THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Citcniri) HUscHlanii, 
SOWING THE TABES. 
tracked, for Mr. Whltely was not half active 
enough in the matter to satisfy his Impatient 
client; his own afTalrs to he settled and put in 
train for his departure from England: Irene and 
the little ones to be placed in better hands than 
A prisoner In the penitentiary, who heard Mr. 
Moody’s remarks last Sunday, retired after the 
discourse to a cell and soon emerged with verses 
hastily written in the meantime, which had been 
suggested iby the discourse, and handed them to 
Mr. Moody, who, in the afternoon, had them read 
at the Maryland Institute, as follows: 
Sowing- tares, when it might been wheat, 
Plucking the bud of life's wreath all complete, 
The night sinks down, amid darkness and fears, 
IVkilo we are so cruelly solving the tares. 
Sowing the tares of malice and spite. 
Words of black import-Plutoniau night; 
We might have sown roses amid life’s sari cares, 
Hut we turned from their beauty to sowing the tares. 
Sowing the tares—how dark the black sin, 
Mingling a curse with life’s sweetest hymn; 
Heeding no anguish, no piteous prayers 
While wo were so cruelly sowing the tares. 
bowing the tares to bring sorrow down 
That robs of its jewels life’s fairest crown; 
Turning to silver the once golden hairs 
Thatgrew whiter and whiter as wc sowed the tares. 
those of their improvident, selfish mother; yet 
here he lay, unable to do anything but chafe at his 
own weakness, and with the prospect of being just 
as helpless for some time to come. 
He was still brooding over his troubles when 
Hllllan Gray came hack, bringing wilii her a love¬ 
ly buneb of wild flowers, and such radiant looks, 
that. Noel was Insensibly soothed before site began 
to speak. What arguments she had used to pre¬ 
vail with Ills step-mother he could not guess; but 
that they had been conclusive was evident. 
•‘Mjs. Estcourt had quite recovered her spirits 
when she started,” UilUan assured him; “and she 
had almost forgiven you for sending her away so 
cavalierly, in fact she said, as she hade me adieu, 
that It had been a great relief to her when you 
consented to let her go, as between ber longing to 
be with her children, and her fears that you would 
think her unkind if she. proposed leaving you, she 
had been In a terrible dilemma.” 
“If she. is but in time,” said Noel, uneasily. 
“ Irene is headstrong enough to carry out a rash 
resolve upon smaller provocation than t he present 
one.” 
Sowing the tares under cover of night, 
When we might have sowed Joys cheery and bright. 
Oh! heart, turn to God, with repentance and prayers, 
And plead for forgiveness for sowing the tares." 
Uialtimore Sun. 
-♦ ■» »-- 
AN UGLY GIRL. 
(Continued from page 286.) 
CHAPTER XII, 
THE RESULT OF IRENE’S LETTER. 
“That’s just like you!” observed Mrs. Estcourt, 
fretfully. “You always do side with that girl, 
no matter how rebellious and troublesome she may 
be. It’s very hard upon me." 
“Why did you leave her letter unanswered?” 
asked her step-son, sternly. 
“ I do not choose to be questioned in this style, 
Noel!” was the dignified reply. “ it's very imperti¬ 
nent of you. and submit to it I will not. But if you 
must know, Irene wrote for money, and I bad 
none to send lier." 
“My purse Is—Is somewhere — in one of my 
pockets, I suppose. Pi ay search for it, and let 
her have w hatever It contains.” 
“I have already had that trifle, and spent It,” 
Mrs. Estcourt was obliged to coniess. “ You must 
have known that I couldn’t stay in such a house 
as this without getting myself another dross or 
two.” 
" And thechlldren wanting food!” Noel remind¬ 
ed her. 
Mrs. Estcourt burst Into tears, but laid all the 
blame on her daughter's bad management, and 
summed up by declaring Irene was behaving 
shamefully. 
“ In refusing to be neglected in this cruel man¬ 
ner ?” demanded Noel, so passionately, that the 
sound of Ids voice penetrated to the adjoining 
room, and brought in Hllllan Gray and the nurse 
to put an end to a conference that was disturbing 
him to such a dangerous degree. 
“ Don’t find rault with me I” cried Mrs. Estcourt., 
in reply to their reproachful looks. “ I could not 
prevent his exciting himself, lie knew the state 
into which I should be thrown by his violence ; 
but he Is like the rest. Anyone can see that my 
children have no consideration lor me.” 
“ One moment!” gasped Noel, laying his hand on 
the nurse’s arm, as she would have taken his step¬ 
mother away. “ Miss Gray, will you do me a great 
favor ? Will you see that a carriage Is procured to 
take Mrs. Estcourt to the station in time for the 
next train to London ? She must return there im¬ 
mediately.” 
