Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-07-26
By WILLARD MACKENZIE


never see her any more.
At length she got back to her own
room, almost dead with fright, and pro-
tested that If Ellen ever SO much as men
toned his name to her again she would
forfeit her friendship for ever But Ellen
had too deep an interest in the affair to
let it drop. If Mr.. Parsons succeeded in
carrying off the heiress, she was to have
a hundred pounds down, besides indefinite
sums in the future. Nor was this her
only motive for joining in the plot; in her
heart she despised her victim as poor,
meek, spiritless creature; and she hated
her because she was rich.
After a few days she again broached
the subject of the lover but Constance
again peremptorily forbade 1t. On the
third, about midday, a brougham drove
up to the school, and the coachman pre-
sented note, purporting to be from Mrs.
Grierson to her daughter. Its purport
was that Constance must return home
Immediately; her father was dangerously
ILL Constance, looking very pale and
agitated, had got into the carriage and
was driven away.
After pursuing the London road for a
mile or two, the carriage suddenly took
an opposite direction. The sequel may be
guessed the note was a desperate ruse,
suggested and, as far as the writing of the
note was concerned, carried out by Ellen,
to place the heiress in the hands of her
employer, Parsons. The young lady was
conveyed to a solitary house, the abode
of friend of the abdyctor, where the first
person who greeted her was her treacher-
GUS friend. Every effort was made to
coax and then to force her into a mar
riage, but she resisted with power of
will that no one would have given her
credit for. Instead of the hundred pounds
he had promised her upon the day the
heiress was placed in his power, Parsons
gave Ellen but twenty, and, when she re-
monstrated, coolly informed her that it
was all he intended to give, and that If
she did not take it quietly he would in
form against her as the forger of the let
ter summoning Constance home.
Ellen took the twenty pounds, and then
sat down and wrote a letter to Mr.. Grier
son, informing him of his daughters dis
| appearance from the school and of her
whereabouts. Having thus revenged her
self, she made her way to London. In
| a few hours after the receipt of the
news, Mr.. Grierson was upon the spot,
and it was with the utmost difficulty that
Parsons and the owner of the house sue
ceeded in making their escape. In her
letter Ellen had insinuated that it was
voluntary elopement; and as such Mrs.
Grierson, to her dying hour, believed it to
| be. 1t entirely turned her heart against
her daughter; and, being worked upon
by her cousin Wylie, was the immediate
cause of that strange, harsh will, which
was framed to guard against the young
girl forming any hasty or unworthy al
| lance.
This is my secret" wrote Constance,
in the concluding paragraph of her letter.
1T has given me many bitter hour,
many fearful, sleepless night"
| Little did Mrs. Grierson suspect that
her cousin Wylie was the concocter of the
whole plot; that he 1t was who first pro-
posed to Parsons to try and make a run
away match with the heiress, and who af-
forwards supplied him with the means Of
carrying her off. Knowing the stern dis
position of the mother, Wylie well knew
that if his plan succeeded she would most
surely dsinherit the daughter. and that
in such case a portion of the large for
tune must accrue to him.
| OF Ellen Jenkins Constance neither
saw nor heard any more. Weary of the
restrictions and the monotony of her life,
and longing to plunge into the great
world, Ellen had ben a most willing in
strument in the hands of desperate ad-
venturer like Parsons. To return to the
school was impossible and so, at 49, she
resolved to seek her fortune in a world of
which she knew nothing, save from books.
| Wandering and wondering for the first
time through the streets of the great me-
tropolis, her eye presently fell upon a
large placard in fashionable hairdress-
er's window, which told of the wonderful
effect of "The Auricous Fluid" which
was warranted to change the darkest hair
to beautiful golden color.
Here was the opportunity; and she
seized It, When the dyeing process was
complete and her hair arranged in little
careless curls about her face, she was
herself quite thrilled by the marvellous
resemblance she bore to her quondam
friend. At first, she endeavored to think
of some means by which she might turn
this accident to account but, upon fur
ther reflection, 1t struck her that having
already committed forgery. she had bet
| ter leave well alone. 1t was soon after
her transmogrifcation that she met Je-
rome. Upon the first opportunity she,
having come to the end of her cash, appro-
priated as much Of his property, includ-
ing the picture she had sat for, as she
could conveniently carry away with her,
and bade him silent adieu.
She next appears upon the scene as
ballet girl at the opera. Here she en-
countered Parsons. They became friends
again. He introduced her to Mr.. Wylie,
who already knew her, from the report
Of the former gentleman, as clever plot
ter. By and by came her marriage with
= A. ~