Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-12-06


ness overlook you you were committed
to my care and to Constance. Poor
girl! She thought you were dead"
did you tell her that?"
| mo, but I allowed it to be assumed,
which Is the same thing"
when did she know the truth?'
I'm the hotel-after you left the
room. had to say something. 1t was
! -better--for you-that ! should say
| you We're my wife"
$50 even In that trying moment you
strove to shield me from unjust suspi-
clons. Stephen, how could have acted
toward you as did,"
Again he endeavored to lead her to
talk of the future rather thar the past.
There Is one great surprise in store
/ for you,' he said. But it Is Il pleasant
one in every way. Enid is Mr.. Trails
daughter
II am glad she said simply. II do
not understand, hut you must tell me
another time. Just now l can think
only of you and of myself. You must
listen, stephen. ! will do all that You
demand, hide myself anywhere, but
you must know everything. When we
parted, when | deserted you to nurse
dying man, l was foolish and willful.
but not wholly abandoned. Nor have
ever Deen. | was rich enough to graf
ify my whims. and for time | lived
in Paris, on TIE Riviera, in Florence
and In Blarritz. But | was always
meeting people who knew you, and.
although my wealth and perhaps my
good looks kept me in certain set.
felt that our friends invariably took
your side and despised me. That i'm
FILTERED me the more. At last your IA
Their died, and saw some vague refer
ence to your disappearance from socI-
ETY.. l employed agents to trace you
They failed. Then | went to America
and lived on Il ranch in Nebraska.
where / obtained a divorce from you
on the ground of desertion. Desertion,
Stephen! That was the plea | raised"
She gave hooking little laugh.
Brand thinking it best to fall in with
her mood, sat in silence on Il chair
which he had drawn close to the win
dow. From his house he could. see
the wide sweep of Mounts bay. The
Trinity tender was steaming out from
the harbor. 1t struck him as an ex-
traordinary fact that this was the day
of his relief had he served his full two
months on the rock
Today by his own design the second
era of his checkered career would have
come to peaceful close Within n
little while he would have taken Con-
stance and Enid. If unmarried, on that
long contemplated continental tour.
But the hurricane came when the
blast Of the terrible ones is as Il
stolm," and the pillar, the refuge OF
his distress, became the center Of inilu-
ences destined to mold his life afresh.
What did it all mean? He bowed
his face into his hands. He heard his
wifes low, sweet voice continue:
II lived there nearly six years. Then
my manager died. He was an English
man named Nansittart. Within a
month his wife died There was some
fever about the place, and l became
frightened. A longing for the old life
seized me, and | went east. but not as
>
bore in Nebraska. | had done with ii
and with you, as I thought Constance
never entered my mind save as Il fee
bic memory-so l became Mrs. Eta
Nansittart."
Brand raised his head and looked at
her again. She was speaking now in
curiously subGucd tone. She was
civ, Iar 81
giving it truly.
"In Newport, Saratoga and the Adj.
rondacks in summer. in New York
during the winter, | lived in Il drowsy
content. People who take drugs must
reach that state, but their condition is
pitiable when they are aroused, Many
men asked me to marry them. laugh
I'd at the idea. At last met Mr.. Trail
We were friendly for quite five years
! came to Europe, to The Engadinc
where found that Mrs. Stephen
Brands troubled life was forgotten
but Mrs. Nansittart. the rich widow
was popular, There l saw Mr.. Trail
again. He offered me marriage. and
fancied it would be well TO ally my
widely known on both sides of the At
lantic. did not love him. respected
and admired him-that was all | ac
cepted him. but stipulated that
should go back TO the states and wind
up my affairs there, returning to Pari,
for the wedding That was necessary
If l would maintain my deception. SO
stephen, after lifetime Of vagary ant
wandering this Is the result. | am be
spattered by the mud Of my own acts
see my forgotten DAUGHTER grown Il
beautiful womanhood. | meet my hus
band, whom l might have loved ant
honored, patiently following the patl
into which my neurotic impulses drove
him. Stephen, do you think my punish
mcnt is conpleteW
The bitter self condemnation in hel
voice was not defiant, but subducd
She had Travelled far in spirit through
the vale of tears since the Gulf Rocl
barred her onward progress.
Though she asked question she
seemed to expect no answer. Brand
thinking to render her task less trying
was still looking through the window
and watching the steady churning o
, the tender toward earn du and thence
to the lighthouse.
At last he spoke.
r when l entered this room," he said
Il meant to avoid scene which mus