The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-09-30
CHAPTER XvII.-(Continued.)

heart ceased, and she knew Edith
husband was at that moment as safe
from m~olestation from her as If al
ready ten thousand miles of water How
ed between them. No impulse urged her
as she had feared, to throw herself at
his feet and tell him she could v
leave him again, that he must give up
home and children for her sake. No,
she felt she could sit in his presence
till morning, watch him playing with
his children, chatting Familiarity with
his so-called wife, and never even wish
to claim him as her own, because her
love for him was dead. She cared no
more for him for whom she had sacri-
feed her youth. almost her life.
She watched him passing out, fol-
lowed by his family, then rose with a
bewildered gesture, scarcely knowing
where she was. She looked at her COM
panion, still sleeping in her corner,
from her to Mrs. Dennys, who came
fiouncing in for the fourth and last
time, and who addressed her uncere-
moniously.
oh! Can you tell me, please, If my
maid has returned? No? If she does
will you tell her the box has been
found, and we" Then the maid APP
~pearing, she went on, ooh, here you
are! The box has turned up and We
are ready to start at last. Are the
children in the landau? 1 am taking
Master Percy in the brougham with
me. Be sure to put my dressing
case on the front seat. l think that's
all. Oh, if ever l travel with such a
nursery again. she muttered, impa-
tiently fastening on a gauze veil be-
fore the glass. 81 wonder where Paul
is? Does he intend driving in the
brougham or landau? I haven't seen
-"
"Mr. Dennys, madam, has gone on
foot-he said it was such a fine night
he would like the walk across the
fields"
"Fine night! Why, it is raining hard
and blowing almost a gale. Extraordi-
nary idea!'
At last the station was clear of Mrs.
Dennys, her nursery, maids and foot
men; and Helen, unable to bear the air
of the room where so many emotions
had beer crowded, went III to breathe
in the gale.
She hurried along needless of where
she was going, her cumbrous bonnet
swinging in her hand, her cloak flying
out behind her like a great black wing.
Was she glad or sorry, relieved or
disappointed? Had she ever loved
him at all, even In those sunny days
before she had heard Edith's name?
If she had lived out her life in peace
by his side, if he had never wanted to
desert her, never cared for another,
would she in time have come to feel
towards him as she had felt at that
moment? Would he have fallen by
degrees from the pedestal on which
she had placed him, or would
he have always remained e%nthroned in
her foolish infatuated eyes?
These and a hundred other questions
she asked herself vainly, as she hur-
ried through the storm; but she could
find no answer, her mind was racked
for the moment, the only feeling clear
to her was a sense of self-pity and con-
tempt for the years she had wasted in
futile anguish.
Even now the tempter whispered,
was it too late? After all she was
only twenty-six-years of youth lay
before her if she wished. Why not
coax fire and life back to her dimmed
eyes, paint her pale cheeks, let her
dark hair grow, and taste pleasure af-
ter her long fast therefrom? Why
not bring men to her feet, shallow
faithless men, as she had done before
make other wives weep as she had
wept? Surely she had endured enough
already; was there sense in donning
sackcloth and ashes to the end, deny
ing herself constantly, living in the
midst of misery, disease and death,
when she had been no wilful sinner,
but one who had been sinned against
from the beginning?
Thus cynically musing, she leaned
over the bridge under which she had
once passed, fighting unconsciously
for the life she had longed to destroy,
and peered into the dark water.
What a fool | was-what a wild
mad fool" she laughed bitterly; land
my mother before me! Only there was
no turning back for you, poor mother
no turning back for you!"
With "a shudder she passed aimless-
ly IN, her short hair blowing about
her face, and wen into the church
yard again. She paused among the
reeds; then, turning down the side
path that led to the cross, the moon
shone full for a moment upon the
dreary spot, and she distinctly saw
the figure of a man stretched face
downwards On her grave, and that
man was Edith's husband.
With a stifed scream, her hands in
st~inctively flying to her face, she start
ed back, and Paul, looking up, saw
her. She heard his voice appraised in
a loud cry-a cry that went to her
heart like a knife n Sent every
nerve in her body quivering with a
fierce pain of old, which she had be-
lieved stilled forever; one seconds
scared inaction and the lex she was
across the churchyard, flying as If for
hef life.
Soon she heard his voice, then foot
steps following eagerly. Rebuilding
her speed she struggled on, knocking
against headstones and expresses,
! stumbling over the low grassy mounds
that covered the nameless dead, long
ing for some grave to open and engulf
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