Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1892-04-07

forth an imploring hand, in which Rachel
placed liberal donation
II was this incident that paved the
way for an unexpected but far more inn
| portant encounter. As Rachel, walking
| quickly, and with eyes still wet with tears,
and heart wildly throbbing with newly
quickened feeling. turned the corner of
the street, she rushed directly into the
arms Of young man who was coming
toward her. He was pale and wan. he
stopped under the weight of that expert
ence that is more aging than years, but
Rachel knew him In an instant, and as
his arms involuntarily closed about her
and held her for one moment TO his breast,
she cried out, as If he had thrust dag
ger in her:
"George-George Murray"
Rachel" he said, softly, forgive
me. l did not mean TO touch you. 1t
was so sudden"
Eyes, yes, know. 1t is my fault
didn't see you"
And she wrenched herself from his
hold, it was, indeed, from his embrace,
for he chung to her as il he could not
again let her 60. But seeing her face,
which grew like marble ut sight OF him,
his arms dropped away from her.
"Oh, can you forgive me?" he cried.
at was oil wild delirium-a madnes!
never loved but you! Can you not
forgive me-can you not even try to for
| give mer'
II cannot even try" she said, and her
voice was like the knell of hope; and,
with gesture of unspeakable contempt,
she waved him aside, and passed on.
How she reached home Rachel Landor
never knew; but some hours later she
was aware that she was in her own room,
the door locked. and oil the world shut
out.
How long she had been there she
didn't know, but she remembered that
when she came in she had sunk upon the
sofa half fainting; but now her heart was
beating wildly and every pulse thrilled
as if with some new life-a feverish, de-
lirious ecstasy such as she had never
known before. She glanced up and saw
the reflection of herself in the long mir
ror opposite, and wondering, doubling
her own eyes, she rose, went over close
to the looking-glass and stared
Was that Rachel Landor, that radiant
vision of brilliant, gracious womanhood?
The years seemed TO have rolled back, she
looked ten years younger than she he'd
looked when she went out that morning.
A joyous excitement glowed in her great,
deep, dark eyes, her checks and lips were
flushed with the hue of the rose, the mass
of dark- brown hair, usually worn in a
tight knot ut the back of her head, had
slipped from its fastening and fell in a
disheveled, waving, glossy mass about
her neck and shoulders, reaching TO her
waist, and her tall, slender figure. in its
unconscious poise of triumph, hqd all the
lissome grace of buoyant girlhood- :
"Can 1t be II" she mprmured, wonder
ingly. "Yes, it is, indeed J, and am
beautiful. All! my day has come-the
day | never even dared TO hope for! dc
loves me, and am thousand times more
beautiful than that pale doll that took
him from ne! And he-he loves me!
My hour has come! 1t is just, and will
use my power. will be revenged-re-
venged!'
And, like poor old Lear, Rachel deter
mined that her vengeance should be the
terrors of the earth-a revenge unique,
unusual, peculiar, like herself
From that day Rachel Lander returned
TO society. She soon learned what, haC
she been accustomed to the gossip of the
town, she would have known months ago
that Murray had returned q broken
hearted, ruined man, bitterly disappoint-
ed in the wife who had squandered his
fortune in their brief married life, leav-
ing him not even the m ,mory of her love
,-Lor, ho lo;I bar IN hos e,rova bar ali nj
low, frivolous heart forever stilled, anC
his life enbittered with the mingled
poison of self-contempt and remorse.
1t was very soon as plain to oil who
saw him as il was TO Rachel, that his love
had returned to its first object with G
passionate intensity such as he had never
before known himself capable of; and
Indeed, he Only seemed to live in Rachel''
presence, seeking her whenever she coulC
be found, follwing her every movement
with adoring eyes, breathing, almost, tC
the sound of her voice. But he never
put his love into words, he scarcely dared
10 speak TO her ut oil, content if he nigh
only gaze on her when she moved.
How Rachel felt about this silent wor
ship none could tcll-in some ways she
was more peculiar than ever-but il
looked, at times, as if she chafed under it
One night Rachel Lander missed the
figure Of George Murray from a larg'
party, at which she was, as usual, thu
brilliant and beautiful attraction. Al
hour after hour went by, and still he came
not, she was uneasy, the people sooI
bored her. Presently she could cndur
the crowd no longer, and, with a strange
uneasy tremor, she withdrew quietly
,, ordered her carriage, ana was driver
! home. The same thing happened tn
next night, and the next. On the fourtl
night she had grown almost haggard wit
.. disappointment and-rage, she said /
herself. But presently she overheard
remark dropped in whisper:
/, George Murray is ill-dying. Th
doctor gives no hope"
, And at these words the very beatin
| of her heart seemed to stop.
) iii Dying >" she repeated, i
I; sharp, agonized whisper. Impossible
He must not be ill! He dare not die!
Her vengeance was not vet complete
r that revenge for which she lived-o
: which she lived, her very life itself!
v She fed from the place, and hiding
. herself within her carriage, babe tn
2 coachman to drive TO the home of Georg
q Murray. She soon found that his cond
I ton had not been exaggerated. A vic
lent and deadly form of typhoid ha
o stricken him, and lie was already ravin
2 in delirium. The physician made n
!. pretense of hope. He told Rachel plain
9 ly that in oil human probability he