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diff --git a/44819-8.txt b/44819-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 41d659f..0000000 --- a/44819-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11749 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Kathleen's Diamonds, by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: Kathleen's Diamonds - or; She Loved a Handsome Actor - -Author: Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller - -Release Date: February 1, 2014 [EBook #44819] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KATHLEEN'S DIAMONDS *** - - - - -Produced by Demian Katz and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy -of the Digital Library@Villanova University -(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) - - - - - - - - - - KATHLEEN'S DIAMONDS - - OR - - SHE LOVED A HANDSOME ACTOR - - _By Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller_ - - HART SERIES No. 45 - - COPYRIGHT 1895 BY GEORGE MUNRO - - (Printed in the United States of America) - - - - Published by - THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY - Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER I. PAGE - "Alas! Why Did She Do It?" 5 - - CHAPTER II. - After Sixteen Years 7 - - CHAPTER III. - "This Prince Karl--This Ralph Chainey--is My Rescuer at Newport - Last Summer," Whispered the Romantic Girl 11 - - CHAPTER IV. - "I Distinctly Forbid You to Know this Actor," said Mrs. Carew 15 - - CHAPTER V. - Mrs. Carew is Mysteriously Absent 19 - - CHAPTER VI. - Kathleen's Defiance 23 - - CHAPTER VII. - "Mrs. Carew is Going to Make You Marry Her Son," said the Maid 27 - - CHAPTER VIII. - "Please Buy My Diamond Necklace," said Kathleen 33 - - CHAPTER IX. - Murdered! 37 - - CHAPTER X. - At Dead of Night 40 - - CHAPTER XI. - The Fatal Telegram 45 - - CHAPTER XII. - "Kathleen, I Swear that I Will Avenge Your Murder!" 50 - - CHAPTER XIII. - Another Mystery 53 - - CHAPTER XIV. - A Strange Fate 57 - - CHAPTER XV. - Poor Daisy Lynn 63 - - CHAPTER XVI. - Kathleen's Desperation and Her Escape 70 - - CHAPTER XVII. - "Will You be My Own Sweet Wife, Kathleen?" 74 - - CHAPTER XVIII. - Kathleen's Disappearance 79 - - CHAPTER XIX. - "Ralph Chainey is a Married Man!" 83 - - CHAPTER XX. - Kathleen Makes a Startling Discovery 88 - - CHAPTER XXI. - Was Ralph Chainey a Villain? 91 - - CHAPTER XXII. - Rescued 93 - - CHAPTER XXIII. - "Papa, Darling, It is I, Your Little Kathleen!" 97 - - CHAPTER XXIV. - Turned Out Into the Storm 102 - - CHAPTER XXV. - Teddy Darrell Again 105 - - CHAPTER XXVI. - "I Would Lay Down My Life to Serve You!" said Teddy 107 - - CHAPTER XXVII. - Alpine's Renewed Hopes 111 - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - Teddy Darrell's Plans 115 - - CHAPTER XXIX. - Fedora's Escape 119 - - CHAPTER XXX. - "My Darling Girl, I'm as Fond of You as Ever!" 122 - - CHAPTER XXXI. - Kathleen's Weary Waiting 126 - - CHAPTER XXXII. - "We Have Met--We Have Loved--We Have Parted!" 128 - - CHAPTER XXXIII. - Ralph Chainey's Anger 133 - - CHAPTER XXXIV. - Alpine Sows the Seed of Jealousy 135 - - CHAPTER XXXV. - Alpine's Falsehood 138 - - CHAPTER XXXVI. - A Cruel Stab 142 - - CHAPTER XXXVII. - Ralph Chainey is Driven to Desperation, and Turns on His Foe 146 - - CHAPTER XXXVIII. - "I Have Come for My Diamonds," Kathleen said to the Jeweler 148 - - CHAPTER XXXIX. - Kathleen Before Her Father's Portrait 153 - - CHAPTER XL. - A New-found Relative 157 - - CHAPTER XLI. - Ralph's Letter 160 - - CHAPTER XLII. - "You Shall Not Marry Ralph Chainey!" Uncle Ben Cried Violently 162 - - CHAPTER XLIII. - The Old Housekeeper's Story 167 - - CHAPTER XLIV. - Grandmother Franklyn 171 - - CHAPTER XLV. - Ivan Receives a Check in His Career 175 - - CHAPTER XLVI. - "I Have Betrayed Myself. You Know My Heart Now." 177 - - CHAPTER XLVII. - A Terrible Crime 181 - - CHAPTER XLVIII. - "Kathleen Has Mysteriously Disappeared." 184 - - CHAPTER XLIX. - The Franklyns at Last! 188 - - CHAPTER L. - "She Was My Mother." 192 - - CHAPTER LI. - A Cousin for a Lover 195 - - CHAPTER LII. - The Search for Kathleen 198 - - CHAPTER LIII. - "Oh, Sir, Have Pity on Me!" prayed Daisy Lynn 200 - - CHAPTER LIV. - "Is This Your Niece?" 205 - - CHAPTER LV. - Kathleen and Daisy Meet at Last 207 - - CHAPTER LVI. - "So Shines a Good Deed in a Naughty World." 210 - - CHAPTER LVII. - Mrs. Carew Triumphs in Her Sweet Revenge Upon Kathleen 212 - - CHAPTER LVIII. - "I Will Never Humble Myself to You Again." 214 - - CHAPTER LIX. - Oh, Ralph Chainey, Wake! 217 - - CHAPTER LX. - "My Love Shall Call Him Back from the Grave!" 220 - - CHAPTER LXI. - She Loved Much 223 - - CHAPTER LXII. - "God Bless Brave, Bonny Kathleen Carew!" 225 - - CHAPTER LXIII. - Within Prison Bars 227 - - CHAPTER LXIV. - "Your Father is George Harrison, the Convict!" 231 - - CHAPTER LXV. - A Startling Dénouement 234 - - CHAPTER LXVI. - "I Will Go to the Old Haunted Mill," said Kathleen Bravely 239 - - CHAPTER LXVII. - Teddy's Love Letters 242 - - CHAPTER LXVIII. - In Mortal Peril 244 - - CHAPTER LXIX. - "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen." 252 - - - - -KATHLEEN'S DIAMONDS - -OR - -SHE LOVED A HANDSOME ACTOR - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -"ALAS! WHY DID SHE DO IT?" - - - What is the matter? Oh, nothing--a girl - Is found here in suicide rest. - Romantic? Of course; here's a rich, dark curl - On the beautiful, blue-veined breast. - AMELIA V. PURDY. - - -Incredible, you say? - -Alas, it was too true! - -She was dead by her own hand, the beautiful child-wife of Vincent -Carew, the millionaire--dead in her youth and beauty, leaving behind -her all that life held for a worshipped wife and loving mother; for -upstairs at this moment in the silken nursery her child, the baby -Kathleen, barely six months old, lay sweetly sleeping, watched by an -attentive French _bonne_, while in the darkened parlor below, the -girlish mother, not yet eighteen, lay pale and beautiful in her coffin, -with white flowers blooming on the pulseless breast, hiding the crimson -stain where the slight jeweled dagger from her hair had sheathed itself -in her tortured heart. - -She was so young, so ignorant, or surely she would have held back her -suicidal hand--she would have taken pity on her child, the dark-eyed -little heiress she was leaving motherless in the wide, wide world -that, whatever else it may give us, can not make up for the loss of the -best thing life has to offer--a mother's love! - -It is always a terrible misfortune to a young girl to be motherless, -and it was going to be the tragedy of Kathleen Carew's life that she -had no mother. The dagger-thrust that let out the life-blood of unhappy -Zaidee Carew turned the whole course of her daughter's life aside into -different channels. - -But that lay in the future. _Now_ all Boston wondered over the tragic -death of Vincent Carew's wife, and people asked each other in dismay: - -"Why did she do it?" - -No one could answer that question. - -The world thought that the young wife was perfectly happy. - -And why not? Surely she had good cause. - -Vincent Carew, the rich bachelor, who was a power in politics, and -aspired to be governor of his state, had married Zaidee Franklyn out of -a poverty-stricken home, lifting her at a bound to rank and fortune, -and all for love of her fair face. - -He had snapped his white fingers in the face of the world that called -his marriage a _mésalliance_, and carried everything by storm. For his -sake, society--cultured Boston society--had received his wife, the -lovely young Southern girl, with her shy ways and neglected education, -and for a time all went well. - -So no one could answer the question why did she kill herself, but -that was because Vincent Carew was too proud to admit the ubiquitous -reporter inside his aristocratic portals. If one of these curious -mortals had secured admittance to the house and questioned the -servants, they would have told him what they suspected and discussed -in whispers among themselves--that madame was madly jealous of the -teacher her husband had employed to finish her very imperfect education. - -"She is a snake in the grass, that pretty widow, and she makes my -mistress unhappy," said the housekeeper, the first month that Mrs. -Belmont came, and her opinion was adopted by all the other servants. -They all hated the stately young widow in her black garments, and when -the grewsome tragedy of Mrs. Carew's death darkened the sunlight in -that luxurious home, they whispered to each other that it was Mrs. -Belmont who had worked their mistress such bitter woe that she could -not bear her life. - -If indeed she had schemed for anything like this, Mrs. Belmont had -succeeded in her designs. Zaidee Carew, with her own dimpled, white -hand, had cut the Gordian knot of life, and in a few more days a -stately funeral _cortège_ moved away from Vincent Carew's doors to the -cemetery where his dead wife, in all her youthful beauty, was laid to -rest beneath the grass and flowers. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -AFTER SIXTEEN YEARS. - - - An exquisite face--patrician in style; - Note the lashes, how black, and their sweep-- - The arch of the brows, and the proud lip's smile, - The flash of the eyes dark and deep. - - Away from the forehead in waves the hair - Flows with the glisten of bronze; - Glorious in volume, the frame from where - The face of an houri dawns. - AMELIA V. PURDY. - - -"I never saw such a forgetful girl as you, Kathleen Carew. Here you sit -dreaming, instead of dressing for 'Prince Karl' to-night. Are you going -to the theater, then, or not?" - -"Of course I am going, Alpine. I did not know it was so late. What, you -are dressed already? How sweet you look! That blue crêpe de Chine is -awfully becoming to you. Well, then, please ring the bell for my maid, -won't you? I'll be ready in ten minutes." - -"You'd better. Mamma will be furious if you keep her waiting," Alpine -Belmont answered, crossly, as she touched the bell. - -Then she looked back curiously at the graceful, indolent figure in -the easy-chair, leaning back with white hands clasped on top of the -bronze-gold head. - -"Kathleen, what were you thinking about so intently when I came in? I -had to speak twice before you heard me." - -Kathleen raised her dark, passionate, Oriental eyes to the speaker's -face, and, blushing vivid crimson, answered, dreamily: - -"Alpine, I was thinking of that handsome young man who saved my life at -Newport last summer. I was wondering who he was, and if we should ever -see him again." - -"It isn't likely we ever will," answered Alpine Belmont, carelessly. -"I don't suppose he's in our set at all--some poor clerk spending all -his winter's savings on a short summer outing, very likely. I wouldn't -be thinking about him, like a romantic school-girl, if I were you, -Kathleen. He didn't care about you, or he would have made himself known -to you before this," and, with a low, taunting laugh, Alpine Belmont -left the room just as Susette, the maid, came in. - -"You'll have to do my hair in a hurry, Susie. There's no time for -prinking," laughed her mistress; and while the maid brushed out the -magnificent, rippling tresses, Kathleen relapsed into thoughts of the -unknown hero whose handsome image haunted her thoughts. - -"Is it true, as Alpine says, that he did not care for me? It is -strange he did not stay to inquire who I was, after I came so near -drowning. If he was a poor young clerk, as Alpine believes, perhaps he -was too proud to reveal himself, thinking I would scorn him because I -was an heiress. Ah, how little he knew Kathleen Carew's heart!" - -Her thoughts ran thrillingly on: - -"Oh, how handsome he was when I first saw him in the water, that day -at Newport! He kept watching me, and I could not help looking back. -He seemed to draw my eyes. I know I wanted him to like me, for I -wondered if my bathing suit was becoming, and I felt glad my hair was -down, because I had been told it looked pretty that way, all wet and -curling over my shoulders. His brown eyes said as plain as words that -he admired me. Other men did, too, I know, but this time it seemed to -thrill me with a new pleasure. As I splashed about like a mermaid in -the waves, I kept thinking of him, wondering who he was, and hoping he -would be at the ball that night. I wanted him to see how well I looked -in my white lace and pearls. Then all at once came that treacherous -undertow that swept me from my feet, down, down, down, under the heavy -waves. Oh, how horrible it was! I thought I would be drowned, and my -last thought was----" - -"What gown, Miss Kathleen?" asked the maid. - -"Anything, Susette. It don't matter how I look to-night. You can't -decide? Oh, well, that new white cloth with the pink ostrich feather -trimming, and diamonds. Alpine is wearing pearls and a blue gown, and -we don't want to be dressed alike." - -While Susette fastened the exquisite gown and clasped the diamonds, her -thoughts ran on: - -"He rescued me, the handsome, brave fellow, and as soon as he laid me, -limp, but faintly conscious, upon the sands, he walked hastily away, -and no one at Newport ever saw him again. Neither could any one ever -find out who he was, although I'm afraid mamma did not try very hard. -But he was certainly very modest. He did not want us to make a hero -of him. Heigho, I do wish I knew his name--I do wish I could see him -again! Alpine says I am foolish and romantic, and that I fell in love -with him because he saved my life. Indeed, I think it was before--yes, -at the very moment I first met his beautiful brown eyes gazing so -eagerly into mine. A quick electric thrill seemed to dart through me, -and----" - -"Kathleen, aren't you ready yet?" asked Alpine, entering. "The carriage -has been waiting ever so long, and mamma is getting furious over your -delay." - -"I'm ready," Kathleen answered, composedly, without hurrying the least -bit. She drew her white opera-cloak leisurely about her ivory-white -shoulders, and followed her step-sister down-stairs to where Vincent -Carew's second wife, once the widow Belmont, poor Zaidee's governess, -was waiting in impotent wrath at the detention. - -"The first act will be quite over before we get there, and it will be -entirely your fault, for Alpine and I have been ready for an hour," she -fretted as they entered the carriage. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -"THIS PRINCE KARL--THIS RALPH CHAINEY--IS MY RESCUER AT NEWPORT LAST -SUMMER," WHISPERED THE ROMANTIC GIRL. - - - This is the way of it, wide world over, - One is beloved, and one is the lover, - One gives and the other receives. - E. W. W. - - -The first act had indeed begun when Mrs. Carew with her two daughters -entered their box at the theater; but absorbing as was the interest -in the popular play, "Prince Karl," many heads were turned to gaze -admiringly at the trio of fair ones, for the matron, although fifty -years old, looked much younger, and her stately charms were set off to -advantage by black velvet and jet, with ruby ornaments on her neck and -arms. Her silvery-white hair was arranged very becomingly, and Alpine -felt quite proud of her mother's _distingué_ appearance. - -Alpine Belmont herself was a milk-white blonde, a trifle below -the medium height, and with a rather too decided inclination to -_embonpoint_. But the plumpness and dimples were rather fascinating, -now in the heyday of youth--she was barely twenty--and with passable -features, pale straw-gold hair, and forget-me-not blue eyes, Alpine -passed as a belle and beauty. - -But Kathleen Carew--Kathleen, with her slender, perfect figure just -above medium height, and her vivid face as fresh as a flower, with -her great, starry, passionate, Oriental eyes, veiled by thick curling -lashes black as starless midnight, in such strong contrast to the -rich bronze-gold of the rippling hair that crowned her queenly little -head--Kathleen Carew was truly - - "The Rose that all were praising." - -"The house is crowded," Mrs. Carew observed in a gratified tone, as -she swept the brilliant horse-shoe with her lorgnette. - -"Oh, of course. They say Ralph Chainey is a splendid actor," returned -Alpine, as she threw back her blue-and-white cloak to give the crowd -the benefit of her plump white arms and shoulders. - -"Does Ralph Chainey play Prince Karl?" inquired Kathleen, with languid -interest; and, forgetting to listen for the answer, turned her -attention to the stage where the actors were strutting their brief day. - -The play went on, and Kathleen, rousing with a start out of her languid -mood, watched it with eager eyes. - -Everybody knows the clever, fascinating play "Prince Karl." Mansfield -has made it immortal in his rôle of the courier. - -This new actor, whose name had brought out the fashionable world -of cultured Boston, was no whit behind Mansfield in his clever -impersonations. He was young, and had flashed upon the dramatic world -two years before with the brightness of a star. Time was adding fresh -laurels to his name, and Boston, critical as it was, did not hesitate -to add its plaudits, for, be it known, Ralph Washburn Chainey was a -Bostonian "to the manor born." - -"Oh, it is splendid! And is he not perfectly magnificent?" exclaimed -Alpine Belmont, turning eagerly to Kathleen, as the curtain fell upon -the first act. - -Then she started with surprise, for Kathleen was leaning back in her -chair, breathing heavily, her face very pale, her eyes half veiled by -the drooping lids. - -"Kathleen, what is the matter? Are you going to sleep, or are you ill, -or--_what_?" she demanded, in a high whisper. - -Kathleen caught Alpine's hand and drew it against her side. - -"Oh, Alpine, feel my heart how it beats!" she whispered. "I have had -such a shock! Did you not recognize him, too?" - -"I don't know what you are talking about, Kathleen." - -"Don't you? Oh, Alpine, I have found _him_ out at last--my hero!" -whispered the romantic girl. - -"Kathleen, you're dreaming!" - -"I'm not. I knew him in a minute, and he recognized me, too. I saw it -in his glance when his eyes met mine. He started, then I smiled--I -could not help it, I was so glad." - -Mrs. Carew had been listening to catch the whispered conversation. A -heavy frown darkened her face. She leaned forward and muttered, harshly: - -"Kathleen, you must be crazy!" - -The girl shrugged her shoulders contemptuously, and took no other -notice of the speech. - -But Alpine's curiosity was awakened, and she whispered, eagerly: - -"Where is he, then? Point him out to me." - -"I can not. He has gone off. Wait till he returns," answered Kathleen, -sitting up straight in her chair again. The color was coming back into -her face again, her eyes flashed radiantly. Mrs. Carew regarded her -with suppressed displeasure. - -Some gentlemen acquaintances came into the box, and the subject of -Kathleen's discovery was dropped. They chatted gayly until the time for -the curtain to rise, then returned to their seats. - -The curtain rose upon the second act of the play, and Alpine was so -interested that she leaned eagerly forward, quite forgetting, in -her keen admiration of Prince Karl, her step-sister's interesting -disclosure just now. - -But suddenly Kathleen's taper fingers closed in a gentle pinch upon her -plump arm. - -"Look--now--don't you recognize him?" she murmured, triumphantly. - -"Who? Where? Oh, for goodness' sake, Kathleen, don't bother me now! I -don't want to lose a word of glorious Prince Karl!" - -"But, Alpine, it is _he_, Prince Karl--my hero!" - -"Good heavens, Kathleen! do you really mean it?" - -"Yes, I do, Alpine. This Prince Karl--this Ralph Chainey--is my rescuer -at Newport last summer. Watch him, Alpine, and perhaps you will catch -him looking at us a little consciously, as I did just now." - -"I see the likeness _now_!" answered Alpine, in a tone of suppressed -dismay, whose import Kathleen could not understand. She said no more -to her step-sister, but sat through the remainder of the play in a -blissful dream. - -The beautiful young heiress was intensely romantic, and for long months -her fancy had been haunted by the image of the handsome young man who -had saved her life. To find him again in the handsome young actor whose -name was on every lip thrilled her with delight. He had recognized -her, too, and the memory of his startled glance, so quickly withdrawn, -thrilled her with keen delight, although he did not permit her to meet -his eyes again. - -Kathleen felt a little triumph, too, over Alpine, who had declared that -her hero was doubtless a mere nobody--perhaps a clerk in a country -store, than which position Alpine's contemptuous ideas could not -descend lower. - -Alpine was watching him now with such eager interest that Kathleen -smiled and thought: - -"I believe Alpine has fallen in love with him, herself. But she need -not; he is mine, mine, mine!" - -She was claiming him already in her thoughts, forgetting that she had -never even spoken to the handsome stranger to whom she owed such a debt -of gratitude. It seemed to her that she was as dear to him as he was -to her, and she almost expected to see him waiting to hand her to her -carriage when they left the theater. - -But no; the faint, fluttering hope was soon extinguished. Other -admirers were waiting obsequiously, eager for the honor of touching the -small gloved hand of the beautiful belle, but when the curtain dropped -on Prince Karl bowing to the applauding audience, Kathleen saw him no -more that night. - -When Mrs. Carew dismissed her maid that night she sent an imperative -summons to her step-daughter to come to her room, and received in -return a polite request to be excused. Kathleen was tired, and meant to -retire immediately. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -"I DISTINCTLY FORBID YOU TO KNOW THIS ACTOR," SAID MRS. CAREW. - - - Love is a pearl of purest hue, - But stormy waves are round it; - And dearly may a woman rue - The hour when first she found it. - L. E. L. - - -Despite the message, Mrs. Carew, who went at once to Kathleen's room -in a rage at her impertinence, found the young girl still in her -ball-dress and jewels, sitting dreamily in an easy-chair, having -dismissed Susette to arrange her bath. She yawned sleepily at her -step-mother's entrance. - -"I sent you word to wait till to-morrow," she said, petulantly. - -"I did not choose to wait, Miss Impertinence!" and as Kathleen opened -wide her big black eyes in a sort of contemptuous amazement, Mrs. Carew -continued, angrily: "Alpine has told me how silly you were over that -actor; how you love him, and long to get acquainted with him. Do you -not know that it is very bold and coarse for a young girl to even think -of a man that way until he has given some sign of liking for her? But -Alpine declares that this man has never even noticed you." - -"Alpine is a sneaking tell-tale, and you are a cruel woman!" Kathleen -answered, indignantly. "And, madame, if I am ignorant, as you charge, -of the proper feeling to observe toward men, who is to blame for that? -Why did you not train me as carefully as you did your daughter Alpine? -You took my poor dead mother's place before I was two years old. Why -did you not do your duty by her orphan child?" - -"How dare you speak to me like this?" demanded the angry woman. "Be -silent, and listen to my commands!" - -Her fingers itched to slap the cheek that dimpled with insolent -amusement, but she clinched her hand and went on: - -"Your father left you in my care when he went abroad for his health, -and you shall obey my commands while he is gone. If you dare defy me, -I shall lock you in your room, on bread and water, till you beg my -pardon." - -There was no answer. Kathleen looked her indignation, that was all. - -"I distinctly forbid," said Mrs. Carew, "any further nonsense over this -actor. Good heavens! an _actor_! What would your haughty father say?" -contemptuously. "I will not take you to the theater again while he -plays here. You disgraced yourself to-night, making eyes at him on the -stage, and there shall be no more of it. I shall not permit him to make -your acquaintance, even if he seeks to do so, which is very doubtful, -as"--scornfully--"the infatuation seems to be all on one side." - -Kathleen writhed with mortification, but she did not permit her foe to -see how cruelly she was wounded. She held her queenly little head erect -with that silent smile of maddening amusement on her scarlet lips. -Years of wrong and injustice had made her scorn this woman who filled -her dead mother's place so unworthily, and she made few efforts to -conceal her feelings. - -"I forbid any acquaintance with this Ralph Chainey--this actor. Do you -understand me, Kathleen?" repeated her step-mother. - -"I have heard you," answered the young girl, with a mutinous pout of -her full lip. - -"You will obey me?" a little anxiously, for Kathleen had never been so -aggressively rebellious as to-night. - -At the question, Kathleen rose to her feet and stood up like a young -lioness at bay. - -"I will _not_ obey you, madame!" she replied. - -"What?" almost shrieked Mrs. Carew. - -"I will not obey you!" she repeated, with flashing eyes. "I will not -run after Mr. Chainey, as you pretend so falsely that I am doing, and I -will make no unmaidenly overtures toward his acquaintance, but if the -proper opportunity offers for me to know and thank him for saving my -life, I shall surely avail myself of it!" - -They stood glaring at each other, the girl roused into furious -rebellion, the woman speechless with fury, her steel-blue eyes seeming -to emit electric sparks from her deathly white face, so intense was her -fierce wrath. Controlling herself with an effort, she turned to leave -the room, and, pausing on the threshold, hissed back one significant -sentence at the defiant girl: - -"Forewarned is forearmed!" - -"I do not fear you!" Kathleen answered; but Mrs. Carew never looked -back. - -"What will she do? What can she do? She will never dare lock me in my -room, as she threatened!" Kathleen murmured, uneasily, and then her -overstrained nerves gave way. She threw herself on the bed and sobbed -aloud, in nervous abandonment to her outraged feelings. - -God help that poor, motherless girl! She knew that the events of that -night would only make her life harder than it had been before under the -roof that her step-mother ruled with an iron hand. - -The beautiful young heiress did not have a happy life, in spite of all -the good gifts with which fate had so richly dowered her at her birth. -Her step-mother had always hated her, and never relaxed her efforts to -harden her father's heart against his only child. Perhaps she hated -Kathleen the more because Heaven had denied any children to her second -marriage, and she knew that to this girl would go the bulk of her -father's great wealth. - -Mrs. Carew had two children by her first marriage--a son, now -twenty-three, called Ivan, and the girl Alpine. Her favorite scheme -was to marry the hated Kathleen to this son, so that he might share -her rich inheritance. Failing in this, she meant, if it lay in the -power of a human devil to compass it, to have Kathleen disgraced and -disinherited, so that she and her children might enjoy the whole of the -great Carew fortune. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -MRS. CAREW IS MYSTERIOUSLY ABSENT. - - - Alas, that clouds should ever steal - O'er Love's delicious sky-- - That ever Love's sweet lip should feel - Aught but the gentlest sigh. - L. E. L. - - -Mrs. Carew did not appear at breakfast the next morning and Alpine, -with a reproachful glance at Kathleen, said that mamma was sick. She -had been so worried last night that she could not sleep, and this -morning she had such a terrible headache that she must lie abed all day. - -Kathleen did not look either repentant or sorry. She simply said that -in that case she would not practice her music this morning, and went -off to her own little studio, where she painted a while with great -ardor, then threw down her brush, and rang for Susette to bring up the -morning papers. - -Susette lingered a minute after she had put down the newspapers. - -"Miss Kathleen, I don't think it will disturb Mrs. Carew the least bit -if you practice your music," she said, significantly. - -"But her head aches, Susette." - -"No, it don't miss; she's not in the house, so there! She went away -early--very early, in her traveling-dress, the Lord knows where; for -James told me so on the sly." (James was the butler, and Susette's -sweetheart.) - -Kathleen looked a little startled as she said: - -"You must be mistaken. Ellen has been with her mistress all day. I -tapped at the door a while ago to ask how she was, and she reported -Mrs. Carew as very low." - -"They are all deceiving you, Miss Kathleen, but what for I don't know, -only I'm sure and certain she ain't in this house," protested Susette, -stoutly. - -"Very well, Susette. Her absence has no more interest for me than her -presence," Kathleen answered, indifferently, as she opened _The Globe_ -and read the encomiums on Ralph Chainey's acting that filled a critical -half column. - -Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks glowed with pleasure. - -"He plays 'Prince Karl' again to-night. Oh if I only could go again!" -she thought, regretfully; then, throwing down the paper, she decided -she would go and practice her music, since Mrs. Carew was not ill, as -Alpine pretended. - -She had played but a few bars when Alpine entered with reproachful eyes. - -"Have you no feeling, Kathleen? You will kill mamma!" - -"Since mamma went away this morning early and has not yet returned, -there's no danger," Kathleen answered, coolly. - -"It is false! Who told you so?" - -"No matter how I found it out. I'm in possession of the mysterious -fact." - -"It's that prying Susette, I know! I shall advise mamma to dismiss her -immediately." - -"You'd better not, Alpine. Susette knows some of your _secrets_!" -Kathleen answered, with a provoking laugh. - -"I have no secrets!" snapped Alpine; but she left the room discomfited. - -Kathleen practiced and read until the late luncheon, where she was -surprised to find herself alone. - -"Where is Miss Belmont, James?" she asked. - -"Miss Belmont went out for a walk," he answered, respectfully. - -While Kathleen was making up her mind to go for a walk, too, some -callers were announced. She received the matron and her two gay young -daughters, entertained them herself, with an apology for the absence -of the other members of the family, and saw them depart with a sigh of -relief. - -"I will go for my walk now," she decided, but turning from the piano, -she saw an open note lying on the floor. Her own name attracted her, -and picking it up, she read, under date of that morning: - - "DEAR ALPINE AND KATHLEEN--Mamma wishes you to join us at an informal - three-o'clock lunch to-day, to meet a distinguished guest. Brother - George was at college with Prince Karl--Ralph Chainey, you know--and - he is coming here to lunch with us to-day. Do come, girls! He's so - handsome and talented I want you both to know him. There will be - several others, too, but we want you especially. I want him to see our - beautiful Kathleen." - -The note bore the name of Helen Fox, one of their intimate girl -friends, and Kathleen realized in a minute that she had been tricked by -crafty Alpine, who had gone to the luncheon alone to meet Ralph Chainey. - -A futile sob of bitter disappointment rose in the girl's throat, and -crushing the note in her hand, she walked to the window, gazing blankly -out into the handsome street through burning tears. - -A light laugh startled her. There was Alpine Belmont, in elegant -attire, walking toward the gate with a tall, handsome, _distingué_ -young man. Lifting his hat with a smile, he left the young lady there, -and walked away with a hasty backward glance at the window that -showed him a lovely, woful face staring in undisguised wonder at the -spectacle of Ralph Chainey walking home with deceitful Alpine Belmont. - -"Alpine, you wicked girl, how could you treat me so unfairly?" she -demanded, shaking with passion. - -Alpine flung herself into a chair, flushed, laughing, insolent. - -"You told mamma last night that I was a sneaking tell-tale, didn't you? -Well, then, I paid you off, that's all! Besides, mamma does not allow -you to know Ralph Chainey--a pity for you, my poor Kathleen, for he's -the most fascinating young man I ever met. I made myself very agreeable -to him, and I think he fell in love with me. You see yourself he walked -home with me from Helen's luncheon. Would you like to know what I told -him about you, my charming Kathleen?" - -"No!" the girl answered, hotly. - -"I don't believe you--you're dying to hear. Well, it was this: I said -you did not recognize him in the least last night till I told you it -was the man that saved you at Newport. Then I said you would not come -to meet him at the luncheon to-day, because you said it would be such a -bore having to thank him. Ha, ha! You'd like to murder me, I know!" - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -KATHLEEN'S DEFIANCE. - - - She went her way with a strong step and slow-- - Her pressed lip arched, and her clear eye undimmed, - As if it were a diamond--and her form held proudly up. - N. P. WILLIS. - - -Helen Fox was one of those sweet, pretty, amiable girls that everybody -loves. Her rosy lips were always wreathed in smiles, and the very -glance of her roguish blue eyes invited confidence. She was the most -popular girl in her set, and the intimate friend of Kathleen Carew and -Alpine Belmont. - -Warm-hearted Helen had been sadly disappointed because Kathleen had not -come to the luncheon, and the excuse that Alpine offered--namely, that -her step-sister could not tear herself away from a new novel--seemed -too shallow to entertain. - -"I'm really mad with Kathleen, the lazy thing!" she said, frankly, to -Ralph Chainey, who smiled, but made no comment. He was thinking about -what Miss Belmont had told him just now. It rankled in his mind. - -"I am anxious for you to meet her, she is such a beauty!" continued -Helen, enthusiastically. - -He gave some flattering answer that made her dimple and blush, but she -answered, with a careless glance around: - -"Oh, yes, we girls are well enough; but wait till you see my bonny -Kathleen. Such lips, such hair, such eyes!" - -Ralph Chainey laughed. - -"You needn't be so sarcastic, Mr. Chainey. You haven't seen our beauty -yet." - -"I saw her last night at the theater." - -"Oh, so you did. I forgot that. Well, isn't she charming?" - -The handsome actor replied with a quotation: - - "'Perfectly beautiful, faultily faultless.'" - -"She is all that," Helen Fox replied; but she looked at him with -puzzled eyes, and thought within herself that he was somehow piqued at -Kathleen Carew. But why, since the two had never met? - -Suddenly the reason presented itself to her mind. - -"The great vain thing! He is piqued because the beauty didn't come to -the luncheon. He is offended because she did not seem anxious to meet -him." - -And she was secretly amused at the young actor's palpable vanity, -regarding it as a good joke, little dreaming of the seed that Alpine -Belmont had been sowing in his mind. - -Many envious glances followed Alpine, a little later, when she bore -Ralph Chainey off in triumph as her escort home; but Helen was pleased, -for she thought: - -"If Alpine asks him into the house he will get acquainted with -Kathleen, and then he will find out how lovable she is." - -But when George Fox, who had also walked home with a young lady on -Commonwealth Avenue, returned home he reported that Ralph Chainey had -left Miss Belmont at the door. - -Suddenly Helen remembered sundry small matters that were not at all to -Alpine's credit. - -"That girl is tricky, I know," she said to herself. "Perhaps she did -not ask Mr. Chainey to go in. Perhaps she kept Kathleen from coming -here to-day. She has been known to do shabby things to cut other girls -out of their lovers. Not that Ralph Chainey is Kathleen's lover _yet_, -but he ought to be. They are just suited to each other, both are so -splendid. It may be that Alpine intends to catch him herself before her -sister gets a chance." Helen laughed a sage little laugh to herself, -and added: "I'll ask mamma to let us call at Mrs. Carew's and take -Kathleen with us to the theater to-night." - - * * * * * - -"Oh, Alpine! where is Kathleen? George and mamma are waiting out here -in the carriage. We have just one seat left, and we stopped to ask -Kathleen to go with us to the theater." - -"Mamma is out, Helen, and she would not like it if Kathleen went -without leave." - -"But mamma is with us, Alpine. She would chaperon Kathleen." - -"She can not possibly go," began Alpine, in a high tone of authority; -but at that moment a light swish of silken draperies came through the -hall, and a sweet voice said, clearly: - -"Kathleen _can_ go, Helen, and she _will_ go, too, if you will wait -till she gets on her things." - -And Alpine beheld her step-sister, cool, calm, defiant, rustle up to -Helen Fox and kiss that piquant, silk-robed damsel. - -"Come upstairs with me, Helen, dear, while I dress," she said, -radiantly, trying to draw her toward the stairway, for this colloquy -had taken place in the hall. - -Alpine followed them upstairs out of reach of the servants' ears, and -then she said, sharply: - -"You need not get ready, Kathleen, for I shall assume mamma's authority -in her absence, and forbid your going." - -"Oh, Alpine, where is the harm?" pleaded Helen. - -"Mamma has forbidden her to go to the theater any more this week, -because she caught her making eyes at an actor on the stage last -night," Alpine answered, maliciously. - -"It is false!" answered the young girl, stung to madness by Alpine's -wickedness. Turning to Helen, she said, proudly: "I accept your -invitation, Helen, and will accompany you to the theater, in spite of a -hundred Alpine Belmonts! I am no slave to be domineered over in this -manner, and Alpine had better go and leave me alone before she arouses -me any further." - -"Very well, miss; take your own way and defy _me_; but mamma will make -you repent it, be sure of that," snapped Alpine, withdrawing. - -"Oh, Kathleen, I didn't know I was going to raise such a breeze! -Perhaps you had better not go if Mrs. Carew objects," Helen said, -uneasily. - -Kathleen turned on her a face crimson with angry passion. - -"I'd go if she killed me for it!" she cried, with an imperious stamp -of her dainty foot. "Who is that woman to forbid my going to places of -amusement, like other girls?" She rang the bell violently for Susette, -and added: "Say nothing before my maid, Helen; but on our way to the -theater I'll tell you how wickedly Alpine treated me this afternoon." - -Presently Alpine, peeping through her door, saw the two girls going -away, Helen a little uneasy looking, the other proud, defiant, -beautiful as a dream. - -"She will meet Ralph Chainey, after all," Alpine muttered, in a fury. - - * * * * * - -It was midnight when Mrs. Fox's carriage stopped again at the Carew -mansion, and George handed Kathleen out and rang the bell for her at -her own door. - -The windows were closed, and not the faintest gleam of light shone -through them. George waited a few moments, then rang the bell again. - -"Every one must be asleep, they are so long coming," said Kathleen, -shivering in the cold night air. - -They rang again furiously; but there was no response. The locked door, -the dark, forbidding windows seemed to frown on their frantic efforts -to arouse the house. - -Mrs. Fox put her head out of the carriage window and said: - -"Kathleen, you had better come home with us to-night, my dear. I don't -think you will be able to rouse any one there; and you