Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-04-25


81 don't want that you should Under
stand" said Ingot. with more of his old con-
fdence than he had betrayed that day.
HTou Know Just as much as you are tit to
bear. Come, I'll be easy with you. Tell me
that you VIII marry me, say tomorrow, and
Iwon't urge the thing now. You don't look
ft to stand, that's a fact"
Her eyes roved everywhere about the
room before they settled upon his hateful
face.
al must,'' she whispered. 81 promise
II. But give me time-a little time.n
81 will give you time-a 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 u week. Say that and Eli
believe you and take the risks"
al will WILL promised the poor girl,
Historically wringing her hands. How could
she do otherwise when he life Of the
brother she adored hung upon her wordsl
She 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 1 want
you to put her to bed and keep her quiet,''
he advised, and urned away into Lyman's
den, where he threw himself into an easy
chair before the glowing crate.
"Idon'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
thst 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 serape, that he didn't do
something in the way of making restitution
to Everleigh. Hang it all, how am 1 to know
but he dds"
With this new thought in his mind. Mr..
Ingot was no longer quiescent. He sprang
up n 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 bank3 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 hat he might himself be placed
In On embarrassing position if Lyman had
left q confession for Mr.. Everieigh.
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 it, and five minutes after his search
began a thick envelope, which was ad
dressed to Althea. EverIeigh, lay in his
hands.
"Made up mostly of moonshine, but with
enough of unpleasant fact in 1t to make il
safer there he muttered, as he consigned
the missive which he had opened and
glanced over, to that zee of glowing Goals
This little incident robbed Mr.. Ingot OF
the light spirits which Carols concession
had given him. 1t opened up q 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 inconsiderable part of Hiram
Ingot's former pleasant dreams, and his
brow clouded over at the prospect of relin,
gushing his golden hopes.
safer all, it's the girl 1 want more than
the money" he unused. I'D rather have
Carol without it than Miss Everleigh with
II, for all her beauty and pride"
Through the dark days that followed, In
6tu XCAldlEitu III tiiC uttlot. IS tpOh liz
reins Of government in his W hands, and
In every way possible spared the stricken
girl, who had crept back 10 her place by hel
brothers bedside, only leaving it when he
came and led her away, commanding the
rest or the refreshment which she never
seemed TO feel the need of herself.
What was she thinking of as she sal
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
now flushed with fever and wild with de
lirium, as the sick man rayed and tossed in
the grip of the fever tiendl There was nc
sign to tell. but a weight like lead lay upon
her heart.
Only once had there come any thing like
sgleam of consciousness or reason to Ly
man, and then, waking out of a fitful slum.
Der, he fixed his burning eyes upon her
with a wistful smile trembling on his lips.
"Why, sis, what a time you've been com
ing to me- he murmured, re~proachfully
3I thought you cared more for a fellow,
Oh, therei do you sect He has come bach
from the gravc-from the grave-to punish
me for the trust ! betrayed. Keep off;
tell you, keep OFFS
He spraug up In the bed. screaming and