Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-12-15
CHAPTER VIII.

But it was even thou. my companion, my
guide and mine old familiar friend"
The prison doors were open; Hester
might walk out of them at her will, and
with some vague idea of rest beyond.
she had turned. and CROPPED her way
out, instinct guiding her to the great
door that gave egreSS to the courtyard
She did not know that without was
assembled a vast crowd that reflected
the division of opinion within, one half
Of them believing her guilty, though
acquitted; the other, and rOugher pOr-
ton, to whom she had become the idol
Of the hour, being equally certain Of
her innocence.
A hoarse shout of welcome rent the
air as she appeared in the doorway,
and, daZ9d and trembling, gazed out
ward at the sea Of faces upturned to her:
and heSitating to plunge into it, did
not perceive how Mr.. Eyre himself
stood behind her.
My friends said Hester, and
stretched out her two thin hands i'm
ploringly, Il have dwet among you,
and you have known me, and that am
innocent of this crime"
"lnnOcent!" said a terrible voice in
her ear; and she shrank back to see Mr..
Eyre, clOaked and Spurred, standing be-
side her, his eye gathering wrath and
GOODNESS as he glanced cOntemptuously
at the crowd before him.
AS he spoke, a mingled storm of exc
Grafton and welcome arose, and grew
louder as the two tides Of popular feel
ing met with rush and roar that
BODIED mischief both to accuser and ac-
cused.
Let me pass, my men," said Mr..
Eyre, as he pushed his way out and
some made way, but others came
thrOnging about him with threatening
looks; and he found himself pushed,
hustled, tossed this way and that, his
strength mere nothing against the
solid weight of the masses around him.
1t would be difficult to say who struck
the first bl0W,Or hurled the first missile,
but in few minutes the courtyard was
turned into Wrlthing mass OF infuri-
ated men and women, who struck out
indiscriminately; and it was from one
of his own tenants that Mr.. Eyre re-
ceived a blow on the head that, at the
time, he scarcely even noticed.
lie reached his horse at last, mounted
it, and rode slG"i y hOma. Frank found
him, quarter Of an hour later, sitting
in his Wife'S room. lie was pulseless
and cold, blood Oozing from q fracture
of the skull.
For month Frank never left him,
but on the first day that Mr.. Eyre was
able to ask a rational question, he in
quired for his friend. lie was told that
Lord Lovel had set out I'm hour ago for
abroad, and that his return was uncer-
tain.
On Mr.. Eyre asking if he had left no
message, he was told there was none;
but few days later sealed letter was
placed in his hand. The handwriting
was Franks.
"God help youp' it ran. 81 know the
truth. Do not attempt to follow me. will
never, of my own free will, look upon your
face again. FRANK Lowell"
Mr.. Eyre read this letter through and
through, then asked if Hester Clarke
had left the village, and was told that
she had done so on the day succeeding
her acquittal. He then sent for JOB,
who came unwillingly, and denied ali
knowledge of his masters movements;
and this was true enough, TOR FRANK
had left the place IN state Dordering
on madness, and with no idea or his
future plans.
A week later, Mr.. Eyre having set his
house in order, and made all arrange
nents for a heightened absence, depart
ed from the Red Hall. no one knew
whittier; though as years passed. and
neither of the men returned, 1t was
conjectured that they were together,
seeking, in life of perpetual adven-
ture, to escape the memory OF the wo-
man they had both so deeply loved.
But those VINO knew Mr.. Eyre well
said that his story was not half done,
nor the tragedy of Madcap's death yet
played out to its bitter end; and these
waited, with breathlesS expectancy
that even time could not dull, for the
lifting OF the curtain upon the last scene.
And, mean while, two uncOnSldered,
fresh young lives were growing up at
the Red Hall. but there was no living
soul to tell Mr.. Eyre that, if he bad laid
one treasure beneath the sod. there ex-
listed for him other priceless ones above
i.
THE END.