Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-09-25
CHAPTER xxx.

THE MADONNA DI TEMPT
Beatrice's letter, after having been pc.
rused and commented upon by the Talberts,
was sent on to Frank Carruthers. A note
from Herbert was inclosed with it. s'You
will see'-he wrote-''that this letter is as
unsatisfactory as its predecessors. It gives
US absolutely no information as to where she
is or why she left us. Now that we are
assured of her being well, and, we suppose,
safe, our feeling about her prolonged and
unexplained absence is more than regret-it
is in fact, serious annoyance. We find it
quite strain to answer inquiries about her
without contradicting one another"
Naturally the envelope which bore Her
bert's handwriting was the first opened by
CarrutherS, and Of course he read Beatrice's
letter before he read Herbert's. 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 crumb of
comfort. He then read Herbert's commen-
tary and smiled family as he drew a ludicrous
picture of Horace and Herbert making
counter statements to their friends. He
unused a while, holding Beatrice's letter in
his hand, Her fingers had touched that
sheat Of paper; SO he actually pressed it to
his lips, and in doing so caught o faint lin
gering odor Of what he remembered was her
favorite perfume. It was clear that Mr..
Carruthers' disease was as rampant as ever.
By and by he turned to seq what else Fate
had brought him. Nowadays Fate shoots
many Of her arrows from the general post
office Carruthers found among other let,
tiers one addressed in a wQman's handwrit-
ing, 1t had been sent to Oxford and at
Oxford reiirected to London. He openedit
earelessly and found it contained half
sheet Of note paper, on which was written:
Remember your promise. Wait, oh, be
patient AMI waltz
Carruthers threw ii aside with bitter
smile. He well knew who was the writer,
Waitl What was there to wait fors How
ever, the sight of those words brought back
the memory Of that strange nocturnal visit;
of the Wofnan's earnest even imprisoned
appeal to him, to wait fve ten, twenty
years for the one he loved" Why should
she write now and repeat the appeaa She
who knew everything; she VI no had accom-
panied Beatrice and no was probably with
her now.
He could not get the memory Of that
strange creature with her dreary belief, vet
unswerving faith as to bis 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 the
possession OF which no man of our time is
willing to own, not even to himself, Yet
nine men out of ten are superstitious
Carruthers told himself that such hope as
he had gathered from Mrs Miller's words
was simply gathered because he believed her
to be IN Eeatrice's confidence. Here he was
wrong. 1t was the woman's bread but alb,
solute assertion, uttered with the passionate
inspiration of prophecies Of old, that happi-
ness in this world awaited him and Beatrice.
which had been of aid to him in his trouble
II faith can move stubborn mountains why
not q heart which is willing enough to move
in particular direct ons
And now this woman repeated her mes
aage, and, as Carruthers read the letter, told
him his case was no more hopeless than it
was months ago.
He tool1 the note which he had crumpled
up and tossed away; he spread it out and