Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-07-19
THE ATHELSTONS;
 OR VICTOR AND vANQUISHED.
BY MARY CECIL HAY.

But Lima, faltering her thanks, turned away. and, following the winding field path behind the cottages, came present. ly out into the valley, where the shadows Clided swift and dim.
 No sign of Gerard yet, and the small dark figure hurried on in that great sol- itude among the hills, which echoed so drearily the solitude of her heart. No sign of Gerard yet, and the shadows came on and wrapped themselves about her. chilling her until she shivered as we ahiyer when some awful unknown evil nears us. No sign of Gerard yet, and she dared not call. Hill behind hill, hill beyond hill, she searched the whole expanse with a great dread in her wild and desolate eyes, but there was no sign of Gerard yet.
 At last, upon the narrow path beyond the water. fall, she saw group of fig ures coming toward her, and her heart leaped with relief and thankfulness. It was some moments still before she could recognize them, and then the fear orept slowly back-a greater fear than 1t had been before. The two boys were to- gether on Jack Esdaile's pony, and be- side them rode Louisa Castillain, who had joined them higher up the valley, because she knew who had been asked to meet them. And there was no one else.
 Slowly Lima went on toward the path on which they rode, Beyond this path, and above it, lay the silent tarl in the deep shadow. and beside this tarn-al- most close beside 1.-two men had met upon the narrow footway which ran 90 near it's treacherous waters; and the words that left their lips were those hot words of fierce, pngovernable rage which can be rarely either heard or uttered a second time in any mans life.
 The two horses came on. Lima heard Q shout of recognition from the lips of the boys on the pony, and she knew that they, too, could see her brother and Eustace Jeffrey. She knew Miss Cas- Ellain's eyes took in all the scene yet Lima thought she saw nothing in all the world but the two men who stood there, strong and defiant knowing nothing of those who watched them. knowing only that they had met in the solitude, and that strength and cowardice, revenge and hatred, justice and injustice, would not rest with words alone-even such words as those.
 Lima started forward, trembling help lessly one dread only filling her heart and urging Der steps. Gerard knew nothing of the mine beneath the water. To Gerard this was only a shallow mountain lake. Could she reach him in time2
 Her steps were weak and nerveless, as if she were trying to run in a dream. Louisa Castillain drew up her horse as the small, dark figure passed across the bridle road. There was still the slight ascent to climb to Lima it seemed like a terrific mountain in her way, while her steps faltered in theiF haste and fear.
 The two men, with flashing eyes and ringing words of hate. had met in a close and savage embrace and had not seen her, 4 few more steps-only @ few more Before half of these steps were taken, Lima had fallen to the ground as if the unseen hand of death had smitten her in an instant for the wide, watch ing eyes had seen the end; then closed in sudden blindness.
 Linn had seen how the man who had been wronged fought with the man who for years had wronged him, and how, with a fierce and frantic strength, he had flung him back into the water whose secret he did not know, and then had left the spot; walking quite slowly in the opposite direction, but still never seeing her. And other eyes had seen the end too. Louisa Castillain had seen the man whom nobody knew and nobody cared for fight with the man she loved, and how, with murderous strength, he had hurled him into the water, which meant death, and then had turned away deliberately, because the deed was done.
 And the boys had seen how the man who had always had pleasant, merry words for both, and womanly care for one, fought with the man from whom both shrunk with an instinctive antipa- thy. And even they knew, as they clung tremblingly to each other, that in this dusk among the hills to-day an awful deed had been committed, of which they knew the pame, though the horror of its meaning had never entered into the beart of either; and now it seemed as if a voice were whispering it to them again and again, in this new and terrible experience.
 And Louisa Castilhan, too, as she galloped wildly down the valley, felt this one word whispered about her, and echoing from hill to hill.