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THE NEW YORK LEDGER.
OCTOBER 29, 1892,
loved him as such, and a woman cannot
unlove where she has loved with her whole
soul. I shall consider myself in my own
heart as the wife of Rufus so long as I
live. His grand young bride cannot love
him as I love him—my poor wronged boy !
He would have been true to me always if
his father had let him alone.”
Irs. Peters could reply, there
is a knock on the door, and Toppen,
Lally’s London footman, entered, his hat
in his hand.
“The Heather Hills carriage waits,
Miss Wroat,” he announced respectfully,
- ‘*Thes horses have been baited, and are
fresh for the journey. We left the Hills
yesterday, but broke down on the way,
and did not get into Inverness until the
evening, when we came to this hotel and
found your name registered, and that you
had retired for the night. The carriage
has been put in repairs ane s can leave
t any hour it may ple:
** We will go now,” said ‘Tally. “Have
e luggage taken ‘down, Toppen. We
wil follow.”
She rang for the hotel bill, and paid it.
’ The luggage was carried down, and Lally
ut on her wrappings and bonnet and
vail. . Mrs. Peters also hastily attired her-
self, and they descended to the waiting
vehicle.
The Heather-Hills carriage proved to be
an old-fashioned, cumbrous coach, painted
green, and with ‘wheels heavy enough for
aluggage cart. It had a stout roof, upon
which the luggage was piled. Lally was
assisted into the coach, Mrs. Peters en-
tered after her, the windows were drawn
up nearly to the top, the footman mounted
beside the coachman, who cracked his
whip, and away the equipage went, to the
edification of several small boys and hotel
waiters.
There were plenty of lap blankets and
travelling rugs, and Lally rolled herself
snugly in a corner, and rubbing a spot on
the window glass, tried to look out into the
streets as they passed. Mrs. Peters also
rolled herself up comfortably, and was
silen
. The estate of Heather Hills was situated
on the coast, between Fort George and
Nairn—much nearer to Nairn, infact, than
to Inverness—but the drive was pleasant
in good weather, and the late Mrs. Wroat
had always proceeded by carriage from
Inverness, a good and anficlent reason
why her successor should d
The house at Heather Hills w was old and
picturesque, with a lofty tower that com-
manded a fine view of Moray Frith. It
- was of mixed styles of architecture, and
was homelike, while it was also impasing.
The estate took its name from a low range
of hills covered with heather, which formed
a portion of its boundaries; but these hills
were at a considerable distance from the
house, which stood upon a tall and naked
bluff, overlooking the Frith.
the house was fanned with
the salt sea-breezes, making it a delightful
retreat. Seen, however, through a Scotch
mist upon a day in late October, under a
frowning sky, and with the dreariness of
coming winter already apparent in the
grounds, it was not so delightful. It looked
cold, wind-swept and de: serted to Lally
as she lowered her window and took a sur-
vey of her domain.
Around the house was a wide and fine
lawn dotted with trees. There were flower-
gardens and the usual appendages to a
fine country seat; but Lally’s regard was
fixed upon the mansion, which, wrapped
in gray mist, seemed to its new owner one
of the grandest as well as one of the love-
liest houses she had ever seen.
The carriage passed up the long winding
drive and halted in the wide porch. Top-
pen sprang nimbly down from the box,
threw off his Mackintosh and opened the
coach door, assisting its occupants to
alight.
Then he flung open the house-door and
Jed the way up the steps into the great
hall, while the carriage went around to the
stables.
In the wide hall the steward and his wife
were waiting, to welcome the new owner of
Heather Hills.
The former was a hale, sandy-haired
Scotchman with a plain honest face. The
latter was a broad-faced motherly Scotch-
woman, who fell in love with the young
mistress of the house at first sight.
“«Miss Wroat,” said Peters, ‘‘ these are
Mr. and Mrs. Lang, the steward and his
wife.” .
Lally acknowledged the introduction
with a gentle courtesy that won the Scotch-
man’s heart.
“¢The house is all in order, miss,” he
said respectfully. — ‘* There’re a cook and
house-maid from Inverness, and new fur-
niture has been put in your own room,
miss, and your -sitting-room has been
newly furnished, as Mrs. Peters ordered,
If the house is not to your liking; anything
can be changed as you wish.”
