Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-02-21
CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVI
Lord Malincourt had found himself a
good deal cut OF from his Kind, or rath-
er euch company as he liked, by Les
ley's i'll treatment of his friends, SO
that Yelverton came as a real boon to
him and was speedily made very much
ct home in the place. And Lord Malin-
court, with his CHEEKY ways and robust
personality, was like refreshing tonic
just then to Yclverton, whose kind, ug-
" face had grown sharp with anxiety
during the past few weeks.
''Lassie," said her father one day,
shaking his head at her, I'm afraid
here is another Of them. To which Les
ley responded:
Dad, he was the only one Of them
allwho didn't make love to me. That's
why I'm SO fond of him.
Lord Malincourt sighed ruefully.
ut seems to me. )" be said, 'that
whether they make love to you or
whether they don't your tender mercies
are pretty much the>same
Lesley had set her teeth hard and
pulled herself together SO grandly that
~ O~1S SeANO 4/<AuN SltSuStOuA SuccScu LUG
supreme effort it cost Der. She was a
little more particular over her hair and
toilet, little sharper with her tongue,
she went more than ever among her
poor, visited and received visits from
the county and left no moment of the
day idle if she could help it. twas on
~ when at night she stretched ont Ter
limbs to rest that Ronny's face stole on
her ont CT the darkness, not dead. not
dead, thank God, but pallid with its
love, blurred by agony, and then q
woman's warm face filled the space be-
side his. drawing him with every hour
farther away from chilly darkness into
her own orbit Of love and tender cher
ishing, and then the truth Of Cynthia's
cry that it were better to be Ronny's
dog than another mans idol rang in
Lesley's ears, and the fires Of jealousy
blazed wildly up in her heart and for
awhile made madness in her brain.
He had given up expecting a word or
kind message from her now, and SO far
as he knew she cared less than nothing
Tor the state to which she had brought
him. 1t would be to vitiate the whole
spirit of her agreement with Cynthia
to communicate in any way with him,
argued Lesley, whose loyalty burned
with SO clear end pure a fame as to
shrivel up all her own most passionate
desires.
Yet through all her anguish ran like
o silver thread the thought that he
lived; that all was well, since the worst
had not happened, and some day, some
day, though perchance from afar off,
she might look upon his dear face again.
Lord Malincourt had answered Jane
Appuldurcombe's cruel letter in a man.
ly, dignified way that had shamed her,
though it could not lessen the abhor-
renee with which she regarded Lesley,
and when Ronny, too, fercely silenced
her when she spoke of the girl, the
mother fell back for comfort on Gym
thia, who had perhaps the best reason
to love Lesley Of them ALL
1t was more on her own account than
Cynthia's that Lady Appuldurcombe
had sent for the girl, and to Ronny it
mattered nothing, and less than moth
ing, as he lay all day in his darkened
chamber taking 10 interest in anything
but the post.
"Do you think she is ill, Yelverton?''
he used to say to his faithful friend.
who in those early August days seldom
left him for long together. "She is very
highly strung, and perhaps the news
gave her a shock. And some brute or
other Che little knew who the brute
was) may have been making out it was
her fault, when it was nothing of the
sort -
Yelvertor invented every possible ex-
cuse for Lesley's silence, which never
theless he could not in the least under
stand.
If Ronny loved her and she him.
what. then, was the hitch between
them? Lesley had seemed to be the sort
OF girl to scorn appearances and fly
straight to the Ean she loved in his
hour Of need, but was she, after all, the
finty hearted young woman her Somer-
setshire lovers one and all declared her
to be?
Perhaps it's Bob," said Ronny at
last, when he had exhausted every con-
lecture as to her silence, but it SO hap-
pened that one day Roger saw Sir Rob
ert Heatherley's name among the ar
rivals at Homburg. SO that anxiety at
least was removed from Ronny's mind.
"Yelverton," said Ronny one day,
81 want to get home-so does the Door
mother. If I've got to lie on my back
for the rest of my life, I can do it as
well at home as in this grilling Sahara.
Can't they move me somehow
eyes" said Yelverton, "but not i'm
mediately; sit will be another fortnight
or so. These French doctors don't agree
about your case, and want you to have
English care. I shouldn't wonder. old
chap, if you get up one of these DAYS as
well as ever you were-or at least
"Oh, know" said Ronny sipuifi-
cantly. well, you're getting to look
like ghost, old man, and want Won
to go home and execute a commission
for me. Take Miss Coquette down to
MaEincourt and find cut for me''-
"What strange thingr' exclaimed
Roger. II got q letter this morning
from lady CranStor,u nh, L. -,