Year: 1875

creased the disposition among the women
OF my household to regard him as the VIC
tim OF an unhappy attachment. The time
was ripe. as it seemed tome, for checking
any gossip about him, and any renewed
attempts at prying into his affairs in his
absence.


Your only business in my pupils bed.
room," said to the housekeeper, ..is to
see that it is kept clean, and that 1t Is prop.
erly aired. There must be no interfer.
ence, If you please, with his letters or his
papers, or with anything else that he has
left behind him. Put back directly what
ever you may have found in his ROOM
| The housekeeper had her full share OF
q woman's temper. as well as Of
woman's curiosity. She listened to me
with rising color and a just perceptible
toss of the head.


'Must l put ii back. Sir. on the floor.
between the bed and wall p she Inquired,
with an ironical assumption OF the hum
blest Difference TO my wishes. That's
where the girl found it when she was
sweeping the room. Anybody can see
for themselves" pursued the housekeeper
Indignantly. "that the poor gentleman has
gone away broken-hearted. And there, In
my opinion, is the h1ssy who is the cause
Of it,


| With these words she made me low
courtesy. and laid small Photographic
portrait on the desk at which was sit.
ting.


| l looked at the photograph.
| In an instant my heart was beating
wildly-my head turned giddy-the house
keeper, the furniture. the walls of the
room, all swayed and whirled round me-
| The portrait that had been found in my
senior pupils bedroom was the portrait OF
Jeromette.


study. was alone, with the photograph
of the Frenchwoman on my desk.


There could surely be little doubt about
the discovery that had burst upon me. The
man who had stolen his way into my house,
driven by the terror of temptation that
he dared not reveal, and the man who had
been my unknown rival in the bvgone
| time, were one and the same!


Recovering self possession enough to re.
alize this plain truth, the inferences that
followed forced their way into my mind as
matter OF course. The unnamed person
who was the obstacle to my pupils pros
poets in life. the unnamed person in whose
company he was assaled by the tempta-
tions which made him tremble for himself
stood revealed to me now as being, in all
human probability, no other than JerO-
mette. Had she bound him in the fetters
of the marriage which he had himself pro-
posed? Had she discovered his place of
refuge in my house? And was the letter
that had been delivered to me of her writ
ing? Assuming these questions to be an
swered In the affirmative, what. lin that
case. was his "business in London?" l
remembered what he had said to me about
his temptations, l recalled the expression
that had crossed his face when he recog-
nized the handwriting on the letter-and
the conclusion that followed literally shook
me to the soul. Ordering my horse to be
saddled, rode instantly to the railway
station.


The train by which he had travelled to
London had reached the terminus nearly
an hour since. The one useful course
that could take, by way of quieting the
dreadful misgivings crowdng one after
another on my mind, was to telegraph to
.Jcromette at the address at which had
last seen her. l sent the subjoined mes
sage-prepaying the reply:


"If you are in trouble, telegraph to me.
l will be with you by the first train. An
swer, in any case


There was nothing in the way OF the
immediate despatch ofmy message. And
yet the hours passed, and no answer was
received. BY the advice of the clerk, I
sent a second telegram to the London Of
flee, requesting an explanation. The re-
Eply came back in these terms:


improvements IN street Houses pulled
down. No trace of person named in tel
egram.H


| mounted my horse, and rode back
slowly to the rectory.


THE day of his return to me will bring
with it the darkest days of my life."
IL shall die young, and die miserably.
Have you interest enough left in me to
wish to hear of it9 You shall
hear of it." Those words were in my
memory while | rode home in the cloud.
less moonlight night. They were so viv-
idly present to ME that could hear again
her pretty foreign accent, her quiet, clear
tones as she spoke them. For the rest the
emotions of that memorable day had worn
me out. The answer from the telegraph
office had struck me with a strange and
stony desire. My mind was blank. I
had no thoughts. had no tears.


was about half way on my road home,
and | had just heard the clock OF the vii
lage strike ten, when became conscious.
little by little, of chilly sensation slowly
creeping through and through me to the
bones. The warm balmy air of a summer
night was abroad. 1t was the month of
July. In the month Of July. was it posi-.
bic that any living creature Gin good
healthy could feel cold? 1t was not pos.
sible-and vet. the chilly sensation still
crept through and through me to the
bones.


| looked up. looked all round me.


My horse was walking along an open
highroad. Neither trees nor waters were
near me. On either side the fiat fields
stretched away bright in the moonlight.


stopped my horse and looked round
me again.


Yes saw it. With my own eyes saw
it. A pillar of white mist-between five
and six feet high, as we'll as could Judge
was moving beside me at the edge OF
the road on my left hand. When stopped
the white mist stopped. When Invent on