The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1924-03-07

wishes TO leave America to spring on
TO the next boat. A long mornings
telephoning to the offices Of the Gu
nard and the White Star brought Mrs.
Hignett the depressing information
that it would be a full week before
She could sail for England. That
meant that the inflammable Eustace
would have over two weeks to con-
duct an uninterrupted wooing, and
Mrs. Hignett's heart sank, till sudden
ly she remembered that so poor a sail
or as her son was not likely to have
had leisure for any strolllng on the
deck during the voyage Of the Atlantic.
calmer and went about her prepare
tons for departure with an easier
mind. The danger was still great, but
there was q good chance that she
might he in time TO intervene. She
wound up her affairs in New York and
on the following Wednesday, boarded
the Nuronia bound for southampton.
The Nuronia is one of the slowest
OF the Cunard boats. 1t was built al
a time when deliriOus crowds used to
broke the record by getting across in
nine days. 1t rolled over to Cher
bourg, dallied at that picturesque port
for some hours, then Sauntered across
the channel and Strolled into South
ampton water IN the evening Of the
day on which Samuel Marlowe had
sat In the lane plotting with Webster,
tn" valet. At almost the exact moment
when sam, sliding through the win
dows Of the drawing room, slid into
the cupboard behind the piano, Mrs.
Hignett was standing ut the customs
barrier telling the officials that she
had nothing to declare.
Mrs. Hignett was a general who be-
lieyed in forced marches. A lesser
woman might have taken the boat train
to London and proceeded to Windles
at her ease on the following afternoon.
Mrs. Hignett was made Of sterner stuff.
Having fortified herself with a late
dinner, she hired an automobile and
~ oHN VA NAS NObAAA JObA AiSJs
II was only when the car, a genuine
antique, had broken down three times
in the first ten miles, that it became
evident TO her that 1t would be much
too late to go TO Windles that night,
and she directed the driver TO take
her instead to the Blue Boar" in Win
dlehurst, where she arrived, tired but
thankful TO have reached it at all, at
about eleven o'clock.
At this point many, indeed most
women, having had a firing journey,
would have gone to bed: but the fa-
miliar Hampshire air and the knowl-
edge that half an hours walking would
alike her to her beloved home acted on
| Mrs. Hignett like a restorative. One
glimpse of WindleS she felt that she
must have before she retired for the
night, If only to assure herself that ii
was still there. She had a cup Of cOf-
fee and a sandwich brought to her by
the night porter, whom she had reused
from sleep, for bedtime is early In
| Windlehurst, and then informed him
that she was going for a short walk
and would ring when she returned.
Her heart leaped joyfully as she
turned in at the drive gates of her
home and felt the well-remembered
| gravel c%runching under her feet. The
silhouette of the ruined castle against
the summer sky gave her the feeling
which all returning wandarcE sYn9Gs
And, when she stepped onto Gs EstE,
and looked at the black bulb q IL
house, indistinct and shadowge nth e.
backing Of trees, tears came R.Eso y
eyes. She experienced a rush Of emo
ton which made her feel quite faint,
and which lasted until, on tiptoeing
nearer to the house in order to gloat
more adequately upon ii, she per-
ceived that the French windows of the
drawing room were standing ajar.
Sam had left them like this in order to
facilitate departure, IL a hurried de-
parture should by any mischance be
rendered necessary, and drawn eur
tains had kept the household from
noticing the fact.
All tie plOpilctUT III MIS-. llShcl
was reused. This, she felt indignant
ly, was the sort Of thing she had been
afraid would happen the moment her
back was turned. Evidently laxity-
one might almost say anarchy-ha6
set in directly she had removed the
eye Of authority. She marched to the
window and pushed it open. She had
now completely abandoned her kindly
scheme Of refraining from ~rousing the
sleeping house and spending the night
at the inn. She stepped into the draw
ing room with the single-minded pur-
pose Of ~rousing Eustace out Of his
sleep and giving him a good talking to
for having failed to maintain her own
standard of efficiency among the do
nestle staff. If there was one thing
on which Mrs. Horace Hignett had al
ways insisted it was that every win
dow in the house must be closed at
lights-out.
ITO RE r