Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1899-04-28

mas heightened the load upon Sir Edwards
ieari. something which causes him, as lie
sl,s now in his own quiet study. to bow
MS face on Lis trembling hands while
great drops tric!ile and fall from his hid
den eyes, i'll the gratitude and relief of
This most exquisite moment.
For half an hour he sits m%otionlcss;
men the entrance OF Il footman arouscs
him. Tho man stirs the fire and lights
the rcadimg lamp, and places Il salvcr of
letters and papers Oh the table by his
masters side. The sight of that pile
ro'sses Sir Edward from his %reveric. All
through this drcary anxious week his COR
rrspondcncc has been neglected and his
papers have been unread; and now with
II vigorous effort he draws up his chair to
the table and commence to look over the
accumulated pile.
The first letter he opens makes him
stare in bcwildcrmrnt. 1t is from the
editor of the Ystradtfcltcr Express, a local
paper he had once refused to patronixc,
to the great irritation of its publisher,
and runs as follows:
"IDcar Sir-.As | received no answer to
my communication of the list instant, I
have published the item alluded to, and
forward copy of the Ystradffcltcr Express
of the I'd of November for your pcrusal."
What the deuce does the fellow
mcan:" eXclaiins Sir Edward, in aston
ishmcnt. as he rc-pcruscs this cpistlc,
and still cannot imagine its drift.
Thcn it occurs To him that the best way
of solving the matter will he to look over
tho papers. And he begins to search
among London wccklics aud daiiics and
Welsh Comricrs and Expresses for the
special one To which his attention has
been directed.
y short paragraph in which his own
n;line figures catches his eye. lie reads
it, and then he sits gazing blanlly ut the
paper. reading over and over again those
few lines. and yet utterly unable to com-
p%rclrnd what they mean, so dazcd and
bewildercd does he feel; vet presently.
when the clouds c!cnr off from his brain,
he finds himself studying these words as
though he had not gone over them half
Il score times already:
we believe, on good authority. that
Sir Edward Llcwellyn, of Llcwellyn Park,
is shortly to be united to Miss Mcrvyn,
of Mervyn Court. .AsAbournc, Devon. The
young lady is Il guest ut l.lewcllyn Hall
ut the present time"
"Ihe Internal lars" muttcrs the young
AiHiis MlsltIIitllIN, as IL uilSIlCS luV lIlbtsI'
to the ground.
1T then suddenly occurs to him that the
letter alluded to may furnish some clue
to this mystery. Hcrcupon cnsucs an
other search. and at last the missive is
found. This is its purport:
THE editor of the Ystradffeltcr Express
will have much pleasure in inserting the
notice Sir Edward Llcwcllyn has for
warded, unless he hears anything to the
contrary from that gentleman before go-
ing to press"
Hang it all, who has been taking these
liberties with my nalne:' mutters the
irate baronet. II must see into this ut
once"
But he knows well enough that he can
not do anything until the following MORN
ing, when he must drive into the town
and see the editor himself. and ascertain
how such an u~nauthenticatcd statement
came to be inserted.
. course it must be coltradictrd ut
once" he says to himself. ".Ah. ne. my
darling. if it We're only true. what IL hap
py man l should bc tonight"
At that same hour DcIZil Charters sits
in his library alcne. He has been alone
the whole day long. fighting with !; devil
worse than any DEATH" as the poet calls
it, the furious jealousy Of u wrongcd and
sclf-dcludcd man.
y letter and Il newspaper lic before him
small things, insignificant things
enough, and yet they rave been able to
wreck IL mani life. tho. have rendered
him for the time being mad as ANY poor
wretch in Bedlam. The newspaper has
reached him directed in Yolnnde's hand
writing. The letter merely said that she
had changed her mind and accepted Sir
Edward as her future husband. though
she would always look upon IIcn.il as IL
friend.
1t grows dusk. The light of the fire
burns low. the shadows fall broadly and
slowly and dimly across the d%a,licning
room; but the maj sitting there with
bowed head and tortured heart seems to
take no heed of time. to be utterly in
sensible to anything around. save only the
knowledge of his own suffering freshly
dealt by IL woman's hand.
Yet suddenly, when the soft gloom is
deepest. he becomes conscious of some
other presence beside him, of IL tender
voice whose soothing tones steal like mu-
sic to his bewildered brain. and rob it of
some of the fierce dazed horror that has
made it burn with murderous passion
tllIouSLiOul tiIpSe WTctCLeu ioilrS. tie
does not question how it is that Pauline
should be there beside him now. weeping
passionate tears of sorrow for his SORROW,
whispering tendcrcst words of peace and
consolation i'll this terrible crisis of his
life. He may be mad or dreaming: he
neither knows nor pauses to question it.
He leans his burning brow upon the
tcmptress' breast. he listens to her Sweet,
soft whispers. Hating one woman for
her falseness, he clings to another for
her seeming truth. Ere two days have
passed they are married by special license
at Beechhampton Priory.
SO the printed lie does its work fatally
well, while Iolandc lies PROSTATE and un-
conscious of the fearful blow it has dealt;
and the man she has loved so dearly binds
himself in letters indissolublc to the trait
rcss who had deludcd both.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Sir Edward Llcwcllyn gets very little
satisfaction from his visit to the editor of
1.-The Ysfrodffeltnr E,ynress Hc ic , c,;pr.