Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-08-16

have had no hope of her from the first.
If you are her sister,
A change had gone over the woman's
face. Awed and shrinking, she had
stood listening to his eager explana-
tions, but now as he half-paused she
looked at him sadly, and spoke:
You did not receive the letter then
which left with the Consul, Mr.. Oil
phant9 There was a mistake made; it
was the nurse who lived, and l am she.
Heaven knows, l would rather have
died, but Death passed me by and took
your wife. 1t is very hard for me to
deal you such blow as / must do in
telling You this. l did not mean that
yOU should be deceived, and thought [
had guarded against that by leaving a
letter of explanation with the Consul to
be delivered on your return
81 did not see him. said Power, too
bcwIdered yet to half-realiZe the truth.
- l do not understand. Why should
You wish to deceive anybody?''
The woman drew in her breath with
half-sob. sob, my baby. my baby"'
she murmured to herself. Then aloud:
Mr. Ol.phant, you do not seem to
know me as Mignon Almont. Perhaps
YOU will understand better when you
know that | am Mrs. France, and that
Dana is my child-m ne-and more lost
to me than if she had died. Oh, l know
| gave her up willingly, but it was
harder for me than any one knew. ]
would not have troubled you if your
wife had lived, but when she died ]
could not leave my baby to fall into
other hands Her father would never
have asked that. 1t seemed such an
easy way to reclaim her when they made
the mistake of believing me Mrs.
Oliphant. She was dead and bur ed,
remember, before | knew. and it seemed
no great harm to wear the name for a
little time, after word came of the acct
dent which was OBTAINING you"
There was an Understandable pathos III
her low, broken voice, in the great.
mournful eyes. Power. who had never
seen Mrs. France, had n sudden con-
viction that she had been Il much
Wrongcd woman; but over other
thoughts came the sudden, dcsolatinG
sense of his own great loss.
He felt DIZZY and confused, the shad-
Owy room grew DINNER, his head fell
back. and with terrified cry Mignon
rushed to his side. His wound had
bu st out bleeding afresh and Mr.. Oil
phaEt had IA nted.
A long season of prostration followed,
and through it Mi|non was his unweary
ing nurse. The summer passed; the
bright, clear weather of the Southern
winter came, and still he fingered in
the house on ESplanade street, not yet
restored to full health and yigor.
Dana,s little feet battered in and out
of his room, her lisping tongue called him
papa. and as Mignon saw how fond he
was of the child a bitter pang pierced to
her heart. Some day he would 90
away and want to take her baby with
him; she was as sure of it then as she !
would be when the time came. The |
mother-nature rcbelled. She had given |
her up once. she could never, never give |
her up again.
Power left them in December for a |
trip to Cuba, and while ther... Il simple |
tablet marked with the name of Rose |
Mignrn Almont was replaced by a
marble shaft .'Sa red t. the memory |
of Rose. dearly beloved wife of Power |
Oliphant, aged nineteen
He did not seek out any of his former |
friends. Those business acquaintance |
with whom he was brought into contact |
knew nothing whatever OF his private |
lie. His object was to effect q transfer |
OF his services to some otter place; to |
remain in Cuba now be felt to be impos- !
sible; and after some discussion, he was |
appointed by the company he served 10 |
a place in Spain. Pending the final ar |
relating to this change, he |
went upon cruise among the smaller |
islands. Touching at Kingston on his |
return, he was surprised to ind himself |
accosted by familiar voice, to see |
Tredegar Almont before him holding |
out q friendly hand.
''1h;s world isn't big enough to run |
away from ones friends in, l find
said the ex-gambler. esignedlv. Mig |
non might As well haze waited for you
in New ORLEANS.
lis she here?" asked Power, eagerly. |
'And little Dana? And running away
from me? That is hardly kind
Not kind to whom?' asked Mr.. AL |
mont. calmly. If you mean to my
self. l agree with you perfectly. 1t |
can't make any great difference to !
you, with keen glance. land Mignon |
has never been particularly indulgent |
to herself. You know her sad history, |
| believe? Size is super-sensitive on |!
that score, has never allowed that mis- |
taken idea of her death in Havana to be |
and contemplates burying |
herself from the world and living only |
for her child's sake. She credits You |
with hav NJ designs on the little one,
YOU see.
Il must reassure her as TO that" said |
Power. and the way he did it was very !
much us the sharp-sirhted Almont ex- |
pcctcd; and to NJ gnon he said:
Il do want Dana, but | want Dana's
mother with her. must have told you
50. soon, for | could not sail without
knowing my fate. l love you, love
vuu as / never loved woman before
1t did not seem to him any disloyalty !
to the dead to tell her this. His love |
for Rose had been greater by far than
Rose love for him, yet that love had
been
'As moonIcht unto sunlight. as water unto
vino
in comparison to the all-absorbing pas
sion which held possession of him now.
N l,l 10