The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1888-11-15

CHAPTER AAlN,-CONfINukD
al don't want that you should under
stand,n said ingot, with more Of his old con-
fidence 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
that you will marry me, say tomorrow ana
won't urge the thing now. You don't look
ft to stand, that's fnct."
Hcr eyes roved everywhere about the
room before they settled upon his hateful
face. ,-
al must,n she whispered. 81 promise
IT, But give me time-a little time"
~ will give you time week if you'll
promise that, honest and sure. Come what
will, whether he lives or dies, you'll marry
me at the end of q week. Say that and I'll
believe you and take the risks
81 WILL WILL" promised the poor girl,
Historically wringing her hands. How could
she do otherwise when the life OF the
brother she adored hung upon her words'
She was only conscious OF ono 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 Lyman's
den, whore he threw himself into an easy
chair before the glowing CRATE.
81 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 tho idea
that she gave in as she believed, but now
there's not a loop-hole left her. Lyman
wasn't quito so bad as took him to DO in
his cold-blooded plotting. The wonder is,
SO long as he'd made up his mind to take
that way out Of his scrape, that he didn't do
something in the way Of making restitution
to Everleigh. Hang it all, how am to know
but he did!n
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 glances about him.
What had Lyman been doing during those
long night hours at the bankl The book
keeper had held the opinion hitherto that
the extra work was only meant to keep
down an uneasy conscience, but it occurred
10 him now that he might himself be placed
in nm embarrassing position if Lyman had
left a confession for Mr.. Evcrlcigh.
lie had no scruple about searching the
desk of the injured man. 1t was easy for
him to invent an excuse for obtaining tho
keys to 1t, and five minutes after his search
began thick envelope, which was ad-
dressed to Althea Everleigh, lay in his
hands.
g Made up mostly of moonshine, but with
enough of unpleasant fact in 1t to make it
safer there he muttcred, 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. 1t opened up u problem
which he had not yet contemplated. There
could be no doubt but that Carol would
insist upon making the restitution
when she should recover from the
shock and horror of the time. Now, the
idea Of wrestling fifty thousand dollars from
Lyman Childer's unwilling hands had
made no inconsiderables part Of Hiram
Ingot's former pleasant dreams, and his
brow cloudcd over at the prospect Of relin-
gushing his golden hopes.
s'After all, it's the girl want more than
the money! he unused. I'D rather have
Carol without it 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 government in his own hands, and
In every way possible spared the stricken
girl, who had crept back to her place by her
brothers. bedside, only leaving it when he
came and led her away, commanding the
rest or the refrcshmcnt which she never
seemed to feel the need OF herself
What was she thinking of as she sat
there through the long, weary days, far into
the gruesome nights, with hermournful eyes
resting always on the face which pressed
the pillow, now pale and drawn with pain,
now flushed with fever and wild with de-
liiium, as the sick man raved and tossed in
the grip of the fever tiendi There was no
sign to tell, but a weight like lead lay upon
her heart.
only once had there come hay thing like
CLEAN of consciousness or reason to Ly-
man, and then, waking ont of a fitful slum-
Der, he fixed his burning eyes upon her,
with wistful smile trembling on his lips.
"Why, sis, what time you've been com
ing TO me-" he murmured, reproachfully
81 thought you cared more for a fellow.
Oh, therol do yon sect He has come back
from the grave-from the grave-to punish
me for the trust betrayed. Keep off; l
tell you, keep offrh
He sprang up in the bed, screaming and
waving back the spectcr which his fcvered
imagination had conjured, then clasping his
hands to his breast fell back heavily, swoon-
ing, Carol thought, but in moment more
he began babbling with only now and then
an ineligible word or sentence.
81 Edson-Edson. Confound the young
l. hat
age. You can't have her, Ingot-I'll die first
You'll find every thing made straight, Mr..
Everleigh. tell you, it isn't stealing when
q man only takes his own
And SO on and so on for hours at stretch,
while the restless head rolled, and then he
would relapse into a stupor which had little
rest in it. Tho doctor was of the opinion
that his fever was not so much the result of
his wound as Of some intense mental strain
or nervous shock which preceded it.
"There was no injury to the head, you
see This brain fever would have had him
in its clutches in day or two more,
fancy, had there been no other trouble, and
the wound killed him. he conflded to In
got
"You think he will die, thenp
luclS . no tCAiht5s LIZ - NhoHSSt
unless notwithstanding sets IN. He seems
to have been young man OF exemplary
h:oits, and that much is in his favor"
Ingot made the most Of this report to
Carol, who never asked a question. She
lr,elt down by the bedside after he left
her and laid her cheek against Lyman
burning hand.
"Oh, my brother, you did mean to save
me ct frightful cost, but things have
changed now, and will save you. For you
will Live, dear, live to redeem the past,
know"
Needing nothing that went on outside Of
that chamber. she did not know how often
Altbea had ,sgme TO be met by the ono an
swer-a Misc Carol would see nobody"
And, indeed the POOR child would have
shrunlr from such q meeting had the matter
been left to fnr.
A "a ,,,oo,,}fn,o aa the vuonlrs wore ON.