The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1895-05-03

III 1OIAlAlZ SIA eSANa
home no longer with the strangers in
it and the big boys away.
She had some female friends coming
to her for the holidays-good women
with missions and notions, and L did
not feel at home with them somehow.
She was taking to that sort of thing,
though she was not half strOng-mlnded
enough for it; and ! had very little in
common with the people it brought
me in contact with. There always
seemed so much of self and so little OF
Christian charity in their proceedings
that l had no sympathy with them;
they could do very well without me.
And so it came about that | was at
home, very sad and heavy-hearted;
but we were to have a wonderful New
Year, after all. 1t was a winter OF
surprises. On Christmas morning
there came the news, through my
fathers lawyers, that the risky specu-
lation had not been a risk after all,
but a tremendous success. A check
for a large sum was inclosed, and a
request that at his leisure the Rever-
end Archibald Lovel would 60 to
town and confer with them about the
remainder.
My father accepted it unsuspecting-
ly. | had my doubts as to where the
money came from, but l could not
utter them. expected l should see
Lionel before long, and / did. l met
him in the lane leading to the vicar
age, and he bent down from his sad
die, and said something about the sill
yer lining turning up. I could not
betray him. The revulsion Of feeling
after so much relief would have brok-
en- my fathers heart.
So | was very happy when the last
day of the old year dawned bright and
clear, as it had dawned on that day
that seemed in the far past now,
though 1t was only three years ago.
The day could never be otherwise than
a sad one for me, I thought; it will
be a sad M any more now.
My father had been to London and
learned that, instead of being a ruined
man, as he believed, he was richer
than he had been before; and l had
won him over to say that perhaps, in
the future, if things went well with
him, he would withdraw the decisive
mo" that had been his answer to
Lord Latimer. l knew what that
meant; we only had to ask now, and
the permission would be given. Lionel
was coming to the ~vicarage in the
evening, and then-ah then! / could
hardly persuaed myself that it was all
real, and that | should not wake from
a blissful dream, and find the two
boarders invading U happy home,
and the dear boys gone.
1t was growing dark and l was sit
ting up in the old nursery, so full of
childish memories of mischief and fun,
when Mile, a tall slip of a girl now,
and a person of Importance in her own
eyes, as the daughter of the house and
mothers right hand, came up with a
mysterious look on her face:
There's some one asking for you,
Audrey, DEAR" she said.
..For me! Who is it?" I said with a
sudden chill at my heart, for l fancied
something must have happened to
Lionel.
Il don't know" she said. at is
you he wants; l told him father and
mother would not be long before they
came in, but he does not want them"
''Where is hep"
''In the hall"
Mile evidently did not think much
of my mysterious visitor. [ fastened
down, and there, under the lamp,
stood a tall, white-haired man, rather
shabbily dressed, who turned sharply
as he heard my footsteps, and spoke
in a voice filed with tears, it seemed
to me.
ssMiss Lowell" he said, Il have come
to you for news before l go any further
I have come straight from the ship.
How is she? Where is she? | know
that he is dead orr should not be here.
For heavens sake, tell me that she is
alive and well-and free, or l shall GO
mad!"
Who was speaking to me? What
familiar voice was sounding in my ears?
Why did the face of this stranger
with the snowy hair take the shape of
that dead mans features, and his
eyes look at me with the eyes of the
man whose anger 1 braved on that
bitter winters night? stared at him,
feeling as if l were turning into stone.
Colonel North!" l gasped out, els
it you, or am | going mad?"
He answered something; / saw his
lips move, but the floor Of the hall
seemed to be rising up to meet
me, and the walls and the dancing
freight to be joining in a wild whirl.
| heard a voice say something about
having frightened me, and then the
tall figure vanished in a sort of mist,
and everything was black around me.
1t was in Lionel's arms that l came
back to life; my head vas on his
shoulder, and my mother was standing
by my side.
Eyes, it is true, DEAR" she said,
answering the question my eyes asked.
The colonel is not dead. He has
come back after almost incredible
hardships and escapes. He did not in