Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-12-31

year, an English mansion, neer park,
house IN Mayfair, seat in the Upper
House. Lionel-Lionel, conld you re-
nounce all these because your father Is
Republican at heart, and would fain have
you despise them? No, lad-no. viii
tell you nothing now. / may not die yet
a while. Before / go, yor may be wiser
you may value other things before these
worlds gaudsT
And weeks passed, during which the
subject was not resumed. Winter came
on, and papa seemed better. We drove
out once or twice. At last the snow fell
in silent, swift fashion for two days and
nights, and all the park and country was
one wide white sheet. 1t was piercing
cold. Gavotte made up great fires in the
hall. One evening went and lay on
rug, full In the blaze and warmth, and
! fell asleep. When awoke the hour
was late; the fire had dwind,ed to a few
red embers; the cold was piercing. Ny
father was pacing the hall length from
end 30 end, and with him was another per-
son. I was superstitious. Az a girl of
fifteen / had read German legends until
l was half afraid to go to bed; and now.
while watched my father come into the
faint light of the dying embers, was
thrilled at the sight of a tall man-an ut
ter stranger, who wore a long cloak and
close skull cap. l could not see much
of his face; but his voice was the sweet
est, the strangest, the saddest | have ever
heard in my life. 1t was not young
voice; the man in the cloak was not a
young man. BE and my father stood
close to me without perceiving me where
| lay, covered with an old black shawl,
looking like blot of shadow on the floor.
L must not wrong my children said
papa; but ! do not wish Lionel to have
the box or the parchments till he is
twenty-one. At the same time, you must
tell them-tell them both when | am gone
that there is a title, and that there are
lands. You know everything, and you
must explain
"'Where is the boxT said the sweet,
strange voice.
Without answering anything, my faith
er began to move away toward the other
end of the huge hall. The tall man in
the cloak went with him. / watched
them without stirring l saw them pace
down the length of the vast apartment I'M
til their figures cleaned in the faint light
which streamed through the painted win
dow, like ghosts or the shadows of men.
Ny heart beat fast. A title-estates 1t
was true, then, this vision of splendor
which had shone out for a moment from
among the thick clouds of an eventless
life? All papa's teachings had not quelled
the natural petty ambitions in our young,
warm, human hearts. l had fancied that
it would be my fate, when my education
should be complete, to teach in a school,
or go into a private family as a gov
erness but now another career opened be-
fore me. i should wear diamonds and go
TO court. Lionel would make wonderful
speeches in the English Parliament
"Who was that odd man in the cloak.
who seemed to know so much, and in
whom my father confided so completely
waited anxiously for their return. Slow
ly along the vast hall, with measured
steps, came my father and the mysterious
man, and presently they stood once more
in the red glow of the dying embers, close
to where / lay under the black shawl
Then the box containing the certif-
Gates of your marriage and OF the births
of your son and daughter is in that large
black chest close to your beds head?
said the man in the cloak.
lit is there, mad | feel very i'll
have not long to live. l will give you the
key of the chest. When you hear of my
death, come here and unlock 1t, and you
will find an oblong silver casket and an
old-fashioned Maltese cross of yellow to-
paz set in gold, with a portrait of Leila,
my bride, painted very small on ivory in
the center. There is a necklace of gold
attached. Give that and the cross to
Leila,
After that they paced off once more
to the end of the hall. Presently l saw
them returning; but they did not stand
the third time close to the fire. They
passed il, and as soon as their backs were
turned toward me, l rose noiselessly and
escaped at the other end Of the hall. The
next day l looked for the stranger at the
breakfast table, but he was not there. I
did not dare to question papa. | never
saw nor heard a word of the stranger
from that day to this.
when Lionel returned / told him nv
tale. He said he thought must have had
dream before the hearth in the great
possible. Let me hurry over the recital
of the most unfortunate event of my life
in as few words as possible. One morn
ing. in early spring, when the primroses
in the park Of Moreauville We're blooming
in knots of pale gold. under the shadow
of the great laurels, when blue crocuses
and violets glowed along the terrace walk
when the morning breeze was brisk, and
the sun was bright, papa was found dead
in his bed at Chateau Moreauyille. We
thought not of the black chest, nor of
titles and estates then; we mourned for
him.
I'VE have never ceased to mourn for
him. He was buried in the little ceme-
terry at st. Pierre DIES Mortgages. Then
we opened the black chest. We never
found the key but Lionel forced the lock.
We found my fathers will, stating where
the few hundreds were deposited which he
had gained by literary effort; and giving
directions for the money to he used for
our education. There were a few rings
and earrings of gold. set with pearls and
amethysts; there was. above all, the cross.
with the likeness of my mother in the cen
| ter. which proved that had not dreamed
while lay before the fire: but there was
no silver casket. while. as for the stranger
| in the red cloak, he never appeared
| again"
u would find him out 70 cried Miss
Gregson, excitedly springing up and walk
| ing about Leila's chamber. Are you to
/ toll as under-teacher for paltry twenty
FIVE pounds s. year. and is your handsome
brother to be snubbed by a lot OF manu-
| facturers. when he is real loro, an earl.
and English nobleman? II be could only
find it out -
IF he could only find it out!' echoed
Leila.
CHAPTER VIII.
The days rolled on, aud the brilliant
Tsh OF December drew nearer and nearer
that seventh of the month, when the
splendor of Berry, Court was 10 hlsze
forth over the whole wide county. Never
hsS s,,.~h ,,,o~nff s>aur r,rana rafiouS for a