Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-03-22

| truth and fervor; and before the Wlntef
had passed. she had promised to be his
wife.
The wedding was to take place in
September; and, in order that Nora
might be near her adopted par
ents, Mark Harding had purchased
a handsome mansion near Col. Lannon'S
summer residence at Westerly.
1t was while visiting Mark Harding
at Westerly, that Willis Page had met
Nora Lamont. From the time of their
first meeting, they had been strangely
attracted to each other, and were soon
the best of friends.
Mark Harding had never doubted
Nora, and Willis Page was his best
friend. He felt that he could trust
either of them. But he was mistaken.
That morning he had found the note
which told him of their treachery; and,
mad with jealousy, he had gone to New
York, determined to bring Willis back
to Westerly with him, and kill him.
And now, as the train hurried him
away from the scene of his crime,
the white. reproachful face of his
victim seemed ever before him. Here
after his conscience would give him no
peace day nor night.
what a rash, blind fool I have
leen!" he thought. ooh, if [ could
only recall the past!"
The note rustled in his pocket. He
drew it forth and again read the words
which now seemed to dance before his
eyes like letters of fire:
Miss Nora Lamont. Westerly. x. I.
MY DARLING Everything is o. X. Am
coming to Westerly the 18th TO claim you.
Won't Mark be surprised when he knows
all? Yours truly.
WILLIS PAGE.
New York. August g. IS
Just as he thrust thenote back into his
pocket there was terrible jar which
threw the passengers from their Seats
The train had suddenly left the track.
A broken rail, a terrific crash, and
half hundred terrified wretches were
precipitated over an embankment fifty
feet high, and landed in mass at the
bottom of a rocky ravine.
Shrieks, groans, and imprecations
filled the air. Men, women, and chill
dren were struggling together in con-
fused heap, each fighting desperately
for life, and heedlessly crawling over
the dead and wounded, in their frantic
| efforts to escape from the wreck.
From under the debris of one of the
cars slender, graceful young man, with
curly, golden hair, and girlish features,
who had miraculously escaped with
out scratch, drew the body
Of Mark Harding. He was alive,
but unconscious. One leg was broken,
and his head was cut and bleeding.
The young man did the best he could
for him, though at first he felt little
weak in the knees himself, for the fall
had shaken him up pretty roughly, al.
though he was not otherwise injured.
He had Mark taken to farmhouse
near by, and made his charge as com
Portable as circumstances would admit
Then he sent to New London, the
nearest city, for the best surgeon that
could be found there. The surgeon
came, examined the patient, set his
broken leg and dressed his wound and
in reply to the young mans anxious i'll
quiries, said:
eyes, he will live. He has received
no internal injuries"
Mark did not recover conscious
ness until the next morning. The
first object that his eyes rested
upon was the young man who had res
cued him, seated at his bedside.
willis Page" he exclaimed. "Hav.
you come to haunt me? Are you alive
or not?"
@Yes, I am alive, old FRIEND" sale
Willis, tenderly;" and I'm going to sta,
with you until you are we'll"
"Then you did not fall off the cliff
when I pushed you?'
"No; I caught hold of vine tina
grew on the edge of the precipice, ant
before you were out of sight 1 hat
scrambled up again. I felt sure tina
you needed watching. So I followed
you; and when the train went over tn,
embankment I was in the same car will
you"
"Thank God!" said Mark, fervently
II am nc murderer. But" he added
bitterly, "can you explain the meaning
of that note you sent to Nora Lamont q
"Nora Lamont is my twin sister," sale
Willis. "Our nurse was discharged TO,
drunkenness, and, out of revenge, stole
Nora, and, after keeping the child unit
her parents had given up searching TO,
her, placed her in an orphan asylum il
New York. Before Nora had been il
the asylum six months she was adopted
by Col. Lamont and his wife. O.
course, as Nora was but s months ole
when she was stolen, she could not re
member her parents. b11t when T1aarnad