The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-06-13

getting late, think; | must be off Good
night" He took his hat and was zone.
was terribly troubled that night, The
only conclusion could arrive at was that
Ghe LatSe mana ne spoke of was mine; that
he had suspected it from the beginning
and was now convinced of it. c9nIJ aet
no rest; | was miserable. Towards morn
ing | sneaked DOWN. to the study. and sejz-
ing the packet of pamphlets, flew up-
stairs again
But | could make nothing Of the matter.
| studied my hand carefully, ACCORDING to
the instructions given. but found nothing
thatishould have caused the Doctor to start
My failure made me more wretcbed still.
Several days passed without NV seeing
Or. Browne. was glad, for somewhat
| resented what | imagined to be his unfair
| Judgment. But one dull afternoon ms I
| entered our back gate and was proceeding
across the garden, ran against him leay.
ing the house. l attempted to pass on
| with bow and an exchange of good even
| ings," but he detained me.
| Miss Fox" he said, 81 frightened YOU
the other night; let me explsin myself"
Its of no consequence" l replied.
smooth down the fact as much as YOU
will, you have nevertheless tacitly admit
ted the existence of an odious characteris-
tic in me-"
"You mistake" he cried; "I feared it.
The Enthusiastically hand does not belong
to you; never could with those fingers"
"Then to whom" | asked.
1--WE did not allot it to any one, II re-
member rightly. | brought 1t forward as
an example," But thought he seemed
embarrassed as he spoke.
| Then what is there in mine that you
would not tell?' / demanded. ''Surely |
may know"
He paused.
| "There was the absence of something
/ Il - 4 q I.
| thing hoped for, yet hardly dared hope
for, and the finding of which I now fear"
shuddered as he took nay band in his
and gazed very earnestly into my face.
could not meet those grave, almost sad,
penetrating eyes. Then he sighed and
turned away.
Its all rubbish, your palmistry,"
| cried, as nervous tears started to my eyes.
81 looked about my hand in book, and
found nothing to fear"
"You are probably right" he rejoined.
"You do well not to be superstitious."
Ernest was very busy at this time, and
did not get away from the city so fire.
quently as formerly. 1t was spring now
and with it's beautiful promise of joyful
summer, l felt cheered, for did not i'm
agine that my happiness was approaching
with it?
| DR.. Browne came and went; we were
good friends, we spoke when we met, but
carefully avoided the subject of hands. /
used to wish he would not look at me 80 in
| tently; it almost frightened me; and yet
the better | knew him, the less there
seemed in him to fear. His kindness and
gentleness had gained him the hearts of
all his patients, and there was something
about him that seemed to impress one with
the certainty of his great sincerity and
! trusrworthness.
1t was May: Ernest and | were to be
married towards the end of June | had
been receiving daily letters from him all
the winter and now two days had passed
and heard nothing. [ was anxious, vet
would not allow myself to be so: he was
specially busy that was all; and there was
another delivery at eleven O'Clock. | sat
in the drawing room, looking along the
road, till | saw the postman appear. He
was walking on the opposite side till he APP
preached our house, when | saw him cross
and make straight for our gate. His hand
was raised to open it, | was jumping up to
run to the door, when a man dashed along
the street and prevented him, a few words
were exchanged-and the postman passed
on. The man was DR.. Browne.
was petrified.
"Wretch," muttered between my teeth,
"who now has proved himself the owner
of the false hand!"
paced the room in a fever of lndecis-
ion, then began to review the state of
things and decide upon plan of action. A
maid disturbed me thus occupied; my
father had sent for me in his study. went
down. He was walking about the room, an
unusual thing with him, and could see he
was agitated.
"Well, Trixy," he began, with an as
sumed smile, Il have something to say to
you. / was just thinking YOU have not
seen Aunt Judith lately: | hear she is not
well; now what do you say to paying her
visit of a week or two?"
Papa" CRIED "what do you mean? l
am so busy preparing. You forget Ii is to
come off in five weeks"
He walked away towards the other side
of the room. "No, child, he continued,
with forced laugh. "You can not mag
inc l have forgotten that; but you see, it is
just on that account that | want you to 90:
married women are not free to go visiting
Come, my dear, sewing will progress all
the better with good Aunt Judith to help
Be prepared to start at three O'Clock, and |
will drive you to the junction. Don't
bother about the house; you'd better not
go out think perhaps it NAV rain" he
feebly added. "Now then, off with youw
He kissed me and l knew that there was
nothing left but to obey. l have very good
ears, and am certain that | heard my
father speaking to the servant as l went up
the stairs; he was telling her to admit no
one till l was gone.
Aunt Judith was my mothers sister, and
lived in a bijou residence at Denmark Hill,
She always has been and still is nv ideal
of an old lady. She received me warmly
and thought almost unnecessarily kindly,
fussing about me good deal and looking at
me most sadly. The evening was chilly;
we sat together in the pretty drawing
room with its wealth of ck-knacks and
felt as though L must do something to
occupy myself.
"Where is the paper" Aunt Judith? I
asked. 81 haven't seen it to-day"
Never mind the paper" said Aunt
Judith, looking anxious: ''it is upstairs.
Take Harper's; you don't see it at Stoke
bourne"
mo, Aunt Judith" 1 exclaimed "Why
am not to see the paper, and why have l
been hustled off here in this unceremonious
manner! What does it all mean? There
is something that is being kept from me,D
For it suddenly flashed upon me that for
some reason or other the postman had NOT
been allowed to leave the paper as usual
by the eleven O'Clock delivery.
Aunt Judith came and put her arms
round me.
my dear" she whispered, "I hoped TO
wait till tomorrow. Your father sent Won
here because he had no courage; it always
was Johns way" she added
| soon learnt all about II. Ernest had
disappeared and there were considerable
discrepancies discovered between the cash
in hand and the cash that should be ac-
counted for. The books had been tempered
with to no small extent, and the fraud bod