The Red Cloud chief., 1889-12-20
CHAPTER XVI

Allan Percival sat in his hired apartments
at No. . Rue de st. Helene, Trouville.
Trouville across the river. not the grand
sweep of bright beach dipping gently down
into the bay this side.
so she has written to her solicitors con-
corning the Heatherleigh estate, and desires
them to dispose Of it, with the exception of
Q few things in the Hall. for which she will
send her cousin, Allan Percival, shortly
reading from q newly-arrived letter.
well, let me see. What Is it she wants
unearthed from that cursed ruin, any
wayP and he draws forth q slip Of paper
from the letter. 'Oh, yes; her mothers
jewels, to be found where she concealed
them before her fight from Heatherleigh,
behind the third row Of volumes ON the
library shelves. Behind the third row at
the left-hand end I will find q secret panel;
slide it to the right hand and bring all I
find in the little recess,'" reading from the
slip. Then there is more in that secret
cupboard than Lady Percival's jewels,
judging fror this" he said, meditatively.
swell, whatever is there, I will get.
"What q life she has led, to be sure, dear
girl! But after this earth shall blossom out
q paradise for my darling," he added, with
emotion.
Then he fell into q ~reverie, and slipping
the letter into his desk he sat gazing out Of
the window, oblivious Of every thing around
him; regardless Of every thing excepting
his own speculations. If the chain Of
thought traced by his busy brain had been
resolved into words, they would have read
something like the following:
"Idon't wonder Miriam doesn't want to set
fOot IN uoothor1oioh Eo11 onoiu1 w n Iot
Of misery has been entailed on the I'M
il I only had lived to thrust q sword up to
cestor before he could have uttered that
malediction that has cursed the lives Of my
nearest and dearest!
her. Happy man that I ami Strange,
wasn't it, that she should come to me first
n nurse me through that terrible illnessl
And l loved her passiouately before she had
been there two hours; but she thought it
an i~nfatuation or hallucination of the sick
room. And, too, her heart was sore over
her husbands death, and she was in no
mood to listen to me.
swell, I was Q fool to imagine she might,
but I had always led such Q lonely life, even
before my parents died-the curse was on
them, too, and I existed in its shadow also
and after that, I was lonelier that ever be-
fore. was poor, too, then; and there Is no
knowing what she may have thought of my
importune love making. No. I did not
consider, for the very reason that I was
madly in love with my beautiful COUSIN. l
never thought of any thing else. But it
was the love Of my life, - nc one knew bet
ter than myself, and now, after years of
separation, I am called; and I am going to
her, my love, my life, and ss will be very
happy. Blu I must 60 to Heatherleigh
first. Armed with my letter Of introduce
ton I will see her solicitors, and then go to
the Hall for her.
81 Am glad I am here to go; she must be
spared the pain, the sadness Of this visit
and I will bring the jewels and whatever
else she has hidden behind the panel. Mir
lam was crafty; cunning, wasn't she, to
think Of all this in the midst Of 90 much
else. To be sure, what sly little love
haven
And he started up with . smile on his
handsome face to hnd it nearly dark.
Below the crowd surgcs past and some
where tinkies the pretty air Of Lucia"
This roliicking watering place, Trouville,
seems to-day noisier than eve to the steady
blood Of the Percival As he ga1es down on
the Parisian-stamped throng.
Well, his estates had been disposed Of
also, n he was going over the sea, away
from it all And beyond tho ocean surges
they, he and Miriam, would begin life anew.
He had . little business yet with his
bankers IN London, and this errand Of 1ir-
Jams, and then, all then, away.
Locking his desk he sauntered down.
stairs, humming softly to himself IN old
English SOIL 6, while his thoughts were Try.