Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1906-02-23

ed the eyes of the villagers IN church
that morning, and replaced it by q light
cashmere gown.
''The last Sunday that l shall be
known to the world as Miss Mailing"
she mused Before this time next week
Jack and will be away from here,
happy in each others society, and in
the certainty that nothing on earth can
ever separate us. Most young women
f~would have Rumberless. love tokens to
destroy before their marriage; have alb
solutely nothing that l fear my hus-
bands seeing. Circumstances have been
against my cultivating lovers as an
amusement, and am spared the farce Of
destroying the evidences of my past
folly"
When she had taken two or three
turns up and down the room, she stopped
in front Of her desk and looked at it
thoughtfully.
Il suppose I may as well destroy it."
she said, abSently. at can do me no
good to keep 1t, and it might possibly
90 me harm in the future. That must
have been In my mind all the time"
She unlocked the small bronze box on
the toilet table with a key that hung
from gold chain round her neck, and
took from, 1t a bunch of keys Then
drawing up a chair to the desk she I'M
locked that also, and went slowly
through the contents.
She came upon one or two letters that
interested her slightly and drew her
thoughts away from her original purpose
to SEARCH the desk, and 1t was not until
Doth sides were quite empty that she
discovered with a sudden heart-quaking
rear the absence Of that for which she
was searching.
A look Of wild despair flashed from
her eyes and her breath came in short,
sharp gasps, as she turned to the heaps
OF odds and ends which she had already
gone through, with a hope that in her
absence Of mind she might have passed
what she sought without noticing it,
Her quick, nervous fingers turned over
the papers until the pile had once more
been thoroughly searched; and then Pau
line Mailing sank back in her chair with
her hand to her head and a look of de-
spair in her eyes. Horrible thoughts
chased each other through her aching
brain; and, when 5 o'clock at last struck,
she had arrived at only one definite con-
clusion, that the person who had posses
sion of the missing article and the one
who had advertised for the address of
Sir Godfrey Mailing were one and the
same.
When she rose and relocked the desk
she was haggar1 and pale, and she look
ed at herself W stfully in the glass; and
an instructive prayer went up from her
fCl,k
her until she was Jack Dornton's wife
In the midst of all that threatened her
loss of name, wealth, postion-it was
almost touching to note how this worldly
woman counted everything as nothing
compared with her love for Jack.
Lord Summers was one of the guests
at Mallingford. He was staying cover
the seventeenth" and the fussy, kindly
old man was slightly concerned at the
existing state of affairs. He arrived only
on the Saturday evening. and he was
surprised to find Jack still at the Park
And when are my pictures to be
completed, Mr.. DOrntonT' he asked
This very question had been point
of disagreement between Jack and Pau
line. He had wished to carry out the
commission for those six pictures, and
ing another penny by hisNpainting after
their marriage. So he hesitated a little
before he answered.
Are you anxious to have them soon?
l am anticipating 9 winter in Rome this
year, and | should like, if possible, to
devote myself while there to close
study of the old masters. But, if you
are particular as to time, l will finish
work, of course"
mo, i don't think l am exactly in a
hurry, if you are not" and as his lord
ship spoke he thought of the avidity
with which Jack had accepted the offer
when it was originally made, and his
voluntary promise to complete the series
by the end of the year. 80 you mean
to winter in Rome?" he said, pleasant
ly. And how does Miss Ethel Mallett
like the prospect of so long a separa-
tion%'
Jack Redeemed suddenly, and he hated
himself for it.
II did not know you took enough in
terest in my private affairs to be led
into investigating Them" he answered,
Nor do l. You are mistaken; it Is
Miss Mallett's affairs l am interested
in. l beg you will not credit me with
prying into your personal affairs at all
As have spoken on the matter, and
as you seem to resent the liberty-which,
believe me, was not intended as such
l must explain how things are. l met
an old friend of mine, with his daugh-
ter, at the Exhibition of the Royal Acad-
envy one day last season. l had known
him in years past as an enthusiast in
art, and l was delighted to meet so CON
genial u companion" Lord Summers
paused a moment, and looked carefully
round the table; seeing everybody occu-
pied in conversation, he went on, in
slightly lowered voice. "My friend has