Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-24
APRIL "a, 1910.

OBnlLlOn Dy Lne lOHeiy HSuro III IhO
unwholesome crowd.
"I'll do It'll" he said, finally.
Then with his hands in his pockets.
after the manner of the creatures of
the house, he pushed open the dining
room door and slouched into the dim
place. He went and stood about
yard away from Bayham.
Presently Bayham lifted his eyes
from the floor; they came up to look
at nothing in particular, but they
rested upon Hankins' face.
"Hangl What's to be made of him?"
the ruffian wondered, silently.
An uncomfortable feeling of mistrust
crept over Hankins. He could not tell
whether Bayham had recognized him
or not!
Then he edged away, worming in
and out, and coming to a stand now
and then as he made his way round
the length of the hot plate. Each
time that he paused he spoke to some
rough idler like himself.
"Splitl" he said. In an undertone.
"Over there by the chimney stack
I'm going to work 1t up for him. I'll
give yer the nod when it's ready"
Hankins was laying his plans we'll
The shock of coming into contact with
the hot plates surface would alone be
enough to kill any man.
But so preoccupied had he been that
he had not noticed the time. He was
again near Bayham, and his tongue
was just ready to come to words with
the inoffensive man against the stack,
and to shout "Splitl" when another
voice intervened.
"Come, now; time, pleased" shouted
the night porter of the house, as he
came into the hall.
The hour had come for extinguish-
ing the lights; the rough crew began
to crawl unwillingly toward the stairs
leading to the cubicles, and for the
moment Charles Bayham was saved.
at will keep till tomorrow night"
Hankins muttered to himself; and he
went to his sevenpenny bed wondering.
The mystification of Hankins was
that he could not satisfy himself on
any doubt or question that arose in
his mind. But he was not alone in
in his wonder that night. Not more
than two miles away, in a drawing
room in Curzon street, Mayfair was
a woman whom all around her ac-
knowledged to be wondrous fair. She
was Mildred Rashleigh-Miss no long
er, but Lady Rashleigh; for the rector's
elder brother had died, so that sgd
ney Rashleigh had become the Rev.
erend and Right Hon. the Earl of
Hildever.
Though her thoughts were far away,
Mildred was not alone. While her
lHOuBHtS WduutTSu, WTeLU-
er Dick Wellingham was living or dead,
the Rev. Andrew Hylton kept her
close company. And he was doing
more; he had asked her before, and
was asking her again, to be his wife,
Wont you, Mildred?" Hylton plead
ed once more.
The question saddened Mildred for
she liked Andrew Hylton we'll enough,
deeply enough to marry him happily,
though she had not the wholesouled
love for him that she had given to
Richard Wellingham.
And Il was that love that battled
with her now. Yet IL Dick were dead,
1t seemed hard to deny herself all
the sweetness of fulfilling a woman's s
destiny. But was 1t only that? Was
her love for Dick not as great as II
he were still alive? And perhaps he
still lived. And to marry Andrew Hyl-
ton, when she had a stronger love for
another man, would be doing him, she
thought, lifelong wrong.
LET me think a little longer Mr..
Hylton," she begged. you are too
good
'Too good!" he interjected. what
makes you say that? That was my
feeling with regard to you. 1t
seemed almost too much to hope that
you would change your life in the
world to share mine Yet who has
taken so much interest in my work
as you have?"
What Hylton said was true She
had taken a sincere interest In his