Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1897-10-09

49, 1@EE
still more attractive form Of print had
seemed 40 remote hope. And In this
wise she had cultivated writing as fine
art.
DO not be unhappy about me. dear
friend and MASTER" she wrote. II have
done that which IL best for my own hap
piness. My life at Lnshmar has been a
very hard one ever since my benefactor's
death, and something occurred yesterday
IN make II unbearablc. l could not stay
In that house another hour.
Providence has been very good to me,
and have found new friends and a new
home with kind, homely people, home In
which I can work at literature until
am able to win my Independence. Di.
rectly that Ii won, shall come back to
you and carry out the dream Of my life,
which In to have a cottage and q pretty
garden BY the river you and I love 20
well-the river by which spent 10 many
happy days In my childhood and which
recalls the memory Of the dear friend I
lost.
"Please tell Mr.. Nestorius that thank
him with all my heart for his goodness
to me, and that l am happy to leave the
fate Of my first book In his hands. II
he. who has such experience In literature,
will correct the proofs Of my story. Il will
he one more favor for which shall be
deeply grateful. II the book should be
failure l shall be more sorry upon that
kind friend's account than upon my own.
Heaven bless you, dear friend, and be
sure that Absence will not lessen my afYec.
ton for the teacher to whom owe 90
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
. good name for my house, II ever I am
happy enough to own one3 Your ever
grateful pupil. STELLA.
~. Son no account let anyone ut the
castle. except Mr.. Nestorius, know that
you have heard from me-"
Thank heaven, she has not fallen
among thieves" said Ncstorius, when he
had read this letter. And yet In the next
moment bis heart sank within him % he
asked himself whether any girl 20 utter.
" inexperienced 40 Stella could be trusted
to discriminate between fair and foul
Whether these new friends of homely
class, found with such strange facility,
might not be wolves In Sleeps clothing?
Her youth and beauty and ignorance OF
the worlds ways were % many sources Of
peril.
Mr.. Ncstorius went back to the castle
and got rid Of the CRIME and dust Of q
long railway Journey. and issued forth
from his dressing room refreshed and re-
juvenated. but he did not stay to lunch.
con. He left little note for Lord Lash.
mar to the effect that he had an appoint.
nent In Biumn,, and that be would meet
him ut half.past three In the coffee room
Of the Lion and Lamb.
Having thus stolen march upon Lash.
mar. AMI left himself free to pursue his
inquiries unhelped and unhlndered. Mr..
Nest0rius hired . ny In the village and
drove 10 Brumm, where he first took a
hasty luncheon, and then did three or four
hours private detective work ON his own
account, exploring street after street, In.
quiring closely In all manner Of quietly
respectable ncighbOrh00ds where such a
girl as Stella might naturally seek for an
inexpensive lodging; visiting the Free Ii.
brary and interrogating the librarians:
str0lling In that drcary pleasure ground
known as the Peoples Park; but BY n
strange fatality avoiding just that one
long, narrow street ON the way 10 the CEN.
etery, and that one particular chambers
ship In which the Chapmans had their
dwelling place.
lie was weary, dlsheartened and alto.
gether Disguised with himself ut half.
past four o'clock, when, punctual to the
very minute. he entered the hotel coffee
room aud found I.ashmar dropping de
spOndently over local newspaper.
The police had been able to tell him
nothing. 1t was 40 II the earth had open.
ed and swallowed the girl for whom thy
were searching.
"She must have gone to London" snkl
Lashmar. "that II the only place Ia which
any one could 10 completely vanish from
human KEN"
NcstOrius knew she had not zone 10
London, but he held bis peace. They were
alone In the coffee room, where there WIS
no 6re, and where the newly ligltcI gus
was singing dismal chorus.
II have been reading her story" sajd
Lashmar. ut In delightful-sp new, NO
Observation-Disclosures fresh and simple,
aud fervent and true. To think thar Hold.
woods daughter should be genius and
that kind Of u genius. Not a vehement
partisan OF Radical politicians, a shrek.
Ing claimant tor wOmnn's rights, but
poet, dreamer, a weaver OF fancy's most
enthralling web. How she will scOrn us
and the cage IN which we kept her! How
she will laugh Mt her tyrants when she
has burst upon the world IN all the charm
OF her originality and has won thousa nds
for her friends. Such book must make
a hit"
"rhat was what the publishers reader
told me-" answered Nestorius quietly.
"Publishers' readers are sometimes
wrong; thee or four of the tribe rejected
Miss Blonte's Jane Eyre and It IL said
that Vanity Fair went begging; but
this gentleman was very positive. take
my word for II. this book will gO,' he said.
1t has all the lire and freshness OF youth.
and the grace OF a highly cultivated style.
The writer must have fed her fancy with
the very finest order of intellectual food.
There IL no faint Of garbage from the first
page to the last Knowing how Stella
had been trained by your brother and poor
old Werner, ! thought this criticism mr.
gued some power Of judgment on the
part OF the publishers reader"
Eyes, she has been fed on the best food,
! have laughed ut seeing her porting over
Homer or Virgil. My mother told me
that girl knew Milton better than any one
she nad ever met. except John Bright,
and that she had Shelley and Keats inter
woven In her memory. She has an extra
ordinary power Of memory. my mother