Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-01-23

4
than speech to the girls palate that morn
| ing that Mainwaring soon became uncom-
| Portable and went away After much
Illuminating h1 decided to leave the hotel
the next day, rS,urn to Calcutta and thence
home to England. But he following morn
| ing when he went for a farewell glimpse of
her Tl-Rhada smiled her sweetest and was
| so much more gracious than ever that he
lost his head entirely.
The weeks which followed were full of
blind, unreasoning JOY. Not a thought did
they give either to the past or to the future.
The present was all sufficient.
When fall came, AMI the tea fields no
| longer trooped with brown skinned folk
and there was "A sharp chill in the hill air.
Mainwaring got letter from his parents.
The intelligence which it conveyed filed
him with dismay.
He was commanded to start for home at
once, so he would be there bv Christmas
| time, and he was notified that he would be
expected to marry his fiancee immediately
upon his arrival. He was threatened with
diSinheritance if he ventured to deviate
from this course in the slightest degree.
NO mention was made in the letter of
either Ti-Rhada or Fritch but that the
latter had told the Mainwarings every
| thing in his ken about the little Nepalese
it was plainly to be seen.
Malnwaring was furious. The washed
out blonde splendors Of Blanche no longer
attracted him. Ti-Rhada was the only wo-
man IN the world for whom he cared. But
he must have money. Ti-Rhada and
poverty was Il combination which failed to
conlure him with LASTING spells If he
could have money in the degree of abund-
ance essential to his tastes only bv leading
Blanche to the altar, why. to the altar
Blanche should be led.
But he would not give up Ti-Rhada!
As tactfully aS he could he told the girl
his position, dilating emphatically upon
the hopeless helpiesSness poverty would
plunge them both into. There was but one
thing to do, he assured her; he must q,
home, marry Blanche. tolerate her for a
few weeks, till he could get his money
affairs in good condition, and then fly back
10 Darjeeriing and his hearts darling once
more.
Would III Rhada trust him so much?
Long and steadily She looked into his
eyes, till she seemed to have searched out
his every secret hope and fear.
Yes. will trust You" she finally said.
You may go and-and do us you say. You
love me. lOu will come back to me-"
With every oath Of consistency a frenzied
lover can think of he swore to keep faith
with her
Cold and pHssionleSs with the pain of it,
all rs the bronze she looked like. was Ii
Rhada the day he left her and when the
train had borne him away she sank into
little pulseleSs heap and neither moved nor
spoke for hours.
March was to have found him back in
the HimalayaS again, but he did not come
Nor did April bring him. nor May.
Once among people of his own kind, little
by little he began wondering if he had not
made mistake in falling in love with the
course little NepaleSe tea githerer In the
course of two month he was sure of it.
He had been fool.
Of course he would not 90 back. The
girl will soon forget him for some more
conveniently adjacent lover 1t was the
fashion of her race. Perhaps she had for
gotten him already 1t was silly of him to
have felt conscience stricken after all
DO yon know, dear that | am really be-
ginning to doubt tie justice of my first i'm
pressions and believe that you truly do
love me?" said his wife several weeks after
their marriage ~ should be the happiest
of women. for ! have married the rarest of
treasures, modest man-almost a Shy
man"
In June they went over on the Continent
to little fishing Village on the coast of
Norway. This spot was now very dear to
them, for it was the scene of their first
| meeting
One afternoon, when the sun made the
air almost sultry, Blanche drowsed off and
| fell asleep in her hammock. her husband
sitting beside her.
He soon wearied of smoking, found read
i'm h,, IaJ
chair for nap.
When he was nearly asleep there came
the pressure of cold hand upon his brow.
Awakening with n start he found himself
face to face with Ti-Rhada.
She moved silently down the lawn,
reckoning him to follow.
Terrified beyond power of resistance, he
obeyed.
In the midst of little clump of trees she
stopped and faced him, fixing her great
dark eyes upon MS with long and search
ing scrutiny. the same as she had done the
day he left her.
After Il time II shaking sob, like a mortal
CONFUSION, was wrenched from her bosom,
and the rich bronze darkness forsoO& her
skin and left it gray and ashen.
81 see-I unde rstand, she said quietly.
you are all hers. Nothing within you is
mine any more, nor MS NelLner.
'Hiss"
IL speak of tie little dead babe, lying
alone under the tea plants il the Darjeer-
ling fields"
Mainwaring groaned, but could not move.
Nor could he even raise defensive arm,
though he saw what her clenched hand held
when it flashed upward into the air be-
fore it fell with shifting force upon his
bosom.
He felt the sudden sharp pain, saw the
crimson answer his life blood made to her
knife, lurched, caught himself and fell
backward upon the turf; but not an artic-
ulate sound did he utter, not even when he
watched her turn from him and glide
swiftly, noiselessly toward the sleeping
Blanche.-Lew Vanderpoole in New York
Recorder
McSwiney's Gun.
Near Horn Head, County Donegal, Ire
land, there is hole in the rocks called Nc
Swiney's gun. 1t is on the seacoast, and