will catch cold -waiting in the cool night air." - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -"MRS. CAREW IS GOING TO MAKE YOU MARRY HER SON," SAID THE MAID. - - - I've thought of thee--I've thought of thee, - Through change that teaches to forget; - Thy face looks up from every sea, - In every star thine eyes are set. - N. P. WILLIS. - - -Kathleen was annoyed by her failure to get into the house, but she -did not attach any particular significance to it. She supposed that -Alpine, out of spite, had caused the servants to lock up and go to bed; -that was all. She went home willingly enough with her kind friends, -intending to return the next morning. - -And when she laid her beautiful head on the pillow that night, it was -to dream of soft brown eyes that had looked thrillingly into hers, -and of a warm white hand that had clasped hers, oh! so closely, when -he said good-night; for Ralph Chainey, the actor--or Prince Karl, as -Kathleen called him in her thoughts--had come into Mrs. Fox's box twice -between the acts, and had been presented to the beautiful heiress whose -life he had saved last summer, and from whose presence he had gone away -_incognito_. - -Prince Karl had been on his dignity at first. He had remembered what -Alpine Belmont had told him that afternoon. - -He believed that beautiful Kathleen was cold, proud and ungrateful. - -So, after bowing over her little hand when George Fox presented them, -he turned his attention to the vivacious Helen, and scarcely looked at -the radiant creature close to her side. - -Kathleen bit her red lips and remained silent. She understood Ralph -Chainey's mood, and knew that she had to thank Alpine for his -indifference. - -Her sweet lips quivered with a repressed sob, and her dark eyes -swam in moisture that threatened to fall in blinding tears. It was -hard--cruelly hard to have him believe her proud and ungrateful, and to -see him resent it in this cavalier fashion. - -He bowed himself out presently, and then Helen Fox turned to her, -eagerly. - -"How did you like him, Kathleen? Isn't he just splendid?" she -exclaimed. Then she saw how grave and quiet the young girl looked, -and remembered what Kathleen had told her in the carriage. "Oh! I -forgot; he did not really pass one word with you. He was piqued and -stiff over what Alpine told him," she cried, and added, consolingly: -"Never mind; he'll come round. He admires you very much--I saw that in -his eyes--and, of course, he is secretly very much interested in you, -having saved your life! It is very romantic, Kathleen, and I shouldn't -wonder if it's a match." - -"Don't, Helen!" answered the girl, somewhat incoherently. - -But Helen laughed gayly, and when the next act was over and the -actor came again for a few minutes, he found her whispering very -mysteriously to her mother. She nodded at him, and went on confiding -something to her mother's ear. - -George Fox had gone out, so there was no one to speak to but -Kathleen--trembling Kathleen--who blushed warmly when he came to her -side, and murmured, tremulously: - -"I want to thank you for--for last summer. It was so good of you, so -noble, to risk your life for a--a stranger." - -"Pray do not speak of it; it was nothing. I ran no risk; I am a good -swimmer," he replied, a little stiffly. - -But Kathleen went on, in that tremulous voice: - -"I--I have always remembered you with gratitude--always longed to see -you again, that I might thank you from my heart for your goodness. -Papa, too, wanted to see you. Why did you go away so suddenly?" - -Where was the arrogance, the indifference on which Alpine had -expatiated? The sweet lips trembled; there was dew on the curling black -lashes that shaded the splendid, luring black eyes. When Ralph Chainey -had gazed into them a moment, he turned away his head like one dazzled -by too much sunlight. - -"Why did you go away so suddenly?" she repeated; and then he said: - -"It was because I am an actor, Miss Carew. If I had stayed to receive -your thanks, and disclosed my identity, the story would have got into -the newspapers, and people would have said I did it to get some free -advertising. Your name would have gone all over the country as the -heroine of the rescue. You would not have liked the publicity, perhaps; -and so I hurried away." - -"It was very good of you to think of that," she answered, simply; -then added hastily, for the minutes were passing, and she knew he must -soon return to the stage again: "Mr. Chainey, Alpine told me what she -had told you this afternoon. It was--was--a joke on her part. I _did_ -recognize you last night as soon as I saw you. I told her who you were. -She was jesting, believe me for I--I could not--be so ungrateful as to -forget your face so soon." - -It was time for him to go. He rose and held out his hand. - -"Thank you," he said, in his deep, sweet voice, pressing her hand -warmly. His magnetic brown eyes gazed deep into hers, and he murmured, -inaudibly to the others: "It was the happiest moment I ever knew when I -saved your life!" - -Then he was gone. From the stage she met his eyes twice fixed on her, -as if he could not resist the temptation of looking. When George Fox -put them all into their carriage, he came out, still in his stage -costume, to say good-night. He held her hand just a moment longer than -Helen's, and he whispered: - -"I hope we shall meet again." - -His eyes, his words, his thrilling hand-clasp, haunted the motherless -girl that night in the mystical land of dreams. - -She arose early, after a rather restless night, and her first thought -was that she had no morning-dress. - -"I am taller than Helen, so I can not wear one of hers; neither can -I wear the low-necked costume I wore to the theater last night," she -murmured, in perplexity. - -Her musings were cut short by a tap at the door. Susette, her maid, -entered with a large bundle. - -"Good-morning, Miss Kathleen. I've brought your walking-dress for you -to come home," she said, undoing the paper and displaying a black silk -costume. - -"Oh! how good of you, Susette! I was just thinking I would have to ask -Mrs. Fox to send around for it." - -"Mrs. Carew sent me," said Susette, pursing her lips. - -"So she has returned?" asked Kathleen, resting her charming head on -her elbow and looking down at the maid, who had seated herself on an -ottoman close to the bed. - -"She came home near midnight last night, Miss Kathleen." - -"Near midnight? Why, then, some one must have been awake when I came -home, Susette! Why did no one answer the bell?" - -"The madame's orders," Susette replied, significantly. - -The great dark eyes of Kathleen dilated in wonder. - -"But why----" she began, and the maid interrupted: - -"Miss Kathleen, I did some eavesdropping on your account last night, -and if you'll not think the worse of me for it, I'll tell you Mrs. -Carew's plans." - -The woman was rather intelligent and quite well educated for one in her -position. She had been in Kathleen's service five years, and loved her -young mistress dearly. Her devotion to her interests had won her a warm -place in Kathleen's heart. - -"Go on," she said, and Susette continued: - -"When madame went away yesterday it was somewhere into the country -where there's a boarding-school, where you are to be sent to-day." - -"Susette!" - -"It's the gospel truth, miss! They packed your trunk last night, all -ready for you to start. That's why they wouldn't let you in. You were -not to know anything." - -"To--send--me--back--to--school!" exclaimed the young girl in such -amazement that the words came with difficulty from her lips. Her eyes -flashed with anger. "I will not go! She can not force me!" she declared. - -"She intends to _make_ you go. I heard her tell Miss Belmont so," said -the maid, looking very sad, for she knew that Mrs. Carew's will was law. - -Kathleen's face grew scarlet with passion, and there was a dangerous -light in her eyes, but she did not answer. Springing from the couch, -she allowed Susette to attire her in her black silk. - -"I thought maybe if I told you beforehand that maybe you could think of -some way to outwit her," said the maid. - -"And I will--I _will_! I will never be sent to school again!" cried the -girl, in something almost like terror. She clasped her little hands -and sighed: "Oh, why did papa ever go away and leave me here in that -woman's power? She was always cruel to me, but she did not dare so much -while he was here. Oh, I wish he would come home to his poor Kathleen!" - -Bitter burning tears rolled down her cheeks and dropped on her heaving -bosom. It was so hard to be ruled by this coarse woman, who envied and -hated her in the same breath. - -"She is going to make you marry her son, too. She told her daughter -that she was determined to bring that about, so he might share your -fortune," Susette remarked at this juncture. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -"PLEASE BUY MY DIAMOND NECKLACE," SAID KATHLEEN. - - - I've no mother, now I'm weeping-- - She has left me here alone; - She beneath the sod is sleeping, - Now there is no joy at home. - _Old Song_. - - -Before Kathleen could reply, the door opened softly and Helen Fox came -in with two letters in her hand. Kissing Kathleen good morning, she -exclaimed: - -"What do you think? The postman has just brought me a proposal!" - -"From Loyal Graham?" queried her friend. - -Helen blushed up to her eyes, but answered, gayly: - -"No, indeed--from Teddy Darrell." - -Kathleen arched her black eyebrows in surprise. - -"Teddy Darrell! Why, he proposed to _me_ last week," she said. - -"And did he ask you to keep it a _secret_?" asked Helen, consulting her -letter, her blue eyes dancing with fun. - -"Yes, he did, now that I recall it. Oh, my! I'm sorry I mentioned it; -but you took me by surprise." - -"There's no harm done, my dear, and you need not look so -conscience-stricken. Bless you, I don't mean to keep it a secret, -although he prays me here to do so. Why, Teddy Darrell is the worst -flirt in Boston, and proposes to a new girl every week, always trying -to keep the new love a secret from the old one." - -"But does no one ever accept him, Helen?" - -"Perhaps. I don't know, I'm sure I sha'n't, and I'm just dying to tell -the girls. Why, only last week we were comparing notes over him, and -out of seven girls in the crowd he had asked five to marry him. Maud -Sylvester said I'd be the next one on his list, and you see I am." - -"But how can he fall in love so often?" queried Kathleen, laughing. - -"He's very susceptible, I suppose, or maybe it's all in fun. You know -some young men like to be engaged to several girls at once, so they -can boast of their conquests, and maybe he's one of them. Well, I must -lacerate his poor heart by a refusal," with a mock sigh. - -"Who will be his next victim?" asked Kathleen. - -"Either Maud Sylvester or Katie Wells. One is an actress, the other a -novelist. He is wild over both fraternities." - -"How amusing!" laughed her friend. "But your other letter, Helen? Is it -another proposal?" - -"No; this is an invitation to attend a flower show." - -"From Loyal Graham?" - -"Ye-es," Helen answered, a little consciously. "But, Kathleen, how pale -you are! Did you not sleep well?" - -"No; I was restless," answered the girl. - -She debated within herself whether she ought to tell Helen of the news -Susette had brought. She concluded that she would not just yet. - -"Come, we will go down to breakfast, dear," Helen said, drawing an arm -through Kathleen's to lead her away. - -"Susette, you need not go back yet. I shall want you after a while," -said Kathleen, and the maid remained very willingly. - -Down-stairs Kathleen smiled, talked, ate, and drank in a mechanical -fashion. She was busy revolving schemes for escaping her threatening -fate. - -Kathleen had not been home from school more than six months. The idea -of returning to it, and leaving the social whirl, that as yet was so -new and charming, was not to be tolerated. - -"And just as I had met Ralph Chainey, too," she said to herself, in -keen dismay. - -Her mind was on a rack of torture. She was afraid that open rebellion -would not avail. Her foe was keen and subtle. She would employ strategy -to compass her ends. - -"I ought to meet her with her own weapons," she thought; and all at -once she began to wonder if she could not quietly get away and go South -to her dead mother's relatives, there to remain until the return of her -father should make her safe from persecution. - -Two hours later Kathleen bade her friends good-morning, and walked away -with Susette, as they supposed, toward her home. Little did Helen Fox, -as she gazed with loving eyes after her beautiful form, dream of the -tragic doom hanging over Kathleen Carew. - -"Susette, I am not going home with you," she said. - -The maid looked inquiringly into the beautiful young face, and Kathleen -added, determinedly: - -"I am going straight to the station, where I shall take the train and -go South to my mother's relatives, to remain until papa gets back to -free me from that woman's tyranny." - -"Oh, Miss Kathleen! do you think that will be for the best?" inquired -Susette, timorously. - -"Of course it will, Susette; for they will be kind to me for my dead -mother's sake." - -"And you will have me to pet you and care for you?" said the -affectionate maid. - -"I can not take you with me, Susette; for it might get you into -trouble, you good soul, and I don't want to do that. I can take care of -myself, never fear. No, you are to go straight back home and say that -I sent you, and will follow presently." - -Susette began to sob dismally, and Kathleen had to draw her aside into -a pretty little park where they seated themselves, and talked softly -for some time. Then Kathleen arose, and pressed her sweet rosy lips to -the woman's wet cheeks. - -"Now good-bye for a few weeks only, Susette, dear; for as soon as -papa returns I'll be back. If Mrs. Carew turns you out, go to Helen -Fox and ask her to give you employment while I am away. She will do -it for my sake, I know. And I'll write to you at Helen's as soon as I -get to Richmond. How fortunate that I have my diamonds with me, for -I can go to the jeweler's and sell enough to carry me on my journey. -Oh, Susette, don't sob so, please, dear! Good-bye; God bless you!" She -signaled a passing cab, gave the order: "Golden & Glitter's, Tremont -Street," and was driven swiftly away. - -It was a bright, cool morning in April, and Tremont Street was thronged -with shoppers and business people as she stepped out of the cab in -front of the jeweler's elegant shop. - -Bidding the cab wait, the young girl drew down her lace veil and -entered without noticing, in her preoccupation, the tall, blonde young -man, with a small satchel in his hand, who was intently gazing into the -jeweler's window with a covetous gleam in his pale, dull-blue eyes. - -But the young man's eyes turned aside from the contemplation of the -treasures displayed within the heavy plate-glass window and fastened on -the beautiful young girl with her patrician air and elegant costume. - -"Kathleen, as I live!" he exclaimed, with a violent start, and followed -her stealthily into the shop. - -The elegant place was thronged with shoppers, and he mingled with them, -keeping close to Kathleen, although unobserved by the object of his -espionage. - -"I wish I had the money that lucky girl is going to spend!" he -muttered, enviously, to himself. - -Kathleen went immediately to the desk of Mr. Golden, the senior partner -of the firm. Drawing a small black case from her pocket, she opened it, -displaying a very pretty diamond necklace. - -"Mr. Golden, of course you remember when papa bought this necklace here -for me," she said, timidly. "He paid five thousand dollars for it, you -know. Well, papa is away"--with a catch in her breath--"and--I--I need -some money very much. Will you do me the favor of buying this back for -whatever you will give me?" - -The kindly white-haired gentleman, drew a check toward him and began to -write rapidly. - -"Will a thousand dollars do you, my dear young lady? Because you can -take that, and leave the necklace as security for the loan. You can -redeem it when your father gets back," he said, beaming genially upon -her, for the Carews were among his best customers. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -MURDERED! - - - As I came through the Valley of Despair-- - As I came through the valley, on my sight, - More awful than the darkness of the night, - Shone glimpses of a past that had been fair. - E. W. W. - - -When Kathleen had thanked Mr. Golden for his ready kindness, and -gratefully accepted the check, she hastened to the bank, on the next -block, and had it cashed in some large and a few bills of smaller -denomination. She had left Cabby waiting for her in front of the -jewelers, telling him that as soon as she returned from the bank she -wanted him to drive her to the station, to take the first train for the -South. - -Accordingly, she returned in a few minutes and sprung into the cab, -little dreaming that she was watched and followed by the tall, blonde -young man who had recognized her when she had alighted at Golden & -Glitter's, and followed her into the store. - -He had secured a cab for himself, and was following fast upon her track. - -"Now, what is up with the heiress? Must be an elopement. Egad! Alpine -told me she was in love with a handsome actor, and that the _mater_ -was going to take her back to school to save her for me. Deuce take -her! I don't want her, only for the money she'll get from old Carew. -I was always afraid of those snapping black eyes of hers. I'd rather -have that little blue-eyed New York ballet dancer of mine, in spite of -her extravagance. A thousand dollars--a cool thousand! That's what the -little minx wants me to give her now, or----But I won't think of that; -it makes me savage. A thousand dollars! That's what Kathleen Carew has -in her purse this moment, besides the diamond on her finger, and her -ear-rings--real diamonds inside the little gold balls she wears snapped -over them in daytime. I wish I had 'em for my little duck! Wouldn't she -be sweet with great sparklers in her pink ears! And to think that the -_mater_ refused me the check I begged her for this morning, and she -rolling in old Carew's money, while her only son could not keep up any -style at all only for gambling!" ran the tenor of his thoughts, as he -pursued hapless Kathleen to the station, making up his mind that she -was about to elope, and grimly determining that she should purchase -his silence with her money and jewels. "And cheap getting off like -that, when I might take her back to mother and keep her for myself. -Egad! maybe the actor will pay me something on his own account; d--n -the lucky rascal!" he muttered. - -To his amazement, no person met Kathleen at the station. She bought her -ticket alone, and entered the parlor car of the vestibule train going -South. - -"To Richmond, hey? Running away alone, and to those poor relations of -hers, I'll be bound. No chance, then, of getting any of her boodle -for my dearie. She will need it all, for they say the Franklyns, her -mother's relations, are poor as Job's turkey hen. Well, I'll follow, -and we'll see if anything turns up to my advantage;" and, buying a -ticket as far as Philadelphia, he entered the train, after first -disguising himself by taking from his hand satchel and putting on a -dark wig and dark, heavy whiskers. - -The train rushed on and on through the land; but Kathleen, sobbing -under her veil, took no heed of time. Day passed, and it was far into -the night. The train rushed into a lonely woodland station, snorted and -stopped, while the conductor shouted: - -"Passengers for the South change cars here!" - -Kathleen and a single gentleman seemed the only Southern passengers. -They groped their way out into the darkness of the starless night. -The other train was waiting on the other side of a small wooden -depot. Kathleen, confused by the strangeness and darkness, staggered -shiveringly forward on the muddy path, alone, and frightened at the -solitude. - -A stealthy step behind her, two throttling hands at her throat -smothering her startled cry. She was thrown violently down, the jewels -wrenched from her hands and ears, the purse from her dress; then the -black-hearted murderer fled toward the waiting train, leaving his -victim for dead upon the ground. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -AT DEAD OF NIGHT. - - - I gaze on her frozen face, - Her mystical, sightless eyes. - And now--even now--her grace - The power of death defies. - W. J. BENNERS, JR. - - -Kathleen lay still and white under the starless sky, like one dead, and -there was no one to come to her rescue, for the telegraph operator, -busy at his instrument, dreamed not of her proximity, and at this hour -of the night there were no loiterers about in the village. Swiftly and -silently had the fiend escaped, and it was most probable that day would -dawn ere any one would discover the beautiful girl lying out there in -the rear of the depot upon the damp, muddy ground, dead and cold. - -But to return to Boston, which our heroine had so unceremoniously -quitted. - -Her last thought as the train steamed away with her was of Ralph -Chainey, the handsome actor, who had looked so tenderly into her eyes, -and who had whispered as he held her hand at parting: "I hope we shall -meet again." - -Her tears had started at the memory. - -"It is all over," she sighed. "He will be gone away from Boston before -I go back, and I shall never see him again." - -But at that very moment events were shaping themselves in Ralph -Chainey's life so as to bring him to her side again. - -In his room at the Thorndike Hotel he was reading a telegram that said: - -"Come at once. Fedora is ill--perhaps dying." - -His handsome face grew grave and troubled. Throwing down the telegram, -he sought his manager. - -"Every engagement for this week must be canceled. I must go South on -the first train." - -"But, my dear Mr. Chainey, the loss will amount to thousands of -dollars," expostulated the reluctant manager. - -"No matter; let the loss be mine. A--some one--is--ill--dying. I must -go." - -"I am very sorry. We were having a splendid success here," sighed the -manager; but his regrets did not deter the young man from going. - -Two hours after Kathleen had left Boston, he drove up to the same -station where she had taken the train for the South, and entered -another one going in the same direction. - -Meanwhile, Susette sauntered back to Beacon Street with the message -Kathleen had dictated--she would be at home later on. - -Mrs. Carew was indignant. She had been planning to take Kathleen away -by the noon train. Her trunk, already strapped and corded, stood in the -hall. - -Susette received a severe scolding for leaving her young mistress, but -she did not seem much affected by it. - -"She is my mistress, and I should not dare to disobey her orders," she -replied, and walked out of the room. - -"What shall you do now?" asked Alpine, curiously. - -"I must wait and take her on a later train." - -Ringing a bell, she sent her own maid to Commonwealth Avenue, to bring -home her tardy step-daughter. - -Ellen returned with the news that Kathleen had left Mrs. Fox's several -hours ago. - -"And with Susette, too," said the elderly maid, sourly; for she -cherished a secret grudge against Kathleen's maid, who was younger than -herself, better looking, and had insnared the affections of James, the -butler. - -Susette was recalled. On being questioned, she readily admitted that -Kathleen had started home with her, but sent her on ahead, promising to -follow. - -While the angry step-mother stormed and raved over Kathleen's -willfulness, awaiting her return in impotent anger, the young girl was -flying fast from her tyranny, and nearer to the fate that loomed darkly -in the near future. - - * * * * * - -The flying train sped on through the night with Ralph Chainey. He had -thrown himself down dressed upon his berth, for the porter had told him -that he would have to change cars at midnight. - -He was restless and troubled. No sleep visited his eyes. In spite of -himself, his thought turned back to Boston--to Kathleen Carew. She -haunted him with her musical voice and luring eyes. At last a deep -groan forced itself through his lips. - -"I would to Heaven we had never met!" he exclaimed, in a tone of deep -despair. - -Pushing back the light curtain, he looked out into the night. It had -grown cold and bleak. A light patter of mingled rain and snow was -beating against the window. - -"How dreary!" the young man murmured, with a shudder; and added, in a -sort of awe: "Dying! can that be true?" - -The porter, who was very attentive--the result of a liberal tip--came -and put his head between the curtains. - -"We change cars at the next station, Mr. Chainey, and that's but a few -miles away. You'd better be getting ready." - -Ralph came into the little reception-room, and the man assisted him -into his overcoat. A few minutes more, and the train was slowing up at -the lonely station. - -"You're the only person getting off, sir. Good-night, sir; a pleasant -journey!" - -The porter handed out Ralph's valise, and he stepped down into the -darkness, while the train went its way. - -"But where the dickens is the other one?" soliloquized the young man, -standing still a moment, the light snow pelting his face, while he -peered into the darkness for the locomotive's head-light. "It must be -behind that little depot. Here goes for a tour of investigation!" and -with his valise in hand, he strode forward in the darkness, hardly -knowing where he went, and wondering at the scarcity of railway -officials and light. - -"The train can't be here. It is probably late," he thought, and then -his foot tripped, and he fell headlong over a body lying in his path. - -A shudder of nameless horror shook the young man as he scrambled to an -erect position, muttering: - -"Good heavens! a woman, I know, from the silken garments. Now, what is -she doing out here on the ground in this Cimmerian darkness, with the -snow coming down in a fury?" He raised his voice and shouted loudly: -"Halloo, halloo!" - -The closed door of the depot, with its one blinking lighted window, -opened, and then the form of a man appeared in the opening. - -"Who is it, and what's the matter?" he exclaimed, shortly. - -"Bring a lantern out here. I've found a woman dead in the snow!" was -the startling answer. - -Ralph had knelt down and felt the face and hands of the motionless -woman. They were cold as ice, and he realized that she was dead. - -"Horrible!" he murmured, and while he waited for the man to come with -the lantern little thrills of awe ran through him. The flesh he had -touched was firm and young, the hair was soft and curly, the garments -silken. Who was she, and why was she out here under the night sky, cold -and dead? - -The depot agent came hurrying out through the driving snow, and flashed -the light of his lantern full into their faces, for Ralph was still -kneeling down by the motionless form. - -"Who are you, and what is the row?" he inquired, curiously, but Ralph -did not reply. - -He was gazing in terror at the silent face with its closed eyes that -lay so pale and still before him, wet with the falling snow, the -bronze curls tangled on the forehead, drops of blood congealed on the -exquisitely-formed ears; and, oh, horror! the white throat and chin had -dark crimson finger-marks upon them. The small velvet hat had fallen -off, the dress pocket was turned inside out, one hand had the glove -torn off, and was wounded where a ring had been wrenched from it. - -"Oh, Heaven!" groaned Ralph Chainey, in a low voice of shuddering -horror, and the man exclaimed: - -"Why, this looks like robbery and murder! See, her pocket has been -turned inside out, a ring has been torn from her finger--a diamond, -very likely--and her ears are bleeding where her ear-rings have been -torn out! Look at the red marks on her throat! Good Lord; she has -certainly been choked and robbed by some devil in human shape! Mister, -who are you, and where did you come from, and how did you find her?" - -Ralph Chainey, whose face had grown as white as the dead one before -him, did not reply save by a second groan of unutterable horror. He was -wringing his hands in dismay, and the expression of his eyes was one -of bitterest anguish. Not until the man shook him by the shoulder, and -plied him over and over with questions, did he reply, telling him in -disjointed sentences the simple truth of how he came there, and adding: - -"If I am not mistaken, she is Miss Carew, a young Boston lady, whom I -met there only last night. How she came here, what is the mystery of -this, I can not understand." - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -THE FATAL TELEGRAM. - - - "The young village maid, when with flowers she dresses - Her dark, flowing hair for some festival day, - Will think of thy face till, neglecting her tresses, - She mournfully turns from the mirror away." - - -"Poor thing! she must have been a beauty," the railway employé said, as -he contemplated Kathleen's cold and beautiful face. "Come, let us carry -her into the house and get a doctor. Maybe she ain't really dead, only -swooned," he continued, hopefully; and between them they bore her in, -and laid her on a bench made soft with their overcoats. - -Then the man ran to his instrument, which was ticking busily away, and -directly said: - -"Your train is several hours late, sir; so if you'll stay here, I'll -run and fetch a doctor." - -He flashed out at the door, and in the illy-lighted, shabby little -waiting-room Ralph Chainey was alone with beautiful dead Kathleen, so -cruelly murdered. - -He knelt down by her side in an agony of dumb despair. He gazed through -blinding tears upon the sweet white face; he took her cold, white hand -and kissed the wound upon it, and then he whispered, as if she could -hear him: - -"Beautiful Kathleen! you will never know now how dearly I have loved -you since first I saw your face! You are dead--dead! and soon the dark -earth will cover you away forever from the sight of men. Ah! if only -those dead lips could unclose long enough to tell me the name of your -dastardly murderer, I would pursue him to the ends of the earth, but -that I would bring him to punishment!" - -He bent his head until his pale lips touched the rigid ones of the -dead girl. They were icy cold, but the soft curls of bright hair that -lightly brushed his forehead, how soft, how silken, how alive, they -felt! But she was dead--this girl who had blushed last night beneath -his glance, whose voice had been so sweet and low when she spoke to him. - - "Ah, Fate is a cruel lord, - A tyrant at best his rule; - And we learn by sin and sword - While here in his rigid school. - Ah, me. I left her with hopes beguiled, - We parted, and Fate looked on and smiled." - -The shock and horror of the occasion began to overcome him, strong man -as he was; and his head reeled; consciousness forsook him. He fell in -a crouching position upon the floor, where he lay until the doctor -entered, followed by his gentle, girlish wife. - -"Oh, the dear, sweet, pretty creature! what an awful way for her to -meet such a fate! The murderer ought to be burned at the stake!" -exclaimed the young wife, sorrowfully, and her tears fell fast on -Kathleen's face. - -Doctor Churchman examined the girl's throat carefully, and said, with a -deep sigh: - -"Poor thing, she is quite dead! There is nothing I can do for her but -to carry her over to our house and take care of the body until her -friends come." - -A deep groan startled him, and Ralph Chainey staggered dizzily to his -feet. - -"Ah, sir! so you have recognized this young woman, Dickson tells me. -Well, please dictate a telegraph message to her friends at once," -Doctor Churchman said to him, gently, for the despairing look on the -young man's face touched him with sympathy. - -"He must have been in love with the murdered girl," he said to himself. - -Ralph went into the little office and sent a message off to Mrs. -Carew's address: - - "I have found Kathleen Carew here dead under very mysterious - circumstances. Please come immediately, as I am compelled to leave." - -By one of those strange rulings of fate that so startle us at times, a -mistake was made at the Boston office in taking the message, and when -received by Mrs. Carew the telegram ran thus: - - "I have married Kathleen Carew, and nothing can change it. Please God - in Heaven, I am comforted to know it." - -Mrs. Carew raved with anger, and the very next day the Boston papers -published, as a sensational item, Miss Carew's elopement and marriage -to the handsome actor, who charmed all women's hearts out of their -keeping--Ralph Washburn Chainey. - -Mrs. Carew's active malice could invent but one sting for the heart of -her step-daughter at so short a notice. She cabled at once to Vincent -Carew in London a garbled account of Kathleen's elopement with an -actor, one of the lowest and most unprincipled professionals who had -ever disgraced the stage. - -Vincent Carew had just been buying his ticket to return to America. -His health was restored, and his heart ached for a sight of his bonny -Kathleen, his beloved daughter. - -Close against his heart lay her picture, and her last sweet, loving -letter, in which she implored him to come home to his unhappy child. -She did not mention her step-mother's unkindness, but a vague suspicion -stirred within him and prompted his speedy return. - -His ticket was bought, his luggage, with so many beautiful gifts for -Kathleen stored in it, was sent down to the steamer. He smiled as he -thought of the surprise in store for his "home folks." - -Upon this complacent mood came the malicious cablegram from his irate -wife. - -The revulsion from his pleasant mood to keen wrath was terrible. - -Vincent Carew had a dislike to actors in general, of which no one -understood the origin. - -The thought of his bonny Kathleen married to one of this abhorred class -drove the proud man beside himself with shame and rage. For an hour he -raged and stormed about his room until he was on the verge of apoplexy. - -Having exhausted the first fury of his anger, he flung himself into a -cab and was driven in haste to a lawyer's office. - -His last act on leaving England was to execute his last will and -testament, in which he angrily disinherited Kathleen, his only -child. Leaving the document with the lawyer for safe keeping, with -instructions to forward it to America in case of his loss at sea, the -angry man was driven down to the steamer, and embarked for home--the -home that would be so lonely now without the light of Kathleen's -starry, dark eyes. - -Did he repent his harsh and hasty deed, that haughty man, as he -paced the steamer's deck those long moonlight nights thinking of -his dead wife--lovely, childish Zaidee--and the daughter she had -left him--willful, spirited Kathleen? Did he shudder with fear as he -remembered that should anything happen to him at sea, the cruel will -that disinherited the young girl would be irrevocable? Or did he gloat -over the prospect of her sufferings with her impecunious husband? No -one knew, for in his bitter trouble and humiliation he stood proudly -aloof from all, cultivating no one's friendship, seemingly absorbed in -his own thoughts, until _that_ night--that night of awful storm and -darkness--when fatal disaster overtook the good ship _Urania_, and she -was burned at sea, her fate sending a thrill of horror through the -heart of the world when the tidings became known with Vincent Carew's -name among the lost. