Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-08-03
p VII.
Too Late.

f.@ ny VA III ~ a " ~
sa joy of a man suddenly snatched
s,m the deepest depths Of grief and
I spair.
IL n n flash had come q full realization
h the true status Of affairs. He had
en- grossly deceived-his bright,
nny Edna was not faithless! The
tiers he had received were forgeries,
I'D the plotful Beatrice Mercer, in
Tired by love and jealousy, had
II fought all the misery so happily
Merted by his accidental discovery OF
\ r duplicity.
III will find her IL I search the world
" err" he had avowed ardently. buoy
(, exultant In his faith regained and
. power of a love able to battle the
,st subtle foe.
\ With caimness, however, while his
/ empowering love sustained him fully,
H,ymond Marshall realized that he was
n terrible disadvantage. In the dark,
H tn not a single clew as to the motive
Edna Deanefs strange disappearance
/ her possible whereabouts.
I 4 second visit 10 Miss Chandler, the
4 Nv principal OF the seminary, resulted
the requirement of a very little add
S,nal information
SEdna's father had sent a trusted
end or servant to take her home. He
I'd made IL an express request that
e location of that home, the mystery
Edna's life, her true name SHOULD
* be made known. Edna must aban-
IN all her old friends. A new life
.ened for her of wealth and comfort,
lit apparently weighted down, or ut
last affected, by some dread mystery
Eat involved the utmost secrecy.
Reasoning all this out, Raymond Mar
,sall decided that he could do but little
scept Il await developments. His
axiety for Eina's welfare, however,
) impetuous, impatient spirit, drove
Em to endeavor TO learn what course
mysterious companion had
ken In so swiftly spiriting her away
/ her friends. He traced the carriage
the railroad town fifteen miles dis
mt, but there the trail ended. Dis
nee or direction taken by the fugitive
.ere became involved points of specu-
ition.
For a week he hung around Hope
slie. His painting was neglected. His
@IkbT was iuNulNGh III uttp bhSIiccS
fficulties. which at any other time
ould have commanded his attention,
1t just now he could thing of rothing
Blt Edna.
He grew moody and taciturn, anxious
nd then alarmed. No letter arrived
ON Edna. He haunted the woods,
bots endeared TO him by their past
Aeetings, but his anxious heart drove
I'M TO distraction as the fear grew
pom him that his love was lost TO him,
Aat either the mandate of a stern
ather or the plots Of the ~siren-hearted
were operating to rob Lin
& the bonny bride to whom his troth
tas plighted.
What did this girl know? Evidently
there was 20 know. With
nbtle craftiness she had woven her
oft wiles about the innocent and trust
nj Edna, until the latter had made of
ser a bosom friend-an exclusive cen
tiante. She had tacitly acknowledged
y Marshall that she knew where Edna
nd gone, but boldly, angrily, she had
hfused TO tell him what he wished TO
now. Fully comprehendiug the girls
hsolute nature, Marshall gloomily de-
sded that il she alone held the fate
& his ever again meeting his loved
md lost n that event would never
ranspire.
I Wrought up 10 a maddening pitch
q frenzy by the uncertainty and u
sense of the hour, as well as by a sense
< deep wrong and injustice. one even
az Raymond Marshall went straight
D the seminary.
Beatrice Mercer shall tell me all she
lnows," he uttered fiercely. Il will
lead. / win brighten her, but her secret
hall be mine!"
The browning surprise and disaster
like of the eliminating troubles OF the
our was announced at the very por-
ais of the seminary.
Miss Mercer was gone, Blankly and
olefully Miss Chandler impaired the
information.
Gene? When-where? Beatrice Mer-
er, poor, f~riendless, dependent entirely
n Miss Chandeliers bounty and the
leager mean that her position as sub
awarded her, gone? Abandon
lg n position which seemed 10 be a
fe-lease for herr
Yes, she had made the sudden an
ouncement that morning. Thoroughly
mazing her friends, she had packed up.
emanding her salary, and had left
rfthout a word Of explanation concern
lg either her motives I'm resigning her
or her future intentions.
To the dumbfounded and suspense
III Raymond Marshall this seemed tho
list and most cruel blow OF fate. His
nal reliance was swept away. He
elt assured that Beatrice Mercer knew
Z the whereabouts of Edna. Now,
he, too. had disappeared-there was
ot a clue in sight.
Would she join Edna I'm her new
ONE, and by forgery and misrepre-
entation wreck her faith In her lover,
nd work out her ploss Of Jealousy and
.venge?
Oppressed by this torturing thought.
raymond Marshal left Hopedale that
light on a blind, hopeless quest for
pne trace of the woman he loved and
be woman he dreaded.
Too late! The woman whose cruel
and was twisting his ~heartstrings
nth torture because in her Wild, err
attic way she loved him, had twenty
our hours start In a plot so subtle and
sd thnt hls spirit would have quailed
nd he yen 80 much ~ guessed its
mister motives.