Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-09-19
CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XVIII.
1t was Una's first night in London.
Weary as she was she could not find
sleep; the dull roar of the great city
which those who are used to take no
| heed of-rang in her ears and kept
her awake. Her brain was busy, too;
and even as she closed her eyes the
endless questions, which the strange
events of the day had given birth to-,
pursued and tormented her. She
could scarcely realize that she had
left Warden Forest, that she was here
in London, the place of her most ardent
dreams! And then how singular,
hoy mysterious was that coincidence
which had brought it about.
Until Jack Newcombe, the young
stranger, had come to Warden, she had
never heard the name Of Davenant,
and it did not require much effort to
recall anything Jack had said, for
every word was craven on her heart,
and it had seemed to her as if he had
! implied that he was not as good as he
was supposed to be.
She herself, as she lay, her beauti-
full head pillowed on her round white
arm, was conscious of strange feel
ing which had taken possession OF her
in Stephens presence-nOt OF dislike,
but something of doubt, something also
of vague fear.
And yet he could not but be good
and generous, for was it not to him
that she owed all that had happened
to her? And did not his mother, the
timid gentle woman who had already
won Una's heart, speak of him as great
and good?
Alas and a faint flush stole over her
cheek, and a long sigh stole from her
Ilips-alas! it was that other-Jack
Newcombe-who was bad; it was he
whom she was to avoid.
And so, notwithstanding that she
was in the very city of her dreams,
she fell asleep with a vague sadness
in her heart.
Quiet as Wilmington Square is, the
noise Of the market carts passing to
Covent Garden awoke her soon after
dawn.
She looked round with stare of
amazement as her eyes fell upon the
dainty room, with it's costly furniture
and rich hangings, and listened for a
moment, as if expecting to hear the
rustic of the great oaks which sur
rounded the cottage at Warden; then
she remembered the change that had
befallen her, and springing out Of bed,
ran to the window.
All the square was asleep; the
blinds were closely drawn in all the
houses, and only the birds on the trees
seemed thoroughly awake.
She could hear the market carts
rumbling in the great thoroughfare be-
yond, and as she had gone asleep
with the rattle of wheels in her ears,
she asked herself, wonderingly:
Does London never rest?"
She remembered that Mrs. Daven-
ant had showed her bathroom COM
municating by a door from her own
room, and Herewith her cold water
was as necessary as air-went and
had her bath; then she dressed her
sci f,and, opening her door, went
downstairs.
To her amazement, all the house
seemed wrapped in slumber
At home, at the cottage at Warden,
Gideon and all of them were up with
the lark, and life began with the morn
ing sun.
She stole into the drawing-room, and,
unfastening the shutters with some lit
tie difficulty, opened the window and
leaned out to breathe the fresh air;
but it seemed as if the air was asleep,
too, or, in it's journey from the country,
| had lost itself in the maze of houses,
and failed to reach Wilmington
Square.
Una looked out dreamily wondering
who and what sort of people lived in
the huge blocks of dwellings that sur
rounded her, and wondered, family,
whether she could be looking at the
spot where Jack Newcombe dwelt.
She could not guess that Jack had
not come back from Hurst Leigh yet,
but was waiting for the squire's fu-
neral
Instinctively she turned to the table
and took up the album and went back
to the window with the book open at
the page which contained Jacks por,
trait.
How beautiful the face was! And
yet, she thought, with a warm glow in