Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-03-27


ed after him.
Most assuredly," Mountjoy answered
and closed the door behind him.
CHAPTER XX--FIRST SUSPICIOUS OF IRIS.
From the last memorable day. on which
Iris had declared to him that he might al
ways count on ner as his friend but never
as his wife, Hugh had resolved to subject
his feelings TO Il rigorous control. As to
cOnquerlng his hopeless love- he knew but
toe well that it would conquer him on any
future occasion when he and Iris happen
ed to meet.
He had been true to his resolution, at
what cos Of suffering he, and he alone,
knew. Sincerely, unatfectedly, he had
tried to remain her friend. But the ma
ture of the truest and the firmest man has
its weak place, where the subtle influence
of a woman is concerned. Deeply latent,
beyond the reach of his own power of
sounding. there was jealousy of the Irish
lord lurking in Mountjoy and secretly
leading his mind when he hesitated in
those emergencies of his life which were
connected with Iris Ignorant of the in
fuence which was really directing him,
he viewed with contempt Mr. Henley's
suspicious of a secret understanding be-
tween his daughter and the man who was,
by her own acknowledgment, unworthy
of the love with which it had been her
Ii. -
time Hugh's mind was reluctantly in
search of an explanation which might ac-
count without degrading Irs) for her
having been traced to the doctors house.
In his recollection of events at the old
countrg town he found a motive for her
renewal of intercourse with such man
as Mr.. Vimpany, in the compassionate
feeling with which she regarded the doc
tors unhappy wife There might we'll be
some humiliating circumstance, recently
added to the other trials of Mrs Vimp-
any's married life, which had appealed to
all that was generous and forgiving in the
nature of Iris. Knowing nothing of the
resolution to live apart which had latterly
separated the doctor and his wife, Mount
joy decided on putting his idea to the test
by applying for information to Mrs. Vimp-
any at her husbands house
In the nature of sensitive man the
bare idea of delay. under these circum-
stances, was uncomfortable Hugh called
the first cab that passed him, and drove TO
Hampstead.
Fundamentally careful, perhaps-not
to attract attention needlessly to himself,
he stopped the cab at the entrance to
Redburn Road, and approached Number
Five on foot. A Servant-girl answered the
door. Mountjoy asked if Mrs. Vimpany
was at home.
The girl made no immediate reply She
seemed to be puzzled by MountjOys sim
pie question. Her familiar manner, with
its vulgar assumption of equality in the
presence of a stranger, revealed the Lon.
don-bred maid-servant of modern times.
Ibid you say Mrs. Vimpany?" she inQuir-
ed .Y sharply
"There's no such person here"
1t was Mountiov's turn to be puzzled.
"1s this Mr.. Vlmpany's hOuse?" he sald.
Yes. to be sure it is"
"And yet Mrs. Vimpany doesn't live
here9"
mo Mrs Vimpany has darkened these
DOORS" the girl declared positively.
Are you sure you are not making q
mistaken
"Quite sure. 1 have been in the doc
tors service since he first took the house."
Determined to solve the mystery, if it
could be done, Mountjoy asked if he could
see the doctor No; Mr.. Vimpany had
gone out.
There's young person comes to u.s."
the servant continued. 81 wonder wheth-
er you mean her, when you ask for Mrs.
Vimpanys The name she gives is Hen
ley"
"Is Miss Henley here now?''
"YOu can't see her-she's engaged"
She was not engaged with Mrs. Vimp-
any, for no such person was known to the
house. She was not engaged with the
doctor, for the doctor had gone out.
Mountjoy looked at the hat-stand in the
passage, and discovered a mans hat and
mans greatcoat. To whom did they be-
long? Certainly not to Mr.. Vimpany, who
had gone out. Repellant as it was, Mr..
Henley's idea that the explanation of his
daughters conduct was to be found IN the
renewed influence over her of the Irish
lord, now presented itself to Hugh's mind
under a new point of view. He tried in
vain to resist the impression that had been
produced on him. A sense of injury,
which he was unable to Justify to himself,
took possession of him. Come what might
of it, he determined to set at rest the
doubts of which he was ashamed, by COM