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The Brussels Post, 1886-10-1, Page 22 THE BRUSSELS °POST A VAGRANT WIFE. Br F. Wseront. Author of "Tee House on the Meilen," "AT TEM WOM,D4S Mauer," BTO. ing a Is Lane, as he bone over her where she sat in a corner of the tent, in an irritatingly adrairing manner. The truth was, thole he scarcely acknowledged it to himself, that he was really a little in love with Miss Lane. She was not only sweetly pretty, but "good style," the best -dressed woman there, in his opinion, not even except- ing his sister. And he had no intention of losing sight of her. And why should he ? She was already prediaposed in his favour; she had few friends—none who could warn her that he was a dan- gerous acquaintance; she was going to live alone, a dull life which would make her hail with gratitude any companion. ship as pleasant as be felt his to be to her; he would have many a dull and idle hour in town which might be plea. santly filled up by the charitable act of taking the pretty prim little lady to theatre, or he would not even mind a picture -gallery, if she proved entertain. ing 000e& to reward him for such waste of his time. It would be pleasant for her, pleasant for him ; and, as she had no friends, it could do her no harm in the oyes of the world which ignored her, He left the ground, satisfied that he had put this matter well in train. She, meanwhile, in spite of one more degree of frost in the manner of her companions, went back to the Vicarage with them, feeling happier than she had felt for a lon,q time. 'The kindly syni. pathy of this man, whose handsome face grow so soft when he spoke to her, and who had been her favourite among the Braithwaite brothers from the first, had taken her out of the shell of reserve the wore among the torpid natures around her. As she thought over the event of the day to her, that low -spoken conversation in the corner of the tent, recalled again each tone, each look of his, felt again in fancy the warm sure of his hand, the question would rise in her mind, " Does he love me ?" And she fell asleep, scarcely daring to hope, yet half believing that he did. At the moment when be said goodslaye he had contrived to ask her on what day the was going back to London, and, al. mus weenout =twang W1180 sae was doing, she had told him. Would he be there to see her off? she wondered. But the httle fantastic dream she was indulging in was not to last long. Joan was the mson to destroy it. Within a few days of Miss Lane's departure, she asked her mother at tea -time if she had heard that George Braithwaite was going to be married. "Dear me, no I" said Mrs. Mainwa- ring. " Who told you about it, Joan?" " I heard it at the Lawsons'. 1± 18 to some cotton -lady, it appears, with large teat and a large fortune. I wonder how they will get on together; they say he never admires any woman of his own rank. But then I suppose he doesn't consider a cotton -lady to be of his own rank; or perhaps be thinks more of her. fortuneethan her face, I suppose that is necessary, with such a character for being dissipated as he has." Mrs. Mainwaring gave a warning glance from her eldest daughter to the husband. But the Vicar did not mind a little bit of mild scandal—it amused him; and the reputation of the Braith- waite boys could. "lordly be injured by anything Joan might say. So she went on with all she had hoard and her own comments thereon, every word inflicting a wound, as perhaps she ment it to do, upon one of her hearers. Annie Lane walked back to her cot- tage that night with heart too sore for study. So he had been only amusing himself with her, after all, as she might have known he was doing 1 She should have known better than to trust another Braithwaite, after Harry's conduct to- wards her. She felt utterly humiliated and. fierce with indignation against them. She had been the plaything of both, and the girlish pleasure she had felt in their admiration and attention had been dearly paid for. She had one small revenge upon George. On Sunday, the day before her departure, he went to church and found an opportunity to whisper to her as they came out— "I am going to see you off to.morrow. I shall be at the station." All the girl'e proud spirit flashed from her dark eyes as she raised her little head and, looking full into his face, said distinctly-* " I must beg that yon will do nothing of the kind." He was amazed, but was clever enough to suppress everything but one quick glance of annoyance and serprise. 