Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1908-10-22
CHAPTER discontinued.

I'm aWfully sorry, Arch" he said,
that / was such a beast last night
I'll never forgive myself for trying to
strike you. Only, you see, lost my
head, and / didn't know quite what
was doing" "Of course" said, Il
understand" But he would not let
me stem the tide of his remorse. And
then, you know, what you said was
very hard to bear, and you see, after
all, it wasn't true. She told me 1t
wasn't. Did you hear herr"
YES" assented, "and / believe she
told you the truth"
"Of course; but then you're always
right, Archibald, always right. When
go away from here and never see
her any more"-his lips quivered I'M
controllably-T may be able to forget
her."
"Of course you WILL" I assured
him, cheerily, though there was lump
in my throat. Men have died, but
not for love. Many have been as hard
hit as you and have recovered"
"Oh, yes" agreed my patient, but
without enthusiasm; but at any rate
! had gained my point, and Vincent
had agreed with me that marriage
with the secretary was too rash and
foolish for him to contemplate.
"By-the-by, Arch" he said, careless
ly, as we still sat before the fire try
ing to make believe that the incident
of the secretary was closed, II have
something to tell you. The secretary
told me outright which one of the
six girls really is the daughter of
Fletcher Boyd"
/ looked at him in utter astonish-
ment. What" / said, excitedly; do
you mean to say she deliberately gave
away the secret? Which one is it, for
Heavens sake? And why did she
do it?"
IT'S Agatha Sixth. You were right
all along AS for the reason, don't
know what she did it for, unless-un-
less" he hesitated. she's such an
honorable little thing I think she felt
that the marriage would displease my
family, so she wanted to turn me
from what she saw was coming and
used the disclosure of the Honorable
Agatha's identity for bait. Come on
to bed" he added, with little return
Of his old spirit; you'd better get
rested for your last try for the TWEEN
ty millions. II you make up for past
neglect you ought to win Agatha
Sixth hands down."
Then you don't mean to try?"
His face clouded again. Il don't
mean to try" he said, and we went up
to our rooms in silence.
And so we came to the last four
days Of our stay at Castle Wyckhoff,
and began subtly and by degrees to
win back my former place In the re-
gard of Agatha Sixth, and with every
inch of ground gained in my pursuit
of the Honorable Agatha thought of
Vincent with fresh pity.
The evening before the last day of
our stay we all spent together in the
music room. We were very jolly, and
yet underneath 1t all / think the girls
were a little saddened by our APP.
preaching departure, and Wilfred and
l felt a certain regret that the end
of our delightful visit had come,
though of course / had fully deter.
mined to propose to Agatha Sixth on
the morrow. | was rather surprised,
therefore, when Vincent suddenly
complained of headache and, excusing
himself, went up to his room When
went up to my own room / raped
on his door, but he made no answer
and l concluded that he must be
asleep. The next morning, much to
my establishment, he did not saunter
in and out of my room as he was &C
customed to do of morning, but
as 1t was late / did not stop to inves-
tigate. But when ten o'clock came,
and still no Vincent, / went up to his
room, for / thought he should be up
and doing on this, his last day at Cas-
tie Wyckhoff, when he was to leave
for London on the AIS train that aft
ernoon. / say che" not "we," for i
feltsmore confident of my success
with Agatha Sixth that day than had
done the evening before, and although
l had not yet had the opportunity to
put the great question. felt that it
was very possible that III the guise of
accepted lover l might not have to
take the 4:15 that afternoon.
When I reached Vincent's room /
knocked twice, and. receiving no an
swer, entered, and was somewhat
alarmed to find that he was not there,
though his bed had been slept in.
Anxious, without knowing why, tore
downstairs and called for Mrs. Armi-
stead That good lady met me at the
foot of the stairs in answer to my sum-
mons, with an air as anxious as my
own.
Have you see Lord vincent?" /
asked her.
Have you seen my secretary" she
replied. without answering my ques-
ton. she's not in her room, though
her bed has been slept In. But she