Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1899-08-19
CHAPTER xLvu.-THE WHOLE TRUTH.

valerie paceu up ana uOWu ueE TOOIn lOr
half an hour after the riding party had de-
parted. She felt as II the world had dis
solved around her; even her uncle, she
sss..: i. ,ssssa q. y ss 80: g sss 10y .s v ss.
life. But the die was cast-there was no
hels-none: her Immediate need was To
school face and mien TO meet the others at
the luncheon-tatle without betraying that
she was In any trouble. The mask must
still be worn, however bitter the suffering
that il hid!
Perhaps / had better nave gone with
themv' she said. Zone cannot, when
alone, keep from thinking. But ! could
not be with him-no, ! could notl l must
r~ead-anything to lessen this mad beating
in my brain, this sickening pain at my
heart--or I shall 20 madr'
She left the room. and went down to the
library. She would be safe from intrusion
there; she knew Lady Elinor M Mrs.
Langley never went to the library, and
everyone else was out.
The great house seemed very silent as
the girl fitted down the broad stairs; but
that was better than merry laughter and
cheerful voices. She passed into the IL
brary, a room that Beauregard loved, and
winch SUE WOuui HdNc lONCu tuab iCd-
son alone, IL there had been none other.
This would b. her last visit here, she
said to herself, as she moved slowly round
the room, touching the books tenderly now
and then. She would see it again often, In
her waking thoughts and In her dreams,
but never as now.
The burning tears that gathered In her
eyes warned her, she took up q book at
random, and went and sat down In q low
chair, laying the book on her knee, and
opening IL mechanically. What was :tl
A COPY of Schiller's "Piccolomini." Va
lerie turned to the fy-lcaf, n saw, In
Beauregard's free. bold hand, the name,
MAX Eustace Beauregard." She looked
down at that name till II became blurred
and dim; then she kissed IL r~everently, and
began with trembling fingers to turn the
pages. Y wcs something To touch what he
had often touched.
All! What was thati Who was that!
The girl started like q guilty thing. hear
ing the ~door-handle move. One OF the SER
wants, perhaps, flashed across her as she
looked toward the door, or had Mrs. Lang
ley been speaking to Lady Elinor, and Lady
Elinor-
But Valerie got no farther than that, for
the door opened, and she saw the tall fig
ure OF Max Beauregard.
The girl drew one breath and stopped;
her heart seemed to cease beating. II one
word would have snatched her from the
presence SO ineffably dreaded she could
not utter il. She was for a moment para
lyzed.
Beauregard closed the door. and came
S~x..~l "a -. r.. All - u.larta polI,ao
What strength came to her she never
knew; 1t must have been the sheer terror
Of self-betrayal, yet her voice did not sound
to her like her own; she looked at him, but
not ut his face.
"Col. Beauregardl" she said; ~ thought
you were out with the othersr'
mo-" ne said, pausiag. az told then: !
could not go; but I thought then that you
were going. Angela told me afterward
that you had stayed at home"
Something suppressed and constrained
In his voice made Valerie's heart turn sick
with fear; 1t crossed her, too, that he had
heard her enter the library, and had
sought her. Why did he do thiss 1t was
cruel!
Still not daring to look at his face, she
laid her book on a chair near, and rose.
YES" she said, trying to speak careless
ly, but hardly succeeding. II was busy,
and u
"Are you going to run away from me, ID
that itt" interrupted Beauregard, laying a
light touch on her arm. Don't do that
vet, Fairy Queen. heard you enter here,
and l came--to say-to say good-byeF'
He took her hand In his, folding IL close
ly In both his own, looking down on the
lovely face with such agony In his dark
eyes, that II she had seen 1t she must have
lost utterly the self coatro! That his cling
~ clasp, tbc paia in his rNs', had well