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Exeter Times, 1909-05-20, Page 2111 Unexpected Confession; Or, The Story of Miss Percival's Early Life. l'llal'TI:IC V—.(Continued). Miss Percival passed back the ring, and he was astonished to see that Ler hand was trembling vis- ibly, and her face !coked gray and sunken. She made some remark about wanting to find Esther, and hur- riedly left the room. "Well, she is a queer old wo- man!" the young man muttered, us the door closed after her. Sho may be good in spots; but I'll wager she is a close -listed old miser, and hard-hearted as a flint, where money is concerned. The idea of taking that self-sacrificing girl `at her word' I" If ho could have seen that same "`close-fisted, hard-hearted old miser" a little later, on her knees in her own room. her head bowed on a chair, her slight form shaken liko a reed by convulsive sobs, ho might have discovered that her na- ture was not quite so flintlike as ho had imagined. That same day he had a confiden- tial talk with Dr. Crawford, re- garding his indebtedness to Esther, and the best way to settle the ac- count. It was finally arranged that he should purchase the, entire contents of tho cottage, giving about three times their value. They were then to be loft in the care of the physi- cian, to be sold over again at auc- tion, the proceeds to bo devoted to the canceling of his doctor's bill, and, later, the money he had paid for the furniture was to be forward- ed to Esther So nothing more was said to the �nroud-spirited girl regarding the contested question of remunera- tion for her services. Her aocount book was simply re- turned to her, with the amount ne- cessary to settle everything. She was even inclined to demur at this; but Miss Percival, who was present, curtly told her not to be foolish, so she quietly thanked them, and the matter was not referred to again by anyone. For the next few days they were all very busy with preparations for their departure, and one morn- ing 1)r. Crawford and his good wife accompanied thein to the sta- tion, where they were to take a through express for the East. Tho physician purchased their tickets, attended to the checking of their baggage, telegraphed to Mr. Cushman the probable day of Esther's arrival; then, having Made her promise to write to him occa- sionally, he bade theta all a warm- hearted Godspeed, and they wero gone. Esther was very quiet dur- ing the journey; she seemed sad and depressed; and it was no won - dor, for she was going alone, and friendless, into an untried world, and sho dreaded the future beyond expression. Thus Miss Perccval and Donald were left nitwit to the companion- ship of each other, and there began to ripen between thein a strange friendship --a friendship out of which wonderful revelations were to develop later on. Ile regretted that he would be away from home when she arrived; but business of importance called hint abroad, consequeutly he sailed the week following his rneception of Arthur Wellington's letter, in accordance with his arrangements. Ho begged that his wile v • .ild nuke the young orphan we-. ,.no :cid happy upon her arrival, for shin would naturally feel lonely and homesick, owning such a stranger atnong them. Tho woman listened in sullen silence-, her heart full of anger and rebellion, and thus their parting was attended with a cold- ness that had never existed be- tween thein before. Mrs. Cashman was very jealous regarding the rights of her own children, and her high spirit could not endure the thought of the conn- ing of this alien, who seemed to her like a usurper of their privileges. Besides, although ho had always been exceodingly kind and indul- gent to her, slto had long suspected that sho was not her husband's first love; the pained look that had al- ways come into his eyes, and set- tled about his mouth, whenever any reference was made to his adopted sister, had told their own story, and caused a feeling of bitterness to rankle in her heart against sweet, unoffending Dora Allen; and now this antipathy seemed likely to be perpetuated in connection with her child. But, as we know, Esther was de- tained in her own home, several weeks after the death of her father, by the illness of Donald Lancaster and Miss Percival; and thus it was fully two months after Mr. Cush - man's departure for Europe, before the long -exported telegram carte, telling his wifo that "Miss Welling- ton left Oakland on the sixteenth, and would probably arrive in Now York on the afternoon of the twen- ty-third of March, on the Wagner car Columbia." Mrs. Cushman sat a long time, absorbed in disagreeable reflections after reading this message, a sullen' light in her fine eyes, a heavy