Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-10-02

proteslatlon an inner lie OF dreams and
fancies and pure imaginings. In the actual
life there was no sweetness or freshness
and it was real; in the dream life there
was truth, there was purity, there was
inocence-and it was delusiQn. You had
most bitterly proved it to me. And thus
until this day it has remained"
Harold paused, and all the tenderness
departed from his voice. Rising, he con-
fronted Mauvain, and with stern look,
said, 81 have respected your confidence,
in the belief that no deceit was practiced
upon me, and that l have not unwittingly
been made party to dishonorable action.
This touches me more nearly perhaps than
you imagine. You are brave man and
gentleman; you will not deny me my
right 1 demand an explanation of you.
sc Do you threaten, Harold ?"
''No; simply insist upon my right.
Harold" said Mauvain, with delibera.
ton, "let this matter rest it will be bet
ter for both of US. We have been friends;
let us continue So.
at is not possible" said Harold, "that
l should ever touch your hand again in
friendship unless you satisfy me that you
have not used me unworthily."
'You will not be advised?''
81 take my own course. God knows
where it will lead me, but am resolved. "
"You link yourself with that woman
Margaret Sylvester; you stand with her
against 'me?"
"Why," exclaimed Harold, in so scorn-
full tone that the blood rushed into
Mauvain's face; but almost in the same
moment he forces a smile to his lips, it
would almost appear that you are appeal
ing to me for championship Then the
Mauvain of to-day is not the Mauvain l
have hitherto known
"Have your way" said Mauvain, with
a light laugh. "What is it you require?"
"The truth"
"You shall have it, Mr.. Dreamer, naked
and unvarnished."
81 expected no less. You are not made
of the metal that is daunted by conse-
quences. On the night upon which our fate
seems to hang you told me that Margaret
and Clarice were not sisters. Did you be-
lieve this?"
"Upon my honor, Harold, it is prob
lem. l believe in so little All is fair in
love and war.
"We were not at war we were friends,
and l would have defended you to the
DEATH"
"All is fair, then, in love, without the
war; and right or wrong, l fancied you
had an eye for the fair one who had cap
tivated me-"
"For Clarice?"
eyes"
"You were not mistaken. loved her."
"Harold !"
with all my heart and soul I loved
her Had l believed her pure no power
on earth could have prevented me from
asking her to be my wife. Do you admit
now that have right to an explanation ?"
eyes; but 1 did not spect-having
no reason to do so-that your heart was so
deeply engaged"
"You judged from YOURSELF"
eyes"
"And if you had learned otherwise,
Mauvain, would you have been diverted
from your purpose?"
81 think not, Harold l was never
given to self.sacrifce.
Answered honestly. And now you
can tell me did you believe these poor
girls to be sisters?"
"Tn truth, Harold. did not consider
too curiously. Their master was such an
iucorrigible scoundrel that it was impossi-
BILE TO trust him or place faith in his words.
he said they were sisters"
"Then you spoke falsely when, without
question on my part, you told me that
they were not %
"You will have to answer to me, Harold,
for the insult.
81 shall be ready; we shall neither of
us finch from what is to follow. repeat
that you spoke falsely to me when you
told me Margaret and Clarice were not
sisters"
81 invented fiction to save you pain.
1t was the easiest way, thought, to
prevent you from taking the affair too
seriously to heart.
ga proof that you yourself admitted
there was difference between these girls
and those with whom you classed them.
Their scoundrel-master, Mauvain-did he
tempt you by the lie that they were of an
easy, complying nature, and ready to fall
into your princely arms?''
"No; he extoiled them for their virtue
and their modesty."
Harold caught his breath, and recoiled
step from Mauvain, exclaiming Glow
completely Margaret Sylvester was justi-
fed in asking us whether we were men or
monsters !"
"You wished for the truth, Harold, and
1 am giving it you"
'"And having learnt this from the lips
of the man who knew them best, You de-
liberately laid plan for their betrayal !"
"Spare me your heroics, Harold, and
make an end as quickly as possible"
cit is clear to me now. You won OF
the scoundrel a sum of money which it was
impossible he could pay, and you bargained
with him for Clarice. He, knowing your
power and influence, knowing that you
could hunt him from place to place, and
utterly ruin him, sold you pure and help
less girl, and left her to your mercy"
There is a slight flaw in your indict-
ment. The bargain was of his suggesting,
not of mine"
But You consented to it !"