The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1895-06-27

i0lJer anu Tedu Inc WnOl6 U VI
Lisbeth's interview with the Rev.
Abel Singleton.
Hydra headed, he feared, was the
relentless pursuer who must newt
ably, m or later, find out his
sin.
Lisbeth had been most %judicious,
and had laid the ghost for awhile,
true loyal woman that she was; but
there no saying when it would begin
to stalk again, or at what point of
his travels he might meet it.
He took a long walk before he
returned to Lady Gertrude, although
there was several letters at the post
office which he knew she would be
glad to have; but he felt he did
not dare meet her questioning
g~lances until, after this fresh blow,
he could manage to assume some
thing of his wont calm.
One omission he blamed Lisbeth
for in his mind.
Why had she not asked where on
the continent this persistent parson
was going to take his sick wife. 1t
would have been 80 easy to avoid
that particular spot, and with the
small means the Singletons had they
were not likely to travel about
much. Now he would be kept in
constant dread, examining hotel
visitors books, looking into the face
of every stranger, afraid to speak to
anyone who addressed him, lest the
man who spoke should be Singleton,
whose personal appearance he had
totally forgotten. Oh, it would be
too dreadful, anew phase and a most
terrifying Ii in the painful life
drama he had so rashly and thought
lessly prepared for himself.
When he reached the hotel, before
he went into the room where Lady
Gertrude was, he began the en-
9uiries which would now be his daily
task, by examining the book that
lay on the table in the hall.
No such name as Singleton. He
passed on to his wife's sofa with the
letters he had brought for her.
While she read them he stood
looking at himself in the glass that
hung over the mattel shelf.
Engrossed in her correspondence,
she did not heed what he was doing
until he said:
500 you know, Gertie, I have a
mind to let my beard grow. 1t
will be wonderfully less trouble than
shaving, and rather becoming, too, l
suspect"
She laughed as she said:
"You conceited boy, yes, let it
grow. l should like to see you with
a beard. No one will recognize you
when you get back to England"
She little guessed that this was
what he was aiming at, and that, as
for conceit, every particle of IL had
died out of him months ago.
The subject of the beard was not
pursued, Sir Clement had got his
wife's consent to its being grown,
and that was all he wanted. Still
she was too much taken up with her
letters to think of anything but them
for the moment.
"They will be here to-day, Glenn"
she cried.
by they I suppose you mean
Elvira and Lady Marcia?"
Exactly. am 80 glad"
And the excitement she showed
about the matter quite verified his
hope that with the arrival of her two
intimate friends new life would be
infused into Lady Gertrude's pros
trate frame.
This to an entent made him forget
his trouble abut the spectre Single
ton that he knew might start up at
any moment like Banquo's ghost and
trouble the seemingly even current
of his DAYS.
Thus the little excursion to the
Greek Chapel was much more lively
than might have been e2 pected, and
by the time they returned to the
hotel the drive through the sweet
balmy air and the fragrance from the
woods had certainly done Lady Ger.
trude good.
The travellers had just arrived
when they returned, and the greet
ings were most affectionate, though
naturally tempered with sadness,
as Lady Gertrude's trouble had
fallen upon her since her friends had
left home.
Elvira Delane had quite recovered
her spirits and Lady Marcia, not
withstanding her supposed ailments,
had never lost hers, so the dinner
which Sir Clement had ordered with
much care was done ample justice
to, and though Lady Gertrude said
she was very weary, and would be
glad to go to bed, she was not al
lowed to brood.
The cheering regimen which Sir
Clement had for some time past
been prescribing for her in his mind
had begun with a vengeance.
Would it prove of lasting efficacy,
or following the fate of many an
other regimen that has gone before
it, would the test be too severe for