The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-11-03
CHAPTER II-continued

P
Thus at thirty eight, when her niece
Cintra was married, she would have
been taken by stranger for her hus-
bands daughter, or the youngest of
the handsome Lovely sisters. And the
youngest she intended to remain, cost
anyone else what it might.
Carried before her father on his
horse, or later at his side on her own
pony, Matilda Smith Lovely had
learned to know every wood and brook
and dell of his possessions in all
weathers and she had absorbed many
of his tastes and peculiar preoccupa-
tons. Drenched to the skin and chat
tering with cold she had been brought
home and handed over to her nurse
after thunder storm which they had
watched come and go from the top of
a distant hill.
At Lovelylea she spent the happiest
days of her life, and for the dignified
old mansion and its surrounding acres
she had depth of affection that was
not suspected by her sisters or brother :;
the tears she had shed on their de-
parture being attributed to her grief
at parting from Bill-Lee. Actually she
had been eager for him to start on his
great adventure, feeling certain that
he would soon return in the guise of
the prince in the fairy tale, bringing
with him enough of the wealth of the
Incas to enable them all to come back
in triumph to Loyelylea and live hap
PLY ever after, according to the proper
pattern; or, If the elder girls persisted
in their perverse intention to stay in
New York and acquire rich husbands,
she hoped that by that time she, Sniff,
might be adjudged old enough to act
as chatelaine for Bill-Lee
This dream received its first shock
when her brother married. To her
mind, the money spent to support his
wife and child in luxury was money
wilfully diverted from the redemption
of Lovelylea. From then on, she knew
Bill-Lee for weakling and laid her
plans accordingly; plans destined to
be sadly disarranged when Cintra was
sent to her with a reminder of her
childish promise.
Sniff came of a stock whose word
was their bond. .Unquestioningly she
accepted the responsibility thrust upon
her, and gave her niece a devotion
so unselfish that no one ever doubted
its inspiration was affection; Cintra,
who was beautiful and brainless, least
of all.
Now, when at last she was freed
from her burden, Smif's greatest de-
sire remained unchanged. To regain
possession of the family estate was
her goal. Her brother was ready to
assume that further effort was useless
and he had pointed out that where he
was, living was easy and cheap Plain
ly the old life in Virginia, love for
which seemed to have entered the
very marrow of her bones, no longer
held lure for him. He was content
in South America and meant to stay
there.
Sniff wrote Bill-Lee a long letter in
which she set forth the argument, that
as he had no love for Lovelylea and
she had, she wished the opportunity
of buying 1t from him at the expira-
tion of the present lease.
This letter would have impressed
her brother as even more extraordi-
nary than 1t did had he known how
nearly she had ruined herself for him
and his child. However, he was never
one to reject any favorable chance re-
quiring no exertion on his part. If
Sniff wanted to sink her money in the
old place, by all means let her! Prob
ably by this time she was rich
woman, an old maid who had found no
way to spend her income in all these
years.
And so the matter had been settled.
At some sacrifice, Sniff had sent a
thousand dollars as earnest of her in
tention, fearing him in want and too
proud to confess his difficulties; for 1t
must be put down to Bill-Lees credit
that he had not sponged upon her as
he might have done, although from
time to time he had accepted the help
ing hand she had offered him.
With unusual business foresight,
Sniff had demanded and duly received
an acknowledgment setting forth this
payment and their agreement, for Gin
tra's information should it happen that
she inherited before her aunt had ex-
ercised her option.
The possession of this document
warmed Smif's heart even though she
had no idea where she could obtain
sum of money sufficient to avail her
self Of the opportunity it held out to
her. That Cintra might want to take
over the ancestral halls had never