Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-12-15


ing of the events of that day, but these
thoughts all came to one conclusion, that
there was nothing whatever calling for my
| interference But a reaction came yester-
day, when by the evening post | received
the following note:
MEwBuRS MANOR, Stoketon Regis YoTks.
My Dear MyiRe. The mater has room to
spare, and you may have II If you care 10 run
| down tomorrow. wire what tram. nnd that
| you are well known at a certain house near here
\ you might have told me. As for nlysult don
despair-it is progressing as well as can De ex-
pected. and you may soon nave 10 congraIllate
me. Yours, GEO GuRDoN.
To tell the state of mind into which this
note threw me would merely to recapitu-
late the details / have already written
| down; but | verify believe that for some
time after its receipt | was on the verge OF
madness. The last sentence left me no
alternative but to suppose that Gurdon
wished to give me warning that Mabel
intended to throw me over, or that he, hay-
ing found out my attachment, had deter
mined to win her from me. The rest of the
letter was puzzling, and l could only
account for it on the supposition that
| Gurdon did not know | was engaged, and
wished to let Mabel decide between us
while both were on the spot. But II was
the words in which he told me that his
suit was progressing well that were so
maddening to me; and although, remem-
! bering the events of the preceding week, |
stroye to be calm, these words burned their
way into my brain so that | could think of
nothing else. But even this time | did
not doubt Mabel was only filed with a
desire to know what Gurdon really meant.
Theminutes passed on; up and down my
room l paced, my mind filled with such
| thoughts as do not now care TO remember,
! and wondering whether or not to accept
the invitation to Mewburn Manor. At
last decided, for various reasons, to do so,
to go down by the first train in the morn
ing and set my doubts at rest once for all.
But even after coming to decision on this
point I found myself no better; every
minute l was asking myself what Gurdon
was doing at that moment, and whether he
was over at the Grange or not. So | con-
graduated myself when at length | re-
membered Vasali's fluid, and, more to put
an end to my unweicome thoughts than for
any other reason, | determined to make a
second trial of it.
1t was no sooner thought of than done
As I made the usual preparations for my
transportation, l noticed that the street.
lamps outside were lit; but as evening ar
riyes sooner in the city than in more fav-
ored regions, l had no doubt that twilight
still reigned in the open country. And so
it proved. When | had followed Vasalis
instructions exactly as on the former occa-
sion, and experienced the same sensations,
l found that on awakening the twilight
was merging into dusk. For the second
time the potion had done its work we'll
l was lying as before on the lawn of Card
mall Grange, in the deep shadow cast by
the trees bordering it.
Before me was the house, many of its
windows illuminated, reminding me that
dinner must be in progress, or only just
over and, standing there in the cool Of
| the autumn evening, considered the best
means of efieeting the purpose l had in
view. While l was doing so, | heard in
the distance the sound Of voices and foot
steps, evidently of two persons or more,
who were coming down walk near which
l was standing. Crouching down behind
the bushes, l awaited their approach, but
before they came up, | recognized two of
them by their voices, and they were Sir
| George Gurdon and Mabel CARDINAL I
heard also the voice OF another person, but
| it was strange to me, and as the trio
passed / saw that the lady to whom it
belonged was one whom | had never seen
before.
mo doubt, tomorrow" Gurdon was say
| ing as they passed where / was hidden,
''he cannot be doing much at this season,
and / shouldn't suppose he would miss
such a chance"
"Mabel should know best" said the
strange lady, who by her voice was appar-
emily young.
"And certainly think he will" replied
Mabel, "Mr Mylne is TOO fond of the
country not to take advantage Of such a
chance"
1t was with strange feeling that dis
covered by this scrap of conversation that
they were talking of Gurdon's invitation
to me- but there was something in the fact
beyond my comprehension, and to which |
should like a solution. So, after they had
passed / slipped into the walk and fol-
lowed them, thinking that / might thereby
solve the mystery-if mystery it was
which was hanging so heavily on my
mind. For some distance the walk wound
through the trees, and here it was neces-
sarily quite dark; and then, entering the
open park beyond, the light upon it was
that of the twilight, by which, though
deepening fast, objects were still perceiy-
able, Going through the trees followed
SO closely upon the heels of the trio in
front that when they came into the compar-
lively good light beyond, found myself
unable, unless by halting altogether, to
keep beyond the range of their vision if
they should turn. But, truth to tell, had
no thought of anything but dogging their
footsteps, though, had / known the conse-
quence, would have cut off my right
hand rather than do so. So little did /
think that by my accused doubts should
be the means of a catastrophe fatal to
every hope and desire l ever had-des-
tined perhaps to be fatal not only to my
own life, but also to life even dearer to
me.
To resume. was no more than three
or four yards behind, so close indeed that ]
wonder now that they did not before this
become aware of my presence, when, SC
suddenly that l was taken by surprise
they turned round. What followed
hardly know. l was so directly in front
and so near, that they could not help see
ing me the moment they turned and that
they did so realized by the looks on their
faces, barely visible through the gathering
dusk. Mabel gave but one glance, but il
was enough and, as she fell to the ground
| in dead swoon, heard her low, piercing
, cry
: "Bertier
. For the life of me l could not move
step, and had no eyes for anything save
: Mabel's inanimate form; yet was awar;
that just as she tainted the strange lady
! screamed and ran off at full speed
whittier, neither knew nor cared. As fol
. Gurdon, he glanced at me once in wha
seemed startled, frightened manner, ant
then bent over Mabel, whom he proceeded
, to lift in his arms, as if to carry her in
doors As with his burden he hurriedl,