Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-29

BY WILKIE COLLINS.
CHATTER XLXu.

which would have taken his oldest friends
by surprise if they had seen HIM at the mo-
ment. He heSitated.
A man who has commanded ships and has
riSked his life in the regions Of the frozen
deep is man formed by nature and taught
by habit to meet emergency face to face, to
see his course straight before him. and to
take it, lead him where it may. But nature
and habit, formidable forces as they are, find
their master when they encounter the pas
sion of love.
At once perpIeXed and distressed by that
startling change in Catherine which he had
observed when her child approached her,
Bennydeck'S customary firmness failed him,
when the course Of conduct toward his be-
trothed wife which it might be most becom-
ing to follow presented itself to him as a
problem to be solved When Kitty asked
him to accompany her nurSemaid and her.
self on their return to the hotel he had re-
fused because he felt reluctant to intrude
himself on GATHERINGS notice until she was
ready to admit him to her confidence of her
own free WILL Left alone, he began to doubt
whether deIicacy did really require him to
make the sacrifice which he had contem-
plated not five minutes since 1t was surely
possible that Catherine might be waiting to
see him, and might then offer the explana-
ton which would prove to be equally a re-
lief Oh both sides. He was on his way 70 the
hotel when he met with Sydney WesterfeId.
To see a woman in the SOrest need of all
that kindness and consideration could offer
and to leave her as helpless as he had found
her, would have been an act Of brutal indif-
ference, revolving to any man possessed of
even ordinary senSibility. The captain had
only followed his natural impulses and had
only said and done what, in nearly similar
cases, he had said and done on other occa-
SionS.
Left by himself he advanced a few steps
mechanically, on the way by which Sydney
had escaped him-and then stopped Was
there any sufficient reason for his following
her and intruding himself on her notice?
She had recovered, she was in possession Of
his address, she had been referred to a per-
son who could answer for his good inten-
tions; all that it was his duty to do had been
done already. He turned back again, in the
direction Of the hotel.
Hestating once more, he paused half way
along the corridor which led to GATHERINGS
sitting-rOOm. Voices reached him from per-
SONS who had entered the house by the front
door. He recognized Mrs. Presty's loud,
confident tones. She was taking leave of
friends, and was standing with her back to-
ward him. Bennydeck waited, unObServed,
until he saw her enter the sitting-rOom No
such explanation as he was in search of could
possibly take place in the presence of Cath.
crimes mother. He returned to the garden.
Mrs. PreSty was in high spirits. She had
enjoyed the festival; she had taken the lead
among the friends who accompanied her to
the palace; she had ordered everything and
had paid for nothing, at that worst of all bad
pubic dinners i'll England, the dinner which
pretGnd5 to be French. In a buOyant frame
of mind, ready for more enjoyment if she
could only find it, what did she see on open
ing the sittng-rOOm door: To use the ex-
pressive language of the stage, Catherine
was discovered alone"-with her elbows on
the table, and her face hidden in her hands
the picture of despair.
Mrs. PreSty surveyed the spectacle before
her with righteous indignation visible in
every line of her face The arrangement
which bound her daughter to give Benny
deck his final reply on that day had been
well known to her when she left the hotel in
the morning The conclusion at which she
arrived, Oh returning at night, was expressed
with Roman brevity and Roman elOquence
in four words:
"Oh, the poor captain!'
Catherine suddenly looked up.
Il knew il" Mrs. Presty continued, with
her sternest emphasis; II see what you have
done i'll your face. You have refused Benny
deck"
God forgive me, l have been wicked
enough to accept him!''
Hearing this some mothers might have
made apologies, and other mothers might
have asked what that penitential reply could
of the ordinary type. She welcomed the
good news without taking the smallest notice
of the expression of Selfreproach which had
accompanied it,
MY dear child, accept the congratulations
of your fond old mother. have never been
one of the kissing sort q mean, of course,
where women are cOncerned), but this is an
occasion which juStifieS something quite out
of the common way. Come and kiss me''
Catherine took no notice Of that outburst
of maternal love.
Il have forgotten everything that I ought
to have remembered" she said. "In my
vanity, in my weakness, in my selfish enjoy
ment of the passing moment, have been too
supremacy happy even to think of the trials
of my past life, and of the false position in
which they have placed me toward the man
whom | ought to be ashamed to deceive. !
nave only been recalled 10 sense or duty, i
might almost say to a sense OF decency, by
my poor little child. If Kitty had not re-
minded me Of her father
Mrs. Presty dropped into chair; she was
3 really frightened. Her fat cheeks trembled
like a jelly on dish that is suddenly moved.
HAS that man been here?" she asked.
What man?'
1.-THE man who may break off your mar
riage if he meets with the captain. Has
Herbert Linley been here?"
Certainly not. The one person associated
with my troubles whom l have seen to-day
is Sydney WesterfieId."
Mrs. Presty bounced out of her chair. you
have seen-Sydney Westerfeld?' she re-
peated, with emphatic pauses which express
ed amazement tempered by unbelief.
Yes; [ have seen her."
''WhereY'
SIN the garden
And spoken TO her?'
YES"
Mrs. Presty raised her eyes to the ceiling.
Whether she expected our old friend 1.-THE
recording angel to take down the questions
ood opcIuprS fhat bad iT1ct no