Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1900-02-02

name and my honor in your hands,
Honor. AMI She laughs. n ripping,
careless laugh. Honor! Listen to him
talking of things he doesn't even know
the meaning of"
"l:dith, if You provoke me like this, l
am sure l shall murder You one of these
days. he cries. hotly, shaking with pas
sion from head to foot. "Oh. when I
think what Il mailman l have been, /
could cut my own throat!'
Don't. Ii would break your wife's
heart. She is moping for YOU still. | dare
ny. Idiot that l was to intcrmcddlc in
her joy"
~ wish to heaven you had never med
died with me- he says. wrarily. closing
his eyes as il to shut ont the sight of her.
An hour later the diamonds and emcr-
aids dazzle and glitter. and IL slender
hand toys with a fan set with the same
jewels. above whose cleaning sheen the
snow lidled purple eyes send out the old
a~lluring looks. old as time. yet ever young
to the responsive orbs of Il handsome
you,fs Austrian baron, whose reckless
aud lavish ways have banishcd him tenl-
p~orarily from his princcly home. to find,
under the soft. warm skies of Italy, a
NAs ~ " tlttll IN Ill
ever looked upon in the courts of kings.
There is Il mysterious sympathy be-
tween Bollemians that quickly overleaps
all conventional barriers of GOODNESS and
reserve. and, before this evening is over,
young Oscar Won Lieven tells Lady 4Ayl-
mcr of his admiration in words as we'll
as in looks.
Its living death to be tied to Ennis
r.,,s{ " liza 4 - 1.~v,o1r c--1. H..
down Il long, lonely road that leads to the
Talazzn. OF the outskirts of Florence,
which Lord Enaisford has chosen, chiefly
on account of its perfect isolation and
seclnsion.
She determines to throw him over for
an c%Xtravagant Austrian mcnagc. where
we shall finally leave her to the tender
mcrcics of the tickle Baron Won Lieven;
and Lord Ennisford. when he hears of
her determination to part, is quite content
it should he as it is. His conscience is
appraised as he offers n handsome settle
mrnt. but it is repudiatcd with magnifi-
cent disdain.
Won I.ieven is rich. and she will hold
the strings of his purse as well as of his
H. II r .-s-4-rrHM 4s&.s- naro1x IF Lie aud
love. these two. who have looked passion
ately into one anotllcr's eyes. fingered ON
each others caresSes, sworn eternal feai-
ty. and done the best they could to ruin
each others future. part amicab.y.
"Good-by. IInnisford." she says, II
shall think of you with regret. for YOU
can be awfllly nice. you know. Go back.
my dear boy. to your wife, and don't be
such Il fool as to leave her again. What
YOU want is Il woman who will sit Mt your
feet and worship you all day long. and
believe iii you when you say blacks
white"
"Good-by." he answers; "anl. Edith.
il l did not know that if it had not been
mo. it would have been some other man,
l should never forgive myself for having
brought you to this. But it's a case of
mot Launcelot nor another You know"
CHAPTER NNI.
The men don't greet him very warmly
rs Lord Ennisford walks into the club
one fine morning in May.
1t may he that Lord .Aylmcr is the most
popular MAJ of the two. and certainly he
is greater with the powers that be. for
Marlborough House and the Duchess and
Countess receive him with opcn arms.
Lord Ennisford does not want to dive
for the cause of his luliewarm reception.
He merely holds his aristocratic head a
shade or so higher. And, stalking majes-
tically through the old familiar rooms,
picks mp IL great packet of letters that
await him and saunters back to his lodg-
I ing in Bury street.
Many of these documents are six
months old. for he had peremptorily de-
| sired that all letters for him should be
detained nj the club It'll called for and
had taken care to leave no clew to his
address during his absence abroad, and
had pcrsistently avoided looking at a
newspaper even.
Presently he arrives at a bulgy packet,
| sealed and addressed in that big bold
hand, that lie knows as we'll as his A
Il G..
From that fiend Bella" he calculates,
feeling more irate and warm thar he has
done before, something veXatious or vi
cious, Ill wager!'
There is no writing inside; only a news
paper. dated 9th December, just six
months ago, and, pcrpleXed, he opens it,
glancing quickly owe the pages until a
big black cross meets his eye.
1t is the sensational paragraph about
Bertie's suicide.
AT first he reads it in a daZed sort of
Observation-Disclosures; but sud-
denly he realizes the whole horror Of it.
The wonder is thar he does not shrek,
the agony and tension of his heart is so
terrible.
''Oh, lcavens!" lie groans aloud. his
knees shaking and his lips trembling vio-
lcntly. This is punishment, indeed! oh,
BERTHE! my poor boy, you did not know
her or you would have spared me this.
Oh! l don't believe 1 shall ever get over
it or be able to look an honest man or
woman straight in the face again."
And even while he mutters all this, q
new, strange sensation, an awful numb
ness, crccps and creeps up his right arm
to his hand, which, with the fatal paper
in its grasp. falls nervelessly down.
For some m~inutes-for an hour or hours
-he knows not which, he sits there, his
head stopped low, his eyes prone on the
newspaper that stares up at him from
the floor, a sickness unto death overmas-
tering everything.
Then he tries to shake Of the stupor
that holds him, and pushing back his
chair. rises to cross the room to the heIl.