Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-11-13
equally unexpected and pleasant, and,
unfortunately for all, chance was his

INTERCHANGEABLE for all, chance was his
fetish. 81 q
II So the year budded into spring, and
the charmed dream neared its end.
Letters from Held lberg became more
Imperative in tone, demands for money
more urgent. Nor were threats for
following Norton to England. and dis
covering for herself the cause of her
husband g detention, lacking on the
part Of Mrs Blake. : ...s 8 5. ,5+
The master OF The Court was intent
upon completing his nephew's mar
riasge. Helen was busy, making her
bridal preparations-the we'd ding day
itself all but fixed. Norton alone was
listless, preoccupied, depressed. A
horrible fear, 9 terrible foreboding OF
calamity, had taken possession Of
him: The bright sunshine, the singing
OF birds, the scent of violets, the up
turned, placid primrose stars, made
him faint, and sick. Night and day he
pondered over a way OF escape, but
none presented itself as feasible. He
literally dared not encounter his un-
cle's wrath or Helen's scorn. Moth
ing remained to him but flight-Aight
from a danger he was too cowardly to
face.
..~ W..
But two days remained before that
fixed for the wedding. The court was
thronged with guests, and gay with
merry voices, badinage and Jest. In
the ivy. draped windows lights were
beginning to twinkle as Norton Blake
walked homewards, wrapped in bitter
almost frenzied-musings. So alb
stractea was he, that he Scarcely no.
ticed @ station fly which, entering
through the lodge-gates, slowly passed
him in the dusk. Neither did he re-
mark face which, peering through the
glass, swiftly recognized him, and as
quickly disappeared into the recesses
of the vehicle. AS he YEARLY mounted
the last step to the door he became
aware OF a strange hubbub OF arrival in
the hall. His eyes fell on blue-eyed,
blonde-haired figure heknew too we'll
his ears were pierced by a high pitched
voice only too familiar. There, too,
stood Gretchen, the maid-even he1
stohd German phlegm stirred to inter
est as she presented her white-robed
bundle to the astonished visitors and
servants whose progress across the
hall, or chatting by its wide fireplace,
had been arrested to ascertain the
cause OF the tumult.
Norton saw it all as in a vivid pho.
tograph. He heard his wife's shrill
voice exclaiming, with toss of he1
tiaxen head, and the sarcastic laugh
which Jared his nerves so acutely:
"Oh, there's no mistake-none what.
ever, I assure you! I am Mrs. Norton
Blake, and this is our little son.
have every proof of what / assert.
passed my husband in the avenue. In
q few minutes he will be here to cor.
roborate my statement. Gretchen
raise baby's veil, and let Mr.. Blake see
how closely he resembles his father.
The old man had tottered into the
hall to see what the confusion meant
Norton saw his face harden into q ter.
rible sternness of disbelief as he con.
fronted the intruder. He saw the
whitening Of Helen's lips and the de-
faint anguish in her eyes,
The great door still stood open. The
fly waited, with it's piled up luggage
below the terrace steps. Norton press.
ed yet closer into the shadow OF the
portico, and caught his breath to hear
his wife's next words
my husbands continued absence
was so unaccountable,' she continued,
with again the harsh laugh she fancied
SO fascinating, "that I determined to
ascertain for myself the cause of his
detention. hope my advent is not
utterly inconvenient, but Norton
dear, easy fellow!-will be delighted
with the pleasant surprise I have plan
ned for him."
Norton waited to hear no more.
He skunk noiselessly down the steps,
sped swiftly through the gardens and
fled away in the darkness of coming
night.
Hidden away among the glades OF
the park lay a placid. hazel-fringed
mere. Feathery larches waved over,
lilies spread their broad leaves and
silver cups upon, it's still waters.
But the morrow's sunbeams, part
ing the fragrant larch-plumes with
slender, shining fingers, fell ON some
thing which the spreading lily-leaves
tried pityingly to conceal. From the
yellow hazel catkins the dew dropped
like tears upon the dead face of a man
whose body drifted under the shelter
of the bank, and that dead man was
Norton Blake. -,
Out of his dilemma he had found
q road; but whether that
road was the towards one of sui
eide, or that, in his bewilder-
ment he had wandered unwittingly
to the mere, missed his footing in the
darkness, and slipped into it's treach-
erous depths, it was an impossibility
to determine.
Agamekeeper, going his early rounds,
found him in the pool. He was carried
back to The Court, and "Death by
misadventure' was the verdict at the
inquest. ''Death through selfish weak
ness' would have been a truer one.
MIR. Blake never recovered the shock
and disappointment of his nephew's
death. He sank into dotage, and for
many tedious years Helena sad-eyed,
prematurelyaged woman.-was his de-
voted guardian. .a,+:e4, 100,
The only bright thing in her life was
Norton's little son, whom-humiliated,
frightened and subdued by. the dread
full result of her manmuvre-Mrs.
Blake had consented to relinquish and
leave in Mr.. Blake's charge, on the
condition that his future should be
provided for. a laJ Nut +. .f1. r..
On an allowance, also supplied by
Mr.. Blake, she returned to the asso-
ciates Of her early life, and soon re-
married-to the no little satisfaction
of others besides poor stricken Nh !.
Blake and his dear adopted daughter.
Two churches, the Methodists and
BaDtists. dominate the Sn,,fho,r