American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-07-09

would not have lost him for u hundre,
Larchton Meres. Oh, my murdere,
darling, wanting you, what is all thu
world to me-"
She wrung her hands. she cried alout
in her anguish. and Sir Austen. who
was still overwhelmed with sr.ef, i'm
plorcd her to be calm. She refused tC
be comtorted. and she would not allow
the body o. her dead child to be re
moved until she herself had given Lean
Dynevor in charge.
Ross would not leave Lean. Once he
drew near To her, and said:
| Trust me, Lean, trust me-" And
she looked 1T him with pity i'll her beau.
tiful eyes.
Il do trust you implicitly" she re-
piled.
But, Learn he said, you did not
do it. You could not have doneit You.
SO gentle, so sweet, so good; you could
not have done it. If all the world be
lieved it, would mott
You know best" she answered.; and
there was something of reproach in her
eyes that he could not understand.
| Sir Austen, in his distress and alarm,
asked his son to ride quickly to Mars
ton Abbey in search of his great friend,
Lord Snarestone, who lived there.
81 shall not be long, Lean, my
| darling" said Ross; '.keep up your spir-
its. l will come back to you as quickly
as / cam
Meanwhile Lady Cumnor knelt by
the dead body of her child. The crowd
broke up into groups. At last-and
those who watched her had expected it
for some time-Lady Cumnor fell, al
most without life, and was carried
into tho bpnsn yhara CT, oh nrf
a time before all had been festivitv and
mirth. Then the servants bore the lit
tie body away.
Ross rode hard, in accordance with
his fathers wish. His very heart
seemed on fire. He was quite sure that
Lean was Innocent; it could not be,
as his step-mother said, that she had
committed the crime for his sake. He
was almost mad with anger, pity and
pain. 1t had stung him sharply for
few minutes, the fact that his father
had made another will and had given
awav Larchton Mere; but he would have
got over his disappointment, he would
have lived it down. Larchton Mere and
all his fathers money besides were less
than nothing compared with the life of
his half-brother.
He rode as he had never ridden be-
fore. Lean in danger--his bright,
dear, beautiful love, In his abstrac-
ton he forgot how dangerously low the
trees met overhead at one part of the
high-road. Suddenly, without a mo-
ment's warning, bough struck his
head with such terrible force that it
was a wonder he was not killed on the
spot. AS it was. he fell from his horse;
and the animal, terrified, rushed on
wildly, dragging him until stopped by
a passer-by.
Three hours after he had left home,
Ross was carried back, wreck of the
hale, vigorous man who had left it full
of life and energy. The occurrence
added to the horror of the day. The
doctors, who were summoned in hot
haste, locked doubtfully at him. They
thought he could hardly survive such
injuries. One arm was broken, one of
his wrists terribly injured. and a severe
wound on the head rendered him |
quite insensible. The doctors knew |
all that had happened on that day; and
they said that he would most probably |
have brain fever. And they were right. |
When he would have most wished to |
be up and doing, when the very life of
lying at deaths door.
The gloom did not pass away from
the house even when little Hugh, |
whose loss every one deplored, was
buried; for, on that very day, when the
tors told Sir Austen that all hope was
1t an end for the other. But in this
hey were mistaken; Ross time had
not yet arrived.
CHAPTER x.
The trial of Lean Dynevor for muir
Ter was the sensation of the day, and
people came from all parts of England
o be present, for the story was a most
one, and it had gone the
'ound of the newspapers. The result
vas as many had foreseen. The jury
,ame to the conclusion that the pris-
,ner was of unsornd mind; and she
vas ordered to be confined during her
pleasure.
The verdict gave general satisfaction.
t appeared terrible that, even if
utility, she should be punished with
leath. Lady Cumnor, however, was
Tot well pleased. To her it seemed
hat the one who had taken her child
life ought to atone for it with her own.
Lean Dynevor was to remain in the
rison at Larchton for a few weeks.
/ .
unatic asylum.
Six weeks had passed since the trial
nded, and already it was almost for
often. 1t had been nine days
'onder; but other wonders had sue {
eded it. Lean Dynevor was forgotten /
kept by few. Lady Viola Carlien s
'as faithful to her; and. when the hand {
ome Neapolitan urged his suit with al {
lost irresistible fervor, she said to S
i'm, in her frank fashions:
II like you much better than l did; c
ldeed, to be quite frank with you, like c
ou better than ever thought Ishould. c
ut L will never marry any one until
lie mystery of Lean Dynevor is solved.
he never hurt that child. l was near
er ali the day of the trial; she is more
Ike an angel than a women. There is 4
mystery, and it must be solved. Try i,
unravel it, Prince; and then-well, I,
e do not know how joyful the bells of e
archton Church NAV peal afterwards!' d
The Prince looked dismaved d
Elf may not marry you until that b
ystery be solved. carissin,a, we shall u
,ver marry at all. 1t is strange, ii
Irk affair which cannot understand" D
''Yo GU must try to do So" said Lady II
lola II shall try. If ever the day t.
mes when beautiful Lean Dynevor h
ands before men as l believe she ST
ands before Heaven, then. Prince, h
u can again put the question you al
I'VE asked.' III
The roses and the lilies had faded, ii
e autumn flowers were IN bloom, and ii
e fair earth lay smiling in the autumn al