Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-07-01

joy shall pour in ON ycur purified hearts.
Oh, ye who have SO long walked with
dcwncast eyes, the end Of the gloomy
way is nearing! The atonement has been
made and the JOY awaits these who hare
been sanctifed by sorrow.' .
Nay your words prove true. sighed
Mrs Kyle.
They have ever come true, for III
my Thought has been devoted to learn
ing the ways of the Great Architect who
piled mp the mountains, followed the
valleys and filed the world with light
There are no mysteries save in our own
ignorance, no miracles save where we
are blind. The doctor and his daughter
need rest. Then they win speak to You.
and you will love them for your kindred
trials. -
The Prophet took their hands again
and bowed over them Is If he were call
ing down benediction. Then he went
of to find the doctor and Clara
Mary Clyde had anticipated what he
would do, and at once prepared touches,
while others prepared food. The doctor
ate with thankfulness, and lay down on
the robes with feeling of awe such as
he had never before experienced. for he
could not but feel that he had left the
world.
As has been mentioned, the Prophet
had an instructive conception Ct the
time and could tell the hour il he had
been days in absolute darkness DR..
Blanchard could not be expected to do
this. He woke up before day, and guild
cd by the lights ON the altar went over
and sat near it, for there was q com
partnership in tho Pickering flames. As
he sat there he heard a deep sigh, &C.
companied by light step cn the rocky
floor. He looked mp and saw a haggard
face in q setting Ct white beard and
hair.
The two old men-old in appearance
il not in years-lcoked ct each other
for seine seconds in silence. Valentine
Kyle knew that this was his kinsman,
Dr.. Blanchard. but he could not have
recognized the altered face Dr. Blanch-
ard guessed that this was Mr.. Kyle, the
father Of Louis Not a shadow of suspi-
cion glinted his mind that this could be
the lost Valentine Weldon, who SO many
years before fed from the valley Of the
Great Kanawha, his hands red with the
blood of the murdered Frederick. DR..
Blanchard was the first to speak, and
as he did so he took the cold, reluctant
hand of Valentine Kyle in his.
"You are Mr.. Kyle?'' he said kindly.
II am DR.. Blanchard. We have heard
of each other through kindred troubles. !"
lam Valentine Kyle. Like yourself,
I have suffered said Mr.. Kyle, and
he sat down on q blanket near the doc
tor.
1T is a curse" said the doctor, ga
curse from which the innocent were
fleeing, but it has followed u.s.
"a curse:" repeated Mr.. Kyle.
eyes. 1t is the story of faraway
land, and it would not interest you to
hear it. But it has fallen on you as we'll
as ON me-"
"How has it fallen on me:" asked
Valentine Kyle, speaking hosrsely and
bowling his head on his hands.
''Your son Louis came to our aid, and
it is, 1 am sure, because of this that the
outlaws attacked your place.
Perhaps so. but you say it would not
interest me to hear the story Of far
away land. l assure you it would, "said
Valentine, with his face still averted.
'tIt cases a sorrow to speak of it. - be-
gan the doctor, "but would not for
that reason add to the sorrows Of anoth-
er. However, it is still night, and the
people are sleeping. Yen will lie down
again before day?''
Il have slept enough"
In a sad monotone Dr.. Blanchard told
the story CT the Weldons-how old John
Weldon died, cutting off his grand
daughter, the Doctors wife, in his will
and leaving his large property to Fred
erick and Valentine Weldon, the former
unmarried; how Valentine favored the
south and Frederick the north IN the
war that had Just begun; how Valen-
tine fed and Frederick was missing;
how a body supposed to be Frederick's
was found long afterward far down the
river; how the curse Of that act had re.
fected ON his children, and how he had
determined to go with them into q new
land. leaving all the property that
might have been theirs in the hands of
Lawyer Bliss. All, everything up to the
present moment, he told his silent lis
tener.
"The brother, Valentine, must have
been q very bad man." Mr.. Kyle man
aged to say.
NO." replied the doctor hurriedly.
Valentine Weldon was as brave and
generous as the brother whom he SO
loved and whom he could not have
meant to HARM
''Ba,t he killed him-reddened his
hands in his blood. -
II will not believe that Of Valentine
Weldon, be he living OF be he dead. If
he was the cause Of his brothers. death,
it was an accident or blow struck in
anger, when Valentine had been drink
ing. No. no! Valentine Weldon could
not have done that"
IF living, would you meet him as Of
ycre?" asked Mr.. Kyle, trying to appear
calm.
AYE, that would We're he living 1
would take him to my heart, where his
memory has ever been, !" said the doctor,
with tears in his eyes. \.
Valentine Weldon is living!' said
Nr. Kyle, rising and reaching ont his
hands then letting them fall helplessly
~ his nd
LIVE szchimed the doctor.
=