The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1894-12-06

penetrate the mystery which could
.hus have changed him from his
self.
But he was alone, there wer no
eyes to peer into his secrets,
he was at liberty to give way to the
despair that vas making his life a
burden, to fight his fate single
handed, for surely, surely there
were some means by which he could
escape from the doom that threat
cned him.
None with honor--was the con-
at which he arrived after a
long wrestling with the circumstances
that hedged him in.
Overwhelmed by this discovery,
utterly PROSTATE under its weight,
he cast himself down on the ground
at the foot of a large tree and
groaned aloud.
Clement Dunraven was a man who
had ever desired to act h%onorably,
even nobly it was more or less as a
hero, that he elected to pose-but
the temptation to wander from the
straightforward path was very strong,
occasionally so strong that his weak
nature could not resist.
Would he do SO now?
He dared not consider what obedi-
ence to his uncle's imperious die
tates about this marriage would cost
him.
He leant against the tree, hot and
weary from the mental conflict,
until at last the silence that reigned
in the wood seemed to awe him and
he staggered to his feet.
What had he done that he felt
like a culprit trying to escape from
some awful doom? Nothing.
What was he about to do? He
shivered and an anguish M of
cold succeeded the ~feverish heat of
the last hour. He must go and find
someone to talk to, he could not
bear to be any longer alone with
his own thoughts. The sound of a
human voice would dispel this awful
nightmare.
There were some gardeners NOW
ing the lawn, he could hear the
click of the machine in the distance.
He would go and talk to them, Is he
sometimes did, of their families and
their homes.
Poor devils, they had many q
rough bit of road to get over in then
lives, but their troubles were as
nothing compared to that weight o
misery that had descended OH hin
like an avalanche. And with haltinl
step, looking very much like a MAJ
who had been drinking hard, HI
emerged from the wood and made
vigorous effort to pull himself to
gether.
= As he passed out into the sunshin
which bathed the lawn and pleasur
grounds lying around Aboyne Court
a , m ), , At,t nf n CiIn Nnnly NrlDp
he had been concealed by the shad
of a tree and some luxuriant brush
wood which grew around. He di'
not attempt to follow Clement Dun
raven, but walked quickly an
noiselessly toward the part of tn
wood he had just quilted.
The new conner was Pierce Vaughan
But was he a new conner? Had h
not been an Unseen witness @
Clements agony and thus mad
himself certain that there was-as h
had more than once suspected
secret mystery ovcrshadowing hi
cousins life.
Pierce Vaughan was a barristei
, His profession had taught him to b
careful, he had never said augl
about his suspicious in regard t
; Clement. He did not intend to do
i, now, but he would watch neverthe
less.
acknowledge is power" vas n
/ the notices that ruled his seeming
we'll regulated life, and to have
/ mans secret in your possession wa
he thought, most advisable and us'
t full, especially when that man, as
the present instance, was his riva
+ Pierce Vaughan was not Saying
r Aboyne Court, but was on a visit
e Lady Marie Foljambe, who had fill
her house for the ball, for which 81
d had issued invitations, and viii
was to take place that evening.
al Brentwells, where the Foljamb
+ lived, was about six miles from
"a Louis Dunraven's house, and Pier
:, Vaughan had walked over to see
|. uncle, little guessing the revelatic
J.. about Clement on which he was goi
to stumble.
AS he strolled on, his head i'll
with the subject on which he b
,r lately been enlightened, he pass
III the tree under which Clement b
d, thrown himself in his desper'
anguish.
ID 1t was rather out of Pierce Val
hams way to pass the tree If he w
40 merely bent on going to the ho'
t. to pay his visit to Sir Lol
al but Pierce was endowed with cert
IL. detective proclivities, and