Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-10-02
CHAPTER III.


Of her bed, and seemed to bring out the
perfume of lavender from the pillow
on which her head reposed.
Aline, hearing her mistress stir,
FASTENED at once to her bedside.
at is half-past nine, madam, and
your breakfast is here. The old i'm
beetle from the kitchen has just
brought 1t up"
Louise looked approvingly at the
breakfast tray, with the homemade
bread and deep-yellow butter, the
brown eggs and clear honey. The
smell of the coffee was aromatic. She
breathed a little sigh Of content.
"How delicious everything looks!"
she exclaimed.
1.-THE homemade things are well
enough In their way, madam" Aline
agreed, "but 1 have never known
household SO strange and disagreeable.
That NJ. Jennings, who calls himself
the butler-he is a person unspeak-
able, savagew
LOuise's eyes twinkled.
II don't think they are fond of wom-
en- in this household, Aline," she re-
marked. 'Tell me, have you seen
Charles?"
Charles has gone to the nearest
blacksmith's forge to get something
made for the car, madam" Aline re-
piled. "He asked me to say that he
was afraid he would not be ready to
start before midday"
'That does not matter" Louise de-
.clared, gazing eagerly out of the case
ment window. Immediately below was
a grass-grown orchard which stretched
upward, at a precipitous angle, toward
a belt of freshly plowed field ; beyond, a
a little chain of rocky hills, sheer over
head. The trees were pink and white
with blossom; the petals lay about
upon the ground like drifted snow
flakes. Here and there yellow jon
.quils were growing among the long
grass. A watt of perfume stole into
the room through the window which
she had opened.
Fill my bath quickly, Aline," Louise
ordered. 81 must go out. I want to see
WnSIhSI IL Is ISdAiy do DSdulIAui Us II
looks"
AIine dressed her mistress in 81
leuce. Then, suddenly, little excla-
NATION escaped her. She swung round
toward her mistress, and for once there
was animation in her face.
"But, madam" she exclaimed, 81
have remembered The name Strange
wey. Yesterday morning you read 1t
out while you took your coffee. You
spoke of the good fortune Of some
farmer in the north of England to
whom some relative in Australia had
left q great fortune and
thousands Of pounds. The name was
Strangewey, the same as that. 1 re-
member it now"
She pointed once more to the family
tree. Louise sat for a moment with
parted lips.
you are quite right, Aline. l re-
member it all perfectly now. 1 wonder
whether it could possibly be either of
these two menu"
Aline shook her head doubtfully.
ut would be unbelievable, madam"
she decided. Gould any sane human
creatures live here, with no company
but the sheep and the cows, If they
had money-mOney to live in the
cities, to buy pleasures, to be happy?
Unbelievable, madam
Louise remained standing before the
window. She was watching the bios
som-Iaden boughs of one of the apple
trees bending and swaying In the fresh
morning breeze-watching the restless
shadows which came and went upon
the grass beneath.
THAT is just your point of view,
Aline," she murmured; but happiness
well. you would not understand.
They are strange men, these two"
Louise found her way without diff
Guilty across a cobbled yard, through a
postern gate set in red-brick wall,
into the orchard. At the farther enc
she came to gate, against which she
rested for a moment, leaning her arms
upon the topmoSt bar. Before her was
the little belt of plowed earth, the
fresh, pungent odor of which was a
new thing to her; a little way to the
right, the rolling moorland, starred
with clumpS of gorSe; in front, across
the field on the other side of the gray
stone wall, the rock -strewn hills. The
sky-unusually blue it seemed to her,
and dotted all over with little masses
Of fleecy, white cloudS-seemed some
how lower and nearer; or was she, per
haps, higher up?
She fingered there, absolutely bewil-
dered by the rapid growth In her brain
and senses OF what surely must be
some newly kindled faculty of sppre-
citation. There was d beauty IN the
world which she had not felt before.
She turn ed her head almost lalily at
the sound of mans voice. A team of
horses, straining at pillow. were COM
ing round the bend of the field, and by
their side, talking to the laborer who
guided them, was John Strangewey.
She watched him as he came into
sight up the steep rise. he walked In
step with the plowmap by his side, but
without any Of the laborer'S mechani-
cal plod-with a spring in his foot
steps, indeed, pointing with his stick
alcng the furrow, so absorbed in the
instructions he was giving that he was
almost opposite the gate before he was
aware of her presence. He promptly
abandoned his task and approached her.
Good morningl You have slept
well?" he called out.
Better, think, than ever before Ia
my life." she answered. Differently.
at any rate. And such an awakening!"
He looked at her, little puzzled. The
glow upon her face and the sunlight