The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1881-03-05


explanation from him.
"What has she told you, Frank? l
| must see her" he said imperatively.
But Frank barred the door with one
arm as he held Faulkner off.
"Coward-villain Would you per-
secute woman ?" he cried, with o the
atrical air.
"My dear fellow you have known me
tolerably intimately for the last two
years-have you ever proved rne to be
otherwise than rather considerate of the
weaker sex 2"
Acting-mere acting !" vociferated
Frank, who was little carried away by
the responsible position i'll which Mad
anne Rose had placed him.
Do you know who the lady is that is
with quiet dignity.
She Is Madame Rose.
My dear Frank, you are lending
yourself, unwittingly | believe, to great
deception. Come away from the door
and let me speak to her Since you have
elected yourself her champion, you shall
stand by if you like and hear what I
have to say"
There was something so quiet and sub
dued IN Faulkner's manner that it could
not fan to carry with it a strong sppear-
ance of truth, added to which. Frank
Horton was his friend for the last two
years, and had during that period be-
heved him to be an honorable and ben
evOleIt man.
He dropped his arm from the door.
but laid it on Faulkner's shoulders as he
looked him straight in the eyes.
How long s1ncs you have taken to
temperance drinks 2" be asked.
Faulkner shook him off as he would
have done a troublesome fly; he was by
far the stronger man of the two.
my dear Frank, this is not the mo-
ment for foolish questions. | must
speak 10 that woman now, or the oppor-
tunlty may never recur. Let me thro'
the door, or by Jove! as sure as my
name is Dick Faulkner, I'll
a scream-such another scream as
Frank had heard once before that ever
lng-issued from the interior of the
room. The door was flung open wide,
and Madame Rose, as she styled herself.
stood on the threshold.
Had love conquered when she heard
fau1kner's voice, the old love for the
man who had usurped the first place in
her heart
Strange If it were so, after her confess
sion to Frank; still stranger since she
stood and looked at him with a half
querying, half-frightened look on her
beautiful face.
Dick Faulkner held out his hand to
her, a movement which the !ady's true
knight sought to interpose; but she re-
ceived the advance graciouly, laying
her tapered, jeweled fingers IN the prof
fered hand
Horton moved away with gesture of
irritation. 1t WAS evident, he thought,
that he was being played with, and made
the victim of some idiotic connubial
quarrel.
The next words, however, that were
uttered arrested his attention, and
made him turn round once more.
"You have 80 far forgiven the dead az
not to shun the living who wishes you
no i'll. "
1t was Falkner who spoke. She an
swered in very low tones.
(" was laboring under q great mis-
take, but the resemblance is so very
strong"
He was my twin brother. Tho
from my absence at the time Of your
marriage, l have never met you till now,
believe me. [ have searched for YOU
increasingly, hoping by my devotion and
sOhcltude to mitigate at least some por-
ton of my brothers fault"
" heard you had come back, but
was afraid to meet YOU"
" Exactly; SO Mrs. Deut arranged a
meeting for us this evening. / thought
you might be III the hotel, and was
screening for you when"
"Your terrible likeness to the dead
produced the hasty impression that he
must have returned to life."
" Poor Jack May he rest in peace, "
was the brothers pathetic word-tribute.
but the widows eyes flashed.
And all this while Frank Horton stood
against the wall, as tho thoro1y petri-
fed. he did not even attempt to move
when Rose took her newly-found broth
/ er-ln-law IN to look at the sleeping child;
/ IN fact, he did not give any evidence of
/ rouslng up till Dick Faulkner, coming
once more into the passage, shook him
roughly by the arm, as he said, with a
/ laugh:
/ Having supped full of horrors, my
/ boy, let us to better cheer"
4 few seconds more and the five
/ stranded guests were sitting round Dick
! Faulkner's festive board.
! He smiled on the beautiful Rose, and
( babe her remember that he had ordered
/ the fifth place to be laid in expectation
/ OF her coming, and that. after all the
misery she had experienced from alco-
( hol, the temperance drinks were also in
her honor, remark at which tha other
men made grim faces, and, with the ex-
/ ceptl0n OF Horton, perhaps, wished that
Mrs. Rose Faulkner had not been there.
As for Frank, he was in such state
of spooniness that if he bad been told
that the price of gazing into Rosa's love
" eyes was to drink water for the rest of
his natural life. he would have accepted
It without demurrer. But he had the
pleasure Of toasting her in something
stronger than temperance beverages
after al, for was 1t not an exceptional
night, a. she Justly observed, and, as
such, an exception toeverv rule? Be
sides, she added, with a little, modest
smile, lit is the first time have ever
been to q bachelors supper party"
Six months later, when 2 June sun
dispersed the iclcles, and all nature
looked glad and bright, there was no
gladdeI, brighter face to be seen for
miles around than that of Rose (not
Faulkner now, hut Rose Horton) and
she and Frank took possession of q pref