Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1920-01-29
THE LADY EVELYN
A Story of Today
BY MAX PEMBERTON


Should Count Odin follow me to Lon
don, he will learn that l am neither
without friends nor resources; and !
shall not hesitate to call upon both
for my protection. 1t is my intention
to establish myself here Until such
time as news Of Gavins welfare may
come to me or that I may, myself, go
to seek 1t. That he has been the vic
tim of foul play am sure; and will
not rest until the truth Is known. Dear
father, II you must suffer because Of
] me, forgive and forget, and be sure
always of my love for you and my de-
sire for your happiness. We are out
casts Of fortune both, and while the
world is' enjoying our position, we
know that 1t is false, that we are but
intruders by accident, and that our
past Is rising up every day to laugh
out ambitions to scorn. Happier far
when we we're wanderers and poor,
with days of love and hope to live and
no debt to pay to- a great and insup-
portable heritage. Dear father, you
will next hear of me as Eta Romney,
the actress-but never forget that Eve
lyn will return to you II you have need
of her; and that her love for you Is
imperishable. Willingly would she
take your burdens upon her own shoul-
ders, and give you those years Of rest
and peace which are your hearts de-
sire. But, for the time being, she must
live alone for the sake of the man who
haf Enr IN w a
have given her love.
\ Dearest Father,
Your loving Evelyn always"
From which 1t is clear that the
month of November found Gavin Ord
still in Roumania and Count Odin
again in Derbyshire. The latter had
returned from Bucharest early in the
month Of September, and. dismissing
his friends, the gypsies, had settled
down at Melbourne Hall as one who,
at no distant date, would be its mas
ter. That the Earl acquiesced in this
assurance convinced Evelyn finally
that she did not possess the whole of
her fathers story. Either he was a
coward (and this she would never be-
lieve), or some mystery of her own
past or his abetted the Counts pre-
tensions. No other explanation of the
matter was possible; nor could she
foresee a day which would rid her of
the presence of man who ever spoke
to her of the heritage her mothers
country had bequeathed to her and its
penalties. q
hoG 81,
and she feared him now when the
true meaning of mans love had
been made known to her and her daily
prayer was for Gavin's safety. Not
that she doubted herself or the truth
of her love, but that she feared that
something in her blood which might
bring her to the Counts arms and
womanhood and her spoken word that
she would be Gavin's wife upon his
return. So greatly did this fear haunt
her that the days of waiting became
almost insupportable. She would rise
with the sun each morning and say,
to-day his letter will come" The
nights found her brooding and restless
and fighting ever against the insidious
advances of a man who made love
to her with Southern tongue-and
when he was repulsed had no shame
to threaten her.
"Your English friend was fool to
go to the mountains" he would say;
I'VE cannot protect him there-my
is helpless. The prison
in which my father lies, sent there by
the man who should have been his
,frienGOwill not open to an English.
mans knock. II could have helped
your friend. would have done SO be-
cause he was your friend. - You say
that he loves you. / will believe 1t
when the sun shines In England. My
dear lady, your heart is in the South
with the vine and the pomegranates.
,Al your life has not made an English.
woman OF you. You are like flower
that cries for the sun all day and
.withers because there is no sun.
will take you to land of roses and
set your feet upon golden sands. We
will visit the East together-the color,
the life, the music Of 1t, shall enthrall
u.s., There they will teach you how to
slove. In England your hearts are Ice
but you have not an English heart"
!. Day by day these vehement pro-
tests would be made; day by day he
whispered them in her ear. following
her at home and abroad, in the gal
ileries of Melbourne Hall, and to the
lglades and the thickets Of the park
And her father abetted him. not open
lly by word but silently by impotent
consent he acquiesced in her persecu-
ton, protesting that Georges Odin's
son had a claim of hospitality upon
him, and that he could not shut the
gates of the house in his face. In
plain truth Robert Forester sinned
mot of his will but of despair He did
not dare to tell Evelyn that, by the
English law, Dora d'Istran might not
be recognized as his wife at all and
that she, his daughter, had therefore
but dubious claim to that dignity
xyhioh tho annidauto nP fortuna had