'Then he merely elevated his eyebrows, raised his hat, and, with a careless "As you please," went on to Jean Mainwaring. The next day Mies Lane took a cold farewell of the family in which the had worked so hard, and was allowed to go by herself in a cab to Beckham dation, She had been able to remain calm in face of them all; bot before the two. mile drive was over, the was half blind with tears. To ho dismissed so coldly when the had tried so hard to do her duty well and to please theml To be dismissed, too, with an undeserved shin upon her character 1 It was too hard, too cruel, that at the outset of her life, when hor very livelihood depended upon her own efforts, she should find herself clogged by this meet unjust burden. She was drying her eyes and trying to look as if she had not been crying as the cab reached the tow, When a young man on horsebaoh who was riding in the opppshe direction, meted, caught ht of her, and, turning hie home% h followed the cab into the staitton, was late, and the ticket.ellice was al- ready opeu. She had juat taken her ticket, and was walking away, with her eyes upon the purse in her hand, when a voice by her side made her look up with a start. Ibis Harry's, He was all mud.splashed with hard riding, his face was red and ashamed, and his voice was low and unsteady. " Miss Lane, let me see after your luggage. Do—do let mo, or—or I ehall never forgive myself I" She pointed it out to him very quietly without a word except "Thank you." He saw it put into the van, found a corner.seat for her in an empty second. °lase carriage, helped her in, and stood by the door, nervously twisting the heavy handle. "When are the holidays over, Miss Lane? When are you coming baok ?" " I am not coming back here." She turned away her head; the there wore breaking forth again. " Not coming back! Why ?" he cried quickly. Her tear e were flowing fast now. She looked at him with one swift glance of misery and reproach, and whispered brokenly— "Yon ought to know why. Betty— Betty saw you I" Harry sprang up on the step. " What—that day when I—when I be - hayed like—like a cad ? And you are going away because of me ?" The hasty passionate nature of the lad was moved to a mighty impulse of remorse. She could only answer, pity. ing him and holding out her hand while she tried to smile through her tears— " Never mind—never mind 1 I have forgiveu you long ago. I—I—I only told you becauseyou asked." He bad seized her offered hand, when the guard came up to shut the door. " Going, sir ?" " Yes 1" cried Harry, carried away by the impulse of the moment. He jumped into the carriage, the door was locked, the train was in motion, and he and Miss Lane had started together for Londou. CHAPTER That night there was consternattee at the Grange—Harry had not return, e. His horse, which he had left in charge of a man he knew at the station, was brought bank later in the day to Gar - stone, with the intelligence that bis master had gone by the London train. The man said he thought it must have been a sudden determination of Mr. Braithwaite's, who had only said, when he left the horse in his care— "1 shallbe back in five minutes, Tom. He'll keep quiet enough; he doesn't mind the trains." Such a freak was not at all an un. heard of thing among the Braithwaites, and little more was thought of it after Sir George's return home that evening, for he looked. upon it as an escapade which would end in the truant's return the next day with an empty pocket and the appearance of having been up all night. But, when a week passed, and still no tidings were hoard of him, and when • moreover, it came to be known thatthe late governess of the Mainwarings had left Beckham by the same train, and, as appeared later, in the same carriage, then the people of the village and the people in the town began to chatter, George to swear, and the Vicar of Ger- sten° to look very grave. Mrs. Main- waring wrote to the aunt to whose house Miss Lane had said the was going, and received in answer the news that the girl had not arrived, but had written, without giving her address, to say ebe was in lodgings in London. And Mrs. Mainwaring repented her abrupt harsh- ness most bitterly, and did not need the reproaches of her husband, who blamed his own inaction in allowing the young girl.governess's abrupt disreiseal. Joan and Betty ceased their snappish com- ments on her, and talked together in whispers about her. And at the Grange they wondered how Harry was getting on without any money, fox they knew he had only a small sum with him on the day he left Beckham. Then came a letter from a friend of Sir George's, saying that Harry had been seen in Paris, where he seemed to be enjoying himself 'very much. And then an event happened which, lot the time, turned all thoughts away from tho truant son. Sir George, who passed most of his time on horseback, was riding home one afternoon on a horse which had carried him safely through many a hard day's hunting, when, in taking a fence, with a ditch on the other side, over which they had gone easily time otter time together, the horse slipped on landing, and rolled into the ditch on top of its rider. Sir George tried to rise, but found that he was too much hurt to