The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1914-07-10


the telling. Hetty did not go forth
to encounter drudgery, disdain and OBJ
loquy. By no manner of means! She
went with well-filled purse, definite
purpose ahead and determined fac
tor behind.
In manner BETTING her station as
the intimate friend of Mrs. Challis
Wrandall, as the cousin of the Murgat-
royds, as the daughter of Colonel Cas-
Teton of the Indian corps, as a per-
son supposed to be possessed of in
dependent means withal, she went,
with none to question, none to cavil.
Sara had insisted on this, as much
for her own sake as for Hetty's; she
argued, and she had prevailed in the
end. What would the world think,
what would their acquaintance think,
and above all what would the high and
mighty Wrandalls think If she went
with meek and lowly mien?
Why should they make 1t possible
for anyone to look askance?
And so it was that she departed in
state, with dozen trunks and boxes;
an obsequiously attended seat in the
parlor car was hers; telegram in
her bag assured her that rooms were
being reserved for herself and maid
at the Ritz-Carlton; alongside it re-
posed letter to Mr.. Carroll, instruct
ing him to provide her with sufficient
funds to carry out the plan agreed
upon; and in the seat behind sat the
lady's maid who had served her for
a twelvemonth and more.
The timely demise of the venerable
Lord Murgatroyd afforded the most
natural excuse for her trip to England.
The old nobleman gave up the ghost,
allowing for difference in time, at the
very moment when Mrs. Redmond
Wrandall was undoing a certain pack
age from London, which turned out
to be a complete history Of what his
forbears had done in the way Of prop
agation since the fourteenth century.
Hetty did not find it easy to accom-
modate her pride to the plan which
was to give her a fresh and rather
imposing start in the world. She was
to have full year in which to deter
mine whether she should accept toll
and poverty as her lot, or emulate the
symbolic example of Dicky, the canary
bird. At the end of the year, unless
she did as Dicky had done, her source
of supplies would be automatically cut
off and she would be entirely depend
ent upon her own wits and resources.
In the interim she was probationary
person of leisure. 1t had required
hours of persuasion on the part of
Sara Wrandall to bring her into line
with these arrangements.
But l am able and willing to work
for my living" had been Hetty's stub
born retort to all the arguments
brought to bear upon her.
Then let me put it in another light.
1t is vital to me, of course, that you
should keep up the show of af1uence
-" while at least. l think 1 have
that clear to you. But here Is
-1ther side to the matter; the aues-
ton of recompense."
"Recompense?" cried Hetty sharply.
Without your knowing it, have
virtually held you prisoner all these
months, condemned in my own judg-
ment If not in the sight of the law.
l have taken the law unto myself. You
were not convicted of murder in this
unitarian court of mine, but of an.
other sin. For fifteen months Won
have been living under the shadow of
crime you did not commit. l was
reserving complete punishment for
you in the shape of an ignoble mar
riage, which was to have served two
bitter ends. Well, / had the truth
from you l believe you to be abso-
lutely innocent Of the charge I held
over you, for which condemned Won
without hearing. Then, why should
not employ my own means of max
ing restitution"
You have condescended to believe
in me. That is all ask"
True, that is all you ask. But is
it altogether the fair way out of it?