**T will show you up to your room,
miss,” said Mrs. Lang, noticing Lally’s
pallor and evident weariness. ‘* Dinner
will be on the table in an hour.”
Lally and Peters followed the steward’s
wife to the upper hall, and toa large octa-
gon chamber, newly fitted up with a crim-
son carpet, crimson-covered chairs and a
cottage piano. ood-fire burned on the
hearth, and an casy-chair i io a white slip-
cover was drawn up before i
“How cozy and Teasant !” exclaimed
Lally. “All is warmth and brightness
in here, but .I can look from my windows
upon the wild sea, white with fury. See
the sails! I shall never tire of this charm-
ing. room and charming prospect.”
“ Your bedroom adjoins this room, Miss
Wroat,” said Mrs. Lang, well pleased with
Lally’s praise. Mrs . Pete ers's Foom is next
eyond, and opens into your:
Do you live in the house, Mrs. Lang?”
asked Lally.
“No, miss. We live at the cottage half
a mile back, which you passed just before
turning into the grounds. We have lived
there twenty years. ~ No other spot in the
world seems so like home to us. If we had
to leave it now,” and Mrs. Lang’s voice
trembled, ‘I think my, old man would
just fret himself to death.”
won't have to leave it,” said
Lally, ‘cheerfully “T do not intend that
aunt’s old friends or faithful servants
shall suffer through me. I desire Mr.
Lang to continue his stewardship so long
as he lives and I live.. I do not know any-
thing about the revenue of this little estate ;
Mr. Harris forgot to mention it, perhaps;
but Iam sure it cannot be in better hands
than those in which my aunt placed it.”
Mrs. Lang looked relieved and gratified.
“The estate has yielded some three
hundred a year to Mrs. Wroat, after all
salaries were paid,” she explained. . “It
is not as profitable as most places of its
size, but it has served asa grand country
seat in its day, and the grounds are very
extensive and beautiful. The house and
outbuildings are in perfect repair; there is
a pair of carriage horses, besides the work
animals; and there is‘a fine lot of sheep
and cattle of the best breeds, and they can
be made a source of greater revenue if
you are willing to go to some outlay for
stock.”
‘We will see to all that,” said Lally,
beginning to feel an interest in her new
possession. ‘I would like to talk with
Mr. Lang about it some day when he has
leisure. I wish you and Mr. Lang would
remain to dinner with us.”
The steward’s wife accepted the invita-
tion with delight, and went down to ac-
quaint her husband with his prospects for
the future.
Lally made her toilet, with Mrs. Peters’s
assistance.
“I can see my future,” said Lally, with
the first gleam of brightness Mrs. Peters
had seen in her black eyes and on her
gypsy face since Mrs. Wroat’sdeath. ‘‘T
dare say I shall in time go to town and the
house in Mount Street for three months in
the year; and I shall live here at Heather
Hills, and raise prize pigs and prize sheep
and prize Highland cattle, and look out of
the windows at the sails; and so the years
will pass, and I shall grow gray. And,
h, I'll get up a charity school of some
om, and teach it myself; and the children,
instead of being disfigured with bag-like
blouses and horrid starched caps, shall all
wear the prettiest pink and blue dresses,
according to their complexions, and the
rettiest white ruffied aprons; and when
Idie they shall stand in two rows around
my grave, and may be somebody will say
that I was a ‘ mother in Israel.’ ”
It was not a very bright picture of the
future of one so young and pretty as Lally,
with - fortune and all good - gifts. She
seemed intended for ‘ahome fairy, to cheer
and uphold and strengthen a kindly, lov-
ing husband; to gather little children of
er: own to her reast; and gocd Mrs.
Peters could not help praying that such
might be Lally’s destiny.
When the young mistress of Heather
Hills had changed her black bombazine
travelling dress for a black lusterless silk
trimmed heavily with crape and provide
with white crape ruffles at the throat, and
had put on her jet jewelry, she was ready
for dinner. Her black hair had been
gathered into braids, and was ornamented
with a black bow, and she looked as she
was, gentle, refined, intelligent, weighted
with sorrow too heavy for her to bear, yet
meek and patient as some young martyr.
