The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1912-12-26
His Ward
By EMILY G. BOND

| had been in the family Tor many years.
sat down to breakfast alone. Sew
eral letters that had just been brought
by the postman lay on the table. one Of
which was from q firm of lawyers, in
forming him that by the will OF the
late Edward Burroughs he (Wilkins)
was appointed guardian to the de-
ceased's daughter, Alice.
Ned Burroughs dead" exclaimed
wilkins, much affected by the news.
and for time he gave himself up to
reflections upon the loss Of chum of
his younger days. Burroughs had gone
10 live in a different place. They had
correspondent for awhile, but that in
evitable separator. continued absence.
had come between them, and for ten
or fifteen years they had not met.
Presently the purport Of the letter,
his guardianship, occurred to him. He
could not think of Burroughs as any
older than when he last saw him and
assumed that his ward was q little
girl.
| What this guardianship meant.
| whether he was expected to take care
Of his wards property or his ward her
self he had no idea, but his mind was
soon set at rest upon opening another
letter, from his ward herself, which in
formed him that she was without
relative In the world that she had ever
seen and did not know what to do.
1t seemed to wilkins that he must
see the child and learn something about
her property-if she had any-and how
she was to live. But just then he
found it inconvenient to get away. He
wrote her that the only thing for her
to do was to come to him. He told
her how he was situated and that Mrs.
Hawkins, his housekeeper. would take
excellent care of her. A reply to this
letter Informed him that Alice would
arrive In few days. Wilkins told
Mrs. Hawkins to prepare for her re
ception.
"How old is she?" asked the house
keeper.
"How old is she? don't know
She may be five or six or ten or eleven
or something like that"
| Mrs. Hawkins asked no more ques
lions, but prepared bedroom for the
| little girl adjoining her own In case
Alice were still too young to sleep en-
tirely alone. Perhaps she wouldn't care
to sleep alone anyway.
On the morning of Alice's arrival VIII
kins told his housekeeper that he
would have busy day and must rely
on her to meet his ward at the sta
ton. He would send carriage to the
house at a certain hour. Mrs. Haw
kins was to bring Alice home. and he
would be on hand for q 6 o'clock din
ner.
He was so much occupied during the
day that he scarcely gave the matter a
thought. but on his way home he re-
membered it and wondered what he
would do with a child in the house.
However. he could tell nothing about
the matter till he had seen his ward.
On entering his living room he was
surprised to see young woman dress
ed for dinner sitting there writing. 1t,
did not occur to him that she was
Alice Wilkins. But who was she?
The young lady rose-she was appar-
emily about nineteen-and advanced to
meet him. She seemed herself some
what taken aback at his appearance,
"Pm waiting for Mr.. Wilkins" she
remarked.
"Beg pardon. will you tell me-who
you are?"
'I'm Mr.. Wilkins ward"
"You? Mr. wilkins ward! / am Mr..
Wilkins
"Dear me. | expected to meet per-
son the age of my father"
"Your father was just my age"
"Papa was forty. You don't look
much over thirty"
During this brief dialogue very
pleasurable sensation was yelling up
In the bosom of Mr. wilkins. and at
the same time he was perplexed at the
result of the mistake
"Well," he said. after a welcome
grasp of the hand. you're here, and
here you will have to stay till we can
settle what you're to do. Fortunately,
Mrs. Hawkins will make very good
chaperon and will take care Of you
admirably. Has she made you COM
fOrtable?"
"She has
'Tll be ready for dinner in a few
minutes"
1t seemed that evening to Mr.. Will
kins that his dining room looked diff
ferent from ever before. The lights
burned brighter. the dinner tasted bet
ter. the flowers on the table smelled
sweeter wilkins took up the subject
of his wards future. but made no
progress in settling it, AS to her for
tune. her father had left her nothing.
and she must either marry or make
her own living.
After dinner the two adjourned to
the library and continued to seek for
solution of the problem. About II
O'clock wilkins said:
eff / were ten or fifteen years young
er we might find way out. a very de-
sirable way-to me-.
Miss Burroughs made no verbal re-
ply to this. but cast her eyes down to
the floor MNN wilkins maintained
prolonged silence. Both were thinking
hard.
"You might make your home here"
he said at last Still the girl made
40 reply. But you would have to
marry me-"
Silence.
"W'ill you:
eyes"