Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-07-05
Continued.

OOullAueu.
4 cordial hand-shake from the Aus
| tralian, d smile from his niece, and
! George Severn was alone outside,
Walking rapidly toward the Abbey.
shrinking as he had never done before
from the lonely grandeur that awaited
him, and realizing how utterly unlike
it was to any preconceived idea he
might once have had of home. All.
well, when Charlie came, it would be
different! But how lonely that girl
| was! What could be the cause Of such
poignant, apparently all-engrOssing
| grief? She was mystery-a mystery
well worth studying he thought.
L wonder what Charlie will think
Of her?' he thought; and then another
| question presented itself which made
him draw his breath hard and 3. dark
! flush suffuse his sallOw face even in
| the darkness what would she think
! of Charlie-WOuld she like him.
| In the meantime, at the Dover
| House, Mr.. BOWyer and his niece We're
| seated together before the fire, the
! former looking idly over newspaper
! the contents of which he had already
! mastered in the train, the latter, max
! ing no pretense at occupation, seated
! on a low stool. with her elbows on her
! knees, her head resting on her hands,
staring at the glowing embers that
burned brightly beneath an upper
! crust of coal. Suddenly dropping his
| paper, her companion startled her by
| taking up the poker and thruSting it
! into the fire, so that the fairy-lile
! cavern into which she had been gazing
was destroyed, and darkness and
| brightness intermingled lost the beauty
they had possessed in contrast.
! The girl called Ellen Warde looked
up and sighed as she said,
DO You want anything, Mr. Bow
/ yer"
mo, nor testify. why don't you
( call me uncle? It makes people talk
nen I introduce you as my niece,
and yet you always call me by my
| name"
Il forget, sir. 1t is not because |
do not love you and am not grateful
, for your goodness. If that were all, l
might call you 'father'-and it woIld
! be no untruth, for no parent could
! have done more for me than YOU
! Nonsense, child! Why do you go
/ back to that? Has anything happened
! tonight to make you recall what is
! past and done With"
She shook her head in reply.
1T is coming here, [ think settling
! down at last after more than year Of
! hotels and lodgings. The last home l
! had was before my father died; and
we lived tQgether-oh, SO peacefully
! and happily!-without even a PRESENT.
ment of the dreadful tragedy to come"
/ And here too you may be peaceful
{ and happy" he suggested with a gen
tleness that cOntrasted greatly with his
usually blunt unsympathetic manner
She stood up eXcitedly and pushed
/ away the stool on which she was sit
ting.
Peaceful" she repeated, with al
} most an accent of scorn-''peaceful
with the constant fear Of detection
hanging over me! And how can I be
happy. remOrseful as ] am all the
while?"
He looked at her keenIy, and in his
turn repeated a word that she had
used, and which aroused doubt he
| was half afraid to acknowledge.
"RemOrSefulr'
She was pacing the room with quick
uneven steps, her arms first across her
| breast, then thrown behind her as If
she was striving to cast from her the
! thoughts that tOrmented her.
My own sister, she cried, passion
! ately. "Oh, it would have been bet
ter, far better, had l stayed and-and
met the worst than escaped for tnis.''
DO you blame me for the part
took in your escape"
She sunk down upon her knees be-
side him and looked UP in his face
with something of the mute devo
ton of a dog.
Can l ever forget" she said, that
dreadful day when, still unnerved and
terrified because of my sisters cruel
death, came down to the inquiry? At
first 1 scarcely noticed the crowd-I
was rapt completely in my own sad
thoughts; then, as question after Ques-
ton was put to me, each one more I'M
feeling than the last, realized to what
they were tending-what was the i'm
preston gradually becoming general
in the minds of those about me. The
full horror of my situation burst upon
me. I dared not raise my eyes for
fear of meeting others bent upon me
accusingly; to my excited fancy it
seemed as though I actually heard my
sentence passed behind me. Oh, if
they had only fallen upon me then,
killed me with their own hands, and
so released me from my misery, l
could have borne it; but / knew that
weeks must pass before my fate would
be decided, and that there was worse
ordeal in store for me when [ had to
stand upon my formal trial! For
every eye that gazed at me with i'm
punity then, there would be hundred
there; and for every tongue that spoke
against me then, a hundred would
condemn NE there. How could [ bear
1t? How could I elude it? l had had
friends before, and lovers-at least,
those who said they loved me-but
none came to me in my sorrow. 1t
was you, all utter stranger. who stood
by me, and offered me the means of
escape. Do blame you for that? All, ,