The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-11-28
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XII.
Violet was gone. Her rooms were
empty; her faithful little waiting maid
was dismissed; her dogs deep-toled
thunder no longer sounded through the
house, baying joyous welcome when his
mistress came down from her early
morning ramble in the shruberies.
Arion had been sent to grass, and was
running wild in. fertile pastures; shoe
less and unfettered as the South Amer
lean mustang on his native prairie.
Nothing associated with the exiled
heiress was left, except the rooms she
had inhabited; and even they looked
blank and empty and strange without
her. Vixen's presence seemed to have
filled the house with youth and fresh
ness and free, joyous life.
Mrs. Carmichael missed her daugh-
ter sorely. She had been wont to COM
plain fretfully of the girls exuberance,
but the blank her absence made struck
a chill to the mothers heart. She had
fancied that life would be easier with
out Violet; that her union with her
husband would be more complete; and
now she found herself looking visit
fully toward the door of her morning
room, listening vaguely for footstep;
and the figure she looked for at the
door, and the footstep she listened for
in the corridor were not Conrad Car
michael's. 1t was the buoyant step of
her daughter she missed; it was the
bright, frank face of her daughter she
yearned for?
One day the captain surprised her in
tears and asked the reason for her
melancholy.
Il dare say it's very weak of me,
Conrad" she said, piteousiy; "but l
miss Violet more and more every day
1T is uncommon weak of you," an
swered the captain, with agreeable
candor; but / suppose it's natural.
am honest enough to confess that |
am very glad she is gone. We had
no domestic peace while she was with
u.s."
But she is not to stay away for
ever. Conrad. / cannot be separated
from my only daughter forever. That
would be too dreadful"
Forever is a long word" answered
the captain, coolly. "She will come
back to us of--of course"
When, dear?"
When she is older and wiser"
This was cold comfort. Mrs. Car
michael dried her tears and resumed
her crewel work
Her independence was gone utterly
She awoke slowly to the comprehen-
sion of the fact. Her individuality
was blotted out. or absorb ed into her
husbands being. She had no more pow
er or influence in her own house than
the lowest scullion in the kitchen She
had given up her banking account, and
the receipt of her rents, which in the
days of her widowhood had been re-
mitted to her half-yearly by the solicit
tor who collected them.
But now, with Theodore's unsettled
account of four years standing hang
ing over her head by the single hair
of the penny-post, and likely to de-
scend upon her any morning, Mrs. Car
michael regretted her surrendered
banking account. with its balance of
eleven hundred pounds or SO. The
captain had managed everything with
wondrous wisdom, no doubt He had
done away with all long credits. He
paid all his bills on the first Satur-
day in the month, save such as could
be paid weekly.
Theodore's long-expected bill was
among the letters in the mornings bag
"a bulky envelope which the captain
handed to his wife with his usual po-
likeness. He never opened her letters,
but he invariably asked to see them.
and she always handed her correspond
ence over to him with child-like
the captain her letter. She sat looking
at the long list of items with a cloud
ed brow, AMI forgot to pour out her
husbands coffee in the abstraction Of
troubled mind.
I'm afraid your letters Of this morn
ing are not of very pleasant char
acter, my love-" said the captain.
WdlCulul Vi HIS vile COuulcudlCe.
rs that 2 bill you are examining,
thought we paid ready money for
everything"
1T is my dressmaker's BILL" faltered
Mrs. Carmichael.
"A dressmaker's bill, That can't be
very alarming"
He held out his hand for the paper,
but Pamela did not give it to him.
I'm afraid you'll think it awful
high, Conrad" she said. in a deprecat-
ing tone. You see it has been running
long time-since the Christmas be-
fore dear EDWARDS death, in fact. 1
have paid Theodore's sums on. account
in the meanwhile, but those seem to
go for very little against the total Of
her bill She is expensive, of course
All West End milliners are; but her
style is undeniable and she is in di-
rect association with Worth"
MY dear Pamela, did not ask you