Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-07-11

OH HIS STdHuSoH ldCS
thinking that they were only an add
tional proof of his ancestry from hi
own dissolute SON.; but he remained
silent on the subject.
Then Fabian had returned to Don
oyle to pack up his belongings, and
walking n day in Ballyshannon Gler
by the side of the mountain torrent
which san such a wonderful song O
sleep among the messy boulders, III
had come face to face with Elsa.
Vandraken's eyes had been too
clouded by the horror of his OWL re
Election to recognize Fabian, but Elsa
coming upon him suddenly, round {
bend in the forest path, stopped, ant
stood looking at him, with eyes which
though already half withdrawn from
earthly things, gazed at him inquiring
ly, as though demanding recognition
But he did not recognize in the nun
any resemblance to the girl who had
fitted across his life, and from whom
he had been cut off by the gulf o.
darkness. So he, too, looked at he1
inquiringly.
Il am Elsa Won Tarsenheim," said
the nun, in a troubled voice.
"Elsa!' he cried, the remembrance
of his suddenly changed feelings stab
bling his memory. did your father
send you to me?"
mot my earthly father she an.
swered, in a low voice. 1.-THE Church
knows everything, = the Church
which has fought and o%verthrown
such inventions as my fathers when
ever they have been made. The
Church which knows all, and keeps
It's secrets, is again going to destroy
the works of darkness"
"Can your church undo what has
been done?" asked Fabian Dare,
eagerly. He was not without faith in
the potency of that mysterious, unend-
ing religion which the nun represent
ed. Does your church know what
was done to me that day?- but how
can they?"
Through what l know and through
their own knowledge of ancient oc-
cultism, which is almost as great as
my fathers. They, too, have books
from the Alexandrine Library
Fabian came forward eagerly. Tell
me, for Gods sake! tell mel" he ask
ed. what was done to me that day?"
Elsa looked pitylngly at his face.
"There was much done that day."
she answered, with a break in her
voice. And then she told him.
When she had finished Fabian Dare
laughed in a way which caused Elsa
to shut out the sound from her ears
with trembling hands.
"He got his ten thousand pounds
worth that man didn't he?" he
laughed. "But 1 will kill him and get
my own face back"
"No!-no! Not that! You must not
kill him! 1t may be only a supersti-
ton but if it shouldn't be a super
stition-"
What do you mean?"
THAT if you kill him, your soul will
bear his sins for all eternity"
ct can't be true there is no rea-
son for it"
But if it should. Fabian if it
should" The nuns eyes, in their so
licitude, became a woman's for a mo-
ment. Besides, there is no need. You
will come to Ballyshannon, and the
other man will come, and the opera
tion will be undone. You will get back
your soul again, and gradually the 9th
er mans record will fade from your
face. But there is no time to waste.
My father is losing his power. Strange
disturbing things. have been happen
ing 1t the castle. 1t is built over caves
and is h~oneycombed with secret pas
sages, built as a method of escape in
old times. We became conscious, a
few days ago, that there were others
besides ourselves living in the CASTLE
Ghosts" suggested the young man.
"Do ghosts steal books?" asked the
nun. mo, they are not ghosts. There
is even a smell of cooking; and they
have taken three of the A~lexandrine
books from which my father got his
power. They have taken them and
still they live in the castle. We hear
them, like rats in the wainscoating.
All! something terrible is going to
happen. My father knows it. But, more
terrible than all, he is about to COM
nit the unforgivable sin he is going
to try to destroy his own soul and es-
cape mortality! 1t is frightful!" vail
ed the nun, covering her face with
her hands. 1T is such a little, fragile
thing, this world, and M little atom
on it is shaking his fist at the universe
and tampering with it's sacred laws"
He will succeed" whispered the
young man, "as he succeeded with
me-" Z
'He cannot he cannot! He has all
the powers of Saturn at his back, but
he cannot win. The other man will
bride him with gold to undo the oper-
alton, then he will be abducted to
Rome and confined in the yes" she
hurried on, che will be isolated. The
church has always come to the rescue
when science threatened the earth
with destruction; the church that
knows all the only safe custodian of
such secrets as my father has. 1t will
not be the first time it has inter
vened."
Fabian Dare was listening, breath
less, to the disjointed words of the
nun, but he was not the man to dis
believe. He had toe much proof of the
forces that underlie the calm surface
of the world to be i~ncredulous.
"You will come to B~allyshannon
when l send for you?" she asked.
YES" murmured Fabian, and the
turned to go.
'sWait!" he said. sI want To explain