The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1894-12-22

shall De nome TO no one else. 1OurS
| IL.
Dick Tanqueray read the above and
threw the delicately perfumed coronet-
ed note on the table, and, leaning
against the mantel-piece, modify
reviewed the situation. Not alto
gether pleasant one. A younger
son, with barely anything but his
salary as clerk in the foreign Office,
the lookout was about as deplorable
as could be. Debts rapidly increasing,
and duns daily more insistent, with q
wretched book on the derby, while to
top all, here was the infatuation for
Lady Lanthwaite, and how that was
to terminate heaven only knew! In
timacy had grown into a warmer
and stronger feeling, and day by day
the pair had drifted on till it was
abundantly clear that, unless some
extraordinary bit of luck occurred,
the final smash could not be far off.
Dick could not exactly make out on
what footing he and Lady Lanth-
waite really stood. She was not,
| perhaps, exactly his ideal of what a
woman should be; but, however he
! might grid at his bondage when away
! from her, heknew but too we'll that in
her presence he was her very slave
| He might have had small conjunction
| in following out his worst Instincts,
but he was curiously held back by his
strange liking for Lanthwaite, a really
excellent fellow, who would have been
the last to believe his old Eton chum
could play him false. And, as mat
ter OF fact, Lanthwaite entirely trust
ed Tanqueray, and, in his laundering,
good-natured way, was always throw
ing the two together, when they would
have been better miles apart.
And now another diff Guilty had
arisen. Had Dick been clear of this
wretched ENHANCEMENT, in which the
woman took everything and gave no.
thing, prospect, faint as yet certain
~, but still with promise in it, had
broken on the horizon. For one OF
the new debutantes of the sea-
| son, lovely and mistress of her own
| fortune, had looked with anything
but unkindly eyes at handsome Dick
who had, indeed, every thing in his
favor but his Indebtedness. Then
again, Dicks uncle, from whom he had
large expectations, had as much as
| promised him that, if he would range
himself on a satisfactory footing, his
liabilities should be cleared off, and
that he should meet his bride far
from empty handed. It was just in
this state OF mental worry and I'M
certainty that Dick stood at present.
He was so bound to Lady Lanth-
waite that he could not see how he
could in any way break off his intinl-
acy with her, and until she herself
gave him his congo he must perforce
continue i'll his present atmosphere of
indebtedness and general bewilder-
ment-with the prospect, too, oflosing
the one chance OF happiness which lay
before him, and OF securing himself the
good will OF his venerable uncle, who
would assuredly leave him without a
penny If he in any way did anything
| to cast a shadow on the family name
However,, there was the lady'sletter,
and to her he must go at once if he
was to be IN Grosvenor Square at the
appointed time.
Lady Lanthwaite had directed that
she was to be at home to no one but
MIR: Tanqueray, and with a disturbed
| look on her usually composed and
haughtily beautiful face, she sat watt
ing the arrival Of the man on whom
she felt she could rely in the difficulty
that had now to be met. Young and
nobly born, with every advantage
that wealth, beauty and position
could give her, Lady Lanthwaite was
very far from being satisfied or q
happy woman. Under her calm ex-
terror there blazed passions that her
husband-good, easy fellow that he
was-knew little Of; and seemingly
cold and reticent, she lived for excite
ment in one form and another, and
was as reckless in her expenditure as
the veriest plunger on the turf; specu,
lations OF all sorts were her craze, and
there was no big event of any kind on
which she had not heavy book,
And yet, with this strange woman
her extravagances were to some ex.
tent dominated by the passion she
had for Dick Tanqueray, her feeling
for him being, in truth, far stronger
than she herself cared to recognize
And she had written to-. him
with set purpose, for she was in such
a position that it was beyond her wit
to conceive how she was to get out O.
the impasse she was now in.
Her reflections were broken by thu
opening of the door and the entry o
her expected visitor. AT once til,
charm of her lovliness and the soft
low tones of her voice dispersed Dick
good resolutions, and taking his plac
on a low stool beside the fair siren
who held, him in her thrail, he eagerl,
, demanded the cause of her wantir1
: him so hastily.
; But a sudden change came owe
Lady Lanthwaite. She now hesita
ted to speak Of her trouble. and be
gan to doubt within her mind whethe
it was, after all, quite fair to place he
burden on the man who had given 8,
much of his life to her. It was earl
summer and ths.light was playing 81