The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-08-25

left her few moments before. Had she
gone out by some other eXit-or had she
been disguised? But on entering his room
that evening he was COMPOUNDED by an in
cident that seemed TO him as convincing
of her identity as it was audacious. I.y-
ing on his pillow were a few dead
leaves of an odoTOuS mountain fern
known only to the Sierras. They were
tied together by IL narrow blue ribbon
and had evidently been intended to at
tract his attention. AS he took them i'll
his hand, the distinguishing subtle aroma
of the little sylvan hollow in the mills
came to him like q memory and a reVela-
toni He summoned the chambermaid;
she knew nothing OF them or, indeed, of
any one VINO had entered his room. He
walking cautiously into the hall; the lady s
sitting room door was open, the room was
empty. The occupant, said the chamber
maid, had left that afternoon" He held
the proof OF her identity in his hand, but
she herself had vanished! That she had
recognized him there was now no DOUBT;
had she OWNED the real object of his
quest, or had she accepted it as a, mere
sentimental gallantry at the moment
herself was perfectly safe from pursuit.
In either event he had been duped. He
did not know whether TO be piqued, an
gry-or relieved of his irreSolute quest.
Nevertheless he spent the rest of the
twilight and the early evening in fruit
lesSly wandering through the one long
thoroughfare of the town, until it merged
into the bOSky Amanda or spacious grove
that connected IL with Santa LulSa. by
degrees his chagrin and disappointment
We're forgotten in the memories OF the
past, evoked by the familiar pathway.
The moon was slowly riding overhead and
Silvering the carriage way between the
straight ebony lines of trees, while the
footpathS were diapered with black and
white chequers. The faint tinkling of a
tram-car bell in. the distance appriSed him
of one of the few innovations OF the past
The car was approaching him. overlook
him, and was passing with its family llill-
minated windows, when, glanc1ng care
Iessly up. he beheld at one of them the
profile of the face which he had just
thought he had lost foreVeri
He stopped for an Instant not in indie
ciSion this time but IN a grim resolution
to let no chance escape him now. Inc
car was going. Slowly, it was easy TO
board it now, but again the linking OF
the bell indicated that it was stopping
at the corner Of a road beyond. he
checked his pace-a lady alighted-It was
she. She turned into the cross street,
darkened with the shadows OF some low
suburban tenement houses, and he boldly
followed. He was fully determined to
find out her secret, ana even, II necessary,
to accost her for that purpose. He was
perfectly aware what he was doing and
all it's risks and penalties; he knew the
2udacity of such an introduction: but ne
felt in his Ieft-nand pocket for the sprig
of fern which was an excuse for 1t; he
knew the danger OF following a possible
confidante Of desperadoes, but he felt in
the right hand pocket for the derrlnSer
there; he was ready.
He was nearing the convent and the
oldest and most ruinouS part OF the town.
He did not disguise from himself the
gloomy significance of this; even in the
old days the crumbling adobe buildings
that abutted on the old garden wall of
the convent were the hauntS of laWleSS
Mexicans and vagabond poems. As the
roadway began to be rough and uneven,
and the gaunt outlines of the sagSinS
roofs of the tiles stood out against the
sky above the lurking shadows Of the
ruined doorways, he was prepared for
the worst. AS the crumbling but still
massive walls of the convent garden
doomed ahead, the tall, graceful, black
gowned figure he was following presently
turned into the shadow of the wall itself.
He quiclIened his pace lest it should es-
cape him. Suddenly it stopped and re
NAMED motionless. He stopped, too. AT
the same moment it vanished!
He ran quickly forward 10 where it
had stood and found himself before a
large iron gate With a smaller one in the
center that had just changed TO on its
rusty hinges. He rubbed his eyesi- the
place, the gate, the wall, We're all
strangely familiari Then he stepped
back into the roadway and looked at it
again. He was hot mistaken.
He was standing before the porter's
lodge of the convent of the Sacred Heart.
(To be conunued.)