Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1900-06-28
Her Hearts
Secret
by JEAN WARNER.

II Is well! The curse OF the dying is
beginning to work. Weary and old, and
broken; but It's not enough. He must
be STAINED, dishonored, crushed! The
end is nelr-the end Is near! The
end is near!'
Come home with me, RiZpah," said
the doctor, soothingly. You are i'll
yourself. This weather is too frosty
for such old blood as yours"
Cold. cold!' she repeated. "You
know me-the old blood is boiling with
fever heat In my veins. Imust stay
out amid the SHOWS. beneath the stars.
See, there IL already cleaning, blood
red, IN the heavens, that same star
that brought me its message of evil
ive-and-twenty yeaIs ago. The red
star of ill-omen to the Gives. Hark,
haik!'
Doctor, dootor!,' cried an excited
voice behind them. and one of the SER
wants from the Towers ran up, breath
lessly. "CGme-quick, doctor, quick
the masters struck"
Struck! How? WhenT' asked the
doctor. excitedly. II left him not half
an hour ago."
AYE. aye, sir! But the stroke came
on him Just afterwards. They told me
70 come quick, andI might catch you.
For Gods sake, hurry, sir, for he's ly-
ing like one dead i'm the study, and
Miss Fannie Is going or like n mad.
Lord knows twill be the dark night
at Give Towers unless you bring him
tor
AYE, n dark night!' cried the shrill
voice of old Rlzpah, as the doctor hur-
ried away with the mana dark
night. indeed! But no darker than
another night ive-and-twenty years
ago, when the blood-red star was tell
ing Of death and dishonor to the Gives.
Aye, tremble. tremble, tremble, Robert
Clive!-for tremble now, o may.
Your day has been long and sunny,
but the night has come at last-a dark,
dark night. that is lit only by the
.blOod-red starr
Ii was, indeed, a dark night at Give
Towers. Mute and helpless its master
lay on the cushioned lounge in his
study, while DR.. Bond and two OF his
confreres. hastily summoned from the
city, labored ~skilfully and earnestly TO
bring back the life-tide to its accus-
toned flow.
But the channels seemed clogged; the
breath cahle in heavy, s%tertorous
gaSps; the swollen veins, the sluggish
pulse-all seemed 10 make the doctors
efforts vain.
Shut in her own room, whittier Or.
Bonds friendly firmnesS had banished
her. Fannie passed the dragging hours
of that wretched night! Alone, alone
$50 utterly alone!
Oh, for Herbert's strong and loving
arm 10 lean on In this hour Of trial
for Fenton's cheering whisper-for
SYPHILIS tender sympathy!
All had left her, I'd the dollhouse
flower, that had been sheltered from
every blast, must bow its beautiful
head to the storm of winter, and
breast the keen wind Of adversely
alone-all alone!
The wing that had guarded her so
tenderly was broken, the strength that
had shielded her SO faithfully laid low,
and, sobbing in her darkeped chamber
through the weary hours of that aw-
full night. Fannie felt that she was,
indeed, an orphan.
1t was nearly day when DR.. Bond
tapped at her door and summoned her
TO her fathers bedside.
He is conscious. we think. my
dear said the old doctor. kindly; but
there seems something on his mind
taht be cannot speak. Perhaps you
may understand what he wishes to
say"
Trembling in every limb. Fannie was
led into her fathers chamber, whittier
he had been conveyed an hour before.
The white curtains of his bed We're
looped aside. and. supported in an al
most upright position, amid the pill
lows, his features rigid and unnatural.
his lips livid and tremulous, his eyes
blcodshot and CLASSY, wandering from
side 10 side in a ~despairing unrest
was the stately master of Give Tow
ers-the stern, naughty, indomitable
Robert Give.
His right hand kept straying ever
and anon TO his breast, as il he would
make an effort to reach something
there that panied him, and, when the
effort failed, he would gaze around
again with such pleading agony thai
even the physicians, accustomed to
painful scenes of every description
felt indescribablv moved.
There is Something that troubles
him, my dear said DR.. Bond, in a
low voice, to Fannie. TRY and un-
derstard. my child, something your
father wishes to say
Papa, papa the poor girl burst
forth. pite~ously-"oh. papa, can you
mol speak. and tell me what you wish
NE 20 deg
Oh. the dumb appeal Of those CULVER
ing lips. those wandering eyes-the de-
spairing energy with which the trem-
bling hand tore at the uncovered
breast-the agony of remorse that
forced at length the husky whisper:
Herbert, in Gods name do Justice
justice!'
Even as the words passed his liyid
lips Robert Give fell back on his pill
lows, and. with a last despairlng ges-
ture, as II he would tear n veil from
his heart. the master Of Give Towers
lay a corpse.