The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1894-05-04

then. AS you say, we shall Sc" VINO
will win | may be mistaken but | do
not think that it will be you, my dear
sir. Good-day to you"
When the appointed hour on the fol-
lowing afternoon came around, ana Ev-
cfard bent his steps once more In the
direction of BaysWater, it was with the
determination OF asking Laura to let
him meet the enemy face 10 face. He
did not mean TO be oyer-gentle or per
Sllasive with her: he intended to tell
her plainly that She must choose be
tween him and Sour-ltkin, aud he had
very little doubt as to what her choice
would be.
He was kept waiting for some tine
before his ring was taken notice Of.
ar when at length The doc. w Is open
ed couple of inches the dirty face Il
an old charwoman pecrcl out 1T him
through the Aperture.
"Familys left" sail this person,
ourlly.
"Left.' calculated Everard; what on
earth do you mean"
why, gone out o town gone to
the country. | s'poSe.' replied he cid
woman; Il don't know nolhin' about
80 -
But surely they must have lcf, some
address or--or note"
They amt left neither one nor
t'other With me. l should say you WAS
best go to Mr. Masnn'S, the C,lsc
agents; twas i'm rs put me in ere
this morning He can tell you their
address. l deSsay. Second turn to the
left. the first !ar-. furnitu' warr'us'
you come to"
But Mr.. Mason. when applied to.
professcd himself unable to do this.
Really. sir. am very sorry" he said,
in answer to Eveards reiterated de-
mands: but l can give you no infor
nation at AL We were told last night
that Miss Dcnhan was called away
suddenly. and only two days ago we
received the rent for the coming month
This morning | went round myself to
take the inventory. and | made Il par
tic,llar point of inGuiring whether there
was any address for letters to be for
war,led TO; but | was given TO under
stand that no letters were expected"
'Dd you see Miss Denham herself"
NO, sir; / saw no one except a tall
4 foreigner by the look of
him. l made the remark to him that
it was rather unusual for a family
to move in that sudden way, without
saying where they We're going. but he
was very short in his manner: and as
all claims were paid quite correct,
Of course it was not for me to say any
thing more"
Eyerard ground his teeth in impo-
tent rage 1t had never entered into
his head that such thing as this could
happen and he could not believe that
Laura would have allowed herself to be
spirited away without giving him some
clew as to her destination. He hurried
back to his rooms, half hoping that
he might find Il letter from her await
ing him, and there, sure enough. upon
the table lay an envelope addressed in
her handwriting. He tore it open, and
read the following words:
"GCol-by. | cannot fight against my
fate, and | must not ruin your life.
1t would only have made us both un-
happy il we had met to-day. l know
you will want to follow mes but pray
10 not attempt that. 1t would be use
/, 81. and indeed l have no idea where
we are going. I shall never marry
ary one else--tlat is all that con
promise you. Forgive me il you can,
and try to forget tuc. You must see
BY my going away now that l cannot
hnve been worthy of you. Any oDe
who had loved you rs you deserved to
be loved would have been able to resist
iCin: that Thank you thousand
times for all your goodness to me,
Ind gocd-by again.
LAURA
Three long weeks passed weeks
which Everard had never forgotten,
ma is not likely to forget to his dyirg
iay. He attended to his bust less, be-
ne unable to sit idle from nlornin.
to night; he took food and sleep, since
both are necessary to support l.fe;
but the agony Of suspense from which
he suffered was not the less, perhaps,
because his nature would not allow
him to display it in any violent or ex-
aggerated form. Hope did not entirely
lesert him; yet he was too clear sighted
to ignore the gravity Of the situation,
and too sensible to build much upon
poor Laura's promise to marry no
body but himself For time,
no doubt. she woull hold out,
but for how long: This was the
question which Everar1l asked himself
all day loag, and every day, and he was
without data upon which to ground an
answer to it.
Sitting down to breakfast one morn
ing. he found. among the letters on the
table, one addressed in Il shaky hand
writing unknown to him. He opened
it listlessly; but when he had glMced
at the first words his heart gave great
leap. and the color rushed into his
The letter, which was almost
iIlegible in parts, and blotted Us with
tears, ran IS follows:
Royal Hotel, Deal
Dear Mr.. Eye.a,i!-I feel that
must writc ~ yen. It is dreadful
risk: not 10 me alone--that would not
matter, for ! an only an old woman,