Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1909-01-08
CHAPTER /.

CHAPTER l.
There are conflicts in most l1ves-real
handto-hand combats, that have to be
fought, not with any 1eshly weapons, but
with the inner forces of the being-bat-
ties wherein the victory is not always TO
the strong, where the young and the
weak and The little ones may be found
ebidng nearest to the standards.
Such a conflict had come to Alison
Merle, breaking up the surface of her
smooth outer life, and revealing possible
shoals and quicksands, in which many of
her brightest hopes might be wrecked.
ut is hard l do not know that even
If Aunt Di think if right | shall ever
have the heart to do it," murmured Ali
son, talking to herself in her agitation,
after the manner of older folk IL have
just rooted myself in this dear place, and
the soil suits me. | could not flourish
anywhere else and" finished Alison,
with a quaint little smile, "sickly plants
are worth nothing"
To any ordinary spectator the interior
of that little room would have presented
picture of perfect serenity and abso-
lutte comfort. Even the young creature
comfortably seated in a chair by the win
dow, with an open letter and cluster
of deep red roses lying among the folds
of her white gown, presented no disturb
ing image, though the cheek had lost its
wonted fresh color and the dark, dreamy
eyes had a look of doubt that was al
most pain in them.
Two years ago-she had been sixteen
then, and, oh, how discontented and i'll
and unhappy she had been. 1t was not
only the loss of her mother, it was her
own incapacity for responsibility, her
morbid dislike to her surroundings, that
had fretted all her fine color away.
Change of air would do her good, and
then Aunt Diana had come down upon
them with the freshness of moorland
breeze.
you must give your eldest girl to me,
Ainslie," she had said to Alison's father:
she wants care and cherishing more than
Miss Leigh has time to give her" And,
Of course, Aunt Diana had her way
Instead of the whir of machinery-for
her fathers sawmills were just behind
their house-Alison had now only to
listen to the soft flow of the river that
glided below the green lawns and shrub
berries of Moss-side; instead of waking
UP in the morning to look across the dusty
shrubs and trees to the vast wood piles
and masses of unsawn timber, that SEEM
ed endlessly between her and the blue
sky, Alison's eyes had now the finest
prospect; one shaded garden seemed to
run into another, and when the willows
were thnned or bare in winter time, what
a view of the river and green meadows on
the opposite side
The moral surroundings were almost as
much changed Instead of Miss Leigh's
dry method Of instruction, Aunt Diana
had placed within her reach many a
pleasant short cut to knowledge had sug-
gested all sorts of enviabe accomplish
ments; money was not stinted where Ali
sons talents could be turned to account.
In this pleasant but bracing atmos-
phere Alison had thriven and grown. She
was still tall, slim girl, somewhat youth
full in look, but with plenty of warm life
and energy about her; and though the
dark eyes had still their old trick of
dreaming, they seemed to dream more
happily, and the shadow did not lie so
deep in them-not, at least, until the
June afternoon, when Alison sat signing
and visibly disturbed with her lap full of
roses. 1t was evident at last that she
found her thoughts too painful for after
another half hours intense brooding she
suddenly jumped up from her seat, scat
tering the flowers where they lay unheed-
ed on the Indian mating, and walked
abruptly to the door. She had dropped
her letters, too but she went back and
picked them up, not replacing them in
their envelopes, and then she went out
into the passage.
A dark oak staircase led into a little
square hall, fitted up with bookcases like
library, with harmonium on one side
a glass door opened into a conservatory,
through which one passed into the gar
den.
Alison turned the handle of a door just
opposite the staircase, and stood for a
moment hesitating on the threshold.
What pleasant room that was, half
studio and half drawing room, full of
cross lights, and artisticaly Uttered with
an odd tumble, of medieval and modern
furniture-oak chairs and cabinets, bas-
Network longes tiny tea tables, fit for
Liliputian princesses, and hanging cup
boards of quaint old china that gave warm
coloring to the whole. Alison's eyes were