Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1900-04-27
CHAPTER NN.

va si' ~ III NY iistNlNi. u my
;, ~stru':"d up and down. cranins and brid-
Wing their hri"ht-liucl necls witt, u proud
,unsciotlSacss of absolute proprictorship
in the place. and their long tails trailcd
across The Gravel behind them With the
sof: rustic of IL woman's% garments. Now
and then sad. sllrill cries echoed wcirdly
through the deserted gardens.
Presently some one pushed aside the
Ion. muslin curtains. and came stepping
on, of the long French window on to
the terrace. 1t WAS Helen. SHE w;iS
dressed for dinner; She Wore Il pale blue
dress. cnt open nj thu neck. Il string of
pearls and Il jrwc!cd locict hung ut her
tlirs:it; she turned round. half laughing.
to someone who WAS following her.
'Nou will see all the county magnntcs
nj Sha,lonakc Tomorrow. Iou will have
quite enough of them. | promise you;
they are neither lively nor cntcrtain!ng."
y youii. man. also in evening dress.
had ollowcd her ont OH to the terrace:
it VAS Denis Wilde: he had arrived: from
town lv the afternoon train. Why he
should have thrown over several very
good invitations TO country houses in Nor
folk and Suffolk i'm order In come down
10 The poor Sport of Nynasinn is 81 prob
lem which Mr.. Wilde alonc could have
satisfactorily solved.
"lou can't think how anxious l am to
inspect the elite of Meadowshirc.' he
said. laughing. My life is an incomplete
thing without Il sight of it,"
You will witness the last token of
mental alteration in n dcccntly brought
up young woman in the person of Bra-
tricc Miller. You know her. WE'LL. she
has actually engaged herself to MIR.
Pryme. Halo. Topsy. what are YOU
barking atty
Mrs. kynasion's pug had como tearing
out of the house with Il whole chorus Of
noisy %yappingS. The pcacocks. deeply
wounded in their tcndcrest feelings, in
stanilS took wing and ven sailing away
maJcsticnlly over the crimson and gold
partcrrc oil flowers below.
What can possess her to bark ut the
pcacocks:' said Helen. BE quiet, Top
sy."
Blu, 'i'opsy refused to he t%ranquilizcd.
"Shc is barking at something below the
terrace; perhaps there is Il cat there,
said Denis.
They went to the edge of the stone
parapct and looked over; there stood
Tommy Daintree below them, among the
hollyhocks.
why, little boy. who are you. and
what do YOU want? Why. are you not
AIR. Daintree's little boy?"
Yes"
Then what are you waiting for?'
II want to give II note to Capt. Kynas-
ton said Tommy, crimson with confu-
sion. rs he ever coming in|'
"l1c is in now; give me the note"
Il was to give it TO himself, to nobody
else"
who told you?'
aunt Vera
"Oh.." There was Il whole volume of
meaning i'll the simple exclamation. Mrs.
Kynas,on held out her hand. You can
give it to me. i am Capt. Kynaston's
wife, you know. Give it To me, Tommy.
Your name is Tommy, isn't it? Yes, L
thought so. MIR. Wilde. will you he so
kind as to fetch Tommy Il peach off the
dinner table? Give the note to me. INV
dear. and YOU can tell your aunt that it
shall be given to Capt. Kynaston direct
ly.'
When Denis returned from his mission
to the dining room lie only found Tom
my waiting for his peach upon the ter
race steps. Mrs. Kynaston had gone
back into the house.
What happencd to Denis Wilde after
the small boys departure was this. He
sauntcrcd back to the drawing room
windows and looked in: no one was there.
He then wandered further down the ter
race till he came opposite the window of
the boudoir-Mrs. Kynaston's w bou-
doir-which Sir Johns loving hands had
once lined with blue and silver for his
Vera. Here he caught sight of Mrs.
'Ky1iaston's fair head and slender figure.
Her back was turned to him; he was on
the point of calling out to her. when sud
denly the words upon his lips were arrest
ed by something which he saw her doing.
Instead of speaking. he simply stood still
and stared at her.
Mrs. Kynaston. unconscious of obserya-
\ tion. held the note which Tommy had
A just given her over the steam of a small
jug of hot water. which she had hastily
Nordered her maid to bring to her. In
Iless than II minute the envelope unfast-
AAncd of itself. Helen then deliberately
look out the note and read it.
a What she read was this:
~ Dear Capt. Kynaston--I have some
thing that | have promised to give to you
when you are alone. Would you mind
coming round to the vicarage after din
ner tonight. at nine o'clock? You will
find me ut the gate. Sincerely yours.
VERA NEVILL."
Then Helen lit Il candle and fastened
the letter Up again with sealing WAX.
And Denis Wilde crept away from the
window on tip-toe with FL sense of shock
ed horror upon him such as he never re-
.membered having experienced before.
AT dinner time the note lay on Maui
rice's side on the table. While the soup
was being helped lie took it up and open
ed it. He little knew how narrowly both
his wife and his guest watched him as
he read it. But his face was inscruta-
BILE. Only he talked IL little more. and
seemed. perhaps, in better spirits than
usual: but that is what a stranger could
not have noticed. although it is possible
that Helen may have lone so.
'By the yicarage gate" she had said,
and it was there that he found her. Be-
: hind her lay the dark and silent garden,
beyond 1t the house, with its wide-open
drawing room windows. and the stream