned in Yolande's talking. AS for the
| girl herself, she bore herself in the most
matter-of-fact way. She would have no
sentiment interfere. And always it was
assumed that her mother was merely an
| invalid whom the sea air would restore to
health; not word was said as to the
cause of her present condition.
Worthing looked bright and cheerful
on this breezy forenoon. The wind
swept yelow-gray sea was struck a
| cleaning silver here or there with floods
of sunlight; the. morning promenaders
had not yet gone in to lunch; a band
was playing at the end of the pier. When
they got to the rooms they found that
| every preparation had been made to re-
ceive them; and in the bay-window they
| discovered a large telescope which the
little old lady said she had borrowed
| from a neVhbOr whose rooms were I'M
let. Yolande managed ything-Jane
being a helpless kind of creature; and
the mother submitted, occasionally with
a touch of amusement appearing in her
manner. But usually she was rather
sad; and her eyes had an absent look in
| them.
That same afternoon they went for a
drive along some of the inland country
lanes; and as they soon found that the
stolid, fat, and placid pony could safely
| be left under the charge of Jane, they
got out whenever they had a mind, to
| look at an old church or to explore banks
and hedge rows, in search of wild flow
ers. Now, this idle strolling, with occa-
sional scrambling across bitches, was
| light enough work for one who was ac-
| customed to climb the hills of Altman
| ba; but no doubt it was fatiguing enough
| to this poor woman, who, nevertheless,
| did her very best to prove herself a cheer
| full companion. But it was on this IA
| tigue that 1olande reckoned. That was
| why she wanted her mother to be out all
| day in the sea air and the country air.
| What she was aiming at was a certainty
of sleep for this invalid of whom she
was in charge. And so she cheered her
on to further eXertiOn; and pretended
| an eagerness in this search for wild flow
ers, which was not very real (fOr ever
in the midst of it, some stray plant here
| or there would remind her of a herba-
rum far away and of other days and
other scenes; until at last she thought
they had both done their duty; and so
they got into the little carriage again
and drove back to Worthing.
| That evening at dinner she amused her
mother with long and minute account
Of the voyage to Egypt. and of the
| friends who had gone with Them and
of the life on board the dahabeeaL. The
mother seemed peculiarly interested
about Mr.. Leslie; and asked many aues-
tons about him, and Yolande told her
| frankly how pleasant and agreeable a
| young fellow he was, and how we'll he
and his sister seemed to understand each
other, and so forth. She betrayed no
embarra ssment in expressing her liking
| for him; although, in truth, she spoke
| in pretty much the same terms of Col.
Graham.
Mr. Leslie was not married, then?'
ooh, no."
''It was rather a dangerous situation
for two young people," the mother said,
with gentle smile. st is a wonder you
are not wearing a ring now
What ring?" Yolande said, with
quick flush of color.
San engagement ring"
In fact, the girl was not wearing an
engagement ring. On coming to London
she had taken it off and put it away;
other duties claimed her now-that was
what she said to herself And now she
was content that her mother should re-
main in ignorance of that portion Of her
past history.
81 have other things to attend to-" she
| said, briefly, and the subject was not
continued.
That day passed very successfully. The
mother had shown not the slightest Symp-
tom of any craving for either stimulant