The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1885-09-12
A FAMILY affair.
By HUGH CONWAY.
CHAPTER xxx.
THE MADONNA III TEMPT

BeatrlCe'S leiteI, hilef having lF'tn 20
rused and commented upon by the TaIb,rts,
was sent on to Frank Carru.hers. a n1r
from Herbert was inclosed with it. "Nou
will see'-he wrotn-'h hat this laLyer is a.
unsati,ia factory rs r. pr iecesSors. T. gives
us absolutely no intorma ton AS to where she
is o. why she lcfv w. Now that we arc
assured of her baing well, and, we suppose,
safe, our feeling about her pr longed and
unexpla.ne aDse ice is more than regret-it
is. in fact, sarioIs annoyance. We find il
quite strain to answer inquiries about her
without contradictng one anotl r"
Naturally the envelope which bore Her
bert'S handwriting wa the first opened by
Carru.bes :, aad f course he read Beatrice's
letter before he read lIerberts. He searched
the former in vain for his own name, little
thinking how the writer had sat for long
time before she could bring herself to seal
her letter without sending him cr1mb of
comfort. He then rea Herbert, commcn-
tary and smiled family as he drewa luicrous
picture of IIo"aco and Herbert making
counter statements to their friends. lie
unused while, hiding Beatrica's lie ter in
his hand. Her fingers hal touched that
sheet of paper; so he actually pressed 1t to
his lips, and in doing so caught faint lin
Qerihg odor of what he remembered wa, her
favorte perfume. 1t was clear that Mr.
Carruthers' disease was as rampant ~ ever
By and b, D. 'urnrd TO see what elS3 Fate
had brought him Nowadays Fate shoots
many of her arrows from the general post
Office. Carruthers found among other let.
ters one al Crossed in n womans handwrit-
ing. IL hal been sent To Oxford and at
Oxford re lire tel to London He opened it
earelessiy and found ii contained n half
sheet of note paper, on which was written:
"Relnember yonr promise. Wait, OH, be
patitntanl waltz
Carruthers throw 1t aside with n bitter
smile He well knew who was the writer.
Wait! What was there to wait fora How
ever, the sight Of those words brought back
the memory of that strange nocturnal visit;
of the woman's earnest, even impassioned
appeal TO him, TO "wait five, ten, twenty
wears for the one he lovedn Why should
The write now and repeat the appeal She
who knew everything she who had accom-.
panied Beatrice and who was probably with
her now.
He could not get the memory of that
strange creature with her dreary belief, yet
answering faith as to his own future, from
his mind. At the time the woman's earnest
ness had impressed him more than he cared
to confess Superstition is quality to tho
possession of which no man of our time Is
willing to own, not even to himself. Yet
nine men out of ton are snlperstitious.
Carruthers told himself that such hope as
ne had gathered f'om Mrs. Miller's words
was simply gathered because he believed her
10 be in Bea,ricos confidence. Here he was
wrong 1t was the woman's broad but ab.
solute assertion, uttered with tho passionate
inspiration Of IA prophecies Of DID, that happi
ne Is in this world awaited him aud Beatrice,
which had been of aid to him in his trouble.
II faith can move stubborn mountains, why
not a heart which is willing enough to move
in particular directoni
And now this woman repeated her mes
sage and, n Carruthers read the letter, told
HIM his case was no more hopeless than it.
was months ago
He took the note which he had crumpled
up and tossed away; he spread it out and
read 1t again. lie found. moreover, that it
was written on paper similar to that used by
Beatrice, and upon turning it over he saw
on the back "A few words in pencil. They
we're written so family that he had to carry
the note to strong light IN order to de-
cipher them.
The words were madonna Iii Tempt"
and to the best Of his belief, US experts say
when giving evidence, the handwriting was
Beatrices.
What did the words mean and how far
would they aid him in finding Beatrcel
lie soon settled in his mind that madonna
di Tempt must be the name of picture.
But what picturei Where was it To bs
foundi
Of course. it did not follow that supposlng
be could certain all about this picture,
which might or might not be world
famed one, that he would find Beatrice near
1t. Nevertheless, the clew was worth fol-
lowing lie would have followed finer
clew than this to the end of tho world on
the chance OF it's leading him to Beatrice.
80 he at once set about the task OF getting
information, il information could be got,
respecting picture called the Madonna 81
tempt" He hoped, but his hopes were not
very strong. Indeed, he could not help
comparing his case 70 thag Of the fair Sara
GEMS, who found her lover by the aid Of two
words. Yet she was better of than he was.
She at least had the name Of place for one
Of her talismanic words He had the name
Of what he supposed to Ls a picture; moth
ing more. -, ~. y,
>, Mr.. Carruthes was not Que Of the inner
circle Of art worshippers. His ,sallet, hi,
sfsyn md drapg, his spotiopal days, were
well over hsfUs the era Of blue and white
Z chiua. He bad no rhapsodis, written OF
T SPOKEN, ID arise hsreaftvr ard prick his con.
science, Hs had not bowed bis knee TO tn,
intense, nor sacrificed Cd fHe altar Of the In
I ssss & s ,s ..s T. :,
liked what he' AID Ike AID that he disliked
what be did dislike. Hence 1t will be at ono,
seen that his opinion was worth nothing u
any one except himsslf.