Rock Island daily Argus., 1892-01-21
sponded Mainwaring quickly. IL should
he afr.aid of Won -

Portable and went away. After much
| ruminating hs decided TO leave the hotel
the next day, r-turn TO Calcutta and thence
| home to England. But the following morn
| ing when he went for a farewell glimpse of
her Ti-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 thought did
they give either to the past rto the future.
The present was all sufficient.
| When fall came, and the tea fields no
| longer trooped with brown skinned folk,
and there was a sharp chill in the hill air,
Mainwaring got a letter from his parents.
/ The Intelligence which it conveyed filled
him with dismay.
| He was commanded to start for home at
| once, so he would be there by 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 veutured 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.
! Naiuwaring was furious. The washed
I
attracted him. Ti-Rhada was the only wo-
| man in the world for whom he cared. But
| he must have money. T-Rhada and
/ poverty was combination which failed to
| cOnjure him with lasting spells If he
could have money in the degree Of aJund-
! ance essential to his tastes only by leading
! Blanche TO the altar. why, 10 the altar
Blanche should be led.
1 But he would not give up Ti-Rhada.
! As tacifUlly As he could he told the girl
( his position, diiatiug emphatically upon
the hopeless helplcssncss poverty would
plunge them both into. There was but one
thing to do, lie assured her; he must -
home, marry Blanche, tolerate her for Z.
/ few weeks, till he could get his money
affairs in good condition. and then fly back
/ to Darjeerling and his hearts darling once
| more.
| Would II Rhada trust him 50 much2
| Long and steadily she looked into his
/ eyes, till she seemed to have searched out
[ his every secret hope and fear
| Yes, viii trust YOU" she finally said.
! 'fou may 20 and-und do as you say. You
| love me. You Will come back to me-
| With every oath of coustaucy frenzied
! lover can think Of he sSore TO keep faith
with her.
! Cold and pasSionleSs with the pain Of it.
| all as 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 pUiSeleS> 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 lac began wondering if he had not
( made Il mistake in falling in love with the
I coarse little Nepalese tea gatherer In the
! course of two months ne was sure of it,
! He had been "A fool
OF course he would not 90 back The
girl viii 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 you know, dear, that am really be
! ginning to doubt the justice of my first i'm
I pressions and believe that you truly do
/ love me2' said his wife several weeks after
I their marriage. Il should be the happiest
of women, for have married the rarest Of
! treasures, a modest man-almost a Shy
man"
| In June they went over on the Continent
to a little fishing village on the coast Of
! Norway. This spot was now very dear 10
them, for it was the scene of their first
meeting.
One afternoon. when the sun made the
air almost sultry, Blanche druwsed off and
/ fell asleep in her hammock, her husband
sitting beside her.
lie soon wearied of smoking, found read
I ing a bore and settled himself back in has
chair for a nap
When he was nearly asleep there came
| the pressure OF II cold hand upon his brow
Awakening with "A start he found himself
face to face with Ti-Rhada
She moved silently down the lawn,
| beckonjng him to follow.
Terrified beyond power of resistance, he
oheyed.
In the midst of Il LITTLE clump of trees she
stopped and faced ham, fixing her great
dark eyes upon his with long and search
ing scrutiny, the same rs she had done the
day he left her.
After a time a shaking sob, like mortal
convulsion, was wrenched from her bosom,
and the rich bronze darkness forsook her
skin and left it gray and ashcn.
IL see-l understand" ," she said quietly.
you are all hers. Nothing within you is
mine any more, nor his neither"
His"
! alone under the tea plants ir 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 be
watched her turn from him and glide
swiftly, nOisclcSsly toward the sleeping
Blanche.-Lew Nauderpooie in New York
Recorder.
| NcNwineN'> Gun.