Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-06-12
CHAPTER II. (Continued.)


let it be generally known that she for
feits her fortune if she marries again"
"She doesn't forfeit anything but As
pendale." said Mavis, the less unreason-
able of the elder sisters. "Sir Richard
left her fifty thousand pounds which is
at her own disposal. She would be
quite rich enough with that, even if she
lost the estate"
"That will do to portion you and Ber
vi" said Lady Ashgrove. Il am sure
ten thousand a year is quite enough for
Iettice."
The county" fulfilled Lady Ash
groves expectations; they left cards for
Iettice and made friends with her moth
er and sisters.
They thought Lady Ashgrove a very
pleasant, agreeable woman, and were
much taken with Beryl and Mavis. By
an art which seemed almost magical to
her two daughters, Lady Ashgrove al
lowed people to believe that Lettuce
herself had desired the death-bed mar
rage and that her family had tried in
vain to dissuade her from it.
Poor little Lettice, those were dreary
DAYS for her, shut up in her owr rooms
and hearing mirth and festivity going
on downstairs; but she never reproached
her mother, never asked one of her sis
tiers to bear her company, and Lady
.AshgroVee's little schemes might never
have been frustrated but for an acct
dent.
It was on one of those days when
everything ,out of doors seemed so bright
and tempting that Lettice, knowing her
mother and sisters were at garden
party, slipped down the side stairs, hav
ing decided to give herself the treat of
@ long ramble by the river
Poor little grill The family did not
exactly keep her "a state prisoner, for
she was allowed to go to church in a
widows bonnet and with a long Grape
veil hiding her face; in the same suffo-
eating array she was permitted to drive
out occasionally in the carriage, but she
had never once since she came to the
castle enjoyed a walk beyond her own
gates alone and unaccompanied.
She had found thin black serge skirt
and a sailor hat trimmed with black
ribbon, remnants of the days when she
was dressed as much like a schoolgirl as
possible so as not to attract from the
youthfulness of her elder sisters.
Dressed in these, poor little Lettuce felt
were terrible dream and she was her
old self once more.
She went through the private gardens
and out through a little wicket gate
into the village lane; then she drew a
sigh of relief, for she was free.
She was not heartless, this poor little
widow of 10; she was truly sorry for
Dick, and she would have given a great
deal to save his life; but she had never
loved him, she was still only girl at
heart, and so she could not help de-
lighting in the fresh air and sunshine
and the delicious sense of freedom.
Except Mr.. Garnet and DIR. Bateson,
who were both away on their summer
holiday, Lettice knew no one at Aspen
dale, for during their memorable Whit
suntide visit to that place Lady Ash
grove had kept her youngest girl jeal-
ously in the background, so that not a
creature in the neighborhood would
have recognized the sweet, wistful-look-
lng girl in the plain serge dress and
sailor hat as the crape-swathed widow
who sat Sunday after Sunday in the
castle pew.
Its delightful" said poor Lettuce,
speaking her thoughts aloud uneon-
sciously "Such day as this makes
one almost glad Just to be alive!"
She had come to the rivers bank, and
she sat down on grassy mound to en-
joy the sight of the ripping water,
which the sun made look so bright and
sparkling. At a little distance from her
a picnic party were having tea-two
girls and a sweet-faced old lady-but
Lettice had turned her back ON the trio,
and was not near enough to them to
seem to intrude upon their privacy.
Perhaps they had not noticed her ap-
proach, or else they did not calculate
how far the air would carry their words,
for they talked on just as though no
stranger were within hearing
"It's no use, mother deari" one of
the girls was saying. "You know that
nm your heart you are quite as indignant
as we are, or else you would have called
at Aspendaie castle"
Il am sorry, not indignant" said the
old lady; "and, Grace my dear, have
not called at the castle simply because
Il don't desire Lady Ashgrove's acquaint-
ianee Her daughter is so very young
that I don't blame her in the least, for
probably she does not even know the
wrong inflicted on Norman Hamilton
and HE family"
away, but some feeling stronger than
her own viii held her spellbound. She
knew that Norman Hamilton was her
husbands first cousin and that he had
succeeded to the baronetcy; she knew
also that he had lived with his mother
and her younger children at the Aspen
dale dover house, about two miles from
the castle; but the family had been
away when the Ashgroves paid their
Whitsuntide visit to Sir Richard, and
1t had never entered Lettice's head to
ask if they had returned.
The name "Grace" told Lettice of
whom the picnic party consisted, for
she knew that her mother felt aggTieved
because a certain Honorable Mrs. Dale
had not called on her, and that the lady
was widow with two daughters, Grace
and Mary, so she felt pretty certain
that the three ladies enjoying their pic
nc tea were the Dales.
1 don't think / ever pitied any one
rNaN ah 4 y u l.