The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-10-18

she faltered, her face wearing every in
dication Of guilt.
81 mean" said May. with rising pis,
sion, that you are snake in the grass
| You were seen to change my letters
from one envelope TO another"
Ellen turned almost green. "Who
saw mer" she asked IN a trembling
voice.
"It is enough that you iDere seen, you
viper!r cried May furiously. "Why
did | ever take you into my huusei
Why did not believe the stories Of 9th
er people who have suffered from your
treachery? Co! Leave my house at
onceli
EIlen's look turned to one OF hatred.
There must have been something very
compromising in youI letter." she
sneered, "if you are in such mortal
fright about it. l shall not CO." def
antly. II shall wait till Mr.. Vivian re-
turns and hear what he says"
"You shall gol' cried May, stamping
her foot, ''if l have you turned out by
the servants. advise you not to try
conclusions with me. will expose you
before them all. by saying what you
have been guilty of. Go at once, do
you hear! | will not see your hateful
face again. | shall order the carriage
to take you to the three o'clock train"
~ shall GO" returned Ellen, because
| don't choose to be insulted, hut do not
flatter yourself that you have heard the
last of me-" ...... ...
When May heard the wheels Of the
carriage which bore her foe away de-
parting, she was not one whit happier.
Perhaps the wretch would seek Frank
out in London, The hours dragged on;
she was filled with nervous terrors-the
guiltiest woman on rth could scarcely
have suffered greater panRs. Ii she
should be separated from her husband,
whom she really loved, from the chill
dren she adOred, what would become 1
her? She ate no dinner; she scarcely
slept that night; in the morning a pale
wos-bfgone woman, quite unlike bright,
pretty Nay, came down to breakfast.
She hugged her children and wept over
them, To their great grief and conster-
n"tlon. At eleven O'Clock a telegram
was brought her. She turned sick, and
her hand trrmb!ed like leaf rs she
took it from the salver. "Dog-cart to
meet me at five" was all it contained.
She tOrmented her brain 10 make some
thing out of his, but in vain, In any
case she knew there must be an awful
scene, and her nerves were in such a
state she f. L. as though she could not go
through il. She had half a mind to run
away. The second post came in at
lunch time; amongst the letters was one
In Captain Whyte's hand. She tore it
open and read: .....
"MY DEAR LITTLE LADY.-YUur let
ter received, and the commands therein
contained shall be strictly obeyed. But
deny the hOrrid imputatIOn about the
other members OF your charming
Then followed little bit of candal
Mays BRAIN seemed tD reel. What did
it all mean? Had he, after all, received
the letter intended for him, and had
Frank got his own, too? Had she falsely
accused her COUSIN? But no! May re-
membpred that she had not attempted to
deny the accusation. Suddenly the
ruth flashed across her. Alarmed by
her boys cries, she had hurriedly put
the letters INTO the wrong envelopes and
rushed out, and her cousin, by chang
ing them had, ii stead of bringing mis-
cry and distress upon her as she intend
ed, done her infinite service,
Frank had never received such loving
greeting from May as he did on his re-
turn that afternoon, and he seemed
thoroughly to appreciate 1t. - The
World, London,