The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-09-11
CHAPTER XIV.

1t owed Its origin TO that little scene by
the private door Of HuntingfOrd house.
Royal never, till it was too late, realized
how, by the wanton insult to the little de-
fenseless blind girl, he had driven her into
the arms OF the last man IN the world whom
he Royal wsuld have had her had aught
90 do with.
Leaving Nell, as he thought, Ia safety,
Leo had fed back to his dreary lodgings,
there to fight cut one Of the most cruel bat
ties that ever darksned the dawn of a love
so great as his for the little blind girl.
Hard he tried to fight 1t downfall love;
hard be tried even to tear himself away
from the city where she was, to give up all
she hopes of that short frenzy Of happiness
1t was battle against self, and every
temptation which lay in the atonement for
the terrible sin OF the past by his rescue
from perhaps as terrible fate as death
this poor little afflicted child. Nay, the lad
was too true-hearted TO try TO disguise the
Joy in his heart beneath a cloak Of pity.
he knew 1t was not pity but love which
he felt for little Gray-cloak, ten thousand
times greater in her sadness than when in
half-boyish folly he had worshipsd her
from a distance and unkaown-thst she
tress. but the queen Of all gladhess and
sweetness. OF such as be had deemed would
never be his again on earth.
1t was q noble battle, and ended as such
battles rightly should, in the defeat OF the
cruel enemy which would trsmple under
foot the poor. aching. bruised heart which
had fought so well.
II cannot give you up, little Nell can
not give you up, deerp went up the cry 10
heaven, and the more closely the distracted
lad chung 70 the only hope there seemed 20
him in his terror Of ain and shadow, the
more into his heart stole a calm which, in
the end. led him 10 accept his defeat bravely.
Once the issue decided, the manhood In
him came 20 his aid in urging him to take
at once some step which would further the
plans he and his poor little blind sweet
heart had woven togsthar. standing all un-
knowing beneath the shadow Of her fathers
house.
His first thought was naturally Of the
ruby ring which she had 90 bravely given
him as her dowry. But the memory OF
its history and association seemed to make
st sacred in his eyes, even II he had not
known that il was the one thing dear and
sacred she possessed.
ian, he determined not to accept the easy
alternative the sale OF the ring presented,
but 10 try il by bis own efforts he could not
bring about the accomplishment Of their
plans
How to accomplish this, was, however,
a question which put the first powerful OBJ
stacle in his way. Even had he not been
so hardened by his crime that every man he
met in the streets seemed 70 him, to look
upon him with suspicion, be waS too great
stranger to have any friends In London.
Usder his fathers name, Of course, he might
have had many q chance, bus that name he
had put aside forever. with all the hopes and
glad antieipations, above all tho thought OF
union with his father, which had once filled
his unshadoWed heart. Even from little
Nell, namelsss Nell, as she called herself
then, be had withheld the secret Of his idsn-
titT, telling her to call him Leo, warning
her thAtit was part OF the burden that be
must marry her under an assumed name.
The question which Leo was most con-
cerned 10 ans wering was how 70 gain the
means which were the first essential to the
whole scheme
While engaged Ia what ere long appeared
to him a hopeless task to find the answer
he received one Of Royals constant watch
full visits.
The lad had an instructive dislike for the
snowy scoundrel-none the less because he
realized now how fatal had been the counsel
which had made him throw the worst light
upon his guilt by fleeing from his crime in
the first instance, though he quite saw that,
co spare his father such shame and sorrow
as must inevitably embitter his whole life.
TO continue in the course he was pursuin z
was the only thing he could debut in the
difficulty in which be fOuad himself he
turned to him as his one possible aid.
He had not, it will be remem bered, reeog-
nj o1 nj Al Ia
Therefore that Leo should seek his assist
ance as last resource was by no means
strange.
The Lad did not disclose his object In SO
doing, not because his fears OF Royal took
any actual shape, but partly because he was
naturally shy in his first feelings of the
strong passion which was steadily growing
thought quite dead TO all pulsation OF joy
or gladness, partly because. with the re-
membrance of his late battle in bis mind,
he felt condemnation, or even questioning
would be more than he could bare.
What were to be the means by which
after marriage he was to provide for his
wife and himself, the lad did not think.
His whole soul was bound up ia the one
great idea to save her from the misery OF
her present dreary existence.
To his surprise and disappointment, his
request for a loan Of a small sum such as he
deemed sufficient for the first step was re-
fused. Fer Royal had always at least pro.
fessed to be his friend, and had at any rate
so far provided him with a hiding place.
and the little food he ate.
1t would have been as well IL be had kept
up this character, but fresh from his dia-
bolical victories over his partner and his
wife, Royal was in mood to have stood
up to the father Of ali evil himself.
In mere play then he showed a little more
OF his true attitude toward the lad than he
had hitherto done; and upon seeing the ef-
feet OF his haf-veiled hints aud sneers, for
Leo was in no mood to control the emotion
the memory OF his crime called up in him,
be added taunts so cruel that stung to de-
Nance, aud strengthened, no doubt, by the
knowledge that he fought now not only for
himself, but for one who must be saved in
spite OF all odds, the lad turned upon him
and In vigorous terms renowned all allegi-
ance such as he had hitherto rendered TO
one who had merely pretended only to wish
20 save him from the consequences OF an act
Tor which he was far from being legally re-
sponsible.
Royal saw too late that he had made a
mistake, perhaps by his high-handed folly
ruined the very advantages he hadIgained
Just previously. He tried to regain the
ground he had lost
Leo, now man in his resolute defiance
ana seI-reliance, would not listen to him at
nrst, out after awhile the tempter was so
sklllful the recurring thought "Without his
slo. what can dot" so unanBwerable, that