Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1903-09-17

Milton she said, q sudden thought
flashing thu ough her brain, . oring-
ing with it q sudden p~ride-the mem
ory of the news Feline had so snort .
ton, viii you not let me comfort you
for her loss?"
The question maddened him. II was
like pouring a smarting fluid into o
fresh.made wound. All the misery
which had come to them-all through
her who still knelt at his feet-re-
turned to him.
"You?" he ~said-"you comfort mel
Does one turn to the n~ightshade for
healing? Does one seek the poppy, ex-
cept to drown sorrow in eternal sleep!
Does one, robbed of the soaring lark,
with its sweet notes. ask comfort OF
the glittering serpent whose colors LED
It to its doom? So might / come to
you, in your bewildering beauty, which
once enthralled me, and which leads
men to perdition. You say you loved
me! Aye, with a passion which mas
coiled itself about my life, crushing
from it hope and happiness. all but life
itself. Woman, why have you spared
that? Why have you not taken that
too?"
His words came forth with the fren-
zy of despair.
Pierre! Pierre!' cried Marie to her
self, as she stood without the door, her
ear to the keyhole. you will bear me
witness-I am ~ayenging you through
him."
Then she turned, and, entering the
sick room where Avice still knelt. she
touched the girl on the shoulder.
Follow me-" she commanded gen.
tly.
And in another moment the two
forms had glided past the boudoir
door.
For a moment Barbara covered be-
meath the storm of words hurled at
her; then she rose, very pale, to her
feet.
You scorn me-" she said, brokenly,
"and | cannot return your cor You
hate me, and I'll would crawl on my
knees for one crumb OF your love!
Milton, Is 1t likely that / would, then,
have brought this misery upon you If
I could have averted it? Oh, my love,
my love, speak to me! Give me one
word-one little word of comfort!"
But the mans heart was steel in his
breast
"As you have dealt with her" be
replied, so may God deal with youi"
Then, leaving her as though turned
to marble where she stood, he opened
the door, went down the stairs and out
of the house.
She listened until his footsteps died
away. and long, long after stood mo
tionless, a living statue of loneliness.
Then varying expressions swept across
her face, merging into one of deadly,
malignant hate. In sight Of her soal
1t had escaped her.
Not yet. not yeti This girl was in
her power; this girls name hers to
brand! this girls very life at her mer-
cy. How beautiful the girl would look
in death! Was she, too, going mad?
Not SOL She was a countess, the Earl
of Bertram's widow, and they had
thought her scheming for the poor
little Meredith title and fortune. But
that had served her purpose well, as 1t
should serve II yet a little longer.
Now this girl was the one obstacle III
her path. The girl must be removed
from it forever-forever!
She repeated the words. then glided
to the door between the rooms and
threw it open.
Richard Hayes still lay sleeping, his
expression even In sleep showing
something Of his suffering; but the
place beside his bed was empty--Av1ce
was not there!
For a moment an awful fear was In
Barbara's breast; then she laughed at
her idle folly.
"She has returned to her rooms"
she murmured to herself. az will find
her there"
Up the stairs, along the silent hall,
she sped. fighting against the dull pre-
monition born of her fears.
The door leading into the smaller
corridor was open The silence was
oppressive. Barbara's heart beat In
suffocating bounds as she stole swift
ly into the exquisitely appointed rooms
over which brceded9 the air Of deser-
ton that comes only from solitude.
that cannot be simulated even when
one bushes ones breathing, a silence
that exists. that is a thing palpable.
underlined, but almost human in it's in
fuence.
Ere she crossed the threshold Bar
bara knew the truth, yet she searched
through every portion of the empty
rooms, her heart and brain sickening
with the mortal terror which possess
cd her.
The cage al empty-the bird had
flown. Where?
With this question ringing in her
ears until it seemed shrieked aloud by
n 3Hl4.rorJ Ho~o~~~ III