A Country Sweetheart

The next day was a wet and dreary one, almost a storm. The wind sighed through the budding trees at Woodlea Hall, and the rain beat against the window panes. A bright fire was,...

A whole year passed away after May's arrival at the Hall as John Temple's wife; a year with its chances and changes, when it became known in the neighborhood that it was hoped a...

Early on the next morning after Ralph Webster had left May at St. Phillip's Hospital, he called there to inquire after her, and saw his friend the house surgeon, Doctor Brentwood.

"My dear Aunt Margaret," Miss Webster read with a considerable feeling of relief. "I received your letter telling me of the marriage of your pretty young friend, and I am sure w...

It was still very early in the day when John Temple left Woodlea, in a state of strong though suppressed excitement. It had come so suddenly, this discovery, this exposure, that...

"No, her real name, for I christened her, and so should know, is Margaret Alice Churchill, but she was born in May, and that is how she got her pet name, I suppose."

John Temple went up the staircase toward his own room, after quitting the luncheon, saying some very hard things indeed below his breath of Mrs. Layton. She had made him intense...

The next day Ralph Webster went to see a very different woman to the sprightly actress. He went to see pale, sad-faced May Churchill, propped up in an easy chair, with the unmis...

After John Temple had left May he drove straight to Pembridge Terrace, feeling that the worst of a most painful day was over. At all events May would not leave him, and in anoth...

May was in a state of great excitement all the day after receiving John Temple's letter. She was so restless she could not stay in the house; but it was evidently a happy restle...

When a rich man dies the news soon spreads. Mr. Churchill had not neglected when he wrote to John Temple and the bankers, also to send an announcement of the squire's death to t...

Three days later they carried young Phillip Temple to his grave, and the new heir came to Woodlea as a mourner. His uncle had written to John Temple to tell him of the sad and u...

"We quarreled and she has left me," said Temple, forcing himself to utter the words. "She left me without a line, or word--I can not tell you where she is."

"I can not get that girl's face out of my head," John Temple thought more than once, as he walked back to the Hall. Her beauty had indeed a wonderful charm for him. He had seen...

When the first inquiry as to the cause of Elsie Wray's death was ended, and the adjournment announced, something which he could not resist drew John Temple to the side of the ro...

While these inquiries about her flight were going on, May Churchill was safely sheltered in the home John Temple had provided for her in town. This she found to be an extremely...

Henderson parted from Mrs. Temple with every nerve in his body throbbing with excitement. In spite of May Churchill's rejection of his love, his unreasonable passion for her rem...

Women in general have a strong interest in jewels, and in stories connected with them, and Mrs. Temple of Woodlea was no exception to this rule. Thus the day after Kathleen Weir...

The next time that May saw John Temple was at the adjourned inquest on the death of Elsie Wray. They both then simply repeated their former evidence, and the only fresh witness...

The next evening, or rather in the early hours of another day, four people were seated around the hospitable board of Kathleen Weir. One of these was the actress herself, her ey...

Mr. and Mrs. Churchill returned to Woodside late on the following evening, and were both somewhat surprised not to find May up to receive them. The two boys, however, were.

When people have been very happy one day, they naturally wish to be happy another. John Temple and May Churchill had been very happy collecting the ferns in the Dene, and before...

Before Elsie Wray quitted the Wayside Inn, however, she had a word to say to the young barmaid who had brought her the message that the groom from Stourton Grange wished to spea...

What these inclinations were we may easily guess. To walk as quickly to Fern Dene as possible, yet when he arrived there he found that May Churchill was just preparing to go home.

She was expecting him, and her pretty flat was charmingly arranged to receive him, and herself charmingly dressed for the same purpose. She had admired his strong, earnest, dark...

Ralph Webster received this tiny note the next morning, and after a little consideration he determined to accept her invitation. He naturally felt a strange interest in Kathleen...

The ill-will between Tom Henderson and his groom Reid did not diminish as time went on. For one thing, to raise a sum like two thousand pounds was not an easy matter to the youn...

He listened eagerly until the sound of the horse's gallop grew fainter and fainter, and then Henderson proceeded to carry out the plan which he had laid down for himself. This w...

One evening nearly a fortnight after Mrs. Temple had received the letter from John Temple announcing his marriage to May, the windows of Woodlea Hall were all alight in expectat...

The surgeon looked around when he reached the last steps, and there was kindly pity on his grave face as he met the appealing eyes that were fixed on his.

The squire of Woodlea's pew was at one side of the old-fashioned country church, and Mr. Churchill's family occupied seats in the gallery. Therefore John Temple, looking up, saw...

May and Sister Margaret stayed another fortnight at Hastings after this sea excursion, and Webster went twice down to see them during this time, and Sister Margaret was satisfie...

"It's not fair to the dear little girl," he told himself. "I was led away last night; any man would--a saint would have been, and I am not a saint."

The noise and glare outside almost overwhelmed May as she went tottering feebly on. She knew not which way to turn, and felt that her weary feet would not bear her much farther....

It was quite true that young Henderson had made a terrible scene when he first heard that May Churchill had disappeared from her home. He heard it from his groom, Jack Reid, who...

Tom Henderson returned to the house after this last interview with his groom in a truly pitiable state of terror and alarm. And a man, a stranger, passed him in the avenue. This...

Mr. Temple's sudden death had also naturally created great excitement both at Woodlea Hall and at the farm at Woodside. The squire had breakfasted with his wife as usual on the...

And during this time, also, Miss Kathleen Weir had felt very much disappointed that she had neither seen nor heard anything of Mr. Ralph Webster. That is, she only received two...

"I--saw someone lying in Fern Dene--as if she had fallen," said May in a trembling voice; "I am not sure--who it was--not sure it was Miss Wray--I ran to tell father--"

A minute later Henderson and Mr. Churchill entered the room. Henderson's face was flushed a dusky red, but Mr. Churchill's looked pale, angry, and determined. He gave a quick, s...

Late in the afternoon of the following day, as Webster was leaving one of the law courts where he had been pleading, a gentleman, a stranger, touched his arm and addressed him.

It was a dark night when Henderson slunk home after his accursed deed; dark and late, yet his mother was waiting up for him and anxiously listening for his return. She heard him...

A vague sense of disappointment stole into May Churchill's heart as she read this letter of John Temple's--a vague sense of disappointment and pain. He seemed so terribly afraid...

After Mr. Tom Henderson had left the Mayflower with John Temple in Fern Dene, he walked onward with a frowning brow and an angry heart. He was in love with the pretty girl he ha...

Though Miss Webster had acceded to May's request, and addressed her letter to John Temple, she did not entirely forget the incident. In fact, it remained on her mind, and she be...

"It's too late to wish that," replied Jack, significantly; and then he resumed grooming the horse, while with a moody brow and an uneasy heart Henderson returned to the house, f...