Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-01-01
would neve/ reach the dear eyes for

it would neve/ reach the dear eyes for
which it was intended.
II will write a line on my own card,
then, to be handed to the ladies', whom
| regret not having seem l said with
what dignity / had at my command. And
stepping past him into the hall. despite
a visible CLEAN of CONSERVATION in his
eye, | deliberately took out pencil and
card case, slowly scribbling few words.
My hope was that if Karine was really
in the drawing room she would come forth
and the Gordian knot of the dilemma
would be cut.
But having mentioned my imminent de-
parture from England on private and ur
gent business, and added that, though l
had been anxious TO see Lady Tressidy
and Miss Cunningham for the sake of bid
ding good bye, it would be more strictly
speaking, only au reyoir, as l intended
returning within the next four weeks.
L could think of nothing more to say. And
still the drawing room door. near which
I was standing, was not opened.
l should have been glad to underscore
the last six words, but did not venture to
do so for obvious reasons, and could only
| hope that Karine might see them or hear
them read, and partly understand.
l conspicuously placed a sovereign on
the card as / handed it to the footman,
| remarking quietly that L would wish the
latter to be delivered in the presence of
both ladies if possible. Then 1 seemed to
have come to the end of my resources,
until a desperate idea seized me.
l. Had / not been virtually certain that
Karine was to be kept from seeing me,
without her own consent to such an ar
rangement, naturally l would have ac
cepted my congo with good grace. and
gone away, a wiser as we'll as a sadder
man; but as it was, and considering the
importanceof her future as well as my
own of a hasty explanation between us,
l was ready to snatch at any eXpedient,
not prejudicial to her, of obtaining word
with Karine Cunningham
l turned from the door and got into the
cab, which the footman politely opened
for me as if only TOO glad to speed the
parting guest. The direction, Ito the
station" was given, the gravel crunched
under the wheels and horses hoofs, the
door at which l had been received so in
Hospitality shut me out of paradise and
no doubt the servant triumphantly watch
ed me drive off. Half way down the ave-
nue., however, I thrust my stick from the
window of the rattle-trap and stopped
the coachman.
81 have forgotten something" I curtly
said. You needn't go back; wait here
and I'll return again in few moments.
The fly was standing just out of sight
from the house, and rapidly leaving it
behind me, strobe over the frozen grass
of the lawn, taking a shorter cut than the
avenue would have been.
In considerably less than five minutes
had once more arrived in front of the win
dow through which 1 was SO positive
had seen Karine. Only short time ago
had dreamed of doing such a thing as
delicious impossibility, only belonging
to a world of romance, which L could
never enter. But here 1 was actually bent
on the accomplishment of the deed.
The falling darkness had protected me,
1 felt confident, from being seen by any
body in the house as crossed the lawn,
and approached with boldness, which only
left me as l reached the window,
The curtain hung apart as before, and I
could see the fire place with the lights and
shadows travelling fantasticalIy along the
polished floor and wall. The white irradi-
ant figure was no longer visible. but I'M
L
trusting that Karine might be in another
part of the room to which my eyes could
not reach.
If she was there my knock would startle
her, perhaps, and she would draw near in
curiosity to see what had made the slight
! susr icious noise; then I could make my
presence known, leaving apologies still
later, and afterwards-well afterwards,
the rest must depend upon her.
But l knocked once, twice, thrice, each
time a little louder, a little more insistent-
ly than before, and there was no response,
no sound, no movement. After all | was
thwarted, and had but one comfort in the
midst of gloom-I had not been easily
rerused, I had done what ] could and
need not feel afterwards when l was far
away, that l had let myself be outwitted,
outgeneralled, without an effort to resist.
Fate had decided that l must go to
America without a word, without a look
into Karine Cunningham's eyes; and,
| drearily returning to my waiting cab,
commenced once more the tedious drive
to the station.
Never had I felt more utterly disheart
ened: for, after all, I could not be quite
sure that Karine had not acquiesced in
the order to exclude me from the house.
1t seemed that she must have heard my
voice in the hall. that if she had chosen
she might easily have contrived some
means of seeing me while 1 was briskly
taxing my ingenuity to reach her. /
guessed at Wildreds powerful influence
in the affair, and was ready to fancy
others; but, as I was to learn long after
wards. 1 brought forward every reason
for Karines mysterious inertness save
the right one. w18
ITO be continued.9