Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1915-07-29
room fell across the couch Il con.
tanned prosfrated.

room fell across the couch Il con.
tanned, FRUSTRATED.
In vivid panoramic array her past
life passed before her mental vision.
At fourteen. a motherless girl, she
had gons to q boarding school. II was
the only home she had known for
eight years. She had graduated, had
met Elwyn Borden, and this day we'd
ded him.
Then. back of that. what abe had
never told him-the story Of her faith.
er. still alive she believed. but hidden.
an outcast, a refugee In some far cor
e Of the world.
One night, q month after she had
been placed at the school. he had come
to her-stealthily. under some terrific
strain Of anguish. wildly excited.
Leila" he had said. as they stood
In the garden Of the school, Il have to
fee the country. Listen, child. for |
believe l am followed. Human blood
hounds IN on my track. Already
they have forced me to give up nearly
all my fortune. They hunger for the
rest. They would impoverish me. I
am innocent of any crime. but my
thieving business partners. to shield
themselves, have so doctored the
books that they could prove me guilty.
l will never dare return to this coun-
try again. l have arranged for your
care until you are educated. You will
hear from me later"
But, oh, my father!" sobbed the
broken-hearted girl, let me go with
you"
impossible. Listen, Leila! the men
who have brought me to this hideous
pass may l live to see dragged down
where l have been dragged. There
was N l must tell You of. Here is
his picture. Take It," and he pressed
upon her a photograph. That man
silence! All, as l feared"
He pressed his hand closely across
his lips. She saw two lurking forms
pass down the road. Her fathers pur-
suers! He kissed her swiftly and dis
appeared in the shrubbery.
Since then every year q bank at.
tache had visited the school with sui.
ficient money to meet all her expenses
for the coming year. Every year she
had a letter ready to be sen to her
father, whose address she did not
know. She knew only the bank
through which the missive was for
warded. Never q word from thu father
she implored to come to her or send
for her through all those lonely years.
And she had married the son Of n
Of the men who had made Of her
father an outcast! The thought was
horrible.
With the morning Leila proceeded
to the city where tho bank was To-
Gated. She implored It's officer to give
her the address of her father. He re-
fused, but offered to forward a letter.
She wrote all of her sad story and
besought her father to take her away
from her heartbreak and loneliness.
She remained sequestered in the
hotel, where she awaited a reply. A
weary month went by. She broke
down with the suspense of the ordeal,
to awaken from a wasting fever n
morning and to stare past her nurse
at a figure standing at the side Of the
bed.
Father" she cried ecstatically.
Il have come at great risk frol
the far West" he told her, when the
rhapsodies of their reunion had sub
sided. My child, there has been a
frightful mistake. That picture-it
was of the one man who stood by
me in all my troubles. l was about to
tell you to go to him when those pur-
suers appeared"
"Then-Elwyn!" palpitated Leila.
rs here. Be calm, be happy. my
darling. He has agreed to come with
us to that safer home for me, at a
distance from the cruel city where l
have been so bitterly wronged."
And a few days later the united trio
were speeding towards the setting sun.
a fathers devotion, a husbands fer
vent love bringing Joy unutterable to
the tender heart Of Leila.
copyright. 1915. by W. G. Chapman.)