Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-11-30

| Even now I should be on my way 70
| Roding. or | may miss my prey.'Af cav
| ems! can it be that she is waiting to see
! this man once more! Never. heNei !.
| Perish the thought.
Put. all the same. every fiber III my
| body quiyered at the bare supposlton OF
| such thing.
| I could bear the suspense no longer:
| For the hundredth time | glanced at my
watch. 1t wanted but ten minutes 70
II o'clock. and at that hour u. l haa IS
| solved to start from Mrs. Wilson's, on
| my way to Roding. Yet now dared
not leave my own house. Any moment
might, bring Philippa What would she
! think if / were not there to receive ana
! welcome her. -, r
Five more precious moments gone: !
stamped in my rage After al. ! ca
but not the.stern half Snail i ,lno lse.
! % either? The train must now be close
| 10 Roding. In an hour everything may
| he lost. The man will see her before
She leaves the house. He will persuade
/ her. !. She Will listen to his WORDS I4 70
] did he. not once love hef ~ IL
| must have loved her! After all, he broke
the laws for the sake Of possessing her
and-cursed thought!-she loved MN
then: and she is but woman
1 So I tortured myself until my state OF
mind grew unbearable. At all hazard, L
must prevent Ferrand from meeting
/ Philippa. Oh, why had she not come as
/ She promised? Could it be she was de-
tanned against her will? In spite OF h [
! uninterested,, manner. | dlstrusted the
/ woman I had seen last night. 1t IS now
past z o'clock Philippa's house, from
+ which 1 had reckoned my time, was
nearly three miles away l must give
I'D my scheme of vengeance. | must go
in search of Philippa. If | do not meet
! her I must call at Mrs. Wilson's, find
/ Inf what detail1s her and if needful bear
her away by force.
BY this time my steps had brought me
hack to my own house / called Will
liam. and told him / was going to walk
I'D the road and meet my expected guest.
J If by any Chance | should miss her, he
was to welcome her on my behalf, and
tell her the reason for my absence.
..Rest take a lantern, sir, said VII
). liam: '.1noon'll soon be hidden, and them
roads is precious rough
81 can't be bothered with that great
horn affair, / said, rather testify.
.'Take the little one.the, bull s-eye-
| that's better than nothing said Will
! lam 10 humor him | put it into my
| pocket.
s | ran at the. top of my speed to the
4 house at, which / had last night left
/ .PhiIippa It took me nearly half an hour
getting there. | rang the bell impetuous-
:Ily. The door was opened by a maid
f. servant. | inquired for Mrs. Farmer,
J. knowing that Philippa had passed under
] this name to all except her hostess. TO
Fmy surprise | was told that she had lett
1 the house. on foot and alone, some little
while ago The maid believed she was
not going to return, as her luggage had
/ that morning been sent for.
The first effect of this intelligence was
to cause me to blame my haste. | must
/ have missed her; no doubt passed her on
/ the road No: such a thing was impos-
/ sible. The way was a narrow one. The
moon still gave some light 1t had
met Philippa ! must have seen her. She
must have seen me, and would then have
stopped me. She could not have gone
the way I came
But where was she? In. what
direction was | to seek her?
! Argue the matter as | would
10th as was to allow myself to be con-
! vinced, [ was bound to decide that she
/ must have taken the path to Roding.
There was no other. She had gone,
! even as I was going, to meet Ferrand.
| She may have started intending to come
to ME; but at the last moment de-
] sire to see the man once more-l fondly
! hoped for the purpose OF heaplng re-
proaches on his head-had mastered her.
! Yes, whatever her object might be, she
had gone to meet him. And my heart
/
| the remembrance that coupled with her
refusal to- permit me to fetch her WAS
/ an assertion that she had something
| to do before she came to me. That, as
| | now read it, could be but one thing
to meet this man!
Never again, if I can help it, shall, his
| voice strike on her ear! Never again
shall their eyes meet! Never again shall
| the touch of even his finger cOntaminate
her! Let me follow and stand between
! her and the scoundrel. If they meet he
will wound her to the heart. Her pride
win rise; she will threaten. Then the
coward will try another line. He will
plead for mercy; he will swear he still
| loves her: he will bait his hook with
promises. She will listen, hesitate, per-
/ haps yield, and find herself once more
| deceived Then she will be lost to
me forever. Now she is, in my eyes,
pure as when first we met. Let me
| haste on, overtake, pass her; meet her
! betrayer, and, if needful, strike him
| to the ground
AS L turned from the house I became
] aware shat a great and sudden change
had come over the night. 1t seemed TO
me that, even in the few minutes which
/ had spent in considering what to do,
| the heavy clouds had banked and massed
together It was all but pitch-dark;
so dark that I paused, and. drawing
| from my pocket the lantern with which
| W1ll1dmS foresight. udu pIONlueu uIc,
managed after several trials to light it.
Then, impatient at the delay, i sped
up the road S -
/ was now almost facing the wind.
All at once, sharp and quick, I felt the
binding snow on my face. The wind
moaned through the leafess branches
on either side of the road. The snow
| flakes. whirled madly here and there;
Even :5in my excitement, | was able. to
realize the fact that never before had
| seen. in England so fierce -snoWstorm,
| or one which came on so suddenly. And,
| like myself, Philippa was abroad, and
exposed to it's full fury. Heavens! she
I might lose her way, and wander about
all night.
This fear quickened my steps. | forced
my way through the mad storm. For the
| time all thought of Sir Mervyn Ferrand
and vengeance left my. heart All | now
wanted was to find Philippa; to lead her
'home, to see her safe beneath my roof.
Surely" I'said. as | battled along, 'she
cannot have gone much farther
l kept a sharp lookout indeed. it
can be called a. lookout; for the whirling
snow made everything, save what was