frown upon her brow. "I am sure I shall hate the girl," she muttered, at last; "it was bad enough before to have a suspicion of John's love for her another, with- out being obliged to have a visible and constant reminder of it in the house. I wonder what she is like; her mother must have been very beautiful, if the picture Jonh has does not flatter her. Oh, dear 1 I know she will bo to nio a veritable 'thorn in the flesh.' " The days that intervened be- tweeu the receiving of 1)r. Craw - ford's telegram, and Esther's arri- val, only served to increase the an- tipathy which the jealous woman had conceived against her; but she was obliged to meet the inevitable; and so. a little before four o'clock —the hour at which the Western express was due—on the afternoon of the twenty-third, Mr. John Cush - man's handsome carriage and span drew up before the Grand Central Station, and Mrs. Cushman, hand- somely arrayed in an elaborate driv- ing costume, alighted and matte her way into the place, to await the in• coining train that, was to briug her husband's protegee. It was promptly on time, and as it rolled slowly into the station, and stopped, the woman approached the porter of the Columbia, and in- quired if there was a girl .,y the name of Wellington aboard this car. "Yes, madam," the man obse- quiously replied, "and there she is 1< now," he aeldocl, as a tall, slender r girl, with an awkward stoop, made her appearance upon the platform, and the next moment descended the steps. But Mrs. Cushnlan's sharp oyes had discerned a familiar counten- ance just behind her, and, without giving Esther a second glance, she eagerly approached the young man, and smilingly extended her fault- lessly gloved hand. "Why, Mr. Lancaster! this is an unexpected pleasure!" she grac- iously exclaimed. "Aro you direct from the far \Vest? And what have you been doing to yourself that you look so white and thin 1„ Donald Lancaster cordially re- turned the lady's greeting. "Yes, I am from the far West," he smilingly responded, "and my thinness and paleness aro owing to an ugly accident that occurred just as I was starting for home, about two months ago. I was one of the victims of that Oakland railway disaster. I presume you read of it." "Yes; and were you badly in- jured 1" the lady inquired, with an air of deep concern. "Yes, I got a vicious cut and thump on the head, that resulted in brain fever, which has laid me up all these weeks," Donald explained. "How unfortunate! Your father and mother must have been very anxious about you." "Luckily. they knew nothing about it," the young man returned; "as you doubtless know, they are travelling in Europe, and it was very easy to keep the knowledge of my accident from them. They proh- nbly have learned about it ere this, however. for as 50011 a.9 T was out of danger, and able to write, I ex- plained my long silence to them."' "I trust you fell into good bands." Mrs. Cushman observed. as she gan-el with admiring eyes upon the fine fond and handsome face before her. The Laneasters oenpied an envi- able position in New York se(,iota. "]Well, that is true, I adroit; but there never lived a sweeter girl than Dora Allen, and I loved her as well as if she had been nny own sister," John Cushman replied in a repressed tone, and with a strange whiteness about his lips. "lf sho had married differently, she need not have left her child in such straits," said the lady, irrit- ably. The man opposite her sighed heavily. "Arthur Wellington wasn't a bad fellow," ho said, reflectively ; "he simply lacked ambition and energy; lie was good-natured and kind- hearted—a sort of happy-go-lucky person, whom every one liked. But he certainly did not feel his respon- sibilities as a family man. His chief aim was to have a good time, and get through the world with as little trouble and friction as pos- sible; and poor Dora had a hard life of it, bearing the brunt of everything, and trying to keep up appearances. I have often won- dered how that poor little girl has fared since her mother's death—the thought of her has Iain heavy on my heart many a timo; and now that her father has appealed to me to care for her, when ho is gone, I am going to do it." "Then you are determined?" "I am, Emelie," and the woman, though she flushed an angry crim- son, and her eyes Clashed with in- ward rage, knew that there was no appeal from that tone of quiet do- cision. "The man writes," Mr. Cushman resumed, referring again to the let- ter in his hand, "that he has but a very short time to live—that it will take the last dollar ho has to bury him, and he bogs me to let him know at once if I will assume the care of his daughter until she can complete her education, when he hopes