Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-02-23
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CHAPTER V.

On the day after l)r. Letsom oea'h
Margaret Dornham's husband was appre
hended on a charge of poaching and ald.
ing in a dangerous assault on Loru uT
toms gamekeepers. Bail was refused 1o'
him. but at the trial he was acquitted loi
want of evidence. Every one knew NJ
was guilty. He made no great effort 10
conceal it. But he deied the whole iegn
power of England to prove him guilty.
He employed clever counsel. and the re-
suit was his acquittaI. He was free; but
the prison brand was u him. ana MS wire
felt that she could not endure the dis
grace.
Il shall go from bad to worse now, Mag;
gle" he said 10 her. Il do not find prison
so bad. nor yet difficult to bear: if ever !
Gee by any lucky hit | can make myself
a rich man, | shall not mind a few years
In jail as the price. A forgery. or some
thing of that kind, or the robbery Of
well-stocked bank, will be henceforward
my highest aim in life"
She placed her hand on his lips and
prayed him for heavens sake to be silent.
He only laughed.
Mature never intended me TO work
she did not indeed, Maggie. My fellow
men must keep me; they keep others far
less deserving"
or rest. He would keep his word; he
would look upon crime as source OF
profit: he would watch his opportunity OF
'wrong-doing, and seize it when it came.
Oh IacjInd on leaving Ashwood. An
other and perhaps even stronger motive
that inhue1 ced her was her passionate
love for the child: that was her one hope
in life her one sheet-anchOr, the one thing
that preserved her from the utter madness
of desOlatiOn.
1t was easy to manage her husband.
She had said but little to him at the time
she undertook the charge of little Magda-
line, and he had been too Indifferent to
make inquiries. She told him now, what
was in some measure quite true, that
with the doctors death her income had
cea sed. and that she herself not only was
perfectly ignorant of the child's real
name, but did not even know to whom to
write. 1t was true, but she knew at the
same time that if she would only open the
box of papers, she would not be ignorant
of any one point; fer those papers she had
firmly resolved never TO touch, so that
In saying she knew nothing of the chi!d's
Identity she would be speaking the bare
truth.
At first Henry Dornham was indignant
The child should not be left burden and
drag on his hands, he declared-it must
go to the workhouse. But patient Mar
garet clasped her arms round his neck,
and whispered to him that the child was
so clever, so pretty, she would be gold
mine to them in the future-only let them
get away from Ashwood, and go to Lon
don. where she could be we'll trained and
taught. He laughed a sneering laugh,
for which, had he been any other than her
husband, she would have hated him.
Not bad plan, Maggie" he said;
then she can work to keep US. 1, myself,
do not care where We go or what we do,
80 that no one asks me to work.
A few weeks later the new Earl of
Mountdean arrived in search of his little
girl. This time the visitor did not take
any pains to conceal his title. He drove
to the Castle Arms" and from there
vent at once TO the doctors house. lie
found it closed and empty The first per-
son he asked told him that the doctor had
been for some weeks dead and buried
The young earl was terribly shocked.
Dead and bured-the kindly man who
had befriended him in the hour Of need!
1t seemed almost incredible. And why
had no one written to him! Still he re-
membered the address of his chld's fos-
ter mother. 1t was Ashwood Cottage;
and he went thither at once. When he
found that, too, closed and deserted, it
seemed to him that fortune was playing
him a trick.
He was Disconnected; and then, believ-
ing that this at least was but a case of
removal, he decided upon going to the
rector of the parish, whom he we'll re-
membered. He surely would be able to
give him all information. Mr.. Darnley
looked up in wonder at the announcement
Of his visitors name-the Earl of Mount.
dean. What could the earl possibly want
of him? His wonder deepened as he rec
ognlzed in the earl the stranger at the
burial of whose fair young wife he had
assisted three years before.
The rector contrived to say somethfns
about his surprise, but Lord Mountdean
interrupted him hastily:
Yes, understand. | was travelling as
Mr.. Charlewood when my terrible misfor.
tune overlook me here. l have returned
from Italy, where l have been spending
the last three years. My father has inst
died, and am here in search Of my child
My child" continued the earl, seeing the
rector's blank face-"where is she? | find
my poor friend the doctor is dead, and the
house where my little ones foster mother
lived is empty. Can you tell me what it
means? Can it be that she, too, is dead?"
mo, she Is not dead replied the rec
tor. Il saw her two months since, and
she was then living-well, beautiful, and
happy. No, the little one is not dead"
Then tell me, for PHYS sake. where
she isl cried the earl, in an agony OF
mpa tience.
Il cannot. Two months since I was at
AshwOod Cottage. Margaret Dornham's
worthless husband was in some great
trouble. | went to console his wife; and
then | saw the little one. Then l saw no
more of her; and my wonder was aroused
on hearing some of the tradespeople say
that Mrs. Dornham had not been in town
for some weeks. | believed she was i'll,
and went TO see. My wonder was as great
Ls your own at finding the house closed.
Husband, wife and child had disappeared
as though by magic from the place, leav
ing no clew or trace behind them"
The rector was almost alarmed at the
effect of his words. The young earl fell
back In his chair. looking as though the
shadow of death had fallen over him.
II WAS out a cnud, the rector thought
to himself, whom its father had seen but
q few times. He did not understand that
to Lord Mountdean this child-his dying
wifes legacy-was the one object in life,
that she was all that remained to him of
. love that had been dearer than life
;tself. Commonplace words Of comfort