Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1904-03-25
L E s 7 E LIE
BY the Author OF Rose Shamrock" ETC.
SSsassssaf

mistrustful; and though so ignorant, she
was quick witted enough to see that
Wyett was curiously eager to get posses
sion of the case. Retreating from his
outstretched hand, she doggedly answer
ed, II want to keep it myself"
Too polite to let her perceive his an
noyance he cleared his brow, and care
lessly said, "Just as you please, little
one. Only remember, if you lose your
treasure, you will have yourself to blame
for it."
From this moment the conversation
languished Essie mutely obeyed her con-
ductor, who Travelled to town i'll sep
arate carriage, never appearing to have
any connection with the quiet little girl,
whose dark eyes watched for and
promptly obeyed his signals. Arrived in
London, he took her to a respectable
coffee house. where he invoked the land
lady's good Offices for his little niece from
the country.
In the first hour after the tired and
confused girl had been left to herself,
she stood at the window, peering be-
meath the blind at the busy street below.
She had eagerly consented when Wyett
proposed bringing her to London. but
now the roar of the great city startled
her, and everything was so new and per-
picking that she was half inclined to
wish herself back at Mrs. Prices. More
hopes, more wild schemes, were floating
in Essie's untutored mind than her new
guardian dreamed Of; though every at
tempt to put them into shape was crush
ed by her sorrowful sense of her ignor-
ance.
Her slumbers, despite her fatigue, were
brief and light A vague fear that her
unfeeling relative had contrived to be-
come cognisant of her whereabouts. and
would, at some unexpected moment,
pounce upon her, haunted her dreams, as
well as her waking moments. At last
she awoke. There was a light in the
room, though she had extingushed her
own; and the measured breathing Of
some person was audible, for moment
or two, before she ventured to unclose
| her eyes.
1t was Wyett, who was standing by
the table, carefully examining something
ESsie slipped her hand beneath her pill
low, where, for greater safety, she had
placed the card case. 1t was gone; and
growing more and more afraid Of the
INSCRIPTIONS man who had possessed
himself Of it, she lay watching him from
beneath her long eye lashes.
She saw him smooth out and read the
faded letters the case contained; shake
his head, and mutter his vexation at the
unsatisfactory nature Of their contents;
and then carefully examine the case
again and again.
1t was O clumsy, old-fashioned thing.
Wyett turned it over and over, till his
slender fingers came upon secret slide,
the existence of which neither Mrs. Price
nor JIssie had suspected. Drawing it
open too hastily, the contents fell to the
| floor, and candle in hand, he stopped to
reclaim them. One small, thin slip Of
paper lay at his feet; this was all. He
did not know, till long after, that another
rather larger piece had fluttered under
an old chest Of drawers close by; only
| Essie, watching him increasingly, knew
that he had not recovered all he had
dropped.
But Wyett had found enough in that
one thin slip of paper to bring an exult-
| ing look to his crafty face. Carefully
securing it in his own pocketbook, he re-
stored the faded letters to the case; and
came, with noiseless step, towards the
bed Essie, overwhelmed with dread of
what he would do If he discovered that
she was awaye, lay perfectly still, scarce
| ly venturing to breathe, till he had slid
the case under her pillow, and quilted the
room.
1t was long time before she could
overcome her fears that he would return;
| but at last, with a desperate effort, she
| Snrnn0 m proned her way TO the SDOt
where the paper lay, and Srasping it with
both hands, stole back to bed.
She could not examine it until the
morning, and then it was only to look ut
the characters upon it hopelessly, and
sob through her tears, "Ah, if l could
but read!-if l could but readw