Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1894-05-25
MY Dear Paul-You VIM perhsp,

WOnOef tn8t, from all those who have
equal claims upon me, l have chosen
you rs my heir. It is not because you
are my nearest of kin-there is one
nearer than yourself. It is because l
loved your mother, Paul. All words
are weak to tell you how dearly I loved
her. Fraud and treachery parted us
when We were young, and since then
l have loved no other woman-no other
face has YER charmed me, no other
voice has made music in my ears. I
have been true to her in life, and /
shall be true to her in death; so, l have
left you all that I have in this world,
because 1 loved your mother-loved
and lost her. You will be a rich man, q
great and powerful man; but always re.
member that your wealth, your rank,
and your position come from your
mother, not from me. You must be
grateful to her, not to me. I have no
particular wishes to leave with you;
nothing has interested me much since
your mother died. Her picture hangs
In my room, and no day passes without
my looking at it. AS age creeps on me,
l like to sit and gaze at it, to imagine
to myself how the face 1 have loved so
we'll looks among the angels in heaven,
and to wonder if, when l am dying,
That same sweet face will be by my
side.
"The within seizos me to-day to wrfta
this and place it in your mothers pic.
ture. If you never find the letter il
will not matter: but l have a belief
that, whenyou-my heir-come 'home,'
there will be a new and handsome
frame wanted for the picture, and that
it will he taken from the quiet room
where l have spent SO many hours, and
put i'll a place of honor, as BELTS the
portrait of the mother of the heir.
Then you will meet with this, and YOU
will know that the 'morose old EARL
as they called ME, spent his time in
faithfully loving one woman, and also
that you W all yom have to your
mother, and not to me. Gool-by, and
Heaven bless You, Paul Flemyng. You
will be Earl of Charnleigh when you
read this. May heaven grant that you
may have a happier love and a happier
life than mine!
URIC CHARNLEIGH."
Ethel Dacre stood perfectly still with
the letter in her hand. What did it
mean: The lac earl wrote as though
he had left q will, which was in favor
of Captain Flemyng. If so, where was
it? Why had it not been found? She
was almost stupetied with the disclos.
ure-Paul the true heir, and not Leo.
nie?:
Where was the will: Her thoughts
wore all in a whirl of confusion. She
seemed almost incapable of forming
lucid ideas. Then she remembered
what Captain Flemyng had told her
that they had sought high and low"
for q will, but could not find one. II
yryo q in onsn~,.,ra~ ~c Ait. rs1..z xI-A
the case came before the law courts,
and Leonie Rayner was declared next
OF kin. Had any will been found, OF
course its instructions would have been
carried out.
Could 1t be that Uric, Lord Charm.
leigh, had intended to make a will and
had died without doing so. Even in
that "a Paul was the rightful heir.
Leonie would admit this, and of course,
when she had read the letter give ur
all to him.
She turned to leave the room, taking
the letter with her, but she found that
her limbs trembled so violently tbat
she would have fallen if she proceeded
just then. She was obliged to rest
herself and still the beating of her
heart. Presently she would go to
Leonie, and show her what she had
found.
Paul would be master of Crown
Leighton after all. TO Ethel-sopure
ly. SO strictly honorable-there came
no doubt of what L.eonie would do. She
knew that, if she herself were placed
in a similar position. she would at once
give up all she had-she would abso-
lutely refuse to keep possession Of
what it was never intended should be
hers.
That Ieonie would offer the least
opposition never occurred to Ethel.
She did not know how love of money
and Of power, how pride OF rank and
position could corrode even the noblest
of natures.
Then, as she went up the broad stair
case of that superb mansion, it sudden.
~ occurred to her that il would be
very hard for Leonie to renounce all
this state and splendor. Hard. indeed;
but then at the call Of honor people
should be willing to lay down their
lives even. She inquired were Lady
Charnleigh was, and Florette told her
that she was in her own room. Ethel
went thither.
ITO BE coNrINUEnI