The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-02-02
THE SCOTCH
LASSIE
BY ELIZABETH CHARNIEY
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation, 1911.

y
several little children, and I, his sister
am his housekeeper. / advertised for
a goyerness for the children and So.
cured the services Of young girl
who had recently arrived from Scot
land She had lived in affluence in her
native land, but shortly before her
coming to America a large bank failed
of which her father was a director.
The law in Scotland is very hard on
y men who directly or indirectly lose
money for others, and in this case all
the directors of the bank, though they
were entirely innocent, having left ev-
erything pertaining to the bank to the
president, were all convicted of fraud
and sent to prison. Our goyerness' ia
Their was among the number. She beg
ged to be allowed to go to prison in his
place, but of course was not permit
ted. He died long before the end of
his term, and his daughter was left an
orphan.
In time my brother began to ap-
pear conscious Of Grace MacAlister's
presence in the household. If he came
home and found that she had gone out
on any errand for herself or the chill
dren could easily detect look of dis.
appointment in his face But after his
wife's death he was very dependent In
finding every one of us at home when
he returned from business, and 1t was
impossible for us to get away for any
length of time. Then, too, in the even
ing he would rely on us to play cards
with him, usually calling in a neighbor
to make a fourth hand And so year
went by and all was going well when
something happened.
A young man about Grace's age,
with tri6e of the Scotch dialect
about him, came to the house and
called for her. That evening Ed
gar was in very bad humor. He
was obliged to give up his game Of
cards Grace remained in the draw
ing room with the stranger till late,
while was trying to amuse Edgar in
the library. At 10 Edgar went out
to his club--something he had not
done before since Miss MacAlister had
become one of us-and at IL returned
in, if possible, a worse humor than
when he departed.
supposed Grace would say some
thing about the visitor-the only caller
she had had since she came to us-but
she did not, and it would have been
impertinent for me to question her
about him. Edgar fenced good deal
with me to find out who the man was
without appearing anxious to know,
and when / told him that Miss Mac
Alister had not said anything about
him to me my brother seemed to be
verysill at ease.
For a few weeks the stranger called |
to see Grace frequently. When with
him she usually closed the door of
the room they were in, and, In any
event, when conyersing with him 1t was
In such low tones that not word
they said was even overheard Dur
ing this period Edgar was positively |
unbearabe. He fretted because he
must forego his cards and at one
time went so far as to ask me to sug- !
gest to the goyerness that the stran-
gers absorption of her time and at /
tention was interfering with her care
of the children. / knew that he was
suffering from jealousy and that If
did what he proposed he would never |
forgive me.
One evening when the young Scotch |
man did not call Miss MacAlister came
to me and said:
1.-THE gentleman who has been to see
me frequently Of late is a sutton of
mine from the time | was wee thing.
When my father was in trouble my /
lover kept away from us. Now he
comes counting me, but / dinna love
him, and, if did, that he once blamed
my father would be barrier between
us. / sent him hame yesterday, and
he's now on the ocean on his way to
honny Scotland. I've known that his
presence here might excite curiosity,
but / didna like to tell We who he
was and what was his errand till he
had gone"
1 lost no time in imparting the conf
dence to Edgar, telling him for the first
time who was Miss MacAlister's visitor
and the reason of his presence in Amer.
lea. / shall never forget the sigh Of
relief he drew or the expression on his
face while | gave the girls history.
'You see, my DEAR" l added, Miss
MacAlister Is sensitive on the point OF
her fathers misfortune or failure to
watch those interests he was expected
TO watch"
| said this because had feared. as
have already mentioned, that Edgar's
feelings or treatment of the girl would
change If he knew the facts or that his
sturdy honesty and discrimination be-
tween right and wrong might lead him
to say something that would turn
Grace against him. He made no COM
ment whatever on what l had told
him, but the next day informed me
that he had proposed to Miss Mac
Alister and been accepted.
And then learned for the first time
that an affair had been in progress be-
tween them ever since Grace had been
a member of our family, though only
In feeling. for not word Of love had
been spoken between them. Her mis-,
fortune. which he got for the first time
from me. only served TO draw him the
nearer to her.