Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1897-05-08
CHAPTER NXXVIII.

" f'S Imp ~ W. N'AhEs
Gonel
CHAPTER NXXNIII.
"Mr. Herbert Linley, | ask permission 70
reply TO your inquiries IN writing, because
IL is quite likely that some of the opinions
you will find here might offend you II | eX-
pressed them personally. | can relieve your
anXiet. on the subject OF Miss Sydney West
erield. But | must be allowed 10 do so in
my W way, without any other restraints
than those which | think 1t becoming To an
honorable man 10 impose on himself.
You are quite right in suppoSing that
Miss Westeriield had heard me spoken of at
Mount Morven as the agent and legal adviser
of the lady who was formerly your wife.
What purpose led her to apply to me under
these circumstances YOU VIII presently dis
cover. As To the means by which she found
her way TO my Office l may remind you that
any directory would give her the necessary
information.
Miss Westeriield's object was to tell me,
IN the first place, that her guilty life with
you was at an end. Acting under motives
which ! am sulio you must understand, and
which | hope You will also respect, she has
left your protection 10 return to il. |
was sorry 10 see Though she tried to hide it
from mel how keenly she felt the parting.
You have ben dearly loved by two sweet
women, and they have thrown their hearts
away on yOu-as women VIII.
Having explained the circumstances so
far, Miss WeSteriield next mentioned the mo-
tive which had brought her 10 my office. She
asked If | would inform her of Mrs. Or
mOnd'S address.
This request, | confess. astonished me.
"Go my mine she was, of all persons, the
last who ought To contemplate communicate
ing in any way with Mrs. OrmOnd. | say
this to YOU; but | refrain'd from saying il TO
her. What | did venture to do was to ask
for her reasons. She answered that they
.ar pansn.,l ,aht,h N,rnnlt a,,.lN ,t.aps IA. 70
she communicated them 10 a stranger.
After this reply-speaking as gently and
considerably as p0ssible-I declined to give
her the information she wanted.
Not u~nprepared, as il appeared TO me. for
my refusal, she asked next If | was willing
10 tell her where she might find your brother,
Mr.. Randall Linley. In this case l was glad
TO comply with her request. She could adj
dress herself To no person wortnier TO advise
her than your bro ,er. In giving her his adj
dress in London | told her that he was alb
sent on a visit to ONT friends. aud that he
was expected to return In Il weeks time.
She thanked me and rose TO 60.
IL confess ] was interested In her. Per
haps | thought of the time when she might
have been as dear 10 her father as my own
daughters were TO me-. ! asked IL her par
ents were living; they We're dead. My next
question was: Have you any friends in
Londony She answered: Il have no friends
1t was said with a resignation SO very sad in
so young 4 creature that l was really dis
tressed. | ran the risk OF offending her
and asked if she felt any embarrassment in
respect of money. She said: IL have some
small savings from my salary when | was a
g%overness." The change IN her tone told me
that she was alluding to the time of her resi-
dence at Mount M0ryen. 1t was impossible
to look at this friendless girl and not feel
some anxiety about the lodging which she
might have chosen in such a place as Lon
don She had fnrtnlaInII pplun Ia pna fran,
the railway and had not thought yet OF where
she was to live. Al last | was able to be of
some use TO her. My senior clerk took care
of Miss Westerlield and left her among re-
spectacle people, IN whose house she could
live cheaply and safely. Where that house
shall not be disturbed.
AFTER a week had passed | received q
visit from my good friend, Randall Linley.
'.He had on that day seen Miss Wester-
field. She had said TO him what she had
aid to me, and had repeated the request
which | thought it right to decline; owning
to your brother, however, the motives which
she had refused to coniide to me. He was SO
strongly impressed by the sacrifice OF herself
which this enitent woman had made that
he was at first disposed to trust her with Mrs.
Orm0nd'S address.
Reflection, however, convinced him that
her motives, pure and disinterested rs they
undoubtedly were, did not justify him in let
ting her expose herself to the consequences
which might follow the proposed interview.
All that he engaged TO DO was to repeat to
Mrs. Ormond what Miss Westerield had
said and to inform the young lady of the re-
suit.
'In the intervals of business | had felt
SOme uneasiness when i thought of Miss
WesterlieId's prospects. Your good brother
at once set all anxiety on this subject at rest.
"He proposed to place Miss Westerfield
.tnAar fhA 90 I4 .f nm old mud .Iuan fYianA nf
her late father-Capt. Bennydeck. Her vol
untary separation from you offered to your
brother and to the captain the opportunity
for which they had both been waiting. Capt.
B~ennydeck was then cruising at sea In his
yacht. immediately on his return Miss
Westerheld's inclinati0ns would be consulted,
and she would no doubt eagerly embrace the
opportunity of being introduced to her faith
er's friend.
81 have now communicated all that | know
in reply to the questions which you have adj
dressed to me. Let me earnestly advise you
TO make the one reparation to this poor glrl
which Is in your power. Resign yourself to
q separation which is not only for her good,
but tor yOurs.-Sdmuel Sdrrdzin."
CHAPTaR xxx.
Not having heard from Capt. Bennydeck
for some little time, Randall thought 1t de-
'lrable in Sydney's interests to make in
~Iuiries at his club. Nothing was known Of
the captains movements there. On the chance
of getting the information that lie wanted,
Randall wrote to the hotel at Sandyseal.
The landlords reply q little surprised him.
Some days since the yacht had again APP
peared in the bay. Capt. Bennydeck had
landed, TO all appearance in fairly good
health, and had left by an early train for
London. The sailing-master announced that
he had orders TO take the vessel back to her
FORTHWITH no other explanation than that
the cruise was over. This alteration in the
captains plans terminating the voyage a
month earlier than his arrangements had
c~ontemplated) puzzled Randal. He called
at his friends private residence, only to hear
from the servants that they had seen nothb
Of their master. Randall waited awhile in
London ON the chance that ~Bemnydeck might
pay him a visit.
During this interval his patience was re-
warded in an unexpected name He dis
covered the captains address by means OF C.
'etter from Catherine, dated Bucks Hotel,
'ydenham." Having gently reproached him
or not writing to her or calling on her, she
iivited him to dinner at the hotel. Her let
ter concluded In these words:
"You will only meet one person besides