Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1910-01-20
CHAPTER III.

Some little distance from the Majors
abode stood a long, low rambling house
on a slight rise. Surrounded by deep
verandahs, 1t was placed in the mid
die of emerald green lawns, smoothly
clipped; and these lower down, were
girdled by a belt of ash, and syca-
mores, and poplars, which shut out
the house from the high road The
mansion. with its fat roof and wide
verandas had a tropical look, and in
deed it had been built by retired In
dian nabob, at the beginning of this
century When he died the house had
been sold, and now it was occupied by
Mrs. Dallas. who leased it because of
its suggestion of tropical habitation.
She came from the West Indies, and
had lived in The Wigwam," as the
house was called, for over ten years
Mrs. Dallas was a large, fat and
eminently lazy woman, who passed
most of her time in knitting, or sleep
ing, or eating. Her husband had died
before she had come to this country
and it was the desire to preserve her
daughters health which had brought
her so far from the sun baked islands
which her soul loved.
Her languid Creole nature and Ieth-
argic habits were unsuited to brisk
practical grey skies, the frequent alb
sence of sunlight, and the lack of rich
and sensuous coloring. Often she
threatened to return to Barbados, but
she was too lazy to make the effort of
again settling herself in life. With all
her longings for the fairy islands of
the West, she was out of place in this
northern land, and so was Dido.
This latter was a tall and massively
framed negro woman, with very little
of the black about her. She looked
rather like a priestess, with her stern
face and stately mien; and, indeed, in
the West Indies, it was known among
the negroes that Dido was high in
power among the votaries of Obi She
could charm, she could sIay by means
of vegetable poisons, and she could
as the negroes firmly beIieved-cause
human being tn dwindle, peak, and
pine, by means of incantations.
This black Gambia had left a terrible
reputation behind her in Barbados
Dido was not a favorite in the SER
wants part of The Wigwam," but for
this unpopularity she cared little, be-
ing devoted to Isabella Dallas She
adored her nursing. The girl was
about twenty years of age, tall and
straight, with dark hair and darker
eyes, with a mouth veritabIy like Gu
pid's bow, and a figure matchless in
contour With her rich southern col
oring and passionate temperament
she was of Irish blood on the paternal
side-NIiss Dallas looked more an An
dalusian lady. She had all the lowell
like a rich tropical flower with poison
in its perfume, amid the roses.
If Mrs. Dallas was a bore-and her
friends said she was-the daughter
was divine and many young men came
TO The Wigwam% to be spellbound by
her beauty. More men than the three
who had dined at "Ashantee" were in
love with Isabella.
Upon her Dido exercised a powerful,
and it must be confessed, a malignant
| influence. She had fed the quick brain
OF the girl with weird tales of African
| witchcraft and fancifui notions of ter
restrial and sidereal influences. Isa-
bella's nature was warped by this do
| nestle necromancy, and had she con-
| tinued to dwell in the West Indies she
might almost have become a witch
| herself. Certainly Dido did her best
! to make her one, and taught her nurs-
| ling spells and lamentations. to which
| the girl would listen fearfully. half-be-
| lieving, half-d doubling. But her con-
| tact with the sunny side of life saved
her from falling into the terribly abyss
of African superstition; and how ter
rible it is only the initiated can de-
clare. It only needed that she should
| be removed from the bad influence of
the barbaric Sybil to render her nature
healthy and fill her life with pleasure.
But Dido was like a upas tree, and
the moral atmosphere with which she