The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-06-20


Two for you," said Sir George, and
he flung Eddie brace of missives that
fell little short of his coffee-cup, and
lay with the black sides turned uper-
most One had large square envel-
ope, and a crimson splashing crest and
| coronet, singularly unfeminine, which
attracted general attention for mo-
ment.
Mildred, idly toying with teaspoon,
looked up minute later and noticed
that the lads face had grown wonder
fully dull and pale for him, and that
he was staring at the now open letter
with panied gravity unusual in his
| case.
Has she bowled you out Trevan-
ion?" asked young Cairns, with gay,
thoughtless laugh, from the far end of
the table, where he sat near two
other men of his regiment staying at
Kings Abbott for few days hunting.
Regularly knocked over, Ell? You
look like it,"
Not quite so bad as that" Eddie
appearing altogether from his counte-
nance with such rapidity that Miss
Trevanion, still watching, concluded
her fears had been groundless and dis
missed the incident, as meaning moth
ing, from her mind
Later on, toward the evening. how
ever, wandering leisurely upstairs to
dress for dinner, and having occasion
to pass through the picture gallery,
beyond which lay many of the bed
rooms, her own amongst the number.
she beheld Eddie at distant window.
his head pressed against the painted
glass, his entire attitude suggestive of
despair. Even as she looked there
arose before her vision of broken
bread and half-cut pasties, with much
plate and china, and gaudily-crested
envelope lying in their midst.
She went up to him and laid her
head upon his shoulder
Anything the matter?" she asked,
lightly enough, not anticipating any
real trouble.
He turned and faced her, thereby
displaying countenance betokening
anything but that inward peacefulness
commonly supposed to come from the
possession of a quiet conscience.
'Why. Eddie" Miss Trevanion ex-
claimed, what is it? What has hap
pened? Why are you standing here
alone?"
Nothing has happened" returned
Eddie, in voice that perfectly suited
his face, and SO was lugubrious in the
extreme; after which he most un-
gratefully turned his back to her.
Surely you will tell me-" she ex-
postulated. ut can be nothing so
dreadful as your manner seems to i'm
ply. Come, Eddie, speak to me; per-
haps-who knows?-I shall be able to
help you"
Nobody can help me-" said Eddie.
Nonsense! 1t isn't like you to be
so down-hearted-is it? and | can
generally assist everybody, you know;
so let me try with you. You will con-
fide in me, dearest, will you not? In
deed l cannot be happy while you look
SO miserable"
Just So" broke out Eddie at last
with the reckless scorn people gener-
ally indulge in when conversing with
their best friends-that is when their
best friends have succeeded in driving
them into corner-"and of course
you will have no difficulty in putting
your hand in your pocket now this
moment and giving me three hundred
pounds on the spot"
ooh, Eddie, what is it you mean3"
Miss Trevanion asked, now thoroughly
frightened, ready money being an
article very scarce and difficult of at
tainment in the Trevanion household.
and Sir Georges private affairs and
general "hard-uppishness" being we'll
known to the elder members of the
family
Il mean that I have been gambling
and have lost three hundred pounds, y
Eddie said.
And then Miss Trevanion felt that
the trouble was very real trouble,
indeed. She could not speak to him
for moment, and so kept silence
Presently he spoke again.
There is nothing to be done, Mil
dred, that can see," he went on
nothing. have no means Of paying
this money, and so suppose the soon
er proclaim myself BLACKBOARD and
get out Of the country the better for
you all"
DO not say that" Mildred said, in
low voice. "Is there no way of man
aging it? Let us think well before we
give up in despair"
"There is no way he said-'none."
I have long overdrawn my years al
lowance, and the governor is too hard
up to advance, even if he would, an
other fifty-to say nothing of what 1
want Besides, Mildred, IL could
! not bear to tell him of 1t; he has so
often warned me against gambling on
account Of that wretched old story
about Willoughby Trevanion. / think
it would almost break his heart if he
fancied the family curse had broken
out again in me, and-oh, Milly, I
swear to you / never meant. it; it all
came about so suddenly, so miserably.
had always been proverbial for ny
| luck, until that evening at the Wis
counts rooms, and then I lost my
head, think; and the worst of it is
Poyntz is just now so deucedly used up
| himself that he can't afford to watt