The record-union., 1897-05-09

pear that he was a very lll-uSed person
indeed nor did he leave her till he had
succeeded in enlisting her sympathy
on his side He told her that he loved
| her more devotedly than ever, and,
girl-like, she believed him, and vowed
that nothing should induce her to give
| him up.
| At this time Mr. Armishaw and Mary
had been about a month in London.
1t had been thought that change OF air
( and scene might benefit the merchant S
health, and his intention had been to
do the grand tour, as it used to be
called, leisurely and by easy stages. For
the present, however, all thought OF
resuming his journey was out of the
question.
| Dare had left the State for England
about two months prior to his uncles
| departure, the reason he alleged 10
Mary being that the chance of first
class situation had offered itself in
London. Mary had written. informing
him of their time of sailing and she had
not been many hours in town before he
arranged a meeting with her Mr..
| Armishaw, to whom, in the state of his
health the noise and hustle of hotel
| were Objectionable, had taken private
| apartments within a boWshot OF Port
land Place, from which to the Regents S
Park, where Mary was in the habit of
meeting Dare was little more than ten
minutes walk.
| Mary Everson's life at this juncture
had but one source of unhappiness,
which arose from the fact that, as cir
| cumstances were just then, she was
under the necessity of keeping her en-
gagement a secret from Mr.. Armishaw.
| She loved and revered her "uncle" Gas
he had taught her to call him), and
would fain have had no secrets from
| him; but while he remained so embit-
| tered against his nephew, silence was
| her only policy Dare had not failed
| to impress upon her that he had been
treated both with harshness and injus-
tice; and although it seemed difficult
to believe that Mr.. Armishaw could SO
treat any one, still, being wholly igno-
rant of his reasons for diScarding EuS-
| tice, she was not in a position to doubt
much less to dispute, her lovers pos
| tive assertions in the matter. All she
could do was to wait patiently in the
hope that before long Mr.. Armishaw
would see cause to regret his treatment
of Eustace, and take him back into fa-
| vor. Then would come the time for
their secret to be told.
Eustace Dare had been waiting in the
park on Saturday for upwards Of an
hour before his eyes were gladdened by
the sight of Mary and Leo in the dis
tance. After an affectionate greeting,
Dare proceeded to cross-questiOn Mary
regarding the drawing up of his uncle's
will.
"Mr. Pearson, the lawyer, brought 1t
at 10 o'clock this morning. said Mary
accompanied by one of his clerks. At
ter it had been read over to uncle, he
signed it, and it was then signed by the
clerk and Mr.. Baxter, the landlord of
the house where we are lodging, as wit
nesses Scarcely was the lawyer gone
beforeu ncle sent for me, and at his re-
quest I inclosed it, together with a
short note which he had written, in
double sheet of thick paper, which
sealed with green wax and stamped
with uncle's signet ring, which he took
off for the purpose. Then I addressed
the packet in my very best hand to
Messrs. Squirting & Squirting, his law
yers at New York. Finally, I post
| Co TIC pdShCt a lew DClOiS
coming to meet YOU
For some time they walked on in si-
lence, Dare seeming SO deeply immersed
in his own thought that Mary Irefrained
from speaking.
All along his hope had been that his
uncle would die intestate, in which case
he, Eustace Dare, would succeed to
everything as heir-at-law. Conse-
tr,,r &1xy I'll
to find that his uncle had at length
summoned up resolution to take a step
which for years he had kept putting off
| from one time to another That Mr.
Armishaw would wholly overlook him
in his will he did not greatly fear, but
that he would bequeath to him any
large share of his property he had
| good reason to doubt; it might also be
accepted as fact that Mary would be
handsomely provided for; and after
that, in all probability, the bulk of his
property would be divided among va
rious charities. If only he should have
died without having made a will, what
a different place the world would have
been to Eustace Dare! But it was alb
surd to reason in that way. The will
was an indubitable fact, and nothing
now could cancel or abrogate its pro-
visions, unless the testator of his own
accord should choose to do so. of which
there was no likelihood whatever
Then suddenly wild project-a mad
mans project, nothing less-leapt to
life fullgrown, in his brain. Rousing
himself from his abstraction, he said
with laugh:
i am afraid, dear, that you find me
but dull company this morning: but
my excuse must be that just now T am
a good deal worried and put about. After
| to-day you must not look to see me for
some time to come, because, like nv
uncle's will, l am bound for America.
called there by important business
which admits of no delay"
Mary looked at him with troubled
eyes.
when do you start ?" she asked in q
voice which was not quite so steady as
usual
Tonight without fail. A few hours
in New York will be all shall need. so
that l hope to be back in London within
| three weeks from now. It would be
rather singular, would it not, if nv un
cle's will and 1 were to cross the Attain
| tic by the same steamer?"
When Mary returned she found Mr..
Armishaw laboring under some strange
excitement
Several MONTHS he said, have now
| gone by since / told you that I never
| wished to hear the name of my un-
worthy nephew mentioned in my pres
ence again. From that time to this he
| has been to me as one dead To1o1r