Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-08-09

Aelitid watson"
Then you would have added one
more to the many thousand of lies that
you have told in your life"
observe with pleasure, Letitia,
that tir1e has not impaired the natural
sweetness of your temper. DO you re-
member announcing from the platform
OF music-hali in New Orleans that
you hadn't been paid for six waai :,
I remember it perfect y
deserved it." ~ 49,
u think not, Letitis : that in
your calmer mo must have
seen the very 6ss1 of rounding
upon liberia ~ er in that public
way. l alv fade it rule to pay
my artistesf long as had money
enough tEao SO; when the cash box
was emily. how could pay them? But
exr@ed not revive bygone unpleasant
rses. We parted at Otago upon pref
= good terms, If l remember rightly,
Notwithstanding the occasional little
tiffs that we had had"
That is to say that, after having
cheated me of my pay for several
months, you were good enough to can
eel the remainder of my engagement
and cry quits"
Just so. l have often thought since
that l was foolishly geerous; because,
although your voice was never worth
much, you certainly had the trick of at
trac ling audiences If you knew how
aften have missed you and wished to
have you back again, you would be
touched, Letitia. However, 1 never ex-
pected to see you again, and 1t was
with the greatest surprise and pleasure
that recognized you-and noticed that
you recognized me-a short time ago at
Dawlish. 1t seems to me that YOU
were ill-advised in running away: still,
all things considered 1 don't much
wonder at your having yielded to pam
ic. PRESERVATION, my dear, is a danger
Gus game. very dangerous game, and
when l found out what you were up to.
| made every allowance for your rather
rude behavior"
How did you find 1t out?" asked
Mrs. Fenton, hoarsely.
by the simple and straightforward
methods to which my nature inclines
me. The local newspaper informed me
of the name which you state is your
own; 1 called at your house and was
told that you had departed suddenly
for Paris, without even leaving an adj
dress for letters to be forwarded to.
However, / obtained your present adj
dress and learned on inquiring here.
that YOU were expected to be in London
about this time. Furthermore / ascer-
tanned, that you were lady of consid-
cradle wealth, and that you had sue
ceeded 20 the handsome fortune Of your
late father, the Dean of l forget what
college at oxford. This surprised me:
because, as you are aware, l had had
the privilege of being well acquainted
with your father in Canada, and from
what l knew of him 1t did not seem to
me likely that he could been made d
Dean or that ne could have had very
large fortune to leave. You were not
profoundly attached to him-indeed, /
must confess that he didn't treat you
very well-so you won't mind my say
ing that a more drunken and disrepu-
table old reprobate than Jack Watson
| have never met in any quarter of tho
globe"
MY father sold me to you," said Mrs.
Fenton. Probably you had the best
of the bargain; what is certain is that
| derived no profit from it. have new
err been a bad woman; have only been
a most unhappy and unfortunate one.
OF course 1t was wrong to personate
woman who is dead; yet things have
fallen out so curiously that nobody
would have been the worse for 1t if you
had not appeared at this last moment
to ruin me"
Not to ruin you, Letitia; nothing, l
assure you, could have been further
from my wish or intention when
looked you up than that [ only claim
a share-a very small share-in your
good luck. / always did full Justice to
your talents, Letitia but 1 certainly
should have thought that such a stroke
of business as this was a trifle above
YOU. How on earth did you manage
it?"
She sighed. ut was less difficult
than 1t appears" she answered; "ev-
erything conspired in my favor. After
left you in New Zealand fell in with
a certain Fenton, who was struck with
my voice and got me to sing for him at
concerts. He was a decent sort of man
in those days, and he introduced me to
his wife, with whom l became Intimate
and who teld me her story. Her faith
err she said. was the Dean of st. Cy-
prian's at oxford and she had run
away with her music-master, because
she was unhappy at home, and because
she had an idea that she would be able
to make her fortune as an opera sing
err She was silly sort of woman, bat
she was a lady and she was kind to me
and l liked being with her. l don't
know what her voice may have been
like when she was a girl-Fenton al
ways declared it was magnificent, go
far as it went-but at tie time when |
knew her she had almost lost it. She
was in bad health. and was disappoint-
ed and peevish and thoroughly tired of
her husband, who was also pretty well
tired OF her. on the other hand, he
took a great fancy to me Z"
Mr. Dodd grinned. Il can well be-
lieve it, Letitia. And so 1 suppose.
Mrs Fenton died. and you stepped into
her shoes?"
Yes; she died at wellington, where
had gone with them, ana where we
managed to scrape together just enough
10 live upon by means o. concerts and
music lessons. Very soon after her
death / married Mr.. Fenton, and as we
were not fortunate in New Zealand we
made move to Sydney. However, we
did no better there, and after he died
| struggled on, the Government House
people took me up and made little
money. or course questions were oc-
casionaTly put TO me. and for the sake
of convenience I told some of the ladies
In strict confidence that was the
daughter Of Dean Musgrave Then one
morning l saw the advertisement that
executors had put into the papers, and
II flashed across me that the great OPP
portunity OF my life had come. I sailed
for England at once. and my claim was
admitted as soon as l showed myself
l only had to face one person who had
ever seen Laura-the Master OF All
Saints s kind hearted old fellow about
whom she had often spoken to me. It
was a great risk. but came out OF Il
triumphantly. You know what capt.
tai mimic l am. Wen. ! initiated
Laura's way OF speaking. and a shrug-
ged my shoulders after fashion that
she had. and | sang 10 him exactly In
that Ia raa e.,