The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1907-04-19
CHAPTER I.
The Murder on the Beach.


We stood and looked at each other. He.
tall and athletic-a handsome man with
a picturesque sort of beauty and a DASH
ing air.
not bad to look at, and wearing my blush,
ing honors proudly. For, at twenty eight,
1 was already one of the most, popular
physicians and surgeons Of the day; and
my skill was beginning to be worldwide.
Three years before l had graduated from
a certain famous medical college; today
sign before handsome office in one of the
most fashionable thoroughfares in New
Orleans: Eugene Dorrance, M. D."
And all my success, all my popularity,
/ owed solely to my own efforts, my own
capacity my own pluck. l think l was
pTSHd w 81 my p9s! rch and re-
markably handsome; with a sweet voice,
a winning smile, and tender little ways
the extreme. There was nothing in life
for him to wish for-this darling of the
gods
His life-path, was strewn, with thorn;
less roses, and not even the traditional
crumpled leaf to annoy;
as stood dis upon ahs eIe
the handsome face with its proud, dark
eyes, a slow, bitter resentment stirred
within n my breast tb my a
to acknowledge. Never, until we had met
here at Grand Isle, a fashionable Southern
home to me, the bitter truth, that Esme
loved Paul Ernscliffe.
My Esme! So had dared to name her,
LyeI whom 1 had loved in secret and
silence for years. To. win her would
have made oa very possible pessd s S to win
Yet. since we had met at Grand Isle
she had been cold and distant to me.
There was. an>air of restraint in her man
ner toward me. She had been wont in the
old, dead days to call me Eugene, but
ilcw she addressed me formally as Doctor
And Paul Ernsclffe was, ever at her
side, to the exclusion OF all others.
knew hat Esme dye oo WAS + Se t ana
:. 1 ground my teeth together at the very
day f. only she ' Would Wait if only she
would love me, and have faith enough In
me to wait.
had gone for. a few. weeks in the late
season, the beautiful golden September
weather; had meant to tell her all, and
1 had never found an opportunity to speak
alone with her; no matter how 1 maneu-
Ve sSe had wa eom n"a to Grand Isle with her
pompous old father and her purse proud
fashionable mother, and her almost inseP-
Bentley l had striven in vain to obtain
a few words alone with her. But once
when I had begged for a few moments
ment to ride with Mr.. Ernscliffe; and upon
a second occasion l was interrupted at
the outset of the tete-a-tete by the APP
pearance Of Ernscliffe himself.
Connecting him in my mind with the
breach between Esme and myself, grew
to almost hate the man.
The night before that upon which my
story opens l had overheard portion OF
a private interview between Esme Lyell
and Paul Ernscliffe, in which he had asked
her to be his wife. I had at once made
my escape from the unpleasant predica-
ment of Involuntary eavesdropping, but my
heart was numb and heavy with bitter
= sorrow and disappointment, and my bur-
den seemed greater than could bear.
I stood in the dying sunset looking into
of my. heart a bitter sorrow for
1 loved her well. and she was % me.
1t was a lonely spot where ! Erns-
cliffe and / had CHANGED upon each other:
beach, with not human habitation or a
human creature In sight
The sun had just gone down. and the
west was streaked with angry crimson.
You'd Overhead. flock Of white sea.
guIls whirled to and fro, uttering shrill
cries; all else was silence. Ernscliffe's
eyes. ! shall never forget those eyes, held sslsi
mig @Yo %' love love Esme fyenr he said.
Il do returned cOldly. What is she
"EverythIng." he groaned. Now. listen
70 me- Eugene Dorrance. l command you
to give her up. relinquish all hope OF win
ming her. for It is useless. You shall never
have her: she is mine, not yours.
I'VE will leave that question for the
lady to decide" / answered, frigidly.
mo- We will settle it nowhere" he
cried, madly.
His fife stood resting against a scrub
oak near by; my own was in my hands.
/ was leaning heavily upon II. We mad