The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-21

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black eyes those audacious eyes whose
challenging glance had never quailed be-
fore man or woman yet
Evelyn she said, you've been misled
some way; there's been mischief made.
We were staying at the same hotel with
Harry Blake all the winter, and he was
watching and waiting for your letters.
wondering why he didn't hear from you"
wrote, but he never answered He
proposed to Maud Milward not a month
after We parted in Colorado"
lie never did Who told you that? It's
not true not a word of it. Maud Miward
has been engaged all along TO his chum,
DICK Ongar and Harry knows it. and is
like a brother 10 her Why, I know Maud
and Harry as well as know my own sis
Ter. Ihere was never anything between
them. Harry was always devoted to you
lie wrote and wrote, and you didn't an
sWer, and then when we heard of your
engagement, he was in a terrible state
poor boy, and rushed off to the mines
and there he is now
Evelyn looked at her, pale as death.
Cora she said, in a faint hollow
voice, this can't be true. l tell you
wrote to him. and he answered not a
word"
Then the letters must have been in
tercepted.' said Cora, boldly. Its that
sly old fox her father-or that 'prunes-
and-prisms Aunt Sophia of hers, she said
to herself, and narrowly escaped uttering
her sentiments aloud.
She continued: Il am not telling YOU
what l hear. but what l know. You have
been deceived and Harry Blake has been
mlsled. He has always been true to you
ana he thinks it is you who have thrown
him over for a better match"
They cannot-cannot have deceived me
so cruelty" murmured Evelyn. trembling
and claspng her hands
They would argue that they were only
being cruel to be kind-that the end justl-
fed the means It's l that am cruel, 1t
seems she added. half self-reproach-
fully, ITO have told you this now. And
yet, if you could see it, it's the kindest
thing | could do for you" she went on,
with shade of significance in her tone.
She looked searchingly at Evelyn, and
was almost alarmed by the girls deadly
paleness, and the tremor that shook her
slender form. Was she going to faint?
There could hardly be a worse occasion
for a Swoon than now, on the rear plat
form of this train rushing through the
desert. She put her arm round Evelyn
protectingly.
Come, don't upset yourself" she said
cheeringly. You're not the first girl on
whom such a trick has been played, and
you won't be the last. It's an old game, as
old as the hills but it's a mean sneaking
trick all the same with a note of indg-
nation in her voice
Could Mr.. Scrope have known?" gasped
Evelyn, whom Cora's rough and ready
philosophy had entirely failed to comfort.
81 shouldn't wonder If he was "ln it,"
said Cora drily She had her own rea-
sons for an exceedingly bad opinion of the
bridegroom.
IF he knew" calculated Evelyn, clench-
ing her trembling hand on the railing.
Nrl1r ngs
rejoined Cora, eagerly.
1T cannot BET" Evelyn protested wildly.
and my father too-Oh, If they have de-
ceived me so. 1 can never, never forgive
them! They have destroyed my lifer'
Not quite yet" suggested Cora, mean
ingly.
what shall do? What can I do?" the
poor girl moaned, while the tears stream
ed down her checks. Cora looked at her
Multiplying, half-wondering, and impa-
tient To her resolute, defiant independ-
ent nature, there seemed but one thing to
be done. But they could not have laid
such plot against me-" sobbed Evelyn.
Flesh and blood couldn't do such a
thing"
1T has been done though, all the same,
since the year one
"They could not have meant to deceive
me- 1t is some mistake. They heard it,
and they believed what they were told"
Perhaps So" replied Cora, drily, uncon-
WINGED. But it was false all the same If
it's any comfort to you to think that they
thought it was true
Comfort" Evelyn repeated with pas
sionate tears What comfort is there in
the world for me?'
To Cora's mind there seemed a great deal
of comfort left. But if Evelyn did not see
it
Evelyn! Eve, my dear!" said her aunt $
vioce Evelyn hastily dashed the tears
from her eyes, and pulled her veil over
her face. Don't say anything to Aunt
Sophia" she whipsered to Cora.
My dear Evelyn, are you prudent to
stand out there? Why, Miss Power. is it
you? What a surprise And how are you ?
l suppose dear Evelyn has been telling you
all about tall our news. But 1 really
don't think she ought to stand out here;
it will never do to catch cold for Satur-
day, you know. My dear you are shiver-
ing; pray come in at once. What will Mr..
Scrope say if you arrive with a cold?"
THE spider and the fly" said Cora to
herself, as she watched Mrs. Pratt leading
Evelyn away, and unresisting captive.
They've got that poor, soft child tangled
up in web; she can't break away, Door,
weak little thing. She dares not even stand
up and face that aunt of hers how much
less her father and Mike Scrope with his
hand and foot, body and sould But her
| heart~she has a heart, and she'll break it,
with that greater butcher of a Black
Mike"
little later in the day, as Evelyn did
not return to the rear car, Cora went in
to the Tamalpais to pay her a visit HeI
| quick eye detected the traces of tears or
| Evelyn's cheeks: but 1t took some time
and management before she could get a
| few words apart with her. At last, when
| Mrs. Pratt had been allured into discours.
! ing on her niece's brilliant prospects to a
| sympathetic matron in an adjoining sec.
ton, Cora seized her opportunity Their
| it appeared that Evelyn had spoken to heI
aunt, who had stoutly denied any know.
! ledge of deception, protesting that it was
| cruel of Evelyn TO suspect her own family
of deceiving her They would never. new.
er do such a think; they heard the story
from Maud Miward's own cousins dear.
/ est friend
1t was clear that. although EVELYN was
now convinced of Harry Blake's truth
yet she could not bear to believe that her
own people had plotted to deceive her. And
here was Mrs. Pratt on the watch. mani.
/ fectly uneasy in COra's presence, and ever
reckoning her apart to breathe a depre-
| catory whisper.