Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1899-06-24
u Z1HIDDEN IERRORy1 i
CHAPTER xfi.-tContinued.)

CHAPTER xfI.-(Continued)
Father, do forgivcHnc, but cannot sny
Yes I know" added Mabel earnestly
that you would not associate with bad
pcople-we never thought Of that--but
do know your voice, and know, too. that
there ID secret. Yes; must tell you all
A little while ago, In the library at home
when I was sitting there one day behind
the curtains with book, you and Uncle
John came in; and heard you say to him
that there was sccrct--something that
We were not to know. When all these
other things happened connected It with
thsm--1 could not help II. And now
father-now, when Neville has asked me
to marry hint seems frightful to let him
think himself engaged to me II there ID
any dark secret mixed up with our family
history"
Mr.. Charlford listened. with q smile.
my dear Mabel" he said, you are very
young, and you have all that delicate care
for one you love which your dear mother
possessed In such a marked degree.
ought not to be displeascd that II II such
. feature In your character, though In this
instance II has told against me. Well,
forget the particular occurrence you al.
lude to, but do fully remember speaking
to your Uncle John In the library Mt home,
on more than one occasion, too. about q
circumstance which has annoyed and trou.
bled me good deal, and which certain.
~ never intended either you, or even Dick,
to hear Of. 1t gricvcs me to mention II
now, but, after oil you have been imagin.
ing and suffering, I am constrained to ten
you plainly. You remember that woman
Farley who lives In the cottage just out.
side our park gates and to whom you, Ma.
bel, were always going with some gift OF
othcrr
"Yes, father" answered the girl.
you may remember, too, that ! forbade
you to 60 to the house any more, or to give
her money or anything else-for which
am sure that you thought me very tyran.
nicalv
"Yes, father" she faltered.
"Well, my veto was not uttered from O
tyrannical motive, but because Of the
knowledge that she, the mother Of eight
children, was behaving very badly indeed
very dissracefully. She has now run Cd
with the village carpenter, leaving her
husband to shift for himself and bis eight
boys and girls 40 best be can. And, a. II
this scandal was not sufficient, Mrs. Far.
ley's eldest girl-not yet sixteen--has gone
OF with married man who has two chill.
.dren. am sorry enough to have had to
mention such subject to you, Mabel, and
to have shocked your dclicacy as see I
have done, but you left me no alternative.
Well. what will you doY There Is really
nothing more that can shy, But there Is
q thing which must do, II you yourself
do mot tell Lord Wynmorc all this. must,
On NO account would I allow a daughter
Of mine to form any alliance, no matter
with whom. unless n was warmly desired,
We will have mo conccalment from lord
Wynmore. ana then there can be no re.
nroaches afterward."
Mnbel hcaved n deem sirh. and rcmain.
cd Loaf In Thought.
at WAS your voice heard. father" she
said. raising her head: 'but OF course un.
ter would be abhorrcut to you; still I
thought that somethiug disgraccful-
thing which happened long ago, and with
which you might have had nothing to do
-clung TO our family numc."
And you are not yet convinced to the
contrary? Well. Dick, 10 your opinion uu.
changed3"
mo. father. ] ought to tell both you
and Mabel that think Il very possible she
has made q mistake. At the same time
there 10 q good deal Of foundation for the
mistake. Probably someone did person.
ate you for bis ovn safety. Perhaps those
men had plan for robbing Uncle Johns
house, or, % you have said, Nab, who was
very much agitatsd, may have fancied
that one Of them resembled you. Again,
the resemblance may have been real
enough, but Of course o chance rescm.
blance. Nab. dear, wish you could
think 40 do"
When she heard Dick reason thus, she
wavercd for the first time In her own 6rm
conviction that II had been her father. and
no other. whom she had encountered BY
the pool, and her heart was lightencd Of q
load that was almost too heavy for her to
bear.
800
CHAPTER XIII,
Mabel had accepted the happiness which
had becn held out 10 her-accepted n.
however. with timorous uncertainty. A II
she feared that h would be quickly taken
from, her. Tor nil the while nm uneasy feel.