Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-07-13
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CHAPTER vuL-coSrrNUEp.

CHAPTER vuL-CoSrINUED.
1t was not of ghosts was think.
ing" she would tell you, ''that night.
was awake I could not sleep. The
hall was large and strange to me. The
cot was narrow. Twas restless was
thinking of the child Ninette, and how
she must have missed me, when OF a
s1iden I felt a cold wave sweep over
my face and saw q white figure Gid
ing noiselesSly across the hall and turn
towards the steps L covered my head
with the blankets, chilled but not
frightened Celeste Bougereaux is not
y coward When looked again. there
was nothing to be seen but the cold
pale moonlight streaming through the
unczrtained dorner window upon the
bare floor Of the hall The next morn
ing. Mrs John Loriner was not TO be
found told no one of that visitation
from the White Cliffs ghost, Baht the
provincials, they would have had no
faith in IL or in me. But have seen
what have seen"
One portion Of Celeste Bougereaux'
story was ir-efragable. 1t was on the
morning after she slept on the cot in the
hall that Johns wife was not to be
found On the desk in her room were
lying three sealed envelopes The
fourth one she evidently had taken
away with her.
One of the envelopes was addressed to
her husband. To him she said:
Il married you for Ninettes sake, 1
Eezve you for your own. You may be a
trife shocked at this violent rending of
the feeble chain that links us together,
but 1 fancy you will be infinitely
obliged to me in the long run. Consult
some of your lawyer friends and see
how the knot can be united legally. for I
would not have you lose the full fruits
OF this sacrifice by reason of obstacles
An the path of your marrying again
more felicitously next time, will hope
i have no intention of making away
with myself
Another of the envelopes was adj
dressed to Celeste. To her she said:
LAS soon as you have read this, ask
Mr. LoriIner to send you and the child
10 Glenburnie. Take with you her
trunk and the envelope addressed to
Miss Fairbanks, which I leave with
this Be good to Ninette, and stay with
her; it will be to your interest
The third envelope was addressed to
Miss Fairbanks. To her she said:
Il am not conducting my project in
the way l had planned before coming to
White Cliffs. But, after all, we are the
merest puppets in the hands of fate. l
had meant my little Ninette should win
her own way with you before 1 made
for her the startling claims of kinship.
She is Sibley Fairbanks daughter-his
only child, born in holy wedlock Her
mother and father did not live together
happily. He deserted her: she had to
make her own support. AS all of the
papers were in his possession, it NAV be
some time yet before the child's legal
claim upon you or upon your father can
be eSta blished. She is the child of nv
only sister-a younger sister, to whom 1
was idolatrously attached. John Lori
.mers suit for my hand carried no weight
with it until he accidentally mentioned
the fact of having the Fairbanks, of
Glenburnie, as neighbors. 1 meant to
have kept Ninette myself until her
claim upon her grandfather had been
made SO clear that he would gladly have
recognized it; but it has been ordered
otherwise. If your first impulse should
be to order Celeste, the childs nurse. to
leave your presence and take the child
with her, stop and deliberate twice be-
fore you send your brother Sibley's in
FAINT daughter adrift in an unfriendly
world Until 1 procure the proofs of
what say, you must take my simple
assertion. Every word in this letter is
absolutely true
CHAPTER TX.
Flowersi flowers everywherei The
most expensive sort at the most expen-
siye season! But expense was never
taken into account in the Norcross es-
adjustment Did Mrs. Norcross desire
a thing? And was that thing the very
best of its kind? Those were the only
two questions worth the asking or the
answering.
Friday was Mrs. Eugene Norcross'
Gas. Not that every day was not en-
tirely at her own frivolous disposal. but
even butterflies are subject to exhaus-
ton, and if Mrs. Norcross had not set
apart one day out of the seven for s'spe-
cial observances, the gayest butterfly
OF fashion that all Esplanade street, in
the city of New Orleans, could boast,
would have succumbed to the burden of
ats own popularity.
On Friday, therefore, one was sure of
finding Mrs. Norcross at home, clothed
IN one of those marvels of French cos
TUNES that all her ''set was ravine
over" One was also sure of finding the
house converted into a bower of roses,
while from every corner of the spacious
lower floor, during the regulation
hours, foated the mingled aroma of
English breakfast tea and feminine
gossip.
Apparently no one enjoyed Mrs. Nor
cross Friday afternoons more thor
-oughly than she did herself No child
freshly admitted into fairy-land could
have outdone her in joyous gayety, as
she flashed from group to group of the
tea-drinkers, moving her 1.-the form
with its glistening satin train. and her
jeweled arms and hands, with an effec-
tive grace not altogether unstudied.
All of those who drank her tea were
not good-natured towards Eugene Nor
cross young wife Some of them, per
haps, had not yet got over the secret
smart of his detection from the ranks
OF their own possible suitors- Some of
them, perhaps, would have preferred
his marrying woman whom some
body knew" Among these was his aunt.
Mrs Mellicent Norcross, who eonfiden-
tally aSSrred hiS narr;od e.s%o- NJ,