The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-09-06

:; Incidentally, we understand that any
such doubts are dispelled by the fact
! that Mr.. Ferrars is shortly to be
married to a charming lady who
+
He heard a knocking at the hall
door below. And then voice-low,
clear, sad. A woman's voice; the
voice that had Answered him not an
hour ago-Lottie's .y:ce: Here!
He stumbled across. He had
heard the maid answer that Mr.. Fer
rars was at home. He stood rooted,
hand to his forehead, staring out.
Was it real? Should he wake
presently in a sweat to find himself
still upon the ocean liner? For a
door on that lower landing had
opened, and Ferrars' pale, clear-cut
face looked out. Ferrars, unconscious
of his return to the house, had been
in that other room all the while.
And Ferrars had called anXiously
| down.
Miss Haynes, is it? Why, dear,
what has brought you here? What
| is the matter? l was not we'll
I did not go to the rehearsal to-
| night. How strange you look! Come
| this way-sit down-tell me-you
I must"
Flat to the wall the listening man
shuddered back as Ferrars leaped
up the stairs, sprang in, set the gas
blazing, and reached out for a chair.
"No-no!" 1t was the same dear
voice, but trembling and somehow
different; it went through Dams
brain with strange thrill. II could
not rest was going straight on
to the theatre to find you" She
| paused. Framed there in the door
way so close she seemed to strain
her hands together.
"He is back" came her whisper.
''He is back in England-in London!
He was seen only this afternoon.
He went to my old address, some one
told me. He looked i'll and troubled.
No, no-let me think
Archie I CAN'T can't be your wife
yet. I think of him still must,
whatever he has done, however faith
less he may have been to me out
there. You don't know; you couldn't
| understand a woman's heart. Oh,
it would break if I thought he had
come back to realize the love he had
thrown away-come back to find me
another mans promised wife! !
wrote that letter. Yes, you made
me; but something told me that a
true woman would have waited to
know from his own lips that he had
met woman he loved better. I
have lived in agony, and I wouldn't
tell you you had won my promise
when all seemed 80 dark and bitter"
''Lottie!" It broke in moan
from Dams lips. "Lottie! He. is
here! Yes; here for love Of you!"
He stood there, his shaking arms
put out. All was silence. The cry
in her throat seemed to be frozen.
Ferrars, his friend, had reeled back,
and covered away as from de-
scending death-blow. Only his lips
worked soundlessly as Dan Joyce
took his second step, his finger
pointing, his voice sudder,y strong
and calm.
II know. I know now! What
have you done? What have you
written, to blacken my struggling
life in her eyes? What part was it
you played to-night-you, the actor
as the last vile resource of man
in extremity? The part that that
paper says you play with such rare
success?"
There was no answer. He waited
for none. He turned his voice going
soft. "Lottie! The light has come
heaven meant this to happen. An
hour more and I should have lost
you-lost you to this man who has
sunk himself body and soul to win
you away in my absence-this man
who could veil himself in angels uni
form as a nurse-as your own self,
to crush me with lie! You never
doubted me; you were blinded, as
I was blinded tonight, by the genius
of william"
"You wrote!" came the weak
breath in that pause. Her filmed
eyes looked past at something too
deep to be understood. "You wrote
twice, saying that you wished to re-
lease me. I was crushed; I had no
one to turn to. And yet-and yet
oh, Dam"
"Come to me-" he whispered. ut
is all dawning now. I never wrote
that. My real letters have not
reached you. Look! He has played
many parts, trusting that I should
never come back in time; but to-
| night he has played his last. Come
to me, Lottie! Only believe, and
love will bring the light
Next moment he stood in the grip
Of a happiness that paid for all.
Two soft hands had framed his face;
slight breast heaved against his
| own; a trembling figure was locked
| within his arms, and he knew for
certainty that a woman's love, once
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