The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1906-08-02

point of appearing very sympathetic and
charming TO her husband; and when she
hal heard all he had to say on particu-
lar occasion, she quite delighted him by
the ready way in which she fell in with
what he had arranged.
''My dear Ned!'' she cried, "of course
your brothers child must come here. Why
has she never been before? An heiress,
you tell me? Well, that's something very
desirable in this particular age; and no
doubt she is beautiful, too"
There was a degree of sarcasm in this
remark, which, happily, escaped Mr..
Marcbmont: he did not notice that his
wife's bright eyes had glanced up and
down at his tall, ungainly figure as she
said these words.
Mr.. Marchmont looked over his blue
speltacles at his wife.
II don't think Antonis has any inten-
tion of marrying" he said seriously. AS
explained to you, my dear, have asked
the girl TO come to us, because L have
learned that she has a very dull and
dreary life up in the North. You must
not expect to find her frivolous"
Lady Betty groaned in spirit. She felt
that she could quickly conjure up a pic
tme of this unknown girl. Fortunately,
she was going TO very bright luncheon
party, and the necessity of making herself
look as pretty as possible helped to dispel
the vision that her imagination had con.
jurtd UP of the girl, who, before another
week had gone, was going to be under her
care. Nevertheless, sfe could not live
without sympathy, and a few holrs
later she found herself demanding this
sympathy from the man who sat beside
her at lunch.
Lady Betty had more than a penchant
for Gerald Tenby. She always had two or
three handsome young men dangling after
her, and her vanity had been extremely
gra- a-ifed when Mr.. Tenby joined the ranks
of her admirers-for Gerald Tenby was
man about whom society was beginning
to talk.
The money that would come to him was
counted by the world as something fabu-
lous. Everybody knew that the Mill Cross
estate was no mere bagatelle: that apart
from the coal interest the head of the
family possessed wealth that rolled from
thousands into something like millions. 1t
wos no wonder, therefore, that Gerald
Tenby found himself society favorite.
You must be very kind to me to-day"
she said to him, as she ate dainty lunch
and caught refreshing glimpse of herself
from time to time in one of the many
nrors. Il have had great shock"
Il hope nothing has happened" be
said.
Nothing has happened except the unez-
pected,' Lady Betty replied. my dear
cl.; husband has recalled himself to my
existence IL The most annoying manner,
for he wants me, just when | had d.tlr-
mined not to be bothered with any of my
owr tiipsome relations, to play the chap
eron 10 scme lump of a county ,;:rl.
whose existence had comfortably forgot
ten till it was recalled to me this mvlp-
ing
All this Is, indeed, heavy Blow
"It's all very well for you to laugh,
Gerald" she said; 'but you don't have to
bore yourself from morning to night with
stupid pumpkin who does not know the
difference between the moon and green
cheese. What induced me to give in to
Edward this morning really don't know.
He took me by surprise, and before knew
where was he had disappeared to send
telegram, and tell this creature that she
could come as soon as she liked. SO thera's
an end of all my fun. / know she's GO
ing to be simply awfulw Lady Betty
cried. "Her name is enough to give one
the shiversi Did you ever hear of d girl
being called Antonia before?'
Gerald Tenby had been smiling amused
ly. scarcely hearing what his companiou
said. Bis thoughts were not very def
n;:r or very serious, but at the men ::or
of the name "Antonia" he suddenly I've.
came rigid, and the smile froze on his lips.
"Antonia?" he repeated to himself. "An-
tonia Msrchmont? What strange fate Is
thisY'
It was strange, yet true, that Tenby
had never dreamed of associating Antonia
with the pretty little society woman whom
he saw so frequently, although the SINH
larity of name might have led him to do
so. There was certainly wide world of
difference between that girl who lived in
the bleak north country and Lady Betty
Marchmont.
Tenby could not at the first outset rec
oncile his memory of Antonia with the
surroundings and the kind of life lived by
all those many people among whom he
now moved. He felt irritable and almost
uneasy at the thought of her coming to
London. He had tried so hard to forget
her this last year or two, and he had al
most succeeded in doing so.
Even when he had gone north on his
frequent visits of duty to his uncle, Sir
Maurice Tenby, he had always managed
to avoid coming in contact with Antonia.
Her home lay not many miles distant,
and Gerald could well remember the day
when Antonio had been almost daily
visitor at Mill Cross Court.
There was nothing to take the girl there
nowadays--at least, that was what he said
to himself, savagely, for he did not sup
pose that Antonia would care to waste
much time In paying visits to an old man,
and since the marriage of Bertha Tenby,
her girl friend. and the sudden disap-