“ We will go down now to our. guests,
Peters,” she said. ‘*Ifow soon will you
be ready?”
Mrs. Peters’s face flushed.
“Miss Lally,” she said hesitatingly,
“it is not suitable I should dine with you,
I am only your maid, you know. Mrs.
Wroat had me always dine with her, be-
cause otherwise she must hove dined alone,
and she liked company. Mr. Lang is the
younger son of a Gare laird, and he
might be affronted to dine with me.
“But L insist!” said Lally.
**No, no, Miss Lally. When you are
alone Ill dine with you for company,” said
Mrs. Peters, stoutly ; ‘‘ but I assure you I
would rather eat by myself when there’s
company. I won’t have any one say that
oung mistress doesn’t know what is
suitable to her station. If I could, I’d set
you up ona pedestal above everybody else;
indeed, I would, Miss Lally. I would like
to be housekeeper here and manage the
servants, but I can’t dine with you when
there’s company.
**You shall do as you please, Peters,”
said Lally. ‘You are my friend as well
as my maid—my only friend, Peters. If
you don’t like to dine with company, you
Shall dine where you please. There, give
me a kiss, Peters, and Ill go down. 3
Peters gave the desired kiss, with many
additional ones, and wiped her eyes as
Lally went out, and muttere
“She is just 2 bonniest, sweetest
young lady that everlived. If that young
gentleman comes up here to see her, he’ll
go any with a flea in his ear—see if hi
don
ally went down to her guests andtalked
with them until the dinner bell rang. Mr.
Lang offered ber his arm with quite the air
a man of fashion, giving his wife his
other arm, and the three went in to dinner.
The dining. room was long and low, with
two great wood-tires on capacious hearths,
and a seven-windowed oriel overhanging | }
the sea. It was bright with ruddy colors
and fine china and gleaming silver, and
the dinner upon the oval table was in keep-
ing with the room. It was a feast fit fora
princess and had been ordered by Mrs.
Lang with a view to presenting to the
heiress of Heather Hills as many varieties
of birds and .game and fish off her estate
as could be obtained.
After dinner, Laliy had a long business
conversation with Mr, Lang, and repeated
the promise she had already given the
steward’s wife. She appointed another in-
terview with the steward for the following
day, and about dusk the visitors took their
leave
Lally spent the evening in playing upon
her piano, in singing and in thought.
next morning she walked over to
the ween. cottage, and made a brief
visit. The day was dark and gloomy, but
it did not rain. In the afternoon the stew-
ard came up to the great house to see
Lally, and he remained until nearly din-
ner. At five o’clock Lally and Mrs. Peters
dined together in the dining-room over-
looking the sea, a dozen candles lighted
and sending their bright gleams out over
the troubled waters.
** You look better to-night, Miss Lally,”
said her faithful attendant. ‘‘ You will
ind new interests up in this region, and
will find that you have something to live
for yet.
Lally smiled sadly, but did not answer.
They still lingered in the dining-room,
Lally standing in the great oriel window
and looking out upon the sea, which was
being furiously beaten by the winds, when
Mrs. Peters heard a carriage come up the
drive and halt in the carriage porch.
The good woman’s face turned pale.
She glanced at her young mistress, but
Lally heard no sound save the tumult of
the winds and the waves.
“<Tt’s a wild night,” said the young girl.
‘«T don’t see a sail in the Frith. The boats
have all made for harbor.”
At that moment a double knock was
heard upon the front door, and Mrs.
Peters heard the house-maid going to the
o
Q
S$
-But Lally’s face was pressed against the
cold glass, and she did not hear the sum-
mons for admittance.
** The wind is rising,” the girl said, with
ashudder.- ‘I see a steamer coming in.
She’ll make port just in time. I would
not like to be on the sea to-night.”
Mrs. Peters heard the front door open.
With a nervous glance at her young
mistress, she stole out into the hall.
The front door was open, and a gust of
wind was sweeping through the hall like a
hurricane. Upon the threshold a man
wearing a greatcoat and broad-brimmed
artists’ hat, a man with a slender figure
and eager face, was standing, talking with
the house-m;
Mrs. Peters yecognized, the unwelcome
guest as Rufus Black.