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -"KATHLEEN, I SWEAR THAT I WILL AVENGE YOUR MURDER!" - - - My idol is dead--my queen! - I stand by her frozen clay, - And bitterly wail, "Kathleen, - Come back to my heart, I pray!" - But only the moaning storm winds sigh, - "Come back, come back!" as they hurry by. - W. J. BENNERS, JR. - - -Gentle, womanly hands prepared lovely, hapless Kathleen for the grave, -and she was laid upon a white bier in Doctor Churchman's pretty parlor. -Very pale and beautiful she looked, and as Ralph Chainey bent over her -for one farewell look, she did not seem like one dead, but just asleep. -It even seemed as though the white flowers on her breast moved softly, -as with a gentle breath; but when he hastened to hold a mirror over her -lips, it remained clear, without any moisture. He laid it down with a -bitter groan. - -His delayed train would arrive in a few moments and he was compelled to -leave the dead girl's side for a death-bed. He must leave Kathleen here -with these kind, sympathetic people; but he would return as soon as -he could; for there must be an inquest, at which he must be the chief -witness. - -He wondered how her relatives would take it--her stately step-mother, -her pretty step-sister, who had told him such unblushing falsehoods -about Kathleen. - -"Helen Fox will be sorry, I know, for she loved Kathleen dearly," he -murmured aloud. Tears fell from his beautiful brown eyes upon the -angelic face, and he went on talking to the girl in a low monotone, -almost forgetting that she could not hear him, or perhaps fancying that -her gentle spirit hovered near: "My darling, you will never know how -dearly I loved you, nor how I shall mourn you all my life long! Once I -saved your life and oh! why did not Heaven give me that joy again? Why -did I come too late to-night?" With a groan, he laid his hand softly -on the one that clasped the white flowers on her breast, and added: -"Kathleen, I swear that I will avenge your murder, if it takes me all -my life to do it and costs me all my fortune!" - -He bent and pressed his lips on her white brow and her soft curls, took -a white rosebud from under her pulseless hand and placed it in his -breast, then he was gone. Presently, when the excited villagers began -filing in to look at the murdered girl, they saw a tear-drop that had -fallen from his eyes glittering like a pearl on the bosom of her black -silk dress. - -The little community was wild with horror and excitement at the finding -of the murdered girl in their midst, and when it became known that she -had been recognized as a great Boston heiress, the _furore_ became -even greater. The telegraph wires flashed the news from town to city, -and the newspapers that one day had chronicled the news of Kathleen's -elopement, printed twenty-four hours afterward in flaring head-lines -the awful story of her robbery and murder. - -Even Mrs. Carew, wicked as she was, paled to the lips as she read it, -and Alpine fainted outright. Weak, selfish, cruel as the girl was, she -had cared for Kathleen more than she knew. The girl's charms had won -upon her, in spite of herself. - -"Good heavens! that actor, he has robbed and murdered her, the fiend!" -Mrs. Carew cried, violently. "He is even worse than I thought!" - -"I do not believe it, mamma. There is some mistake--there must be. -Ralph Chainey was a gentleman, and rich in his own right," Alpine -answered, speaking the truth for once. - -Like every one else, she admired the young actor, and though his -preference for Kathleen had angered her, she was not prepared to do -him the flagrant injustice of believing him as wicked as her mother -asserted. - -There was a moment's silence; then Mrs. Carew exclaimed, with a -startled air: - -"Good heavens, Alpine! think what this means to us! Kathleen dead, the -whole Carew fortune is ours!" - -Alpine had the grace to be ashamed. - -"How can you think of that _now_?" she exclaimed, reproachfully. "I--I -had rather know that--that Kathleen was alive than have the wealth of -the Vanderbilts!" - -Then she burst into tears and left the room in a hurry. - -Mrs. Carew looked after her aghast. - -"I did not think she would take it so hard, but then I always suspected -her at times of a sneaking fondness for that black-eyed witch," she -mused. "Well, I don't mind. It will look better in society, a little -real grief on Alpine's part. As for me, I'm glad she's out of the way, -and the Carew wealth assured to me and mine." - -She gave a low laugh of satisfaction, but her hands were shaking with -excitement, and her heart fluttered strangely. She was recalling the -coincidence of Kathleen's and her mother's deaths--both at nearly the -same age--sixteen--and both by violent means. - -The maid came so suddenly into the room that it gave her a violent -shock. She started and looked around angrily. - -"Why do you enter the room so rudely, without knocking, Ellen?" - -"I beg pardon, madame. I knocked, but you did not hear, so I made bold -to enter, because Miss Belmont sent me in a hurry." - -"Well?" - -"She desires to know if I shall get your things ready to go after Miss -Carew's body?" - -The woman spoke in an unmoved tone. Her mistress had taught her to hate -the fair young heiress. - -"She means to go?" interrogated Mrs. Carew. - -"She is getting ready, madame, and told me you were going." - -"Yes, of course, Ellen. In the absence of my husband and son, it is my -harrowing duty." Mrs. Carew put her handkerchief to her dry eyes and -sighed: "Make haste, Ellen." - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -ANOTHER MYSTERY. - - - "Ah, you or I must look - Into the other's coffin, far or near, - And read, as in a book, - Words we made bitter here, - Some time!" - - -There was a little flutter of excitement at Doctor Churchman's pretty -cottage. - -The Carews had at last arrived, after being vainly looked for for more -than two days, and their aristocratic airs and their stylish maid -created quite a sensation. - -Kathleen was waiting for them in the little parlor--Kathleen with shut -eyes and pallid lips and folded, waxen hands--so unlike the brilliant -beauty they remembered, with this awful calm upon her face. - -They gazed upon her, and Mrs. Carew's lips twitched nervously, while -Alpine wept genuine tears, remembering remorsefully how kind Kathleen -had been, and how illy she had repaid her goodness. - -Ralph had not come yet, but a telegram from Richmond had arrived -announcing that he would come early in the morning when arrangements -had been made to hold an inquest. - -Mrs. Churchman placed rooms at the service of the ladies and they -retired early, pleading fatigue, but really to talk over all that they -had heard. - -They had inquired as to the strange telegram that had been received, -and learned the true contents of it. They knew now that it was of -Kathleen's death, not her marriage, they had been informed. - -"She must have arrived here on an earlier train than Mr. Chainey, -so she was evidently running away from home," said Mrs. Carew, and -she added: "I think that wicked Susette eavesdropped and blabbed my -intentions to her mistress." - -"It is very likely," said Alpine, dejectedly. She was sitting with her -pale cheek in her hand, thinking of the dead girl down-stairs whom she -had been taught to hate and envy. The latter had come easy enough, -the former was a lesson not so easily learned. She wished now, in her -sudden accession of remorse, that she had let herself love winsome -Kathleen, whom it was so hard to hate. - -An exquisite casket had been ordered, in which Kathleen was now resting -easily like one asleep. Although she had been two days dead, there was -no sign of change about her. Beautiful and fair as a flawless pearl lay -Kathleen in her last sleep. - -"Immediately after the inquest to-morrow, we will remove the body to -Boston for burial," Mrs. Carew had said in her haughty manner to Doctor -Churchman. - -As the night advanced, the whole family retired to rest. It was not -deemed necessary to sit up with the corpse. She was left alone in the -open coffin, the lid being placed on a table. Not until after the -inquest would it be fastened down on the murdered girl. - -Alpine Belmont tossed restlessly upon her couch by the side of her -sleeping mother. She could not rest, this girl whose conscience had at -last awakened. She was haunted by the ghosts of her evil deeds--the -cruelties she had shown her little step-sister. - -"If she had not run away, she would not have come to this; but we drove -her to it--it was my mother's sin and mine," she thought, fearfully, -for the crimson marks on Kathleen's throat, the wounds on her ears and -fingers had thrilled her with horror. - -She was not usually romantic, this girl, but Kathleen's horrible fate -had terribly unnerved her. A strange impulse came to her to go down -alone to the parlor, to stand by that open coffin, and beg Kathleen to -forgive her all the wicked past. - -"She will hear me, for the spiritualists tell us that the souls of -the dead remain at first near their unburied bodies," she thought, -superstitiously; and, obeying her impulse, rose, slipped on a -dressing-gown, and drawn by an awful and irresistible yearning, sought -the presence of the dead. - -It was but a few moments more before the whole household was aroused by -piercing shrieks. They rushed to the parlor and found Alpine screaming -beside an _empty coffin_! - -Kathleen Carew had disappeared as mysteriously as if her body had -followed her soul to Heaven. - -The gray light of dawn was stealing in through the windows, and by that -light they saw some withered roses lying on the floor. Last night they -had lain on Kathleen's breast. The hall door stood wide open, and a -terrible suspicion came into Doctor Churchman's mind. - -The beautiful corpse had been stolen by unscrupulous parties, either -for the purpose of a ransom from rich relations or for the horrible -uses of a medical college. - -"I could not sleep, so I came down here to look at her again, and she -was gone," sobbed Alpine, in hysterical dismay. - -Searchers were organized in haste, but no clew was found, and when -Ralph Chainey came it was to be confronted with this mysterious case. -He almost went wild with agony; he employed the cleverest detectives -unavailingly. Mrs. Carew grew tired of the search, gave it up, and went -back to Boston, congratulating herself in secret that she would not be -at the expense and trouble of a funeral for her hated step-daughter. - -Following fast upon this event came the news of the _Urania's_ loss at -sea, being burned to the water's edge, with all on board. - -Soon after a cablegram from a London lawyer made the widow acquainted -with the fact of her husband's recent will, under whose provisions all -Vincent Carew's wealth was divided between his wife and her daughter, -disinheriting Kathleen for her disobedience, and making no mention of -his prodigal step-son, whom he had cordially despised. - -Alpine was delighted with her good fortune, and her mercurial -temperament began to recover itself from the shock it had sustained in -Kathleen's loss. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -A STRANGE FATE. - - - I never thought that I should see thine eyelids shut in death, - Thy bright brow cold, thy spirit quenched that glowed and bloomed - beneath. - SUMNER LINCOLN FAIRFIELD. - - -Poor Kathleen! she had passed through a strange and terrible experience. - -On that night when she had been so suddenly choked and robbed by an -unseen foe, the young girl had swooned from terror. - -That quick relapse into unconsciousness had saved her life. - -Thinking her dead, the murderer had relaxed his hold on her throat, and -throwing her roughly from him, escaped with his booty in time to board -the other train. - -Kathleen, by one of those strange psychological conditions sometimes -induced by severe mental strain or shock, passed from her swoon into a -state of coma or trance. Through the two nights and one day in which -she lay thus, her senses seemed to be preternaturally acute, although -her bodily faculties were bound in iron bands of inaction. - -What was her agony during the two hours when she lay alone in the murky -darkness and the snow and rain--what her joy when the voice of her -beloved penetrated her senses! - -Saved, saved! And by _him_! How she longed to speak--to utter aloud her -joy and relief; but she could not voice her gladness--she could only -lie passive and inert, and hear him proclaim her dead in a voice of the -bitterest despair. - -Oh, the blended rapture and agony of those hours! To lie still like a -stone, mute, moveless, and hear _his_ voice breathing his love for -her, feel his kisses on her cold face and hands! - -She longed with a terrible yearning to move, to stir beneath his touch, -to cry out to him that she was alive, that she loved him even as he -loved her; but her body seemed to be as entirely dead as her soul was -alive--alive and in agony. - -She knew that strangers came and went; that they talked of her as -dead; that they spoke of her beauty in pitying admiration; that they -shuddered at the red finger-marks on her throat, the wounds on her -hands and ears where her jewels had been torn away. She felt tears fall -often on her cold white face; she heard them talk of an inquest on the -morrow, and wonder if her relations from Boston would soon arrive. - -Then came the moment when Ralph Chainey had to tear himself away -from her. She heard gentle Mrs. Churchman talking to him about her, -and saying that she was not changed in the least--she was a very -natural-looking corpse. - -It seemed to the girl as if her heart leaped wildly enough to stir the -flowers on her breast at that awful word. - -A corpse! - -That was what they called her--when she was so full of agonized -life! Why could they not see that she was not dead? They said she -was unchanged. Why did they not suspect the truth, that she was in a -trance, not dead? - -Then the doctor's wife went out and left Ralph Chainey alone with -the lovely corpse. Then it was he kissed her brow and hands, and -his tears fell on her face. She heard him utter words of love and -of farewell. She knew that he took a flower from under her hand -and went away, and then she realized that the man she loved better -than any one else in the world had gone away and left her to her -fate. No one else would greatly care if she were dead or living. -Perhaps--they--would--bury--her--alive! - -At this stage of thought Kathleen seemed to die indeed. Her acute -consciousness of everything became mercifully suspended; she did not -know who came or went; she did not know when she was placed in the -elegant casket, with its silver plate bearing her name; she did not -know when the two women, her step-mother and step-sister, came and -looked at her in her pallid, silent beauty. All was a merciful blank. - -Then the lamp was turned down to a weak glimmer, and they left her -alone until the morrow. Mrs. Carew went upstairs to be with her secret, -silent exultation, Alpine with her keen, stinging remorse. - -The hours crept on toward midnight, and if any one had been there to -notice, they would have seen a marked change on the face of the girl in -the coffin. - -The complexion had lost its deadly pallor and become more life-like in -its hue. The breast was faintly heaving, the beautiful veil of long, -curling black lashes was fluttering faintly against the cheeks. - -Suddenly the black lashes rolled upward; a pair of large, glorious -dark eyes were revealed. In them was for a moment the blankness of one -rousing from a deep sleep. - -Then Kathleen weakly lifted her hands, and as they dropped at her -sides they touched the cold, metallic edges of the casket. A low, -inarticulate cry came from her lips, and she rose upright, staring -about her with bewildered eyes. - -She comprehended that she was about to be buried alive. Nothing -returned to her yet of the past--everything merged itself into one -startling consciousness of utter horror, and with a blind instinct of -fear struggling in her dazed mind, Kathleen climbed down out of the -casket, that stood on long trestles, and escaped from the house. - -Doctor Churchman was attending a patient in the neighborhood, and the -front hall door was unlocked. Kathleen tore it open with a shaking -hand and ran out into the street. A white flood of moonlight shone -down upon the sleeping town, but no one noticed the black clad figure, -bareheaded, with white flowers falling from its breast, running along -with terror-winged feet toward the open highway, until out of sight of -the glimmering white houses. - -Just as Kathleen emerged into the open country, she saw lights flashing -in the gloom, and several men who seemed to be searching for something -or some one. She shrunk back in alarm, but she was too late. They had -seen her, and came toward her with eager shouts and made her a prisoner. - -"It is she!" exclaimed one. "See, she answers the description -exactly--young, pretty, dark eyes, light hair, and a black silk dress!" - -"I do not know you. What do you want with me?" wailed Kathleen, -wringing her little white hands piteously. - -But they did not answer her. They dragged her away from the spot and -placed her in a waiting carriage. Then they drove away, and one of them -said, significantly: - -"She is so exhausted by her long tramp that she will not be violent, -and we shall get her back to the asylum without any trouble." - -Kathleen did not notice what they said. She was so dazed and frightened -by her troubles that her memory was almost gone. She put her white -hands to her brow and tried to recall her wandering thoughts, to -remember her name, and why she was here. But she could not do -it--everything was cloudy and vague. With a helpless, fluttering sigh, -she resigned herself to her strange fate, and crouched shiveringly into -the corner of the carriage that lumbered along the country road a good -seven miles before it came to a standstill before a large, gloomy, -prison-like building. - -It was a lunatic asylum, and hapless Kathleen had rushed upon a strange -fate. - -A handsome young woman, who had gone mad over the treachery of a false -lover, was being conveyed to the asylum, and had cunningly eluded -her keepers and escaped into the woods. A reward was offered for her -apprehension, and a large number of men had formed themselves into -searching parties. As none of them had seen her, and she answered -perfectly to the description, one of these parties had taken Kathleen -into custody. At the asylum it was the same way. No one had seen her, -so the captive was accepted without any doubts as to her identity, her -hatless condition and dazed manners keeping up the illusion of her -insanity. The men received their reward and went away, never doubting -that they had found the right girl. - -Kathleen was put to bed in a small cell by a kind but illiterate -attendant, and, still dazed and dumb with horror, sunk into a deep -sleep. Food had been offered her, and she had eaten a very little, -then pushed it away with a repellant gesture. After that, she was left -alone, and slept wearily for long hours, awaking refreshed and in her -right mind. - -She could remember everything now--her flight from home, her journey -that had been interrupted by her terrible experience of robbery and -attempted murder. Then the long trance, her terrified revival in -her coffin, and the frenzied flight into the darkness of the chilly -night. All flashed over her mind in the first, walking moment, and she -wondered why those strange men had captured and brought her here to -this strange place. - -"And what a miserable little room and bed; not one quarter as good as -Susette's," she murmured, with a glance of disdain around her at the -tiny cell. - -Alas! she soon became aware of the painful fact that she was an inmate -of an asylum for the insane, was believed to be insane herself, and was -called by the name of Daisy Lynn. - -In vain did Kathleen eagerly assure the attendants, and every one -else that would listen to her tale of woe, that there was a dreadful -mistake--that she was not the girl they thought her, but Kathleen -Carew, of Boston. - -They listened to her with significant smiles, and said to each other: - -"In her wanderings she has heard about that poor murdered girl, and now -assumes her identity." - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -POOR DAISY LYNN. - - - Do not ask me why I love him! - Love's cause is to love unknown; - Faithless as the past has proved him, - Once his heart appeared mine own. - LETITIA E. LANDON. - - -Spring, summer, and autumn glided past, and still Kathleen Carew -remained an inmate of the asylum. At first she had been frantic over -her strange fate, and her wild entreaties for freedom had been set -down to real lunacy. The stupid attendant paid no heed to her ravings, -and only laughed when she claimed to be Kathleen Carew, the beautiful -young girl whose murder at Lincoln Station had so stirred up the whole -country. - -They were stupid, and did not read the papers, or they might have seen -the strange story of her disappearance--might have suspected that she -was speaking the truth. - -So the weary months went on, and when Kathleen, after her first wild -ravings against her fate, had given up at last to a sort of sullen -despair, something happened in her favor. - -The matron, startled and alarmed by the appearance of the young girl, -felt her heart stirred to pity, and wrote to her friends: - - "Miss Lynn is no longer a raving maniac, as at first. She has become - silent and melancholy, and looks so worn and ill that I fear she is - slowly dying of a broken heart. I think you ought to take her home - again, and see what home associations will do toward prolonging her - life. She will never be troublesome or violent again; the physician - assures me of that. Indeed, the state she has fallen into is one that - often precedes speedy death, and the poor child ought to have home - comforts and petting, now that she is so very near the end." - -The matron, who had always pitied and admired the beautiful, unhappy -young girl, watched over her tenderly while she waited for the answer -to come to this merciful letter. She was startled at the delicacy of -the young girl's form, that had been so graceful and rounded when she -first came, and the pallor of her face and hands. The great Oriental -dark eyes had become wild and startled, like those of a haunted fawn, -and her voice when she spoke was low and tremulous, and had the sound -of tears in its music. - -When the matron gazed at this sweet and lovely young girl she marveled -that any man's heart could have been cold and harsh enough to turn -against such charms and leave that young heart to die of despair, or -madden with its cruel wrongs. - -"She is beautiful and refined enough for a king's bride," the matron -said, with an angry thought of the monster in man's likeness who had -brought the young girl to this pass. - -She waited eagerly for a letter to come from Miss Watts, the girl's -aunt, hoping and praying that she would take her away, and not leave -her to die at the asylum. - -Tears came into her kind old eyes as she thought of herself robing this -beautiful form for the grave, and folding those waxen white hands on -the weary breast for the last long sleep. - -She did not tell Kathleen she had written to her aunt to take her away, -because she feared the effect of a disappointment. She waited silently, -and at last the letter came. Miss Watts was an old woman--a soured -old maid, who had not much patience with love and lovers, and who had -been much disgusted with her niece for losing her senses over a man's -perfidy. She was blind, and her pretty niece had been eyes and hands to -her before her trouble. Now she had to depend on servants entirely, -and she was crosser than ever. She grumbled very much at the idea of -her niece's return. - -"A nice place this will be--me blind and Daisy insane," she grumbled; -but the thought of the young girl's fading so fast in the asylum -touched her, and she had her maid to write that the girl might come -home if they were quite, quite sure she was harmless and would not make -any trouble. - -So Mrs. Hoover, the kind-hearted matron, came herself to bring Kathleen -home to her aunt, for she wanted to explain to the old lady the young -girl's strange fancy that she was not Daisy Lynn at all, but Kathleen -Carew, a beautiful young Boston heiress, who had been mysteriously -murdered in the vicinity of the asylum, and of whom the poor lunatic -had chanced to hear in her wanderings. - -So Kathleen came into her new home an utter stranger, but was received -as belonging to it. The servants were new, and the old lady was blind. -She could not see the face of her niece, and she attributed the strange -tone of her voice to her illness. She passed her long, delicate fingers -carefully over Kathleen's face, and exclaimed in surprise at its -delicacy of outline. - -Kathleen overwhelmed Mrs. Hoover with kisses and thanks, and called her -her benefactress for securing her release from the asylum. - -"I should have died or gone mad in reality if I had been kept there -much longer; but now I shall go away from here and find my friends," -she said, hopefully. - -Mrs. Hoover looked very much alarmed at this declaration. - -"My dear, if I had thought you would run away, I would not have -brought you here," she exclaimed, uneasily. - -"But, dear madame, I have no claim on this old lady here, and I must -think of my poor father, who has returned from Europe ere this, I know, -and is mourning me as dead," obstinately answered the pale young girl, -whose heart throbbed wildly at the thought of returning to her home and -friends. - -The good old matron seized the wasted little white hand of the girl, -and patted it tenderly in hers, as she said, remonstratingly: - -"Now, listen to me, Daisy, dear: If you run away from home your aunt -will have you followed and brought back to the asylum, and you know you -would not like that, would you?" - -"I would rather die," sobbed the poor girl, trembling like an aspen -leaf. - -"Then take my advice, and don't do anything rash, dear child. Now -here's a good idea: Stay quietly here, and write to your friends to -come to you here," said the matron, who thought that this would pacify -Kathleen a while. - -"But I wrote to them from the asylum. I wrote and wrote and wrote--all -in vain," sighed the girl. - -"Perhaps your folks were out of town. I would try again," soothed the -matron, who knew that none of those pathetic letters had ever gone -outside the asylum. - -"I will write again," said Kathleen, patiently, for the matron's hints -had sorely frightened her. She did not want to run away and be captured -and taken back to her terrible prison. She resolved to write again; -then, if no answer came, she must dare her fate. Let her but get -safely home and all would be explained, and her pursuers would have to -go away baffled. - -"How angry papa will be when he finds out what horrors his little girl -has endured," she thought, with burning tears. - -So Mrs. Hoover went away, sadly believing that she should never see -the poor, sweet child again; she looked so wan and pallid, as if she -already had "one foot in the grave." - -Then Kathleen, who was left to herself almost all the time, went back -to poor Daisy Lynn's room, and began to write to all her friends. By -night she had quite a pile of letters to post. - -She had written to her father, to Helen Fox, to Alpine Belmont, to -several of her girl friends, to Ralph Chainey, and even to Teddy -Darrell, who had loved her and asked her to marry him. Despite his -flirting propensities, Teddy was a prime favorite with every one -because of his warm heart and good nature. If any one asked Teddy -Darrell to do a favor, he would "go through fire and water" to -accomplish it. Helen Fox was accustomed to say, laughingly, that Teddy -Darrell would try to flirt with a broom-stick if he only saw a woman's -dress on it; but beyond this weakness, which the girls easily forgave, -he was a thoroughly good fellow, with a good figure, handsome face, -and a pair of dark eyes that always laughed their owner into your good -graces. - -"Some of them will get my letters, surely, and come for me," she -thought, as she started out to post her letters. - -Her aunt sent a servant to post them and ordered her back. - -"Reba will always do your errands for you," she said; and Kathleen had -to relinquish them reluctantly to the maid. - -Reba had her instructions, and while Kathleen watched her from the -window, she cleverly pushed some scraps of papers into the letter-box -on the corner, and carried the letters back to Miss Watts, who locked -them into her private desk. - -"It is strange what a fad she has taken into her head!" she thought, -carelessly. - -Kathleen waited with burning impatience for the answers to come to -her letters. She counted the hours it would take for them to go from -Philadelphia to Boston. - -Meanwhile, almost unconsciously to herself, she began to take an -interest in the absent girl whose place she had taken in the asylum, -and in this small, neat home, so different from the splendor to which -she had always been accustomed. - -The little room she occupied, although not luxurious and grand like -her own in her father's mansion on Commonwealth Avenue, was a perfect -bower of maidenly innocence and sweet, loving fancies. The windows were -curtained with white lace looped with rosy ribbons; the brass bedstead -had a white lace canopy; the toilet-table, the lounge, the low chairs, -all repeated the pretty fashion of white lace and rose-pink ribbons, -and the floor was covered with a light-hued carpet strewn with ferns. -Pretty little pictures adorned the mantel and the walls, and the -daintiest kind of a dressing-case was displayed on the toilet-table. -In the drawers were girlish trifles, such as young girls gather about -them, and there was, too, a pretty little diary, at which Kathleen -glanced with tender interest, wondering what was written on those -pages, penned by the hand of a fair young girl, who had gone mad for -love. - -"But it would not be right to read it," she said at first, and would -not touch it, until her loneliness, added to her interest in poor, -missing Daisy Lynn, decided her that it would be no harm to read the -diary. - -She opened it, and a man's photograph fell out into her hands. She -gazed at it with eager curiosity, exclaiming: - -"This must be the false wretch that drove poor Daisy Lynn to madness!" - -Suddenly the girl's face, already so pale and wan, whitened to an ashen -hue, her great dark eyes dilated in a sort of horror, and she flung the -photograph far from her into a distant corner, exclaiming, indignantly: - -"Ivan Belmont, my step-mother's hateful son, whom she wanted me to -marry, so that I might endow him with a fortune." - -It was some time before she could command her nerves sufficiently -to read Daisy Lynn's diary, and then her tears fell freely, for the -story of the young girl's love was all written there, gay and joyous -at first, then sad and plaintive, then drifting into deep despair, -followed by the disjointed ravings of a mind distraught. - -"Oh, how sweet, and then how sad!" exclaimed Kathleen. "Love comes to -all young girls with the same symptoms, I suppose, for I felt just as -she wrote in the first after meeting Ralph Chainey--so gay, so glad, so -joyous. The sky seemed brighter, the flowers sweeter, the whole world -was a new place. There is nothing in the world as sweet as love." - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -KATHLEEN'S DESPERATION AND HER ESCAPE. - - - "And then she sang a song - That made the tear-drops start; - She sang of home, sweet home, - The song that reached my heart." - _Popular Song_. - - -Kathleen sighed restlessly as she turned the pages with her little -white hands. - -"Love is sweet, but, oh, how sad it is, too!" she sighed. "Oh, how -cruel it is to love and be beloved again, yet be severed from one's -love by so strange and cruel a fate as mine." - -She read aloud, in a soft, murmuring voice, like sweetest music, some -verses from Daisy Lynn's book: - - "It is the spirit's bitterest pain - To love and be beloved again, - And yet between a gulf that ever - The hearts that burn to meet must sever!" - - * * * * * - - "With me the hope of life is gone, - The sun of joy is set; - One wish my heart still dwells upon, - The wish it could forget! - I would forget that look, that tone, - My heart has all too dearly known. - But who could ever yet efface - From memory love's enduring trace? - All may revolt, all my complain, - But who is there may break the chain?" - -"Poor Daisy Lynn! how could she love Ivan Belmont like that?" exclaimed -Kathleen, in disgust, forgetting that he _was_ a rather handsome man, -and that tastes differ. A longing to see what Daisy Lynn looked like -came over her, and she searched the room in vain for her picture. - -Then she went down and asked Miss Watts if she might see her niece's -photograph. - -The old blind lady looked up with gentle displeasure. - -"Daisy, child, have you no memory of the past?" she exclaimed. "You -know very well that in all your life I have never allowed you to have -your picture taken!" - -"But why not?" asked Kathleen, in wonder. - -"Because it is a sin," replied the old lady, who was rigidly religious. -"Have you forgotten," she continued, "the second commandment that you -used to read every Lord's day at Sabbath-school?" and she repeated, -solemnly: - -"'Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, nor the likeness -of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the -waters under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship -them.'" - -Kathleen stared in amazement at this liberal interpretation of the -Scriptures, and retired regretting that she could not have the sad -pleasure of gazing on the features of the unfortunate girl in whose -fate her own was so strangely bound up. - -"Poor, poor Daisy Lynn! I wonder what became of her when she escaped -her keeper and wandered abroad that cold, dark night?" she mused; and -she thought that the girl must be dead and at rest from her sorrows. - -A long week of waiting elapsed, but no answer came to Kathleen's -letters. - -Kathleen grew desperate with suspense and trouble. She could no longer -while away the dreary winter days by reading poor Daisy Lynn's novels, -or playing sad melodies on her pretty little piano. She began to pace -up and down the little room for long hours, revolving plans for escape -from Miss Watts. - -The three servants whom the old lady employed guarded the young girl, -by the order of their mistress, as jealously as if she had been a -convict in a penitentiary. All the doors were locked and guarded by -burglar chains. She had appealed to their mercy in vain; and she was -empty-handed and had nothing with which to bribe them. They had been -told she was melancholy mad, and saw no reason to doubt the story. Her -sad, white face, her beautiful dark eyes, in which the tears so often -gathered, and her mournful little songs, all lent color to the charge. - -Desperate emergencies require desperate remedies. Kathleen decided, in -spite of Mrs. Hoover's warnings, to run away. - -She had no money; but that did not deter her from her purpose. She -would beg in the street for money to go to Boston before she would -remain here any longer, she told herself, with a burst of tears. - -Her old fear of her step-mother had died out in the conviction that -her father had, of course, returned home ere now, and that, under his -protection, no harm could befall his beloved child. - -From the curtained alcove where Daisy Lynn's soft, white sheets and -blankets and counterpanes were stored on shelves, Kathleen brought the -sheets and tore them into strips, working on them every night until she -had succeeded in making a strong plaited rope with which to let herself -down from the window. - -"Heaven help me--dear Heaven help me!" she prayed all the while; and -one dark night toward midnight she fastened the rope to the shutter -hinge and let herself safely down to the street. - -Stunned by the velocity of her descent, and with bleeding hands -rasped by the rough rope, Kathleen fell upon the ground and lay there -pantingly a few moments. - -"Free at last, thank Heaven--free!" she murmured, gladly, and wrapping -her long circular cloak around her, and drawing the warm hood close -about her beautiful face, she ran breathlessly along, flashed around a -corner, and had left her prison behind her, fleeing, as she hoped, to -home and happiness. - -It was growing late, and in the quiet city of Philadelphia there were -few pedestrians abroad, and those mostly men. In any other city of that -size Kathleen, with her beautiful face, would have been insulted over -and over, but the Quaker City of Brotherly Love had in it a smaller -ruffianly element than the others. When she stopped and appealed to -those she met she invariably received a coin instead of a leer; but -they were so small--so small, and, oh, it would take so much money to -get to Boston! - -She had stopped a policeman on his beat and asked him timidly how much -money it would take to get to Boston. - -"Oh, as much as twenty dollars, I guess!" he replied; and at his -curious stare she thanked him and ran away, pausing under a street lamp -to count her money. - -"Only two dollars and twenty cents! I shall never, never get enough!" -she sighed, and then she gave a shriek. A thief had snatched the money -from her little white hand and run down a side street. - -Kathleen started to run after him, but there was no policeman in sight, -and the thief had quite disappeared. She ran till her limbs trembled -with weariness, and suddenly emerged into Walnut Street. People were -coming out of the Walnut Street Theater, and crowding the pavement. -She saw a handsome man handing a fair young girl to her carriage, and -the sight awoke memories of the past when she, Kathleen Carew, heiress -then to a million, now a beggar in the streets, had been handed to her -carriage by Ralph Chainey, the handsome young actor, who had whispered -in her ear: - -"I hope we shall meet again." - -A dry sob rose in her throat, but she choked it back, and advancing -till she was in the midst of the throng, paused suddenly, and began to -sing in a low but thrilling voice that favorite old song, "Home, Sweet -Home," at the same time holding out her tiny white hand for largess. - -It was a desperate deed, but poor Kathleen was a desperate girl, and -knew little more of the evil of the world than a little baby. She was -so eager to get money to go home, and she thought that out of this -great crowd there might be many who would pay her for singing the -simple little song that everybody loved so well--"Home, Sweet Home--The -Song That Reached My Heart." - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -"WILL YOU BE MY OWN SWEET WIFE, KATHLEEN?" - - - "Love thee? So well, so tenderly, - Thou'rt loved, adored by me, - Fame, fortune, wealth, and happiness - Are worthless without thee!" - - -Kathleen had a sweet and bird-like voice, that had held crowded -drawing-rooms entranced in the happier days that now seemed so far away. - -As that exquisite voice--timid at first, and faltering, but gradually -gaining strength and volume--rose upon the night air the young girl was -at once surrounded by a wondering and admiring throng. - -Her desperate courage began to give way as she saw herself hemmed in by -the crowd, and the impulse seized her to fly; but she beat it bravely -back, for already silver coins began to rain into the small, white, -outstretched hand that seemed so ridiculously dainty and aristocratic -for a street beggar. - -"Jove! what a regular beauty!" one man whispered to another, as he -gazed eagerly into the sweet, flower-like face. - -She heard him, and her voice shook with indignation, but she kept on, -holding fast meanwhile to her earnings, determined that no bold thief -should capture them this time. - -Suddenly she became aware that the crowd's attention was being diverted -from her, and resolved to escape at this auspicious moment. - -The fact was that the popular actor, Ralph Chainey, who had just -carried staid Philadelphia by storm in his popular impersonation of -Prince Karl, was just leaving the theater for his hotel, and almost -every one turned away from the beautiful singer for a glimpse of the -tall, dark, handsome young fellow, with his swinging stride, as he came -among them. - -He, on his part, had been standing back a little, arrested, like the -others, by that sweet, sad, thrilling song. As it neared the end, he -pressed forward to make a generous contribution to pay for his share in -the rare entertainment. - -The crowd fell back and made way for him, and Kathleen, dreaming not of -the nearness of the lover who haunted all her thoughts, started to fly. - -Ralph Chainey had not yet seen her face, but he hurried in pursuit of -the slight cloaked figure, generously anxious that she should not lose -the money he was going to bestow on her for the song. - -The crowd began to disperse, and Kathleen, unconscious of pursuit, ran -half a square, then slackened her pace. So it was that Ralph Chainey -caught up with her, and laid a strong, detaining hand upon her arm. - -With a low moan of terror Kathleen raised her beautiful, frightened -dark eyes to the face of her assailant. - -For a moment they gazed, spell-bound, into each other's eyes. - -To both it seemed like the shock of a life-time--that sudden -_rencontre_; and to the man it was more startling then to the girl, for -he had long sorrowed over the fate of Kathleen Carew, believing her -dead. - -Yet here stood this slight girl whose voice had so thrilled him a few -minutes ago gazing at him with Kathleen Carew's eyes, looking out of -Kathleen Carew's face. - -Was she ghost or human? - -Was she a phantom of his brain, this slight, pale girl? - -He had thought of her so often, he had mourned her so passionately, -that perhaps his brain was distraught--perhaps the vision was the -figment of a mind diseased. - -But suddenly the moan died away on the sweet, red lips; the hunted look -faded from the somber dark eyes and was succeeded by a look of joy as -she faltered: - -"Ralph Chainey!" - -His hand had slipped from her arm in the first shock of recognition. -Now he hastily put it back and pressed it to see if it was real flesh -and blood or only a phantom woman. He muttered, hoarsely: - -"Kathleen Carew, are you ghost or human?" - -Kathleen's dark-eyes laughed radiantly into his. - -"I am human, Mr. Chainey, as I think you ought to realize from the way -you're pinching my arm," she returned, with pretty archness. - -All in a moment she had changed from a sad, persecuted young girl, -begging her way in the dark street, to a very queen of love and -happiness. - -Looking into his luminous brown eyes, all her sorrow seemed to flee -away, and the sunlit sky of love seemed glowing over her head, instead -of dark, wintery skies. - -Her archness, her smiles, and the warm, human touch of her wrist, -recalled him from his ghostly fears, and he said, faintly, but eagerly: - -"I can hardly believe my senses, Kathleen. You--alive--after all these -months, when I sorrowed for you dead! Where have you been?" - -Her face paled, and she looked apprehensively over her shoulder. - -"I--I--can not tell you here!" she faltered. "I might be missed and -followed. If--if--you would only take me to the depot, and send me home -to Boston to papa, I will be so grateful. I--I--think I have enough -money to pay my way." - -Ralph Chainey signaled a passing cab, and lifted the young girl gently -into it. - -"Drive slowly about the streets for an hour until further orders," he -said to the driver, as he sprung in and took his seat by Kathleen. "Oh, -what happiness this is to find you alive, Kathleen!" he exclaimed, -searching for her little hand, and holding it warmly clasped in his. - -She nestled slightly toward him, and he thrilled with happiness at the -confiding motion. - -"You will send me home to papa?" she repeated, sweetly. - -Then he said: - -"It will be several hours before the next train for Boston leaves, -Kathleen, so you can tell me all about yourself while we ride about and -beguile the time of waiting. Or, would you prefer to go to a hotel and -rest, and have some refreshments?" - -"I am not hungry nor tired, and prefer to ride about with you this -way," answered the girl, with naïve simplicity; and he drew a sigh of -relief. - -He was young, but more worldly wise than Kathleen. He preferred not -to take her to a hotel until she had some claim on him, to silence -carping tongues. But first he must know the secret of her mysterious -whereabouts ever since the night when he had kissed and wept over her -beautiful dead face, and gone away on a mission that brooked no delay. - -But for a few minutes he was silent from sheer happiness. Alive, his -beautiful Kathleen, whom he had adored in secret, but never told of his -love! What happiness, when he and happiness had so long been strangers! - -Her tremulous voice broke the silence: - -"Do you understand it all--that I was in a trance that night when you -bade me farewell and went away?" - -"My God! a trance? Yes, you _did_ look natural. Mrs. Churchman remarked -upon it before she left me alone with you." - -"I heard what she said," Kathleen answered, shuddering, and Ralph -Chainey put his arm about her and drew her closer, murmuring: - -"Did you hear what I said, too, my bonnie Kathleen?" - -"Yes," she answered, trembling in a sort of ecstasy and feeling warm -blushes redden her cheeks as she whispered: - -"You kissed me--you wept over me--you--said--said--that you loved me!" - -"And you, sweet Kathleen? Were you vexed at me for my presumption?" -questioned the young man, drawing her closer with a fond but reverent -arm. - -"No; oh, no!" faltered the girl, shyly, yet blissfully. - -"And you will let me tell you the same thing over, darling Kathleen, -that I worship you, and you will promise me, dear, to be my own sweet -wife? Yes, is it not, my own one? There, do not draw away from me in -fear. One kiss, my own love, my beautiful treasure, given back to me -from the grave itself!" - -Then one kiss became a dozen. He pressed her close to his heart, and -she rested there with a blissful sigh, happy in this haven of rest. - -Presently: - -"Now, darling, you may tell me all your story; then I have a startling -proposition to make to you," he said. - -From what she had said to him about taking her home to her father, he -perceived that she was entirely ignorant of all that had transpired -since her supposed death. - -She was mercifully ignorant of her father's loss at sea, and the will -made in London just before he sailed, disinheriting his only daughter, -and giving her portion of his wealth to Alpine Belmont. - -Poor little Kathleen, who believed that she had still a loving father -and was the heiress to all his wealth, was in reality orphaned and -penniless--a beggar in reality. - -But Ralph Chainey, in the greatness of his noble heart, decided to -spare her the pain of knowing all this yet, and he could see but one -way out of the difficulty--one very agreeable to himself, and not -unkind to the lovely waif so strangely thrown on his protecting care. - -He knew well that the selfish Belmonts would refuse to care for the -homeless girl, would deny her identity, refuse to admit her claims on -them. He determined to propose an immediate marriage to Kathleen, by -which her future could be made secure. