The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-10-05
CHAPTER VII.
"A wAILING CRY OF GRIEF"

voice fell upon his ear, and turning In the
direction from which II came, he saw two
shadows at what appeared to be doorlead-
ing from the "Wil,lcrncss," rs that part OF
the grounds was called, into the lane with
out.
1t was the voice of an elderly woman that
Greengraves first heard, and that woman
was none other than the "Aunty" of whom
he had just been thinking.
~ must be going now" she said; "and
you must try and bear with it, dear, as pa
tiently as you can, and all will come right
in the end. feel sure of that. Only pray
be careful. Ii you made the least slip OF
the tongue, you don't know what trouble
They're so severe now over that sort OF
thing"
"Oh, you may depend upon me, mother.
! will be careful for my own sake as we'll"
"Yes, dear, am sure you will. Seeing
all you have gone Through too. This was
your only chance. Once down, always down
know thatw
They were silent for moment, and then
the elder woman spoke again:
1--WE been thinking over what you were
telling me, Hester, about that man. You
say when you met him in the passage he
did not appear the least surprised, did no,
| even seem to recognize You. Are you quite
sure he is the same person? One hears OF
cases of extraordinary likenesses."
"Thcre is no mistake, mother"
"But do you mean to tell me he was not
at all taken aback at meeting the woman he
had so wr0ngcd, so heartlessly deserted!
Did he not even change COLOR"
lie did not move a muscle. have been
thinking that perhaps as | had been in the
house some hours he might have seen me
before, although | had not seen him, and
that he had prepared himself for what must
happen. For my part, the shock was so
sudden, so terrible trembled like leaf,
should have fallen If had not clung to the
balustrade. He looked straight into my face
straight into my eyes, and passed on"
"You say he calls himself Craven, and he
Is sort Of clerkY'
'Cuthbert Craven his name is supposed to
be, and he is Sir Richards secretary. The
name | knew him by four years ago-the
name he gave uS--was most likely false
one"
"Or," said the elder woman quickly, "the
name he uses here may be sham. One thing,
though, seems pretty plain to me. If he is
really the same man and you are not mis-
taken, he is not likely to interfere with you.
You leave him alone, and he will leave you
alone. He's nothing to you now, and you
are nothing to him. And now must 90, or
shall lose my last omnibus, ] am afraid"
The detective, standing in the deep shad-
Ow of the trees, heard the women exchange
kiss, and then he listened to the sound of
the mothers retreating steps upon the gravel
path of the lane without, and as they died
away at length in the far distance pro-
found silence fell upon the garden, and its
surroundings and the still green surface of
the ghostly pond.
A moment later soft wind whispered
plantvely among the naked branches, and
bowed the heads of the tallests blades of the
rank grass growing round the trunks of tho
trees, and, following it deep sobs and wall
ing cry of grief
Cautiously advancing his head, and cram
ing his neck toget better view Of what was
passing, GreengraveS'S eyes rested upon the
slim 1.-THE figure of woman who could bare
ly have reached her twenty-first year, with
face that at times must have been pretty
one, but now was distorted by passion as
she knelt there among the grass, that the
slender fingers of her hands twisted and
dragged up by the roots, whilst in a half
choked voice, yet perfectly audible to the
sharp ears of the spy, she kept repeating:
Nothing to me--nothing to him Moth.
Ing nothingw and then in what seemed to
be a burst of uncomfortable agony, she cried
aloud: "Oh, Heaven! ! love him--I love
him still! cannot help It,"
And as she spoke she flung herself face
downwards upon the earth and burst into
torrent of tears
Mr.. Greengraves drew back his head
again, reilectively stroled his chin with his
right hand, and with his left deeply thrust
down into his trousers-pocket, diScreetly re-
traced his steps towards the house.
Twenty minutes later the superior person,
Miss Hester Partridge, made her appear
ance in the seryants'-hal, very calm and
quiet, but with an air of intense WEAKNESS
and with eyes which Mr. Greengraves
shrewdly judged were yet a little red and
swollen with the binding tears he had seen
| her shed.
This" said Mr., Greengraves, as he walk.
| ed homcwards that night--"this is really a
most remarkable household. Hang me If
there's cupboard in It that has not got its
own private and particular skeleton. Skele-
ton? Skeletons, ! ought to say. There's
some OF the cupboards must be choke-full of
'em several to the shelfw