**T want to see Mrs. Peters,” he was
saying earnestly—‘* Miss’ Wroat’s com-
panion. I have come up expressly from
London to sce her. I cannot go back to
Tannese without sceing Mrs. Peters.
She is my wife !”
“‘Lawks, sir!” said the house-maid,
with’ a wild idea that her visitor was a
lunatic.
The reader, who knows how naturally
Rufus Black’s inistake had arisen, will
not wonder at i
“I must see “er,” persisted Rufus, his-
voice trembling. ‘Tell Mrs. Peters a
gentleman wishes to see her—”
At that moment Mrs. Peters, grim and
terrible, resolving to protect her young
mistress from one she deemed unworthy
of her, marched out into the full glare of
the hall lamp, and placing her arms
akimbo, and ‘assuming her most warlike
aspect, exclaime
“Well, sin and what may, you want of
me, sir? Za . Peters
[70 BE CONTINUED IN OUR NEXT—NO, 43.]
—+ 0-2 —____
STRANGERS THOUGH WEDDED.
A Sux reader complains that she has
been married ten years and that she is not
as well acquainted with her husband as her
sister, who has been married only three
years, is with hers. This, her sister, who
ves in the suburbs, claims is due to the
manner of life in cities. In proof she pro-
duces the following tabulated statement.
Business, it must be. understood, stands
re simply for the time a man is absent from
home during the day, without reference to
the manner of spending the tim
Table No. 1 shows the number of hours
in which a city woman is deprived of the
companionship of her husband:
Tours. Days. Hours, Howes.
9° 6 ba
8 7 56
Tours in a week.
Business
wit
eat
"
e - 4
The result proclaims these to be one
hundred and twenty-five hours, leaving
forty-three hours in the week for conversa-
tion and their mutual affairs.
Table No. 2 refers to the husband of her
sister in the country: It corresponds with
Table No. 1.
Tours. Days. Hours. Hours.
Hours in aweek as «168
7 6 42 :
8 7 56
98
ith
ite’ ‘8 company... - -- - 70
Business here n means business. Her sis-
ter’s husband, having no club to drop into,
comes home as early as five o’clock, and
they stroll in the garden, go for a drive to-
gether, or read and chat until dinner.
Table No. 2, it will also be observed, in-
cludes no evenings out. By this, it must
be understood, no evenings out alone, save
an occasional primary or vestry meeting,
which would scarcely disturb the sum total.
It is needless to comment on the one hun-
dred and twenty-five hours spent by the
city man away from his wife against the
ninety-cight hours of the country husband,
which are susceptible of yet further reduc.
tion and modification.
Another thing that deserves emphasis is
that when her sister goes down-town she
s likely to visit her husband’s business
house. There she sees him in the midst
of his affairs, in his business intercourse, a
man with men. Thus she is led frequently
to be his confidante, and she can take an
intelligent interest in the things that inter-
est him. Frequently he will leave his place
of business and walk up the street with her,
Perhaps accompany her on some errand.
ey become more companionable,
more essential to one another.
Nothing of this is possible to the city
man or woman. The man becomes more
and more absorbed in his own doings ; and
the woman fits her life as best she may.
The bitterest result seems to be that,
while the woman is always curious, always
speculating, always endeavoring to get side
lights on this man to whom she is mated,
he shows no such speculative interest in
her.
y
>
te
AN HONEST CUSTOMER.
.A man who had an infirmity as well as
an appetite for fish was anxious to keep
up his character for honesty. | While
making a bill with his merchant and
when the latter’s back was turned, the
“‘honest” buyer slipped a codfish under
his coat. But the garment was too short.
ow,” said the customer, anxious to
improve mH the opportunities to call atten-
tion to his virtues, ‘‘ Mr. Merchant, I have
traded with you a great deal and have paid
you honestly, haven’t J?”
“Oh, yes,” answered the merchant.
“Well, ” said the customer, | Jl believe
that honesty is the best policy.
“ That’s so,” replied the ‘merchants and
the customer turned to “Hold on,
friend!” cried the merchant, “ Speaking
of honesty, I have a bit of advice: When
you come to trade again, you had better
wear a longer coat or steal a shorter fish!”
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