Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-02-12
picture which constituted one of his most
treasured possessions at home.

Maud Barnett-Maud Miller! could there
be any affinity between these two?
Twenty years had passed since the skill
full brush ofthe then poor painter had depict
ed on canvass the beautiful form Of the girl
who had won his youthful and ardent love-
For twenty years amid the varied expert
ences of a checkered life, the transitions
from poverty to wealth, from comparative
obscurity to the distinction of an earldom
and the brightness Of well-earned fame, he
had cherished the memory of that early
episode, which had been so suddenly and
ineXplicably brought to an end, and borne
within his heart shrine sacred to his lost
love.
And now his hair was turning gray, he
had found far from home, the very counter
part of what he missed and mourned!
X
Lord Dartmoor was gone, and Maud felt
a renewal of the loneliness that had lately
given place to something like hope and
pleasure in her heart, while in the enjoy
ment of his society, or at least in the knoWl-
edge that he was near her.
Some days passed, and she learned from
one of the neighbors that there was an excite
ment across the mountains, near by. A
man had been murdered and the Vigilants
ian organization still in force in that section
of the country were hunting diligently for
the murderer Neither the name of the
later nor that of his victim had yet been
learned.
One evening, just at dusk, as she sat near
the open door, a figure darkened the en-
trance. With cry, she started up-it was
Edgar Rutherford.
Pale and haggard, with wild eyes and dis
ordered dress, he looked the spectre OF his
former self.
"Maud," he said, hoarsely, "you loved
me once. I have come to put my life in
YOUR hands. The Vigilants are after me ;
they have hunted me like dog, day and
night, for ten days past. Can you save me?'
And then she knew that he was the MUIR
derer.
White to the lips, cold with fear and hor-
ror, she barely managed to answer him in
the affirmative. She gave him food, for ne
was starving and then showed him a place
where he might stay concealed.
After some hours had passed, and there
was no alarm, he got courage to creep out,
and sought to talk to her, and extenuate his
conduct. But she shrank from him with an
unutterable loathing of his presence. 1t
was abhorrent to her to think that she could
ever have loved this man. He was ahject
in his appeals to her pity, his expressions OF
remOrse for the past but when he alluded
to the former tie between them, she hushed
him sternly, instantly.
"Never speak to me of that again J" she
cried. II will not bear it. You have for:
feited all right even to remind me of it.. |
will shelter you and save you, if l can; but
it will not be because of anything in the
past What was once between us is dead
and buried forever. Ishudder to think that
it ever existed"
And then he was dastardly enough to
s'You have yourself to blame for this
Remember, told you once that if ever
throw my life away, it would be your fault
My words have come true"
Upon this she rose and left him nor would
she speak to him again.
When four days had passed, he said tC
her sullenly that he was sick OF hiding IN
this hole, and that he meant to slip away tc
the coast, and embark on some vessel there
''It will be great risk" she rejoined
81 advise you to stay where you are."' :,
"Why should you care?" he retorted
"My life is Of no value in your eyes; il
cannot matter to you whether 90 or stay. ,
He was standing between her and the
window, through which the moonlight
streamed in upon the floor. AS he spoke
shadow.crept across this brightness; and
Maud, quickly raising her eyes, saw outside
the dark form of man, plainly defined
against the broad white space beyond; &
leveled gun was raised to his cheek.
A warning cry broke from her lips, ano
she flung herself between Rutherford and
the window, covering him from the deadly
aim. simultaneously with her movement
came a flash, ringing report-and wher
the smoke cleared away, two figures, stain
ed with warm blood, lay together, white
and senseless, in the light of the moon, as il
streamed upon the floor
But the Vigilante was gone.
TO BE CONTINUED.