The Irish standard., 1893-09-23
CHAPTER XIV.


He laughed!
CHAPTER XIV /
A BRIDAL PARTY AND LITTLE sURPR1sE
A week passed away. The shadow
of the caravan no longer fell on tho
green meadow by the lake, and the
struggling population of Aberglyn, un-
), suspicious Of foul play, had already
forgotten both the caravan and the
owner.
And if facts were to be taken into
consider alton in estimating the extent
OF her memory, Matt, too, had for
gotten. 1t was common talk now that
she, the grammarless castaway, the
neglected protege of William JONES'.
gret to n s. Ssy to tie Dag
fixed; and that very day was only two
sunrises distant; and Monk, of Monks
hurst, had in his pocket special.
license, which he had procured, at an
expenditure of five pounds, from Lon
don.
Doubtless. in any more populous To-
cality the affair would have occasionedi
no little scandal. and many ominous'
shakings of the head, but the inhab-
itants were few and far between, and
had little or no time for idle gossiping.'
The coast guardsmen and their wives
j were the only individuals who exhib-
tied any interest, and even their exc
element was faint and evanescent,,
like the movements of a fish in a shall
low and unwholesome pool
But the really extraordinary part Of
: the whole affair was the conduct Of
Matt herself. Apparently quite cured
of her former repugnance to union
with Monk she made no objection
, whatever to the performance of the
ceremony, and laughed merrily when
she was informed that the day was
fixed. Monk, in his grim, taciturn
| way, was jubilant. He came to and
fro constantly, and assumed the man
ners of a lover. Had he been less bent!
on one particular object, two things
| might have struck him as curious:ii
| (D That Matt, though she had con-
sented to marry him, steadfastly re-.
! fused to wear his ring or accept any
| other presents; and (2) that she still
shrank, with persistent and ill-dis-s
It was now late in the month Of
August, and the weather was broken
! by troublous winds and fretful
moon. For several weeks William
Jones, in his mortal terror, had re-
Trained from visiting the cave; he had
never set his foot therein, indeed,
since the night of the assassination.
At last he could bear the suspense no
! longer. Suppose some one else had
discovered this treasure. and robbed
him? Suppose some subterranean
change had obliterated the landmarks
or submerged the cavern! Suppose
thousand dreadful things! Tired Of
miserable superstition, William de-
termined, despite his terror, to mako
sure.
So late one windy and rainy night
he stole forth with his unlit lantern
| and fought his way in the teeth of
half gale to the familiar place, which
he found, however, with some litt1a
difficulty. He was neither supersti-<
tious nor imaginative, but throughout
the journey he was a prey TO nameless
| terrors. Every gust of wind went
sound of wind or sea made the same
) heart stop and listen. Only supreme
greed and miserly anxiety led him on.
But at last he gained the cave, within
! which there was sound as of clashing
legions, clarions shrieking, drums
beating. all the storm and stress of the
awful waters clashing on the cliffs
! without, and boiling with unusual
screams through the black slit be-
tween the cave and the DEVILS Cal
dron.
Trembling, with perspiration stand
ing in great beads on his face, he
searched the cave for the corpse of the;
murdered man, expecting to find It
we'll advanced in decomposition.
Strange to say, however, it had dis,
appeared.
William Jones was at once relieved.
and manufactured because he was
spared horrible experience; alarmed,
because he could not account for the
disappearance. A little reflection,
however, suggested that one of those
tidal waves SO common on the coast
might have risen well up into the
NdVC1A, "0oAACA away WAC DONJ AoAxA
it's place on the shingle and carried 1t
away in the direction of the Caldron.
''In which case" he reflected, chem
coast guard chaps would find it some
day among the rocks or on the shore
and think it had been drowned in tho
way Of natur'."
Satisfied that everything else was
undisturbed, he retired as hastily as
possible, sealed up the entrance to the
cavern and ran hastily home.
The morning of the marriage came
. fine sunny morning. An open dog
cart belonging to Monk, and driveh by
one of his servants, stood at William
Jones' door, and close to it light
country cart, borrowed by William
Jones himself from neighborfng
farmer. The population, consisting of
an aged coast guardsman, two coast
guardsmens' wives and half q dozen
detected children, crowded in front of
the cottage. S:: s84
(To be Continned.) ss
L 1ffE