Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-09-28

the contrary, ] ~ welt pleasedl -
Did you hear what I sid to CO.
lese, Granger u i asked the butler,
hs came TO him at the door. "Her
1adyship ID not In her room. Her bed
has not been slept IN"
..Eh," Ne saAd gri1nly khd grAvely,
In his slow Scottish why, wdthors~-1
change sof expression in his rugged
face, that's vera strange, vera
II must tell Sir Ralph" I said. 81
am going--I think / know where he
and IAvsSAy went"
The man made d movement almost
OF blocking my way through the door,
but IL such vi idea ever WAS In his
mind he thought better Of It and drew
back to let me pass.
.tAh. weel." heard him say to
himself rather than to me, az T went
by him. And then again, t.Ah, weel'sI
/ tried to piece together the pu1-
Me Of his strange behavior a / hur4
RED across the rnoofllit space before
tire house and .dived into the shadow
my position III ths family had been
other than 1t was-if I had been q
mere niece Of the house, and no more
Isl believe that he really would have
stopped me EoitfS. But I counted Tor
rather more than this
NY father had been an elder broth
er OF Uncle Ralph. and the place, such
as it vast was Of no great size or
value-togethsr with the title, the
b~aronetcy, had BEEN his. NY mother.
had died whst, I was quite young, and
/ was their only child. The conse-
querce was that when. 4 left school
and came to live at home, at SScotney
House, my father began by degrees
to let more and more Of the direction
Of the household Affairs slip into my
hands. ,
Of course he always said what waa
TO be done, il any Question arose, but
h0 liked me to zee to running Of all
ths ordinary machinery OF our domes-
TIC life, and * any point came up TOR
decision on which I did not suppose
that he would take particular interest.
I would more often than not settle it
without troubling him about IL So
in some ways, young though / was,
my position came to be something not
unlike that Of thh mistress OF the
AAOAA05 0AAA i @AWdy0 6dv0 LI0 OTU0E6
about dinner and so on and The rooms
that visiting guests were to occupy
and the like. s
Then the greatest sorrow OF my life.
came, when I was not yet quite TWEEN
t~y-one-for I had been too young
when my mother died to FEST her loss
In any real and enduring sense. But
my father and I had been rather like
elder brother and sister, I think, to
no nh 4nfhn~ y %6A - ~ a SAS ia = A xAS~ AsAu.
between father ana daughter, or pes
haps I may say> that there WAS be-.
tween us all that was most dear in
both relationships. I was older, i
know, than my years, partly because
WIS an only child and had been
brought up 80 much with my elders,
and he was always 30 full Of life and
fun and 80 readySto take part in any
! thing that tvaa going oit.gthat.1 never
And then, coming in rom hunting
on q cold, wet, miserable day, he had
sat down before the library fire and
gone fast asleep. He agxoke feeling
chilled and Wretched; the next morn
ing he had q fearful cold, which grew
worse as the day went on. In the eve
ming he. was in bed with a high tenn
perature and In less than d fortnight,
after three days fight with death, his
heart gave out, and I was left one, Of
the most unhappy beings in the world,
! could not credit that life would ever
hold a1.interest for me again.
Uncle Ralph was a major IN q
Highland regiment, though It was on
his mothers side only that he was i
Scot, when my fathers death made
him a baronet ana the owner Of our
not very opulent or extensive acres.
He had been looking forward 70 the
command OF the regiment, and would
far rather have remained 4 soldier
nan have returned home to take DOE.
session Of his patfifnony, but he re-.
Allied that he owed 4 duty to the
place and to the tenants. He was de-
home OF his boyhood, 20 that he did
n really make any considerable enc
rtfice.
OF course, I had been quite uncer-
tain what was to become Of me.
whether I should be given orders TO
quit, or what would happen, ANITA
Uncle Ralph, in the kindaSt way in
the world, tnplored me to stay on
with him, directing the house - I had
done for my father. mi &.
! was only too thankful to accept,
both because my love OF Ecotney Itself
and Of Uncle Ralph, ana also because
It waS not very obvious thst there
wa anywhere else for me to 70. And,
really, I exercised r1ther more au.
thority under my uncle'B reign than
under my father's. bscause the for
already queening It there.
BUT, Of course, / had every expec-
tation that my squeenship would be
At an end as soon as ever Uncle Ralph.
surprised us all by coming home from
q hunting trip in Cashmere With {