“ And leave you, Noel? How can canl? tv hat 
would people think of me ?" she asked, helplessly. 
“ Don’t study appearances, nor worry me with 
arguments; think olyour little ones, and go. Good 
heavens! woman, how can you be so utterly for¬ 
getful of then- claims upon you ?” 
He had never accosted her in such a strain be¬ 
fore, and Mrs Estcourt began to cry and declare 
that he was very unfeeling to speak to her so 
rudely. 
As to the children, she was sure—as she had 
told him again and again, only he would not lis¬ 
ten to her—that Irene must have managed very 
badly, and— 
But nurse Brown had by this time led her to the 
door, and the rest of her sell-bewalllngs were 
spoken outside It. 
Hllllan was, however, terrified at the state in 
which she round Lord Carlsforde, and acted with 
a promptitude and good sense that did much to- 
wards reclaiming him. 
“ Pray lie still ; the wish you have just express- 
sed shall be obeyed. 1 will neither forget nor 
let anyone else do so, that by Miss Carisforde's 
commands you are to be considered master here 
as long as she is absent. Mrs. Estcourt shall be 
ready for the train, and shall go to town by It, or 
my name Is not Hilllau Gray! Will that con¬ 
tent you ?" 
He nodded, and she glided away ; her aunt who 
had been hovering near the door, trying to glean 
what was amiss from theu- faces, Instantly tak¬ 
ing her place; but Noel could not obey UlUlan’s 
Injunction and compose himself till Mrs. liurst, 
from her post by the window, announced that 
his step-mother was just departing, and that Ull- 
llan herself was driving with her to the station. 
Then a regret that he had been betrayed into 
speaking more sharply than dutifully mingled 
with his fears that she might reach home too 
late to prevent the flight of Irene, the self-willed 
mad-brained girl, whose eccentricities had always 
been a source of anxiety to him. 
He began to chafe at his own inactivity. There 
were so many duties unfulfilled which only he 
could perform: there was Miss Carlsforde to be 
“Why anticipate trouble? Mrs. Estcourt has 
promised to telegraph as soon as she arrives at her 
own home. Are you fond of your half-sister, Lord 
carlsforde?” 
“ Eond enough to feel very unhappy about her 
now I know she is on the verge of committing a 
rash act, which 1 cannot exert, myself to prevent." 
“Then you will forgive me for dispatching a 
telegram to Miss Estcourt, assuring her that her 
mother was hastening to her. My aunt, whose 
deafness does not prevent her from exercising her 
wits for the benefit of othere, suggested it, and I 
acted upon the suggestion.” 
“ it was very kind, v uy thoughtful,” cried Noel; 
but, -without waiting to hear his thanks, she went 
on: 
“And you will be pleased to hear that as Mrs. 
Estcourt cannot herself remain with you. she pro¬ 
poses to send this young lady to Carisfoi de.” 
"Send Irene here! She will worry you to 
death:" was Noel’s Impulsive exclamation; but 
lllUlan’s gay, little laugh was so reassuring, that 
he reconciled himself to the threatened infliction. 
After aU, Irene was always more endurable than 
her mother, and she would be safer here than with 
Airs. Estcourt, who, when free from the controlling 
influence of his presence, was apt to keep up a 
perpetual “nagging” that made her high-spirited 
daughter utterly unmanageable. This thought 
proved so consoling, that Noel was able at last to 
look forward to the coming of his half-sister with 
something like pleasure. 
Irene Estcourt's arrival cook place, however, in 
rather peculiar stylo. HlJllan Gray had been tak¬ 
ing the exercise on which her aunt Insisted, at the 
close of a pleasant but chilly afternoon, when she 
was startled by a female figure suddenly emerging 
from the thick belt of evergreens surrounding the 
lawn, and abruptly accosting her: 
“ Do you beLong to the house?" 
“I certainly am living there,’’ said Hllllan, 
doubtfully regarding the speaker, whose attire was 
concealed by a very sbabby waterproof-cloak, the 
hood of it being drawn over her head. The race be¬ 
neath the hood w-as the fair and rosy one of a gil l 
younger than herself, and would have been pretty, 
but It w-as smudged with the tears that had been 
wiped away with a hand which bore the marks of 
having wielded at no distant period a blaeklead- 
brush, while a black from the engine of a railway- 
train had lodged on the extreme tip of a very piqu¬ 
ant little nose. 
