Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-09-06
UNDER A CLOUD :
orr
CLEARING HIMSELF
ine Thrilling and Absorbing Story
OF a Great Crime.
BIZ JENNIE DAVIS BURTON,
AUTHOR OF " HER LIFE's SEcREr.n AM
O-uEG STORIES
Sopyragntsd. 1855, By the A. " Kellogg Newspape,
Company. al Rights is=ssrrsd
TER XxIv.-CoNTINUED.

VcpW7gatsd, 1855, By the A. " Kellogg Nearspaper
Company -A3 Rights I.=ssrcsd
CHAPTER xxTv.-coSrrNUED.
don't want that you should under
stand, said Ingot, with more of his old con-
ndence than he had betrayed that day.
You know just as much as YOU are fit to
bear. Come, I'll be easy with YOU. Tell me
tnat you viii marry mo, say tomorrow, and
won't urge the thing now. You don't look
MT to stand, that's fact''
her eyes roved everywhere about the
room before they settled upon his hateful
face
III must" she whispered 81 promise
IT, But give me time-a little timen
Will give you time-a week if you'll
promise that honest and sure. Come what
viii, whether he lives or dies, you'll marry
me at tee end of a week. Say that and I'll
believe you and take the rislss''
WILL WILL promised the poor girl,
hysterlcally wringing her hands. How could
she do otherwise when the life of the
brother she adored hung upon her words!
Sne was only conscious of one impulse, to
get out OF the presence Of this man who
tortured her-to hide with her bruised and
broken heart from all the world
Ingot left to call Sarah, whose brother
had arrived and taken his place in the sick
room.
Miss Carol is quite broken down. want
you to put her to bed and keep her quiet
he advised, and turned away. into Ly1nan's
den, where he threw himself into an easy
chair before the glowing CRATE.
~ don't know how it is, but that girl can
wind me round her little finger when she
likes. don't begrudge the week if it brings
her to me willingly, and she'll keep her
word now she's given it. She never prom
ised out and out before, only left the idea
that she gave in as she believed, but now
there's not q loop-hole left her. Lyman
wasn't quite so bad as took him to be in
his cold-blooded plotting. The wonder is,
SO long as he'd made up his mind to take
that way out of his scrapc, that he didn't do
something in the way of making restitution
to Everleigh. Hang it all, how am to know
but he dids''
With this new thought in his mind, Mr..
Ingot was no longer quiescent. He sprang
up and began pacing the room, casting I'M
easy and speculative chances about him.
What had Lyman been doing during those
long night hours at the bank? The book
keeper had held the opinion hitherto that
the extra work was only meant to keep
down an uneasy conscience, but it occurred
to him now that he might himself be placed
in an embarrassing position if Lyman had
left confession for Mr.. Everleigh
He had no scruple about searching the
desk of the injured man. 1t was easy for
him to invent an excuse for obtaining the
keys to 1t, and five minutes after his search
began q thick envelope, which was adj
dressed to Althea Everleigh, lay in his
hands.
Made up mostly Of moonshine, but with
enough of unpleasant fact in 1t to make it
safer there" he muttered, as he consigned
the misSiye which he had opened and
glanced over. to that bed of glowing Goals.
This little incident robbed Mr.. Ingot of
the light spirits which Carols concession
had given him. It opened up a problem
which he had not yet contemplated. There
could be no sloubt but that Carol would
insist upon making the restitution
when she should recover from the
shock and hC"r of the time. Now, the
idea of wrestling fifty thousand dollars from
Lyman Child'.r's unwilling hands had
made no inc lnsiderable part of Hiram
1ngot's former pleasant dreams, and his
brow clouded aver at the prospect of relin-
gushing his golden hopes.
'After all, IFS the girl want more than
the money! e mused "rd rather have
Carol without 1t than Miss Everleigh with
It, for all her beauty and pride"
Through the dark days that followed, In
got remained in the house. He took the
reins of govern nent in his own hands, and
in every way possible spared the stricken
girl, who had CT ept back to her place by her
brothers bedside, only leaving it when he
came and led her away, commanding the
rest or the refrcshpent which she never
seemed to feel the need of herself.
What was she thinking of as she sa,
there through the long, weary days, far into
the gruesome nights, with her mournful eyes
resting always on the face which pressed
the pillow. now pale and drawn with pain
WI; h will will n %
lirium, as the 81 tx man raved and tossed in
the grip of the fever fiend. There was nc
sign to tell, but a weight like lead lay upon
her heart.
Only once had there come any thing like
CLEAN of consciousness or reason to Ly
man, and then, waking out of u fitful slum
Der, he fixed his burning eyes upon her
with wistful smile trembling on his lips
"Why, sis, what a time you've been com
ing to me-" he murmured, reproachfully
81 thought you cared more for fellow
Oh, there! do you see! He has come bael
from the grave from the grave-to punish
me for the trust 1 betrayed. Keep off;
tell you, keep off :"
He sprang up IN the bed, screaming ant
waving back tho specter which his fevereo
imagination had conjured, then clasping hi:
hands to his breast fell back heavily, swoon
ing, Carol thought, but in moment more
he began babb.i,lg with only now and ther
an intelliglblc word or sentence.
Edson--Edsos! Confound the young
tackanapes! why must he rake up that pack
age You can't have her, Ingot-fll die first
You'll find every thing made straight, Mr.
Everleigh. tell you, it isn't stealing wheI
man only takes his own"
And so on and so on for hours at a stretch
while the restle IS head rolled, and then h'
would relapse ip;o stupor which had little
rest in it. The doctor was of the opinlos
that his fever wis not so much the result o.
his wound as of come intense mental strah
or nervous shoci. which preceded It.
"There was D injury to the head, yol
see. This brain fever would have had hin
In its clutches IN q day or two more,
fancy, had there been no other trouble, ant
IL he dies can't conscientiousiy swear ina
the wound killed him." he confided 10 Id
got.
"You think he will die, then"
"There's no telling. He stands chance
unless blood poisoning sets IN. he seems
to have been a Young man OF exemplary
habits, and that much is IN his favor.
Ingot made tie most of this report q
Carol, who never asked . question. On
knelt down by the bedside after nc lei
her and laid her cheek against Lyman
burning hand
ssOh, my brother, you did mean to saw
me at a frightful cost, but things navs
changed now, AMI / will save you. FOR 70,
will live, dear, I've to redeem the past,
know"
Needing nothing that went on outside Of
that chamber, sic did not know how o1tef
Althea had come to be met by the one an