she will bo able to teach, and support herself." "Humph!" interjected the gen- tleman's companion, with an impa- tient toss of her haughty head. Mr. Cuslunan paid no attention to the iuteruption. "I shall write immediately, tell - him that Esther will be very wel- come to a home with us; that as soon as she is ready to start, sho can telegraph us of the fact, also the day and hour when she leaves, then take a sleeper on a through express, and wo will meet her hero upon her arival. But you will have to attend to her when she comes, Emelie, for, as you know, I sail for Europe a week from to -day." "I don't like the arrangement at all, John," said his wife, complain- ingly. "I have cares enough, al- ready, with Madge, Frank and Daisy to plan for. if you are de- termined to support this little pauper, you might at least board her out somewhere, and not insist upon her coming here, to make dis- cord in the family." CHA ]'TER VI. "I won't have her. John! I de- clare, I won't! The idea !—with three young ones already in the house. I shoukl think you might be satisfied. It, is a downright im- position for you to wish to caddie oto with this little Western beg- gar." ''Really, Enielio, you aro devel- opine n refinement of language that is, to lay the least, somewhat sur- prising, if not positively startling,,' quietly returned the high -tuned John E. Cushman, but with a note of sarcasm in his well -modulated tones that brought a hot tluslt to the face of the handsome and ele- gantly attired woman who sat op- posite (tint at their faultlessly ap- pointed dinner table. He held in his hand an open let- ter from whieh he had !teen reading when he had been interrupted by Mrs. Cushman, as quoted above. "Well, you may thank yourself for it,' sho tartly responded to her husband's remark. "You drive mo almost wild nt times, with your Quixotic notions. First, you pick a miserable little bootblack out of the streets, and educate him ; then eeii send a would -he artist oft to Europe to study the old toasters, nnel now it is this poverty stricken waif front California who must ho forced upon ns to take the bread from your own children's mouths." Mr. Cushman laughed tnusically at this last charge. "i do not think the children aro likely to softer at. present."' he dry- ly remarked, as he glanced around 'the Lnmptuous apartment. Then he added, while the lines about his mouth bet-ni ne rigidly decisive "t•:in'!ie, little Esther Welling- ton is niy sister's only child —" '•There is -es a single din of your "There need be no discord, Bir- elue, unless you wish to make it yourself," coldly returned her hus- band. "Esther will be my word, and she will understand that she is under my authority, and will doubt- less be obedient to us. I wish her to fare. in all respects, the same as our own children." "Oh, then you intend to adopt her !" snapped Mrs. Cushman, with a wrathful gleam in her eyes. "I have not yet decided as to that --I roust wait to see her first. But this will be her home for tho present, and I intend that sho shall be raised and educated as my sister Dora would wish, if sho wero liv- ing." The gentleman wrote his letter, and it was duly received in that far Western home, as wo know ; white he expressed himself so cordially, and appeared to feel such an inter- est in her that Esther looked for- ward to a. home in his family as to a haven of rest after the trials and hardships of the last two years. Mr. Cushman was a wealthy Wall Street broker, and a whole-souled, high-minded roan of forty, who nev- er turned a deaf ear t', the cry of the needy, and who was full of en- thusiasm in forwarding all philan- thropic enterprises. He lead married the beautiful Einelie Clifton, who had been a great belle in society, and who was still something of a leader in fash• ionablo life. They had three promising chil- dren—Madge, a handsome, dash- ing girl, who was about Esther's age; Frank, fourteen ; and Daisy, the pet and baby of the family, who was three. They had lost. two others who came between Frank and Daisy -4wo bright boy's, for whom their father grieved long and eoredy : the house hard ne ,• , , •erred quite the same, sine: ti;, I tth, and now the man lo,•ked i••i lid to the coming d 1 his ade�ptecl !:air's dnuelitc•r with scat. pleasure, al- p th of h his wile's objections had blood in hire reins," hotly inter- heel, sontewhat t.f a damper u n 'Cued M a, Ct.shwan. thio feclind. cies which she frequented, and more than once, the though. of Donald Lancaster. with his great expectations, as u possible and de- sirable husband for Madge, bad taken forte iu her fertile brain. •'Thanks; yes. 1 fell into the best of hands -1 had tho kindest and most devoted care. You