Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/258

 240 Her face turned very pale and her voice trembled as she said, "Young lady, will you tell me your name?"

"My name is Etta Arnold, and if I mistake not you are my aunt Barbara," replied the girl with some hesitation.

For a moment the lady's face flushed crimson, and then the color receded, leaving her deathly pale as she sprang to her feet exclaiming, "Why are you here girl. Do you not know that your very presence is an insult to me?"

The girl half rose to her feet and then sunk back again, saying in a husky voice, "Oh, aunt Barbara, how can it be? I have never harmed you."

"You do not know the wrong your parents did me then," said the lady bitterly.

"I only know that in dying, my mother bade me go to you and ask your protection, and also to tell you of her continued love for you. I do not think she ever knowingly harmed you. Had you said my father had wronged you I should not have felt the least surprise, for he was capable of everything that was bad, " said the girl bitterly." Since my presence is not desired here, I will go at once," she continued, arising and turning toward the door.

"No, sit down; I wish to ask you a few questions; Is your father living?"

"No, he died three years ago," replied the girl.

"And you have no money, no home," said the lady, looking at the well-worn clothes of her niece.

"I have nothing, and no one in the world to care for me, except you and my father's brother," replied the girl, with a burst of tears.

"You would be much better off without his assistance than with it, I am thinking," returned the lady.

"He promised to provide a place for me as soon as possible, but I preferred coming to you as my mother requested me to do."

"How did your mother learn where I resided?" inquired the lady.

"She did not know, she told me to go to L, her native place, supposing if you were yet living, I should find you there. I mentioned her request to my uncle, and he told me that my grandparents and uncle Oscar were dead, and no one knew anything concerning you whatever," answered the girl.

"How then did you discover my whereabouts?"

"Do you recollect a lady, Mrs. Eaton by name, who was ill here at the hotel some three years since? She came here to dispose of some land belonging to her, and was taken sick."

"Certainly I do," replied Barbara, quickly.

"You cared for her and doubtless saved her life. After my uncle's departure I mentioned your name to her, and she told me that a lady of that name lived in the village of R, situated in New Hampshire. That you resided alone, and so far as she knew were without relations. By her advice I started immediately for your home, and here I am. I had no thought but that I should be welcome, " concluded the girl in a husky voice.

"I do not mean to be unkind, but you do not know girl the wound your coming has reopened. I was learning to forget and I am sorry you came; however, since you are here I will try and make you comfortable: How strange that Mrs. Eaton should know you. Did you live near her?"

"She owned the house where my mother died and where we had lived for two years—that is we occupied two rooms in it. She was our only friend and the kindest lady I ever knew. Had it not been for her we must have starved, for I could not get work to take home with me, and I could not leave mother alone, " answered Etta.

Barbara's eyes filled with tears as she arose and approaching the girl began to remove her outer garments, saying at the same time, " I have been too harsh with you my poor child. Will you forgive me?"

"Oh, aunt Barbara, I have nothing to forgive, but I will love you all my life, if you will let me stay with you," replied the girl, bursting into tears.