The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1915-03-04
MARY MIDTHORNE
GEORGE BARR ~McCUTCHEON.
Author Of "Granstark," "Truxton King" etc.
se III. 49,. Copyright. 1911 BY DOdd, Mead & Co.


far removed from the warm, lazy love
Of those gentle Midthornes. From
flower-covered. r~uin-racked mansion
under a blue sky, to bare, grim, solidly
| prosperous walls under a sky that was
always white.
Corinth paused aghast. Horace had
dore the one thing that no n believed
him capable of doing. He had taken
into his own home. to his own priIn
New England hearth, the offspring of
the despised Magdalen and her red
handed husband. The children of an
adulteress! The children of a murder
err!
Horace Blagden kept his w coun-
sci. He offered no explanation, no eX-
cuse for his surprising act. He was le-
gally appointed guardian Of the little
ones; he set them down, with a grim
sense Of his own power, among the un-
blemished children Of Corinth, and all
Corinth was quiescent. No mother lift
ed up her voice against the affront, no
father protested. They accepted the
little Midthornes, and were amazed in
themselves. a.
! A word in explanation of Horace's
act. 1t Vas discovered, on the reading
of old Mr.. Blagden's- will, that he had
not quite forgotten his lovely, though
erring daughter. There was a clause
~beoueathing $100,000 to each Of her
children, the money to go to them when
they had attained the g of q, the
bequest, in the interim, to be under
the control Of a guardian appointed by
the court. It was upon the discovery
Of this unexpected clause that Horace
Blagden set about. with some haste,
to have himself appointed guardian.
1t also occurred to him that 1t would
be the part of wisdom for him to at
tend to the bringing up OF his wards,
under his own eye n guidance.
And so IT was that the two little Mid
thornes came to the grey house on the
hill, where the hearts were cold and
bitter. n where the ways were hard.
When they came, blinking and wide
eyed, they found their cousin, Chef
wynd, there. He was four years older
than Eric. Age was not his only asset
in superiority, you may be sure From
the beginning, Chetwynd looked upon
his unlucky cousins as interlopers, as
dependents, far beneath him in every
respect. 1t was necessary for him to
pummel Eric roundly on the second
day after his arrival. Eric, small as
he was, openly had resented the larger
boys airs. being a manly little chap
with fire in his blood. For this, he was
kept locked in a dark closet for three
hours. 1 mean Eric. of course. When
Chetwynd told his mother hat he had
thrashed his cousin, that excellent dis
ciplinarian promptly proceeded to pun
ish Eric, so that it would not happen
again.
The LATHE warm-hearted Midthornes
made friends quickly among the chill
dren in the set affected by the Blag-
dens. They were not permitted to go
outside this circle. After the first few
weeks of uncertainty in their new sur
~roundings they rose to their own level
of Joyousness. Not even the o~verbear-
ing attitude of Chetwynd could chill
this natural warmth of manner nor
the stern. lean face Of their Uncle Hor-
ace; nor the amplified repugnance of
their Aunt Rena. They were happy be-
cause they knew not how to be other
wise.
This was when they were 6 and 3.
They had no ideals. They had nothing
black to remember, for they only knew
that their father and mother had gone
away for a long time. They knew moth
ing of Cain and Magdalen.
But they were to know before they
were mani years older.