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -KATHLEEN'S DISAPPEARANCE. - - - "Ay, call her on the barren moor, - And call her on the hill; - 'Tis nothing but the heron's cry, - And plover's answer shrill." - - -Kathleen told her lover, between sobs and tears, while she rested close -in the shelter of his loving arms, all her sad story. - -Ralph Chainey listened with bated breath, his eyes dim with moisture, -to the story of Kathleen's persecutions. - -"What stupid people they must have been at the asylum not to listen to -your strange story! I will have them indicted for unlawfully detaining -you!" he exclaimed indignantly. - -"Never mind that, as they can never find me again," she replied, -happily. - -"They could not take you if they did," he answered; and then he -unfolded to her, gently and tenderly, his wish to make her his wife -at once, and asked her if she would consent. "It is the most proper -thing for us to marry at once," he said. "Unfortunately, we can not -be married in Philadelphia without a license, which, as it is near -midnight now, I could not procure until to-morrow. But we can take -a train within the hour for Washington, and be married, without the -necessity of a license, by the first minister we can wake up there. Do -you think you can agree to this, darling?" - -She hesitated; she said, anxiously: - -"Had we not better go straight to Boston and ask papa's leave? Perhaps -he would not like it if we were married without his consent." - -Why did he not tell her the truth--that there was no use in going to -Boston; that her father was dead and she had no home there; that her -step-mother and her selfish daughter had inherited the Carew millions? - -He could not bear to inflict this shock upon her so soon. She had -suffered so much already, poor little darling! that he would save her -this added blow for a little while. He could fancy how hard she would -take it, to come back to the world, fatherless, penniless, homeless. -Let him make her his wife first, and she would have love, wealth, and -position almost equal to what she had lost. Then he would have the -right to comfort her with his devotion. - -So he began to urge his suit with all a lover's devotion, picturing to -her the possibility of her father's refusal. - -"You are so young, dear Kathleen, he might want us to wait years and -years, and there are so many things that might come between our love," -he urged, anxiously. - -She shuddered and thought of Alpine Belmont's cruelty. The remembrance -decided her; she consented to his wish. - -They were driven to the station to take the train for Washington. - -"In about three hours we shall be there, and then you shall soon be my -little wife," he whispered, joyfully. - -They learned that the train was more than an hour late. They went into -the reception-room to wait. - -Then it suddenly occurred to him that the members of his company at the -hotel would be so alarmed at his non-appearance that night that they -would think he had been foully dealt with, and raise a great hue and -cry. - -He hastened to explain these facts to his lovely, girlish _fiancée_. - -"Do you think you would mind staying alone here, long enough for me to -go and excuse myself to them?" he inquired, tenderly. - -Her throat ached with the impulse to sob out to him that she was -frightened--that she did not wish for him to leave her there alone. - -But she was ashamed of her weakness; she would not confess it to her -bright, handsome lover. - -In a low, tremulous voice, and with a sad little smile on her quivering -red lips, she bade him go. - -"It is only for a little while, my own little love!" he whispered; but -her heart sunk heavily with fear and dread. He found her a secluded -seat in a dim corner. "You can sit here quietly and unobserved until -I return," he said, and stole a parting kiss from the sweet red lips -that smiled at him with such pathetic love. - -Then he was gone, and she no longer tried to check her bursting sobs. -Leaning far back in the corner, her little cobwebby handkerchief was -soon drenched with her raining tears. - -She told herself that he would soon return and laugh at her for being -such a great baby, but she could not help it. A terrible presentiment -of coming evil weighed down her spirits. - - * * * * * - -Ralph Chainey entered a cab and was driven rapidly to his hotel. He -explained that business of great importance called him in haste to -Washington, but that he would return the next day in time for the -evening performance, "Beau Brummel." - -Then he drove as fast as possible back to the depot, where his little -darling, as he called her in his fond thoughts, was impatiently -awaiting his return. - -"My little darling, so soon to be my adored wife," he murmured, as he -hurried eagerly into the waiting-room, where the second great shock of -his life awaited him. - -Kathleen Carew was gone! - -He stared with dazed eyes at the empty seat where he had left his -beautiful young sweetheart less than an hour ago. - -She was gone! - -Then commenced a frantic search that lasted so long that by and by the -train that was to have taken the pair to Washington thundered into the -station and away again, while he still pursued his unavailing quest. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -"RALPH CHAINEY IS A MARRIED MAN!" - - - "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, - Men were deceivers ever; - One foot on sea and one on shore, - To one thing constant never." - - -When Ralph Chainey had led Kathleen into the waiting-room of the depot -he had been so absorbed in her that he failed to notice any one around -him. - -So he did not observe a pretty and showily-dressed blonde beauty -who was walking restlessly up and down the room, evidently bent on -attracting attention to herself and her dress by these maneuvers. - -When Ralph entered with Kathleen, the young woman gave him a curious -glance that speedily changed to one of dismay. - -Then she shrunk back hurriedly into the shadow and watched the pair -with bright, steel-blue eyes that glittered with the light of hate. - -"A love affair," she muttered, angrily, and noted keenly every movement -of the two. She saw how they looked at each other with the light of -love in their beautiful eyes. She stole nearer and overheard their -words; she saw their kiss, their tender parting. - -Her white hands clinched themselves tightly, her face paled beneath its -rouge, and she muttered indistinctly to herself--muttered words of hate -and menace. - -When Ralph Chainey had left Kathleen alone the stranger boldly -approached the weeping girl. - -Standing before Kathleen, she touched her on the shoulder, and when -Kathleen shrunk back and lifted her white face in piteous fear and -entreaty, the stranger almost started at its wonderful beauty. - -"Ralph Chainey is deceiving you," was the startling sentence that fell -on Kathleen's ear. - -"Oh!" the girl exclaimed in bewilderment; but the blonde beauty went on: - -"He has promised to marry you, but he does not mean it, you poor, -pretty child. It is only a plot to betray you." - -"You speak falsely," Kathleen managed to stammer in a choking voice, -her dark eyes flashing indignantly. - -"You do not want to believe it, I know, but I can prove to you that I -speak the truth. Ralph Chainey is a married man. _I am his wife!_" - -Kathleen grew as pale as she had been in her coffin that terrible -night; her dark eyes stared as if fascinated into the pretty painted -face of the woman. She could not speak; her head seemed to be going -round and round; her poor heart throbbed as if it would break. - -"Perhaps you have heard that actors are wicked people," continued the -pretty stranger. "It is true of the whole class, and most especially of -this Ralph Chainey. He is always seeking for a new love, and leaving -some other woman to break her heart for love of him. Although I am -his wife, he tired of me months ago, and left me to starve or die of -a broken heart, he cared not which, so that he was well rid of me. My -kind parents took me home, and since then I have watched his career in -amazement and despair. Many and many a fair and innocent young girl I -have saved from his clutches." - -"Oh, Heaven! must I believe this?" came in a low, sobbing under-tone -from Kathleen's pale lips. - -"You are the youngest and fairest of them all and it would break my -heart to see you fall into Ralph Chainey's power," continued the -blonde, anxiously. "Be warned in time, my poor girl. Fly from this spot -and go home to your friends." - -"I have no friends in this city, and my home is in far-off Boston," -sobbed Kathleen, clasping her little hands in despair. - -"Then come home with me, and stay all night, and you can go on to -Boston to-morrow morning early," was the quick reply. - -She waited for an answer, but none came. Kathleen's head had drooped on -her breast. A fatal unconsciousness had stolen over her, and the hour -of her enemy's triumph was at hand. - -The blonde beauty laughed low and maliciously, as she realized how -deeply her words had struck their poisoned arrows into the young girl's -heart. - -Coolly signaling a stranger who had hurriedly entered the almost -deserted waiting-room, she said: - -"My friend has fainted from grief at receiving a telegram containing -news of the death of her lover. Will you assist me to carry her out to -my carriage before she revives? I know she will go into hysterics as -soon as she recovers, and that would be so embarrassing in this public -place." - -The gentleman, a slight-built, genial-faced man of about thirty years, -courteously acceded to her request, and gazed with deep compassion at -the beautiful face of the unconscious girl he was carrying in his arms. - -"What a lovely creature! and so young--scarcely more than a child; yet -she had a lover, and he is dead," he thought, pityingly, as he placed -her in the carriage. - -"I thank you for your kindness," said the blonde beauty, with a -dazzling smile. The carriage door closed upon her after she had -said "Home" to the driver, and then Samuel Hall, the kind-hearted, -smiling-faced young man, stood under the gas-light, gazing after them -with dazed blue eyes. - -"Quite an adventure, Sammy, was it not, eh?" he muttered, talking -naïvely to himself. Perhaps his arms thrilled yet with the pressure of -the beautiful form that had lain heavily in them a minute ago. His mild -blue eyes looked soft and dreamy. - -"How lovely she was!" he mused. "So lovely and so sorrow-stricken! The -other one was handsome, too, in her way, but not like the younger. -Grand, rich people, I suppose," he ended with a sigh; for, having -once known "better days," our friend "Sammy" did not very much enjoy -his position as a hard-working clerk in one of Philadelphia's immense -dry-goods emporiums. - -He went home to his lonely room in a great, rambling boarding-house, -and though he was not usually impressionable, his mind kept running on -his little adventure. He said to himself that it was because he was so -sorry for the beautiful young girl who had fainted when she received -the telegram that her lover was dead. - -"I wonder what their names were?" he mused, curiously. "The blonde I -did not quite like. There was something theatrical and made-up about -her. She did not in the least resemble the fainting one, so they could -not be sisters." - -Still musing on his little adventure, he retired. Sleep came to him, -made restless by uncanny dreams. - -It seemed to the young man that he was standing on the verge of a -precipice, looking down into a dark gulf where a turbulent river rushed -along in foam and fury. Struggling in the gloomy waves was the young -girl he had carried fainting to her carriage, and her white face was -upturned to him; her great, piteous dark eyes were fixed on his with -unutterable reproach. Tossing her white arms up toward him, she cried, -bitterly: - -"_You_ helped that wicked woman to destroy me!" - -Then she sunk beneath the waves, and they closed forever over her white -face and shining hair. - -Sammy Hall awoke in anguish, his forehead beaded with perspiration. - -"Oh, what a strange, weird dream! How vivid it is still in my mind! -What does it mean? Is it a warning? That can not be, however, for I was -doing her a kindness, not an injury, and my heart ached with sympathy -for her sorrow." - -He could think of nothing else next day, and at noon, when a heavy -storm came up and kept customers from crowding into Haines & Co.'s -great store, he told the bright, pretty young salesladies about it, -dream and all. - -They listened to him with the liveliest interest; their eyes grew dim -with pity for the beautiful young girl whose heart had broken for the -death of her lover. - -"But it was so strange for her to reproach me in that dream!" he said, -in a troubled voice--"so strange! Because, you see, I was only kind to -her, and did nothing wrong." - -"Mr. Hall, I have a theory to explain your dream," cried Tessie Mays, a -romantic young girl; and every one turned to her with interest as she -went on: "The blonde was a bad, wicked creature who frightened that -pretty, innocent young thing into a faint, and then carried her off to -some wretched fate--'the spider and the fly,' you know." - -"It is very likely, indeed!" chorused all those romantic young girls, -and Sammy Hall's heart sunk like a stone in his breast. - -He brooded over that night's adventure, and in his sleep that strange -dream kept recurring. He feared that Tessie Mays was right. The blonde -woman was a wicked creature who had made him a tool to help her in her -nefarious plans. - -Two days later, as he was going along Ninth Street to dinner, he came -suddenly face to face with the blonde, made up carefully and gaudily -attired. He stopped in front of her and stammered: - -"Oh! ah! miss--madame--excuse me; but how is that unhappy young girl?" - -"Why, you must be crazy! I don't know you. I don't know what you mean. -Get out of my way!" - -She pushed him roughly aside, and had disappeared before he recovered -from his surprise. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -KATHLEEN MAKES A STARTLING DISCOVERY. - - - "Who that feels what Love is here-- - All its falsehood, all its pain-- - Would, for even Elysium's sphere, - Risk the fatal dream again?" - - -When Kathleen Carew recovered consciousness she found herself on a bed -in a shabby garret bed-room, with the eyes of the blonde beauty looking -into hers. - -"So you are come to at last? I began to think you were dead, child. -Here! smell this, and you'll soon be better," she exclaimed, -vivaciously, as she held a bottle of camphor under Kathleen's nose. - -Kathleen pushed it away like a petulant child. - -"What am I doing here?" she sobbed, in a frightened voice. - -"This is my home, you know. I offered to bring you here to save you -from Ralph Chainey, that wicked actor. Oh, my! what a scene there was -after you fainted. He came back, and I can tell you, he was frightened -at finding _me_ there. I told him he must go away, that I had told you -all, and you hated him. He tried to brazen it all out at first, but -presently he was humble enough, and I made him carry you out and put -you in my carriage. Then he went away, vowing he would get you into his -power some day." - -Kathleen shuddered from head to foot, and cried, appealingly: - -"Oh, madame, is he really your husband? For the sake of Heaven, do not -tell me an untruth, for it is more bitter than death to lose faith in -one's lover!" - -"Alas! if it is so hard to lose faith in a lover, how much worse to be -deceived by a husband?" cried the blonde, pathetically. - -She dashed her white hand across her dry eyes, and Kathleen caught the -glitter of a diamond ring flashing like a little sun. In her small, -pink ears there were magnificent diamonds, too, and Kathleen began to -watch them with fascinated eyes. - -"What a beautiful diamond ring! Won't you let me try it on, please?" -she asked, humbly. - -The blonde, flattered by the admiration for her ring, slipped it off -with some difficulty, and allowed Kathleen to take it in her fingers. - -She held it up and gazed inside the gold circle, reading aloud: - -"'Kathleen Carew!'" - -"Why, I never knew before that a name was cut----" began the woman, -then bit her lip and checked herself, abruptly. - -"Where did you get this ring?" asked Kathleen, excitedly. - -"My husband gave it to me." - -"And your beautiful ear-rings?" - -"They, too, were gifts from my husband." - -"From Ralph Chainey?" - -"Of course. Didn't I tell you he was my husband? Do you want to see my -marriage certificate?" holding out her finger for the ring. - -"Presently," said Kathleen, sitting erect, with a strange fire in her -eyes. "Is this," she continued, in a strange voice, "_your_ name inside -the ring?" - -"Of course," airily answered the blonde. - -Kathleen's slumbrous eyes began to glow with an angry light, and she -exclaimed, passionately: - -"It is false! It is my own name, and the ring is mine! The ear-rings -also are mine! My father gave them to me!" - -"You must be crazy, girl!" exclaimed the blonde, in honest surprise. -She snatched the ring and slipped it back on her finger. - -"I tell you I am in earnest," stormed Kathleen, roused to a sudden fury -by the thought of her wrongs. "I tell you I am Kathleen Carew, and -those jewels were stolen from me by a man who choked me and left me for -dead on the ground, while he tore those gems from my bleeding hands -and ears. And you say it was your husband----" she stopped, shuddering -violently. Was she criminating Ralph Chainey? - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -WAS RALPH CHAINEY A VILLAIN? - - - Roses have thorns, and love is thorny, too; - And this is love's sharp thorn that guards its flower, - That our beloved has the cruel power - To hurt us deeper than all others do. - SARAH C. WOOLSEY. - - -Kathleen, pale, shuddering, startled, gazed in horror at the face of -the bold, handsome creature who declared to her that these gems for -which she had been almost murdered were given to her by Ralph Chainey. - -Was it true that the woman was Ralph's wife, and that he had given her -the jewels? - -If so, what an awful vista of suspicion and crime opened back of these -two facts! - -Could it be that Ralph Chainey was the fiend who had robbed and -murdered her that night, and then by his clever acting thrown off -suspicion from himself? - -The terrible suspicion made her tremble like a leaf in the wind; and -meantime the woman, whom we will call Fedora, was gazing at her with -suspicious eyes. - -"I don't know what to make of you, girl," she said, impatiently. "Come, -now; I want to hear your story from beginning to end." - -Kathleen did as she was asked. She related the whole story of her life, -from the first meeting with Ralph Chainey until now. - -Fedora listened with eager attention. - -She was especially interested in Mrs. Belmont and her son Ivan. - -"And she wanted you to marry _him_?" she said. - -"Yes; but I will never do it. I hate him, and so does papa. He is a -spendthrift, and dissolute," said Kathleen, quoting words that her -father had used of his step-son. - -Fedora frowned and said, hastily: - -"But he is very handsome, isn't he?" - -"I believe some people think so, but I don't. I guess Daisy Lynn -thought so, or she would not have gone mad for love of him;" and the -whole story of Daisy Lynn came out. - -It proved very interesting indeed to the blonde, who asked many -questions, and seemed disappointed that Kathleen could not answer them -all. - -When she had elicited all that Kathleen could tell, she returned to the -subject of Ralph Chainey. - -"I knew he was false to me, but I did not believe he was wicked enough -to do murder," she said. - -Kathleen shuddered as with a mortal chill, and said faintly: - -"There must be some mistake." - -The blonde gazed in silence for several minutes at the lovely face of -the hapless young girl, then asked, abruptly: - -"What shall you do about it?" - -"Nothing," Kathleen answered, sorrowfully; and she thought to herself -that she would give the world to blot out of her life all memory of the -man she had loved so dearly and so well; yet she knew that his memory -would haunt her all her life long, and that her heart would break -because he had proved unworthy. - -She looked pleadingly at the woman before her, and exclaimed: - -"Will you please take me home to my father?" - -"To-morrow," answered Fedora, soothingly. She rose as she spoke. "Lie -down and sleep; it is late," she added. "To-morrow I will go home with -you and restore you to your friends." - -She went out, carefully locking the door behind her. - -Alone in her own room, she looked at the beautiful jewels that had cost -Kathleen so dear, and muttered: - -"He did it for me--to get these for me. How he loves me! But this girl! -her life is a menace to his liberty. If I let her go home and tell what -she knows, suspicion will fall upon _him_. Why did he bungle so, if he -must do that ghastly job?" Then she laughed. "Oh, I have paid _you_ -out, Ralph Chainey!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -RESCUED. - - - "Hame, hame, hame! 'tis hame I fain wad be-- - Hame, hame, hame, in my ain countree!" - - -Sammy Hall was bitterly sorry that he had missed getting any -information from the blonde about the beautiful girl he had seen with -her that night at the station. - -The beautiful white face and closed eyes of the young girl haunted him -with strange persistency. - -And after his accidental _rencontre_ on the street with the insolent -blonde he felt more apprehensive than ever. - -"I wish I knew where she lived: I would find out more about her," he -thought; and fell to watching for the bright, steel-blue eyes and -golden hair every day. - -He was rewarded for his efforts when one day he saw her at the trimming -counter buying some gold passementerie from Tessie Mays. - -Sammy Hall waited till she had sailed out of the store, then went -across to the young salesgirl. - -"It's that woman--the one that carried off the girl that night. I saw -her give you her address. What is it?" he queried, excitedly. - -As much excited as himself, Tessie gave it to him, and he began to set -his wits to work to find out the mystery of that night. - -To Kathleen's indignation and dismay, Fedora had kept her a close -prisoner in the shabby little garret chamber ever since that night--now -five days ago--when she had been brought there. - -To quiet the complaints of the girl, Fedora told her that she dare -not let her go outside the house, because her aunt's emissaries were -searching for her everywhere, and that, if found, she would be arrested -and taken back to the asylum. - -"You must remain quietly hidden here until the search blows over," she -said; and no entreaties could move her jailer's heart; there was always -a plausible excuse; but Kathleen, looking into the flippant, insolent -face, began to distrust the woman. - -"She hates me--hates me because Ralph Chainey said he loved me," she -thought, uneasily; and she grew frightened in the miserable little -garret room in which she was kept a prisoner, seeing no one but Fedora, -who brought her food with her own hands--food which tasted palatable -enough, but which seemed only to sap the young girl's strength. - -For with each day Kathleen grew weaker and weaker. - -At first she had been wont to pace the chamber restlessly for hours. -Now her limbs grew weary; her brain seemed to reel. She rested in the -chair, then upon the bed, and her burning brain was full of the thought -of Ralph Chainey's treachery. - -"I loved him so, I loved him so--yet he was wicked, false and cruel -beyond all men!" she sobbed; and the knowledge was killing to her. She -thought that now, at last, she was going mad, like poor Daisy Lynn, -over a lover's falsity. - -She did not know that it was death, not madness, that was approaching; -but the food brought her by Fedora was drugged, so that in a short time -it must cause her death if she kept on taking it. - -She did not dream what a terrible interest the woman had in her death, -and that she had decided that Kathleen Carew must never go out of that -house alive. - -"He did it for _me_, and I must not let her go free," she decided, -grimly, and went unfalteringly about her plans for ending that sweet, -innocent young life. - -Kathleen found her imprisonment here more galling than it had been in -the home of Miss Watts. There was here no pretty, dainty room filled -with a young girl's dainty books and pictures, but only squalor such as -might have surrounded an uneducated servant. - -She wondered much over the house she was in, and if her jailer, the -gaudily attired blonde beauty, inhabited such a shabby apartment as she -allotted to her guests. But she was not likely to have her curiosity -gratified on this point, as Fedora always locked the door on leaving, -and there was only one window--a small one, very high up--that gave -an uninteresting outlook on the walls of other houses--poor ones, it -seemed, from their moldy bricks. - -A day came when Fedora did not bring her any dinner, and the whole day -wore away dully and gloomily. It was the day when Samuel Hall saw her -shopping in the store of Granville B. Haines & Co. Kathleen did not -dream of what had happened, but Fedora had moved out of the house that -day, leaving her victim to her fate. - -Kathleen ate so little of the drugged food prepared for her that she -had lived longer than the woman anticipated, so she decided to leave -her to starve to death in the unoccupied house, where she was locked -into the wretched garret. - -When she gave her address to the pretty saleslady at Granville B. -Haines & Co.'s, it was in a fit of absent-mindedness that saved -Kathleen's life. - -Instead of giving her new address, she gave her old one, and, as we -have seen, Samuel Hall at once secured it from Tessie Mays. - -So excited was the young man, and so fearful that harm had befallen -the beautiful young girl of that night's adventure, that he actually -secured the services of a policeman, and finding the house closed and -seemingly unoccupied, the doors were broken open and a strict search -instituted. - -When they had almost begun to despair of success, the beautiful victim -was found by the delighted young clerk, who at once recognized her as -the fainting girl he had placed in the carriage that night. - -She fainted again when she learned that she was saved, and the -policeman and Sammy had some difficulty in restoring her to -consciousness. When they had done so, they were filled with grief and -horror at the story she had to tell. - -"Oh, let me go to papa!" she begged them, pathetically, and Samuel -Hall, melted by her beauty and distress, assured her that she should -be sent at once to Boston. A closed carriage was secured, and Sammy -and the sympathetic policeman escorted her to the station, where a -first-class ticket was bought and Kathleen placed in a Pullman car. - -"God forever bless you!" sobbed the young girl, weeping over Sammy's -hand, and overwhelming him with promises of what her rich father would -do to reward him for his nobility. - -Then the train steamed away out of the station, and there were tears in -the eyes of both men, through which they saw dimly the pale and lovely -face, on which a little hopeful smile was budding into bloom. - -The policeman made Sammy promise to keep a sharp lookout for the -perfidious blonde, and to let him know if he found her, so that she -might be arrested and punished for kidnapping the girl. Then the two -separated, the policeman returning to his regular beat, and Sammy to -the store, where he told the sympathetic young girls the story of his -knightly deliverance of Kathleen, and became quite a hero in their -admiring eyes. - -But gladdest of all was our beautiful Kathleen, speeding as fast as -steam could carry her back to Boston and to papa, who must surely have -come home ere now, and who would be so glad to see his little girl. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -"PAPA, DARLING, IT IS I, YOUR LITTLE KATHLEEN!" - - - The world says now I am dead; but, oh, - Lean down and listen. 'Tis all in vain! - Again in my heart bleeds the cruel blow; - Again I am mad with the old-time pain! - CARLOTTA PERRY. - - -It snowed in Boston that night when Ivan Belmont came home on his usual -mission--to extort money by begging, coaxing, threats or curses--(he -usually tried all in succession before he succeeded)--from the rich -widow, his mother, and the heiress, his sister. - -And he was wont to say on these occasions that he would almost rather -_work_ for the money than to extort it from those two penurious women, -they were so close-fisted and quarrelsome. - -It was quite true what he said. Money he _would_ have, but he was so -spendthrift and reckless that his mother groaned in spirit over his -excesses, and often flatly refused him a penny. - -Then he would have recourse to Alpine, and he never left until he -secured it, although he invariably had to raise a storm before he -succeeded. - -His periodical pirating visits grew to be deplored by the whole -household, even by the servants, who knew that the effects of his -demands were to be dreaded for days, in the increased harshness and -ill-temper of the two women they served. - -To-night the contest had raged hotter than ever before and only the -threat of criminal deeds, unless his demands were met, had sufficed to -draw gold from the pockets of his relatives. - -Chuckling over his success, he left the house and prepared to face the -raging storm outside on his way back to the distant city whence he had -come. - -Crushing his hat down over his face, he hurried down the marble steps, -pausing at the bottom in surprise at seeing the cloaked figure of a -female in the act of ascending the steps. - -The glare of a street-lamp shone full on the scene. Curiosity prompted -him to stare at the beautiful white face upraised timidly to his own. - -As he did so, his own face whitened with horror, his eyes dilated, his -limbs trembled with fear. - -"My God!" he muttered, hoarsely; and turning, fled from the spot in mad -haste, like one pursued by fiends. - -He believed that he had seen a veritable ghost, for it was the -pale, lovely face of Kathleen Carew into which he had gazed so -wildly--Kathleen, whom he believed dead. So he fled from the spot as -wildly as his trembling limbs would permit. - -Kathleen had always disliked and despised Ivan Belmont, so she only -smiled scornfully at his precipitate flight, and began to ascend the -marble steps, her heart beating with joy at the thought of meeting her -father again. - -"I wonder if James will be frightened, too, and run away, thinking me a -ghost?" she murmured, with a sad little smile, as she rang the bell. - -But it was not James who opened the door to her; it was a total -stranger, who stared in surprise at the sight of a beautiful, -refined-looking young girl out alone on such a stormy night. - -All the old servants had been discharged after Kathleen's death, -because they had irritated Mrs. Carew by grieving after their young -mistress. - -So the man looked in wonder at the strange young girl with the rich -golden hair and flashing dark eyes who stepped across the threshold as -if she belonged there, and said to him with gentle imperiousness: - -"Tell your master there is a young lady to see him." - -Without waiting for a reply, Kathleen brushed past the astonished -servant, entered a small reception-room on her right, and sat down to -await the entrance of her father. - -She had not mentioned her name, because she wanted to take him by -surprise. - -She wanted to see the joy-light flash into his handsome face when she -should throw herself into his arms and cry out, tenderly: - -"Papa, darling, it is I, your little Kathleen, come home to you again!" - -How glad he would be to see her again! He had always loved her so -fondly that his heart must have almost broken when they told him she -was dead. - -And how glad he would be to have her back again. How his eyes would -flash when she told him how wretchedly she had been treated. He would -certainly call in the strong arm of the law to punish her persecutors. -Only she did not want them to do anything to old Mrs. Hoover, the kind -matron who had befriended her in the asylum. - -She sunk down into a beautiful satin chair with a sigh of relief at -getting back to papa and home again--her beautiful home, so warm, so -luxurious, filled with the rich odor of hot-house flowers, in strong -contrast to the storm raging bleakly outside. - -The man-servant, somewhat amazed at her coolness in entering the -reception-room, but supposing her to be some intimate friend of the -family, went in search of his mistress. - -"A young lady is in the small reception-room asking for Mr. Belmont," -he said. - -He had naturally supposed that Kathleen meant Ivan Belmont, as he was -the only man connected with the house. - -"Did you send Mr. Belmont to her?" - -"He had just gone out, madame, and she did not wait for me to tell her, -but brushed past me and went into the room," he replied. - -"Impertinent!" exclaimed the lady, in angry surprise. "I will go and -see what she wants," she added, rising and throwing down her novel to -go. - -She was already in a towering rage, because she had been bullied by -Ivan into giving him five hundred dollars a few minutes ago, and the -idea that a woman, one of his low associates, most probably, had had -the effrontery to follow him here, added fuel to the flame of her fury. - -Kathleen heard the swish of a silken robe, and the heavy curtains -parted and fell behind the tall and stately form of her handsome -step-mother. - -The girl rose up--grieved that it was not her father, but so glad to -be safe at home again that she was almost glad to see again the wicked -woman who was the cause of all her trouble. - -"Mamma!" she faltered, using the name she had been taught to give her -cruel step-mother, and Mrs. Carew, who had been advancing angrily -toward her, recoiled with a smothered cry and starting eyes. - -Kathleen came toward her with eager, imploring hands outstretched in -greeting. - -"Do not be frightened, mamma, I am not a ghost, I am human," she said, -sweetly; but Mrs. Carew, who had sunk down on her knees in mortal -terror, waved her back. - -"Back, back!" she breathed, hoarsely; and Kathleen saw that she -believed herself haunted by the spirit of her dead step-daughter. - -She went back to her seat and began to explain her appearance in -soothing tones: - -"It was all a mistake, mamma. I was in a trance, not really dead, and -I came to myself in the coffin that night, and dazed and frightened -lest they should bury me alive, I ran away into the woods. Some people -caught me and put me into a lunatic asylum, from which I have just -escaped!