The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-07-02
CONTINUED

good fortune. she SAID softly. Tell
me, dearest. how did you manage to
live until you were twenty-five with
out falling in love with some other
girl?"
THAT is ridiculously easy. Tell me
how you managed to escape matrimony
until you were twenty-five and you
are answered.
Philip, II liked you that night I
saw you in the square You were a
woebegone little boy, but you were SO
brave and gave me your hand to help
me from the carriage with the air of a
young lord"
"And | have cherished your face in
my waking dreams ever since. You
looked like fairy. And how you stuck
up for me against your uncler'
Tell me, what did you think of me
when you saw me standing disconso-
late in the park?"
Tell, tell, tell-it was nothing but
sweet questions and sweet assurances
that this pair of turtle doves had been
seeking each other through all eternity.
Their wedding was fixed for the mid
die of July. Sharp work, it may be
said, but what need was there to wait?
Mr.. Abingdon was greatly pleased with
Philips choice and urged him to settle
down at the earliest possible date.
Mrs. Atherley, too, raised no protest.
The sooner her beloved daughter was
married the more rapidly would life
resume its normal aspect. They would
not be long parted from each other.
The young people had no housekeep-
ing cares. Philips mansions were re-
plete with all that could be desired by
the most fastidious taste. His yacht
was brought to the Solent so that they
could run over to Portsmouth on a
motor car to inspect her, and Evelyn
instantly determined that their honey
moon in Etretat should be curtailed to
permit them to go for a three weeks
cruise around the British coast.
This suggestion of course appealed
10 Philip. Nothing could be more de-
lightful. He whispered in Evelyn's
ear that he would hug her for the idea
at the first favorable opportunity.
One morning, a day of June rain,
letter reached Philip. 1t bore the print
ed superscription, The Hall, Beltham,
Devon but this was struck out and
another address substituted. 1t was
written in a scrawling, wavering hand,
the caligraphy Of man old and very
ILL., 1t read:
My Dear Philip am lying at the point
of death, so l use no labored words to
explain why L address you in such man
ner. l want to tell you how bitterly I
regret the injustice I showed to your dear
mother and my sister. If. of your char
ity, you will come to my bedside and as
sure a feeble old man of your forgive
ness, can meet the coming ordeal strong
in the certainty that Mary Arson will not
refuse what you have given in her be-
half. Your Borrowing uncle.
PHILIP MORLAND.
With this piteous epistle was inclosed
another:
Dear Mr.. Anson-I join my earnest sup
pication to my husbands that you will
console his last hours with a visit He
blameS himself for what has happened
in the past, yet the fault was more mine
than his-far more. For his sake 1 will
ingly admit it. And 1 have been punished
for my sin. Ruined in fortune, with my
sorrowing woman. Yours faithfully,
LOUISA MORLAND.
The angular italian handwriting of
the second letter recalled a faded
script in his safe at that moment. The
address in each case was a village on
the Yorkshire coast, a remote and in
accessible place according to Philips
unaided recollection of the map.
Grange House" might be a farm or
broken down manor, and Lady Nor
lands admission of reduced circum-
stances indicated that they had chosen
the locality for economy's sake.
These appeals brought a frown of in
decision to Anson's brow. His uncle
and his uncle's wife had unquestiona-
bly, been the means Of shortening and
embittering his mothers life The man
might have acted in ignorance; the
woman did not
Yet what could he do? Refuse q dy-
ing relatives last request. They or
one of them refused his mothers pitt
full demand for a little pecuniary help
at time when they We're rich.
And what dire miSchance could have
sunk them into poverty? Little more
than two months had passed Size Sir
Philip Morland was inquiring for his
philips whereabouts through Messrs.
Sharpe & Smith with a view toward
making him his heir.
Was the inquiry Lady Morland's last
ruse to save an encountered estate?
Why was all pretense of doubt as to
his relationship swept aside so COM
pletely?
He glanced again at the address on
the letter and asked 4 servant TO bring
him railway guide. Then he ascer-
tanned that if he would reach Scarsdale
that day he must leave London not
later than noon. There was q journey
OF nearly seven hours by rail: no
chance Of returning the same night.
lie Went to the library and rang up
sharpe & Smith on the telephone.
a clerk assured him that Mr.. Sharpe.
who attended m Sir pbjliD STorlan5sc