Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-12-03
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the luxuriant, unframed imagination
the fierce love of fight, the ambition foT
wealth, the medi@val notion of honor.
no regard whatever for truth in the alb
stract. a perfect faith in the purity of
women. an absolute punctuality in keep
ing his word simply on the score of con-
ventional honor. and a reverence for
everything pertaining to southern aris-
tocracy. only equaled by his hatred Of
everything northern and his high disdain
of manual labor and all forms of mere
breadgetting effort To balance these
characteristics, he was generous, brave.
courteous to those whom he liked, tender
hearted, full of warm sympathies and
laudable impulses, charmingly compan
ionable, and possessed of the gift called
magnetism" by which he had made his
way to his present wealth and power in
an incredibly short space of time. He
had been aided at every step by good
luck, as such men seem always to be, as
well as by the fine intuition Of born
genius. if the mere power to control and
combine may be called genius.
He loved Rosalie Chenier with pas
sion like intensified fire whenever he
thought of her but once his thoughts
turned from her, ne did not love her at
ALL He was not fickle He simply
lacked the power to think of two things
at once. He focused his whole mind
and soul upon whatever for the time oc-
cupied his attention.
Rosalie's direct accusation against
him had stung his southern sense of
honor almost to the point of driving him
mad for the time. He had straightway
rushed back to Savannah, bent upon
making plain his innocence That she
should think him guilty of a vulgar as
sassination was more than he could bear
For awhile his mental torture was ex.
quisite He went to work with enor-
nous energy trying to ferret out the
real assassin. If only Colonel Talbot
could speak he might easily settle the
whole matter with word, but Colonel
Talbot could not speak; he lay there
dumb and unconscious, puzzle to the
learned physicians.
from the pocket" Ellis knew it, but he
did not attempt to see her; he meant
never to speak to her again until his in
tocence had been proven beyond doubt.
He admitted to himself that, in a way,
he deserved this punishment, remember
ing distinctly as he did his foolish threat
ening words. But he had large faith
in the star of his destiny-that is, in his
luck. and he spared no effort to get into
the mystery of that unhappy night.
After time Sir Edmond Kane came
back to Savannah for few days, and
Ellis was 6attered by the marked atten-
tion paid him by the English aristocrat
and his fair daughter His thoughts
were turned from Rosalie and his inves-
tigation of the crime, and he gave Miss
Ellen Kane his undivided attention. The
English girl found him charming COM
panion-so attentive, SO knightly, so full
of ready expedients for rational amuse-
ment, and withal, so delightful as a
story teller. Those days made memora-
BILE spot in Miss Kanes life. She went
| DttCh w tldL SIG
had almost loved an American As for
Ellis, ne never thought OF her again once
she had passed out of his reach
At length the day came when Colonel
Talbot regained consciousness. 1t was
while Rosalie was gone to Jacksonville
that one morning the newspapers made
the following announcement
"A Mystery Cleared Up-Colonel
Warren Talbot Receivers Consciousness
and Explains the Manner of His Assas
sination-He Was Struck by Wamsley
the Forger. Who Thereby Got Possession
of the Forged Instrument Which Colonel
Talbot Had on His Person That Night
Wamsley Has Escaped.
| Those were the headlines Ellis read
the account and then hastened to Tai
bots bedside to get confirmation of its
details Armed with such assurances as
made his innocence absolutely unques
tionable, he went forth exulting. He
| could not wait for Rosalie to return, but
| departed at once for Jacksonville
| 1t was dark when ne arrived at the
hotel in which MI Roosevelt and his
niece had rooms but the first person he
saw was Rosalie's colnred maid standing
on veranda ae went to her at once.
| Fanny he said where is your
young mistress. Miss Chenierf'
She's in her room. sab.
Can see herT
Il go see, sab
Here, Fanny take this"
! He wrote on a card.
Give Miss Chenicr that and tell her ]
am waiting for an answer; and. Fanny
fetch her answer here at once-do you
understand
yes, sab, said the girl taking the
card and hurrying away
The veranda was on the second floor.
and overlooked a garden on one hand
and the street on the other; the green
boughs of water oak brushed the gayly
painted ratings Ellis walked back and
forth restlessly, every moment seeming
to drag itself by with the delay of some
thing maliciously perverse He was in
one of his intense, fervid moods His
face was lighted as with a pale fame.
and his eyes, so dark and fine. were
glowing with the heat of passion.
When he thought he heard the servant
girl returning he looked around and saw
Rosalie instead. She came rapidly to
him and held out her hand. He took it
with feverish eagerness and in half
stifed voice said
.Rosalie, have come to show you
the proofs of my innocence. You said !
might
Come into our parlor," she said, in
terrupting him; ''you look tired Have
Won lust arriyedp" She had already