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -TURNED OUT INTO THE STORM. - - - The poor too often turn away unheard - From hearts that shut against them with a sound - That will be heard in Heaven. - LONGFELLOW. - - -Mrs. Carew drew a long, sobbing breath, and struggled up to a chair, -keeping her eyes fixed fearfully on Kathleen, who went on sorrowfully: - -"I can not tell you mamma, what I have suffered since I went away last -spring. The recital would be enough to melt a heart of stone. You never -loved me, I know, but you would have pitied me if you could have known -how I was suffering from the stupidity of those people, who took me for -another girl, and kept me a prisoner so many months. Thank Heaven, it -is all over now, and I am at home again. But where is papa? I want to -see him so much, and I am sure he can not be out this stormy night." - -While the young girl talked, the color had been coming back to Mrs. -Carew's lips and a malevolent gleam to her blue eyes. Straightening -herself up in her chair, she looked across at the girl, realizing that -it was indeed Kathleen Carew come back from the portals of death. - -She had always hated the lovely, innocent girl, and now she thought -triumphantly that Kathleen's day was past. Her father was dead, and she -was disinherited. She had no part nor lot in the home to which she had -returned. - -The cruel woman looked at the lovely young suppliant, and sneered: - -"You can not impose on me with your false claims. You are not Kathleen -Carew, and your resemblance to her is very slight--not strong enough to -bear out your assertion. My step-daughter is dead." - -"No, no!" Kathleen cried, piteously. "I am your step-daughter, indeed -I am, mamma, and I have told you the truth. I have been so ill and -unhappy all these months, it is that which has changed my looks and -made me look so unlike the Kathleen you remember. Where is papa? He -will know me, he will be glad that I am alive!" She made a movement to -leave the room, but as suddenly Mrs. Carew barred her way. - -"You lunatic! you shall not leave this room!" she hissed, savagely. - -Kathleen's hot temper, held at bay so long, flamed up at once. - -"I _will_ go to papa!" she uttered, angrily; and in a low but perfectly -clear voice her tormentor answered: - -"Vincent Carew is _dead_!" - -She saw the girl start and tremble as if she had been struck. Her sweet -face, flushed a moment ago with anger, went deathly white, and she -clutched the back of a chair for support. - -"Vincent Carew is dead!" repeated the pitiless woman before her. -She heard a moan of mortal agony issue from Kathleen's pale lips, -but she continued, heartlessly: "My husband was lost at sea in the -_Urania_, that was burned to the water's edge the very week after my -step-daughter was murdered in Pennsylvania. By his will, made in London -just before he sailed, he disinherited his daughter for her intimacy -with an actor, and left his whole fortune to me and my daughter." - -"It is monstrous, impossible! You are telling me a falsehood!" moaned -Kathleen, with difficulty, for her senses were leaving her under the -shock of her step-mother's words. A low gasp came from her lips, she -staggered blindly forward, then fell insensible upon the carpet. - -Mrs. Carew spurned the senseless form with her foot and threw wide the -velvet _portière_, calling: - -"Jones, lift this woman up and put her out into the street. And be -careful never to admit disreputable characters inside my doors again, -or you may lose your place!" - -The man, who had been lingering about very near, approached with -profuse apologies and excuses. - -"Carry her out into the street!" repeated his mistress, angrily. - -Jones took up the light, unconscious figure in his arms and moved -toward the door, but he muttered, deprecatingly: - -"She'll die out there in the snow." - -"What is that to you? Creatures like _her_ ought to be dead! Do as you -are bid, or you will rue it!" stormed his mistress; and Jones, dazed -and frightened by her violence, hastened to obey her commands. - -The door had hardly closed on him as he bore poor Kathleen out into the -stormy night, when Alpine Belmont, disturbed by the noise, came gliding -down the stairs, demanding the cause of the excitement. - -Mrs. Carew was pale and trembling in every limb, and she answered, -reluctantly: - -"It's something not fit for a young girl's ears, my dear." - -"Oh, bosh! I'll find out from the servants if _you_ don't tell me," -retorted Alpine; and then Mrs. Carew said, cunningly: - -"Well, if you must know such awful things, a woman came here demanding -to see that disreputable brother of yours! You can imagine the sort of -woman, crazy with drink, that would follow _him_! So I made Jones put -her out into the street, and the whole disgraceful thing will be talked -over by the servants by to-morrow." - -Alpine shivered with horror and disgust, and muttered: - -"I wish Ivan was dead! He is too wicked to live! The idea of that -woman's effrontery!" - -Mrs. Carew thought to herself: - -"That was a good idea of mine! She believes every word. Good! for I -would not like for her to know the truth. She has been so soft over -that girl ever since her supposed death, that there's no telling what -pity would lead her to do!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -TEDDY DARRELL AGAIN. - - - The snow lies white and the moon gives light, - I'll out to the freezing mere, - And I'll tell my mind to the friendly wind - Because I have loved her so. - INGELOW. - - -Mrs. Carew's servant, Jones, was a very humane and tender-hearted -man, and his heart swelled with anger as he obeyed the command of his -mistress, and bore the fainting young girl out of the splendid abode of -luxury and wealth into the cold and stormy night. - -He stopped under the flaring street-lamp and looked pityingly into the -lovely white face that had fallen back against his arm. - -"Why, what a pretty young thing she is--little more than a child--and -looks as innocent, too!" he soliloquized. "I'll bet my life that -if she's ever done any harm, she's been betrayed into it by that -scoundrelly Ivan Belmont that she came here to find! He ought to be -hung, so he ought!" - -He glanced anxiously up and down the almost deserted avenue. The -snow lay white and deep upon the ground, and the great flakes swirled -through the air, striking him coldly in the face. - -"If I put her down here on the ground she will freeze to death, poor -girl, that's certain!" he murmured, uneasily. "I just can't do such a -wicked thing--no, not even if she _is_ bad, as Mrs. Carew said. Why, -even if she was a murderess it wouldn't be right to leave her out here -to die in the cold! But, land, what be I to do with her? That's what I -want to know!" - -The whinny and stamp of an impatient horse attracted his attention at -that moment. He turned his head and saw a smart cab waiting at the next -door. The driver, half asleep, sat on his box, his head sunk into the -collar of his great-coat. - -A sudden temptation came to the troubled Jones, and he did not fight -against it, but rather welcomed it as an inspiration. - -Walking noiselessly across the snow, Jones placed his burden inside the -cab upon the cushions, and closed the door so softly that it did not -attract the attention of the tired and sleepy driver on the box. - -"God bless you and raise you up a friend this awful night, you poor -little wretch!" apostrophized Jones, as he returned from the scene and -re-entered the Carew mansion. - -He had not been gone ten minutes before a servant came from the house -before which the cab was waiting and roused the sleepy cabby. - -"The lady as you brought here has decided to stay all night with her -sick mother, so she told me to pay you and send you away," he said. - -"All right, but I wish she had made up her mind afore she kep' me -a-waitin' here all night! I be frozen with the cold, that's what I be!" -grumbled the driver, accepting the double fee ungraciously, and driving -away at a high rate of speed, all unconscious of the silent passenger -inside. - -He went rattling down to a large hotel, hoping he might get a fare for -the theater. - -A tall, handsome young man came down the steps and hailed him. - -"Take me to the Opera House," he said, opening the door and springing -lightly in. - -"All right, sir," and away they went. - -Teddy Darrell, the new fare, pulled up the collar of his long, -fur-lined overcoat about his ears, and was about to settle himself -comfortably when he received a violent shock. - -He discovered that he was not alone in the cab. A slight girlish form, -shrouded in a heavy cloak, was huddled up on the opposite seat, and low -moans were issuing from its lips. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - -"I WOULD LAY DOWN MY LIFE TO SERVE YOU!" SAID TEDDY. - - - How was any one to know - That those eyes had looked just so - On a hundred other women with a glance as light and strange? - There are men who change their passions - Even oftener than their fashions - And the best of loving always, to their minds, is still to change. - JOHN T. TROWBRIDGE. - - -Teddy Darrell had had some adventures in his day, and was not given to -nerves, so he did not let the shock of his discovery overcome him. - -The thought flashed over him that some drunken woman had crept into the -cab, unknown to the driver, and fallen into a troubled slumber. - -The flaring lanterns on the outside of the cab did not afford much -light, so Teddy struck a match and held it over the face of his unknown -companion. - -Then indeed he had a shock much greater than the first one. - -The lighted match fell from his hand and he recoiled with a startled -cry. - -"Good heavens! what a likeness!" - -He sunk upon the opposite seat, actually trembling with surprise and -emotion. - -In the pale and lovely face lying unconscious on the cushions the -young man had recognized a haunting likeness to one he had loved very -dearly, and whose tragic fate, six months ago, had thrilled him with -unutterable horror. Although other lovers had succeeded Kathleen in -Teddy's young, impressionable heart, he had never ceased to regret the -fact that she had rejected him. - -"The sweetest, loveliest girl in all the world!" he had always thought -of bonny, dark-eyed Kathleen. - -And he trembled with pain when he saw in the poor street waif, as he -believed her, the awful likeness to his lost loved one. - -Kathleen, who was beginning to recover consciousness, moaned and -stirred, half lifting herself toward the young man. - -He bent toward her kindly and said: - -"Are you ill, madame?" - -That voice! It was one from her happy past. It stirred a pulse in -Kathleen's heart, and she turned toward him wildly, her dark eyes -opening wide upon his anxious face. - -The flaring lights from some place of amusement shone into the cab and -showed her his features. - -"Teddy Darrell!" she murmured, in a feeble tone of amazement. - -"Good heavens! you know me!" he exclaimed. "Who are _you_?" - -She held out her white hands to him with an entreating gesture. - -"Don't you know me? Don't you remember Kathleen Carew?" she cried, -faintly. - -"Kathleen Carew is _dead_!" he answered, blankly. - -"No, no; she lives! It was a mistake. I was in a trance, and I escaped -from my coffin and ran away into the woods," whispered the girl, -rapidly regaining the strength to speak. - -"Good heavens! So that's what became of you!" cried Teddy Darrell. He -seized her little white hands and pressed them rapturously. "Welcome -back to life, my dear girl!" he laughed, happily, and she exclaimed: - -"You know me--you believe me?" - -"Of course I do," he replied, joyously. "But how came you to be here in -this cab, alone and unconscious?" - -"I do not know," she answered, in a puzzled voice. "I went home, and -mamma told me my father was dead, and that he had disinherited me in -his will. Then she denied my identity, and the last thing I remember I -fell fainting on the carpet. Oh, Mr. Darrell! will you do me one favor? -Take me to my dear friend, Helen Fox." - -"Helen Fox is in Europe," he replied, reluctantly. - -"In Europe? Oh, good heavens! what am I to do, then? Helen is the only -friend I have to turn to in my distress!" exclaimed the young girl, -clasping her beautiful hands in the keenest despair. - -Teddy Darrell looked at her reproachfully. - -"You seem to forget _me_, Miss Carew. But I would lay down my life to -serve you!" he exclaimed, impetuously. - -She glanced up and met his eyes. They wore the most killing expression -of devotion--and Teddy's dark eyes could be very expressive when he -chose. - -Kathleen blushed vividly, and answered: - -"I--I--did not know--if I might call you my friend or not. Some -men--might not like a young girl after--after----" She paused in -confusion. - -"After she rejected him," finished Teddy, coolly. "Well, I hope I am -not as mean as that, Miss Carew. I shall be only too happy to be your -friend and brother if you will allow me." - -"You are too good to me," she whispered, gratefully, as she held out -her little white hand to him, adding, sadly: "'A friend in need is -a friend indeed,' and I am poor in everything now, with not even a -shelter for my head." - -"Don't say that," exclaimed the sympathetic young fellow, with a break -in his voice. "I am going to take you to my cousin, one of the kindest -ladies in the world, if you will allow me to do so;" and, pulling the -check-string, he gave the driver orders not to proceed to the opera -house, but to the street where his cousin lived. - -Kathleen acquiesced gratefully in his decision. Her heart went out -warmly to this cordial friend, and she regretted in her heart that -she had ever laughed with Helen Fox over the young man's flirting -proclivities. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - -ALPINE'S RENEWED HOPES. - - - And all my days are trances, - And all my nightly dreams - Are where thy dark eye glances, - And where thy footstep gleams. - EDGAR ALLAN POE. - - -Alpine Belmont, all in a flutter of surprise and delight, was making -herself beautiful, with her maid's assistance, for the eyes of a caller -who was waiting for her in the drawing-room. - -Ten minutes ago a card had been brought to her bearing the name of -"Ralph Chainey." - -"He asked for Mrs. Carew first, but I told him she was out; then he -sent his card to you," said Jones. - -Alpine's heart leaped with wild delight. - -She was as romantically in love with the gifted and handsome young -actor as was possible to one of her vain and selfish nature. - -After Kathleen's death she had cherished some hope of winning him, -but his coldness and indifference had been so marked, and his despair -over Kathleen's loss so deep, that in angry pique she had given up her -hopes, and determined to console herself with her newly acquired wealth. - -The novelty of her position as a great heiress had for a time diverted -her thoughts, but of late they had returned to him again, and rested -longingly on her desire to win his heart. - -So the sudden announcement of his presence filled her with joyful -anticipations. - -Her maid was hurriedly summoned to array her mistress for the coming -interview. - -In the servants' hall, a little later, she expressed the opinion that -the gentleman must be a very particular beau, as the lady was so hard -to please. - -Meanwhile, Alpine, palpitating in a light-blue silk that set off very -becomingly her blonde beauty, was entering the drawing-room to meet her -caller. - -Ralph Chainey, dark, stately, handsome, the incarnation of a romantic -young girl's idea of a lover, rose and bowed with courtly grace over -Miss Belmont's hand. - -He had been searching vainly for Kathleen more than a week, and at -last it occurred to him that perhaps she had come home. He hastened to -Boston in a fever of anxiety. - -Alpine could never remember afterward in what words he told his story, -it came on her so suddenly, it found her so unprepared, but presently -she knew it all--knew that Kathleen, whose death had so softened her -heart, was alive, and that but for some strange happening of fate, she -would that moment be Ralph Chainey's beloved wife. - -With that knowledge, Alpine's heart grew cold as ice again; the old -jealous hate revived. - -She could not speak for some moments, but sat staring with burning blue -eyes at the unhappy young man, who was pouring out his whole heart. - -"Oh, Miss Belmont, think what an awful shock it was to me, losing her -in that mysterious fashion. I have scarcely eaten or slept since, I -have been so wretched, I employed detectives, but they seem to be all -at sea. They even believe that I was mistaken--that it was not Kathleen -Carew at all, but really Daisy Lynn, a lunatic. Miss Watts, from whom -she had escaped, had been found, and she declared that the girl was her -niece." - -A wild hope came into Alpine's mind, and she faltered: - -"I believe the detectives are right. Kathleen can not be alive. -Remember we saw her in her coffin, cold and dead." - -"Not dead, for I have seen her alive!" he exclaimed. "Oh, Miss Belmont, -do not discourage me--do not turn unbelieving ears to my story, for I -swear to you that Kathleen Carew is alive to-night--alive, but given -over to some fate, perhaps, worse than death!" - -Alpine's heart beat wildly as he fixed his great burning brown eyes so -sorrowfully upon her face. Oh, God! she thought, what would she not -give for Ralph Chainey to love her as he did Kathleen Carew, her hated -step-sister! - -Some burning words of the Virginia poetess, Mittie Point Davis, came -into her mind: - - "If your heart could throb for me, - Even for a moment's space, - With the love I feel for thee - Gazing on that glorious face; - If the passion that I feel - Found response within your breast, - Years of anguish could not steal - Memories that I had been blest. - - "If those eyes so darkly glorious, - Kindled as with mine they met, - I could hold myself victorious - Even though you did forget. - I could give the lifelong passion - Of a thousand meaner souls - For one hour's brief adoration - Over thine to sway control." - -Ralph Chainey did not dream what a wealth of love for him had blossomed -into full flower in the young girl's heart. Men are blind, or they -would never confide to one beautiful young girl the story of their love -for another one. Few girls are noble enough to listen without being -piqued and jealous. - -Alpine Belmont's heart burned within her, and she said to herself -that she hoped he was mistaken, and that poor Kathleen was dead. She -believed it herself, and she and her mother had long ago agreed that -Kathleen's body had been stolen from the doctor's cottage for purposes -of dissection. She had shuddered at the thought of that beautiful body -being so desecrated, but Mrs. Carew had seemed quite indifferent, -and congratulated herself that she had escaped the expenses of a -fashionable funeral and a costly monument. - -All the sorrow she had felt for Kathleen's death died out of Alpine's -heart as she beheld the trouble of the handsome young actor, and she -said to herself that if Kathleen could rise from the grave and stand -before her, she would be tempted to strike her dead at her feet. - -While these cruel and jealous thoughts ran through Alpine's mind, -Ralph Chainey was looking at her with pathetic eyes that mutely craved -her sympathy. At last she began to understand this, and a clever idea -came to her. Why not pretend to sympathize with him in his sorrow? -It would bring them closer together, and perhaps win her some kind -thoughts from him. - -Following out her thought, Alpine moved to a seat beside the young -actor, and laying her soft, ringed white hand lightly upon his, she -gave it a sympathetic pressure, and murmured: - -"No words can tell you how deeply I sympathize with you in your sorrow. -I hope, for both our sakes, that your belief may prove true, and -Kathleen be restored to your heart." - -Her sympathy pleased him, as she knew it would, and he answered, -eagerly: - -"You loved her. I know. How could any one live in the house with her -and not be devoted to one so sweet and lovely?" - -Alpine withdrew her hand and played nervously with her many rings. - -"Yes. I was fond of Kathleen," she murmured. "You did well to come to -me. You have all my sympathy, and oh! how I wish I could find her and -restore her to you. Is there nothing I can do? I am rich, you know, and -if you wish it, I will employ a detective to find Kathleen;" but even -as she breathed the tender words, the wily girl knew that she would -rather employ a detective to hunt her rival down to her death. - -Ralph Chainey, blind mortal that he was, looked at her gratefully, -without detecting the hollow ring in her voice. - -"God bless you for your noble offer, Miss Belmont, but I can not accept -it," he replied. "I have detectives already employed. I, too, am rich, -and my whole fortune shall be devoted to finding her, if it costs that -much. All that you can do is to write to me at once if you hear from -our poor lost darling. I shall be moving from one city to another, but -I will keep you informed of my whereabouts." - -"Oh, thank you, Mr. Chainey, and I will write you if I have the least -bit of news!" exclaimed Alpine, with sparkling eyes, for she began to -see a prospect of getting up a correspondence with the great actor. She -would write to him often, asking if _he_ had any news, and he would be -obliged, in common courtesy, to reply. - -He rose to go, and Alpine poured out eloquently her sympathy for him -and her sorrow for Kathleen. - -"We both love her; it is a link between us," she said. "Try to think of -me as a sister, and remember I shall often be thinking of you in your -sorrow." - -He thanked her gratefully and hurried away, after promising to call -again the first time he came to Boston. - -Alpine told her mother on her return of the young man's visit, and his -startling disclosure, but Mrs. Carew pooh-poohed the whole story. - -"Kathleen is certainly dead," she said. "Ralph Chainey has been imposed -on by a pretty lunatic, that's all. I thought he had more sense." - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII. - -TEDDY DARRELL'S PLANS. - - - "You are all that I have to live for, - All that I want to love, - All that the whole world holds for me." - - -Teddy Darrell kept his promise to Kathleen. He took her immediately to -the home of his cousin, a widow lady of about thirty-eight years--a -woman of good circumstances and social standing, but whose divided -devotion to two pretty children and literary pursuits caused her to -live a very retired life. - -Mrs. Stone must have been very fond of her cousin Teddy, for she -accepted his story of the finding of Kathleen in good faith, and made -the young girl welcome to her luxurious home. She saw that the hapless -girl was nearly fainting with fatigue, and leaving Teddy alone in the -pretty library, carried her off to bed, after first coaxing her to take -some tea and toast. - -"Bless you, my dear, your name has been a familiar one in this -household for more than a year. Teddy was so madly in love with you -once that he could talk of nothing else but Kathleen Carew whenever he -came. Even the children knew all about it!" - -Kathleen blushed at receiving so much kindness from Teddy's cousin, -after having rejected _him_, so to clear herself she said: - -"But he got over it directly. Helen Fox told me he proposed to her the -week afterward." - -Mrs. Stone, who was warming a dainty lace-ruffled night-gown before the -fire for her guest, threw her head back and laughed heartily. - -"Teddy Darrell is the worst flirt in Boston! Actually, Miss Carew, I've -known that boy to be engaged to three girls at the same time!" she -exclaimed, merrily. - -"I suppose he can never be really in earnest," said the young girl. - -Then Mrs. Stone replied, more seriously: - -"I have never known him to be in earnest but once, and I have been his -confidante, I believe, in all of his love affairs. He has had many -fancies, but he never really loved any one but _you_, my dear girl." - -Kathleen did not know what to say to this, and the lady rattled on: - -"Well, Teddy is a good catch, if I do say it myself, for he is a real -good boy, and very rich. His wife, if he ever gets one, will have a -happy life; and I hope he will soon marry, for that would cure him of -his little fads." - -"Fads?" observed Kathleen, inquiringly. - -"Yes," replied her new friend; "he is full of them. Some time ago it -was to be an author, and I believe he wrote up whole reams of foolscap -in the six weeks while the fever lasted. He came here every day, -bringing dozens of pages of the thrilling romance over which he had -been wasting the midnight oil. Finally he sent it off to a publisher, -and a prompt rejection cooled his ardor. Now his fad is to be an actor." - -"An actor?" Kathleen exclaimed. - -Her thoughts flew with exquisite pain to Ralph Chainey--so beloved and -so false! - -"He has been stage-struck ever since he saw Ralph Chainey act last -winter," continued the communicative hostess. "He tells me now that he -is studying to go upon the stage, but I'm sure he will fail. He will -certainly have stage-fright." - -"I hope not," answered Kathleen; and then the gentle lady tucked her -kindly into bed as if she had been a little child. - -"Good-night, my dear," she said, with a kiss, and then she went away, -saying she must go down-stairs and see Teddy Darrell. - -He was waiting for her alone. The children who had been amusing him, -had gone off to bed, and he settled himself for a long, confidential -chat. - -From his talk she soon learned that his love of a year ago for bonny -Kathleen had revived with fuller intensity than ever. - -"Cousin Carrie, I'm bound to marry that girl!" he exclaimed, with -sparkling eyes. - -"But she rejected you last winter, Teddy." - -"I know; but everything is different now. She was a belle and heiress -then; now she is poor, and friendless but for us. When she learns that -I love her in spite of her changed position, and that I want to marry -her as soon as she will have me, she will be touched by the romance of -the affair, and--now don't laugh so, Cousin Carrie--it _is_ romantic, -is it not, my devotion?" - -"Certainly," she agreed, merrily; then added: "But I'm afraid you will -find it hard to convince her of your devotion; for she told me when I -spoke of it just now that you had proposed to Helen Fox the very week -after she rejected you." - -Teddy made a grimace. - -"Oh, that was all fun, and I think it was very shabby in Helen telling -all the other girls about it. Of course, I only wanted the engagement -for a few weeks, then to pique her and get discarded, as I've done with -other, girls," he said, carelessly, having a very elastic conscience in -matters of love. - -But he added, rather lugubriously: - -"But I'm in earnest, Carrie, with Kathleen Carew. Positively, she is -the only girl I ever loved in my life--that is, real, sure enough -love--and it will break my heart if I don't get her for my wife." - -"You didn't break your heart when you believed that she was dead," his -cousin reminded him, cynically. - -"Oh, that's different!" he replied, vaguely. "I've set my heart on -getting her now, and I could never get over it, if I failed. Look here, -Cousin Carrie," leaning toward her, his bright, dark eyes full of -tender pleading, "help me, won't you? Speak a good word for me to her. -I'm not such a bad sort, am I?" wheedlingly. "I would make a nice young -girl a good husband, wouldn't I, now?" - -"Yes, Teddy, I believe you would." - -"Then help me, won't you? It's not selfish in me, is it, to want to -marry this poor girl who has been so strangely despoiled of home and -fortune, and make up to her for all her cruel loss?" - -He was deeply, romantically in earnest, and Mrs. Stone could not help -admiring his nobility. - -"No, Teddy, it's not selfish, for you _are_ a good match, and I'll -help you with sweet Kathleen, if I can. I used to be called a good -match-maker in other days when I went more into society, and I'll exert -my powers now for your benefit." - -"Thank you over and over!" he exclaimed, fervently. - -Thus in two homes in Boston plans were being made to keep Ralph Chainey -and Kathleen apart. Teddy Darrell meant to marry his old sweetheart, -if she was to be won, and Alpine Belmont was scheming to marry Ralph. -These two hearts, that had gone out so tenderly in love to each other, -seemed but footballs of fate, tossed relentlessly hither and thither. -Well might Kathleen, tossing restlessly on her soft bed, wet the pillow -with bitter, burning tears for her lost love--her false love, as she -believed. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX. - -FEDORA'S ESCAPE. - - - Let me see him once more, for a moment or two; - Let him tell me himself of his purpose, dear, do; - Let him gaze in these eyes while he lays out his plan - To escape me, and then he may go--if he can! - FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD. - - -Kathleen had promised to write to Samuel Hall and let him know when -she arrived safely in Boston, and the next morning, although she felt -really weak and ill, she kept her promise. - -She wrote a kind and grateful letter to the noble clerk, again -thanking him for his goodness to her, and telling him of her terrible -disappointment on reaching home. - - "I can not understand it all, I am so dazed with my trouble," she - wrote. "But papa is dead--lost at sea--and the strangest thing I - ever heard of, he made a will just before he sailed for America, and - disinherited me--his only child. Think of the strangeness--the cruelty - of it. But he is dead; I must not harbor unkind thoughts of him. I am - sure some malignant influence was brought to bear. But I am homeless, - penniless, but for this friend, Mrs. Stone, with whom I am staying. - I can not now repay you the sum of money you so nobly advanced me to - return home on, but I shall never forget it, and the time may come - when I shall be able to restore it fourfold. Till then God bless you - is the prayer of your friend till death. - - "KATHLEEN CAREW." - -Sammy Hall was all excitement over the letter, and at the first -opportunity confided the news to his sympathetic girl friends. - -Of course they talked it over at that quietest hour in the day when the -throng of shoppers are out at lunch or gone home to dinner. - -Tessie Mays, who had the news direct from Sammy, retailed it all to -the eager listeners; and no one noticed a handsome, showily dressed -young woman who had entered the store and come up to Tessie's -counter--Fedora, who, having given the wrong address the other day, had -now returned to complain that she had never received her package of -gold passementerie. - -Just as she was approaching the counter she heard the name of Kathleen -Carew called, and drawing back with a great start, pretended to be -examining some gorgeous brocade silk that was displayed on the end of -the counter. The pretty, animated young girls did not observe her, and -went on talking. - -Fedora did not lose a word. - -Pretty soon she became aware that her prey had escaped her through -the efforts of Sammy Hall, and that she was now safe in Boston with a -friend, although her father was dead and had disinherited her, and her -step-mother had denied her identity. - -"It is just like a novel, isn't it?" commented one of the young girls. -"I would give anything I own for one good look at the beautiful Miss -Kathleen Carew, with the bronze-gold hair and proud dark eyes that -Sammy raves over." - -"Tessie Mays, I'd think you would be jealous!" exclaimed another girl, -with a meaning laugh. - -Tessie tossed her dark curly head carelessly. - -"Why, Sammy Hall is not my beau! I think it was you, Dolly Wade, that -he took to church Sunday night--wasn't it?" - -It was Dolly's turn to blush and bridle. She laughed. - -"Oh, pshaw! Mr. Hall's only a friend of mine, and I don't think he -wants to marry you, anyhow! He is cut out for an old bachelor if ever a -man was!" - -"Have you ever seen that woman again, Tessie?" asked another girl, -turning the conversation. - -"What woman?" - -"Why, the one that Sammy recognized and is going to arrest, if she ever -comes in here again, for kidnapping Miss Carew." - -"Why, no; and it's strange, too, for she made a mistake, gave me the -address of a vacant house, and her gold passementerie came back here. I -was certain she would be back here, fussing about it; and I tell Sammy -it's lucky she made the mistake, so she will _have_ to come back here. -He has the warrant for her arrest, and she'll never get out of Haines & -Co.'s without a policeman's escort!" - -"Won't she?" muttered Fedora, with a low, gurgling laugh of sarcastic -amusement. She tripped away in a hurry, in spite of her pretended -mirth, and did not breathe freely until she was out of the store and in -the cab that was waiting for her near the sidewalk. - -"Whew! what a narrow escape!" she muttered. "So I have been watched and -almost trapped while I believed myself triumphant!" - -An ugly look crossed the pretty blonde face, and she continued, angrily: - -"I wonder who Sammy Hall can be that those girls talked about so -familiarly? He must be the man that helped me put the girl in the -carriage, and that I met afterward in the street, and snubbed so -coolly. He has taken revenge on me by ferreting out the place where I -left Kathleen Carew, and rescuing her from her fate. Heigho! I think I -had better leave for New York right away. Philadelphia will be too hot -a place to hold me for a while. If I had the money I would go to Boston -and look up my runaway bird, and Ivan at the same time. He promised to -send me three hundred dollars this week. He had better do it, for I've -got a hold on him, now, thanks to that girl's disclosure, that he can't -shake off." - - - - -CHAPTER XXX. - -"MY DARLING GIRL, I'M AS FOND OF YOU AS EVER!" - - - Sweetheart, name the day for me, - When we two shall wedded be; - Make it ere another moon, - While the meadows are in tune. - EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN. - - -"You must cheer up, dear Kathleen, and feel yourself quite at home with -me," Mrs. Stone said, affectionately, to her sorrowful young guest. - -Kathleen looked at her wistfully with her sad, dark eyes. - -"But I have no claim on your kindness, dear lady," she sighed. - -"Why, aren't you my cousin Teddy's friend? and isn't he one of the best -boys in the world? and didn't I promise his dead mother that I would -always be kind to the boy she was leaving so lonely in the wide world? -for his father had died years before. Yes, indeed, you have a claim on -me, not alone because Teddy loves you so passionately, but for your own -dear sake--because your trouble and your helplessness make it my duty -to love and care for you," exclaimed the kind lady, feelingly. - -"You are so good and kind! May Heaven reward you!" sobbed the unhappy -girl. - -She leaned her beautiful curly head on Mrs. Stone's shoulder and wept -bitter, burning tears from the depths of her overcharged heart. - -Poor Kathleen! She was surely the most unhappy girl in the world. - -So young, so lovely, and so loving, yet pursued by a cruel, unrelenting -fate, that had wrested from her little hands all that she held dearest -in life! - -Her young heart was torn with agony for the death of her beloved -father, and the thought of Ralph Chainey's sin added poignancy to her -grief. - -In the long, dark watches of the sleepless nights, poor, unhappy -Kathleen lay wakeful and wretched on her pillow, thinking wildly of -her lost love--the man who had seemed like a demi-god in her eyes, so -handsome, and so gifted, and so noble, but who had been deceiving her -all along--who had a wife while he was pretending he meant to marry her. - -And--but when it came to this thought Kathleen's hysterical sobs almost -choked her, and she said to herself that she would not permit herself -to believe it--the thought that it was Ralph Chainey who had robbed her -that night, and given her jewels to _that_ woman, was unendurable. That -way lay madness. - -But it was no wonder that each morning, when the kind eyes of her -hostess scanned her face so anxiously, she found it paler and paler, -while the dark eyes were somber and heavy from the tears that always -lay so near them, and the sweet, red lips had always a tremulous curve, -as if from repressed sobs. - -Mrs. Stone's kind heart ached for the unhappy young creature who only -wept at all her attempts at comfort. - -She said to herself that she did not believe there was much chance for -Teddy Darrell, after all. The girl did not show the least interest when -she spoke of her cousin. - -Her whole heart seemed to be absorbed in grief for her father's death, -and in wonder over the fact that he had been mysteriously angry with -her, and given her share of his wealth to her step-sister. - -"Papa always loved me, and I never did anything to vex him, so why did -he hate me? Why did he leave his poor Kathleen alone and penniless in -the cold world?" she would sob, piteously. - -Mrs. Stone had no answer ready for that oft-repeated inquiry. It was a -mystery to her, too, why Vincent Carew had done such a cruel and wicked -thing. She did not know that Mrs. Carew had brought about the whole -thing by her malicious cablegram. If she had only waited until that -strange telegram from Ralph Chainey had been explained, how different -Kathleen's fate would have been! - -Ill and penniless, the dead millionaire's beautiful young daughter was -as poor and wretched as any beggar in the streets, only for this kind -friend. - -"Cheer up, my dear, cheer up!" she urged, kindly; but Kathleen could -not even bring a smile to her poor, stiff lips. Teddy Darrell came -every day to inquire after her, and he was shocked at the change in -beautiful Kathleen. - -"She looks awfully ill--almost as if she were going to die," he -confided to his cousin after a week, in a troubled tone. - -"She _is_ ill; I'm sure of it; for she eats no more than a little bird, -and she gets weaker every day. I think I had better have the doctor up, -don't you?" she answered, anxiously. - -"Yes; I'll send him when I go out," Teddy replied; and then he went -back to the young girl, who was lying back in an easy-chair, trying to -interest herself in a little book of poems he had brought her with some -flowers. - -"Do you find anything pretty in it?" he asked, tenderly. - -"I--I don't know. I'm afraid I've not tried," she answered, penitently, -ashamed that she could not seem happier to these kind friends who were -so good. - -He took the book from her hands and began to read aloud some pretty -bits here and there, in a musical and well-modulated voice. - -"Listen to this. I am sure you will agree with me that it is pretty," -he said, and read, softly: - - "'Oh, Love, so sweet at first, - So bitter in the end; - Thou canst be fiercest foe - As well as fairest friend. - - "'Ay, thou art swift to slay, - Despite thy kiss and clasp, - Thy long, caressing look, - Thy subtle, thrilling grasp! - - "'Yet, cruel as the grave. - Go, go, and come no more! - But canst thou set my heart - Just where it was before? - - "'Go, go, and come no more! - Go leave me with thy tears, - The only gift of thine - That shall outlive the years.'" - -Kathleen's face was bent on her hand. Teddy heard a smothered sob, but -he did not know with what terrible directness the words had gone to her -heart. He believed that she was heart-whole and fancy-free. - -"It is too sad for you, is it not?" he exclaimed. "I will read you -something brighter: - - "'They may talk of love in a cottage, - And bowers of trellised vine, - Of nature bewitchingly simple, - And milkmaids half divine. - - * * * * * - - "'But give me a sly flirtation - By the light of a chandelier-- - With music to play in the pauses, - And nobody very near.'" - -Kathleen actually gave a soft little laugh, for Teddy had read the -lines with such gusto that he plainly betrayed how much the sentiment -was to his mind. - -He started, flushed, then said, with his unvarying good nature: - -"Ah, how cruel! But never mind, so that I've made you feel brighter. -Have I, Kathleen?" - -"You are too good to me," the girl answered, gratefully, moved by his -kindness. - -"Too good! Ah, not one-half as good as I would like to be, if only -you would let me," cried the young man, ardently. "Ah, Kathleen," he -continued, impulsively, "do you remember how I used to love you--how I -begged you to be my wife? My darling girl, I'm as fond of you as ever. -Won't you try to love me? I would be the proudest boy in Christendom if -you would marry me!" - -"Don't talk to me of love--please don't!" cried Kathleen, keeping her -ardent lover at bay with two entreating white hands. - -"Well, I won't--at least not to-day; and I beg your pardon, -dear, if I've intruded on your grief with my selfish love. But I -thought--thought it might please you to know that there was one who -loved you even better since your reverse of fortune than before," Teddy -explained, humbly. - -"You are too good to me," she repeated as before, incoherently, touched -by his devotion, and contrasting it in her mind with the treachery of -that other one so dearly loved, so deeply false. - -"Then may I hope, Kathleen?" - -"Oh, no, no, no! I shall never love nor marry any one!" she answered, -vehemently; but Teddy Darrell did not in the least believe her. He -thought that all young girls were sure to love some day, and almost -certain to marry. He determined to keep on hoping and trying to win -this peerless beauty. - -Kathleen guessed what his thoughts were, and it made her very uneasy. - -"If I remain here with his cousin he will expect me to marry him," -she thought. "I can not do it, for I do not love him. I must go away -again;" and that very day she wrote to her mother's relatives in -Richmond--the ones to whom she was going when overtaken by such an -awful fate at Lincoln Station. - -Kathleen was so weak that it tired her now even to write a letter, and -the pen dragged wearily before she finished the recital of her sorrows, -and pleaded with these unknown kin to let her come to them just for -a little while--until she was strong enough to go out into the wide, -cruel world and earn her own living with those weak, white hands. