The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1877-09-20

lnlgil nave proved less agreeable
companion, but perhaps a better friend
than the other.
"Amt Cecilia, said the first gentle,
man, easily advancing, "your prodigal
nephew, Fred. Hasn't he change be.
yOnd recognition?"
erred, my dear, dear nephew" Mrs,
Marlette bubbled, bestowing such a
greeting Ofkisses on him that he blushed
warmly through his Drowned cheeks,
and would have wished himself back In
the Falkland Islands had he not pos
sessed peculiarly grateful disposition.
Then she told him that before he saw
any of his cousins, he must sit down
and tell her all about himself and the
Falklands-whether he was going back
again, and what ever induced him to go
there in the first place. Ernest, mean
time, must go in search of Sake and
Helen-she thought they were In the
library-and bring them out to see
Fred.
Whereupon Ernest departed with
dispatch.
Helen Marlette sat alone in the bay
window of the library, a large, cool
room to which little glass door leading
into the conservatory afforded the only
entrance save by the hall. A magazine
lay open on her lap, but her mind was
far from its pages. A crisis lOOmed up
in her life, and she was regarding it
helplessly with folded hands. So alb
sOrbed was she that the subject of her
thoughts, the man she did not love,
stood beside her before she knew he
had entered the room. She started and
looked upon him mutely, as she would
have looked upon her fate.
Meeting the look with his handsome
eyes, he said, gravely:
'Helen, you know why | am here.
Tomorrow | leave Airline. You must
tell me whether / leave it forever, or
whether | shall return to claim my
wife.
He was very, very handsome, and he
had read her cold face too well to say
much. Why did she not love him, she
asked herself, as if in dream? Oh
why couldn't she? Was she not un-
reasOnable9 Oh, for some kind fate to
interpOse forever between them. She
sat as if spell-bound, and did not speak
a word.
Emboldened by her silence, he caught
her hand to his lips.
There arose a succession of terrified
cries, and trampling of feet in the
hall. With dilated eyes and wringing
hands Mrs. Marlette burst into the
room.
Rogers mad Rogers mad! !" she
distractedly, rushing into the
conservatory and locking the door upon
Sake, who closely followed. Seeing no
agress from the room, Sake, mad with
terror, leaped upon a large writing
table, snatched off its green cover, re-
gardless Of ink-stand papers, and en-
velOped her head in its folds, pressing
ler face against the wall.
With lOlling tongue and burning
Eyes, in an answering line toward
Helen, came Roger. Pale as death, En-
lest Houston leaped from the window.
All this in the twinkling of an eye.
Aunt Cecilia cOnld be seen through the |
door, still shriekimg and |
her hands. From the green |
came incOherent means. |
Nearer-nearer- nearer-one leap. |
Ter nerves relaxed, and she fell back |
In the course of ten or fifteen minutes |
Helen Marlette became aware of a |
tifling sensation and a burning in her
yes, which further developments
proved to be the result of handkerchief |
aturated with ammonia flung over her
ace. A frightful railroad accident had |
AIKEN place-what, she did not exactly |
Understand. Somebody was tanning her
fter it; somebody with dark, bright |
yes-kind eyes-eyes that watched her
ong, long ago. She closed her eyes
peacefully, and thought she was in
leaven with the happy dead.
"Oh, she opened ner eyes. Give her
little wine now; she's coming to-"
aid a terrestrial voice, and very ter
estrial vial was held to her lips.
"Dear me !" another voice said, also
n earthly accents, ''if it hadn't been
or you we should all have died of hy-
rophobia. How did you happen to
hoot Roger and miss Helen when they
we're so near? You should go on the
tags and play William Tell. Fan her
er more, she don't look so pale now"
Looking again, Helen dimly recOg-
lied familiar faces in the mist, and
er head was resting on an arm belong
no to the kind eyes that were still
,atching her. She hadn't the least in
lination to move away, for they be-
1nged to Fred Houston, and he loved
er. Hadn't he told her so only last
light when they were out boating to-
ether2 A terrible gap had began to
avn between that night and this
his morning. She sat upright and
ried to understand
ooh, Helen" cried Sake, kneeling
eside her cousin, and chatting her flac-
id hands; "you don't know what has
appened since you tainted That cow
rdly Ernest ran away and left you
lone, and Roger was just springing on
on when Fred shot him. Oh, Fred,
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