Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-01-24

child--my NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. wifcl Il

she, ne went on, crying bitterly, "lS
Margaret's motherl 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 W story to DIR. Hyde.
Tell them" Mr.. Parker said to the
mulatto; 81 cannot
The mulatto told them, more clearly
perhaps than the student could have
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 stumbling,
high-shouldered figure she had seen
once or twice going up and down the
stairs. The hideous blue spectacles
were in his pocket, and he no longer
made a p%retence of being afflicted with
the govt, and, in spite of her stricken
faculties, she saw that Mary's eccentric
lodger and Michael Allenby were the
same man.
What he might have said no 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. Allenby in the
chair. She fell back again limp and
helpless.
You need not say a word" he said
to Michael. Heaven has punished
her"
what Is the matter with herr"
"Paralysis-hopeless and i%ncurable."
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 f~erocity OF
the mulatto's terrible eyes had done
their work, and Mrs. Allenby was para
USED from head 10 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"
"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 rare good sense
and discretion, Mr.. Parker. Does that
wretched woman understand me,
George, when | tell her for her child
ren's sake, no one will ever know how
this happened"
The wretched woman made a sign
that she did understand.
Her motive" he went on, "though
il must ever be 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 tremulousa and forward mo-
ton of the head.
"She nursed Mary through the fever"
he continued, 'the better TO throw MS
of our guard, and prepare the way for
the present diabolical piece of treach-
cry. YOu see how ii has recoiled upon
herself. Should Mary live l could al
most forgive herr
Should Mary livel George stole into
the room, and came back in q moment.
MARY is asleep" he said.
And without that cruel poison in her
veins said the old man. MAY Heaven
help us in our work OF bringing her back
TO health. | have told you, George, il
was through this woman's letters TO me
i 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-born
and ill-bred, the child of a miserable,
drunken, literary hack, and that she
herself was suspected of being worse"
DIR. Hyde s~huddered.
"Of course Michael said. II did not
know. | only knew that when | left
England my old friend Lennard was
a scholarly gentleman, whose only fault
was his poverty. | could not tell how
far he may have drifted, but | could not
believe that he had done so, and / 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 her
mind by my niece Margaret, that his
life was a martyrdom. l also know how
nobly she behaved; and so this woman's
treachery and sin failed andhave found
her outy"
The dropping figure in the chair SEEM
ed to shrink into itself at this, and her
head fell forward heavily. They sent
for her daughters and wrongfully told
them that their mother bad given way,
worn out with nursing, and they never
knew the truth.
But it was in this time of trial that
one character gave evidence of a gener-
Gus patience and filial affection hitherto
hidden entirely. Victoria took the care of
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 never left her. No one could in
terpret those mute signs and inarticu-
late sounds so well. and to the end Of
her days Miss Allenby hated Mary as
the cause of the calamity which had
overtaken her mother.
Mary lived, and made George Hyde a
proudly happy man; and Uncle Michael,
with princely generosity, established
Mr.. Mortimer Postlethwaite Parker in
a practice, insisting, as a humorous
condition, that he should marry Mar
garet. 1t is believed even to this day
that he played the part of matchmaker
some say he went so far as to threaten
his niece, if she rejected the dearest fell
low in the world next to George Hyde.
George had taken Arthur's place in tho
old mans heart.
But no one yer took the place held
there by Arthur's little son. As the
boy grew out OF babyhood he became
more and more attached to Unky Bake,
and as the years went on, when other
little one came TO Mary and George,
the boy lived almost entirely with Uncle
Michael.
When Mary was told the truth she
was not greatly surprised.
II did not quite think that" she said;
though | always thought there was
something strange about Won. Uncle