Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1893-02-23
CHAPTER TX.
WHITTIER?

Arnold Dacre recOiled from the vault
door of the Bank with that word gasp
1ngly uttered, with heart and soul be-
wiidered ana benumbed by the startling
discovery of the moment
Gone-vanished- disappeared! What
did 1T mean? What could it mean, but
eEreacherv, or providence. Securely shut
Ia he had left Flora Merwyn. The mas
-Sjve door had been dOubly locked. How
&tad she penetrated that barrier, or,
rather whose hand had liberated her?
Certainly not that of the Sheriff or his
guards. They had not visited the room
STAGE he had left the bank for the Court.
Wharton? A fierce, passionate rage
1urned in the pOtter'S bosom at the sug-
,sSeStiOn Of that thought. Had his hire
Wing relented? Would he turn craven at
a critical moment? What more natural
fSlan that, under the stress of conscience
stricken misery, he had stolen back TO
She hank. rescued the imprisoned Flora,
restored the stolen fortune, and washed
his hands Of the entire affair by speedy,
'precipitate flight?
With cry of ungovernable anger, Ar
Mold Dacre made a bound for the door,
As If to overtake and punish his treach-
2v0uS subordinate at once. Then he
tlaaIted abruptly.
"Dolt, idiot that l amp he calculated.
''Why it could not have been Wharton.
aEc does not even know the combination
1f the lock-"
The decision was a mOmentary relief,
bat this emotion speedily gave way to Il
new and far moro intense dread. If not
Wharton, who? Only the dead banker
and himself knew the combination, only
'3Aey had power to enter the vault.
Nainly the scheme worried his brain
E0r some solution to the overwhelming
SuyStcry of the moment Speculation,
Shcory, dread, doubt, anxiety ran riot in
,ajS haunted mind. Then, with sick
Gazing conviction that somewhere along
Gile line of his weIl-laid plans a broken
&int had been ungarded, he left the room
aad thc bank, and proceeding around
Ghe square, rung at the front door of the
bankers dwelling.
Flora had escaped Flora had been
'rcScucd. Flora was free. WHAT would
that mean to him? Strongly entrenched
toai9ind carefully-erected fertilization,
dropped up with fraud, forgery and
cunning, he did not so much dread a
battle with a pennless orphan. He
1,GWid set down any public accusation
Size might make as the rawlings OF a
>i5stracted mind, as the natural en-
3cavor of a daughter seeking to cast
&hG blame due her father upon some
nae else. But vague intimatiOn told
S{liua that the hand which had liberated
liRer was friendly hand, that a hidden,
secret foe whose identity he could not
even surmise, had appeared to disturb
atIs well-laid projects An enemy in the
e&jark-what latent power to unmask, be-
cray, and punish, might not this first act
af antagoniSm predicate!
The old housekeepcr answered his
summons. Her nervous, hysterical man
ger made her greeting almost incoherent.
The master was dead and Flora had dis
appeared.
With stern harshnoss the cashier sub
diced her agitation.
speak" he ordered. "Where is Miss
Merwyn?'
''She left the house for the bank, hours
since. | have not seen her. She h as
not returned. | went through the COW
cred passage way and called her, but the
door leading into the bank is locked"
The open window-the ladder! Dacre
decided that Flora had not returned or
Oeen brought to the house Where, then?
He went around into the little court. 1t
&a&d but one entrance - from the stable.
Rarely used, the tiles were moldy and
covered with dust, and disturbed path
showed leading from the bottom of the
Bladder to the carriage house.
":Ah! what is this?"
EDacre uttered the startled ejaculation
with movement toward an object ly-
Jug on the ground. 1t was a lace collar,
aud the pin that had held it in place bore
No +o1l; S,,,ti Il
''Flora came this way" he decided
~or was brought this way. Yes" his
heart sinking, there are the marks of
tour feet. Why! the carriage and the
.two gray horses are gone"
The discovery threw new light upon
che subject The Investigation OF the
ensuing half-hour verified the growing
dread in his mind, that the mysterious
disappearance OF the bankers daughter
WAS due to a rescue and that, whoever
Aer protector, her subsequent safety and
retirement from the proximity Of enemies
had been we'll looked after.
For, coming out upon the street, Dacre
had not questioned half-a-do2en people,
before he found one fully able to answer
Ills anxious leading qucStions-had they
seen anything of Mr.. Merwyns close
carriage?
Il did" confidently announced one of
y group.
'>When-where?" demanded the eager
Questioner.
Making for the river road, just at the
edge OF the village, just before noon"
you arc sure?'
Don't l know the horses? Didn't T
sec Merwyn's Initial on the door? The
Inside curtains were all drawn, but
got sight as the wind waited one aside.