The Globe-republican., 1891-11-19

Highland fishermen down by the shore.
Does that relieve you?"
He nodded mute assent; his mind was
in such confusion that he could do
nothing but lie and regard her with his
soul in his eyes
Sweet lady, is this your fste? Chained
| to this sterile rock in the midst of the
seas, consigned to your gnawing grief
unhelped and uncontrolled while your
bright beauty wastes in its summer
prime
Alas! beautiful Engelonde Inchcape,
wha: had you done to deserve this?
"YOu are trying to recall whether you
have ever seen me before" said she,
shrinking uneasily under his .uncon-
scious gaze. NO, no; we are utter
STRANGERS to each other. You are in
Dunraven Tower. and my simple High
land folk call me their lady, because l
am the wife of their absent chief. How
should you have met recluse like me?
No. no. no; our paths in life lie far
apart" Her voice died away, she
brooded mournfully over the thoughts
suggested by her own words.
Edgar shook of the preoccupation
| WuICu u6u ultu5IUO uclU UumUs uc
had resolved upon his course.
II he had indeed found Lord Inch
cape's vanished wife and daughter in
this seclusion, he had by chance stum-
bled upon a secret which the earl had
never chosen to confide to him. 1t was
clear that as yet Lady Inchcape did not
suspect that he was her husbands heir,
nor had he any right to complicate the
situation by enlightening her. He
might not long be obliged to intrude
here-he determined to make an effort
to maintain his incognito: at least un-
til he had confessed his involuntary in
trusion to Lord Inchcape.
Therefore he answered Lady Inch
cape's last words by the statement,
meant to reassure her evident anxiety
lest he might have recognized her Fact:
| mo. madam, / am sure l have never
met you anywhere before, far as have
travelled. should never have forgotten
you. And now that 1 owe my life to
your goodness, trust the day may come
when l may prove my gratitude. Allow
me to give you my name-Edgar; l am
an Englishman."
| He could not look at her, or speak to
her in the impersonal conventional
fashion warranted by their brief ac-
| Quaintance, with all that he knew of her
| in his heart; and she felt the peculiar
magnetism of his manner: she was at
tracted strangely, es cry word he spoke
entered her heart as genuine.
Il make you welcome to my lonely
home, Mr.. Edgar" said she with her
pensive smile; although your visit was
| involuntary and we have the tempest to
thank for our introduction to each other.
None enter here from the outer world
save the wretched and the lost"- the
pathetic voice paused here and she
seemed to follow the thought suggested
| by her last words little way, her two
brilliant eyes fixed on vacancy, but soon
she reused herself and went on; $50 that
we have little to tempt US to watch the
ocean, and we had almost let you perish
! tefOre your yacht was discovered in the
binding drift. We have life saving ap-
paratuS in readiness, and the fishermen
are accomplished surfmen; but in the
absence of their leader Kenmore (your
| pilot they were not so vigilant perhaps
| as usual, and no one observed the little
vessel in distress until my bright-eyed
| daughter. saw it from the turret, where
she was enjoying the storm. She it was
who lit the beacon-fre and rang the
alarm; and she who flew to the shore in
time to organize the men, and thus save
every life. She is her fathers child, my
| brave Ulva!"
Lady Ulva Inchcape, only daughter of
the earl, whom the world supposed
abroad in some pension at her education!
The Oolava of the old Kenmore's lament,
the Child of Sorrow!
Strange, sad fate for one so young, if
I Il + IL l. IL, u
the gray seas her horizon!
81 hen l and my faithful crew owe our
lives to your stepdaughter!" cried Edgar,
with sparkling eyes.
"How can you guess that she is only
my stepdaughter?" inquired she, looking
earnestly at him. II could not have
said that never call her that; she is
too dear to me"- she broke off in agi
tation, her eyes searching his piteous-
ly. "Perhaps Kenmore has been talking
about this family?" asked she, burning
flush gradually mantling her pure, pale
face, and her eyes sinking before his in
deep and painful embarrassment.
His heart bled for her. She shrank in
anguished shame from the very idea of
being recOgniZed; yet he could have
staked his life upon her innocence of
the faintest wrong. Kenmore had
called her an injured lady"-yes, she
was that, Edgar was convinced of it.
"Dear Lady Dunraven, Kenmore dis
tinctively refused to utter one word con-
cerning the isle which we expected to
send us to the bottom" said he, lightly;
Il think he held me as deliberately
guilty Of being born an Englishman,
and would not waste good language upon
me or mine. May tell you how l knew
that Lady Ulva was not your own child?
l saw her standing on the cliff just
before we went down."
"But you were in the very Jaws Of
death: how could you notice what she
was like?" asked Lady Dunraven with a
faint smile, and a keener look at him.
ITO BE CONrINUED.)
Threads OF Thought.
N