Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1899-03-17
He places his arm round her and half
carries. half leads her away, marveling in
his own mind what can have occurred
to alarm her SO much.
CHAPTER vi.

Il4l
The morning sun is flooding al! the
dainty pink-and-whitc chamber when 10
lande awakcs the mex day.
AT first the pretty eyes look wistfully
round, thcn the languid lids close over
them once more.
"What has happened since Yesterday"
she asked herself. why does my heart
feel so heavy. and so sad:"
Soon enough the answer comes. The
waves of sorrow roll back in freshly
weighted numbers. breaking over men,
Dry. and dashins ticrcely and swiftly
against the sclf-crcctcd barriers of pride.
II must try to be like my old SELF she
says. as With trembling fingers she fast
ems her cambria morning dress and knots
the pale-blue ribbon round her snowy,
slender throat. mo one must see, no
one must know. 1t is my secret; and l
shall keep it as long as l live"
AS she turns away, and is about to
leave the room, u sound strikes upon her
ear that seems to transtiN her with hor-
ror. 1t is the great he'll of Beechnampton
ringing loud and clcac in the golden sunny
beauty of the early day.
FLOATING over the dark green woods,
comes that strange. mournful. warning
sound. YolanLe hears it. and shivcrs
from head to foot. Never does that bell
ring except for death or disaster to some
member of the Charters household. Only
once before in her memory has that sound
been heard. and then death and Woo lay
heavy on their home. Whittier than the
folds of her gown. Yolandc stands and
listens, a wild look of horror in her fixed
eyes, Il sob,in. sigh bursting from her
pale, auiver!ng lips.
us it for him:" she sasps. and stag
gers to IL chair and knecls down i'll agony
unutterable. b,,ryin:s her face in her hands
as il to shut ont the mournful note. whicl,
ever and anon floats i'll through the open
window like IN omen of i'll.
In IL moment the door is thrown open.
Enid and vi rush in wildly.
"Yolandc. Iolandc. do you heal tho
bell: Something must have happened at
the Priory! Yolande-"
"IIush!' says vi softly. Don't you
soc. Enid. she is saying her praycrs:"
They stand quite still. hand locked in
hand. gazing at the Enceling figure SO 81
lent and so still now. The stiffness awe
them. They look at each other in pale
wonder.
lis she ill?" whispers one softly.
Then Enid approaches and lays her
hand upon the shoulder of the k~nceling
girl. She never moves. Frightened and
b%cwildcrcd, she beckons to vi, and they
draw away the hands from Iolande's
face.
1t is white and cold as death.
"Shc has fainted!!" cries Enid in terror.
And they lay her down with gentle hands
and dash water over her face: and vi
runs off in haste for assistance.
Yolande's trance of inscnsibility lasts
so long that the whole household are filled
with fear and anxiety. Never before in
the remembrance of any one has she been
known to faint. When she at last rccov-
crs. they lay her back gently on her pretty
white bed; and Enid promises to bring ur
her breakfast. if she will only lie still and
rest and not attempt to ZONE down stairs
again. This Yolandc promises gladly
enough. She feels thoroughly i'll and Worn
out. Her nerves are u%nStrung. Her head
throbs as if a hammer We're beating hcl
aching brain. \. great dread has seized
her breast. She cares for nothing nov
but to be left in peace. bearing her mis-
cry as best she can, fearing to have hcl
fears realized.
Ere the day is many hours older. new.
,. comes from Recchhampton Priory. Den
iii Charteris is missing. lie had gone OH,
after luncheon on the previous day. anu
no one has seen or 'hcurd Of him since. Hi.
! aunt and cousin are fralltinc with fear
Messages are sent i'll every direction t,
the houses Of all his friends and %acuuaint
anccs. in the faint hope that he may hav,
\ stayed at some house for the night. Til,
answer is always the anne. No one hu:
seen him or heard anything of him sine,
noon of the day on which lie so unac
countably disappeared.
All this Yolandc hears Mt intervals
hears with q white set face. the agony %
which makes every II wonder. Th,
next day and the next pass, and still wit!
no result. Yolande is very i'll. OF tim,
she has no knowledge, of days she has II,
count. The hours sweep by. and tn,
shadows of anxiety deepen with each. an.
her sisters voices lose their gay ring. an,
her fathers face is lined with heavie
= care: and her young lover comes md dc
parts like Il restless spirit with adj ti
light and gladncss gone out of his SAT
eyes and once CHEEKY face.
But at length she grows better. On,
T night, when the heat and stiffness of tn
summer air still brood over the QUITE
world, when a cool faint breeze rustles tn
! roses at her window with a soft rush o
I melancholy music. when solitude an
silence. starlighted and full of peace an,
\ rest as only a summer night can he
e brood over earth and sky, she opens he
) eyes.
She remembers all-the lover she has re
y jectcd. the anguish she has borne. til
: horror of that hour when she heard hi
/, doom in the changing sound of the warning
bell. And then. at last. when courag
/ comes to her to ask the question that eve
. trcmbles on her lips, she learns that til
mystery of his disappearance is still I'LL
solved, that Of his fate no certain new
has reached the ears of any one since tina
. fatal summer day. Then a doubt creep
into her heart and blanches her cheeks t
yet deeper pallor.
"Should I have told?" she thinks. "Wa
I wrong in concealing it SO long? Oh,
cannot1 cannot!" she sobs. and burie
her face in the cushions of her couch
weeping as only women weep in the aban
donment Of n great woe.
"Yolandc," says a kindly voice besid