The star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1908-1909, 1908-08-06
CHAPTER VI.


DEoPLE often wondered and asked
from whom Maggie Waldron had
inherited her beautiful face. Her
father, John Waldron. the land-stew-
ard and agent of Lord Stanleigh, was
a commonplace man, active and In
dustrious, and possessing a certain
amount of talent, but without the least
approach TO anything in the way OF
good looks. How came he to have a
daughter whose beauty bewildered
those HI looked upon her? Surely no
quiet English woman was the mother
of that witching girl! II John Waldron
had told the story of his life, it would
have been found like many others-a
story of years of lowly struggling m
monotonous work, with one year of
fierce passionate love. There was a
hidden omanc in his life, now buried
far out Of sight-some story of a beau
tiful gypsy girl who had left her people
to follow him, and had died within the
year.
He never alluded to II; and. when
people spoke of the wonderful loneliness
of his daughter. he thought of that one
year which had been like heaven on
earth to him and said nothing. He
had not had much education. but he
understood the management of landed
property, was Industrious, honest
and trustworthy; therefore Lord STAN
leigh had chosen him as his agent, and
had been more than pleased by the
manner in which he discharged his
duties.
John Waldron had made no attempt
at bringing up his daughter himself.
He had intrusted her while she was
..fA A,,- 70 fhA Nana n hfc .afcfofr
who had brought her up, educated her,
and kept her until her death. When
his sister died ohm Waldron's daugh-
ter came home, and no n was more
astonished than he himself at her Won
derful beauty. The girl had been in
some measure ruined by her education,
which had been conducted on the "gen-
teel" principle. She had not been
taught so much the difference between
right and wrong, as between what h
mistress of the school she had attended
considered genteel or the reverse.
John Waldron was never quite at
ease with his beautiful daughter. IL
she had lived with him from her child
hood, it would have been different; but
she did not come to him until she was
nearly II; and he was not one of those
men Who give to a child the idolatrous
love lavished on a wife.
1t seemed strange to him at first 70
see the graceful figure fitting about his
house, to neal the bright snatches of
song and the trills of silvery laughter,
to see little feminine ornaments lying
here and there.
He never attempted in any way to
direct or shape her life; she would
marry some day, he supposed, and in
the meantime she could keep house for
him. He wanted his breakfast ready
at I in the morning and his supper at
9 at night; he exacted no more. She
could spend the intervening hours rs
she pleased. He did hope for one
thing, and it was that, when the time
came for love and marriage. she would
say nothing to him, norgive him trouble
In any way about it.
John Waldron lived in a small house
belonging to Lord Stanleigh, which was
situated to the south of the Hatton
woods and not far from the county
town of Armytage. Lord Stanleigh
had not as yet seen his stewards beau
tiful daughter; but Lord Stanleigh's
! valet had seen and fallen in love with
her.
"It was no great conquest" thought
Maggie; the heart of a valet" and she
tossed her pretty head in disdain.
If she had learned nothing else dur
ing the course of a genteel education
she had at least learned the value OF a
beautiful face; and she knew that thera
were few more beautiful than hers.
Hiram West, Lord Stanleigh's valet,
never spoke to anyone of the treasure
he had found in the small house near
the woods; but he loved the girl with
a love that was almost terrible in It's
force and strength. He knew that
John Waldron was generally from
home, and that, Maggie was there alone
with the old servant, Jeannette; so
there were few days on which he did
not contrive to pass by the house to
leave presents of fruits or flowers for
Maggie. II she were lingering In the
garden, he stopped and talked to her.
Dainty. beautiful Maggie laughed at
him; still, the heart of a valet, she re-
Elected, was better than nothing, the
homage of a valet better than no
homage at all.
She never deceived him-never pre-
tended to be even in the least degree
touched by his affection; but the man
loved her with a grim. determined, OBJ
stinate love that could never change
a love that, from its intensity. its stern,
bitter jealousy, would a V frightened
anv girl who understood human na-
ture.
In Maggie there was a certain
amount of ambition and passion; but
all her finer impulses had been smoth-
cred by the genteel element in which
she had been educated.
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