Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1908-09-18
CHAPTER xxi.

lie VIII see ucE lO-ulOTTOW
-
CHAPTER XXI.
But the morning proves him wrong.
Amber is 40 longer within the walls Of
Carrig. When she had zone, or how. no
one knows. And to all his pIsf and
se~lf-denunciation is added the knowledge
| that she must have walked all the way
from Carrix either to Madam's, where
she was expected, or to the old Mil
House. In what cruel haste she had
been to knock their dust from of her
feet !.
How Hilary spends the hours after
his first certain knowledge Of Ambsr's
going from Carrig he himself never knows
to the end OF ali. But when this short
and dying day 10 drifting into \ long
and chilly night, he suddenly goes into
the yard and orders a trap to be got
ready for him.
Coming to that part of the road that
leads up to the boreen, where Amber's
little sick boy dwells, he springs to the
ground and leads the horse up the lane,
and there gives the poor woman, who re-
members him with the most dsvout graf
itude, his horse and trap In charge.
Was he mad last night when he hurled
his miserable insults on her? Surely he
was mad! What did it all come to After
all? A few moments spent alone with
Everard! He had thought her wrong
there but he-was it not he who had
been hideously in the wrong? He who
had accused her Of falsity-falsity to
him-to the man she had said she loved {.
Certainly she had gone to zee the stan
with Everard, but that was only q small
fault. magnined by him, not a crime.
AS he nears the mill, a little spark
from the lowest depth around it catches
his eye. He blinks-stares again. Yet
surely there is a light, and in that dismal
cellar where he and Amber had buried
her rings, that night! HE heart begins
to beat She has rot zone 10 EAiAm's,
then /. Poor darling! He had bsen moth
ing but a grief to her from almost tAsir
first acquaintance. But = light here7
Could she be the one who had lit it:
And Why come there, into the very bow
els of the earth As 1t were. at this dark
hour?
An unworthy thought-dismiased in
stantly with a touch Of self-horror-thst
she il there to regain those rings, ssnds
him fying down the slope that leads 20
the old mill. More lksly-faF more like
Ly-9D6 nae CO0S n8EV III w u II -
the last place in the old nil that she
had visited with him. II there ssens to
be conceit or vanity Of N sort In this
thought Of his, It must be combatsd BY
the fact that he judges her ~ he Judges
himself. Has he not come here tonight
to look his last on scenes made sacred
to him by her?
And if she IL here? II b should he
- .3Ily- E.-A..->A> - Cd L>- >.A
in that melancholy vault-.han In bis
very body he can PROSTATE himself BE-
fore her. IA lay his apologies at her
feet. Can own to her his grief-his hat
red OF himself, and-Heavsn Is good ~
well as just gain her forgiveness.
He covers the ground between him ard
time, and, gaining the dipalidated door
way, steps quickly in, and 70 that hole
in the broken flooring that leads to the
cellar beneath. Very softly he sssps. He
must not take her Of her guard. To
startle her by . sudden descent would Be
a cowardly thing-taking her by storm,
as it were. And Jet to seem 10 spy upon
her!
He shrinks from the thought, and final
" besides ON looking through the hole in
the floor from which the sid ladder b
hanging, and seeing her. call 10 her tsl
ing hisr he is here-has ceme-oh! too
poor too poor! Telling her rather Inst
he is here, her slave-he1 lover fer lie,
even though she should elect to d~spiss
andi reject him!
He bends down-his eyes travsrss the
vault. A sharp exclamation almost -
capes him. Almost-not qait.. Down
here in this dismal cellar Deane 10 knse-
ing beside 4 wide opening in the earth0
floor This opening 10 close to the wall,
and on the wall just above It 10 painted
that small black arrow, Of whi:h Amber
and he had taken such notice, On The
side of this opening lies an old and very
large jewel case-very old. and nov very
grimy-its lid lifted. Hilary casing, too
astonished to move, can sec in tina faint
light of the lantern Deane has laid BE-
side it. great rays Of light hashins. The
missing jewels at last! How near the
discovery Of them he and Amber had been
when they buried those rings; only an
inch or two this. way-And
Lightly he drops to the ground. So
lightly indeed that the other man, en-
crossed with his spoil, hears nothing Of
his coming, until he is almost st Ah o.
bow.
With a frantic yell, - Of q wild beast
tern from its prey, Deane springs to his
feet, and having faced Adare for the
fraction of a second. filings himself upon
him. The latter grasps him In turn. Dis
gust and rage are giving fresh strength
to .hews and sin~as. hat ssautrs Hktss
assistance from any source. And - q
few minutes til two men sway and vFss-
tie and sre h1bs1 n . dsedty snhraHs
1t neans dean-oer sas Or ~ seAsfi