Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-12-28

And PhiiDDa, with all her pride anu pas
! sion. was a true woman, full of the soft
| ness and delicate dread of shame when
| characteriZes the best of her SEX.
! Yet. when should / be able to tell her:
/ Whenever | did so. l must also reveal
| the fact of her husbands being dead,
/ and my doing SO must bring the WnOle
story of his death to her knowledge.
| trenlbled as [ thought what this might
| mean Surely it's dramatic surroundings
must suggest something to her mind
must bring back the night and its horrors;
must. in fact tell her what she had
| done in her madness! Rather than risk
| this. [ must let her continue to bear the
! cruel weight of what she thought her
shame NV aim must be to make heE
| believe that Sir Mervyn Eerrand IS stll
| alive, and troubling nothing, as to what
| has become Of the woman whom he once
falsely swore to love and cherish until
] death. I cursed the wretch's memory
as | thought Of him.
| The sending of Philippa to live under
| the charge of one of his own dlscaraeo
mistresses, was but another proof OF the
mans revolving cynicism Mrs. Wilson.
acceptance of the charge showed me to
| what level q woman could SINK. IL
| told me- moreover, that, in spite OF her
| letter, she was not to be trusted.
| woman who could lend herself to her
| former lovers purposes in such way as
this, must have parted with every atom
| of pride It seemed to me that the Wom-
| an and the man were well matched III
| baseneSs.
mind. l felt that for awhile there could
be no pursuit vet [ resolved to risk moth
ing, but hurry on with all possible speed:
! Only when we crossed the frontier OF
| Spain should ! sleep in peace.
| All researches, with view to obtaining
evidence of the first Lady Ferrand's
death, | postponed indefinitely. Some
| day. il all went we'll would return TO
England and procure the documents
necessary to prove the validity OF Ph1l-
ippa's marriage. There was no pressing
| hurry AS to any money which shouid
be hers. never with my consent should
She touch a penny which had belonged to
! the dead man.
Protracted as my meditations seem on
| paper. they were in reality much longer;
! indeed, they were not at an end when
the boat steamed into Boulogne harbor,
T went in search of my companions, who,
[ was glad to find, had borne the voyage
| we'll, We were soon in the train. and,
without any event occurring worth re-
cording. at O'clock stood on the Care
du Nord, Paris. -,
We drove through the brightly-lit
| streets to the Hotel du Louvre. The
stains of travel washed away, my moth
err gave a sigh of satisfaction as she
seated herself at the dinner table. Like
a sensible woman, she was no desplser OF
the good things Of this life. There
were other late diners in the great coffee
room, and many head was turned to
look at the beautiful girl who sat on
my right hand; for every day winch
brought her new health and strength.
brought also to my love an installment of
her former rich beauty. In a very snort
time she would be to all appearances the
Philippa of old.
Glow long shall we stay in Paris,
| Basil?" asked my mother.
II starts
at $40 in the morning. Calculate the
ooh. nonsense. It is years since !
have been in Paris. | want to look at
the shops So does Philippa, ! am
sure
''Nfy dear mother, the man. much more
the woman. who fingers in Paris is lost.
If you are going elsewhere, the only way
is to go straight through, or else you
can get no further [ have proved this,
| and mean to run no risk.
But remember we are only weak
women. This poor child is far from
strong"
She smiled at Philippa, whose eyes
thanked her for the affectionate appella-
Don't be merciless, Basil she con-
! tinued: ''give us at least one day"
'|Not one I am just going to look
after a courier, so that you may travel
in all possible comfort"
Ny mother seemed almost ANNOYED,
and again said [ was merciless. What
would she have said had she known that
unless | had received that letter, instead
of going to our present comfortable quar-
ters, we should have driven to the Or
leans railway. and taken the first tram
TO the south? How little she knew
how little | trusted, Philippa knew
from what we were flying!
I felt I must give my mother some rea-
son for my haste; so, before going III
Quest of my courier, I took her aside.
at is not we'll for Philippa to stay IN
Paris" I said Someone whom she
ought not to meet was here short time
| blamed myself for the deception; but
what could | do? Alas! It seemed
to me that my life, which once
was fearlessly open to the Inspection
of all. was now full of little else save
deceptions. Should / ever again be my
true self?
My mother raised no further objec-
ton I found courier-a bearded gen
tleman Of commanding presence, who
spoke every European language with I'M
partial perfection. / gave him instruc-
tons to see to everything the next morn
ing: to collect our luggage. save the
small quantity we carried with us and
to register it through to Burgos. L mad
no particular reason for choosing BurgoS,
but it seemed a convenient place at which
to take our first thorough rest.
The next days journey was a dull,
dreary, wearisome affair. Ny compan..
ions had not shaken off the fatigue Of
the previous day, and now that felt
Philippa's safety was, comparatively
Speaking, assured. a reaction set in witt.
me. No wonder! I shudder now as l
! think Of the strain to which both body
and mind had been subjected durlnS;
the last fortnight I was moody and
listless. The air was full of fog and
mist. The so-called EXPRESS train pound
ed along after the well-known style OF
| French railways. Orleans, Blois, Tours,
| Poictiers, Angouleme, Coutras and other
stations passed me as one in dream.
The dull day crept on until dark evening
was upon us, and we were all thor
oughly glad when our days journey end
| ed at Bordeaux.
My mother, who was rather great at
guidebooks. had beguiled part of the jour
ney by a Murray, which somehow made
it's appearance from her travelling bag.
10 clio OF RnI