The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1895-02-21
She hated Pierce Vaughan with a

he was Clement Dunraven's foe. II
he were going to add insult to injury
by making love to her, there was no
saying to what lengths her fury, II
not carefully guarded, might not
lead her.
The complications which had sur.
rounded Lisbeth of late were making
her very desperate, and it is dan
gerous for a man to play with a
desperate woman even though that
man may be as clever as Pierce
Vaughan believed himself to be.
She started back from his touch,
tossing his hand from her, as though
a viper had stung her.
"I will not sit down." she said,
"nor tell you aught OF my affairs.
You are a gentleman, l am humbly-
born, seeking to gain my livelihood
by honest means. Compromising
myself with a gentleman like you
will not help me-"
81 don't know that" he said, "you
are angry and do not see things
clearly, oryou would recognize that
1t is good to have q friend, even
though that friend is an Objectionable
/ gentlemen like myself"
"Td6hTt want any gentleman, Il is
better to starve and he honest"
yet / am hot the only gentleman
whose acquaintance you have made.
Alb, Lisbeth, why should I be treated
with a scorn you have not bestowed
on
"On whom? What do you mean?
You are taking strange liberties with
my lowly position, but you had best
be careful, Mr.. Vaughan, I am not
so unprotected as you think for"
"Of course not, l forgot, your
father has returned and"
Whether it was with Sir Miles
Berkeley or Sir Clement Dunraven
that he was going to link her, she
did not stop to learn for she inter-
rupted with:
"How do you know my father has
returned?n
81 am not deaf. The whole OF
Coleshill is teeming with the news"
She was white as ashes now and
held firmly to a chair for support.
1t was gall and NORWOOD to Lis
beth's proud nature to know that
Jim Gleudinning was her father and
that townsfolk should know he had
returned.
"Wel you see you may want a
friend. Remember, too, that l am
in the law and that my knowledge
and services are always yours to
command. Come, Lisbeth, forgive
if l have angered you, l am a sad
bungler at winning a lady's favor,
and if you do not like the honeyed
speeches most wo nen love you shall
have no more of them"
She did not heed the latter part o.
,is sentence but murmured:
"What have l to do with law?
Why should | want a Lawyer to help
ne?"
1t seemed as If Pierce Vaughan's
otfer was an evil omen, for if the
aw ever meddled with Lisbeth's
fairs that would probably be
revealed which it was the aim of her
life to keep hidden.
Nor could he have given any rea-
son why he offered law-survices; so
he answered lightly:
ave none of US know what we
may want, 1 would merely impress
on you that you have a friend in
case of need and ask you to forget
that my rash words have displeased
you. Come shake hands, will you
not?n
Somewhat reluctantly she res
pended to his invitation and gave
him her hand, feeling a very Judas
the while, for to have known that he
had gone away forever to q distant
land, or that he had ceased to exist
would have made Lisbeth truly
thankful. This man her friend
~never-she regarded him as Ter
bitterest foe. His interest was most
to be dreaded in all the world, for
was it not to his interest to unravel
The dark secret of her life and use
it for his advantage and her destruc-
ton.
Having gained his point and forced
her into giving him her hand Pierce
Vaughan was 10th to part with it.
1t was a shapely hand and he held
it with pleasure. Lisbeth wore no
rings; since she dared not wear the
ring with which Clement Dunraven
had welded her, she would have
none, though in her drawer upstairs,
locked away with othor valuables
were two or three that would have
made the eyes of every c~onnoisseur
in gems glisten.
"If / bring you a ring will you
wear it in remembrance of the COM
pact of friendship we have formed
to-day9" asked Pierce, half afraid
nevertheless of the answer his te-
merity might call forth.
And in truth he had once more
reused her ire.
"Never," she cried. "Rings are