Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-10-12
(Contissed from yesterday.J
ENGAGED IN HASTE.


Clare, In the presence OF Gface ana Dora.
@You may spend an hour or so with Sir
Allan to-day, Lady Darnel, and to-mor-
row, if all go well, Miss Darnel and Miss
Grace might see him. But it had better
be one at time"
at is very odd if can not see my brother
as soon as he is fit to see any any one" OBJ
served Dora, pallid with anger, yet speak
ing with her accustomed suavity. I'VE
have been companions for a great many
years. never had secret from him or
he from me-"
THAT fact, interesting as it is. would not
make your presence less agitating, my dear
Miss DarneI," said the doctor. Lady Oar
mel has the first claim-a wife's claims are
paramount, you know-and you and Miss
Grace must wait for tomorrow And now,
Lady Darnel, remember what have told
you about our patient. Not one agitating
word-no show of emotion on your part.
He is too weak to bear anything of that
kind"
Il will be careful" said Glare, clasping
his hand
She was very pale, her lips quivering
with nervous excitement, and yet joy
beamed in her eyes. The moment SO
ardently longed for had come at last The
bolted door by which she had watched and
listened was no longer to be an impossible
barrier between her and her beloved.
you can go to him now" said the doc
tor, but remember, you are to stay only
an hour-one hour by the clock 1t is just
H. You will leave him at l."
"And is that to be ALP Am not to see
him again all day."
II shall be here in the evening, and if l
find there has been no mischief done-if
Sir Allan is quite calm and comfortable, /
MAXWELL, | will be very indulgent and
let you see him again for ten minutes"
Il will be very obedient," said Lady Oar
mel, opening the door as she spoke.
She went softly into the room-the spa
cious, old-fashioned bedchamber which
looked larger in the semi darkness of half
drawn window curtains and lowered
blinds. 1t was a noble room, furnished
with the artistic cabnet-work or the
Jacobian era-old walnut wood ward
robes and secretaries, old cherry wood
chairs with exquisitely carved backs The
only modern piece of furniture was the
low, broad brass bedstead without YES
tige of drapery. The wide, deep hearth,
with its old blue and white tiles and basket
crate and high mantel-piece, was study
for a painter of still-lIfe. The window
curtains were Of old brocade, red and
tawuy. The room had look of somber
old-world luxury, very pleasant to the
eye.
The nurse rose and slipped very quietly
away to the adjoining dressing room as
Lady Darnel approached the bed. Sir AL
Ian was lying with the freight shining on
his face. Oh, what a changed countenance
--shrunken, pallid, as with the lines of
stood how near he had been to death. 1t
was almost us if she were looking upon a
face she had never seen before The eyes
those dear eyes that used to gaze upon
her with such Overlooked at her now
with a strange, dim, far-away expression.
shocked, Mortified by the extent of the
change, so much greater than she had eX-
pected, Glare Darnel sunk into a chair by
the bedside, waiting hoping for some lit
tie word of greeting from those pale lips;
but no such word came. Her husband
lifted his eyes to her face and looked at
her gravely, mournfully. His wasted,
half-transparent hand lay on the silken
coverlet She bent and kissed it; but he
drew it away the next moment with
quick, nervous gesture rs if the touch of
her lips offended him.
She set a watch upon herself, remember
ing the doctors injunctions.
"My beloved" she murmured softly, at
is such happiness to me to see you once
again-to be allowed to sit by your bedside
for little while"
There were tears in her voice. The shock
of his altered appearance-his strange
manner-were alike agitating to her; and
she had to be so careful lest her agitation
should communicate itself to him. She
4; waited with her heart beating vehemently
waited for some word of loving welcome.
In vain
"You are much better, Allan, Mr. Dan
yers tells me- You will soon be among us
again"
"Mr Danvers is vastly hopeful"
How weak and faint his voice sounded;
how strangely cold his tone.
"The house is so dreary without you"
she said TREMENDOUSLY, trying to command
herself, not for an instant forgetting the
doctors warning. | have not been down
stairs since-that awful night"
"Do you think it was necessary to carry
on the comedy so long?" he said, with a
scathing sneer. "But forgot; you are such
skillful actress that the deception would
cost you no effort. You, who have de-
ceived me SO long, would find no difficulty
in hoodwinking the outside world"
"Allanr' she exclaimed, breathlessly.
Was this delirium? His words were
measured, deliberate, cool as the speech of
a judge who calmly discusses the details of
crime and wrong doing She could not be-
lieve that his mind was wandering The
doctor had told her that fever and delrium
were past. The patients extreme weak
ness was now the only peril, and that
weakness made any emotion dangerous. II
some dark cloud of suspicion had obscured
her husbands mind, if love had been
changed into loathing she dared not ques-
ton him, she dared not strive to set her.
self right She must wait and suffer in pa
tience.
Silently, prayerfully, Clare Darnel sat
by her husbands sick bed and listened to
the ticking of the clock, to the falling of
the wood ashes from the old basket CRATE.
She could pray for her beloved; yes, that
was all she could do in this hour of sever
ance-severance, albeit she was sitting by
his side. She could pray and put her trust
in God. She could not believe that any
estrangement between herself and her
husband could last. Life had been made
very bitter TO her in the days of her first
Marriage long period of pain and an
xiety, growing from bad to worse, till it
eliminated in the tragedy at Mallow Bar
racks. And there had followed further
trouble about her son. And then, after
she had done with hope, after she had told
herself that JOY and gladness were not for
her, there had come the Weakening of a
new love, the beginning of new life, days
of exceeding sweetness. Was that bright
time all over now, she wondered, and was
! 4