“Oh! you live at Carlsforde, do you?" queried 
the new-comer, after indulging in such a long and 
comprehensive glance that at last Hilllan shrank 
from the prolonged gaze of the black eyes that 
contrasted so oddly with the fair hair and plnk- 
and-white complexion. “Then lake me there, 
will you? I’m Noel's—Lord Carisforde’s sister! 
Blip me in through a side door, if there Is one.” 
“ is it Miss Estcourt to whom I have the—the 
pleasure of speaking ?" asked Hllllan, when she 
had overcome her astonishment. 
She was answered with a nod and a sigh of 
weariness. 
“ Yes, it’s me, and here’s my bag; my arm aches 
wilh carrying it. You're not one of the housemaids, 
eh ? You’ll not be offended with me for asking.” 
"My name is Gray,” was the quiet response. 
“ if I wasn’t just beginning to think so! Then 
you’re the young person who takes too much upon 
herself?" 
“ Is that Jire. Estcourt’s report of me ?” queried 
HtlUan, dryly. 
“ Yes; but then no one takes any notice of what 
ma says, so w-hy should you ? Where's the side 
door ? My feet ache so I can’t walk much farther 
••Why were we noi apprised when to expect 
you, that the carriage might he sent to the sta¬ 
tion ?" 
“ Do I look like carriage company ?” asked Irene. 
A question so difficult to answer, that Hilllan pass¬ 
ed It by, and asked another : 
“ Have you made Hie journey alone?” 
Irene nodded again. 
“Third class; and hadn’t money enough to car¬ 
ry me all the way, so t had to get out about four 
miles from Corby, and walk the rest. Look at my 
poor shoes: they were bad enough before 1 start¬ 
ed; and uow they’re in holes—actually lu holes:” 
*• 1 cannot understand—how Mrs. EsLeoun could 
let you come in this manner.” itlUlanwas about to 
add, but checked herself. 
However. Irene comprehended her meaning, and 
promptly gave the required explanation. 
»I’ll tell you how it was. Ma wanted to keep 
for herself the money she brought rroin here. 
Who gave it to her ? 1 don’t know; do you ?” 
Hllllan ertmsoued, but was silent, so Irene went 
on. 
“ Well, and so she wanted me to borrow some of 
—of never mind whom; but I wouldn’t. Never 
no, never; and so we had a great quarrel, and 
mamma called me names—but that. I didn’t care 
for—and then she said Noel was dying, and that I 
was an unnatural sister not to want to see him 
again; and that"—here the excited speaker had 
to struggle with her sobs—“that made me come 
off in the middle of my work. You see the sen-ant 
left us suddenly, and 1 ’ve had to do everything. 
I’d have walked all the way, rather than have 
missed seeing Noel again, for he’s the best, the 
dearest of brothers. Is he really dying?’, 
“No, no; he is recovering, though very slowly. 
But, my dear girl, you don’t mean to say that you 
came away without Mrs. Estcourt’s knowledge?” 
“ Oh: no. l put my head In at the door—she 
always goes to bed after anyone has offended her— 
and said, 1 Good-bye, ma; I’m going to Noel. Wish 
me a pleasant Journey !’ But she wouldn’t, so off 
I came.” 
“ And borrowed the money, after all ?” 
“Not I, indeed: Noel detests anything of the 
kind, and so do I. I knew Matilda -Jenkins coveted 
my new hat. Noel chose It; and it liad the love¬ 
liest long, drooping ostrich feather you ever saw I 
I wouldn't have parted with it only for his sake. 
But I offered It to her for half the cost, and came 
without one. I suppose I look a regular guy, don't 
I?” 
“ What would you have done If Miss Jenkins 
had declined the purchase?" inquired the amused 
Wilton. 
“Sold my hair,” said irene, pushing back her 
hood, and shaking down a mass of pale-brown 
t resses. *• It’s more trouble to me than It’s worth. 
Noel dots fuss so about my keeping it in nice 
order.” 
*• I do not wonder at that; it is such lovely hair.” 
“Is it?” queried Irene, holding up a tress, and 
surveying It critically. “ Ma says it’s not at all a 
fashionable color. Oh! how tired I am! and so 
awfully hungry!” 
“Let me take you to my room," said Bllltan, 
kindly. “ There you can rest and have some tea.” 
“ Not till I have seen Noel," was the emphatic 
response. •* Ma distinctly said that he was dying, 
and though she may be wrong-sbe often is—I 
don't feel as if 1 could enjoy anything—no, not 
even thin bread-and-butter and potted ham—till I 
have satisfied myself that he is as well as you de¬ 
scribe.” 
“ You are quite right to he anxious to see your 
brother at once,” Gillian observed; “hut don’t you 
think he would feel troubled If he saw you in this 
plight?” 