must al- low mo to introduce you to toy faithful little nurse," Donald re- plied, as, with a kind snide, he turned to Esther, who had remain - cd quietly standing beside Miss Percival during the conversation recorded above. "Miss Esther, I want to present you to au okl friend," he remarked, as he brought her forward. "Mrs. Cushman, this is the young lady, Miss Esther Wellington, to whom, I am told, I owe toy life; and, let ire say, she has the lightest step, the gentlest manner, and the rarest pa- tience imaginable, in a sick room," he concluded, with an appreciative look at the young girl. "Oh, then you aro Esther Wel- lington," Mrs. Cushman coldly ob- served, as sho touched Esther's ex- tended hand in the most lifeless, indifferent manner conceivable, while her feeling of animosity was intensified by the fact that hand- some Donald Lancaster owned her so heavy an obligation. A sudden light fell over the young man's faro at her words. "Why I aro you the Mrs. Cush man with whom Miss Esther is to make ho>i future home?" ho ex- claimed, in a tone of surprise. "She said she was going to live with a family of that name, but, somehow, 1 did not asociato you with tile fact." "Yes; Mr. Cushman has consent- ed to act as her guardian for the present,' the woman frigidly re- turned, while her critical glance swept over the girl's figure, taking detail of her plain fact i i iiiii♦iifii♦ ilit♦ii , of horses until I bought a elle,'] It�� ♦ ,shiearing machine, wit„ which ease I' • :.4 came a bet ut eiippers for use on ♦ • horses. So after tate sheep we .e. all i♦ I shorn, we went to the horse bar., ♦ , and clipped every horse on iia• 1 farm, and from twat time 1 hale ibeen an ardent advocate of the prac- tice of clipping every horse fruit ♦{+{i♦iii♦1i♦iii♦iiia♦ the hoofs to the tips of his ears, the only long hair being left that of THF. FARMHOKSE IN SPICING., their tails. The mane is a nuisance One of the greatest improvements' on a farm horse and should bo eat seen in the managem"tit or care of dom.., thus keeping the horse cooler horses on the farm is the practice, 1 about the neck and also relieving which is so greatly on the increase, I him from the danger of scalded of clipping off the heavy coat of hair I shoulders. in the spring.. Ter improvement The advantage of clipping the has only been made easy for tato i farm horses are found not only in average farmer within the last score , the greater comfort and ease with of years through innprolhment in f which they will do their work, but tnachiner made for that nlr use. also in the fact that when the day's A torr i p d t 1 I used to • work is over they will dry off very a g • kl • b in a condition Th e RRY OLD EN AN]) \EWe BY M ill, .1i3O% f 1011* 11111. AND HIS PEOPLE. Oceurreucee lit the land 'that 1feigus Supreme in the Cons. inertial World. \ \Vorknien at Coventry diseeverod in an aperture in a stack of bricks n robin's nest containing four eggs. Mr. Andrew Carnegie 'WS Offered to give $76,000 towards the previ- sion of a new public library a$ Exeter. Sir John Mark, who started life s a grocer's assistant, and became es un en says:— mayor of M:euel sista , died at. !hold. clip by hand, but it was a tedious quickly, thus eing► The Middlesex County Council hires, and to ; in which the dust and filth from y clip all to cltheefarm nhursrs—wail, it' the day's work may be brushed off didn't got done, but the flexible ; and the horse made perfectly clean shaft clipping machines now on ; for a good night's lost. I Not only is there greater comfort the market are so simple in con nhssical condition in struction, easy to operate and per-' �ltc cast of the clipped home, but seem in toheir workingase thatle(cure , „sere is less danger from scalded pillar•• atoms be no reasonable veryble excuse shoulders and from harness galls Bournemouth is to spend $50,0'.it for neglecting this necessary on a new on the sea front item in the care of the farm horses and the clipped horse, always be - and $35,000 pavilion improvements iu the during the heavy work that, is re- ing dry at night,, is in less danger lessors gardens. quired of them at this time of the' from colds, will word: more easily p The Ut rdeiu Colliery. Stone. Neglect of this care must ! and keep in good cond.tion on clow h Radcliffe, was offered for always mean a loss to the owner, f enough less feed to pay the cost g both in extra expense of keep lard ' of a machine and tho trouble of sale by auction at Manchester and clipping, which is very simple open was withdrawn at $500.000. also in tho le tont cofo wish the' action and now be done by any It was decided at a meeting of the teamsho e able which accomplish mh od farmer or ordinary skill and a