Bad Hugh

"There was something queer about him too," she said, in a lower tone,

and drawing nearer to 'Lina. "He seemed so absent-like, as if there were

something on his mind--some heart trouble, you know; but that only made

him more interesting; and such an adventure as I had, too. Send her out

of the room, please," and nodding toward Adah, Ellen spoke beneath her

breath.

'Lina comprehended her meaning, and turning to Adah said rather

haughtily: "It's cool on the west end of the piazza. You may go and sit there a

while."

With a heightened color at being thus addressed before a stranger, Adah

withdrew, and Ellen continued: "It's so strange. I found in the hall, near my door, a tiny ambrotype of

a young girl, who must have been very beautiful--such splendid hair,

soft brown eyes, and cheeks like carnation pinks. I wondered much whose

it was, for I knew the owner must be sorry to lose it. Father suggested

that we put a written notice in the business office, and that very

afternoon Dr. Richards knocked at our door, saying the ambrotype was

his. 'I would not lose it for the world,' he said, 'as the original is

dead,' and he looked so sad that I pitied him so much; but I have the

strangest part yet to tell. You are sure she cannot hear?" and walking

to the open window, Ellen glanced down the long piazza to where Adah's

dress was visible.

"I looked at the face so much that I never can forget it, particularly

the way the hair was worn, combed almost as low upon the forehead as you

wears yours, and just as that Mrs. Hastings wears hers. I noticed it the

moment I came in; and, 'Lina, Mrs. Hastings is the original of that

ambrotype, I'm sure, only the picture was younger, fresher-looking, than

she. But they are the same, I'm positive, and that's why I started so

when I first saw this Adah. Funny, isn't it?"

'Lina knew just how positive Ellen was with regard to any opinion she

espoused, and presumed in her own mind that in this point, as in many

others, she was mistaken. Still she answered that it was queer, though

she could not understand what Adah could possibly be to Dr. Richards.

"Call her in for something and I'll manage to question her. I'm so

curious and so sure," Ellen said, while 'Lina called: "Adah, Miss

Tiffton wishes to see how my new blue muslin fits. Come help me try it

on."

Obedient to the call Adah came, and was growing very red in the face

with trying to hook 'Lina's dress, when Ellen casually remarked: "You lived in New York, I think?"

"Yes, ma'am," was the reply, and Ellen continued: "Maybe I saw some of your acquaintances. I was there a long time."