Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-05-14

manner, MIR. Maine, won't you do a gen
erol,s actionf"
Il will hear what it is first"
Give me up You know well that |
do not love You; you know. too, If ! am
not very much mistaken. that | have
consented to be your wife for my
brother's sake. Won't you let me OFT my
part of the bargain and and forgive
my brothers debt ?"
What" he said coarsely. Lose 800
pounds and get nothing for it My dear,
you don't know me; if you break with
me | sell him up tomorrow"
She said not another word, but turned
away from him, and sat perfectly still,
her eyes looking out to the distant gray
sea-line, her face seeming to age and
sharpen perceptibly as she did so.
He stood watching her now with a
lowering brow. At length he said
abruptly
Hadn't you better go in2 You look
tired to death"
She rose at once, with listless ODE
1ience, and allowed him to help her over
the beach in the direction of the prom
enade
As they disappeared man who had
been sitting in the cave behind them, and
who had been an involuntary listener to
their conversation, came out and watched
them go, and as he did so he ground his
heel fiercely into the shingle on which
he was standing, and muttered something
that would not bear repeating.
Ethel found letter on her breakfast
table the next morning. letter that
caused her thin face first to flush and
then to turn deadly pale, for these were
its contents
Dear Miss Granger: l was an I'M
avoidable listener to a conversation be-
tween you and your intended yesterday
| will not enlarge on the feelings with
which heard the truth of the horrible
bargain to which he is holding you, for
know you will credit me with no man
ly and honorable sentiments. But I beg
you, by all the tenderness of which a
woman's heart is capable, to unbend in
my favor just far enough to accept the
enclosed check at my hands-for what
use you may imagine-and thus allow
me to offer some slight reparation for
the wrong l did you. Yours faithfully,
whatever your answer, Arthur Hunt
(alias Ringwood)."
Ethel laid the letter on the table and
leant back in her chair, unable to move.
The check, which was for 800 pounds,
had fiuttered on to the floor, and she did
not attempt to pick it up. How couli
she accept money from a thief?
Il will see him." she decided.
His address was at the top of the pa
per, but she could not bring herself to
visit him there. Instead, she walked
slowly up and down on the parade, de-
serted at this time of the morning.
She had not long to wait. After a
few turns she saw him coming to meet
her, and as her eyes fell once more on
the tall, broad shouldered figure and the
dark, handsome face, thinner and more
unlocking than of old, she found
it difficult to remember that last meet
ing at Arden hall
"You have come to tell me that you
will accept my check" he said that you
will let me do that little thing for you 70
How can II" she broke out, with a
sob in her voice How do / know it is
honestly come by?"
His face flushed crimson, and he drew
back
Have l quite deserved that?" he said.
'You admitted yourself that you were
a thief" she said. "If you have changed
your mode of living since how am | to
know it,"
He looked at her for a moment in
silence.
Miss Granger" he said, will you
listen to me?"
She allowed him to lead her to a seat.
! we have played a terrible game at
| cross purposes, you and I. On that night
when you found me in the library /
never dreamt for minute that you
were accusing me of being professional
burglar. | thought you knew what /
had come for, and that it was my dis
honorable way of obtaining it that had
aroused your Indignation and made you
| hurl all those hard words at me. | am
Sir Jasper's grandson. There were let
tiers of importance belonging to my
mother in that bureau that he never
could be induced to part with. She sent
me to get possession of them the best
way | could. | was to go and see him
under an assumed name, and try what
threats and persuasions would do. There
was money hanging on the possession of
those letters which bore testimony to my
late fathers relationship to a rich man
who has recently died. To my shame
must own that l have been an expense
and trouble to my mother when / was
younger, and I determined not to come
back to her till l had achieved my pur.
pose, but / had no intention of getting
into the house as I did till / picked up
the key you dropped, which l recognized
from my mothers description, and find
ing the window open proved too much
for me. The moment / saw you enter
felt the shame of what had done"
"Was that all? Did all the mystery
mean nothing more than that"
"Was it not enough? l felt myself
in false position altogether. / knew
l had no right to have breathed a word
of love to you. was a very poor man
i was under an assumed name had
met you secretly. l knew that my con-
duct would not bear the light of day"
"And l." said Ethel slowly, "had prom
ised to trust you"
81 ought never to have extorted that
promise" he cried eagerly ethel, is it
4 A,k