The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1891-01-23
child-my darlingl-Arthur's wife, /

Wlle1 ~
slle-T'
eSafe, I hope,n said Mr.. Parker,
quietly. sand likely to recover low that
we know the caused Of her disease. And
she.'' he went on, crying bitterly, sis
Margaret's mother! How can she be
told of this?"
So far they could understand nothing,
for Mr.. Parker could not say another
word. Sensi, however, did not lose his
presence of mind. Now that there were
witnesses present he released Mrs. AL
lenby, and placed the glass of medicine
and the phial on the table. These told
their own story to DR.. Hyde.
"Tell them,n Mr.. Parker said to the
mulatto; 81 cannot.n
The mulatto told them, more clearly
perhaps than the student could lave
done: and, through the horror which
had come upon him, Mr.. Barker could
only notice the singular stiffness which
had come upon his sister-in-law. She
did not move or speak when he asked
her if the fearful tale were true. She
only replied with a slow inclination of
the head.
When Mr.. Barker rose to his full
height Mrs. Allenby knew him at once;
he was, in nothing, like the shambling,
high-shouldered figure she had seen
once or twice going up and down the
stairs. The hideous blue spectacles
We're in his pocket, and he no longer
made a pretence of being afflicted with
the govt, and, in spite of her stricken
faculties, she saw that Mary's eccentric
ledger and Michael Allenby were the
same man.
What he might have saidnc one could
tell, but he began in a way that showed
the full measure of his anger. George
Hyde stopped him, however, and lifted
the heavy figure of Mrs. Allsnby in the
chair. She fell back again limp and
helpless.
You need not say a word,n he said
to Michael. Heaven has punished
her.
"What is the matter with herr"
Observation-Disclosures and incurable."
Aud so it was. The sudden shock OF
the two swift and silent hands which
grasped her own, when she thought her
self alone, and the deadly ferocity of
the mulatto's terrible eyes had done
their work, and Mrs. Allenby was para.
USED from head to foot; the brain was
clear and active, and that added to her
punishment.
And she is Margaret's mother" Mr..
Parker said again. GLOW can We tell
herr" -, 4
"She never must be told" said
Michael, gravely. This is a secret to
be kept by ourselves. / can trust you
and George, and lean answer for Sensi.
You have behaved with a l. good sense
and discretion. Mr.. Parker. Does that
wretched woman understand me,
George, when l tell her for her child
ren's sake, no one will eve know how
this happened"
The wretched woman made a sign
that she did understand.
Her motive he went on, ''though
it must ever he a matter of conjecture,
can easily be arrived at by me. Her
hatred of Mary, and her desire to take
possession of Arthur's boy and my
money led her to to this"
Though he had not spoken to her,
Mrs. Allenby responded with the same
sign, a slow tremulouS and forward mo-
ton of the head.
"She nursed Mary through the fever
he continued, ''the better to throw us
off our guard, and prepare the way fol
the present diabolical piece of treach-
cry. You see how it has recoiled upon
herself. Should Mary live I could al.
most forgive her"
Should Mary live! George stole into
the room, and came back in a moment
MARY is asleep,'' he said.
And without that cruel poison in hel
VEINS" said the old man. "Aiay Heaven
help usin urwork of bringing her bach
to health. / have told you, George, il
was through this woman's letters ~ me
| first conceived the idea of coming
here in disguise to see for myself what
Arthur's wife was like. She," and he
pointed to the stricken figure in the
chair, told me this girl was %lowly-borr
and ill-bred, the oisild of a miserable
drunken, literary hack, and that she
herself was suspected of being worse
DR.. Hyde shuddered.
"Of course,n Michael said, 81 did no
know. 1 only knew that when | lief
England my old friend Leonard wa!
a scholarly gentleman, whose only faul
was his poverty. ! could not tell how
far he may have drifted, but I couldno
believe that he had done SO, and I know
now from his W child's lips, one Of
the best and purest girls that ever lived
and only equalled in the beauty of he
mind by my niece Margaret, that hi
life was a martyrdom. | also know how
nobly she behaved; and so this woman
treachery and sin failed andhave foune
her outY"
The dropping figure in the chair seem
ed to shrink into itself at this, and he
head fell forward heavily. They sen
FOR her daughters and wrongfully to-,
them that their mother had given way
worn out with nursing, and they nevel
knew the truth.
But it was in this time of trial tina
one character gave evidence of a gener
ous patience and flial affection hilbert
hidden entirely. Victoria took the care Q
her mother upon herself. She was ieal
Gus, almost savagely SO, of any inter
ference on Margaret's part. Mrs. AL
lenby lived for many years, and Vic
tor.a never left her. No one could in
terpret those mute signs and inarticu
late sounds SO well, and to the end Q
her days Miss Allenby hated Mary a
the cause of the calamity which ha
overtaken her mother.
Mary lived, and made George Hyde
proudly happy man; and Uncle Michael
with princely generosity, establishe
MI. Mortimer Postlethwaite Parker i
a practice, insisting, as a humoror
condition, that he should marry MAJ
garet. 1t is believed even to this da
that he played the part of match-make
some say he went so far as to threate
his niece, if she rejected the dearest fe
low in the world next to George iIyU'
George had taken Arthur's place in tt
old mans heart.
But no one ever took the place hel
there by Arthur's little son. AS til
boy grew ont of b%abyhood he becam
more and more attached to Unky Bake
and as the years went on, when othe
little ones came to Mary and George
the boy lived almost entirely with Uncl
Michael.
N,op Nf,ry u,oc to1d tha tr,,th oh