The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1894-11-29

ting and villainy of the deepest dye;
the other to retire to her room and
wrestle with her heart to keep it from
doubling her lovers love.
The next morning Louis had an
swered a call for Information from the
superintendent of the road. when the
wires bore a message which so startled
him that he shook as with the ague.
and the blood rushed to his head, as
though the fever and chill came to-
gether.
The name of the person addressed
was Matilda Patterson.
Matilda Patterson. Who above the
earth should be sending a dispatch to
her: She had been dead nearly year.
What could it mean? Louis had no
time to soliloquize. The message came
quick and fast, quicker and faster, it
seemed to him. than any dispatch that
ever before came over the wires. So
quick and so fast that his pen could
not keep pace with the click of the
instrument, and had the click come
ever so slow it would have made no
the message on paper had his life
been at stake. The pen dropped
from his hands. his whole frame
trembled from head to foot, the room
suddenly darkened. and he reeled
and fell like a drunken man. The dir
illness lasted but a moment. The fall
aroused him to consciousness of the
situation. He realized that he must
act. and act quickly.
He had heard enough of the message
to understand that he alone of all the
world must hear it. and that all his
hopes OF the future depended on his
keeping it from the knowledge of any
other human being. Rising to his feet
he made superhuman effort to throw
Off the fearful incubus which had borne
him to the floor, and, grasping the key
of the instrument, he asked that the
message be repeated.
The words commence to come. Q, too
slowly now, for it seemed minutes be-
tween each syllable. but he listened to
each click. click. click, as they came,
one after the other. like battalion of
fends passing before his eyes. each
screaming as if to let all the world
know that this mans crime should be
known to all the world.
Not word was put on paper. 1t was
ghosts dispatch sent to dead
sent. 1t ought never to have been re-
ccived. Thus he unused, but only for a
moment. In his breast the terrible
message was locked up as in an iron
chest and the chest at the bottom of
the sea.
''Saved again, as if by miracle !.
What a commotion in my brain! What
a tumult in my heart. Amessage from
Louis Patterson.
God in Heaven, what can it mean?
The Louis Patterson | left lifeless on
that unknown shore? He alive! He
to sail this day from Liverpool for New
York: He coming to his old home.
and he to bask again in the light of
Mary NOrdrum love? She to be his
bride?
mo. no; it cannot, it must not be. No
! mortal now must come between me and
her l love.
Louis Patterson's plans must be
thwarted. He must be prevented from
coming to Sandy Lake or communicate
ing with Mary Nordrum until l shall
have made her my wife. That accom-
plished, and the arrangements [ have
been making to live in Il foreign land
carried out. will run all the risk OF
| even his discovering us.'
| Inc lmDOStOr sat down. buried MS
head in his hands. and cody contem-
plated plan to prevent the proposed
visit of the real Louis Patterson to his
old home. His thoughts flew thick and
fast. Anything, everything, no mat
ter what. must be done to stay that
fellows coming.
Desperate means should be employed
if necessary. Even his rivals death
| was discussed with his conscience and
it was convinced the crime ought to be
committed rather than the impOstol
should fail in his sheme to marry Mary
| NOrdrum.
TO BE CONTINUED.