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI. - -KATHLEEN'S WEARY WAITING. - - - Oh! you tangled my life in your hair; - 'Twas a silken and golden snare, - But so gentle the bondage my soul did implore - The right to continue your slave evermore. - MILES O'REILLY. - - -Teddy Darrell sent up a doctor to see Kathleen, and he was startled -when he found that the young girl was suffering from arsenical -poisoning. - -"It is quite well that you sent for me, because if this had gone any -further, she might have died. But I will go at once to work to remove -the effects of the poison from her system," Doctor Spicer said, gravely. - -Mrs. Stone was shocked, but she readily comprehended that the woman -Fedora had placed the deadly drug in Kathleen's food, intending to -compass her death by slow degrees. What mystified her was the woman's -motive. - -Kathleen, while confiding the rest of her harrowing story to these -kind friends, Teddy Darrell and his cousin, had withheld the story -of Ralph Chainey's connection with her trouble. She could not bring -herself to mention his name. Something in her heart pleaded mutely for -the culprit. What if the woman had lied to her? What if she had been -lured from Ralph by a cunning ruse? Her brain reeled sometimes with -this suspicion, and she felt that she should go mad with the miserable -uncertainty of it all. Where was Ralph? Oh, if she could only see -him--find out the real truth! - -So she did not tell her friends anything about Ralph, and Mrs. Stone -had no clew to the mystery of this attempt on her life. - -"She does not dream of it, and perhaps it will be as well not to tell -her, she has already suffered so much through her unknown foes," -thought the kind lady. - -Several weeks passed, and Kathleen began to grow stronger and better -under the physician's treatment, but in all this time no reply to her -letter to her Southern relatives had been received. Neither had the -fact of Kathleen's return to Boston ever transpired among her former -friends in the city. - -Mrs. Carew was the only one who knew that Kathleen really lived, and it -was to her interest to keep it a secret. - -Teddy Darrell remained silent on the subject, because the natural -selfishness of a lover made him wish to keep away all other lovers -until he had had his own chance - - "To win or lose it all." - -Mrs. Stone's quiet and retired life helped to keep Kathleen's presence -in her house unknown. She was a rising authoress, devoted to her -children and her pen. She had first commenced to write after her -husband's death as a solace to her loneliness and grief. Success had -made literature her life work, and she devoted herself to it, going but -little into society and receiving few friends. - -Kathleen began to look better, but she chafed bitterly in secret over -the strange silence of her relatives. - -Why would they not write her a few lines, even if they did not want her -with them? Did they care nothing, then, for the unhappy child of their -poor dead Zaidee? She had written to them so frankly, so appealingly, -tried to open her whole heart to them, but there came no response. - -And dearly as she loved her good friend, Mrs. Stone, Kathleen chafed -at her enforced dependence on her kindness. She saw so plainly through -her little matchmaking scheme, and she was so touched by Teddy's -devotion, silent and unobtrusive since that day when he had spoken out -so impulsively, but still patent to all observers. - -She was so lonely, so friendless; and she knew it was nobler in him to -cling to her now when she was no longer a belle and heiress, but only -a waif tossed back almost from the grave into a world that denied and -disowned her. Teddy never seemed to remember that. He was as courteous -and deferential as he had ever been to Miss Carew, the courted heiress. -Every day he brought her gifts of books and flowers; often he came with -a carriage to take her and Mrs. Stone to ride. He did not speak to -Kathleen of his love again, but his great black eyes looked unutterable -things, and she knew that, despite his usual variableness, he was -true, at least, to this love. - -Yes, Teddy's heart was touched for once, and he loved bonny Kathleen -even more warmly than in the former time when: - - "She had all that love could give, all that makes it sweet to live-- - Fond caresses, jewels, dresses; and with eloquent appeal - Many a proud and rich adorer knelt--in metaphor--before her." - -Teddy could not realize but that Kathleen would return his love some -time. He knew he was "a catch," in worldly parlance, and he knew that -he was good to look upon. Why, then, should not beautiful Kathleen -learn to love him? Other girls had found it easy to do so--girls for -whom he had not cared an iota, only to amuse himself. - -This was different. Teddy--flirting Teddy--had found heaven at last -in a girl's eyes!--deep, dark eyes like shady pools in their thick -fringes. Her glance thrilled him; the touch of her soft, cool little -hand burned like fire. He could think of nothing but his love for -her, and his desire to marry her and lift her again to her old proud -position. - -"Once my wife, she should queen it over that _fat_ Alpine Belmont, who -got all her money," he said to his cousin. "She should have one of the -finest houses in Boston, horses and carriages, jewels and fine dresses, -and I would worship the very ground she trod on!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII. - -"WE HAVE MET--WE HAVE LOVED--WE HAVE PARTED!" - - - Farewell, farewell! for aye, farewell, - Yet must I end as I began, - I love you, love you, love but you. - JOAQUIN MILLER. - - -Kathleen gave up all hope of ever hearing from her Southern relatives. - -"They do not care for me, and I must not expect anything of them," -she sighed, and the thought came to her that now she had been at Mrs. -Stone's six weeks, and grown well and strong again, she must seek a -situation as a teacher and support herself. - -"I suppose I could teach little children, and I must try to find some -place. It is unfair to my kind friend for me to remain here longer," -she sighed, and stole softly down to the library for a morning paper to -consult the advertisements. - -As the girl glided softly across the floor a low murmur of voices -reached her through the falling curtains from the adjoining parlor. - -The girl gave a violent start, and sunk tremblingly into the nearest -chair. - -She was pale as death, and her heart beat violently against her side. - -What was it? What had startled the young girl so much? - -The sound of a voice had pierced her heart like a sword-thrust. - -It was Ralph Chainey's voice, so deep, so sweet, so mellow, that, once -heard, it could never be forgotten, especially by one who loved him so -despairingly as did our poor Kathleen. - -He was speaking to Mrs. Stone, and for one wild moment Kathleen -believed that he had traced her here, that he had come to inquire for -her. Surely then he could not be guilty, or conscience would have kept -him away. - -She strained her ears to catch every tone of that deep, sweet voice, -and then she heard him speaking to Mrs. Stone of her literary work. He -had been so struck with the force of one of her books that he wanted -her to dramatize it for him, or write him a new play. - -All unaware of Kathleen's nearness to him, the young actor had come -here to this house, seemingly led by the subtle hand of Fate. - -Kathleen glided to the falling curtains, and, drawing one ever so -lightly apart, gazed with eager, yearning eyes into the room. - -Her hungry eyes feasted on the sight of her false lover as he sat in -full view, opposite Mrs. Stone, in a large velvet arm-chair. - -Never, it seemed to bonny Kathleen, had she seen him look so grandly -handsome, not even in his spirited impersonation of Prince Karl, in -which he had so thrilled her girlish heart. - -But Ralph Chainey was pale, and in his splendid, thoughtful brown eyes -lay the haunting shadow of a cruel pain. He was tortured by his failure -to find lost Kathleen. - -But the conventional smile that played over his handsome face as he -talked to the gifted woman before him deceived Kathleen. It seemed to -her that he was well and happy, that he had forgotten that she ever -lived--the girl he had pretended to love so dearly. - -"I have the plot of a new story upstairs in my study, and I believe it -is just the thing you want, Mr. Chainey," said Mrs. Stone, vivaciously. -She rose, and added: "I will go and get it, but if I am some little -time away, please go into the library, and amuse yourself with a -book. I must confess that I am very careless, and often misplace my -manuscripts." - -Mrs. Stone vanished through the door, and Ralph Chainey, who was so -unhappy that he dreaded nothing so much as his own sad thoughts, -immediately turned toward the library. - -Kathleen gave a gasp of surprise and terror, and turned to fly. - -She was too late. Even as her hand fell from the curtain Ralph Chainey -swept it aside and entered. The strangely parted lovers were face to -face. - -For a moment the young man was only conscious that Mrs. Stone's library -was occupied by a beautiful young girl. - -But the moan that burst uncontrollably from Kathleen's white lips made -him glance more closely at the young girl's face, and then he saw that -it was his missing love. - -A cry of joyful astonishment broke from him, and he sprung forward, -crying, eagerly: - -"Kathleen, my darling!" - -His arms closed about her; he pressed her closely to his throbbing -breast. - -Kathleen's eyes closed, and her golden head sunk heavily on her lover's -breast. - -She had almost fainted with the shock of seeing him so suddenly, -combined with the exquisite rapture and pain of his fond embrace. - -But even while he showered kisses on her fair face and closed eyes, -memory and reason began to assert themselves. She struggled faintly in -his clasp, and he perceived that she was trying to free herself. - -Instantly he opened his arms and allowed her to go free, for Ralph -Chainey was one of the proudest of men, and would not force his -caresses on any one. - -But he said eagerly, although with a slight tone of reproach in his -voice: - -"Kathleen, my dearest, how came you here, and why was it that I found -you gone that night when I returned to the station?" - -The color flushed hotly into her pale face, but she stood apart, -looking at him with burning eyes, and not uttering one word. - -"Kathleen, why do you look at me so strangely?" exclaimed her lover, in -reproachful wonder. "Has your heart changed toward me? Did you repent -your promise to marry me that night, and run away, or did your enemies -find you, as you feared they would? Tell me the truth, my darling." - -But still she did not speak. In truth, she could not. There was a -hysteric constriction in her throat that held it tight as with iron -bands. She gazed with unwilling fascination into the large, pleading, -brown eyes of her lover, her young heart throbbing wildly in her breast. - -"Kathleen, what have I done that you will not even speak to me?" he -asked, piteously, and all her heart thrilled at the words; her will was -hardly strong enough to restrain her from springing into his arms. His -glance, deep, reproachful, loving, and magnetic, all in one, held her -like a charm: - - "It shot down her soul's deep heaven - Like a meteor trailing fire." - -A long, long, troubled sigh breathed over the girl's sweet lips, and -with a great effort of her will she drooped her eyelids so that they -could not encounter his gaze. - -"For I dare not, or--I should _risk_ everything for his dear love," she -thought, wildly. - -She mystified him so by her strange behavior that he forgot his pride, -and again advanced toward her side. - -"Kathleen, my love, my darling, speak to me, if only one word!" he -cried, yearningly, passionately. - -And finding her voice at last, she faltered to him, in a despairing -tone: - -"Did you ever--ever--know--a woman named--Fedora?" - -"My God!" cried Ralph Chainey. - -He flung up one hand to his brow and reeled backward from her side like -one wounded to the death. - -"So it is true?" Kathleen cried, in a hollow voice full of bitter -anguish. - -Ralph Chainey looked at her with sad eyes from which all the brightness -had strangely faded. - -"Who has told you?" he asked, in a dull voice. - -"She told me herself," Kathleen answered, and shot him an indignant -glance, pride coming to her rescue. There could no longer be any doubt -of his guilt. His looks confessed it. - -But he faltered in a dazed voice: - -"That is impossible! She is dead!" - -"You can not deceive me like that, Ralph Chainey!" cried Kathleen, in -tempestuous anger. Her eyes flashed lightning on her recreant lover, -and she continued, bitterly: "Your wife came to me that night in the -station and told me all. She--she took me away." - -"What was she like?" demanded the young man, hoarsely. He seemed dazed -by sudden misery. - -"She was a beautiful blonde with a haughty manner," answered Kathleen; -and he groaned as if there could be no longer any hope. - -"I have been duped, deceived! I believed that Fedora was dead long -ago," he said, angrily. Then his voice grew softer. "Kathleen, will you -let me explain it all?" he pleaded, humbly. - -But in the heart of the beautiful, passionate young girl there had -suddenly leaped into life the devouring flame of jealousy--jealousy and -hate for the woman who had thrust her rival into the pit of a black -despair. And he had deceived her. It seemed to her she must go mad with -her wrongs. In this moment she hated her lover. - -She turned on him with a tigerish glare in her splendid eyes. - -"I will hear nothing!" she said, bitterly. "You will never have the -chance to deceive me again!" and she rushed angrily from the room. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII. - -RALPH CHAINEY'S ANGER. - - - I can not break the cruel net, - And yet-- - My eyes with scornful tears are wet-- - Release me, teach me to forget. - CELIA THAXTER. - - -Kathleen gained her own room, locked the door, and fell prostrate on -the floor in a passion of blinding grief and jealous anger. Tears came -to her relief, and rained down her cheeks in a tempest of emotion. - -"Will he go away, or will he remain, tell Mrs. Stone my whole story, -and beg her to plead his cause with me?" she asked herself, and hoped -unconsciously that he would. - -She did not know the young man's sturdy pride. He had waited for Mrs. -Stone, transacted his business with her, and gone away without a word. - -"She did not love me, or she would have let me explain it all, as I -wished. She did not care to have the barrier between us swept away. -So be it. Let her go. She is not worthy such love as I gave her," he -thought, with scorn of the heart that could trample on such devotion: - - "The spirit of eager youth - That named her queen of queens at once, and loved her in very truth; - That threw its pearl of pearls at her feet, and offered her, in a - breath, - The costliest gift a man can give from his cradle to his death." - -His brow clouded with a heavy frown as he thought of the woman who had -turned the heart of his fair young love so cruelly against him. - -"Does she really live? Have I been duped by a cunning lie--a trick to -extort the price of a costly funeral? I almost believe it. Let me find -out if it is true, and bitter shall be that fiend's punishment," he -mused with almost savage intensity. - -He had reached Boston only that morning, and he had promised Alpine -Belmont, who had written to him almost every day since he left, that -he would call upon her very soon. Wondering if she knew of Kathleen's -presence in the city, he bent his steps toward Commonwealth Avenue. - -Meanwhile, Mrs. Stone, full of elation at the compliments paid her by -the gifted actor, and eager to share her pleasure with Kathleen, went -upstairs and tapped softly on the door. - -Kathleen opened it, and her friend started with surprise at seeing her -face flushed and her eyes swollen with weeping. - -"Do not mind me; it--it--is nothing," was all she would say in reply to -Mrs. Stone's sympathetic inquiries; and at last the authoress plunged -into her own affairs, telling Kathleen all about Ralph Chainey's visit, -and his wish that she should write a play for him. - -"He has taken away the plot of my new novel to read, and he will return -in a few days to tell me how he likes it. If I succeed in pleasing him, -I shall be famous!" she exclaimed. - -"I hope that you will succeed," Kathleen said, earnestly. - -"Have you ever seen Ralph Chainey act, my dear, and did you like him?" - -"I have seen him, and I think he is a grand actor," the girl replied, -quietly. - -"How would you like to go and see him to-night? He plays 'A Parisian -Romance.' I am sure he will be splendid in that, as he is in -everything. We will take Teddy with us. What do you say, my dear?" - -Kathleen hesitated, her heart throbbing wildly with the blended love -and hate she now felt for the handsome lover who had so wickedly -deceived and betrayed her girlish trust. - -Then a sudden temptation came to her to stab his heart as cruelly as -he had done hers. Why not go with Teddy, who loved her so dearly, and -pretend to return his devotion? - -"I should be delighted to go!" she said, unfalteringly to Mrs. Stone. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV. - -ALPINE SOWS THE SEED OF JEALOUSY. - - - They have told you some false story; - You believe them--all they say. - You are false, but I'll forgive you; - But forget I never may. _Song_. - - -"You startle me! Kathleen really alive? Kathleen here, in the same city -with us?" exclaimed Alpine Belmont, in genuine surprise. - -Ralph Chainey had been telling her all about his visit to Mrs. Stone -and his unexpected _rencontre_ with his lost love. - -"Some one has been slandering me to her, and she hates me now. She -refused to have anything more to do with me," he ended, with a long -sigh. - -The beauty's lashes fell to hide her blue eyes' exultant gleam. - -"Oh, how cruel of Kathleen!" she exclaimed. She sighed, and added, in a -low, tender voice: "How could any one be cruel to _you_?" - -He hardly noticed the purport of her speech, he was so absorbed in -thought. - -"You will go to her, Miss Belmont? You will bring her home?" he pleaded. - -"But perhaps she will not come with me. Is it not a little strange that -she did not come here at first, Mr. Chainey?" - -"Yes, it is strange. There is something very mysterious about this -affair. But go to her, Miss Belmont, and no doubt she will give you -her confidence. Be her friend, if she needs one," pleaded the lover, -forgetting his wrath against Kathleen in anxiety over her welfare. - -"I will go to-morrow," promised Alpine, soothingly. - -"And you will bring her home with you?" - -"If she will come," answered Alpine. Then she gave a violent start, -exclaiming: "Oh, I've just remembered something!" - -"Well?" asked the young man, eagerly. - -"Mrs. Stone is own cousin to Teddy Darrell, and he was Kathleen's lover -last winter. Can there be any connection between her being there with -Mrs. Stone--whom I'm certain she used not to know--and Teddy Darrell?" - -The shaft went home. She saw him pale and tremble with jealous dread. - -"I know Teddy Darrell," he said, trying to speak carelessly. "Did--did -she ever care for _him_?" - -"Yes, I believe so. There was a flirtation anyway, and we thought once -it would be a match; but suddenly it all came to nothing. I don't -know who was to blame, but I'm afraid it was Teddy. He's known to be -fickle-minded and a wretched flirt." - -How sweetly and artlessly she spoke; but every word was a sword-thrust -in the hearer's heart. Wan and haggard with misery, he rose and began -to pace the floor restlessly. - -Alpine watched him under her down-drooped lashes, her breast heaving -with its love and pain. Yet she knew that she was no more to him than a -hundred other girls whose names he barely knew, save and except that -she was Kathleen's step-sister. She "was not the rose, but she had -lived near it." - -It was cruelly hard, when she loved him so dearly. The temptation -seized her to fall at his feet, to cry out to him that she could not -live without him, that she was going mad for his dear love. - -She recoiled with horror from the thought. No, no; he would despise -her. Let her show him tenderness and sympathy, but not love. By and by -he might turn to her when he became convinced that Kathleen was lost to -him forever. - -"And she is, she shall be!" vowed the girl; and after watching Ralph -in silence for some moments, while he strode up and down, seemingly -oblivious of her presence, she moved to his side, and slipping her hand -timidly within his arm, murmured, softly: - -"Do not worry over it, please, dear friend. Even if Kathleen is lost to -you, there are hundreds of other girls as well worth the winning." - -He did not answer; he was dumb with despair; but he suffered Alpine to -cling to his arm and walk up and down by his side, murmuring low words -of sympathy all the while. - -"I shall scold Kathleen for her cruelty to you; you did not deserve it, -for you were true to her," she said, and sighed. "Ah, how sad it is for -one's love to prove false--false and fickle!" - -He turned on her almost fiercely. - -"You believe that she loves this Darrell?" he exclaimed. - -"I believe she does," answered Alpine, with pretended reluctance, -exulting in the pain she saw on his face. - -It gave her a savage joy to wound him in his love for Kathleen. She -longed to make him hate the hapless girl as bitterly as she herself -hated her. - -"I must go," he said, abruptly; then as she clung to his hand: "Do not -forget your promise to go to her to-morrow. And--you will send me a -note? I play here all this week." - -"Yes, you shall hear from me. I shall see you again, too, for I'm -coming every night to see you act," she answered, sweetly. - -"Thank you," he replied, dropped her hand, and went away, never -remembering how lovingly the blue eyes had looked into his, nor how -tenderly she had spoken. It was Kathleen of whom he was thinking--his -sweet, estranged love. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV. - -ALPINE'S FALSEHOOD. - - - So dearly loved, so deeply false, - Ah, why should I regret thee? - 'Twas fatal to my peace of mind - The hour when first I met thee! - MRS. A. MCV. MILLER. - - -When the curtain rose that night on Ralph Chainey in the beautiful -play, "A Parisian Romance," there were seated in opposite boxes the -beautiful rivals for the handsome actor's love--Alpine Belmont in -one box with her haughty mother, and in the other Kathleen Carew, -chaperoned by Mrs. Stone and with Teddy Darrell hanging adoringly over -her chair. - -Kathleen was all in white--a simple form of mourning--and white -flowers, set off by their own green leaves, were her only adorning. - -And Teddy Darrell? Well, the young swell "was gotten up regardless," as -one of his friends remarked--"a golden youth" like himself. His evening -dress was faultless, and his button-hole bouquet matched Kathleen's -white flowers. His diamonds were magnificent, and his whole air was -so hopeful and exuberant that when Ralph Chainey from the stage first -caught sight of him his heart sunk with despair. He felt that "flirting -Teddy" was a rival to be dreaded. - -"Why need she have come to torture me with the sight of all I have -lost?" he thought, despairingly; but he went on splendidly with his -part in the play. A stubborn pride came to his aid. She should not -see how he was suffering, this lovely, scornful girl leaning back in -her chair to look up into the handsome face so close to her own as -attentive Teddy wielded the white ostrich feather fan. She scarcely -seemed to see what went on upon the stage; she did not look across -into the box where her step-mother and Alpine were staring in angry -surprise. She looked only at Teddy Darrell; she smiled only at him. It -was such a pronounced flirtation that the crowded house observed it -and smiled indulgently at the handsome pair, declaring that it would -certainly be a match. - -Whispers, too, were circulating among the people who had known Kathleen -Carew in her life-time. Who was this girl with the face and smile of -the dead heiress?--that luring face so subtly beautiful that no one had -dreamed the world could hold a copy. - -Curiosity moved a gentleman, when the curtain fell, to go and ask Mrs. -Carew about it. - -"I am as much amazed as you are," she replied. - -"Then you can not tell me who she is," he said, regretfully. - -"She is masquerading under the name of my dead step-daughter, and -pretends to be resurrected from a trance, or something like that. We -first heard about it yesterday," was Mrs. Carew's curt reply. - -"Then you have not seen her until to-night?" - -"No," nervously. - -"Shall you acknowledge her, Mrs. Carew?" - -"No. She is an impostor, and we will have nothing to do with the minx." - -"Speak for yourself, mamma," said Alpine, pertly. "I'm not sure she's -an impostor, for it is Kathleen's face and her very gestures. I am -going over to Mrs. Stone's box and find out the truth for myself, if -Mr. Layne will take me." - -She rose, drawing the blue wrap about her white shoulders. Mrs. Carew -stared aghast. - -"You will not, you _must_ not!" she exclaimed, angrily. - -Alpine bent down and whispered rapidly in her ear: - -"What does it matter? I have her money safe; she could not get it -if she lived a thousand years, and I have my own plans. You must not -interfere with them." - -When Alpine took that tone, her mother knew that protest was useless. - -"Do as you please," she muttered, angrily, and tossed her head as -Alpine went out leaning on Mr. Layne's arm. - -"What is the girl up to, I wonder?" she mused, uneasily. "She always -had a sneaking fondness for Kathleen, and would be just silly enough to -bring her home to live with us. She shall not do it, no matter what the -world says. I always hated the girl for the look she has of her dead -mother." - -Mrs. Carew was jealous of the very memory of poor Zaidee, and could not -bear the sight of her beautiful daughter. She writhed with anger when -she saw Alpine embrace Kathleen. - -"Kathleen, is it really you? Oh, you darling, let me kiss you!" she -cried, effusively, and put her arms impulsively about the young girl. - -Kathleen recoiled from her at first. She thought that Alpine knew -all about her mother's cruelty; but as Alpine held her in that warm -embrace, she exclaimed: - -"Kathleen, why did you not come home to us?" - -Kathleen released herself from Alpine, answering, bitterly: - -"I came, but your mother denied me, and put me out into the street, -unconscious, to perish in the snow." - -"Impossible!" cried Alpine. But there came to her all in a rush the -memory of that night when her mother had told her that a woman had come -to see Ivan, and she had driven her away. - -"She deceived me; it was Kathleen," she thought, and exclaimed, eagerly: - -"My dearest girl, she did not tell me anything about it, but of course -she believed you were an impostor. You believe me? you will let me be -your friend, Kathleen?" anxiously. - -"Come and see me at Mrs. Stone's to-morrow, Alpine," her step-sister -answered; and then turned to the gentleman. - -"How do you do, Mr. Layne? Will you, too, take me for an impostor?" she -inquired, holding out her little hand to him. - -"No, indeed, Miss Carew, for I am sure there can not be a copy of your -beautiful face in all the world," he replied, gallantly. Being an -elderly widower, he felt privileged to pay broad compliments. - -Kathleen blushed and smiled, and the curtain rising at that moment -showed Ralph Chainey that Alpine had seized the first opportunity to go -and see Kathleen. - -He was intensely pleased with Alpine's loyalty. - -"She is a better girl than I used to think," he decided, and made up -his mind to go to her box the first opportunity to thank her for her -goodness. - -He did not dream that Alpine was whispering at that moment little -poisoned arrows into Kathleen's ear about himself, nor of the cruel -pain that tore Kathleen's heart as she heard of her lover's liking for -Alpine. - -"When he came yesterday, he told me of your being at Mrs. Stone's. What -a shock it was to know you were really living! But I must go back to -mamma now, and to-morrow I'll come and see you, and hear all about your -little romance," tearing herself away. - -Just as she expected, Ralph hurried to her box as soon as the curtain -fell. - -"What did she say?" he whispered, eagerly; and Kathleen, who was -watching them, felt her heart thrill with renewed bitterness as she saw -the curly brown head bent low over Alpine's straw-gold one. - -"He is doing it to pique me," she thought; but she could not turn her -burning dark eyes away from the sight. - -Alpine looked up smilingly into the pale, anxious face. - -"She told me to come to-morrow and see her and hear her story; there -was not time to-night," she replied. - -He was disappointed; she read it in his speaking countenance, and -added: - -"She gave me one bit of news, but I am not sure that I ought to tell -you." - -"Please do so," he urged. - -"It will pain you, I fear," sighed Alpine. - -"I am strong enough to bear anything except--suspense," setting his -teeth firmly. - -Mrs. Carew was looking at them curiously: - -"Mamma, will you please excuse us for whispering? I have something to -tell Mr. Chainey--a secret." - -"You are excusable," the lady replied, sourly, turning away her head. - -Alpine whispered to Ralph: - -"Kathleen is engaged to be married to Teddy Darrell, and is the -happiest girl I ever saw!" - -He was silent a moment, then murmured, bitterly: - -"She has no heart! How could she turn so quickly from one love to -another?" - -"She is fickle as the wind," Alpine answered, with a contemptuous shrug. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI. - -A CRUEL STAB. - - - My ship sails forth with sable sails - Over Life's stormy sea; - Thou knowest how heavy is my woe, - And still thou woundest me. - H. HEINE. - - -Alpine had come and gone. Under a mask of sweetness and love, she had -tortured Kathleen's heart. - -"My dear girl, how fortunate you are to have caught Teddy Darrell!" she -exclaimed, after Kathleen had told her the story of her adventures, -save and excepting about Fedora's claim that she was Ralph Chainey's -wife. That one dread secret the girl kept locked close in her heart. - -"Fortunate!" Kathleen echoed, dully. - -"Yes," Alpine answered. "He is rich, and unless you are going to marry -him, it does not look well for you to remain with Mrs. Stone." - -"But, Alpine, I have no other place to go. Mrs. Stone is my only -friend." - -"She is your friend because her cousin wants to marry you, and if you -refuse Teddy, she will be very angry." - -"Do you think so, Alpine?" the young girl exclaimed, startled at the -idea. - -"I am sure of it. My advice to you is to marry Teddy." - -"But I do not love him, Alpine. I--I loved Ralph Chainey--once--so -dearly that I feel that I can never love another." - -"Why have you turned against Ralph?" asked her step-sister, curiously. - -"I can not tell you," faltered Kathleen. - -"Do you love him still?" - -"No," Kathleen answered, spiritedly; but Alpine did not believe one -word. - -"Kathleen, how would you like to come back home?" she asked. - -"Your mother would not permit it," sighed the young girl. - -"It is because she does not believe you are really Kathleen. She thinks -you an impostor. I have been talking to her, trying to get her consent -to bring you home." - -Kathleen looked curiously at her step-sister, puzzled by her odd air of -hesitancy. - -"Well, go on. What is it?" she asked, with that little imperious manner -inseparable from herself. - -"She would not agree except on one condition." - -Kathleen looked at her in silent wonder, and, with pretended sorrow, -Alpine said: - -"The condition was that you come as a housemaid--as a paid servant." - -She saw, with silent, secret malice, the angry crimson mount to -Kathleen's pearly cheek, and remained silent a few moments to enjoy the -sensation of proud Kathleen humiliated. - -Kathleen was indeed furious with resentment, and for a moment she could -not speak for the great lump in her throat. - -Then she fought down her emotion with an iron will and looked straight -at her tormentor, saying, coolly: - -"I suppose it is so hard for your mother to forget the position she -once occupied in my father's house that she would be glad to sink his -daughter to the same level." - -Alpine crimsoned. She always hated to remember that her mother had been -Zaidee Carew's governess, and that it was hinted that her arts had -driven the artless child-wife to despair and death. - -But it was not her policy to seem offended with Kathleen. To propitiate -Ralph Chainey, she must still seem to be the friend of the girl he -loved so dearly. - -So she looked at her lovely rival with a sad, sweet smile, and said: - -"Of course, I knew that you would not come--that way--and I told mamma -so. But she made me promise to tell you what she said. You must not be -angry with me, dear, for I have a better plan for you." - -The young girl looked at her in angry silence, asking herself: "What -new insult?" - -"You know, of course, that your father, in a fit of anger against you, -left me all his money in a will?" asked Alpine. - -Kathleen nodded coldly. - -"I am going to make you an allowance to live on, Kathleen. I told mamma -I meant to do so, and she said your father did not intend for you to -have a penny of that money. Of course, I knew that. But it makes no -difference to me, for I can not bear to have you living on Mrs. Stone's -charity. It is better for you to depend on me for your support than on -a stranger. Don't you think so yourself?" - -Kathleen rose up, white-faced, indignant, goaded to fury. - -"No, I do not think so," she said, angrily. "I would rather starve in -the streets than support life on an allowance from you, made out of -the money that should be mine, but which you cheated me out of by some -cunning trick known only to yourself and your mother. I believe you -are deceitful, that you are only pretending a kind feeling for me to -serve some purpose of your own. Go, go, and leave me to myself and my -misery!" - -There was something in the looks and words of that frail, beautiful -young girl that compelled obedience from Alpine. She rose instantly. - -"Well, good-bye, since you will not let me be your friend," she said, -and glided from the room. - -Kathleen walked up and down the floor in a passion of insulted pride, -her cheeks burning, her little fists clinched in impotent wrath, her -heart on fire with the longing to avenge herself on those two insolent -women. - -It was a dangerous time to her for Teddy Darrell to enter--handsome, -loving Teddy who adored her, and who was wild with anger over the -insult she had received; for Kathleen could not keep back her -grievance; she told Teddy frankly of Mrs. Carew's message and of -Alpine's offer. - -"Great Heaven! how mean some women can be! It was done purposely to -humiliate you!" he exclaimed, angrily. - -He looked at beautiful Kathleen, with the fire of her dark eyes dim -with tears, and her cheeks burning with resentment, feeling himself -hardly able to refrain from taking her in his arms and kissing away the -tempestuous tears. - -Suddenly his repressed passion burst forth: - -"Kathleen, my darling, do marry me! Can't you learn to love me just a -little? I would be so fond of you, so devoted, that you could not help -but learn to love me. And I am rich, you know. I would help you queen -it over those insolent women." - -Her heart leaped at his words; pride carried the day. - -"I would do it--if--if--I--thought I _could_ learn to love you; and -that ought to be easy, because you have been so good to me, and I am so -grateful," she murmured. - -It did seem easy at the moment. Teddy was true, Teddy loved her, while -Ralph Chainey was false and cruel. Why should she wear the willow for -_him_? Why lie down in the dust, while her heartless step-mother and -step-sister trampled on her rights and her feelings? So in a fury of -resentment, Kathleen gave Teddy her promise to marry him and to learn -to love him. