Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-02-27
CHAPTER XVI.

frightened girl that Tor the momenI she
sea. cely knows her. Can this DO the dainty
duchess?
1t is with a cuck exclamation she
goes forwa d, and lays hcr firm white hand
upon the shrinking Norah's sEo .lder, AMI
twists her round 40 the light may fal
more fully on her.
so you have come homel l wonder
you weren't ashamod," she says. "And
in sacr II plight too! Where l. your beauty
gone, wonderl" She seems to find a rich
enjoyment in tho girls miserable appear
Anee. ''Come, you have row to exp ain,"
she says, and using q little a very little is
all that is needed, Of the str myth that be-
longs to her, she compel' the worn
Guild to follow her, and enter what seems
10 her sad, terrified, half-dulled brain, a
rom crowded with condemnatory eyes.
" hen she left Denis she had been fortr-
nate in taking at first the path that lei
direct 10 entry. At the gates she had
met two of the stab emen, whom she at
unce dispatched TO the cabin whore lay the
unconscious Delaney. third man she
had sent off for tie doctor; and having, as
she felt, d ne now for him all she could do,
thu strain at last relaxed and she gave in.
IL seemed TO her as if something had given
way within her head, and she lost thought
tor most things, being only deS rous OF get
ting away from everyone, to he alone, be-
yond the view of prying eyes; able to give
herself up to the deadly lethargy that is so
surely oN grooming her.
Then Katherine had seized upon her as
she endeavo. Q /, ike some wounded thing,
10 creep upstairs Unseen to her own room,
and now she puts up her hands as If to
shut them all away fro her.
~ II 4
rushing to her; she is not first-Madan il
before her, and has caught the girl by both
her shoulders, and is, in her agitation,
sway ng her gently 10 and fro.
! 'Norah, where is Denis? Where is my
SOM"
/ The poor child, bewildered, gazes from
one to the other. A feeling Of faintnesi Is
overpowering her, mingled with that ter
rible dread of what they will say of her
of public ceIsure-tlat had tormented her
all through the past interminable night.
Oh, to esI ape-to get away! She looks
round her helpleSsly, ani makes feeble
effort to shake OF Madam's OBTAINING
grasp.
"Norah, speak," says Lady Clandore in
kind, conciliatory tone. Where have
you been sin last nightS'
''In the wood" gays the Duchess, trem-
bling, Iepea ing half unconsc ously the
words she had drilled %; self to say IN the
lonely houis spent beside the inse sible
| ody. he Is safe now. The men must
have found lin. he cannot lay herself
oIen to The cruel insinuations of katherine
Cagalet How if she were, in her fury, to
tell them al of that scene in the gaIdenl
Oh, no, no.
al lost my way" she stammers foolia hly,
that lorr.b pain in her head beating with
maddening force. ~ went on--on.
could not come back; there was rain. It
+ was very dark. l." She breaks Off this
incoherent speech, trying in little piteou'
way to collect herself, and only succeeding
in repeating again the words she lad i'm
pressed upon her tired brain in more
lucid moment II Lost my way" she says
slowly.
| Mss Cazalet laughs out loud.
''Did ! EMS lose his way, toos" she asks
'It Is rea ly refreshing, in such a material
age as this, TO hear of two beings so charn-
ingly unsophisticated. Two veritabie
baDes in the woodp'
"Le sile mt, girlr' cries Mrs. Onslaught
messy, with hoL ost indignation.
mo. shall not be silent. What Is
all her path, however depraved, to be made
smooth for her.''
what path" demands Nancy Blake,
Quickly. Confess at least that your first
surmise was a false one. There has been
NJ elopement"
! 81 am nevertheless as firmly convinced
as ever, that she, and she alone, knows why
Den is absent IRON his home"
At the sound of Delaneys name Norah
starts violently.
''Hal do you see that2" cries Miss GAIA
let triumphantly. "Deny, now, ii you can
that she is hiding someth ne from US
"Norah, dearest, try TO explain" says
Lady Glanioro, moving near TO the half.
fainting girl and passing her arm around
her.
"Yes, do. Do my dear! Sure n word
will settle it one way or the other" says
Mrs O'Shaughnessy, with an ging
pat on the back.
ooh, Duchessi II there is anything TO
tell, tell itp' entreats Miss Blake, in deep
distress, evidently on the verge of tears.
but Norah is past understanding now.
81 lost my way" she murmurs foolshly.
'Tt was so dark, so cold. l went on, ON;
I lost my way" She looks round her with
darkeniug eyes and an agonized express
/ sion.
"whyr' exclaims Miss Cazalet, creeping
slowly up TO her, with her head bent and
gaze fixed upon Norah's gown, what 1,
this" she lifts corner of it. tits blood %
she cries, shrilly. 'Blood She has muir.
dered him. Look at her, lookl II is blood
! tell you. She has killed him"
Don't be fool'' says Mrs. O'Shaugh
messy with more force than elegance. Blu
even as she says IL her tone trembles.
That awful word has penetrated the
mists that troubles Norah's intellect, stag