Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-12-15

throat.
Surely, there was a house before her!
an open shed, too, beneath which the
horse stood painting, but safe from the
storm.
If she would only drag herself there!
But it was not TO be. Exhausted ma
ture could endure no more.
She closed her eyes with moan Of
utter WEAKNESS and despair. Again
her senses glided into that fatal dream
land of unreality. The snow seemed
destined to finish a dark nights work
by burying Edna Deane and the mys-
terry OF her fair young life beneath its
mantle alike
Ghostly fell the snow!
Fiercer rose the wild winds, more
weird became the clogged, misshapen
landscape; darker grew the night. The
dainty form was outlined, first in a royal
robe of ermine, then a little mound
showed, then a greater one, and then
only bleak, level expanse-the wan
derer completely obliterated, as ii
part of the great spreading meadow it,
self
And ghostly fell the snow!
CHAPTER VII.
TOO LATE!
Raymond Marshall had swept from
the presence of Beatrice Mercer with
the Joy Of q man suddenly snatched
from the darkest depths Of grief and
despair.
In flash had come full realization
of the true status of affairs. He had
been grossly deceived - his bright,
bonny Edna was not taithless! The
letters he had received were forgeries,
and the plotful Beatrice Mercer. in
spired by love and jealousy, had
wrought all the misery so happily avert
ed by his accidental discovery of her
duplicity.
Il will find her if I search the world
Overt" he had avowed ardently, buoy
ant, exultant in his faith regained and
the power of love able to battle the
most subtle foe.
With calmness, however. while his
overpowering love sustained him fully,
Raymond Marshall realized that he was
at a terrible disadvantage, in the dark,
with not single clew as to the motive
Of Edna Deane's strange disappear
ance or her possible whereabouts.
A second visit to Miss Chandler, the
lady principal Of the seminary, resulted
in the requirement of very little addi-
tional information.
Edna's father had sent a trusted
friend or servant to take her home. He
had made it an express request that the
location of that home, the mystery Of
Edna's life, her true name should not
be made known. Edna must abandon
all her old friends. A new life opened
for her of wealth and comfort. but APP
parently weighted down, or at least
affected, by some dread mystery that
involved the utmost secrecy.
Reasoning all this out, Raymond Mar
shall decided that he could do but
little except to await developments. His
anxiety for Edna's welfare, however,
his impetuous, impatient spirit, drove
him to endeavor to learn what course
Edna mysterious compan lon had taken
in SO swiftly spiriting her away to her
friends. He traced the carriage to the
railroad town fifteen miles distant, but
there the trail ended. Distance or di-
rection taken by the fugitive there be-
came involved points Of speculation.
For a week he hung around Hopedale.
His painting was neglected. His father
was involved iii deep business difficult
ties, which at any other time would
have commanded his attention, but just
now he could think of nothing but Edna.
He grew moody and tao turn, anxious
and then alarmed. No letter arrived
from Edna He haunted the woods,
spots endearei to him by their past
meetings, but his anxious heart drove
him to distraction as the fear grew /;
upon him that his love Was lost to him,
that either the mandate of stern |
father or the plots Of the siren- hearted |
Beatrice We're operating to- rob him OF |
the bonny bride to whom his troth was |
plighted.
What did this girl know? Evidently |
every thing there was to kaDw. With |
subtle crafsiness she had woven her
soft wiles about the innocens and trust
full EDNA, until the latter had made Of
her BOSOM frieLd-an exclusive aDn-
adante- She had tacitly acknowledged
to- Marshall that she knew where Edna
had goDe, but boldly, angriEy, she had
rs used to- tell him what he WishesE to
know. Fully eOmprehending the girls
resolute NATURE Marshall gleomily de
ci{led that if she alone held the fate of
his ever again meeting his loved and
lost one, that event would never trans
pire. I
Wpoughh up to- a maddenings pitcAeof .
frenzy by the umr certainty and suspense /
of the hour, as well as by sense OF
deep WI ong and injustice, one. evening
Raymond Marshall went straight to- the,
seminary.
Beatrice Mercsr shall tell me all she,
knows" hs, uttered fiercely. Il wlL
plead. L wal BRIGHTEN her, but her seeret
shall be mine!"
The croxning surprise anal disaster
alike of the culrsinating troubles of the
houn was announced at the very PORTALS,
Of the seminary.
Miss Mes:cer was gone! Blankly and
dolefully Miss CSandler imparted the,
bewildeling infer alton.
Gone? When-where: Beatrice. Mer-
cer, poor, hriendhass, dependsnt entirely
on Miss Chandler's bounty anh the