Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-06-28
CHAPTER XVII.

dis soul became STEPPED in the delicious |
languor of sweet music.
1t was about 6 o'clock when he arrived |
at the house. The ladies had just fin |
ished dinner. Mrs. Freeman was in the |
room with her niece; but after a little |
time that lady found an excuse to leave
the lovers together.
Now for the promise you made me
last night. I have been longing all day
to hear this mystery" said Mrs. Castle
ton.
For several reasons he felt a strong
repugnance to tell her that story. But
what secret can man keep from a wom
an whom he loves, If that woman has
once set her mind upon extracting it from
him?
He told the story in an earnest, sub
dued tone, and with the air of a man
thoroughly possessed by his subject. He
had at first intended to relate to her a
mere brief outline of the family legend,
Just sufficient to account for his super
5titious repugnance TO an alliance with
Miss Grierson but after the first few
sentences he told it from beginning to
end with the utmost minuteness Of de-
tail, largely intermixed with commenta-
ries which the brooding thoughts of many
years had engendered.
At the first mention Of the name of
De Scissors she started look of intense
wonder came into her face; and she list
ened with breathless interest that grew
In intensity with every stage of the mar
rative, and rose into terror as he repeated
the words of the curse. But her excite
ment reached its elimination when he
went on to tell of that stormy night when
the bodies of the woman and child were
washed up at his and his fathers feet
as they stood upon the rocks; and how,
by the dim light in the fisherman's hut, he
had been struck by the resemblance of the
dead child to the face in the picture, and
how strangely this fancy had been SEEM
ingly confirmed by the name upon the
linen.
To all this she listened with dilated
eyes and parted lips. "And the woman
and child-what became of themW she
cried, clutching his arm with trembling
energy.
Both were dead. They were buried
the next morning in Penrhyddyn church
yard"
For a moment she stared at him with
q vacant look, then passed her hand over
her eyes, like one striving to focus the
scattered thoughts of wandering brain,
and muttering to herself, "Am 1 mad or
dreaming, or what can it mcan?"
Then, suddenly turning her eyes upon
him, she exclaimed, "Why, this child was
cast at your feet just as the woman in
the legend was at her husbands!"
Precisely" answered Arthur, gloom
lily. "And l have often thought, had that
child lived, upon her shoulders Fate
would have cast the fulfllment of the
curse"
ut is an awful story" she said, with
a shiver. "But in what way is Miss
Grierson connected with itP
Arthur then proceeded to tell how he
had discovered Constance to be member
of that ill-omened family, by seeing the
name of De Scissors written upon the
old French music.
Constance Grierson De Scissors
Great heavens; is it possible?" she almost
shrieked, starting from the couch in the
extremity or her wonder.
"Yes. What is the matter?" cried Ar
thur, staring at her in startled surprise.
Nothing. But do you suppose could
listen to such a story of marvellous coin
rcidences without amazement? How won
derful How awfully strangew she
murmured, and that shiver of terror
again passed through her frame.
I tn ha ~
these more than natural condolences" !"
he continued. Miss Grierson's fortune
is hampered by an extraordinary will, to
the effect that If she is not married before
the age of twenty, and to a man of pedi-
gree, the whole of it, save a trifing an
nuity, falls into the hands of her moth
er's family, the De Scissors"
At those words Mrs. Castleton, who
had sunk into deep thought, looked up
with new wonder in her eyes. pardon
me-" she said, eagerly. II did not hear
the last sentence"
He repeated the words, imputing the
strange intense interest of her look to
sympathy with the story. "And to what
members of the family?" she asked, in
voice trembling with eagerness.
"One-half goes to certain relatives In
England, the chief of whom is one Mr..
Wylie."
sand the other half?"
"Goes to another branch Of the family
In Brittany" he answered.
Mrs. Castleton covered her face with
her hands, and sank back upon the
couch. seemingly Frustrated by intense
excitement.
Arthur took his leave, much troubled
In mind, and promising to visit her early
the next morning. From the time that
they had stood upon the footing Of lovers
she had never parted from him SO strange
ly as on that night. AS he pressed her
lips he found them cold as Ice. The white
face and its rigid lips and wild eyes
haunted him through the night, and SEEM
ed to strangely associate with some painful
memory that he could not fix for while.