The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1897-11-12

.'s.Ns Il message for you," said Werner.
NJ ana NestoriuS had exchanged n
ieW friendly words. the old man much.
:: ii'>eo at the statesman's return. III
~ ior your eye. but no other Rr SurG
you 40 not mention it to Lord Lashmar.'
certainly not, if she desires otbnr-
. wise" ''''''
!, You will see"
Nes'ollus read the letter. in the fine,
N.e..r mana he knew so we'll from tbr
Slfi manuscripts. She had always striy-
ei 10 make her stories look as attractive
as a.: neat pcnmanship could make them.
ne ldea that they would ever take the
sun more attractive form of print had
seemed so remote hope. And in this
wise she had cultivated writing as n fine
art.
10 not be unhappy about mo. dear
friend and MASTER" she wrote. II have
uohe that which is best for my own hap
pihess. My life at Lashmar has been a
very hard one ever since my benefactor's
oeath, and something occurred yesterday
TO make it unbearable l could not STAY
III that house another hour,
providence has been very good to me
and | have found new friends and !; new
nome with kind, homely people, a home in
which | can work at literature until
am able to win my independence. Di-
rectly that is won, shall come back to
you and carry out the dream of my life
which is to have a cottage and n pretty
garden by the river you and l love so
Well-the river by which l spent so many
happy days in my childhood and which
recalls the memory Of the dear friend |
klost.
!, PLEASE tell Mr.. Nestorius that thank
him with all my heart for his goodness
to me, and that am happy to leave the
fate of my first book in his hands, If
he, who has such experience in literature,
will correct the proofs of my story, it will
be one more favor for which l shall be
deeply grateful. If the book should be
failure l shall be more sorry upon that
kind friends account than upon my own.
Heaven bless you, dear friend, and be
sure that absence will not lessen my affec-
ton for the tencher to whom | owe so
much more than my loving care can ever
repay. But look forward to the hope of
having you by and by for my abiding
guest in Dreamland Cottage
Don't you think that would be rather
a good name for my house, if ever am
| ldppS SllOuSu W OWL one our ever
grateful pupil. STELLA,
"P. Son no account let anyone at the
CASTLE except Mr.. Nestorius, know that
YOU have heard from me'
''Thank heaven, she has not fallen
among thieves" said Nestorius, when he
had read this letter. And yet in the next
moment his heart sank within him as he
asked himself whether any girl SO utter
ly inexperienced as Stella could be trusted
to discriminate between fair and foul?
Whether these new friends of homey
class, found with such strange facility,
might not be wolves in sleeps clothing?
Her youth and beauty and ignorance of
| the worlds ways were so many sources of
peril.
Mr.. Nestorius went back to the castle
and got rid of the CRIME and dust of a
| long railway journey, and issued. forth
| from his dressing room refreshed and re-
juvenated, but he did not stay to lunch
| con- He left q little note for Lord Lash
mar to the effect that he had an appoint
ment in B1umm, and that he would meet
him at half-past three in the coffee room
of the Lion and Lamb.
Having thus stolen a march upon Lash
mar, and left himself free to pursue his
| inquiries unhelped and unhindered Mr..
! NestOrius hired fly ir the village and
| drove to Brumm, where he first took Il
hasty luncheon. and then did three or four
hours private detective work on his own
account. exploring street after street. in
curing closely in all manner of quietly
respectable neighborhoods where such a
girl as Stella might naturally seek for an
| inexpensive lodging; visiting the Free Ii
brary and interrogating the librarians;
! strollng in that dreary pleasure ground
known as the Peoples Park; but by a
strange fatality avoiding just that one
long, narrow street on the way to the Gem
etery, and that one particular chandler's
| shin in which the Chapmans had their
dwelling place.
He was weary, dishcartened and alto
gether disgusted with himself at. half
past four o'clock, when, punctual to the
very minute, he entered the hotel coffee
| room and found Lashmar dropping de
spondently over n local newspaper.
The police had been able to tell him
nothing. 1t was as if the earth had open
ed and swallowed the girl for whom tl"y
We're searching.
"She must have gone to London said
Lashmar, "that is the only place in which
any one could so completely vanish from
human KEN
Nestorius knew she had not gone 10
London, but he held his peace. They were
alone in the coffee room, where there was
! no fire, and where the newly lighted gas
was singing dismal chorus.
81 have been reading her story,' said
Lashmar. 'It is delghtful-so new, so
powerful-altogether fresh and simple,
and fervcnt and true. To think thar Bold
woods daughter should be genius and
that kind of genius. Not a vehement
partisan of Radical politicians, a Shrek
ing claimant for woman's rights, but a
poet, Il dreamer. weaver OF fancy most
enthralling web. How she will scorn us
and the cage in which we kept her! How
she will laugh at her tyrants when she
has burst upon the world in all the charm
Of her originality and has won thousands
for her friends. Such book must MAKE
.rrbo+ was what the publishers reader