The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1893-06-08
CHAPTER VII


CHAPTER WI.
Too Late!
Raymond Marshall had swept from
the presence of Beatrice Mercer with
the JOY of a man suddenly snatched
from the deepest 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 faithless! 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
averted by his accidental discovery OF
her duplicity.
"I will find her If l search the world
overt" he had avowed ardently, buoy
ant, exultant in his faith regained ana
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 terrible disadvantage, in the dark,
with not a single clew as to the motive
of Edna Deane's strange disappearance
or her possible whereabouts.
A second visit to Miss Chandler, the
lady principal of the seminary, resulted
in the requirement of a very little addl
tional information.
Edna's father had sent 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 aban-
don all her old friends. A new life
opened for her of wealth and comfort,
but apparently 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 Ednas welfare, however,
his impetuous, impatient spirit, drove
him to endeavor to learn what course
Edna's mysterious companion had
taken in so swiftly spiriting her away
| to her friends. He traced the carriage
| to the railroad town fifteen miles dis
tant, but there the trail ended. Dis
lance or direction taken by the fugitive
there became involved points of specu-
| lation.
For a week he hung around Hope
dale His painting was neglected. His
father was involved in deep business
difficulties, which at any other time
would have commanded his attention,
| but just now he could thing of rOthing
but Edna.
He grew moody and taciturn, anxious
and then alarmed. No letter arrived
from Edna He haunted the woods,
| spots endeared 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 a stern
| father or the plots of the siren-hearted
Beatrice were operating to rob him
| of the bonny bride to whom his troth
was plighted.
| What did this girl know? Evidently
everything there was to know. With
| subtle craftineSs she had woven he1
soft wiles about the innocent and trust,
full Edna, until the latter had made OF
| her q bosom friend-an exclusive con.
| fidante. She had tacitly acknowledged
| to Marshall that she knew where Edna
had gone, but boldly, angrily, she lad
| refused to tell him what he wished to
| know. Fully comprehending the girls
reSolute nature, Marshall glQOmily de
| cided that if she alone held the fate
| of his ever again meeting MS loved
and lost one that event would never
transpire.
| Wrought up TO a maddening pitch
of frenzy by the uncertainty and sus
| pense of the hour, as well as by 4 sense
of deep WRONG and injustice, one even
ing Raymond Marshall went straight
to the seminary.
Beatrice Mercer shall tell me all she
knows" he uttered fiercely. Il viii
plead, will frighten her, but her secret
shall be miner
The browning surprise and disaster
alike of the eliminating troubles of the
hour was announced at the very por
tails of the seminary.
Miss Mercer was gone! Blankly anC
dolefully Miss Chandler impaired thu
bewildering information.
| Gone? When-where? Beatrice Mer
Ger, poor, friendless, dependent entirely
on Miss Chandeliers bounty and thu
meager means that her position as sub
teacher awarded her, gone? Abandon
ing a position which seemed to be {
life-lease for her?
Yes, she had made the sudden an
nouncement that morning. Thoroughly
amazing her friends, she had packed up
demanding her salary, and had lef
without word of explanation concern
ing either her motives in resigning he
position or her future intentions.
To the dumbfounded and suspense
full Raymond Marshall this seemed thu
last and most cruel blow of fate. Hi
final reliance was swept away. HI
felt assured that Beatrice Mercer knew
of the whereabouts of Edna Now
she, too, had disappeared-there wa
not clue In sight!
Would she join Edna in her new
home, and by forgery and misrepre
sentation wreck her faith in her lover
and work out her plots Of Jealousy ant
revenge?
Oppressed by this torturing thought
Raymond Marshal left Hopedale tina
night on a blind, hopeless quest TO
some trace of the woman he loved ant
the woman he dreaded.
Too late! The woman whose crue
hand was twisting his leart-string
with torture because in her wild, Ell
ratio way she loved him, had twenty
four hours start In plot so subtle an
bold that his spirit would have quaileI
had he even so much as guessed 1t
sinister motives!
CHAPTER VIII