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVII. - -RALPH CHAINEY IS DRIVEN TO DESPERATION, AND TURNS ON HIS FOE. - - - Even now, I tell you, I wonder - Whether this woman called Estelle - Is flesh and blood, or a beautiful lie - Sent up from the depths of hell. - EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN. - - -Ralph Chainey went from Alpine's presence to his home in Sumner, one -of the beautiful suburbs of Boston, and to the presence of his gentle -widowed mother, who presided over a lovely home that was shared with -her by an older son and his small family. - -"Ralph, dear, you look pale. You are ill!" she exclaimed, anxiously. - -"My head aches severely. I will go to my room and lie down for an -hour to get my nerves steady for to-night," he said; and kissing her -affectionately he left her to seek seclusion for his aching heart and -brain. - -He leaned his aching head on his hand, and a rush of bitter memories -swept over him. - -He saw himself five years ago a boy of twenty-two, brilliant, ardent, -and impetuous, just beginning his dramatic career. At the very outset -he had fallen into the toils of a beautiful actress years older than -himself. By a clever playing of her cards, she had entrapped him into -a marriage; but scarcely had the honey-moon waned ere he learned to -his horror the true character of his wife. She was false, light, and -wicked, and no entreaties could win her from her wicked ways. - -A separation ensued, and Ralph, ashamed to court publicity by applying -for a divorce, agreed to support the false woman if she would promise -not to annoy him by venturing into his presence. She accepted these -terms, but instead of retiring to seclusion, as he desired her, -Fedora, as she called herself, joined a ballet troupe, and scandalized -her unfortunate young husband by her wild career. Still the marriage -was wholly unknown to the world, and in hopes of maintaining this -silence, the young actor suffered on patiently, his pride wounded, his -fancy dead, his soul thrilled with disgust, but one solace left to him, -and that the knowledge that his false wife had kept faith with him in -preserving his secret--kept faith because he had threatened her with -exposure and divorce upon its betrayal. - -At last she had broken faith, and, bitterest of all, had betrayed his -miserable folly to the one woman that he wished never to know it--to -beautiful, proud Kathleen, the idol of his very soul, for whom he had -felt all the passion of the poet's plaint: - - "I love you. That is all. Life holds no more. - Here in your arms I have no other world. - Where is the mad ambition known of yore? - All fled away to some far-distant shore, - And lost forever. Yes, I love you, sweet-- - You only--you alone. My heart, my life - I lay--a meager offering--at your feet." - -It had fallen on him like a crushing blow, the knowledge that Fedora -lived, when he had been duped, deceived into believing that she was -dead and he was free. - -A telegraphic message from Richmond, where she had been playing, had -summoned him to her death-bed; but when he reached the city her friends -told him she was dead and buried. - -They showed him a new grave in the beautiful shades of romantic -Hollywood, and presented him with a long bill for her funeral expenses. -He paid it without a murmur, and could not help feeling glad that he -was rid of his terrible incubus. He did not dream that it was only a -clever plot of the wicked woman to extort money, and that she enjoyed -very much the liberal sum he had handed over to liquidate the expenses -of her interment. - -He realized it all now--saw how cruelly Fate, in the shape of the -heartless Fedora, had used him, and, with a bitter groan, stared his -cruel destiny in the face. - -Fedora--his false wife--lived! She had parted him forever from his -beautiful, dark-eyed love. - - "We have parted--I have loved thee; - But for me all hope is o'er! - We have parted, and forever; - I must dream of thee no more!" - -He believed that Kathleen was going to marry Teddy Darrell, as Alpine -hinted, but he was not so sure that it was for love. He remembered, -with a thrill of blended rapture and despair, how he had caught -Kathleen to his heart this morning, and how she had lain passive in his -arms at first. - -"She did not repulse me at first," he thought. "Her heart throbbed -wildly against mine, and she lay yielding and passive in the utter -_abandon_ of a pure woman who truly loves. Then she _remembered_ all at -once, and withdrew herself from me in stinging scorn." - -He groaned bitterly at the memory of her cruel words. - -"My poor, proud darling! if she would but have listened to me, she -might have pitied and forgiven me," he thought, with the fluctuating -hopes of a lover's heart. He loved Kathleen so dearly that he could not -remain angry with her, although he tried to do so. In his heart he made -excuses for her. She was so young, so inexperienced, and there was no -telling what lies Fedora had told the young girl. - -"I will punish that fiend, at least," he cried, starting to his feet. -"No more squeamishness shall deter me from seeking a divorce, and I -shall do so at once. Who knows but that Kathleen may pity me, may -relent, when she learns all that I have suffered?" - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII. - -"I HAVE COME FOR MY DIAMONDS," KATHLEEN SAID TO THE JEWELER. - - - We love but once. A score of times, perchance, - We may be moved in fancy's fleeting fashion-- - May treasure up a word, a tone, or glance-- - But only once we feel the soul's great passion. - E. W. WILCOX. - - -Mrs. Stone was charmed when she heard that Kathleen was to marry Teddy. - -"You will be as happy as the day is long!" she exclaimed, fondly -kissing the beautiful girl. - -"Do you think so?" asked Kathleen, anxiously. - -Proud as she was, she began to feel frightened at what she had done. - -She found her wayward heart going out in a passion of regret after her -lost lover, instead of leaning fondly on her accepted one. - -She was alarmed lest it should always be so, and so she timidly asked -the question of Mrs. Stone: - -"Do you think so?" - -Mrs. Stone did not know anything of that lost lover--did not guess at -the pain in the young girl's heart. - -She honestly believed that, given a fair opportunity, her cousin might -win this girl's pure young heart. - -So she encouraged Kathleen to look forward with pleasure to her -marriage. - -"And I should let it be soon," she said. "Teddy wishes it very, very -much, and has begged me to plead his cause." - -"Oh, not soon!" cried the young girl, in alarm. - -"Why not, my dear? As well one time as another, if you mean to marry -him at all." - -"I--I want to wait until Helen Fox comes home. She always promised to -be my bride-maid." - -"You can write to Helen. It will take a few weeks to get your -_trousseau_ ready, and by then she can come home." - -The big, dark eyes were dilated with terror. - -"I should not like to _hurry_ Helen home. I want--want--her--to enjoy -her trip as long as she likes," faltered Kathleen, piteously. - -"You dear, timid child! you are determined to make Teddy wait for his -happiness," laughed her friend. "Well, never mind: let it be as long as -you choose. Only you will not mind if I begin to get your _trousseau_ -ready? You know there are always so many delays." - -A burning blush stole over Kathleen's pure cheek. - -"Dear Mrs. Stone, Teddy will have to take me as I am. I have no money -for a _trousseau_," she sighed. - -"Let that be my care. Surely I may make a wedding gift to my cousin's -bride!" - -"Let it be as simple as possible, then, dear Mrs. Stone," answered -proud Kathleen. - -But that night she thought of the necklace she had left with Golden & -Glitter. It was worth five thousand dollars, and they had advanced her -one thousand on it. Perhaps they would let her have more--enough to buy -her simple wedding garments, and save her the humiliation of accepting -them from Mrs. Stone. - -She was not afraid of startling them. The story of her return had -leaked out; the Boston papers had given it publicity. So she went in -Mrs. Stone's carriage the next morning to the great jewelers, and was -received by them with the greatest affability. They overwhelmed her -with congratulations on her resurrection. But when she asked about -her diamond necklace they told her an amazing story. Ivan Belmont had -come to them soon after her supposed death, and redeemed the necklace -by the payment of a thousand dollars, acting, he claimed, under the -instructions of his mother. - -Kathleen gazed at him in astonishment. - -"But I never told any human being about selling the diamonds! How could -they know?" she exclaimed. - -The jewelers were as much puzzled as she was. They had told no one, -either, but were intending to acquaint Mrs. Carew with the truth, when -Ivan Belmont had forestalled them by presenting himself and redeeming -the necklace. - -They advised the young girl to go to Mrs. Carew and demand the return -of the jewels. They did not doubt that she would be glad to return them -to the hapless girl they had stripped of everything. - -Kathleen's eyes were flashing with anger. She passionately gave the -order to drive to Commonwealth Avenue, determined to demand her rights. - -When Jones opened the door to the imperious young beauty his face -lighted with instant recognition and he rejoiced to see that she had -survived the horrors of that dreadful night when Mrs. Carew had cast -her forth to die. - -But he remembered the orders of his mistress, and firmly barred her -entrance. - -"Mrs. Carew's orders was not to admit you, miss, if you came again," he -said, resolutely. - -"How dare she!" exclaimed Kathleen, her eyes flashing. - -"But, really, miss, you know 'tain't right for you to follow Mr. -Belmont right into his mother's house," remonstrated Jones, uneasily; -and as she stared at him, he added, coaxingly: "You better go wait down -there at the corner while I go tell Mr. Belmont that you want him." - -"Why, what do you mean?" inquired Kathleen, sharply. - -"Why, ain't you Ivan Belmont's--sweetheart, miss?" - -"How dare you?" cried the girl. - -The lightnings of her eyes seemed almost to scorch him, and he faltered: - -"You--you asked for him that night when you came before; and Mrs. -Carew--begging your pardon, miss--said you were _bad_, and told me to -take you and throw you in the street." - -"So it was you that did it?" the girl cried, sharply. - -"No, miss. I could not have treated a dog like that," whispered Jones, -glancing over his shoulder, lest he be overheard. Then he told her how -much he had pitied her, and how he had placed her in the carriage, -hoping some one would care for her. - -"God bless you for your pity!" cried the girl, melted almost to tears; -and, in her turn, she told Jones who she really was, and that when she -had asked him for his master that night, she had meant her father, not -knowing that he was dead. - -"Mrs. Carew told you a willful falsehood," she said, angrily; -then paused, remembering that it was not dignified to discuss her -step-mother with a servant, no matter how great the provocation. - -"And you must really let me come in, because I have important business -with your mistress. If she discharges you for permitting me to enter, -I will get my friends to procure you another situation," she added, -kindly. - -The man stood aside in respectful assent. - -"Thank you kindly, Miss Carew. You will find my mistress with her son -and daughter in the library," he said. - -"So _he_ is here. So much the better," thought Kathleen. - -She swept, with an aching heart, down the superb hall of her old home, -Jones gazing after her in respectful admiration. - -"My! what a high-stepping beauty! A regular goddess!" he ejaculated; -and breathed a silent prayer that the disinherited daughter might yet -oust these heartless people out of her old home and come into her own. - -Kathleen, pale with passion, flung back the library curtains with a -shaking hand, and stood revealed to the inmates. - -Ivan Belmont had read with horror in a distant city the marvelous story -of his step-sister's resurrection and return. Trembling with fear, he -recalled the night when he had encountered her upon the steps and fled -away from her, believing she was a ghost. - -He had come home to find out the truth, and was even now listening to -the story, as told by his mother and sister, when the curtains parted, -flung back by an angry hand, and Kathleen, beautiful and imperious in -her righteous wrath, stood revealed to their astonished eyes. - -A gasp of astonishment, and Mrs. Carew rose, tall, stately, insolent. - -"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" she demanded. "I told Jones -that he was not to admit the likes of you to this house!" - -Kathleen's lightning glance almost transfixed her, and she flushed with -sudden uneasiness. - -"I came here for my diamonds. Give them to me, and I will go," the -young girl answered, defiantly, and she saw Ivan Belmont whiten to a -deadly pallor. - -"Diamonds?" echoed Alpine, in surprise. - -"I have just come from Golden & Glitter's," said Kathleen. "I went -there for my diamond necklace that I left there as security for a -thousand dollars when I went away. They told me that Ivan Belmont had -redeemed the necklace for his mother." - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIX. - -KATHLEEN BEFORE HER FATHER'S PORTRAIT. - - - Oh, that those lips had language! Life has passed - With me but roughly since I heard thee last. - Those lips are thine--thy own sweet smile I see, - The same that oft in childhood solaced me. - COWPER. - - -Kathleen's declaration was almost equal to the bursting of a bomb-shell -in the handsome library of the Carew mansion. - -Alpine sprung excitedly to her feet with a scream of surprise, and -fixed her dilated blue eyes almost wildly upon Kathleen's pale, angry -face. - -Her mother, who was so crafty and wicked that one could scarcely charge -her with any meanness of which she was not guilty, had the novel -sensation of being falsely accused for once, and recoiled with a nasty -and indignant disclaimer from her insolent and threatening position -toward the intruder. - -"Your accusation is entirely false!" she cried, hoarsely. - -But it was upon her dissipated son that Kathleen's words fell with the -most crushing power. - -This slender, handsome Ivan Belmont, with his straw-gold curls and -seraphic blue eyes, was a cold and brutal villain who utterly belied -his gentle looks. He had all his mother's evil traits intensified, and -would not stop at murder if there was anything to be gained by it, -provided he was not to be found out. He was a coward, and afraid of -punishment. - -So when Kathleen made her bold charge against him, and he realized that -possible detection and punishment hung over his head, his coward heart -gave a thump as if it would burst the confines of his narrow chest, -his brain reeled, his fair face whitened to an ashy hue, his limbs -trembled beneath him as he clutched the back of a chair, and with an -inarticulate groan of feeble denial, he sunk in a senseless heap upon -the floor. - -"Ivan is dead! You have killed him with your false words!" shrieked -Alpine, running to her brother. - -Mrs. Carew followed, and they knelt down over Ivan, exclaiming and -lamenting, although much of it was for effect, for they did not waste -much affection on their black sheep. - -Kathleen, readily comprehending that Ivan had fainted from terror, -curled a scornful lip, and turning her back on them, walked across the -room to where a life-size portrait of her dead father filled a panel -near his writing-desk. - -Vincent Carew had been a singularly handsome and imposing gentleman, -and the fine artist had done full justice to his noble subject. The -dark eyes seemed to hold the very fire of life and the smiling lips -almost about to breathe a blessing on his wronged, unhappy orphan child. - -As Kathleen paused in front of the magnificent portrait of her lost -father, the hard, defiant look on her face faded as if by magic, and -the burning light of her large Oriental dark eyes was softened by a -rush of tears. Almost unconsciously she sunk upon her knees and lifted -her clasped white hands appealingly. - -"Oh, father, dear father, if only you could speak to me, if only you -could tell me why you turned against your unhappy child?" she sighed, -pathetically. - -It was a sorrowful picture--pathetic enough to move anything but the -heart of a fiend--that unhappy girl kneeling there in tears and love -before the portrait of the father who had disinherited her and left her -to want and misery. - -But no one noticed her. Mrs. Carew and her daughter were busy over -Ivan, whose swoon was a deep one. Kathleen's raining tears fell -unnoticed and unpitied, save by the great All-seeing Eye. - -Kathleen's heart was thrilling with all the pathos expressed in -Cowper's beautiful lines: - - "Oh, that those lips had language! Life has passed - With me but roughly since I heard thee last!" - -Alas! how cruel it was to think that this dear, loving father had -turned against her at the last! What was the mystery of it? Who was to -blame? - -"Not you, papa darling!" moaned the girl, loyal to her love for him -despite everything. "Some one deceived you, lied to you, made you -believe me unworthy of your love. I will not lay it up against you. I -forgive you, dear, because you were always so good and loving!" her -voice broke in a hard sob, ending with, "But, oh, papa, papa, I wish -you could come back from the grave as I did, to comfort your poor girl! -Dear Lord, I pray Thee send papa back to me!" - -Had Heaven answered her earnest prayer? - -She turned wildly toward the door, for a strange voice had sounded from -it--strange, yet not strange, for it had a tone of her father's voice -in it, although louder and less refined than Vincent Carew's polished -tones. - -A stranger had entered the library--a tall old man in shabby genteel -clothes that had seen much service, and wearing a long gray beard that -matched his bushy gray curls. A pair of smoky glasses hid a pair of -dark eyes that twinkled with curiosity as he advanced, exclaiming: - -"Hey-day, good friends! what's the matter with the pretty young man? -Sick?" - -Ivan Belmont had at that moment opened his light-blue eyes on the faces -of his mother and sister, and they turned languidly on the new-comer, -while Mrs. Carew exclaimed, almost ferociously, her eyes gleaming like -blue steel: - -"Who are you, and what is the meaning of this intrusion?" - -"My name is Ben Carew, at your service, Sister Carew. Howdy--howdy do, -all of you? These your children? Is your son sick much?" replied the -stranger, in a loud, familiar tone. - -"Impertinent!" muttered the lady, angrily. She rose to her feet. "See -here, old man, you have made a mistake coming here, certainly. I don't -know you, and have no business with you, so clear out at once!" - -The old man stood his ground, undismayed by the virago. - -"Not so fast, ma'am, not so fast," he said, soothingly, with a wave of -his hand. "Now, ain't you Vincent Carew's widow?" - -"Yes," she snapped. - -"And I'm Vincent Carew's brother Ben." - -Every eye in the room turned on him in amazement, and Mrs. Carew -exclaimed: - -"My husband did not have a brother at all!" - -"No brother that he owned, maybe, but an older brother, for all that, -living down on the farm, poor and humble, so maybe his proud, ambitious -brother didn't own up to his folks about Ben; but all the same he was -good to him, and many's the year Vince sent money down to the old farm -to help out when the crops failed and prices fell on live stock--many's -the day, God rest his soul!" - -Brother Ben drew his hand across his eyes and the sound of suppressed -sobs filled the room. - -"My husband is dead, if he was any relation to you; so we don't want -you here," Mrs. Carew said to him, brutally. - -He started back as if she had struck him, and said, sadly: - -"Yes, I heard that he was dead, and I wished it had been me instead. I -ain't much 'count in the world, no-how; but the neighbors said: 'Ben, -you ought to go up to Boston and get your share of your brother's -property.' Vince left me something, I know. He always said he would -without my ever asking." - -"He left you nothing. I don't believe in you, anyway. You're an -impostor, I'm sure. So get out of this at once!" insisted Mrs. Carew. -But he did not stir. - -"I want to stay and visit you, sister-in-law, and see the city sights," -he pleaded. - -"Go; I won't have you here! You are a disgrace to the house!" she -said, angrily, but still inwardly appalled, for, in spite of his rough -looks and country manners, he was wonderfully like the dead brother he -claimed. In voice, features, and gesture he recalled the dead. - -He stood staring in pained amazement at the inhospitable woman, when -suddenly a little hand stole into his, and a tearful voice murmured: - -"Uncle Ben, I believe in you and I love you, for you are so like my -dear, dead papa that it makes my heart glad just to see and hear you." - -He looked down into the face of a lovely, dark-eyed girl, whose lips -were trembling with a hushed sob, and exclaimed: - -"Why, this is Vince's girl. I know by the favor! God bless you, honey! -give your old uncle a hug;" and he put his honest arms around her, and -pressed the curly golden head against his breast. - -"Did you ever see such impudence, mamma? Kathleen is utterly -shameless!" cried Alpine, in a high key of disdain. - -"You'll let me stay, won't you, sissy, dear? I'm too old to travel -straight back to the country," said Uncle Ben, coaxingly, while he -turned a glance of meek pleasure and triumph on the others. - -"Alas! dear uncle, this is not my home. I can not invite you to remain, -much as I wish to do so," sighed the young girl. - - - - -CHAPTER XL. - -A NEW-FOUND RELATIVE. - - - As I came through the Valley of Despair, - As I came through the valley, on my sight, - More awful than the darkness of the night, - Shone glimpses of a past that had been fair. - E. W. WILCOX. - - -Uncle Ben Carew stared in surprise at his niece when she made her -strange declaration; but she continued, sadly: - -"Uncle Ben, you must not blame papa for his seeming cruelty to you and -me when I tell you all. But--but dear papa, when he died, disinherited -me, and left his wealth to these two heartless women here." - -"Good land! my child, what had you done to turn Vince against you?" - -"Nothing, dear uncle! but I believe that cunning arts were employed -by some other people to turn my father's heart against his child," -answered Kathleen, spiritedly. - -"Mamma, will you permit Kathleen to belittle us in our very presence, -and in our own house?" exclaimed Alpine, angrily. - -Kathleen looked at her step-sister, who stood at the back of the chair -into which she had assisted the pale and trembling Ivan. - -"I have no desire to remain in your house a moment longer than is -necessary," she said, proudly. "I am going at once, and I will take my -uncle with me as a guest in my friend's house. But before I go, Mrs. -Carew, please give me my diamond necklace." - -"There is some mistake. I know nothing about your diamonds. I did not -take them from the jewellers," answered Mrs. Carew, angrily; but there -was such a ring of truth in her voice that Kathleen believed her for -once. - -She turned to Alpine. - -"Perhaps _you_ have the diamonds?" she said, interrogatively. - -"I have _not_. I thought you took them with you when you went away, -and that they were stolen from you when you were robbed that night," -answered Alpine, earnestly. - -"I believe you," said Kathleen, and her burning glance fell on Ivan -Belmont as he cowered before her in his seat. - -"It is you," she said, shaking a disdainful finger in his face; "it is -you to whom I must look for my jewels! Where are they? What have you -done with them?" - -He tried hard to stammer a weak denial of all knowledge of them, but -even his own mother and sister knew that he was lying. Kathleen's great -flashing eyes surveyed him in bitter scorn. - -"Do not deny it--I can see that you are speaking falsely," she said. -"You can not deny it in the face of the jewelers' assertion. Perhaps -you have sold them to get money to go on with your dissipated habits. -Listen: I will give you one week in which to return the diamonds, or -four thousand dollars in lieu of them." She paused, and he muttered -another disclaimer, but Kathleen persisted: "I can not afford to lose -the small fortune that is all that remains to me of my father's gifts -for a scruple of pity to those who have been pitiless to me. So unless -you return the jewels or their value in a week's time, I shall hand you -over to the law." - -With a heightened color she took the old man's arm. - -"Come, Uncle Ben, let us go," she said, and swept from the room with -the air of a dethroned princess, Uncle Ben following humbly in her wake. - -Jones let her out with an air of distinct approval, having hovered near -the library door and heard all that transpired within. - -Kathleen, going down the steps with her shabby, newly found relative, -came face to face with a man going up--Ralph Chainey. A start on either -side, a cold, stiff bow, then Kathleen stepped into the carriage and -sunk half-fainting against the cushions. - -"Who was that, my dear?" inquired her uncle, observing her agitation. - -Kathleen stifled a sob, and answered: - -"It was Ralph Chainey, the great actor." - -"Um-hum! I have heard of him. But what made you feel so bad at seeing -him, honey?" - -"Oh! uncle, I used to love him, and expected to marry him; but, alas! -that is all over now," sighed the young girl; and there came into her -mind some of the words of Laura Jean Libbey's sweet, sad song: - - "Lovers once, but strangers now, - Though pledged by many a tender vow; - Still I'd give the world to be - All that I was once to thee." - -She leaned her bright head lovingly against the old man's kindly -shoulder and sobbed out all the pain in her heart. - -"Tell me all about it, dearie," said the old farmer, gently. - -But Kathleen's heart was too full. The sight of her handsome, perjured -lover, fascinating Ralph Chainey, was too much for her. Her tears -flowed unrestrainedly until Mrs. Stone's house was reached. - -But here Kathleen's uncle decidedly declined her invitation to enter. - -"No, honey; not just now. I'm shabby looking by the side of fine city -folks, and I'll go and buy me some better clothes--a new hat and a -white shirt--then to-morrow I'll come back here and see your friend and -yourself," he replied, and left her at the door. - -Kathleen told her friend all about the morning's events, and received -her very sincere sympathy. - -"I always felt that those Carews were mean, especially Ivan," she said. -"But, never mind, dearie. When your uncle comes to-morrow we will make -him remain for a long visit." - - - - -CHAPTER XLI. - -RALPH'S LETTER. - - - The world is naught when one is gone - Who was the world; then the heart breaks - That this is lost which once was won. - ARLO BATES. - - -But before the old gentleman called in the morning, Kathleen had a -great shock of surprise. - -The morning papers had not had anything so exciting to chronicle for a -long time as the news that Ralph Chainey, the great actor, and the idol -of the hour, had been secretly married to a beautiful ballet dancer who -was no better than she ought to be, and that he had publicly applied -for a legal divorce to free him from his galling fetters. - -Of course the public had to know all about it, so the reporters had -besieged Ralph Chainey, and he had talked freely with them, giving them -all his sad story, hoping in this way to reach the obdurate heart of -beautiful Kathleen. - -Surely, he thought, when she heard his story aright--when she heard how -cruelly he had been betrayed by the false and wicked Fedora--she must -pity and pardon her unhappy lover. - -Ralph Chainey was not much of a praying man, but in these hours of -awful suspense his thoughts took almost the form of a prayer to God -that He would help him to win his proud young love who had scorned him -in such disdainful fashion. - -So he told the reporters his sad story in his most eloquent fashion, -and they reproduced it in glowing paragraphs, denouncing Fedora in -unmeasured terms for her sins and her hypocrisy, and hinting at the -beautiful love affair that had been broken off by Fedora's resurrection -from the grave in which her young husband believed her resting. They -did not tell the name of the actor's beautiful young love, because -Ralph Chainey had been very careful not to tell them; but they dwelt -eloquently on the actor's love for her, and his hope that, in the event -of his securing a divorce, she would become his worshiped wife. - -Kathleen read this moving story with heaving bosom and dilated eyes, -and while she was yet reading it, the bell rang and a package was -handed in for her with a letter. - -Ralph Chainey--forgetting, like any true lover, his pride in his -love--had sent to Kathleen marked copies of the morning papers and some -brief, pathetic lines. - - "Oh, my lost love," ran the note, "will you not read, and reading, - pity and forgive me, the story of my sorrows? Oh, Kathleen! they say - that you are pledged to wed another. Tell me that it is not so! My one - great hope is for freedom, that I may yet have the hope of winning - you. Life without that hope would be a living death. Oh, Kathleen, my - love, my darling! pity me--pity yourself! You have not learned to love - the man you have promised to marry. Send him from you. Wait a little, - my darling, and happiness will come to us! - - "RALPH." - -"Oh, my poor boy--my poor boy!" sobbed Kathleen. - -She forgot herself, she forgot Teddy Darrell, to whom she had promised -herself, and she kissed Ralph Chainey's letter with red, clinging lips, -as if it had been his handsome face. - -"Why did I not listen to him that day when I was so wild with jealousy -that I would not let him explain?" she cried, self-upbraidingly. "I was -foolish and silly. It is a wonder that he could ever forgive me. No. I -can not marry Teddy now. But--will--he release me--from--my promise?" - - - - -CHAPTER XLII. - -"YOU SHALL NOT MARRY RALPH CHAINEY!" UNCLE BEN CRIED, VIOLENTLY. - - - Adown my cheeks in silence - The tears came flowing free, - And, oh! I can not believe it-- - That thou art lost to me. - H. HEINE. - - -While Kathleen was still weeping over Ralph Chainey's appealing letter -her uncle was announced. - -She dried her tears and went down to welcome the old man. - -Mrs. Stone had taken the children out for the morning, so Kathleen had -a long interview with her new-found relative. - -He was so much like her dead father in his voice and looks that he won -Kathleen's heart at once, and when he expressed his love and sympathy -for her in moving terms, the unhappy young girl gave him her confidence -in the fullest measure. - -She told him the story of her young life from the beginning--her -step-mother's cruelty, Alpine's unkindness, and Ivan's attempts at -courtship, which she had repelled with scorn. - -Then her indignant voice softened as she murmured over the story of her -happy love-dream--her first romantic meeting with Ralph Chainey, when -he had saved her life, and her later acquaintance with him, down to the -moment when she had repulsed him with scorn, and, in a fit of pique, -engaged herself to Teddy Darrell. - -"I was wrong--all wrong!" she cried, self-upbraidingly, and gave him -Ralph's letter to read. - -Benjamin Carew listened in dead silence to all that Kathleen told him -of the young actor, and if she had observed him closely, she would have -seen that his brows were drawn together by a heavy frown. - -Once or twice he seemed about to speak to her, but checked himself -abruptly and waited. - -Kathleen, as soon as he had finished the letter, cried out, eagerly: - -"Do you not see that I was wrong to judge him so hardly?" - -Uncle Ben looked gravely into his niece's face and answered, almost -sternly: - -"No; you were right, for appearances were against him." - -"But, dear Uncle Ben, all that is explained away now, and I know that I -was wrong not to trust my lover," cried the girl, anxiously. - -But he answered, firmly: - -"You must not call that actor your lover. You are betrothed to Mr. -Darrell." - -"But Teddy will release me if I ask him." - -"Would you wound your true lover so cruelly?" asked the old man, almost -angrily. - -The beautiful dark eyes were raised to his, swimming in tears. - -"Oh, how unhappy I am!" cried poor Kathleen. "I am the most wretched -girl in the whole world! Every one is against me!" - -The old man did not answer. He regarded her with sad, troubled eyes -through his smoky glasses. - -"You, too, Uncle Ben, have turned against me just when I thought you -would be such a comfort to me," sobbed his niece. - -"You are willful and unjust, my child, if you expect me to counsel you -to throw over your lover for the sake of a man who has a wife already," -was the mild reply. - -"But he will be divorced, uncle, and then we will be free to love each -other." - -"And this honorable young man, Mr. Darrell, will be thrown over -remorselessly for the world to laugh at as a jilted man!" - -"Uncle Ben, I can explain it all to Teddy. He is so good and kind he -will forgive me. He would not want to marry me if he knew that I loved -another man." - -Her heart, thrilling with the intensity of her love, lent fire to her -eyes and passion to her voice. She felt that it would be a sin to marry -Teddy with her heart so full of Ralph. - -But the old man she had thought so kind and gentle rose up angrily and -caught her hand. - -"You are mad--mad, girl, to think of throwing over Teddy Darrell for -this miserable actor! You shall not do it!" he cried, violently. - -Kathleen tore her little white hand from his clasp in haughty amazement. - -"You have no right to control my actions!" she exclaimed; and he sunk -back into his chair and covered his face with his hand. - -"True, true!" she heard him murmur, dejectedly. "I have no authority -over my brother's child. I am only a poor, humble old farmer, and my -advice is not desired, even though I would save my brother's only child -from wrecking her life for the sake of an unwise love! So be it. I will -go now, a sadder, wiser old man." - -The pitiful words touched the girl's heart, melting her resentment. - -She knelt by him and drew the hand away from his moist eyes, murmuring, -remorsefully: - -"Dear Uncle, forgive me. I was hasty, and am sorry that I wounded you. -What would you have me do?" - -"To marry Mr. Darrell," he replied, firmly. - -"How can I?" she moaned, wearily. - -"At least say nothing to any one of your change of mind just yet, -Kathleen. Think a moment. Ralph Chainey may not get his divorce. Then, -were it not better, child, for you not to compromise yourself by -declaring your love for him?" - -"Perhaps so," she replied, dejectedly. - -"Then you promise me not to have anything to say to Ralph Chainey until -the divorce is secured?" he went on, eagerly. - -"I promise," answered the girl, with a long, heart-breaking sigh. "Oh!" -she thought, "how cold and cruel old people are! Surely they forget -they were ever young, or that they ever loved!" - -But she could not bear to grieve the poor old man, and so she gave him -her promise. - -"It is not for long, anyhow," she consoled herself with thinking, for -she thought it could not be long before Ralph secured the divorce. - -"Then nothing on earth shall keep us apart," she thought, blissfully. -"Poor Teddy! he will soon get over his disappointment and love some -other girl." - -Mrs. Stone came in at this juncture, and Kathleen began to feel quite -conscience-stricken over the treachery she was meditating to the kind -lady's cousin. - -Strangely enough, after she had cordially welcomed Uncle Ben -Carew, Mrs. Stone plunged into the subject of which they had been -speaking--Ralph Chainey. - -"I've just met the young actor," she said; "and congratulate me, my -dear, for he likes my plot, and I am to write him a play. Won't that be -nice? For he will make it famous. Teddy has been begging me to create -a part in it for him, and to ask Mr. Chainey to take him into the -company. Isn't it ridiculous in that spoiled boy? Why, he will be a -married man then, with no time for acting." - -Kathleen turned the subject as quickly as she could, and then Mrs. -Stone devoted herself to Uncle Ben, persuading him to become her guest -for a week. - -"I shall be delighted to have you, and Teddy will be glad to have the -pleasure of showing you the great sights of Boston," she declared. - -So it was arranged, and Mr. Darrell manfully fell into the line of -duty, escorting Uncle Ben to all the places of interest in the city, -feeling fully rewarded for all his trouble by the murmured thanks of -his beautiful betrothed. - -So three days passed by peacefully, and although Kathleen wept bitter -tears, when alone, over the dear letter her uncle had forbidden her to -answer, she managed to preserve a calm aspect before her friends, and -they did not guess how her heart was aching with its secret pain. It -grieved Teddy that she seemed to shrink from him a little, but he kept -on hoping he would win her love in the end. - -Toward the middle of the week a great surprise came to Kathleen. - -The long-hoped-for letter came at last. - -The Southern relatives, so long deaf to her loving appeals, wrote at -last to say that they wanted Kathleen to come and live with them. They -were rich now, and could make her life as gay and luxurious as it was -before her father's death. - -"I should like to go and visit them. My heart always yearned for my -mother's people," Kathleen said, wistfully. - -Uncle Ben was thoughtfully perusing the letter. He answered: - -"I will take you to them, my dear. I should not like for you to travel -alone any more." - -"Oh, how good you are, dearest uncle!" cried the girl, gladly. "But do -you see they want me to come right away? They want me to be there at -the celebration of my grandmother's birthday, which, she says, will -be quite an event in the Franklyn family, so that all the clan will be -gathered at the old homestead, and I can see all of them." - -"We can start for Richmond to-morrow," her uncle answered, smilingly. