Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-08-27
CAAPTER XIII.
A TURN FOR TIE BETTER.

the dWIQl LruJl uhu lOTm6u itScl IL
We're Nugents brain. She carried heI
letters out into the hall, whore she
found Blackwood dawdling about so as
To be ready when Mrs. Hope should re-
Quire showing TO her carriage. be
came forward when he saw her.
''For post, Ma'am?" he asked.
YES" she answered, putting them
into his hands. Then looked at him
with her wonderful eyes-''Blackwood, .
she said, Pm afraid you made rather a
mistake just now"
Il hope not, Miss Nugent, he re-
piled. Il would be very sorry TO- be
rude to a lady"
ooh / did not mean that you were
rude" she said, YEARLY; mot that.
But Mrs. Hope is naturally very anxious
about Mr.. Lumley, and-ohl here Is
Mr.. Airlie. l am going upstairs, II you
want anything, BlackwOod, " with a sud
den change Of tone.
Eyes, Ma'am," said Blackwood, in his
usual manner.
But when Mr.. Jock Airlie had opened
the door Of the morning-roOm and had
gone in. BlackwoOd stood turning the
letters over and wondering what she
had meant by saying that he had made
a mistake In what he had said TO Mrs.
Hope.
ssNeyer meant that he was going to
marry the old girl" he muttered-and
surely the fashionable Mrs. Hope, who
coouettishly owned to being thirty-one.
would have had tt II she had known
his thoughts. "Oh, no; couldn't be
that. But / wonder what she did mean?
wonder how long Mr.. Airlie III take to
choke her off,"
Jock Airlie did not take very long.
however, to Blackwood's no small salts
faction. Jock Airlie did not much care
about Mrs Hope, although she was by
way OF being an intimate OF his wife's.
And somehow in his large and solid
presence Mrs. Hope always felt more or
less hopeless, and as il her stock-in-
trade Of looks and coQuetry were all
decidedly impOtent.
She often wondered that dear little
Ruth Airlie, with her bright vivaclouS
ways, her big generous heart, and her
dainty delicate fancies, had ever al
lowed herself to be cajOled into marry
ing that exceedingly heavy and unat-
tractive Jock; and indeed Mrs. Hopes
opinion was we'll known on the subject.
That afternoon Mrs. Hopes opinions
became more pronounced than ever.
"Why, even Miss Nugent has not
been allowed to look into the room yet, ,"
be said, bluntly. "You know the poor
old chap has had the very nearest shave
in the whole world-in fact, we can
scarcely saw that he's out Of the wood
vet. Ruth is simply worn out and dead
asleep at this moment, and I'm not
much better"
'sBut surely could be of some use?"
she pleaded.
sWell. candidly, don't think you
could" he said, bluntly, land, Of course,
every extra one in the house makes 1T
harder to keep going. But it's awfully
kind of you to have come; I'll let him
know as soon as he's fit to hear OF out
side interests. BY the bye, are you
driving, or shall call you a cab?"
sob, no; I'm driving, thanks" she re-
piled.
She was boiling over with passion as
she crossed the hall and went down the
steps TO her carriage. Blackwood, still
on the alert, preceded her down the
steps and guarded her dress, putting
the smart white wrapper neatly over
her knees with as much care as II she
had been his own mistress.
Good bye-goOd bye" said Jock,
cheerfully. "Ill be sure to let him
know"
you beast" she muttered under her
breath, as she waved q smiling adieu to
him.
HIM" calculated Jock, as the car
riage turned through the gates. 'Tm
afraid you don't love me as we'll as you
did an hour ago, my dear friend. HIM
"a pretty kettle of fish if I'd let you 60
gallivanting up to poor Lumley's bed
side"
Conclusion of the brain is best kept
quiet, sir" remarked BlackwoOd very
solemnly and in a very precise and
wooden kind of voice, at which jock
Airlie burst out laughing and went in
doors feeling that he had achieved a
very complete, though very quiet vic
tory.
And poor We're, who had gone slowly
and drearily up to her room face to face
with a new and terrible trouble even
before the weight Of the first awful one
had lifted from her heart. Could il
really be true that he had gone straight
way and engaged himself to Mrs. Hope
of all women in the world? II so he
must have gone to her and asked her at
once on arriving in London, at least
during the course Of that day.
From Blackwood they had learned
that Mr.. Lumley had returned about
three o'clock, having sent his luggage
I'D TO the studio in q cab three hours
earlier, that he had dressed aud gone
out, telling BackwoOd that he might
possibly not return till late at night.
Il have to see q lady in Queens Gate
about sitting" he said, land If I'm
coming home to dinner, I'll send you q
wire about half-paSt six"
He had, however. been brought home
about six o'clock in a cab by police
man aud a strange gentleman, who told
BlackwOOd of the accident. and tina,
the only conscious words he had spoken
were-"Take ne home-nOt hospital
home" and accordingly they had done
so.
She remembered now so well Mrs.
Jocks comment on hearing BlacEwoOd'
story-'sAh, | wonder il he had been to
see Mrs. Hope? She lives IN Queen:
Gate, you know"
Well, it was evident that he had~beer
there. and from what Mrs. Hope had
said. it was equally evident that he had
gone there in anger and despair and had
asked her to take possession Of the
heart which he believed that she, We're,
had rejected, But, Oh-nO, no, not the
heart: of the life, the name, the fate, II
Won will. but the heart was herS-all
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