do so; he celled for help, but fainted with rein before any came. At last a man who was pass. ing with a cart saw him, and brought others to the spot by his shouts. They carried him home to the Grange, the doctor was ridden for with all speed, and, before night catne, all Gersten° know that the baronet's life was in dan- ger. Day after day be lingered on, though the hope of his recovery grew Blonder; hour after hour he lay con- moious, but silent to all. The only per- son ho asked for was the missing Harry. Every morning he asked the same ques- tions. "Hae Harry come back S Has any ono hoard from him 1" And every morning the reply was the same. There wore no tiding e of hita, At last ono evening George entered his father'e room with a face dark 'with ill -news. Sir George know that some- thing had happened which his son scarcely dared to tall him. His eyes brightened with stern eagerness. "Well, ',Speak out. You have hoard BOWS of HaFry—bad news ?" "Yes, bad news." "Is he dead ?"—" No." "4 Worse?" "1-1 think so; 1 ant afraid so." " Go on, I am not afraid to hear." "1 have just received a lebter from Rammer and Lloyd." " Ala "—the sick man drew a sharp breath—" the bankers I Well ?" "'They wrote about a cheque which " Was forged V" " They think so. Ill was in par name, and for three hundred pounds." There was a longsilence. When Sir George spoke again, his voice was changed. "1± must he hushed up. And you must find out the boy and bring him back to mo. If—if I were well, it might be different ; but I must forgive him now, You Will find him out, George ?" " Yes, father." Sir George lay back again in silence; but his face was still very stern ; there was remorse for his own conduct as well as shame for his ill.broughe-up son's in the expression it wore. George went up to town the next day, and fulfilled the first part of his father's commission, that relating to the cheque, without much difficulty; but he failed to find a olue to his brother's hiding - place, if he wore in hiding, which George doubted. It was more characteristic of the Braithwaites to do wrongand brave the consequences openly; and this course, while apparently favouring de- tection often proved the safest. Then a suggestion occurred to him for tracking the runaway. He wrote to Mrs. Mainwaring forth° address of Miss Lane's aunt, and, on the day be received ib, he knocked in the afternoon at the door of a very small semi-detached house a few miles out of London. The door had figured glass let into it in place of the upper panels, and he saw a face pressed against one of these in donbb- ful contemplation of him some minutes after his second ring. His hand was on the bell for the third time, when the door was opened, and a little servant with a very small and very dirty face asked what he wanted. He he.diaot got farther than to ask doubtfully if Mrs. Mansfield lived there, when he turned round and abruptly left him standing at the entrance of the most pretentious " hall " for its size that he had ever seen. For it was Desthetically papered and had an inappropriate dado, while a pair of ugly China monsters left scarce- ly room for the strangorto pass between them and the umbrella.stand. It was so small that he could distinctlyhear the conversation which followed in the baclayard. " It's a gentleman, niaeam, who wants to see you—such a nice gentleman, 10 a great long coat." " Did you show him into the drawing - room ?"—" No, ma'am." " Show him in at once, and then you hang up the rest of the stockings. Say I will be with hiuo in a minute, and take the pin out of my gown behind." Then, in a severe tone— ' You dirty lit. tle thing, you aro not fit to speak to a visitor 1" And indeed this domestic did not harmonize well with the dado. The small servant showed George in. to a tiuy room, the furniture and ar- rangement of which told more of its owner's history theti the hall had done. For it was a room which belonged to an anterior period of civilization. • The carpet was of the aggressive kind, with old.fashioned impossibly -coloured roses. There was an inlaid round table, mnch too big for the room, jutting a long way out of one corner; the piano was worn and old-fashioned, the chairs were evi- dently relies of two or three different suites of furniture. Tbe books were suggestive too—the .Pilgrim's Progress, with much gilt on the binding, oddnum- bers of the Sunday at Home width° 006. rent number of the Quiver, two or three Keavairas, some little-ueed volumes of miscellaneous poetry, which looked like school -prizes, et-oertera. But the orna- ments spoke more plainly than anything in the room—large blue glass Name on the mantelpiece, crochet antimacassars, each of a different pattern, over the chairs; and every ornament stood on a wool mat. He had to wait some time; he heard Mrs. Mansfield go softly past the door and up the stairs, and the email