Not•thutnborland Coal C,ond:iltation T , , Cho case with they may do good machine should last an ordin- Board that wages should be reduced it. ars farmer a score of scars. Really,twork is in making up one's mind to 8% per cent. three The exceptions are so few that I the only difficult part of the whole! $115 � �Lot�d ► \1' `;� to �stoko `has ion ` g� vein may safely say that every farad horse should be thoroughly clipped early in the spring, as the wea- ther gets so mild that the winter coat of hair i no longer needed as a protection. I have never men in everynmany farm horses that I thought ungainly figure and humbly, though neat, attire. "Ile is in Europe, would he. benefited by beim clipped mil..in the fall, as their coat was given also," she went on, turning ingly back to Donald, whose face them as nature's protection against grew grave, and a trifle stern, as the cold of winter, and es a rule he observed the sensitive flush that when it is taken off it is either for mounted to Esther's temples, at the the nurpose of vrntifvine the foolish cool greeting and slighting treat- vanity of a foolish driver or else to ment she had received. "Possibly relieve him from the labor necessary he may run across your father and to keep the horse properly groomed. mother, as he will be absent some I never saw mnnv farm horses that four months longer." would not be benefited by being Donald merely bowed in reply to clipped early in the shrine., as they these remarks ; then brought for- no longer neer! the preteetikn of the ward and introduced Miss Percival, heavy cont of hair Grown for win - explaining also that she also had lei's comfort, and it is rnFlly a been dependent upon Esther's hnrrten to them in the warm dee, of bounty and care. spring. Se just nt the time when Miss Percival was in haste to go 11.,, beein to feel the need of lighter about her own affairs; so, after elnthine the borees shnnlel be re - acknowledging the presentation, ldnved r`f the burden of their win - she bade young Lancaster and ter elothine. I never fe"tiv renlived Es- ther farewell, and abruptly hurried the hennited of the spring clipping away, curtly refusing the offer of the former to secure a carriage for hor. - "You have a trunk, I supose," Mrs. Cushman observed, with icy brevity, adressing Esther. "Yes," she replied, as she pro- duced a check from her handbag; but her lips quivered painfully, and it was with great difficulty that sho restrained herself from bursting into tears, for she was nearly heart- broken, in view of the chilling re- ception that she had been accorded. "William," said Mrs. Cushman to her footman, who had accompan- ied her to the train, ''take 'this check, find Miss Welington's trunk, and have it expressed to the house; meanwhile we will go directly to the carriage, and you can follow us there." , your you to "Allow y car- riage," Donald remarked, as he took Esther's hag from her, at the same tine giving her an encourag- ing smile, for her heavy eyes, her weary and disappointed air, smote his heart with keen pity for her, and the three proceeded directly out- side, while tho man went to attend to his business. Esther's eyes were full of tears as they reachej the coach—so full that she blur Orad awkwardly into it, and sank, crim- son with embarrassment, upon the scat. intend to oppose t► ilesden's appli- cation for a charter of incorpora- tion. Many poplar trees in the streets of Leigh -on -Sea, Essex, have bee* destroyed by the goat moth cater - do it. SEA FOOD. A half -pound herring contains 4ti,030 eggs. The hog -fish, swimming down the Mr. Conway Rose, of Chard, cod's throat, kills its host and eats Somerset, has contributed $3,000 its way out. t towards the cost of completing the Crabs and lobsters aro said never: Royal Alexandra Hospital, ]thyl. Swto nip epileptics. Charles White, a gardener, is only excelledd-fish, in though by eaten,' junnped into a pond at Woodstock lane, Thames Ditton, before the eyes of his wife and was drowned. In consequence of the depreda- tions of rooks, farmers in tae Cred- iton district have had to sow some of their wheat fields twice over. An immense floating dock which left the Tyne in August .blast in charge of two tugs has arrived safe- ly at, Callao, Peru, 10,300 milds (To bo continued.) i A KING'S BANK. Double Bottom of ills Red Was Filled With Gold. The practise of hiding money away in all manner of out-of-the- way corners is by no deans modern. In tho old days, according to "Gleanings After Time," secret receptacles were often made in tho bedsteads, and contributed both to safety and romance. On August '21, 1.55, Richard III. arrived at Leicester. His servants had preceded him with the running wardrobe, and in the