Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-05-31

see that MIR. Drake writes ne Is gong 10
join party to go up to Dover not to
return till night, if will excuse his
coming back to dinner"
"Yes," Dorcas said vaguely.
1.-The man who brought the note
waits for an answer. Tell him to say
TO Mr. Drake, go, ~ all means l
haven't time or would write"
Dsrcas started off, but her mistress's
voice again made her pause.
"When you have sent him away
come to my room-I want YOU" said
Lydia.
There was a little delay, but when
Dorcas entered the room her mistress
was busy with a travelipg-bag.
"Dorcas," she said, '.you have been
with me all my life-do you want to re-
main with me still?"
The voice was so cold, the face SO
white. Dorcas dsred make no scene.
"I'll go with you to the worlds end,
ma'am!" she answered, feelingly.
"Then get ready. / am going to
Boston-on from there as fast as can.
Tell nobody. Get your things out Of
the house rs secretly as possible"
"GoingP Where? What is the mat
ter?" groaned Dorcss.
elf you can't be quiet and obey with
out question you must stay behind, ,"
Lydia answered, in the same hard, I'M
natural voice. "Be quick and choose
| have no time to waste"
She sat down and wrote letter to
her husband, inclosed the torn pages
she had found, and poured out the mad
Jealousy OF the past weeks that had this
day eliminated.
al have done now" she wrote.
"People were right: you loved her. and
not me; and now that she is rich and l
am poor, am too proud to wait till l
am cast off. So go, and you need not
follow; you could not find me even if
you wished. Remember that hence
forth your life is free from me. Think
of me as dead, if you like. In your
hands is the only proof of our marriage
destroy it; nothing will then stand
between you asd peace. l have only to
beg you to forgive me for allowing you
to link your fate with miserable and
impoverished wife instead of with an
heiress, as you hoped"
The letter ended as abruptly as it be-
gan and was sealed and placed on
BRAKES writing-table. Dorcas came
softly into the room, crying little in
quiet way. Every thing was ready
they could go.
Late that evening Leonard Drake re-
turned to be Mortified by the news that
his wife was not there, though the de-
nestle had supposed, from what Dorcas
said, that she and her mistress had gone
to Dover to meet Mr.. Drake. Leonard
took light and hurried TO his room
where the first object that met his eyes
WAS the letter Lydia had written.
Five years had elapsed since Lydia's
disappearance. But she looked older
even than that. The agony of that day
the horrid flight afterwards; the con-
slant fear of discovery, and lastly the
struggle for bread, combined with her
never-ending heartache, had begun to
cut wrinkles in her still fair face.
In all of this time she had never
heard Of her husband, nor of her early
home. She was too proud to return TO
her father.
al will starve first" she often said,
Glen thing her hands.
Whether Leonard was alive or dead
she did not know, nor did she wish to
know. Sometimes she said to herself,
moaning on her pillow at night, "He
is with Mrs. Dorchester" and the
thought went through her heart with
actual physical pain, like the stab Of a
knife.
She and her faithful Dorcas were
settled in Boston now, in an obscure
corner, as the least likely place to be
discovered. She earned a scanty liv-
ing, and ii was of the scantiest, by color
ing photographs. Into the more fash
ionaole streets she never ventured, ex-
cept when she had to go to sell her