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r j. -ti r r i - u 1 V aO n I CHAPTER V.-(Contikueii.) The remainder of the afternoon was spent by the girls in unpacking their boxes and choosing their dinner dress es. Margaret's was a pale blue, chosen by Mrs. Garrett, at Marshall & Snell grove's a charming color as contrasted with the girl's fair loveliness, but more suited for a ball than a quiet family evening. She looked very pretty, though, as Carmen, arrayed in a black dress ornamented with knots of scarlet ribbon, took her hand to lead her into the presence of hor uncle. Sir Fred eric was wandering without any appar ent aim, up and down the long library as the girls entered it. Before he saw them Margaret had time to note the mild benevolence of his aspect, and the precision with which he was attired, even though he was only about to dine with a couple of school girls. He was a little man straight, precise and neat as an old bachelor with snow-white hair, delicate complexion, and pale blue eyes. Margaret was sure she would like him very much. As he caught sight of the girls he advanced to meet them; but his failing sight prevented his recog nizing more than their figures until they were close to him. He embraced Carmen more punctiliously than fer vently, and Margaret instinctively felt as she watched their greeting that Sir Frederic could not forget his niece stood in the place of his dead child. Then he turned to the stranger. He had been about to salute Margaret in the same courteous manner as he had done Carmen; but as his eyes fell upon her figure he steppd backward and was silent. "Uncle, this is Miss O'Reilly," said Carmen, in explanation. Still Sir Frederic did not answer her, but, feeling his way backward until he reached a chair, sank down into it and passed his handkerchief in a distressed manner across his brow. "Sir, are you ill?" exclaimed Marga- et, darting forward. He waved her from him impatiently. "Leave him alone. He'll be better in a minute," whispered Carmen in her friend's ear. After that there was complete silence between them for tho space of a few minutes, whilst the girls stood togeth er in the window, looking awkward, and Sir Frederic bent over the table wiping his brow. Then he rose, totteringly at first, and begged their pardon for his weakness. "I am an old man, my dear child," he said, to Margaret, "and I have passed through much trouble and lost many friends. Sometimes a strange voice, or look, or expression recalls the past too vividly and upsets me. I think it was the color of your hair that brought back painful recollections to my mind. It is very beautiful," he continued, passing the glossy curls through his fingers; "so soft, and thick and heavy just like hers just like hers. But come," he said, a moment later, "I think dinner has been announced. Let us go in and forget this folly. I must grow acus tomed to the sight of your pretty hair, my dear, so the sooner I commence the better." He led the girls into the dining room as he spoke, and no further allusion was made to his past life. Carmen told Margaret afterward that Mrs. Webb had informed her that her aunt Florence had possessed golden hair of extraor dinary length and thickness. Margaret thought that Carmen's pert and forward manners rather grated on Sir Frederic's sensibility. He did not reprove her, but every now and then, as her voice fell upon his ear, he shud tored as if his teeth had been put on Cage. As he dismissed them for the night he asked Carmen where she and her friend slept. "We sleep together in the south r0m." "Is that advisable, my dear? There are plenty of rooms on the opposite side of the corridor." "I've always slept in it." "I know you have, but I would have put my friend on another story, if I had been you." "Oh, we shall do well enough; I'll take care of her," rejoined Carmen, carelessly, as she bade him good-night. Margaret wondered why both Sir Frederic and Mrs. Webb should wlah them to change their apartments; such A pretty room as it was, and so beauti- Ruthven did not know what on eartl to do with her. Mrs. Garrett's accounts tallied W well with that of Miss Frism, that h( oould not but believe they were correct and ho was he to bring home this tal ented young person to the little houn at Kensington, and ask her to sit down stairs in the housekeeper's room? He would have handed her over a: once to the care of his friend. Mrs. Del amaine, who would have been eminent ly suited to prepare her for the stagf but, alas! poor Mrs. Delamaine had fully sheltered by those twining creep- 1 gone tne wa' of a11 flesn wnilst HV' ers. garct was at school, and Ruthven knew She lay awake for some time after I ot no one else t0 wll0m ne coul(1 en" they had retired tn rpct thinking at nil I trust her. .