The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1898-09-03
CHAPTER XVI.

udIIldBe ceremony between the mar
she loved and the woman who had
SO cruelty deceived her was taking
place, one member only Of the coterit
there had caught sight Of her white
stricken face.
Lured on by the deft manipulation oil
DR.. Simms and Beatrics Mercer, Ray
mond Marshall had agreed to solace
the dying moments OF the girl VINO had
saved his father from financial ruin and
disgrace by wedding her.
The bridegroom Of few brief hours,
destined TO benefit by her fortune
whether he SO elected or not, too
crushed over his grief to care what be-
came of him, he went through the form
OF mere mockery Of marriage, and
spoke the words that signalized the cul-
mination OF the scheming sirens deft
plot.
1t was just at the commencement oil
the ceremony that he CHANGED to glance
at the half-open door connecting with
the adjoining apartment.
The others did not see, the others did
not mark, the vivid start, the quick pal
Tor, the gasping breath, as he stared be-
fore him as II he had seen wrath.
AEdna!" he painted; and then, feeling
that 1t was delusion OF the senses, q
reproachful, haunting visitation from the
woman the memory Of whose love could
never sanctify even marriage of me-
cessity and pity, he tottered through the
doorway into the next room.
AEdnal"
His voice rang out less vaguely now.
1t was no wraith-no trick OF the senses.
She was at the threshold of that hall
door now. Her face flashed plainly. un-
mistakably, across his vision.
i 1T is she-alivel" he gasped. ooh,
can 1t be true2"
Madly he rushed for the corridor. The
shock of the perfect recognition, how
ever, had blinded, confused him. She
had disappeared, and In his excitement
he ran the wrong way, got lost in mex
tricable side passages Of the hotel, and
reached its street exit two minutes be-
hind the flying fugitive.
A lounger at the door told an excitable
story Of the fleeting form. and indicated
the direction in which it had disap-
peared.
Not stopping to analyze his vivid
emotions nor the strange situation in
which his acquiescence to the pleadings
of Beatrice had placed him, Raymond
Marshall thought only Of the dead come
back to life with great, feverish Joy
and wonder.
Vainly, however, he secured the VI
entity. Edna Deane had come like
phantom and had disappeared like a
flash.
faded, perplexed, an hour later Ray
mond Marshall started back for the
hotel.
His brow was black with suspicion,
his keenest sensibilities aroused to the
fever -pitch OF augury and suspense.
Edna was alive-he was satisfied on
that point. AS he looked back over the
events OF the past hour, and realized
how he hal allowed his despair and
sympathy to lead him into a net. he
realized, too, that 1t might all be part Of
a plot. The newspaper item was q
falsehoodl The siren had again deluded
him, and now-he was chained to her.
Be her illness stimulation or reality, she
was ahis legally welded wife. The
thought that Edna knew and understood
all this drove him frantic. Hot with
hate and excitement, he regained the
room at the hotel. He would have an
understanding with Beatrice! She
should, at least, tell him the truth about
Edna, and the N.Y. terry Of her absence
and temperance.
He paused as he reached the parlor
of the suite. A glance into the next
apartment rooted him to the spot. His
father, the false nurse, the strange min
lister had departed, hut there yet linger-
ed Doctor Simms, and there, too, no
longer the incumbent, white-faced dy-
ing bride, but in all her usual regal
holiness Of beauty, sat Beatrice, con.
versing animatedly with her tool and
colleague in plotting, her cousin, the
doctor.
Marshall has probably gone home, :"
the latter was saying, but / cannot
account for his strange abrupt departure.
We will not think of that, however,
Beatrice. Your scheme has succeeded;
you are his wife"
yes" cried Beatrice, triumphantly.
my fondest hopes have succeeded.
1--WE had better. therefore, hasten our
other arrangements at once. As I'M
derstand it. you are to he removed to
my homer"
"Still posing as the dying invalid,
yes,. assented the crafty Beatrice.
However little Raymond Marshall may
care for me, he will call daily to inquire
for me. His sympathy will cause him
to do that. He will see me gradually
recover. When he finds he has married
a well woman instead OF dying one he
will accept the situation. AMI my love
will win him to forget Edna, and he will
never know the plot we have played
against him."
He knows it nowi'
The two scheners started lack in
dismay. A towering monument OF
wrath, their victim suddenly sprang
into view.
In wild, fierce denunclatlon he thrust
the abashed doctor aside. In righteous
indignation he told the appalled, Be-
atrice that she was unmasked, the full
measure of her iniqu.ty known.
! He almost cursed her In the bitter
ness of his rage. He told her that If he
fled to the uttermost parts OF the world,
her claim upon him as a husband should
be the merest mockery Of formality. and
then unheeding her frantic appeals OF
love, he dashed from the room, not even
deigning to reveal to her that he had
seen Edna Deane, that he knew her to
be alive, realizing that any appeal to
her TO fell him truly what she knew OF
the poor, prosecuted child OF destiny