Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-04-21
~ don't want your money. girl" he

your promise"
II want her--I want her." said the
Icaptain. as he went away from her and
to his post of duty. and gave the nee
lessary and astonishing orders for an
increase of speed.
1t was a strange thing for man to
say to himself, with danger so near
and death so possible in so short a
time Though l suppose death is as
possible and danger as real many
times, when all is peace and calm and
sunshine: and l do not doubt that
men have been as blindly weak and
wicked, many time and oft, as was
Captain Dennis.
She shall never know that l was
not single man when met her." he
said, under his breath; las a single
man l will WOO her: as a single man
I will win her 1 will marry her some
where in the west, where | am un-
known. and no one shall ever know
that l sin when l do it,
No, Captain Dennis, you will not do
as you plan. 1t is easy to say; it is
Ihard to do You are weak and wicked.
Miss Rannnttie is wicked. but she Is
not by any means weak. She under
stands You. fully and entirely. But
you neither know nor understand her.
Perhaps she is proud in the knowledge
that YOU love her-or think you do.
Possibly she regards your determina-
tion-you may not know that you
showed it in your face, Captain Den
mis-, but you did-tO deceive her by a
pretense of honorable marriage, as a
delicate compliment to her; though
the slight it puts upon her powers OF
may more than balance her apprecia-
| tion of the compliment to her charac-
ter You will not marry her; you Will
not ask her hand in marriage. You Will
set her upon the wharf at New York
at the time you promised, and you will
never see her again. You will have
been a tool in her hands, and she VIII
cast you aside because she is done with
YOU. Your letters to Denver will meet
| with no answers, though they may
make interesting reading in the Dead
letter Office at Washington Your
search will he unavailing. Hurry now;
make tomorrow noon the end Of your
chapter and you need never cross
these pages again. Pray for pardon
for the sin you contemplated, but will
never find an opportunity to commit;
| in time YOU may deserve it: in time
YOU may receive it. But the silence
with which you intended to cover and
conceal your sin could have been no
greater than the silence which shall
fall for ever between Lurline Bannottie
and yourself. A traitors fate, Cap
tain Dennis, traitors fate! and we
know Lurline Bannottie well enough to
say that her silence is better than you
deserve.
The captain remained on deck. Miss
BannOttie remained below for some
hours. The man who had gone on the
errands for her said nothing to her.
He did not even come near her. Per-
haps he had nothing to say. None
of the others presumed to intrude upon
| her evidently desired silence. But all
recognized, by the changed motion or
| the vessel, and by the new noises
among the machinery, that the speed
had been greatly increased. To some,
| this was a source of terror: some
doubtless. were gratifed; the man who
had failed when sent to the captain
was in the depths of despair and sor-
row-for he did not know how the re-
suit had been brought about: and
Lurline Bannottie herself, she was
quietly serene and triumphant-fors she
did not care how any result was
brought about, so that she only had
her way.
After some time she went to her
stateroom and clothed herself in her
thickest and warmest garments. She
put on her waterproof cloak over them
all She went up on deck. The night
was still pitchy black. but the storm
had somewhat abated. The circles of
| light cast by the various lights about
the vessel were very narrow indeed,
land seemed to leave the darkness out
side them blacker and deeper yet.
| She found a place where she felt Sc
cure; dark place where she could sit,
unseen. by any Of those whose places
were upon deck, and strain her eyes
| in a vain attempt to pierce the wild
night through which they were so mad
Iy plunging.
1t was pleasure to her to think that
all this was for her. For her. the fire
men were piling more coal upon the
fires: for her. the engineers were coax
ing greater and greater power from
the ponderouS machines which res
bonded almost humanity to their wish
eS: for her. the outlook was watching
with redOubled attention and zeal;
for her--She was muSing now lmoSt
observation-disclosures asleep after all the
strain had been put upon her mind
almost absent from the real-almoSt
sleep. in spite of storm and danger
for her, Captain Dennis, had, had
what had he done?-She didn't know
she couldn't remember-she didn't
care. What was Captain Dennis to
her, or she to him? Only let her sleep,
land
She awoke again. She knew it was
Iunsafe to remain where she was and
sleep. She knew she might be missing
lin the morning if she dared riSK IT,
But the half-relinquished powers Of
Islumber still held some power over
her: she could not rise: she could not
speak: she could not think clearly.
lit makes little difference, per-
lhaps." she muttered. as the lids clos
ed slowly-slowly-slow lead
en- weight. over her tired eyes: little
difference If | am not in New YORK
by tomorrow noon l might as well De