Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-07-05

Or Under a Spell.
.
CHAPTER XxXy.
Revenge.

4 GANIH " AAAN AAS A-N
realize what had passed.
Sybil! Aye. ii was no delusive WIS.,
ion, but SybiFs self who had spoken
to him Of love! And Sybil was Made
moiselle Laponte.
All, he had found the missing clue at
last. The sick girl on board the Ocean
Queen, the midnight songstress and
the midnight vision, the dark-veiled
nurse Of lie Providence, and the water,
nymph of the Partisan ball room, were
all the same living, loving Sybll-no al
Turing phantom, but IL sorrowing wo-
man, whose web of fate, as h her.
self had said was too darkly ana
strangely woven for his eye to pierce.
And she loved him, suffered with
him, mourned for him, even as he had
molIned for her.
All. there was hope and happiness IN
the thought! This world cannot be ut
terly %darkencd, when Love beams up
on ii In his perfect light!
Her father-this Gark-browed man,
who had assaulted ; i'm on his W es-
tate--it was her father who stood be-
tween them. 1t must be her fathers
shadow, then. that lay so m~ysterionsly
on her life. Some outlawed desperate.
perhaps. whom she feared to name
some acvCnturer, who had made a
fortune by lawless deeds and was com
PEELED to fly his native land to enjoy
his ill-gotten gold. Perhaps, even
and. though Herbert shrunk from the
thought, it seemed to explain much of
the mystery that enshrcuded SybtPs
ufe-perharS some criminal, hiding
from offended justice! -
Was il strange that Sybil should
deny his suit, was 1t strage that one
so delicate and gentle shrank from I'M
yelling, even TO o lovers eye, the mys-
terry of a fathers crimes2
All, yes; as Herbert thought of the
wild threats of the ruftian who had
met him in Give Woods and the
fierce anger Of the masked monk III
Madam la Marquise's ball room, he be-
came more and more satisfied that his
surmises were correct-that Sybll
Wraye was the daughter Of I who
had disgraced his children and d!Shon-
ored his name-of one to whom she
cling IN pity and tenderness, but also
in shame and sorrow; and never, until
the shadow was removed from her
path, could he hope TO win her-never
while that father lived. would she con-
sent to link her fate with that OF the
proud and honored Gives.
And with the picture Of his pure and
beautiful Sybil floating before his
eyes-with the echo of her tender
though hopeless words still sounding in
his ears-it was no wonder that Her
bert felt a fierce Indignation swelling
in his breast against the man whose
| 49, 49,. l,. o,~n.. Nhn g,pchfnA. af his
love-against the father who had
blighted the happiness of his child.
Absorbed in thoughts like these,
Herbert walked on slowly, and 1t was
long past midnight when he arrived at
the little inn. Yet, late as was the
hour, the place seemed astir with some
unusual excitement.
Lights twinkled in all the windows:
voices could be heard raised in loud
discussion In the little bar ROOM: and
Dame Marguerite, whom he had left
nodding sleepily over her knitting. was
n very wide-awake and angry little wo-
man. Judging from the yituperative re-
marks that reached the ears of her
crest.
Coward. idiot ,knave and fool that
thou art! to come back TO st. Gothard
with a story like that on your lying
tongue-you, that /. too. recommended
to monsieur as faithful and trust
worthy! What will the mademoiselle
say TO me, In her anguish. in her des-
pair? What will the world say of you,
the guide. the traitor, who could leave
his master and friend to perish?-
knave. coward. villain that thou art!'
"Scold, then. If thou wilt. good
DAME was the gruff reioinder. "a
/ guides life Is as dear to him as a gen
tleman's. Not that Jean Raptiste Fee
vre would turn his back on duty-nore
can say that of him Dame Marguerite,
and he has been glide at Mount Goth
ard for well-nigh q score of years"
81 say nothing of the past!" ey.
| claimed the dame. shrilly. "It has
been good enough-too good for Ii
made me trust your courage, your hon
or, your truth. I never thought Jean
Baptlste Fevre would turn his cow.
ardly back upon the master who had
put his life In his hands. and leave him
to perish In the mountain SHOWS
"Sacre blue, Have / not told you
that he sent me for help?" answered
the man, whose sluggish nature
seemed TO be at last stirred to impa-
tieBce. "Have I not told you that his
foot was crushed, and he could not
walk? Have | not told YOU that. al
though I might lift weights against
him in the canton, not even Jean Rap
tiste Fevre could carry like an infant
a form such as Col. Laponte? l came
for help-have / not told you'll came
for help"
"Hark!" said the dame. In a thrilling
whisper. as n dull, booming sound ech
oed In the distance. "You came for
| help, o say? Jean Baptlste. what
man will take his life in his hands and
brave the Pass. with that noise in his
ears? No. no. II is too late-too late,
Alas for poor monsleur-it is too late!"
"What Is too late?" asked Herbert.
entering. what has happened, ma.
damn
"Ah. woe. misery. desolation, Mon
sleur Clive!" cried the good dame,
wrlnging her hands. ''This knave. this
fool. this idiot here. who has been
guide In st. Gotilard for twenty years.
has turned coward, traitor, Judas, at
last! He has betrayed tie master who
trusted him: he has turned his back
on brave Monsieur Colonel Laponte,
and left him TO perish In the snow"
IF the gentleman will listen to me-"
Continued Jean Baptiste, his swnrthy
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