-i"y MORGAN I HAMILTON, this. One thing only was certain; midsum- Mrs. Webb had placed a sofa bedstead : mer was e!ose 2t band an(1 at niidsum across the bottom of the large bed on j mcr tne cnil(1 must oc fetched away which Carmen reposed, for her use, f,om Blackheath and established somc and as Margaret ensconced herself in it! I where else- she found that her eyes faced the long Wel1' Garrett had arranged every French windows, against the panes of ninS respecting her for him before.and which the green tendrils and many ! sno must continue to do so. Hamilton colored blossoms were keening un such ' Shore did certainly offer to make a jour- a pleasant music Margaret fell to sleep with her mind full of strange imaginings now fancy ing that tiny -elves sat upon the broad leaves of the creeper whispering to each other; now that they swung them selves down like nimble harleo.uins by tho twisted tendrils of the vine; anon, that the half-opened roses changed into lovely faces, and bowed toward each other in all the frolic of a fairy courtship. Carmen, with the Indolent, unimag inative blood of her Spanish mother walking slowly through her veins, had never indulged in any such weird-lik? fantasies; she lay on her soft bed now, slumbering dreamlessly and dispassion ately. But restless, agile Margaret twisted and turned, and had composed optraebrs, Builders, AND UNDERTAKERS. ney to Pomona Villa and bring back the captive princess to Kensington, but Mrs. Garrett received his proposal with scorn. "She hadn't been used to see young ladies trapesing about the stretHs with harum-scarum fellows like himself, whatever he had." "Oh, she's a young lady now, is she?'' exclaimed Hamilton in return. "I thought she was a housemaid when I last saw her." "Well, housemaid or lady, it's all the same. Miss Margaret is a decent gal, and none such would be seen walk ins about with you." "Thanks for the compliment," cried thD lad gaily. He was but a lad still, though he would have been anything but pleased a whale romance before she could per- 1 t0 be tol(1 so- He was now nineteen suade the god of sleep to visit her. How long he stayed she knew not, nor what subtle potion he had adminis tered to change all her lovely fairy and reading steadily for his profession. Mrs. Garrett's dismay, when Ruthven asked her if Margaret could not have her meals downstairs with her, was dreams to visions of the past life she so ' comical to behold. dreaded to remember. But groans and curses and cries of pain, or so the girl imagined, mingled with her sleeping experiences, and she woke with the full sense of some com ing horror on her mind. The room was wrapped in the peaceful repose in whlcn she had seen it last; the flowers and leaves still shaded the unsheltered win dow; but what was that horrid face white, flat and senseless that was pressed close against one of the pan?s of glass? Was it a reflex of her un easy dream? A remembrance only of some dreadful visage that had scowled upon her when she was a poor, trem bling little outcast, wandering in fear about the London streets? Margaret could not decide; but the sight she saw inspired her with terror. With a shriek of fear she sprang from her own bed to Carmen's, and succeeded at last in arousing that sleepy young lady to a consciousness of the cause of her alarm. When she had once seen it, Carmen ap peared as frightened as herself, and, rushing out into the corridor, called loudly for Webb and then for "Mr. Brown." The last appeal was the most effectual, for before the housekeeper ap peared upon the scene, a respectable looking man in dressing gown and slip pers, answered the young lady's call, and inquired the reason for it. Carmen told it to him, whispering rapidly in h'.s car; and the next moment he had en tered the room they had vacated, and Mrs. Webb appeared to lead them to another. "What is it?" inquired Magaret, trem bling. "A ghost?" "Lor' bless the child," began the housekeeper. "How should wc have ghosts at Abbotsville?" But Carmen stopped her. "Yes, it is a ghost! Why not speak the truth at once? Never mind. Mag gie; don't shake so we'll sleep up stairs for the future." "You'd bettor come at once then," said Mrs. Webb, as sounds of scuf fling and faint cries began to make themselves heard from the deserted room. "You won't go back there to night, Miss