Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-08-05
Claire Linwood. She had applied for

One day LIE. ElIenSCeln rOOe over u
the sumptuous baronial home. He pass
ed an hour in the company of Ethel.
When he left his heart was hard and
cold, and she, poor child, was tortured
with the anguish love only can feel.
In fact, Earle had asked for an ex-
PLANTATION of her seeming part in aiding
dead Sir Reginald to frighten the simple
natives with the superstitious idea that
the tower was haunted. Ethel remem-
bered her solemn promise. She dared
not break it. The doctor grew from sus-
picion to distrust, so a baleful cloud arose
between them About three days after
the burial of the baronet, Ethel Never
gail, with Lady Claire Linwood, accom-
panied by a groom, started out for their
usual horseback ride. Both were skillful
horsewomen, and both were extravagant-
| ly fond of the saddle. This morning they
| had resolved to follow a wild looking
path, leading through a deep wood, one
they never had noticed, in rides past the
spot, until the day before.
Suddenly, after an advance of about
half a mile, both girls noticed at once
that footsteps had diverged from the
beaten path, and looking towards the
point to which they seemed directed, they
were astonished to see the opening en-
trance to what seemed large cave, over
hung with vines of thick luxuriance.
These vines seemed lately to have been
| parted. Refining up their horses, they
paused before the spot, in order to sur
| vey it more closely, when all distinctly
heard low means of pain, issuing from
| a point near the entrance.
Surmising at once that some fellow
| being was in distress, Ethel requested the
groom to dismOunt and investigate the
| place, and Immediately return to report
| the cause of the apparent suffering with
in. The man dismOunted as requested
and disappeared from view, only to re-
turn with the news that an eccentric
bookseller, who had recently made his
appearance in the neighborhood, and who
was known as the Rev. Edwin G. Styles,
was very ill in that remote and hidden
spot. Bidding Roger assist her to the
ground, Ethel at once fastened to the
side of the sick man.
She found him stretched upon an old
cot bed in this damp and gloomy retreat,
far away from the haunts of men. She
noticed a few articles of furniture, and
a few utensils for daily use, but saw no
trace of fire or food.
On a rude bed lay stretched the form
of the eccentric being who had been
much talked of during the past few days.
His cheeks were flushed with fever,
told of intense pain in that region. Clasp
ed in his thin, white hands upon his
breast lay a small wallet.
Seeing at once that the poor creature
was very low, perhaps near death, Ethel
stepped back to the entrance of the cave
and requested Roger to ride with all
speed to summon DR.. Elfenstein to his
side. She also requested Lady Claire to
remain within call, while she herself
would watch over the sufferer until aid
should come.
At once Ethel returned to her self-as-
sumed charge, and endeavored to arouse
him from the stupor he was in, in order
to ask Of his relatives and home. The
effort was vain. A low, incoherent NUT
tering, in which the words brother" and
''save me-" were mingled, was all she
could hear.
1t seemed a long and weary while to
the anxious girls, before voices were
heard in the distance. DR.. Elfenstein
was the first to enter the cheerless place,
while two men beside Roger followed,
ready to bear the sufferer in their arms
to a wagon quite a distance down the
road, beyond the narrow pathway the
SiTlS udu ptlSucO ofeI Ou Tie DdCkS Ol
their gentle horses.
The doctor paused a moment to exam
inc the patient, but looked very grave as
he did so, and whispered to Ethel:
Il think we are too late to save him.
He will live but a few hours, as death
is even now upon him. He must be re-
moved, however, at once, and as l know
of no other place, shall take him to my
own house."
Taking the wallet in his hand to draw
it away, he found it impossible to do
SO, as the death clutch of the dying
fingers upon it was tight and still strong;
so leaving it where it was on his breast,
the doctor summoned the men, who gent
ly raised the slight form in their arms,
and bore him forth. Soon the poor man
was lying on blankets and a soft pillow
upon the floor of an easy wagon, while
the doctor sat by his side, carefully fan
ming away the flies that might annoy,
and thus they wended their way back
to their homes.
A few hours later, in the comfortable
guest chamber at the young physicians
home, the poor wayfarer breathed his
last, and as the sympathizing physician
closed his eyes and Strengthened his form
he drew away the wallet carefully and
1OlOeO tue poor, Iulu uaHuS UPON LIS
breast.
After dispatching a messenger for an
undertaken he summoned Mrs. Clum as
witness, and passed to his private office
in order to examine the mysterious wal
let, that should, he hoped, reveal the Sc
cret of the wanderers family and home.
CHAPTER XIX.
'Miss Nevergail," said Andrew, a
pompous footman at Castle Cairn. as he
knocked at the door of Lady Linwood's
boudoir, and was hidden to enter. "A
gentleman is in the drawing room who
wishes to see you"
''Do you know him?" queried Ethel.
81 cannot call his name. yet I have
often seen him"
1T Is of no consequence. will be
with him presently" returned the gov
erness, as she resumed her book, and