The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1914-05-14

auJOluluB TOOn. D6llDeTdIely bno
placed the newspaper on a chair near
the girls pillow, and then raised the
window shades to let in the hard gray
light of early morn.
1t was not her present intention to
arouse the wan stranger, who slept as
one dead. So gentle was her breath
ing that the watcher stared in some
fear at the fair, smooth breast that
seemed scarcely to rise and fall. For
a long time she stood beside the bed,
looking down at the face of the sleep
er, a troubled expression in her eyes.
Il wonder how many times you were
seen with him, and where, and by
whom" were the questions that ran in
q single strain through her mind.
Where do you come from? Where
did you meet him? Who is there that
knows of your acquaintance with
him?"
Her lawyer came in great haste and
perturbation at eight o'clock, in re-
sponse to the letter delivered by one
of the messengers. A second letter had
gone by like means to her husbands
brother, Leslie Wrandall, instructing
him to break the news to his father
and mother and to come to her apart
ment after he had attended to the re-
moval of the body to the family home
near Washington square. She made it
quite plain that she did not want Chal-
lis Wrandall's body to lie under the
roof that sheltered her.
His family had resented their mar
riage. Father, mother and sister had
objected to her from the beginning,
not because she was unworthy, but be-
cause her tradespeople ancestry was
not so remote as his. She found
curious sense of pleasure in returning
to them the thing they priced so high
ly and surrendered to her with such
bitterness of heart. She had not been
good enough for him; that was their
attitude. Now she was returning him
to them, as one would return an article
that had been tested and found to be
worthless. She would have no more
of him!
Carroll, her lawyer, an elderly man
of vast experience, was not surprised
to find her quite calm and reasonable.
He had come to know her very we'll
in the past few years. He had been
her fathers lawyer up to the time of
that excellent tradesman's demise, and
he had settled the estate with such un-
usual dispatch that the heirs-there
were many of them-regarded him as
an admirable person and-kept him
busy ever afterward straigtening out
their own affairs. Which goes to prove
that policy is often better than hon
esty.
Il quite understand, my dear, that
while it is a dreadful shock to you.
er-to the-well, l might say the cul-
mination of his troubles" sad Mr..
Carroll tactfully, after she had re-
lated for his benefit the story of the
nights adventure, with reservation
concerning the girl who slumbered in
the room beyond.
Hardly that, Mr.. Carroll. Resigned
perhaps. l can't say that l am recon
ciled. All my life ! shall feel that !
have been cheated" she said.
He looked up sharply. Something in
her tone puzzled him. Cheated, my
dear? Oh, see. Cheated out of years
and years of happiness. l see."
She bowed her head. Neither spoke
for full minute.
It's a horrible thing to say, Sara,
but this tragedy does away with an
other and perhaps more unpleasant al
tentative; the divorce. l have been
urging you to consider for SO long"
"Yes, we are spared all that" she
said. Then she met his gaze with a
sudden fash of anger in her eyes. But
| would not have divorced him-never.
You understood that, didn't your"
You couldn't have gone on for ever,
my dear child, enduring the"
She stopped him with sharp excla-
nation. why discuss it now? Let
the past take care of itself, Mr.. Car
roll. The past came TO an end night
before last, so far as / am concerned.
want advice for the future, not for the
past"
He drew back, hurt by her manner.
She was quick to see that she had Of
Tended him.
pC6 yOul PdluOug my UC5b VI
friends" she cried earnestly.
He smiled. "If you will take pres
ent advice, Sara, you will let go of
yourself for a spell and see If tears
won't relieve the tension under"
"Tears!" she cried. why should l
give way to tears? What have l to /
weep fort That man up there in the
country? The cold, dead thing that
spent its last living moments without
a thought of love for me? All, no. my
friend; l shed all my tears while he
was alive. There are none left to be
shsd for him now. He exacted his
full share of them. 1t was his pleas
ure to wiring them from me because
he knew loved him. She leaned for
ward and spoke slowly. distinctly, SO