best, chamber of the Blue Boar a ponderous four - post bedstead was set, up; it was richly carved, gilded and decorated, and had a double bottom of boards. Richard slept in it that night. After his defeat and death on Bos- worth Field it was stripped of its rich hangings, but the heavy and Clllllhersollln bedstead was left at the Blue Boar. In the reign of Elizabeth, when the hostess was shaking tbo sed, she observed a piece of geld of an- cient coinage fall nn the floor. This led to a careful examination, when the double bottom was discovered, upon lifting it portion of which the interior was found to be filled with gold, partcoined in the reign of 1tirhard I1I. aid the rest of earlier Mrs. Cushman met them in the cir- university scholarships to be. hold by Mill Hill boys. A boy named Piper was stated at a Dover iuquest to have died in consequence of his hand being scratched by a gooseberry bush. far -fanned fish of the Mediterran- ean. Cuttle-fish (for India ink) are kept on farms and milked regular- ly liko cows. in China. Genuine Russian or, more prop- erly, Astrakhan—caviar is in glob- ules almost as big as buckshot, and cost $5 a pint. "The doctor thought I (night be away. carrying a ball from the time I was At Dewsbury, a bench of eighteen wounded in the army. so he went at magistrates refused a drink lieeuse it, and probed it for about two for a new music hall which will.. - hours." "Did he extract anything comnnodate 2,000 persons. from you Z" "Yes—Five dolinrs!"During last year 230 malicio calls were received by the Metr politau fire brigade, and oil yi twenty-six cases were the guilty persons discovered. Tho bodies of the fourteen men who wero killed sono time ago by the bursting of the cofferdam at the Victoria, Dock, Birkenhead, have now been recovered. "Southcliffe" is the new name recommended by the committee ap- pointed to consider tho re -naming of the residential quarter of the Clactonon-Sea, Essex. In declining the offer of a motor car from churchmen in North Wilt- shire, the Bishop of Bristol says that as he cannot afford to keep a carriage, he travels in tramcars. 1 (Grown from a twig brought from 1 Napoleon's tomb at St. Helena, a largo willow tree is to bo removed to Woodbridge, Suffolk, to make room for the new county school. Damage estimated at $20,000 re- sulted from a tire at the premises of Messrs. J. & It. Blower, furni- ture dealers in Shrewsbury, and some of the workpeople had to crawl to safety across a roof. The Poplar Borough Council has been surcharged the sum of $1.350 in respect of compassionate allow- ance made to the relatives or men who had died or been injured tit the services of the council. In answer to the charge that women cannot think on imperial questions, Mr. Forbes-liebertson, speaking at Newcastle, said that if there had not been wo►nen voters in New Zealand we might not hate had the offer of a Dreadnought. The New IJAIMLER Extracts from a few of the letters rece>vcd by the Daimler Co. bearing out the claims made for the 1803 engine. CHAS Ea MARTIN, ESQ. 12, 12, '08 ' e7 have never experienced such a delightful feeling as when gliding along silently and smoothly on the New Daimler." THE RT. HON. LORD BURTON. 20, 12, '08 '•She runs very quietly and smoothly, even on very bad roads, and she pulls beautifully up hill. It is a real pleasure to ride in her." MONSIEUR CIRARDOT. 8, 1. 'OO "I have noted that its chief qualities are its extraordinary flex- ibility, its absolute silence, and its marvellous efficiency, in compar- ison with tappet valve engines. CHAS. HAY WALKER, ESQ. 28, 12. '08 • 'The way she crept along on her top speed at about 3 miles an hour was marvellous." The Daimler Motor Co., (1904) Ltd. COVENTRY, ENGLAND. NESTS THAT 11'1:11;1( TONS. t,ti'te of Australian Jungle out .1re Often 15 Feel in Height. in Australia are to be found tie largest, he..%ast and most nests in the world, says the I. Globe. These are the nests of the jl fowl, to -called, and are built in the form of great mounds, the average measurement in height being 15 feet and the circumference 150 feet. The nests are erected in seclude{ shef- tercel spots and, as in the case of the small nests of birds, they are skil- fully interwoven with leaves, gray+s and twigs and such other suitable material as the fowl may be able to procure. A similar system is followed by the bush turkey, whose home is. how- ever, more comprehensive 1p design; its shape is pyramidal. It line been asserted by Attst rattan nai to fists that the nests of tAe Leah turkeys, which live in colonies, are ei large that to move them requiees t►,:• see vices of six or seem tora The material of a ••ingle nag! bin: l,eef !bund to weigh 'toward ct the Coati.