A remark that made 1 renc glance at her dusty 
wrapper and her dirty hands, inquiring, doubt- 
fuUy: 
“Am I so very untidy? But what matters? 
Noel knows me of old. He would scarcely recog¬ 
nize his harum-scarum sister if 1 was as prim and 
neat as you are, Do take mo to him at once: How 
came he to he hurt so badly ? I know very little 
about If, for ma hates to be bothered with ques¬ 
tions. Wasn’t it in trying to save that trouble¬ 
some Miss Carlsforde. who turned up all In a sud¬ 
den to be a nuisance to us? only to think of poor 
dear Noel nearly losing his life lor a girl who had 
robbed him of all his property 1” 
“Hush!’’ said Hilllan, in troubled tones. “Re¬ 
member t hat, you are in ner father’s house—the 
lather who gave her his ali out of the depth of the 
love she. never succeeded in winning till the hand 
ot death was separating them. Pity her. Miss 
Estcourt-pity her a little, ror there is not a crea¬ 
ture on the face ot this earth more unhappy 
amidst her wealth than Ada Carlsforde." 
Awed by the seriousness of the speaker's man¬ 
ner, Ixene said no more, but followed her through 
the conservator}-, by means ot which they entered 
the house unobserved. From thence they passed 
across the wide hall, and up the principal stair¬ 
case to the corridor, Into which opened the guest’s 
chamber, the richly-furnished suite of rooms 
hastily prepared for Noel’s reception. 
But when, with a reassuring smile, Hllllan 
paused at. the door, anti turned to her companion, 
she had disappeared. 
CHAPTER XIII. 
NOEL GROWS IMPATIENT. 
In a dark corner at the foot of the staircase, 
crouching on the floor, Hllllan Gray found Lord 
carisforde’s half-sister. She had been suddenly 
seized with an unconquerable dread of the scene 
she expected to witness. Noel, no longer strong, 
health)-, and smiling, but wrapped In surgical ban¬ 
dages, hollow-eyed, and ghastly, perhaps unable 
to recognize him when she approached him , was 
the picture her imagination drew; and It filled her 
with such horror that she was now as unwilling to 
behold him as a tew- minutes earlier she had been 
anxious to do so. 
It was not till patient nillianhad repeated again 
and again her assurances that there was nothing 
painful in her brother’s appearance, that she 
agreed to be taken to lihn; and when she did con¬ 
sent to rise, it was only to drop back lu her former 
position, and quietly taint away. Here was the 
explanation or the fit of nervous terror at which 
Irene herself had marvolled. Long abstinence 
from rood, and the fatiguing walk, had been loo 
much for the strength of the Ul-led, rapidly grow¬ 
ing girl; and she did not regain her senses till 
after she had been conveyed to Hllllan's bedroom. 
Irene’s delight, w hen admitted into Noel's pres¬ 
ence and warmly thanked for coming to him, 
would have risen to an exuberant height, ir nurse 
Brown had not been there- to check It, she was 
eager to he allowed to wait on her brother, and 
never happier than when permitted to be of some 
service to him; but her zeal outran her discretion, 
and. os she upset or threw down everything she 
came In contact with, it was considered only pru¬ 
dent to forbid her free access to his eliauibcr till 
he was st ronger. 
Irene penitently' admitted her awkwardness, 
endurevl nurse Brown s lectures good-humoredly, 
and set herself to work to find amusement for the 
hours that must otherwise have hung heavily on 
her hands. Fortunately for Hillian, to whom she 
had thought proper to attach herself, she was 
easily pleased, and, as soon as she had received 
permission to inspect the whole house, commenced 
the tour of the principal rooms, dragging Mrs. 
Hurst with her to assist la her explorations. 
The result of these voyages of discoveries was 
always imparted to Noel in the evening; and 
though one day his little sister would come to him 
full of the wonders of a cabinet of shells and 
corals from the Pacific, and nn the next was equal¬ 
ly engrossed In the Illuminations of some quaint 
old missal, she always provided the little party 
that assembled at twilight beside his ccuch with 
pleasant topics or conversation. 
“ It’s regularly Jolly here!" Irene declared. “ If 
Noel were well, and mamma, would not fidget and 
expect such long letters, and the fullest answers to 
all her tiresome questions, and I could make my¬ 
self quite easy about the children, I shouldn't care 
If I never left carlsforde again." 