Carmen, will you? and you're both beginning to tremble with the fright and chill." The girls did not sleep in the south room again during their stay at Abbats ville, and the remainder of their holi days was spent amongst the diversified pleasures of a country life CHAPTFR vi. UTHVEN' was in what lg popularly called "a brown study ' He had just received a letter iron, the Misses Pf'sm, informing him that they had 'ecided to retire from business, and must request him to remove his ward, Miss Margaret O'Reilly, from their care at the following midsummer. They had added - that having done their best to at her for the society she was doubtless intended to enter, thty trusted Mr. Ruthven would be as wii satisfied with the culture of her mind as he could not fall to be w'th the graces of her person. And FARMINGTON, NEW MEXICO. La, sir, do just go down and have a look at her yourself before you put such a qi estion to me again. She mayn't be a lady born as Mr. Addison has it but she's grown so much like one that nobody could tell the difference." Which speech perplexed poor Ruth ven more than ever. "Then you must fit up the back din ing room for her, Garrett, and let her have her meals there until I can hear of a suitable opening for her. I never thought the girl would be so much trouble, or I would have had her ed ucated in her own station in life." Margaret left Blackheath with very mingled feelings. She was sorry to part with Carmen Flower and other friends, but she was much comforted by tho many Invitations which were liberally showered upon her. And then she was sixteen, and a woman, at all events in her own esti mation, and curiosity was powerfully prompting her in a desire to see Lon don again under more favorable aus pices. The town was ringing at that moment witli praises of Ruthven's last drama, and Margaret had read some of the no tices upon it, and tried to conjure up a memory of this mysterious benefactor of hers, who had adopted and brought her up without any motive but that of his own benevolence. It was with considerable alacrity that Margaret appeared to accompany Mrs Garrett to Kensington. She was lock ing very lovely on that day. Excite ment had lent an extra glow to her cheek and increased the brightness of her eye. it so happened that Ruthven was un usually late in leaving home that aft ernoon -perhaps curiosity had also had a little to do with his loitering about the house but as he stepped over the threshold, the cab, laden with luggage and containing Mrs. Garrett and her charge, drove up to the door. Ruthven went forward to assist the womeu to the ground. He expected to see' a healthy, well-dressed and good-looking girl in Margaret O'Reilly, instead of which, a graceful, slender form, tightly attired in the prevailing mode, with a face of exquisite child-like simplicity, met his astonished view. "Is this Peg?" he exclaimed in as tonishment. "This is Miss Margaret, sir," cor i tcied the housekeeper sharply, as she drew out her purse to settle with the cabman, Ruthven gazed at the young girl, who iwas looking up with two great limpid eyes into his face, speechlessly. He thought he never before had seen such afi incarnation of youthful womanhood. he sunny, luxuriant tresse3 were ta ke captive now and piled upon the top of iW head; but the open, dewy mouth, the ong eyelashes, the shy, half-veiled gaze) the delicate, rose-leaf complexion all struck him for the moment dumb. "Hadn't you better take Miss Mar garet (ta, Mr. James?" demanded Mrs. Garrett,, in rather an acrid voice. "Yes, yes; cetainly. Won't you come in?" said Ruthven. -r (TO Bli CONTINUED.) Little alligators are admired as draw ingroora pcis in some of the fashion able houses Ot Paris. ie Smelter City Brewing Association. Manufacturers of Pure, Wholesome, Home Brewed Beer, and the only Pure Ice in the market, him, Culorado- BEAUTIFUL HOIS To all wishing to buy GRAND MESA LANDS, under ditch, with ample stock therein for irri gation, just north of Farmington, N. M., I will sell any size block, from one to eighty acres, cheap, on easy terms. Very Choice Lots for Sale just north of the public school building, to sell, a 40-acre tract, two miles from town, and an 80 acre tract with a 2-room house, cellar and small orchard, also a 10-acre tract of good land, well situated on the county road. Any of these pieces of property is close enough to tho public school for children to attend. For further information apply to owner, HUGH GRIFFIN Or ( V. R N. Greaves, Agent Farmington, N. M. 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