Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1912-01-26
THE SCOTCH
LASSIE
By ELIZABETH CHARNLEY
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.

cured the services Of a 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 q large bank failed
Of which her father was a director.
The law In Scotland is very hard on
men who directly or indirectly lose
money for others. and 10 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 governess' 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
be returned from business. and it was
impossible for us to get away for any
! length of time. Then. too. in the even
ing he would rely on lis to play cards
with him, usually calling in neighbor
to make a fourth hand. And so year
went by and all was going we'll when
something happened.
A young man about Grace's age,
with trifle of the Scotch dialect
about him. came to the house and
called for her. That evening Ed
gar WAS in a very bad humor. He
was obliged to give up his game Of
cards. Grace remained in the dra W.
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 II returned
| in. If possible. worse humor than
/ when he departed
/ | supposed Grace would say some
thing about the visitor-the only caller
she did not, and 1t would have been
impertinent for me to question her
about him Edgar fenced a 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
very Ill at ease.
/ For 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 conversing with him it was
in such low tones that not word
they said was even overheard. Dur
ing this period Edgar was positively
unbearable. He fretted because he
must fOregO his cards and at one
time went SO far as to ask me to sug-
gest to the governess that the stran-
gers absorption of her time and at
tentton was interfering with her care
of the children. knew that he was
suffering from jealousy and that IL
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
The gentleman who has been to see
me frequently OF late is sutton of
mine from the time I 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 a barrier between
us. | sent him hame yesterday. and
he's now on the ocean on his way to
bonny 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"
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. l shall never forget the sigh OF
relief he drew or the expression on his
face while gave the girls history
You see. my DEAR" I 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 il he knew the facts or .ha, i;S
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 | 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 fII5y time
that an affair had been In progress be-
tween them ever since Grace had be..n
member of our family. though onry
in feeling. for not a word Of love had
been spoken between them. Her mis-
fortune, which he got for the irst time
from me. only served to draw him the
nearer to her.
Though Edgar's sister. am not one
to believe In brotherly and sisterly
housekeeping arrangements. and I was