The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1907-09-20
The New Owner

IL
that you washed, turned, mended and
made over. Guess what ] just heard"
What did you just hear?' | asked.
Why" proceeded Marion, delight
eddy, II was standing over by those
ferns a minute ago, and Just round the
corner | heard Mrs. Lewis say TO
Claude Brooks: 1 don't see how the
Harcourt girls manage to dress so
WELL and Claudia-spiteful old thing
said: think they ought to- be
ashamed; everybody knows they can't
afford it, But just then that grand
looking Mr.. Maxwell came over to
them, and il wasn't two minutes be-
fore heard him ask who that striking
girl with the red rose in her hair
was. That was you, Eleanor. Now,
aren't you flattered?'
"Dreadfully," / answered. Any
thing more?"
Yes, indeed" whispered Marion.
"The best Of it all was that he asked
right away if you were one of the
Harcourts who had owned the old
place up town, and he asked her
oh, look"
Marion's volubility was checked at
this point by the appearance of the
already mentioned Mr. Maxwell with
our two hOstesses on his arm He
was grave, handsome man, about
80. | thought and after Mrs. Lewis
had presented him he sat down be-
side me. He had talked about a good
many things and had almost wearied
of my monosyllabic replies, | fancy,
when he finally brought up Harcourt,
and l proceeded TO astonish him by
forgetting that we were strangers, and
telling him the most ridiculous things
with characteristic recklessness. |
told him how We, Marion and |, went
a round about way to avoid passing
the dear old place, and how, when
there was no way out of it, we Went
by with our heads turned away, be-
cause we loved it so. / told him we
had been born there, and that every
big room and every dingy panel
brought up a memory that we loved.
And it was not until Marion came for
me to go home that ! realized that he
had listened to me silently for about
an hour.
In the weeks following he came
frequently and we met at several
places. | got to thinking a good
deal abou. him and to liking him
very much There was only one
thing to dampen our pleasure. One
day the news came to us that Mr. Grit
fin, who held a mortgage upon Har-
court, had sold it to strangers, and
Marion and | told ourselves that from
that time our claim upon it would be
only that of any other outsiders. who
might look at its dear old walls and
pass il by. As | say. this darkened
our lives a little, but there were
still Mr.. MaXwell's visits to look for
ward to, so it was worth while exist
ing. But one evening when he called
he said Miss Eleanor, / am going
away tomorrow and | want you to do
something for me. Will your"
II don't know" | answered in a
low voice. Somehow | couldn't for
the life of me manage anything else.
But he didn't seem to notice that |
said nothing about regretting his go
ing away. He simply asked me if |
would go down to Harcoust with him.
! was too miserable to resist, and we
went.
When we went up to the long hall
above and found that some impa-
tent person had removed our few
remaining pieces of old furniture and
had hung new paintings there over
crimson hangings, | felt | couldn't
stand any more. What does this
mean?" | cried
"The purchaser hopes to live here"
explained Mr.. Maxwell, and he is get
ting ready for occupancy"
Here, ! suppose, the poor man was
bewildered enough, for | had restrain
ed myself as long as | could. and
! rushed to the one place where the
hated crimson did not cover the pan
els, laid my head against their friend
ly support and burst out crying.
ooh, why did you bring me here?"
] said. II can't stand everything. |
would rather have the old place burn
ed to the ground, with only the poor
old chimney left TO show where it
stood, than TO see it fitted with the
most beautiful things in the world by
strangers. Everything | care about
turns out wrong" concluded, with
a sign. Il am losing my home, and
now you
Il stopped, frozen with horror.
What had ! said But Norman Max
well suddenly put me into the window
seat and sat down beside me- FL
eanor, look at me- he said. But | alb
solutely couldn't lift my head, so he
put his hand under my reluctant chin
and turned my face toward him Ell
eanor," he went on, don't you know
I've loved you all the time and that
! was going away with the heartache,
confident that you did not care for
me? Don't you care just a little more
about me than for an ordinary
friend?"
oh" ! exclaimed. very much afraid
that my stupidity had forced him into