Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1893-04-06
CHAPTER XVI.

room W Jub llOptuulO iObJl hlVtN 'iAV
marriage ceremony between the man
she loved and the woman who had
SO cruelty deceived her was taking
place, one member only Of the coterie
there had caught sight of her white,
stricken face.
Lured on by the deft manipulation OF
DR.. Simms and Beatrice Mercer, Ray
mond Marshall had agreed to solace
the dying moments of the girl VINO had
saved his father from financial ruin and
disgrace by wedding her.
The bridegroom of few brief hours,
destined to benefit by her fortune
whether he so elected or not, too
crushed over his grief to care what be-
came Of him, he went through the form
of mere mockery OF marriage, and
spoke the words that slgnalized the Gull
mination Of the scheming sirens deft
plot.
It was Just at the commencement OF
the ceremony that he CHANGED to glance
at the half-open door connecting with
the adjoining apartment,
The others did not see, the others did
not mark, the vivid start, the quick pal
lor, the gasping breath, as he stared be-
fore him as II he had seen wrath.
"Ednai" he painted; and then, feeling
that 1t was deluslon Of the senses, a
reproachful, haunting visitation from the
woman the memory OF whose love could
never sanctify even marriage OF ne
cessity and pity, he tottered through the
doorway into the next room
"Ednal"
His voice rang out less vaguely now
1t was no wraith-no trick Of the senses.
She was at the threshold Of that hall
door now. Her face flashed plainly, UNI
mistakably across his vision.
1T is she-allvel" he gasped. "Oh,
can 1t be true?"
Madly he rushed for the corridor. The
shock Of the perfect recognition, how
ever, had blinded, confused him. She
had disappeared, and in his excitement
he ran the wrong way, got lost in mex
tricable side passages Of the hotel, and
re0ched It's street exit two minutes be-
hind the flying fugitive,
A lOunger at tho door told an eXcitable
story of the fleeting form, and indicated
the direction in which it had dlsap-
peared
Not stopping to analyze his vivid
emotions nor the strange situation in
which his acqulescence to the pleadings
Of Beatrice had placed him, Raymond
Marshall thought only Of the dead come
back to life with a great, feverlsh joy
and wonder,
Vainly, however, he scourh the vi
entity. Edna Deane had come like
phantom and had disappeared like a
flash.
faded, perplexed, an hour later Ray
mond Marshall started back for the
hotel.
His brow was black with suspicion,
his keenest sensibilities aroused to the
fever pitch of augury and suspense.
Edna was alive-he was satisfied on
that point. AS he looked back over the
events of the past hour, and realized
how he hal allowed his despair and
sympathy to lead him into a net, he
realized, too, that it might all be part of
plot. The newspaper item was a
falsehood! The siren had again deluded
him, and nOw-he was chained to her,
Be her illness stimulation or reality, she
was his legally welded wife. The
thought that Edna knew and understood
all this drove him frantic. Hot with
hate and excitement he regained the
room at the hotel. He would have an
understanding with Beatricel She
should, at least, tell him the truth about
Edna, and the mystery Of her absence
and temperance.
He paused as he reached the parlor
Of the suite. A glance into the next
apartment rooted him to the spot. His
father, the false nurse, the strange min
lister had departed, but there yet linger-
ed Doctor Simms, and there, too, no
longer the incumbent, white-faced dy-
ing bride, but in all her usual regal
boldness Of beauty, sat Beatrice, con-
versing animatedly with her tool and
colleague in plotting, her cousin, the
doctor.
Marshall has probably gone home, :"
the latter was saying, but 1 cannot
account for his strange abrupt departure.
We will not think Of that however,
you are his wife"
Yes, cried Beatrice, triumphantly,
my fondest hopes have succeeded.
I'VE had better, therefore, hasten our
other arrangements at once. AS l un-
derstand it, you are to he removed to
my homer"
still posing as the dying invalid,
yes," assented the crafty Beatrice.
However little Raymond Marshall may
care for me, he will call daily to inquire
for me, His sympathy will cause him
to do that. He will see me gradually
recover. When he finds he has married
a we'll woman instead of dying one he
will accept the situation, and my love
will win him to forget Edna, and he will
never know the plot we have played
against him"
He knows it now!"
The two schemers started back in
dismay. A towering monument Of
wrath, their victim suddenly sprang
into view.
In wild, fierce denunolation he thrust
the abashed doctor aside. In righteous
indignation he told the appalled, Be-
atrioe that she was unmasked, the full
measure of her iniqdity known.
He almost cursed her In the bitter
ness Of his rage. He told her that If he
fled to the uttermost parts of the world
her claim upon him as husband should
be the merest mockery OF formality, and
then unheeding her frantic appeals o.
love, he dashed from the room, not ever
deigning to reveal to her that he haC
seen Edna Deane, that he knew her t.
be alive, realizing that any appeal t
her to tell him truly what she knew o
the poor, prosecuted child OF destin!