Year: 1875

agitating thoughts, she threw herself upon
her bed and fell into heavy sleep, from
which she did not awake until Mrs. Broderick
came to her room to summon her to dinner.
Alice was too miserable to feel any appetite,
but she accompanied her cousin down stairs,
and silently took her place at the table. Mr.
Chester was extremely attentive to her, en-
deavoring to persuade her to eat, and indeed
helping her. against her will, to portion of
everything that was on the board; but though
the meal was good one, and very we'll pre-
pared, she found it impossible to swallow
more. than one or two mouthfuls, and those
nearly choked her. After dinner, when the
table had been cleared and the plates and
dishes washed up, Mrs. Broderick said to her
that if she would fetch her bonnet and shawl
she would accompany her in little walk.


81 do not wish to walk, thank you" replied
Alice


"But it is good for your health" interposed
Mr.. Raphael Chester, in an insinuating tone.
II have studied medicine, my dear cousin, and
1 feel competent to give an opinion on the
subject"


A feeling of hatred toward Mr.. Raphael
Chester darted into Alice's mind, as she
glanced toward him. At that moment, as he
stood regarding her, with his head slightly to
one side, and smile on his sallow, unwhole-
some-looking face, he appeared to her more
disagreeable and repulsive than his sister.


"My health is very good" she replied, short
ly, "and I would rather stay in the house"


"But would rather have you walk" said
Mrs. Broderick, smoothly $50, if you please,
I will wait here until you are ready"


Alice walked upstairs, but instead of get
ting ready, threw herself into chair, firmly
resolved not to be forced out against her will


"They are not equal to taking me up," she
said to herself, land I'll 60 in no other way"


After time, Mrs. Broderick came in search
of her, and discovering how matters stood,
said. calmly


"You are determined, I see, to set yourself
in opposition to our will. Be it so but you
will find, as I told you before, that such a
course can benefit you in no way at all. On
the contrary, it will make your life here far
more uncomfortable than we desire it to be-
Submission to our wishes is your safest policy,
and stubborn resistance can only result 10
unhappiness to yourself.


Several dreary days passed away. unmark-
ed by any special event. Mrs. Broderlck
furnished Alice with plain but complete
wardrobe, and to this she added the luxury
ola few books, and a portfolio containing
writing materials, to make her solitude less
irksome. On receiving the last, Alice felt
thrill of hope rush through her. She might
by some means manage to despatch letter
to Maurice, entreating his aid, which she knew
he would readily grant her. But she soon
found that this hope was a barren one. Her
movements were too sedulously watched to
permit any chance of her sending off a letter
undiscovered. She was never allowed to 80
out alone, and at certain times in the day,
when Mr.. Chester and his sister were both
too much occupied with their own affairs to
keep the necessary watch over her, she was
forced to remain in her room under lock and
key, to preclude the possibility Of her escape.
- At first she grew almost frantic under this
treatment Accustomed as she was to a life
Of freedom and unrestraint, the mere depriva-
ton of liberty would have been to her a Sc
we're aftiiction, even had it not been fraught
with the additional bitterness Of useless regret
and sorrowful and anxious foreboding. Her
dslike-nay, that is too feeble word-her





ed daily, and she was constant y apprehensive
Of receiving some fresh unkindness at their
hands. And yet, with all their rigorous treat
ment of her, there was mingled, at times, an
evidence of their wish to win her liking and
goodwill; more especially on the part of Mr..
Raphael (Ratfy his sister called him. who
frequently made demonstrations of his esteem
for her, which caused her, however, always to
shrink more within herself, and to regard him
with more disfavor than ever. He would
sometimes bring her fruit, or nuts, which,
when she did not venture to refuse it, she
would, on going to her own room immed-
ately throw into the fire or out of the window
and once or twice he presented her with pic
lures and books. These last were too tempt
irg to be rejected, for anything was a price
less boon which served to enliven her solitude
and divert her mind from its melancholy
thoughts. Finding, at last, that resistance was
of no avail and only made her situation a
harder one, she subsidized into dull, hopeless,
submissive state, yielding passively to the die
tates of her captors, and walking out just as
they chose to order. She would rather do
almost anything than hear that eternal "My
L
though have never tai ken my degree, [ feel
competent" and when, as he sometimes did,
Raphael would clasp her wrist with his lank
fingers to ascertain the state Of her pulse, she
shrank from his touch as she would have done
from that of some loathsome reptile. 1t
seemed to her almost incredible that these
people could be so nearly related to her as
they claimed to be, and yet she could not
contradict the evidence they produced in sup
port of their assertion. Their assertion was,
in fact, perfectly correct but they did not in
form her that their father, old Mr.. Chester S
eldest son, had been the "back Sheep Of the
family, and left the paternal roof in disgrace
soon after attaining his majority, since which
period he had never returned to it, having
died abroad without etiecting, or indeed seek
ing, reconciliation. ct was something of
his spirit, though in better and higher form,
that had sustained his young sister, Alice's
mother, in all her trials and wanderingS }
Three intermediate children, Il daughter and
two sons, had all died unmarried, and conse-
quently Raphael and his sister, and Alice,
were the only living descendants Of old Mr..
Chester, who lived in solitary and cheerless
state on his old family domain, on the banks
of the Combahee river.


! Continual anxiety of mind began to prey,
at last, upon Alice to such an extent as to
mar the fresh and youthful beauty of face
and form, which had been 50 captivating
The soft bright color faded from her cheeks
giving place to an unhealthy palor. Her eyes
lost their brilliancy and became heavy and
dimmed with constant tears. Her step lost its
lightness, and grew slow and listess, and a
settled melancholy usurped the place Of the
Joyous animation and cheerfulness which had