Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-06-30

for pre-eminence, the social race in which
some women waste their energies and
strain their nerves, were unknown to her.
She had lived, rejoicing in the air and
the sunshine, drinking out a cup of life
in which there mingled no drop of poison.
Thus 1t was that not one line upon the
transparent skin marked the passage Of a
decade. The violet eyes had the limpid
purity, and the emotional lips had the ten
der carnation of girlhood Mildred Ores
void was as beautiful at thirty-one as
Mildred Fausset had been at seventeen.
And yet it seemed to her that life was
over, and that her husband had ceased ia
care for her.
Many and many an hour in that lovely
solitude beside the lake she sat with hands
loosely clasped in her lap or above her
head, with her books lying forgotten al
her fetal the newest books that libra
rams could send to tempt the faded appe-
tite of the reader-and her ewes gazing
vacantly over the blue of the lake or TO
ward the snow peaks on the horizon.
Often in these silent musings she recall
ed the past and looked at the DAYS that
were gone as at a picture.
She remembered just such an autumn
as this; peerless autumn spent with
her father at The Hook-spent for the
most part on the river and In the garden.
the sunny days and moonlit nights being
Tar TOO lovely for any one to waste in
doors Her seventeenth birthday was not
long past. 1t was just ten years since
she had come home to that house to find
EQu had nil q. ,
bitter tears for the loss of her companion.
Never since that line had she seen Fay's
face. Her questions had been met coldly
or angrily by her mother; and even her
father had answered her with unsatisfac-
tory brevity
All she could learn was that Fay had
been sent to complete her education at
finishing school at Brussels.
AT school oh, poor Fayi l hope
she is happy"
"She ought to be-" Mrs. Fausset an
swered peevishly. THE school is borri-
bly, expensive. / saw one of the bills the
other day. Simply enormous. The girls
are taken to the opera, and have all
sorts of absurd indulgences."
Still, it is only school, mother, not
home," said Mildred compassionately.
This was two years after Fay had
vanished. No letter had ever come from
her to Mildred, though Mildred was able
to write now, in her own sprawling child
ish fashion, and would have been delight
ed to answer any such letter. She had
herself indited various epistles to her
friend, but had not succeeded in getting
them posted. They had drifted to the
waste paper basket, mute evidences of
wasted affection.
AS each holiday time came round the
child asked if Fay were coming home,
always to receive the same saddening neg
alive.
One day, when she had been more ur-
gent than usual, Mrs. Fausset lost her
temper and answered sharply:
mo, sne is not coming. She Is never
coming. don't like her, and / don't
intend ever to have her in any house of
mine, so you may as well leave off plagu-
ing me about her.
''But, mother, why don't you like her"
"Never mind why. | don't like her.
That is enough for you to know"
But, mother, if she is fathers daugh-
ter and my sister, you ought to like her,"
pleaded Mildred, very much in earnest.
How dare you say that! You must
never say it again-yon are naughty,
cruel child to say such things % exclaim-
ed Mrs. Fausset, beginning to cry.
why naughty? Why cruel? Oh.
mother" and Mildred cried, too.
She clasped her arms round her moth
er's neck and sobbed aloud.
Dear mother indeed Pm not naugh-
ty," she protested, "but Bell said Fay
was papa's daughter. OF course she is
his daughter Bell said; and If she's
fathers daughter, she's my sister, and
it's wicked not to love ones sister. The
psalm l was learning yesterday says so.
mother. Behold how good and how pleas
ant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unityv And it means sisters just the
same, Miss Colville said, when / asked
her; and do love Fay. l can't help
loving her"
you must never speak her name again
to me-" said Mrs. Fausset resolutely. Il
shall leave off loving you II you poster
me about that odious grill"
''Then wasn't 1t true what Bell said?'
"Of course not"
Mrs. Fausset, fancying herself III. grew
to be really i'll; and from chronic lassi-
tuje developed organic disease of the
heart She fingered nearly two years, a
confirmed invalid, suffering good deal,
and giving other people great deal of
trouble She died soon after Mii,lrc,rs
sixteenth birthday, and on her death led
l.. u
had attended upon her deyotedly all
through her illness, neglecting everything
else in the world for her mothers sake.
The year Of mourning was very quiet
interval for father and daughter. They
travelled little, spent six months IN Leip-
sic, where Mildred studied the piano un-
der the most approved masters; couple
of months IN Paris, where ber father
showed her all the lions in a tranquil,
leisurely way that was very pleasant;
and then they went down to The Hook
and lived there in happy idleness on the
river and in the gardens oil through
long and lovely summer.
Both were saddened at the sight of an
empty chair-one sacred corner in al the
p,ettiest rcoms-where Maud Fausset
had been wont to sit, a graceful, languid
figure. robed in white, or some pale, deli
cate hue even more beautiful than white
in contrast with the background of palms
ard flowers, japanese screen or Indian
curtains.
CHAPTER Y.
Mildred had been motherless for year
when that new love began TO grow which
49, 70 he stronger and closer than the