The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-06-24
CHAPTER TX (Continued)
The Night Before the Wedding.

features became set her eyes be
came hard, her hanls clenched and
unclenched themselves as though
she had no con rol over them. She
threw the letter from her; but i'm
mediately she caught it up again,
and then read it through for the
fifth time 1t was long letter, plain
ly and legibly written, evidently by
an educated person.
After she had read it a fifth time,
she sat staring into the fire. She
saw nothing, heard nothing. She was
oblivious to her surroundings. Her
face. even her lips, were bloodless.
She sat thus for long time
Presently she aroused herself ann
pulled the bell cord. A servant.
maid appeared.
is my father gone to bed?' She
did not turn her face towards her,
and she spoke with evident diff
Guilty. Her voice was almost tone
less
mo, miss, he is just saying good
night to Mr.. Sackville'
will you please go to him. and
ask him to go into the library.
Yes, miss
why are YOU waiting?
Shall | tell him that you will
come to him, miss"
Yes"
The girl left the room, while
Olive continued to look into the fire
with the same stony stare.
Again she read the letter through
This time slowly, word for word,
! sentence by sentence, as though she
would weigh its meaning carefully
and judicially. When she had. fin
ished, she had apparently made up
/ her mind. She rose to her feet. and
took a step towards the door, but
was unable to proceed further Her
brain whirled. she felt herself fall.
| ing. Clutching the back of the chair
| she held herself for a few seconds,
then, as If with a sudden effort of
will, she controlled herself. Then
| she walked across the room stead.
lily, opened the door, and went down
stairs slowly. Her face even to her
lips, was still ashy pale, and in her
eyes was stern set look. There
was no sign of weakness in her
movements, and yet she looked as
though she had been stunned. When
she reached the bottom of the stairs
she looked slowly around her, as
though she were not quite sure of
her Whereabouts. There was dazed
expression in her eyes, which sug-
gested the look in the eyes of
sleep-walker
Again she seemed to make
sudden effort, and then she walked
to the library door and opened it.
John Castlemaine looked up at his
daughters entrance, and was startled
by her appearance. He was sitting IN
an armchair, smoking a last pipe
tefore going to bed.
olive, my darling, what is the
matter? Are you ill?" he asked ten
derly
She tried to speak. but could not;
then she moved towards him, and
threw herself into his arms, while
John Castlemaire held her, as he
had held her years before when
she was baby
The next morning Radford Lei
cester woke early Contrary to his
expectations, no sooner had he
placef his head on the pillow the
night before than he fell into a
deep, dreamless sleep. After the ex.
citement of the evening. nature de
manded rest, ard so she wrapped her
kindly arms around him, as if she
desired to be specially kind to him
just then. When he awoke he could
not for time realize where he was
but the truth soon came to him. He
remembered. too. that it was the
morning of his wedding day His
heart gave a leap as the thought
came into his mind, anp then to stay
in bed longer was an impossibility.
He dressed with great care. now
and then looking out of the win.