Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-12-31


bly," He was silent awhile. and then
breaking away from reflections that
seemed to shake his purpose, he con-
cluded: s'I shall bolt the very day that
Gordon is taken on board the Volga. 1t
will be thought then that be and have
simply run away together for a holiday
Till the truth is known"
This reference to the sacrifice he was
about to make siIenced me and pre-
Guided further discussion. felt great
confidence in the success or kava-
naugh's scheme. 1t was evident that
he would have succeeded before but for
my Intervention. Now every effort
that l made would be TO carry out his
design. My only fear was that consid-
Grafton of his own interests wonld
change his purpose.
An unusual expression OF gravity In
Gordon's face when ne called the next
morning told me that he had already
received some intimation OF Taras'
danger.
"Mademoiselle," said he almost as
soon as Mere Lucas had closed the door
on US, do you think you could under
stand me if spoke in English?
81 dare say l can" replied.
"You can answer in French, you
know, which is a. u easier TO under
stand than to speak. If you can't fol-
low me, we'll give 1t up and try the
other way. But the fact is l have
something of a delicate nature to tell
you, and I'm so confoundedly bad at
French that it's doubtful il | could ex-
plain it just as l want to, you know, In
that language"
l agreed to this proposal, and he,
after pulling his beard in silent med
itation for a minute, said with an I'M
easy laugh:
"To tell you the truth, mademoiselle,
now that toe the line, so to speak, l
find it's not such an easy matter to tell
you in English as thought it would
be. Well, the long and short Of it is, |
heard something last night which made
me feel deucedly anxious and uncom-
Portable, and though l should be awful
~ sorry TO alarm you think you ought
to be- made acquainted with the facts
of the case. That is Barry Kavanagh's
opinion also, and he's man OF the
world, you know, and deucsd long
headed fellow"
"If it concerns our friend TGras," 1
said in low voice, 81 beg you not to
hesitate in telling me anything you
nave heard"
at does concern him." he replied,
dropping his voice also. perhaps you
know that he is in danger of being sez-
ed by the police OF Russia"
81 have every reason to knowit. Two
attempts have already been made to
take him away"
"Kavanaugh told me that, and also
that ia each case the attempt was
knocked on the head, so to speak, by
you. Do you think Taras ought to be
warned?"
What good would that do? II you
told Taras that Rudersporf was watt
ing ont there on the bridge to shoot
him, Taras, without second thought,
would go out on the bridge to face
him."
Gordon nodded assent.
81 think tLat's what I should do my
SELF" he said.
"But that is not what we want Taras
to do"
mo, we want to keep him out Of
danger as much as possible; but, as
Kavanagh pointed out, anything that
we can do must be done without his
knowledge"
Gall that we can do is to be on the
alert for anything that occurs. l can
only watch as have watched before"
"You will let me know il you see
ANYTHING, won't you? I'll drop in pretty
frequently, and should you want help
at any time when l am not in the works
or at the Office you will find me at my
diggings at the Adelphi terrace. l
shall look in every night until l feel
sure that l may not be wanted"
Just then we heard Taras coming
down the passage. He entered the
room before Gordon could beat re-
treat or even assume the natural atti-
tude OF visitor. A worse actor never
existed than this honest, simple fellow,
nor one less capable of concealing any
thing, and his clumsy efforts to appear
unconstrained and easy gave him such
an air of guilty embarrassment that any
one less acquainted with his amiable
character than Taras would have GER
tainly suspected him of some wrongdo-
ing. An irrepressible smile broke over
Taras' face as he shook hands with his
friend and congratulated him on look
ing so rosy and well. 1t was trying
time for poor Gordon, but fear of the
ordeal did not deter him from keeping
his word. Every day he called in and
always at an hour when Taras was
working in his ateler.
Mere Lucas was delighted. She saw
in these visits the realization Of her
hopes and gave me 10 understand by
many encouraging winks and sly obser-
vations that she knew perfectly well
Gordon came only to make love to me.
1t seemed to me that Taras put the
same construction on these visits and
the awkward behavior OF Gordon. He
gave me no verbal hint OF his belief.
drew nv conclusions rather from his re-
serve on the subject. Always he spoke
of Gordon with warm affection, and vet
| fancied with certain tinge Of pain
which 1 was then quite at loss to ac-
count for.