HER SILENCE JUSTIFIED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3208, 7 June 1909, Page 2

HER SILENCE JUSTIFIED.

CHAPTER XX.—Continued. "Miss Braysby advocating commonsense! Good gracious!" ejaculated Lady Marcia. "I thought it was exploded from the dictionary of an esthete!" "I am not going to learn lessons « like a school-girl!" Lois told both the ladies defiantly. Miss Braysby cast a triumphant glance at the widow. "Precisely what I expected to hear you say, my love. You have too exalted a sense of the dignity of : womanhood to submit to be treated like an uncultured child." "But if Lois is to be taught such accomplishments as modern manners demand for every young lady, how is it going to be done?" asked the bewildered general. "You may leavo that to me!" and the exulting spinster waved her hands. "We are both young; we shall be friends and companions; we shall ride and drive together, occupy adjoining chambers —in fact, we shall be inseparable." "Still, I do i ot comprehend " she was doubtfully told. • "My end and aim? Only have patience, and it will burst upon you in the most charming results. My precious charge will be learning something fresh from my lips at every moment we spend together. I shall first educate her through the eye by taking her to flower shows to dramatic spectacles, to exhibitions, and picture galleries. Then I shall inform her ear by wandering with her in the park, when the band is playing; by reciting to her my favorite poems; by delicious hours spent at concerts, both vocal and instrumental. She would not look upon instructions as a pin and a torture, but as to utterly delightful soaring into the highest realms of art and literature, '* "Ah unmistakably gobd arrangement for Miss Braysby, I must admit!" was Lady Marcia's sarcastic comment} "but for your grand-daughter,-general, allow me to recommend something more practical." Lois herself had slipped away long before the spinster's harangue, came to close. She like being talked over. Why couldn't they let her stay quietly beside her grandfather, who seemed able to understand and sympathise with her as ,no one else hid ever done, dave, -perhaps Mr Stuart?

Lady Marci'a was proceeding to ridicule the spinster's schemes most unme'vifuliv but the more courteous general kindly interfered to prevent it. "I cherish a great many oldfashioned notinns myself, and should have liked to see Lios trained in every respect as the ladies of our family always have been; but circumstances alter cases, and as sue has not yet reconciled herself to her new life, might it not be advisable to try Miss Braysby's gentler methods for a" little while?" "I think them absurd!" said her ladyship emphatically.

"We will refer them to Lois' father," said the general; "nnd here he comes most opportunely. My dear Laurence, we shall be glad to have your opinion on a subject of importance; but you will not care to enter upon business of any bind till you have seen your daughter. She was here just now. Miss Braysby, may I trouble you to touch the bell at your elbow, that Lois may be told her father is asking for her." "Don't trouble yourself," said Laurence moodily. "I have seen her."

No one asked any questions, and be did not choose to sav that when he drove to the door in his handsome cabriolet —his father's last gift —he found it wide open and Lois standing at it, or it would bemore correct to say lolling against it, coolly surveying the fashionable equipages and parties of equestrians going to and fro in the park. "You were born to disgrace—to madden me!" he had exclaimed, as with no very gentle hand he dragged her into the house. "Have you no sense of what is due to my father, that you behave like a denizen of the slums?"

He had driven her up-stairs, and was in no mood for temperately discussing the best methods of overcoming the defects of Granny Wakely's rearing. But the general, who could not imagine anything so unnatural £as jj, father detesting his own and only child, insisted that Lois should be summoned, and Miss Braysby volunfetch her. She came back in a few minutes, tittering and yet frightened.

"Dear Lois was the tunniest darling! She had hidden herself somewhere, and refused to reply when entreated to come out of her hiding-place." "She will come for you, Laurence," said the general. "Possibly she would prefer to see you alone; you must indulge her in such a very natural wish. Go, my boy—go upstairs and find her."

bit his lip and hesitated; but the motives that made him careful not to offend his father were potent ones, and he stepped into the hall to summon the refractory damsel.

The outer door was again open, but Lois was not on the step now —she was gone; and in unholy prayer rose

BY HENRIETTA B. EUTHVEN, Second Love," " Corydon's Infatuation," " Baring Doia," ""A"n Unlucky Legacy," Etc., Etc.

■to his*„lips that she might be gone forever—that he might never be plagued with her again. CHAPTER XXI. "IF THIS WERE DAISY IN THE FLESH!" Leaving Lady Marcia and Miss Braysby to marvel at such an extraordinary occurrence as an open an unguarded portal, and so fussily question the servants concerning it, Laurence Haydon strode up-stairs, convinced in his own mind that Lois had resented his lecture by making another attempt at running away, and this time successfully. His first impulse was ■to wish with fierce energy that she might never be found again; but a little reflection taught him that the general would insist upon an exhaubtive search for the fugitive, all the trouble of which would fall upon himself. He was, therefore, in the worst of humours when he encountered Nurse May. This quiet,, silent woman was leading a far busier life than when she was nursing the general night and day; for not only was he still very dependent on her cares, but other duties had also devolved on her Ambra was as ignorant of housekeeping as girls brought up in the languid luxury of Oriental life commonly are; Lady Marcia, though she had domiciled herself at the general's took no account of his domescic concerns and Miss Braysby was equally J indolent. It therefore devolved on j Nurse May to guard her too liberal employer from being cheated by his j tradesmen or robbed • by his j domestics. !

And so by degrees she slipped into the post of housekeeper to her grateful patient, whose reliance on her was unbounded. She did her best to merit his confidence. Alert, energetic —never meddling with the servants unnecessarily, yet soon contriving to make them see that she must be obeyed—her excellent management was already beginning to make itself felt. The wheels of home rule worked well, and so noiselessly that no one appeared to know whom to thank for it. She had the keys of the store closet in her hands when she encountered Laurence, who angrily accosted her. "Where is Miss Haydon? Are you aware that I found her standing at the door like a gipsy wench at the door of a mud cabin?" [T6 BE COtf'TINiJED.I Many persons tind themselves affected with a persistent cough after sin attack of influenza. As this cough can be promptly cured by the use of Chamberlain's Cough Remedy, it should not, be allowed to mn on until it becomes troublesome. For sale by all chemists and storekeepers. For Children's Hacking Coughs a' night, Woods' Great Peppermint Cure 1/6 and 2/6.