But Noel, though he smiled at her enthusiastic 
speech, could not think as she did. When alone 
he often ruminated on the curious chain of events 
that had occurred to detain him in a house he had 
been anxious to turn his back upon for ever. At 
the present time he was the real though unwilling 
occupant of Carlsforde Park; for its young mis¬ 
tress neither answered the advertisements inserted 
by his request In all the leading newspapers, nor 
had Mr, Whltely succeeded In obtaining any clue 
to her whereabouts; while Mrs. Hurst, tt the sub¬ 
ject was mooted to her, went off Into such long 
tirades concerning Ada’s obstinacy, and thetrlal3 
she had undergone with her wilful pupil, that 
Noel, for his own comfort's sake, grew careful not 
to advert to it. 
More provoking stiff, Miss Carisforde’s guardian, 
a certain Major Blenklnsop, then In the West In¬ 
dies, to whom, at his instigation, Mr. Whltely had 
written and acquainted him with his ward’s dis¬ 
appearance. addressed his reply to the young peer, 
and empowered him to act as his representative. 
“ I am endeavoring to settle the affairs on a 
widowed cousin," he wrote. “ Who has large sugar 
plantations In this island, and am so harassed with 
conflicting claims and entangled accounts, that I 
really cannot he of much use to you. Bo, taxing 
Into consideration that your lordship Is on the 
spot, and will doubtless eventually wed your 
naughty runaway cousin, I don’t think I can do 
better than beg j /on to attend to all such affairs— 
repairs of the house, appeals from tenants, etc.— 
as present themselves to your notice. I should be 
sorry to think that anything is neglected through 
my absence from England, but feel sure, my dear 
lord, that I may rely upon you to take care that 
the orphan child of my old friend does not suffer 
by my inability to hasten to her.” 
It seemed as If the fates were conspiring to force 
Noel Into relations with the heiress. aDd he was 
not altogether sorry that, the state of his health 
afforded him an excuse for delegating all the ques¬ 
tions that were referred to him for decision to Mr. 
Whltely. 
It chafed him to see that HUlian Gray did not 
approve of this, and delivered his messages or 
wrote the notes he dictated with unfeigned re¬ 
luctance. 
“ 1 wish we could reconcile you to your Impris¬ 
onment,” said Hllllan. wlstrully. 
“ Nay; would you not despise me If I were con¬ 
tent to endure It, while my work 13 waiting forme? 
Yet do not Imagine that I am unmindful of the 
kindness I have received since I have been here. 
I shall often recall the days spent with you and 
your aunt. Do you intend to remain at Carlsforde. 
Miss Gray ?” 
To his surprise, Hllllan was slightly discon¬ 
certed by the question. 
“ You forget my aunt’s infirmity. While she Is. 
so very dependent on me, how canl leave her? 
While she persists in thinking that she ought to 
sray, I must try to be contented to do so too.” 
“ I do not like to question you too closely re¬ 
specting Miss Carlsforde,’’ Noel said, after a pause; 
“ because you are so loyal to your friends, that I 
believe you think you ought not to give one any 
information that might lead to the discovery ol the 
lost damsel. But I should feel easier In my mind 
It you could give me reason to hope that she Is 
with some Mend or other." 
HUlian mused. 
“ I never knew her to have any friends but my 
aunt..” 
“ And yourself—I am sure Ada Carlsforde has 
not a firmer, truer one than you." 
“ Do you think so ?” she answered, with unusual 
bitterness in her accents, “ or do you say this be¬ 
cause politeness aeems to demand It? in either 
case you are wrong. My likes or dislikes—my hate 
or esteem are of little consequence to any one ; for 
I am of no account to the world. Yet I cherish 
them as strongly as more fortunate peop.e. and 1 
hate—yes, 1 bale the name of Carlsforde : I wish 
I could go where l may never hear its odious sound 
again 
And then averting her crimson face, she hurried 
away, leaving Noel to muse over this revelation or 
the life she must have led as the dependent of his 
unknown cousin. To what capricious usage must 
she not have been forced to submit, before the gen¬ 
tle, sweet-tempered Hilllan was taught to detest 
the very name of her employer! 
CHAPTER XIV. 
ENGAGEO. 
Irene's letters from home—spider-like scrawls, 
full ot complaints of Mrs. Esteoxu-fs domestic tri¬ 
als with those dreadful children, arid the servants, 
who were equally unmanageable—were generally 
read In haste, and tossed to Noel for him to dictate 
the reply, or write an answer himself when he felt 
equal to It, Bui one morning Mrs. Estcourt’s 
epistle was i-rused with more than ordinary care, 
and slipped into til* reader’s pocket from whence 
It was produced when she seated herself In the 
twilight on the low stool beside her brother’s sofa. 
“ Noel, there’s some thing I haven’t told you yet,” 
she cried, abruptly. “ I am engaged.” 
