The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1884-07-18


height when 1t was discovered that Mr..
Eyre and Hester Clarke had simultan-
eously disappeared.
CHAPTER VIII.
"But II was even thou. nv companion, my
guide and mine old familiar friend"
The prison doors were open; Hester
might walk out of them at her will, and
with some vague idea of rest beyond,
she had turned. and CROPPED her way
out. instinct guiding her to the great
door that gave egress to the courtyard.
She did not know that without was
assembled vast crowd that reflected
the division of opinion within, one half
of them believing her guilty, though
acquitted; the other, and rOugher pOr-
ton, to whom she had become the idol
Of the hour, being equally certain of
her innocence.
A hoarse shout of welcome rent the
air as she appeared in the doorway,
and, dazed and trembling, gazed out
ward at the sea of faces upturned to her;
and hesitating to plunge into it, did
not perceive how Mr.. Eyre himself
stood behind her.
my friends" said Hester, and
stretched out her two thin hands i'm
ploringly, II have dwelt among you,
and you have known me, and that l am
innocent of this crime"
"Innocent!" said terrible voice in
her ear: and she shrank back to see Mr..
Eyre, cloaked and spurred, standing be-
side her, his eye gathering wrath and
GOODNESS as he glanced cOntemptuOusly
at the crowd before him.
AS he spoke, mingled storm Of exc
Grafton and welcome arose, and grew
louder as the two tides Of popular feel
ing met with rush and a roar that
BODIED mischief both to accuser and &C
cused.
LET me pass, my men," said Mr..
Eyre, as he pushed his way out and
some made way, but others came
thronging about him with threatening
looks; and he found himself pushed,
hustled, tossed this way and that, his
strength mere nothing against the
solid weight of the masses around him.
1t would be difficult to say who struck
the first blow, or hurled the first missile,
but in few minutes the courtyard was
turned into writhing mass Of infuri-
ated men and women, who struck out
indiscriminately; and it was from one
ceived blow on the head that, at the
tllllC, llC OCdlCCly CNCh hOOlOCus
lie reached his horse at last, mounted
it, and rode slowly home. Frank found
him. q quarter of an hour later, sitting
in his wife's room. He was pulseless
and cold, blood oozing from a fractur,
of the skull.
For month Frank never left him
but on the first day that Mr.. Eyre wa!
able TO ask rational question, he in
quired for his friend. He was told tha
Lord Lovel had set out an hour ago fo
abroad, and that his return was uncer
tain. n
On Mr.. Eyre asking if he had left M
message, he was told there was none
but few days later a sealed letter wa.
placed in his hand. The handwriting
was Franks.
God help you" it ran. 81 know tn,
truth. DO not attempt to follow me. 1 will
never, of my own free will, look upon you
face again. FRANK Lowell"
Mr.. Eyre read this letter through ant
through, then asked If Hester Clarke
had left the village, and was told thai
she had done so on the day succeeding
her acquittal. lie then sent for Job
who came unwillingly, and denied al
knowledge of his masters movements
and this was true enough, for Franz
had left the place in state bordering
OH madness, and with no idea of hi!
future plans.
A week later, Mr.. Eyre having set hi:
house in order, and made all arrange
ments for a heightened absence, depart
ed from the Red Hall. no one knew
whittier; though as years passed, ant
neither OF the men returned, it wa!
conjectured that they were together
seeking, in life of perpetual adven
ture, to escape the memory OF the wo
man they had both so deeply loved. j..
But those who knew Mr.. Eyre vel
said that his story was not half done
nor the tragedy Of Madcap's death ye
played out to its bitter end; and these
waited, with a breathless expectancy
that even time could not dull, for the
lifting of the curtain upon the last scene
And, meanwhile, two unconsidered
fresh young lives were growing up a
the Red Hall, but there was no living
soul to tell Mr.. Eyre that, il he had lait
one treasure beneath the sod, there ex
listed for him other priceless ones above
It. - ~ Aalts4lli
THE END.
The census report makes a very un.
favorable showing for doctors, espec.
tally at the West The average for the
Western States and Territories is one
doctor for each 624 population, q por.
ton not equaled anywhere else in the
world. -