Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-09-18
CHAPTER XXXuI.
MARGARET AND MAUvAIN.


been made public, that grave charge had
been brought against the hunchback, OF
which he had completely cleared himself,
and his Judges had been generous enough
to declare that in his answer to the charge
Rant had shown himself in an uneXpect.
edly noble light. The character OF these
Judges stands SO high in the isle that I'M
plicit faith is placed in this declaration,
the acceptance of which does much to
clear away the prejudice which had existed
against Rant, and many of the islanders
are anxious to make personal acknowledge
ment of their error. The hunchback,
however, has not afforded them an oppor-
tunity; with his usual disregard of their
opinion, in his favor or to his hurt, he has
kept aloof from them.
The one person most anxious to see and
speak with him is Margaret Sylvester. The
trial has torn open the old wound in her
heart, and she feels that she can never
again know peace until she has learned all
that it is in the power of the hunchback
to impart of the history and fate of her
beloved sister. In fulfllment of his prom
Use Matthew has related to her some por-
tions OF the conversation concerning Clarice
which took place years ago between Rant
and himself in mercy to her he has omitted
what it would most grieve her to hear, and
all that she knows is that Clarice was liv-
ing when they supposed her to be dead.
Bitterly does she reproach herself for what
in her agony she declares was an act of
desertion on her part. 1t was her duty to
stop in the old land, and never to give up
her search for her dear Clarice until she
had found her or had been furnished with
undoubted proof of her unhappy end.
Matthew in vain attempts to console her,
and is grateful to think that he has con-
Gcealed from her all knowledge of her dear
Sisters shame. But Margaret, in the
midst of her self-torturing, detects, with
her shrewd womans wit, that something
is being hidden from her, and she sends
Bertha to Rant, with an imploring appeal
that he will see her, and tell her all he
knows of Clarice She receives this mes
sage back:
"Not yet. must choose my time. 1t
will soon come, and then we will speak
together. Be silent and patient, and trust
in me.
1t was possible to be silent, but not to
be patient; and Margaret is now passing
through the most unhappy days OF her life.
She feels that strange events are impend-
ing, and that Rant, her friend and the
friend of Evangeline, holds the thread in
his hands; she can trust him, it is true,
but what can he know of the love, the tor
ture, that fills her heart? She wants to
tell him her story; then he would pity her
and conceal nothing from her. 1t is an
exquisite misery to her to know that she is
powerless that she can do nothing but
wait. Night after night she dreams OF
Clarice, and in her dreams Harold, the
handsome stranger who now lives with
Mauvain, almost invariably finds place.
If no one else can satisfy her, why should
she not 90 to him and ascertain whether
the strange idea which passed through her
mind when he and she met lately in the
narrow lane has any foundation III fact, or
whether the likeness she saw in his face to
the face of one who is connected with the
saddest episode in her life is merely acci-
dental? Engrossed in the cares and duties
of her new home, she and hers have been
SO occupied that she has had no opportu-
nifty of meeting him again; neither has
she seen his friend Mauvain, in whose
house she has lived since her arrival on the
Silver Isle. She meditates upon this, and
broods upon her misery until 1t is almost
too great for her to bear.
In the meantime Mauvain and Harold
are settled in the isle. They also have
been so much engaged that they have had
no time to 90 about there was so much to
do in the house and grounds, so much to
alter. to suit Mauvain's fastidious tastes,
that they have had as yet no time to 'cul-
tivate the islanders, as they express 1t.
Mauvaia has brought with him great
number of cases containing such heirlooms,
pictures and other belongings as he has
been able to save from the wreck OF his
fortune: the difficulty of arranging and
placing these about the house and grounds
has been increased by the circumstance
that when he asked for the assistance OF
laborers on the isle he was informed that
the islanders could not spare time for any
but their own affairs. He has but three
servants with him, and it takes month to
dc what might have been done in week.
Harold and he resolve not to show them
selves to the islanders until the house is in
order.
The weeks have not passed without adj
venture or discovery. Harold one night
is awakened by tapping at his window j;
he rises and opens the window, and a
white pigeon flies into the room. 1t is per-
fectly tame, and allows him to handle it.
"a carrier dove" says Harold, " fit
messenger for Cupid, Is it by these means
that my twisted friend carries on his love
affairs?"
An idea seizes him he writes mes
sage, and tying it under the wing of the
pigeon, releases it. He stands at the win
dow, watching its fight.
"To the mountain OF snow, " he says, as
he follows with his eyes the direction Of
the bird. "Ranf viii get my message if
he be there.
The words he writes are these;
Harold to Rant: In what spirit shall
we meet-if we meet again In the spirit
of friendship or enmity?"
The following night the winged messen-
ger returns, with the message
"Ranf to Harold We shall meet again.
1 am your enemy till death.
Harold laughs in the solitude OF ms
chamber.
'sRanf is a bold man. Certainly he
cannot be accused of lack of courage. lie
reckons, perhaps, on the sympathies OF the
- xr-rfh