The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-08-07
lsora's Bridal Vow
BY BLoUNr.
CHAPTER XIII.

CI1ATlEh ALL.
When Mrs. Trotter returned frdm
her journey to the police Office, lin
company with a constable, it was to
find an empty, silent house, and a
shop locked, with the key hanging by
a string to the outer door. The first
thought was of thieves, remembering
the strange shopman she had left1i in
charge OF all her worldly goods. The
next, OF murder, finding the goods i'm
touched, and Lily and the baby go he.
But Rudolph, on his sick bed in he
attic, had heard no disturbances; and a
healthy child and a young girl a nhot
livery well be s.put out of the My'.
without some small cutlery. Thepo-
llceman, bound by the very nature of
his profession to suspect everybody,
took another view of the case, which
startled and shocked her inexpressbly.
"Your new girls an imposor,
ma'am, that's just about what she is.
And this strange fellow that came in
and told you about the police isher
accomplish, that's just about whathe
IS; ana between them they've cut snd
u with the babby and are going to
wait for a bigger reward, that's lust
about what that is; and our inspector
IS going to find them and clap them in
jail afore many days pass over their
heads, that's just about what he is.n
The policeman departed to give no.
tice at the station of what he called
''thls last dodge and she was fairly
forced to believe that all was as he
had said, and that Lily's artless looks
and pretty ways had indeed covered
some deep design of this kind.
Rudolph Indignantly contradicted
her when she spoke of the matter to
him, and would hear nothing to the
detriment of her young hearts idol;
yet even he was at a loss how to ex-
plain the girls disappearance, and it
wrung his very heart with anguish as
he tossed about on his sick bed to
think how he was cooped up there,
utterly unable to defend Lily however
much she might need assistance and
protection. When he got well he
would go in search Of her and refute
This SANDER. Till then he could only
lie there h~elplessly and mourn her loss
and that of the little child for whom
he had cared so tenderly.
Mrs. Irotter was at a loss to under
stand his silence upon the subject after
thai one passionate outburst. She, on
her part, was equally prudent, and
cared for him as his own mother MIGHT
kave done, while she waited eagerly
for the next thing that might trans
pire.
She had not long to wait. On the
following day a fresh placard ap-
peared, offering the sum of f5OO for
the safe recovery of Verona Grey,
only child of Sir Laurence and LADY
Grey, of Park Lane and Winstead Hall.
Hants, and the apprehension of her
~abductors. Here was news indeed,
and the good lady read it out to Ru-
dolph in a %quavering voice. The only
child of a baronet, bless her little
heart! And they had held her in their
arms as if she had been a common
poor mans baby.
The good souls innate reverence
for rank fairly overpowered her, and
though she was warned by her friend
the policeman that she would be sum
moned as a witness when the shild
was found, she never dreamed of 90
ing on her own account to the graal
house in Park Lane and telling her
story there. But Rudolph did, and a
fixed determination to get well as
soon as possible had the greatest in
fuence on his convalescence Just then.
The papers were not slow in telling
the tale, s%uppressing some items and
adding to others, and one glimpse at
their columns brought Miss Kent to
the house in Fleet street in a state of
great agitation. She was accom-
panied by a fashionable and beautiful
lady in widows weeds, who accounted
for her interest in the matter by say
ing that she believed Lilly to be a
distant relative of her dead hus-
bands whom she was anxious to find
and screen from the result of her i'm
prudence if possible. But Mrs. Trot-