Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-02-28

"Why-why-that / was mistaken"
answered Scarborough, quickly, with a
smile.
mo, I've been terribly disappointed,
| Scarborough" said Malvern, seriously.
SIN - began Scarborough.
! eyes, in love-" admitted Malvern, tent
atively. He tapped the ball of his shoe
with his cane moment. ''You see" he
said, resuming, ''more than year ago
was engaged"
"Well, soon afterward she fell i'll. Be-
/ fore she recovered was sent west.
i 'Did you see her before you left?'
/ ''No. I begged, pleaded to see her, but
was refused. When I got back she had
I been taken abroad for her health. All
! the letters that l wrote to her whenI was
west and afterward were returned I'M
/ opened"
WE'LL memorable, wasn't She"
I eyes. and yet I believe it's more the
result of a combination of circumstances
! than anything else; she's very willful,
/ though, and she's capable Of being bru-
! tally cruel without actually meaning to
/ be SO, you know"
| "What came of it finally"
Nothing came of it. tried to live it
down, but couldn't do it. I fought it
for year, but it was useless. Finally I
got desperate. I could enduref 10 long
er, so got leave of absence and came
over here to find her. She"
"But who is she? demanded STAN
brough.
why, she's-she's the girl that was
with you to-day"
"With me! where-when?"
"Why, this afternoon at P ere-Lach-
aise."
"What! You were Dot"
| eyes, it was u
''Then it's Minette."
| eyes, Minette."
| Scarborough was completely nonplussed.
| There was pause.
/ ST can't live without her." said NAL
vern, suddenly. 81 must have her; I
don't care how get her; I shouldn't
mind abducting her if it were necessary
but can't do it alone. We must have
someone to cover our flight, so to speak,
/ you know. The trouble is that she knows
that I'm hopelessly in love with her. l
should have Joined you to-day, but she
seemed so startled that was afraid to.
A good deal depends upon the first step
"Supposing that I should arrange a
meeting for your" suggested Scarborough.
''Ihe very thing-I wish you could"
"Well, I'll see her tomorrow. You
come again tomorrow night, and we'll
see what can be done. it's rather deli
cate mission-I ought to have full pow
Err"
Certainly" rejoined Malvern, quick
ly; ''if you are good enough to interest
yourself in the matter, I'll consent to any
arrangement that you make"
Scarborough walked back to Malvern's
hotel with him. Strange" he said, II
met her here for the first time five
months ago, and she's never mentioned
your name. By the way he continued,
show did you find me out?"
Followed your cab" said Malvern;
"lost you once and saw you again fifteen
minutes afterward, you were alone then"
When Malvern called at Stanbrough's
room the next night he had the air of
man summoned to hear sentence pro-
nounced upon him.
GOOD evening"" he said in reply to
Stanbrough's salutation, then he sank
down into a chair.
"Well," said Scarborough, lighting
pipe, 81 saw her this morning-by the
way, won't you have pipe? 'No'-and
preached the subject to her. Of course
she resented my knowledge of the affair,
and at first she refused point blank to
| talk about it. spoke of your delicate
consideration in approaching her through
a mutual friend rather than by letter or
otherwise; of your unhappy and depress-
ed condition, and so forth. Then | told
her of your earnest desire to see her, and
suggested meeting. She positively re-
fused to consider the idea. l presented
half a dozen reasons, each of which she
negatiyed. l talked to her an hour in
that way without making any Roadway.
Then leading UP to il cautiously, [ played
my last card. proposed that the meet
ing should take place in Pere-Lachaise,
at Abelard's tomb, where we saw you be-
fore. She's not particularly sentimental,
but she's very romantic, you know, and
the idea struck her forcibly-appealed to
her in fact. She thought about it for
some time, and then she said finally,
with light laugh, that if it would be
such qualification to me, and such a
satisfaction to you, she would consent,
but she really couldn't understand, and
SO forth. got away as soon as | could
after that, and I've been thinking since
of the best way to utilize the advantage
that we've gained. The truth of it is
she's treated you NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
| ly. Her pride is something prodigious-
l never suspected her Of It Its the crude
pride, however of an inexperienced girl.
| am satisfied that it would be useless to
| reason with her or to appeal to her-that
would only feed her vanity. She must
be brought to her senses suddenly-by a
shock; her sympathies lust be aroused
in word, she must be made to suffer.
I've been talking about it to friend of
mine, doctor, who lives on the first
| floor. He's at the head Of one of the
hospitals here, and he says that I've hit
the very thing. Have you got revol
yer?"
Malvern was little staggered at the
question, but he replied in the affirma-
tive
'Well, tomorrow promptly at 8 o'clock
Minette and / will be at Abelard's grave,
but you will not have arrived. | will
detain her until she positively insists on
! going. Then | will make a strongly
emotional declaration of love to her-teu
! her that | didn't know how much loved
/ her until thought of losing her, and SO
on, and that in promising to intercede
for you / pledged myself against myself.
When / reach the climax you will sur
/ prise us-look utterly desperate, disap-
/ pointed in love, betrayed by your friend,
! motive, see?-make despairing gesture
! or two, say something incoherent, turn,
and discharge your revolver into the
: ground. Then you will reel and stagger
about until l catch you. After that all
! you have to do is to play the severely
wounded man until you reach the hos
! pital The moment you get there you
/ will relapse into an unconscious state IN
/ til the doctor or I call 'time,' SO to speak.
! How do you like it?
Malvern had been prepared for some