Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1907-09-13
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CHAPTER xYyI.

busy In his pantry fearful
voice advised him that he was
wanted In the study at once.
The woman vanished as he turned; the
kitchen door slammed upon her sobs,
and in the study Tom found his mas
ter in a towering rage.
You profess some gratitude toward
me, believer said Daintree, with a
biting ceremony Of voice and manner.
"Not more than I feel-not half as
much"
"Then you are the exception, and
nOw's your chance of showing what
YOU say you feel I'm going to ask a
favor of you, Thomas"
You shouldn't put it so. sir. Il love
to serve you"
ssThen so to Parramatta factory and
choose a wife!'' 81
Tom twitched all over and stood
very still without a word. The other
covered him with an ugly eye.
$50 even your gratitude has its linz
It's" he, sneered. Another time I
should protest little less II j were
yotrn
You ask the one impossible thing"
replied Tom, with a groan.
Pardon me, did not ask II, re-
Joined Daintree. whose blacker moods
inspired him with perfect genius for
picking quarreIs. Though you have
not honored me with your confidence.
1t may relieve you toshear that i have
not the least desire to tamper with
your loyalty to some lady unknown. I
ask you to choose wife-not to marry
her.
IT don't understand you, SIR said
Tom respectfully.
You will II you condescend to listen.
The woman Fawcett says we shall re-
quire another servant here. don't
believe a word of 1.-THE ladies' are
bringing their own maid with them
but this idle, impudent, ungrateful
woman holds pistol to my head and
threatens to desert me ut this juncture
If / don't get her q girl. I've had her
hera bullying me for the last half hour,
and this is the hole that I'm in either
the Fawcetts leave this day month,
when shall want them most, or I
must apply for convict woman, and
God knows what kind they'll send me.
Now, il you applied for wife you'd
have your pick and choose q decent
one, and, as say, there's no earthly
treason why you should ever marry her.
| Surely 1t would be unfair not to-"
Iobjected Tom, who would have used
q stronger adjective to anybody else.
! Unfair on the girl? Not at all
You simply let her of blind bargain
and she gains good wages and a com.
Portable home. The girl comes out OF
It deuced we'll, the officials are none
the wiser and none the worse, while
have the advantage Of your selection
instead of theirs
/ "I might make bad choice
"Oh, If you, want to keep out Of 1t, :
cried Daintree, keep out Of 1t and re
fuse me the first favor I've ever asked
you to do me! I shall know better
than to ask another. Only in future
Ilet me hear less Of, your gratitude till
| you've some to show"
Tom consented without further words
He disliked the plan as cordially as be
resented the outrageous tone adopted
by Daintree, but he would submit to
both sooner than deny the man to
whom he owed more than he could
even yet realize.
Meanwhile the necessary letters, il
which the convict applied for a wife
/ and the master undertook to support
her, We're written, the one with secret
adherence, the other with sinister
gusto. Next day Tom received his or
der to the matron of the factory tc
supply him with wife and started III
the early morning following on an er
rand which his whole soul repudiated.
"You are to take her back with YOU
said the woman, having read her let
ter, land to be married from your mas
ters house,
Tom found Peggy O'Brien and select
ed her. BY noon she was compare
lively free woman. Alas, she was IN
umuttcrably happy one!
Her arm stole within Toms as he
drove. He had neither the courage
nor the heart to tell her the truth out
right It was a cruel position for them
both. He glanced with horror Mt hel
radiant face and again he noticed hel
hair.
Where's 1t oil gone to, Peggy" he
asked, pointing to the short strong
locks. Whit have you done with it?'
They had reached the outskirts Of
Parramatta. New buildings were
springing- up in every direction, and
Peggy jerked her head toward some
scaffoldlngs.
lis it where me hairs gomez" she
said, with a laugh. "Alebbe there's
some Of It there" s55tss
Where, Peggy n
SIN them new bulldln's, like rs not
An, didn't We hear they strengthen, the
morthar wild the hair of the women's
heads? Ills thrue. then, In Parramat
ia. An, its mighty kind they thinl
themselves to give us the razor instid
d the cat. But where's their bricks an
morthar IL they bet us r.
They used that glorious hair fol
bricks and mortar!. IS
4 His praise of 1t was dearer far thar
| her possession. She colored with prid,
and happiness as she told him 1t hap
pened long ago when first she came
i there.
Shut why did 1t happen2" be askct
Indignantly. What could you have
done to deserve such treatment2
She hesitated and squeezed his arm.
ssNat Sullivan came"