servant follow her with hot water, as /30 could tell by her spilling it as she went along. Presently the door opened, and a women of about forty, dressed in rusty black much covered by trimmings which en. hanced the shabbiness they were meant to hide, came in and apologised more .than was necessary. He stated the object of his visit as soon ae he could. He had coma on be. half of his mother and some other friends of Miss Lane, to find out her address. " I could not have given it you repeal before this morning,' said Mre. Mans- field. " She has written twice to me since she left Garston ; but it was only in the letter I received to -day from her that she Int any address. She is lode ging in Loudon by herself, and trying to got daily pupils." "Are you going to coo her ?" asked George. ' No, I have no time ; she knows that herself, and. doeen't expect "Do you approve of her plan of living by herself ? It seems a strange one for such a young girl," "Indeed Annie doesn't trouble herself about my approval. I can't say I think it a proper thing for a girl to do who has been brought up like Abide; lent the is so obstinate—just like her mother, my poor sister." " Itis a geat pity that she does net consult you more," said George defer. entially. "Having no mother, the ought certainly to defer to you as her repro. aentative." "That is just what I gay twit)" MO. MOSEY TO LOAN. Money to Loan en Farm Property at LOWEST B,ATES. --- PRIVATE AND COMPANY etsleteS. W. B. Dickson, Solicitor, Brussels, Ont. Money to Loan. PRIKIT.E FUND. .20, 000 of Private Panda have just boon placed in my hands for Investment AT 7 PER CENT. Borrowers eau have their loans complete in throe days if title is satisfactory. Apply to E. E. %ABE. HURON AND BRUCE Loan & Investment Co. This Company is Loaning Money on Farm Security at LOWEST RATES of Interest. MORTGAGES PURCHASED. SAVINGS BANK /MANOR. 3, 4 and 5 per cent. Interest Al- lowed on Deposits, according to amount and time left. Orpron.--On corner of Market Square and N orth street, Goderich. Horace Horton, MANAGER. Goderich ,Ang.5th 4886 BABY riaRRIAGES ! I have a nice lot of Baby Car- riages on hand that the Public should see. They are Well made, nicely finished and will he Soli at Reasonable Prices, HM Earaless Collas! and everything in the harness line on hand. Also Trunks, Valises, Satchels, &c., &c. H. DENNIS. OCT. 1, 188C. TilABAL IN GREY FOR SALE 13E- .5. lus lot 34.0,1 the Ifith aori.centailling 100 acres, south Part lot 15 on 10 eon., 00040[041g 40 cares, Lot If, le partly cleared, the bal- ance well Withered, A. never failing amok Presses ±116 101 mid It 10 well adapted for larm• tegor grazing. 001 31 10 mostly cleared and under goodcultivatiou, the balancer well Urn. berm} with black ital. 0111 sell all together 06 111 parts to suit the purchaser. Vor further particulars ee lay to 1110 proprietor on th o Premises, This lot IS well dreinul, $1 GEO AVERY CUSTOM TAILORING. Tho undersignei begs leave to intimate to the publio that he NM opened a tailor shop in the Gerileld Hone block, over Powell's store, where he is prepared to at- tend to the MO Ls of the public. in cutting, fitting and reeking clothing in the latest and most fashionable styles. My long ex- perience together with a (mum of instruc- tion under one of the best on tiers in Toron- to is a guarantee of being nblo to do salts- facitory work. Satisfaction guaranteed. 36-5in (). A. BEER, MONEY TO LEND, Any amount of Money to Loan on Fi3rm or Village property at 6 & 6i PER CENT. "YEABLY. Straight Loans with privilege of repaying when required. Apply to A. HUNTER, Division Court Clerk, Brussels. BUSSELS PUMP WORKS. The undersigned bags to inform the public that they hero manufactured and ready for nee PUMPS OF ALL KM, WOOD & 1RON. Cisterns of Any dimension. GATES Or ALL SIZES. CIOTRE$ REELS of a superior oonstruotion. Examine our stock before purchasing elsewhere. A Call solicited. We are also Agents for .711eDougall's Celebrated, IT'inflmil Wilson & Pelton, Shop Opposite P. Scott's Blacksmith Shop P. S.—Prompt attention paid to aOl re• pairhig of lemma &c. BEARE IS iii114LT11, Dn, E. 0. 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MIXIIILLIATISIM.X.N.60,1t6V0171110, Having leased the well known and splendidly equipped Roller Flouring Mill from Messrs. Wm. Vanstone & Sons for a term of years, we desire to intimate to the farmers of Huron Co. and the public generally that we aro prepared to turn out the best brands of Flour, look after the Gristing Trade, supply any quantity of Bran, Chopped stuff, &c., and buy Any Quantity of Wheat. The mill is recognized as one of the hest in the County and nilr )011g experience in this business gives us confidence iu saying WO guarantee satisfaction, Flout. and Feed Always on hand, liGristing and Chopping promptly attended to. A CALL SOLICITED. Stewart & Lotriok, PROPRIETORS.