Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-05-03

lit WAS htpL WulLluE lOI SoDHe NiLe
before his ring was taken lotice Of,
ard when at length the door WIS open
ed a couple of inches. the dirty face Cf
IN old charwoman peered out at him
through the aperture.
"Family's left" said this person,
CURLY.
"Leftr' calculated Everard; what on
earth do you meanT'
why, gone out O. town-gone to
the country, / s'pose,' replied he old
woman; "I don't know nothin' about
'fs~."
But surely they must have left some
addres SIS or-or note"
"They amt left neither u nor
t'other with me. I should say You was
best go to Mr.. Mason's, the 'Cuse-
agents; twas i'm as put me in ere
this morning. He can tell you their
address, l dessay. Second turn to the
left, the first large furnitu'-warr'us'
you come to-"
But Mr.. Mason. when applied to,
professed himself unable to do this.
Really, sir, l am very sorry" he said,
In answer to Eveard's reiterated de-
mands; but 1 car give you no infor-
nation at all. We were told last night
that Miss Denham was called away
suddenly, and only two days ago we
| received the rent for the coming month.
This morning l went round myself to
take the inventory, and l made "A par
ticular point of inQuiring whether there
was any address for letters to be for
warded to; but I was given to under
stand that no letters were expected"
did you see Miss Denham herSelf?"
"No, sir; / saw no one except a tall
gentleman, a foreigner by the look Of
him. I made the remark to him that
it was rather unusual for a family
to move in that sudden way, without
saying where they were going; but he
was very short in his manner; and as
all claims were paid quite correct,
Of course 1t was not for me to say any
thing more"
Everard ground his teeth in impo-
tent rage. 1t had never entered into
his head that such a 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 a 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:
"Gcod-by. / cannot fight against my
fate, and / must not ruin your life.
1t would only have made us both I'M
happy If we had met to-day. l know
you will want to follow me: but pray
do not attempt that. 1t would be use
less, and indeed / have nc idea where
we are going. 1 shall never marry
airy one elSe-that Is all that / can
promise you. Forgive me ii You can,
and try to forget Tie. You must see
by my going away now that l cannot
have been worthy of you Any d
who had loved You as you deserved to
be loved would have been able to resist
doing that Thank you a thousand
times for all your goodness to me,
and good-by again.
LAURA"
Three long weaks passed-weeks
which Everard had never forgotten,
and is not likely to forget to his dying
day. He attended Il his bust less, be-
ing unable to sit idle from morning
to night; he took food and sleep, since
both are necessary to support Life;
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
desert him; yet he was too clear sighted
to ignore the gravity Of the situation,
and too sensible to build much upo
Door Laura's promise to marry no.
body but himself. For a timt,
no doubt, she woul1 hold out,
but for how long? This was the
question which Everard asked himself
all day long, and every day, and he was
without data upon which to ground an
| answer to Ii.
Sitting down 10 breakfast one morn
ing, he found, among the letters on the
table, one addressed in a shlky hand
writing unknown to him. He opened
it listlessly; but when he had glanced
at the first words his heart gave a great
leap, and the color rushed into his
cheeks. The letter, which was almost
illegible in parts, and blotted as with
tears, ran as follows:
Royal Hotel, Deal.
Dear Mr.. Everard-I feel that l
must write to you. 1t Is a dreadful
risk; not TO me alone-that would not
matter, for / am only an old woman,
and my life is nearly over at any rate
but to you and Laura; yet there is
nothing else to be done. If, after the
way in which you have been treated,
your feelings are unaltered, and IL you
wish to save my niece from a terrible
fate. come here at once. ! will explain
everything to you when we meet-that
Is, IL we meet. l am not sure whether
1t would be safe for you to stay in this
house or not; but perhaps you might,
as he Is not living here. Whatever you
do, pray, on no account, let him see
you. He always comes in after dinner,
but very seldom during the day. You
might ask whether we were alone, and
then send In your card. Believe me,
dear Mr.. Everard, most sincerely
yours, Sarah Patterson"
1t need hardly be said that within an
hour of the receipt Of this appeal
Everard was speeding toward Deal as
fast as an express train could take him.
He reached his destination early in the
afternoon, proceeded to the Royal Ho-
tel, and, having discovered by inquiry
that Miss Denham was out, but that
Mrs. Patterson was at home, had hir,,
self shown at once into the presence