The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-09-07

| heart beating unevenly as he accepted Mrs.
arey's offer.
Then, as strangers are wont to do when
| they are thrown together, and civility
| obliges them to make some effort at con-
versation, several commonplace remarks
we're exchanged between the lady and gen.
| tleman, while Nigel's pulses were throb-
biag and the question mentally recurring,
who is this man who owns her keyP"
He had hardly waited quarter OF an
hour when footsteps and laughter an
| nounced the return Of the Misses Grey and
| their visitor.
Here they are" said Mrs. Grey.
The door was thrown open, and two
young ladies entered, followed by very
handsome young man.
Hugh" exclaimed the lady of the
house, turning to the newcomer, this gen.
tlsman has kindly brought you your keys.
He found th.m in walking from Fore
! ham"
HHow fortunate I deed ] am much in
uruUou 10 you,-' s3Io mrs. Grey s v1slCor.
Nigel had sent piercing look in the d.
rection of the young man, but at once saw
that he was unknown to him. There was
no excuse for lingering any longer, but he
could not go till he had determined some
thing which tore him yith bitterest agony.
"You will tell mel Rope" faltered he,
chow this key came into your possession"
and he indicated the bright line Of gold
hanging amid the steel
"Oh, that onel" replied the young man
carelessly. 'That isn't mine, as q matter
Of fact, though I hardly suppose 1 shall
ever have an opportunity OF restoring it 70
Its owner"
"Where-where did you find iti" cried
Nigel, now in uncomfortable agitstion-so
keen that it communicated itself in part TO
mis- hearers.
81 picked it up on board ship last year
when / went over to America for an au-
tumn trip" answered the other. 1T be-
longed to young lady-one of the passen-
gers-and-and'-
"You and she are engaged" interrupted
Nigel, in a voice scarcely audible from the
emotion of the speaker.
'No1 we are strangers" the young man
fastened to say. II have nevec been able
to restore the key (which / recognized as
hers from having often observed it hang
ing from her watch chain) because press
ing business, coupled with the severe i'll
ness of a near relative who had journeyed
out without me, prevented my tracing this
lady Immediately. Afterward it was too
late; she and her mother had left the hotel
20 which 1 found they had gene on land
ing, and so placed the key on my own
ring Suppose now transfer it to your
keepingi"
Nigel had sat down again The revul-
sion of feeling had been too strong for him
after believing that his lost love was
eternally divided from him-that she must
be betrothed to the handsome young man
who possessed her key. Once, three years
ago, he and she had been on the eve of
making their vows together at the altar,
when all at once, through his own foolish
jealousy, this bright vision of happiness
had vanished. Evelyn-his Evie-had been
terrified by his too exacting demands that
she should see no one think of no one,
when in his presence, and quarrel, all Of
his making, had ensued. CHANGING back
he could perceive his error. his folly, his
harshness-now when it was indeed too
late. Such undue proportions had his
jealousy taken that he had imagined Eve
lyn cared not for him, but his wealth, and
he had made one unguarded exclamation
to this effect. One only, but it was enough
far the high-souled, loving girl who had
promised to be his bride.
Next day she sent back all his gifts, with
three brief lines:
This time yesterday nothing but death could
have forced me from you; now nothing but death
can reunite u.s. EVELYN MORE.
Nigel had flown up to town before this
brief farewell arrived, intending 20 drown
his misery in rushing hither and thither;
saying to himself poor foolish fellow that
Evelyn would repent her obstinacy about
that fellow Hartford the acquaintance who
had aroused his jealousy, and undertake
not to speak to him again when they met.
Why, if she loved him, was she not ready
to promise anything?
He reckoned without his host. On again
reaching home-ten days after he quilted
it-Evelyn was no longer in the neighbor-
hood. "She had gone to visit an uncle"
was the reply to his inquiries at the house.
Gonei And he had found that short and
dreadful farewell awaiting!
Distracted now at the idea that per-
chance he might not SO easily persuade
Evelyn to pardon him Che had no answer
to the one brief letter he had written to
herr he eagerly inquired her present where
abouts, and learned. with increasing agony,
that Evelyn's mother had seized on a most
unexpected offer, had let her house fur
nished to a friend, and that Evelyn had &C
Companied her mother and uncle abroad.
Whitheri That was his cry-a cry still
unanswered
1t was long time before Mrs. More's
friend, who had taken the house of her
hand, could be prevailed on to give him
Miss More's address, and it was also very
long before an answer came TO the impas-
stoned appeal he wrote to his wounded be-
trothed 1t was an answer which threw him
into a new agony Of pain and induced a
fever which had threatened his life.
Evelyn's mother and Evelyn herself
wrote:
1t was impossible after what had occurred that
Miss More could ever again subject herself 70 Ike
suspicious Her engagement with Mr.. Greenly
was definitely at an end.
And after this he, too, had tried to for
get. How vainly he felt with added force
in this most bitter hour As with sviftest
speed all that we have recorded here shot
through his tortured brain.
When he had sceived that terrible dis
missal from Evelyn her mothers note was
dated from Vienna but now be learned
(through the medium OF the golden key)
that last year she had landed in America
He would follow her there Ali long ago
would he have done so had she not hidden
herself from him. Had be not secured
Italy, Switzerland and Germany in a vsin
hope of some day falling at her feet and
uttering two vords-"Forgive mer'
Tottering to his feet Nigel managed 70
retire from the Willows without breaking
down hafora fba<a ap6 ha