The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1895-05-09
UNDER THE SHADOW OF CRIME,
BIZ Jean Middlemas, author Of "a Girl in a Thousand "Sealed by a Kis
"By Fair Means" &c.
CHAPTER XIII.
WAITING FOR THE VERDICT.

Christmas is over, and the New
Year has come.
On the anniversary of the Dunra-
vens' wedding day, Jim Glendinning
is to be tried. 1t is a dreary way of
celebrating what should be the most
suspicious day in their lives, but to
Sir Clement it seems a fitting me.
As DR.. Watson had said, Lady
Gertrude had been very i'll since she
had been told of the dreadful calam-
ity that had befallen, and though she
was now going about more or less in
her old way, she had never got up
her strength, and her condition was
n more anxiety added to Sir Glenn
ent's already heavy list. What
astonished and bewildered him was
the manner in which Lisbeth devoted
herself to Lady Gertrude: in fact, If
it had not been Tor Lisbeth it is
doubtful whether the poor little
woman would not have succumbed
from sheer weakness and nervous
prostitution.
Somewhat to the relief of the fam
lily at the cottage, Lisbeth spent
several hours each day at Aboyne
Court, nursing Lady Gertrude, and
seeing that all her smallest wants
were attended to. 1t seemed as if
Lisbeth could not do enough for her
in order to make up to her in some
degree for the mistake and false
position in which she had weakly
allowed her to be placed.
This behavior on Lisbeth's part
was totally incomprehensible to Sir
Clement; if she had hated her,
spited her, done all she could to
make life intolerable to her he could
have understood it, but this devo-
ton to the woman who had stepped
into her place was a delicate trait of
character which his coarser nature
failed utterly to comprehend. 1t
puzzled him still more because he
did not fail to remark that Lisbeth
never bestowed even a glance on
little Clement-the baby heir.
Whenever he chance to be brought
into the room where Lisbeth was she
would grow clustered ane Hurried.
She forgave Lady Gertrude for being
in the place that by right belonged
to her, for she argued; why should
she be vindictive against her on this
account; had not she herself given
it to her; but the boy who came
between Lisa, and not only her
birthright, but her fathers heart
no, she could not forgive him.
She had never kissed him, even
when Lady Gertrude asked her to do
80. "She did not care for little
babies 80 young as that one'" she
said by way of explanation, and she
never looked the way tn ne was il
she could possibly help it.
If she had had no child of her own
probably she would have taken to
him, even as she did to his mother,
for Clements sake, and in eXpiation
of the wrong that had been done.
But her own maternal instinct was
SO strong; it seemed q her of late
almost as if she loved Lisa better
than the mar for whom she had
made such a tremendous sacrifice.
"Nothing kills love-" was Lisbeth's
belief; still, if she had been a more
educated woman, capable of analys-
ing as well as feeling, she would
have known that crime such as that
of which she believed Sir Clement to
he guilty must, ven if unconsciously,
loosen affection, and that it was
rather from the loyalty of her own
nature than from her living, pas
sionate love for him that Lisbeth was
staunch and true, even through evil
report. Had this not been so, her
position at Aboyne Court would have
been so strained as to be absolutely
intolerable.
Lisbeth felt that the day had gone
by when love-1laking between them
seemed possible.
1t seemed such a long time since
the evening when he had strolled
down to the cottage after dinner,
that she could scarcely believe he
was the same Clement, or she the
same Lisbeth.
If he took her hand now she with
drew it; if he looked into her eyes
she turned away, and yet she was as
ready TO give up her life and happi-
ness for Clement Duuraven as she
had eve been.
He did not bid her depart; he did
not tell her what pain it was to him
to see her at the Court, devoting
herself so lovingly to his invalid
wife. He did not tell her this, be-
cause he feared that she would keep
away, and he would then lose sight
of her altogether. Still the pain that
Clement felt at having Lisbeth SO
constantly near and yet so far re-
moved from his inner life, was
excruciating, part of the atonement
he was called on to make for his dire
transgressions.
This was what he felt it to be, and,
encouraging the belief, each time he