Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-05-28
CHAPTER XIV.
LANCE.

CHAPTER XIV.
LANCE.
remember some strange visions that
came to me, as | appeared to float IN
space. Sometimes l was the clapper OF
a bell, dashed against its brazen sides
over and over again, as a clock tolled
many times. Sometimes | was sea-
weed, floating in long trail through
troubled water, whirled with the surf
at last upon rocky shore. | was al
ways whelmed in violent commotion,
or an essential part of it, with the
roaring of storm in my ears; until
at last a lull came. l rested, and did
not think.
l was in the midst of void. Then,
out of lightning-veined darkness
came twilight dawn. There was soft
music somewhere-the music of a
voice. / wished, above all, to remem-
! Der a name | had heard, cons of years
ago. If I could recall it, and speak it
! aloud, it would be magic spell to
save me from chaos, and bring JOY I'M
utterable. For a long time | strove
in vain; but at length I breathed out
the syllables "Lan-oe."
| ~
flowers, cooled my forehead, and was
! conscious that lay in place of rest,
| sweet as a bank of flowers.
Its death-and Heaven, isn't it?"
l family said.
And then I opened my eyes. A fair
girl-face looked down on me. NO, it's
! life," she whispered. you've come
/ back to the world again.
Weeks had passed, she explained
| (when those she had placed in author
| ity over me allowed rational speech
between us) since that night when
so nearly yielded up the ghost in the
dark house among the trees. Still 9TH
er weeks went by before l was allowed
to hear all, and be sure that it was not
by miracle precisely that she had come
| to save me. Then, from her lips /
listened to the story.
| AS she reminded me, never from the
first had she promised to obey. when
| l had ordered her to remain quietly as
an inmate of the Vineyards household,
while l went to London on her bust
ness. Scarcely was my back turned
, when she told all the truth to Tom
Wynyard, leading with imprisoned
earnestness for his help in carrying out
that plan of which she had limited
/ in her letter to me. If he refused, she
would not stay, even if he attempted
| to coerce her, she had threatened. No
! harm would come to her in London.
The great city was wide, and only two
or three people among its millions
knew her face. She must go, for she
was sick with presentiment that evil
would befall me- Ignorant as she con-
fessed herself of the neighborhoOd in
which that grim house of mystery
stood, one or two landmarks she had
begun family to remember since all
her soul had been set upon gathering
up the threads of recollection. There
had been tower; she had noted that,
in the hanson, SO furiously driven, be-
fore the man who called himself doc
tor had helped her out. Once, too, in
bending from the cab, hesitating
whether or no to jump, she had flashed
by the word 'Cannonbury' ON lamp
post.
These details she had not recalled at
first; but now she avowed that they
had been sent her by Heaven, to make
use of in saving me.
| had wired her the name of the hotel
at which, after returning to town, |
had decided to stop, as / had also wired
the detective in Oban, who was to send
me word of his well-being and good
faith. So, having at last persuaded
! Tom that he would be no better than
my murderer, unless he consented 10
take her back to London, lie yielded,
as men of stronger natures than his
| might have yielded to her pleading
voice and eyes,. Wynyard and his sis
ter had put their house in charge of
servants, starting with Lance the
morning after l had left for town,
though she would fain have urged
them to go even earlier.
They arrived in the evening, and
went straight to my hotel, where 1
could not be found. Lance had asked
if there were letters for me, wondering
if hers had been received; and, as the
managre glanced over a little pile of
envelopes, under the girls eyes, one
had come uppermost, addressed to me,
and post marked "Oban." Lance knew
from whom this communication must
have come, and so demurely offered
to carry me my letters, saying she
would see me during the evening. She
had feared that this request would
scarcely be granted but either the
manager had been absent minded, or the
lovely girls assertion that she was my
sister banished all scruples, for the
envelope was given her.
Outside, in the street, she had dared
to tear it open, feeling that there might
be news from the detective. which
would aid her search. Then, she re-
ceived her reward for the pains she
had been at in Edinburgh, to win the
, fellows heart. He confessed, in the
letter that he had betrayed me. attri-
buted the confession TO his regard for
the lady, and the words she had spoken
to him; added that he had wished to
tell the truth at the station when We
parted, but had feared my vengeance.
and had not been able to summon
| courage. Beware that mann whether
his name is Nathan Builder or some
thing else which We have never Leard .,
he had ended. HE knows that Won
have betrayed him, and you can only
save yourself by keeping out of his
path"
At this discovery Lance had insisted