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIII. - -THE OLD HOUSEKEEPER'S STORY. - - - I can not rise, my darling, - My breast is bleeding--see! - I stabbed myself, thou knowest, - When thou wast reft from me! - H. HEINE. - - -"But my diamonds, Uncle Ben. I must wait here for them, you know," said -Kathleen. - -"Pooh! We can leave that affair in the hands of a lawyer," he replied, -carelessly. - -He was determined that nothing should hinder this opportune trip. - -He was anxious to get Kathleen away from Boston, where Ralph Chainey -was playing every night to crowded houses. It would seem as if Uncle -Ben had as vigorous a dislike for actors as his dead brother had -cherished. - -So he carefully smoothed away all her objections, declaring that he had -money enough to take them both to Richmond, and that she could repay -him, if she insisted on it, when she got back her diamonds. - -"I wonder if papa thought, when he gave them to me, that some day they -would be my sole little fortune!" sighed the young girl. - -Uncle Ben did not answer. He was looking out of the window at the -country scenery, for they were on their journey now. Kathleen was -sitting opposite to him in the parlor car, with a big bouquet of roses -in her lap, the gift of the adoring Teddy, from whom she had just -parted at the station. - -"A noble young fellow," Uncle Ben had said, and his niece answered, -with a little sigh: - -"He has been very good to me; but, Uncle Ben, he is called the -greatest flirt in Boston, and I shouldn't wonder if he threw me over at -any time for a newer fancy." - -"You are just wishing he would!" the old man exclaimed, curtly, and she -replied only by a roguish laugh. - -The train rushed on and on through the wintry landscape, and both of -them grew very thoughtful. At last Kathleen touched her uncle's arm -with a timid hand. - -"Uncle Ben, this going home to my mother's people makes me think so -much about _her_ to-day. Tell me, did you ever see mamma?" - -The man's strong arm trembled under the pressure of her little white -hand, and he answered in a voice that was hoarse with emotion: - -"Yes, I knew little Zaidee--poor little darling!" - -"Was she as beautiful as the portrait a great artist made of her? There -is one that hangs in my room at my old home. It is beautiful as an -angel, and papa used to come there often to look at it. I don't think -he cared for my step-mother to know how often he came." - -"Zaidee was more beautiful than the portrait," answered the old man, in -a low voice. - -He pressed her little hand tenderly as it rested on his arm, and said: - -"Tell me all that you know about your mother, my child." - -"They have told me that she died by her own hand. Was it not terrible?" -whispered the young girl, with paling lips. - -"Terrible!" he echoed, with emotion; and then she asked: - -"Uncle Ben, who was to blame for that awful tragedy?" - -"No one," he answered, sadly. "Zaidee was passionate, willful, jealous. -She became madly jealous of a governess--a young widow who was employed -in the house to teach her painting and music. Before poor Vincent at -all comprehended the situation, his young wife, in a fit of anger, -destroyed herself by thrusting a little jeweled dagger into her -breast." - -"And you are sure no one was to blame?" she persisted and after a -moment's hesitation he replied: - -"Perhaps Vince was to blame; but he did not realize it then, poor -fellow! You see, Kathleen, he worshipped his lovely little bride, and -it grieved him that she was lacking in certain accomplishments familiar -to most young girls in his cultured set. To remedy this, he employed -teachers and Zaidee learned rapidly until----" he passed the back of -his hand across his eyes and groaned. - -"Until----" repeated Kathleen. - -"Quite unexpected by him--for she was probably too proud to betray -herself to him--Zaidee became quite jealous of that pretty young widow, -Mrs. Belmont, and in a fit of madness took her own life, and nearly -broke her husband's heart." - -"He married the young widow in a little more than a year," the girl -replied, unable to resist this bitter fling at her dead father's memory. - -He winced, the poor old man, as she spoke thus of her father, and -answered, almost excusingly: - -"He was so wretched, and Mrs. Belmont comforted him. She, too, had -loved Zaidee, and shared his grief with him. That was how she made -herself so necessary to the unhappy man." - -"The fiend!" broke hissingly from Kathleen's white lips. - -He turned to her in amazement. - -"What do you mean?" he asked, hoarsely. - -It was well that they were alone in the car, for Kathleen's excitement -was terrible. Her eyes blazed, her cheeks paled, her heart beat -violently against her side. - -"Uncle Ben, I am speaking of that woman who so unworthily took my dead -mother's place!" she exclaimed. "Yes, she is a fiend! _She_ to pretend -that she loved the memory of the woman she goaded to madness--perhaps -murdered; for no one saw my poor young mother drive the fatal steel -into her heart. Oh, God! what deceit--what treachery!" - -He grasped her wrist with steely fingers, his eyes flashed with a fire -akin to hers, and he whispered; - -"Hush! You must not dare accuse _her_ so! You drive me mad! Oh, it can -not be!" - -"You take that false woman's part, then, Uncle Ben, against me and my -poor young mother? Listen, then; let me tell you all I know--a secret -I kept from my dead father, because I believed in him, trusted him, in -spite of the servants' gossip that accused him of complicity in his -young wife's death." - -"They dared, the hounds! accuse m-my brother thus?" he breathed, -fiercely, the perspiration starting out on his brow, his strong frame -trembling. - -"Yes, they accused him," answered the girl. "Do not take it so hard, -Uncle Ben. He was innocent, I know; but that fiendish woman played -her part to perfection. She made my mother believe that Vincent Carew -wished her out of the way, so that he might wed _her_, the traitress! -She made the servants believe the same. She even plotted----" But -suddenly the girl paused with clasped hands. "Oh! uncle, dear, it will -wound you if I mention this; it will blacken my father's memory in your -eyes--and I always loved him--I love him still, in spite of what he has -done to me, and I ought to spare him." - -"Go on, Kathleen. I command you to tell me everything. I have a sacred -right to know," commanded the agitated man by her side. - -"Listen, then, dear uncle: Just a few months before my father went away -on that foreign tour, from which he never returned alive, I received a -message from an old woman calling me to her death-bed in the suburbs of -the city. I went, taking my maid with me. In a secret interview that -followed the dying woman told me she had been housekeeper at the Carew -mansion in my mother's time. She could not die easy without revealing -to me a secret she had carried untold for sixteen years." - -"That secret?" questioned Benjamin Carew, wildly. - -"Was this," replied the girl, solemnly: "On the day of the tragedy, -Mrs. Belmont sought the housekeeper, pretending to be overcome with -grief, surprise, and indignation. She confided to the woman that -Vincent Carew had been making secret love to her ever since she first -entered the house, and that day had openly declared his passion, -begging her to fly with him to Europe, saying that his ignorant -child-wife would then secure a divorce, and he could then marry his -heart's best love. With tears and shame, Mrs. Belmont owned that she -could not help loving her handsome employer, but that she had repulsed -him with scorn, and resigned her situation to take leave immediately. -Mrs. Belmont was too much overcome to explain to her pupil, and wished -the housekeeper to tell Mrs. Carew the whole cause of her leaving." - -"My God!" groaned the old man at Kathleen's side; but the girl hurried -on, with blazing eyes. - -"The housekeeper, after the fashion of most servants, was too ready to -believe a tale of scandal, and to excite a sensation. She did not think -of doubting Mrs. Belmont then, although grave doubts assailed her after -the tragedy. Well, with her heart on fire with sympathy for her wronged -mistress, she did not think for a moment of sparing her the whole -cruel truth. She blurted it all out in burning words, and advised the -outraged wife to forsake her monster of a husband and return to her own -relatives. Within the hour mamma was found dead." - - - - -CHAPTER XLIV. - -GRANDMOTHER FRANKLYN. - - - I dreamed that the moon looked sadly down, - And the stars with a troubled ray; - I went to my darling's home--the town - Lies many a league away. - H. HEINE. - - -Kathleen's awed voice died away in a hushed sob, and in the grand -parlor car there was a dead silence, broken only by the clatter of the -car-wheels as they rushed over the glistening steel rails. - -Old Benjamin Carew crouched silently in his seat, with clinched hands -and half-averted face, but Kathleen could see that he was pale as -death, and beads of dew stood on his forehead and around his pain-drawn -lips. - -"How dearly he must have loved his sister-in-law--my unhappy young -mother!" she thought, tenderly; and just then his hand moved and sought -hers, clasping it fondly, but with a grasp as cold as ice. - -"Oh, Uncle Ben, I ought not to have told you this distressing story!" -she exclaimed, remorsefully. "I am so glad to think that I never told -papa the story I had from the dying housekeeper. It would have been -so cruel for him to know that the woman he had loved and trusted had -plotted away the life of my mother." - -"Hush, child! you drive me mad! This is too cruel!" groaned the old man. - -He leaned his gray head forward on the seat, and sobs, all the fiercer -for being suppressed, shook his slight frame. Kathleen wept, too, and -altogether it was a sorrowful journey they had to the home from which -Vincent Carew had carried Zaidee, his fair young bride, to meet so dark -a fate. They talked but little, for a heavy cloud of trouble hung over -their spirits and shadowed the future, and the young girl at length -became conscious of a strange dread of arriving at the end of the -journey so long ardently desired. She ascribed it to sudden timidity at -meeting strangers. She did not dream it was a warning presentiment. - -She was glad that the cars went straight through Lincoln Station -without changing. She could not bear to be reminded of that terrible -night when the talon-like fingers of her unknown assailant had closed -stranglingly about her white throat, and of all the sorrows that had -followed after. The girl, so young and tender, shuddered as with an -ague chill, wondering how she had lived through it all. - -"And poor Daisy Lynn! poor Daisy Lynn! what ever became of that unhappy -girl?" she wondered, pitifully, and her thoughts wandered to the -girl's sad love story. "How sorrowful it is to go mad for love!" she -sighed. "And yet, how sad it is to lose one's love and remain sane -and conscious in the midst of all the cruel pain. Oh, God! am I fated -to lose Ralph, my own true lover? How shall I bear to give my hand to -another man while I love Ralph so dearly?" And when the train ran into -the station at Richmond she was weeping bitter, burning tears for her -love, Ralph, from whom she was so cruelly parted. "Oh, the pity of it -that I did not believe in him that day that I sent him away from me in -scorn, when he was already so sorrowful! Oh, Ralph, my darling! I did -not think then that I should ever be suing for your forgiveness for -my cruel words; but now--now I could fall at your feet for pity and -pardon!" sobbed the unhappy young girl; and there came to her a memory -of some verses she had read in the poems of Mittie Point Davis--sweet, -sad verses from a loving heart: - - "I did not think that I should say it first, - That summer evening when we quarreled so - About some trifle you had magnified-- - Men are so harsh, you know. - I said some bitter words of hate and scorn; - My pride was up, my temper too, indeed-- - But now I know that I perhaps was wrong, - And, dearest, I am brave enough to plead: - Forgive me! - - "I did not think that I should say it first, - Not even when you stayed away so long; - I thought I could be proud and stubborn, too, - I did not know that love could be so strong. - I did not think that life could seem so long - Without the love I reckless cast away; - But now I know that I perhaps was wrong, - And, dearest, I am brave enough to say: - Forgive me! - - "I did not think that I should say it first, - That summer evening when we quarreled so-- - I hated you, I know you hated me; - But, darling, that seems long and long ago-- - So long, and I, oh! I have missed you so! - While you, perchance, have shared my silent pain. - We both were wrong, but love has conquered pride, - Forget the past; let us be friends again-- - Forgive me!" - -"Richmond!" shouted the conductor, and Kathleen roused with a start -from her sad musings, and drew her heavy wraps about her, for the -opening of the car door had let in a blast of inclement air. It was -late in the afternoon--almost twilight--and a long carriage ride was -before them; for the Franklyns had written that they lived on the -suburbs of Richmond, but would send a carriage to meet Kathleen. - -Sure enough, a close carriage was in waiting, the driver an old darky -who seemed surprised and even displeased that he had two passengers -instead of one. - -"Mistis was only 'specting a lady," he observed. - -"This is my uncle, who came along to take care of me," Kathleen -answered, with assumed cheerfulness, for her heart was beating with a -strange suspense and dread. The old negro put her trunk up, and they -entered the carriage, and set out on a long ride that did not end until -night had wrapped its sable pall of gloom around the earth. - -"Oh, uncle, how glad I am that you came with me! I should have felt -so frightened all alone!" whispered the girl, nestling close to her -relative's side. - -He answered only by a silent pressure of her little hand. He had been -strangely moody and silent ever since she had told him the story of her -mother's tragic death. - -The dark, gloomy exterior of the old brick house standing alone in -thick, shrubberied grounds was not inviting, but presently the front -door opened and a gleam of light stole forth. In its ray there appeared -a witch-like old woman huddled in a gray blanket shawl, who stood -shivering in the hall while they alighted. - -"Howdy, granddaughter? Glad to see you!" She gave Kathleen a cold peck -on the cheek and peered curiously at her companion. "Who's this? I -warn't expecting anybody but you, my dear. Oh, your uncle! Howdy-do, -sir? Walk right in, both of you, to the parlor. Folks all out at a -party but me. You'll see them in the morning." - -She ushered them into a prim, old-fashioned sitting-room that did not -show much pretension to the wealth the Franklyns had written they were -possessed of; but Kathleen was so glad of the great glowing fire that -she ran to it and held her numb fingers to the blaze, with scarcely -a glance at her surroundings. Uncle Ben followed her with a strange -sinking at the heart. - -His impressions of Mrs. Franklyn--Kathleen's grandmother--were not -favorable, it seemed. - -She was unprepossessing in her looks and manners, and she certainly -regarded him in the light of an interloper. She had not extended -to him the warm welcome that Northern people are led to believe is -characteristic of Southern hospitality. - -Mrs. Franklyn pulled out a little table on which was arranged a -tempting little supper. - -"I kept oysters and coffee warm for you," she said beamingly. "Now lay -off your things, both of you, and eat before they get cold, won't you?" - -"I am so tired--my head aches--I don't think I can swallow a mouthful!" -pleaded Kathleen, on the point of hysterical tears. - -Oh; why had she come? She was alarmed, somehow, and she wondered why -her heart had failed to go out warmly to this new-found relative, as -she had expected. Instead, she experienced fear and repulsion. - -But the old woman was not to be denied. She almost forced her reluctant -guests to swallow some of the food, and then she bundled them off to -their rooms with an alacrity that savored of anxiety to be rid of their -company. - -"You must be dead tired and wanting to rest, and I'm free to confess -that it's long past my usual bed-time," she declared. - -"Good-night, Uncle Ben. I hope you will rest well," Kathleen said, -kissing the old man with quivering lips. Then they parted, each to -their separate rooms. - -But there was no rest for Uncle Ben; his pillow was one of thorns, and -he rose and paced the floor at midnight, restless and unhappy. - -"My heart is on fire! Oh, God, I can not bear this pain! Let me go out -into the cold, dark streets and walk it off!" he muttered, restlessly, -and hurried into his clothes. "I suppose I can easily slip out of this -old, ramshackle house without arousing any one," he thought as he -proceeded to open the door. - -But he recoiled with a start, for the door was locked on the outside! -He was a prisoner in this strange house! - - - - - -CHAPTER XLV. - -IVAN RECEIVES A CHECK IN HIS CAREER. - - - Full many a thankless son has been, - But never one like mine. - His meat was served on plates of gold, - His drink was rosy wine. - THOMAS HOOD. - - -When Kathleen and her uncle had left the house on Commonwealth Avenue, -Mrs. Carew turned to Ivan with angry eyes. - -"Is it true? Have you got that girl's diamonds?" she inquired. - -"Of course he has. You can read it in his guilty face!" chimed in -Alpine, contemptuously. - -Ivan glared back at them with defiant eyes. - -"What are you going to do about it?" he asked, insolently. - -"You must return them. There will be a terrible scandal if you do not," -replied his mother. - -"I have sold them and spent the money," he returned with inimitable -coolness. - -"Good heavens! what will you do?" she cried; and to her indignation he -laughed out aloud as he said: - -"You and Alpine will have to make up the four thousand between you, and -pay Kathleen!" - -"I will not!" came in a burst of rage from Alpine's lips, and her -mother echoed it. - -"I will not!" - -The son leaned back indolently in his chair, not a whit moved by their -anger. They always _had_ come round to his demands. They would have to -do it now. - -"Would you bring disgrace on yourselves by having me sent to prison to -save a paltry four thousand dollars?" he demanded, with the air of one -who is master of the situation. - -They glared at him aghast. The two women loved money passionately. It -made them almost frantic the way that Ivan squandered it. - -"You two are rolling in wealth," he continued, "and yet you begrudge -a poor devil of a son and brother a few thousand to get him out of a -penitentiary scrape." - -The listeners shuddered. Next to money, they loved good repute, and -it was the dread of their lives that the dissolute Ivan would bring -disgrace upon them. And here it was staring them in the face. The -penitentiary, ugh! - -"We have spent at least fifteen thousand dollars on you since we came -into this fortune!" groaned Alpine. - -"And what you ever did with so much money, in so short a time, I can -not imagine," added Mrs. Carew. - -"Fast living and cards," laconically replied the villain. - -They looked at each other, the two badgered women, and one thought was -in the mind of each. Ivan was shameless, defiant. He would never alter -his evil courses and if he went on like this, and they had to supply -him with money, he would bankrupt them in the end. Disgrace would come -to them sooner or later through this black sheep. - -Alpine turned to him and asked curiously: - -"How did you find out that Kathleen had left her diamonds at the -jewelers?" - -He started and whitened at the suddenness of the question, but -answered, doggedly: - -"That is my own secret, and I do not choose to disclose it." - -"Neither do I choose to help you out of the scrape you have brought -on yourself. Not a dollar will I give you!" retorted Alpine, stung to -defiance and rebellion by his matchless assurance. - -He did not believe her, and smiled as he answered: - -"Oh, yes, you will, for your own sake, my dear sister. Perhaps you -think I don't see through your little game; but I do. You're trying -to marry Ralph Chainey, the great actor, although he does not care -a pin for you. However, you are crafty enough to hook him, I'll be -bound--only, he certainly would not look at you again if Kathleen sent -your only brother to prison for stealing her diamonds." - -Her blue eyes blazed on him with the steely glare of a bitter hate; but -she said, almost as if begging him to do better: - -"But, Ivan, if we helped you out of this, you would be into some new -scrape directly." - -"Very likely," he replied, taking insolent pleasure in torturing her, -not dreaming she would really turn at bay. - -But Alpine was reckless, desperate--ready to give up the fierce contest -with an untoward fate. A revengeful longing to punish Ivan for his -misdeeds, even at the bitterest cost to herself, assailed her and drove -everything else out of her mind. Her eyes flashed, her face grew ashen, -and, turning to her mother, she said, in a low, tense voice: - -"You see how it is, mamma. If we help him out of this, it will be -something else directly. How can we bear the strain for years? Do what -we will, he will beggar and disgrace us sooner or later. Why not let -the end come now? Let--Kathleen send him to prison for his crime, and -we--we--can live it down as best we may." - -Every word fell like a drop of ice on the ingrate's heart. Did she mean -it? Would they desert him at last, these two? - -He was frightened, and yet incredulous. He had heard and read and -believed that there was no limit to the love and forgiveness of a -mother's and sister's heart. - -But he had gone too far in his insolent assurance, and, to his terror -and amazement, his hour of reckoning had come at last. - -He did not take into account the fact that he did not have a good woman -for a mother. His excesses had turned her heart against him, and to his -horror she sided with Alpine, angrily discarding him. - -"I wash my hands of you," she said, bitterly. "Kathleen may send you to -prison if she will. Alpine and I can go abroad. The affair will soon -blow over, and people will forget it by the time we come home from -Europe." - -He dropped his _insouciance_, and descended to pleading, but it was of -no avail. He saw a black fate lowering over him from which there seemed -no escape. - -In the darkest moment a clever idea came to him. - -"If I could only escape to Europe, the whole affair would be over, for -I would never come back; but, alas! I have not the means to pay my -passage across the ocean," he said, despondently. - -Mrs. Carew caught eagerly at the offered bait. - -"If you _will_ go and never return, I will furnish you the means," she -said. - -"I swear it," he replied, and left the house presently, the money in -his pocket, an evil, sneering smile on his thin lips. - -Meanwhile, Jones had said to Miss Belmont: - -"Mr. Chainey has been waiting in the drawing-room some time to see -you." - -"You should have told me sooner," she exclaimed, flashing at the -prospect of seeing Ralph. - -"I did not like to interrupt you, miss," he replied, respectfully, but -Alpine did not wait to hear his apology; she hurriedly sought the man -she loved. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVI. - -"I HAVE BETRAYED MYSELF. YOU KNOW MY HEART NOW." - - - It matters not its history; love has wings - Like lightning, swift and fatal, and it springs - Like a wild flower, where it is least expected, - Existing whether cherished or rejected. - L. E. L. - - -Ralph had been waiting many minutes for Miss Belmont, but he had -forgotten the lapse of time in his agitation over the meeting with -Kathleen, and he rose with almost a start to meet the beautiful blonde, -who hurried to him with both hands extended in rapturous greeting. - -"So glad," she murmured, with the loveliest upward glance, that was -quite lost on Ralph, for he did not notice it, but exclaimed: - -"I had quite a surprise coming in just now. I met Miss Carew. So she -has repented and come home?" - -"Yes, and no--it was only a formal call. Kathleen is so proud she will -not come back to us, even for the short time before her marriage," -answered Alpine. - -She sighed, and he echoed it; but it was of Kathleen he was -thinking--bonny Kathleen. Alpine guessed it, and bit her lips, then -plunged into an animated account of Uncle Ben Carew, making him appear -in the most ridiculous light. - -"He was an impostor, of course. Mamma is quite sure that my step-father -never had a brother," she said. - -"But Kathleen believed in him?" he asked. - -"Yes. Was it not strange she should let herself be deceived by such a -designing schemer? She carried him off as her guest at Mrs. Stone's." - -He was silent, wondering if Kathleen had made a mistake, and suddenly -Alpine said, sweetly: - -"Now please put Kathleen out of your mind and think of no one but me -while you are here. Am I not your friend, and haven't I some claim on -you?" - -Something in her tone startled him. He glanced hurriedly into her face -and read as in a book all her love and longing. Her eyes met his and -held them as if fascinated. While he gazed she started forward and -caught his hand in hers, murmuring, hysterically: - -"I have betrayed myself. You know my heart now. Oh, Ralph! forgive me -that I could not hide my love for you! Forgive me, and try to love me a -little in return." - -"Good heavens!" cried the young man, aghast, withdrawing his hand -hurriedly from her grasp and looking at her in consternation. - -But Alpine, already excited and unnerved by the scene with her brother, -could not draw back now, having betrayed her secret. She cried out, -pleadingly: - -"Do not turn from me so angrily. Is it a crime to love you--to wish for -your love?" - -She recalled him to the fact that he was acting rudely, that he ought -not to let this unhappy girl see the disgust with which she had -inspired him by her avowal of love. - -It was most embarrassing. He longed to get away, for he did not know -what to say. He was utterly abashed, and obeying a sudden impulse, -sprung to his feet and turned to the door. - -"Miss Belmont, I--I hope you will--excuse me, but I have--have just -remembered something--er--er--important--a rehearsal. Will you pardon -my haste? Good-bye," he stammered, like a bashful school-boy, and -instantly fled the scene, leaving Alpine to fling herself upon a sofa -in a burst of hysterical tears. - -"Oh, why did I betray my bitter secret! I was mad--mad! and now I have -driven him from my side forever by my imprudence!" she sobbed in the -wildest _abandon_. - -As she lay there sobbing, her hatred and jealousy of her beautiful -step-sister grew stronger than ever. It was for love of Kathleen that -Ralph Chainey had turned from her when she had humbled herself to him -and sued for his love. - -Some touching verses rang in sad melody through her brain. - - "Ah, dearest, had some happier chance, - The force of fateful circumstance, - Some burning thrill of love divine, - But touched your heart and made you mine, - How had my pulses gladly beat - With love's deep rapture wildly sweet; - How had my life so crowned put forth - Life's proudest strength to prove its worth - For love of you! - - "But cruel fate that shapes our ends, - Dark doom that poet love attends-- - The fate unhappy Petrarch sung - In fair Italia's burning tongue. - Such fate as, reckless, tears apart - The tendrils of the breaking heart - From every prop where it would twine, - Such cruel fate, alas! is mine - For love of you! - - "So when my grave is green to see, - You will not let them say of me: - Her talent was a wasted power, - Her life has failed of fruit and flower; - For you will know the hopeless pain, - That palsied heart and hand and brain-- - Will know that life has failed alone - Because a blight was on it thrown - For love of you!" - -She dashed the tears from her eyes and sat up, the picture of shame and -despair. - -"I could have been a better woman if he had been kind to me--if he -would but have promised to try to love me!" she muttered, angrily. "But -how fast he hurried away, as if he despised me. How I wish I could hate -him in return--hate him as I hate his dark-eyed love! It is for _her_ -he scorns me. Oh, God! for vengeance on them both!" - - - - -CHAPTER XLVII. - -A TERRIBLE CRIME. - - - "Deep and dark the flowing river, - Close to the feet like a serpent glides; - Many a secret lost forever - The deep and beautiful water hides!" - - -Our Kathleen did not share the wakefulness of her relative. - -On the contrary, a strange drowsiness stole over her as soon as she -entered the shabby little bedroom to which Mrs. Franklyn conducted her -with such alacrity. - -"Get a good rest, that's a dear! and in the morning you shall see them -all," she said, wheedlingly; and giving Kathleen a cold little kiss on -the cheek, she retreated, leaving her guest alone. - -Kathleen flung off her clothes, shivering in the fireless room, slipped -into her gown, and crept between the sheets, murmuring over her prayers -in the bed because it was too cold outside. Then, with the tears still -wet on her lashes, she fell into a heavy slumber. - -Presently the door opened again noiselessly, and the old woman's head -was thrust inside the room. She gave a low grunt of satisfaction as she -heard the deep breathing of Kathleen, and closed the door. - -Silence again in the old house; but if any one had been listening they -would have heard outside, in the chilly night, the stamp of the horses -that had brought the uncle and niece to this place. The cab was waiting -yet. Why, and for whom? - -The night was intensely dark, it was freezing cold, and the driver did -not have to wait long. - -The door opened softly in a little while, and a man and a woman stole -out bearing between them a figure wrapped up in a long cloak. They -pushed their dead or living burden, whichever it was, into the cab, -entered themselves, and were driven a long distance, until the low -murmur of a river rushing between its banks was distinctly heard. At a -quiet, unfrequented spot they came to a stop; the two people got out -again, and carried their burden to the river-bank; then there was a -thud, a splash, and then they turned away, their arms empty of the load -they had brought. In the silence and darkness of the wintry night a -terrible crime had been committed. - -Alas! poor Kathleen, poor orphan-girl, the sport of a most malignant -fate! Heaven help thee now, drifting upon the dark, mysterious waves of -the gloomy river, beneath the pall of the ink-black heavens, unlighted -by either moon or star! - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile, the old man, locked into his room like a rat in a trap, was -bending all his feeble efforts toward releasing himself. - -He feared to make an outcry, for he comprehended instinctively that -treachery lurked in the air of the old house, with its forbidding -mistress--treachery and danger to himself and helpless Kathleen. - -He sunk back helplessly upon the bed, at first shaken and unnerved by -his terrible suspicions. Sweeping his hand across his brow, he muttered: - -"My door was locked on the outside by design to bar me out from my -child--my bonny Kathleen. What have they done to her? or what are they -going to do?" - -He crept cautiously to the window and pushed up the sash. Horrors! it -was barred across with iron as closely as a prison; and again he fell -to raving of treachery and danger. - -"That woman was not Mrs. Franklyn. I did not believe at first that it -could be poor Zaidee's mother. She could not have changed so much in -seventeen years, I knew; yet I could not speak out then, lest I betray -myself. I thought I would wait for the developments of to-morrow. Alas! -it was a fatal resolve. We were decoyed here by the trick of some -deadly enemy, and every moment that I remain locked up here Kathleen is -in the most deadly peril. God in Heaven help me to escape, that I may -succor my poor child!" - -Desperate with fears for Kathleen, he threw himself against the door -and shook it with all his might. The sounds rang through the house, but -no one came to release him. He shrieked aloud, but no voice replied to -his frantic calls. - -In his misery an awful suspicion had come to him. - -He remembered Kathleen's threat to Ivan Belmont, that she would send -him to prison unless she received the value of her stolen diamonds. - -What if that villain had laid a deadly trap to decoy Kathleen to this -place and murder her to save himself the payment of that pitiful sum! -This affair looked like it. Perhaps she was already murdered--his -beautiful Kathleen, that he loved so dearly, and whom he had brought -here in his mistaken eagerness to get her away from Boston. - -Searching frantically about, he perceived with joy an old rusty poker -beneath the iron fender of the fire-place. He seized it, and with the -strength of a madman wrenched the lock from the door. It flew open. He -was free. - -Then ensued the most piteous search the world ever knew--the old man's -frantic search for missing Kathleen. - -It was all in vain. The old house was empty, the girl was gone, the old -woman was gone, and the night-wind, as it sighed around the gables of -the lonely old house, did not whisper to him of the awful secret the -river hid. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVIII. - -"KATHLEEN HAS MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED." - - - 'Tis strange to think if we could fling aside - The mask and mantle that love wears from pride, - How much would be we now so little guess, - Deep in each heart's undreamed, unsought recess. - L. E. L. - - -Ralph Chainey waited in cruel suspense for an answer to the appealing -letter he had sent to Kathleen. - -But long days passed and no letter came from his heart's love. Then he -saw the announcement in a morning paper that she had gone away with her -uncle to visit her Southern relatives. - -"Cruel girl! she has gone without a word or sign. She hates me indeed, -and will never forgive my boyhood's folly," he groaned, despairingly. - -The first shock of pain and disappointment was so great that he could -scarcely bear it. He thought vaguely of suicide, wondered which would -be the easier way out of life--the dagger, the bullet, poison, or the -river. Shakespeare's words came to him: - - "Oh, that the Everlasting had not fixed - His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! Oh, God! Oh, God! - How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable - Seem to me all the uses of this world." - -He got up suddenly and shook himself with fierce self-scorn. - -"God forgive me for these wild thoughts!" he cried. "No, I can not be -such a coward! He is a coward who takes his own life because he can not -bear its ills. I must remember that I have a dear little mother to live -for, even though the hope of love and happiness be gone forever." - -But life was cruel. He longed to get away somewhere--far away from the -place where everything breathed of _her_, his cruel, beautiful love, -and he decided that as soon as he secured his divorce he would go -abroad and seek forgetfulness in constant travel. - -Meanwhile, a sorrowful little note came to him from Alpine, praying him -to forget her folly, or at least to keep it secret. - - "I should die of shame if I believed any one knew but you," she wrote. - "But you are so good and great, you can forgive me. Perhaps things - like that have happened to you before. I should not wonder. Then do - not exclude me from your friendship, I pray you. Forget that one mad - moment, and think kindly of me as you did before. - - "Your true friend, - - "ALPINE." - -With the letter was a little perfumed sheet on which were written some -sweet, sad verses that touched his heart: - - "THE FAREWELL. - - "Ah, yes! I can bid you farewell and forever, - No more will I think thy affection to claim, - And hope for thy heart's love again will I never, - Since now I have found that it lives but in name. - - "That dream of my life I too fondly have cherished, - Till now I have bitterly wept o'er my woe; - And hope from my bosom has withered and perished - When made the cold blight of desertion to know. - - "My way is all dark as it spreads out before me, - And gloomy and sad I must wander alone; - Fain wishing for some fatal blast to sweep o'er me - To still my heart's beating and silence its moan. - - "But far as I wander the wide world will dream not - The wounds in my heart that I strive to conceal; - And those who best know me and love me will dream not - The deep crushing sorrow alone that I feel. - - "I can not forget thee; where'er I shall wander - Thy image as bright shall abide with me yet; - And though I may roam like the far-speeding condor, - And though thou hast bid me, I can not forget. - - "Go thou and be happy; my last, fondest blessing - Shall be upon him that I once loved so well; - And though my heart break at the thought so distressing, - Oh go and be happy! I bid thee farewell." - -Ralph read the verses penned in Alpine's hand with deep emotion, but it -was not of _her_, it was of another he thought. The sweet, sorrowful -strain seemed to express his feelings toward his lost Kathleen. - -"Lost to me forever!" he sighed, bitterly. "Teddy Darrell, the boyish -flirt, who roves from one beauty to another, like a butterfly from -flower to flower, will win and wear the peerless rose, beautiful -Kathleen. He is not worthy of her, for he has frittered his heart away -in a score of passions, while mine has aye been true to her since first -we met." - -He could not help hating the fortunate Teddy because he had won -Kathleen; and Teddy, who was a versatile youth, envied him, in his -turn, his genius and his fame, and was fired with the desire of -becoming a great actor. He was always dabbling at some new fad; but -Mrs. Stone, who understood him thoroughly, declared that Teddy would -never accomplish anything great unless he should lose his fortune and -have to work for his living. - -It was lonesome for Teddy the first few days after Kathleen went away, -and he was fain to console himself with some of his old sweethearts. -While pursuing this diversion with the usual alacrity of a young -man whose sweetheart is away, he met a new girl who proved "quite a -bonanza," as he confided to Mrs. Stone. - -"Saw her at Maude Sylvester's. By the way, Maude's novel, 'A Blinding -Passion,' is having quite a success, don't you know? Well, as I was -saying, this girl, Mittie Poindexter, is a real daisy, and suits me -down to the ground--talks about going on the stage." - -"Kathleen would be jealous if she could hear how you run on!" his -cousin exclaimed, warningly. - -"Not a bit!" he replied, his frank brow clouding with vexation. "To -tell you the truth, Carrie, I don't believe she loves me in the least; -it's only gratitude that made her promise to be mine. Only think, now, -Carrie: she has been gone three days, and not one line to me, although -I've written _her_ two letters a day. Why, don't you know, that week I -went to New York I began a letter to her as soon as the train started, -and, by Jove! I mailed it at the first station. I'm ashamed to think of -all the spoony letters I wrote that girl in one week, and--_only one -little note in return for all!_" - -Mrs. Stone could not help laughing at his half-injured air. - -"Well, never mind. You have a special talent for letter-writing, you -know, and Kathleen detests writing; she told me so. That accounts for -her failure to write oftener," she began, soothingly; but just then the -door-bell rang a resounding peal, and she started up in dismay. - -"What a deafening ring! Maybe that's the postman now. No, it is too -early for _him_. What is it, Mary? Oh, a telegram! Open it, please, -Teddy. Those things always startle us women folks so." - -His handsome face paled to an ashen hue, and his lips trembled as he -read. - -It was a telegram from Richmond, and contained these startling words: - - "Ask Mr. Darrell to join me here at once, if possible. Kathleen has - mysteriously disappeared under circumstances that hint of foul play. - - "BENJAMIN CAREW." - -"Kathleen gone! Oh, Heaven! my little darling!" groaned the young man, -forgetting all about his new fancy in real grief and dismay. - -Mrs. Stone burst into tears, and for a few minutes one could not -comfort the other. - -But women are more quick-witted than men, and Mrs. Stone, who knew -nothing about Ivan Belmont and the diamonds, quickly leaped to a -conclusion. - -"Those asylum people--the fools!--have captured her again, and carried -her off to their old prison!" she exclaimed, brightening and wiping -away her tears. "Cheer up, Teddy. No harm can happen your little -sweetheart, except another detention at the lunatic asylum, and you and -her uncle can soon have her out when you find out exactly where the -place is situated." - -Her idea was so plausible that Teddy brightened up under its influence -and prepared to take leave. - -"I must go on the first train," he said, as he kissed his cousin -good-bye after the affectionate way he affected with all his female -relatives who had the slightest claim to good looks. - -The news spread rapidly, and Helen Fox, arriving the next day from -Europe, was shocked at the calamity that had overtaken her friend. The -news that Kathleen lived had thrilled her with joy, and hastened her -return from abroad. - -That was not all the news that shocked her, for she soon became -acquainted with Ralph Chainey's pathetic story. - -Helen was a frank, far-seeing girl, but she could not understand the -strange turn matters had taken during her absence. The next day after -her return she told her brother George to bring Ralph Chainey home to -luncheon. - -"I have been dying to see you ever since I got back," she said to him, -frankly, her blue eyes beaming with the kindness of her heart. "Now -tell me _everything_!" - -Luncheon was over, and they were alone in the cozy library together. -Helen looked sympathetically at the unhappy young man, remembering -how, such a little time ago, she had plotted in her loving fashion to -bring about a match between him and her bonny Kathleen. He comprehended -her sympathy, and opened his full heart to her with all its pain and -anguish. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIX. - -THE FRANKLYNS AT LAST! - - - I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled - Above the green elms that a cottage was near - And I said, "If there's peace to be found in the world, - A heart that was humble might hope for it here." - THOMAS MOORE. - - -River Cottage was one of the prettiest spots on the banks of the James, -and so far away from any other habitation that it was lonely to the -last degree; yet embowered in trees and vines and flowers, and lulled -by the murmuring voice of the majestic river, its inhabitants were -so happy and content that they did not pine for the world that at a -little distance surged busily around them. The family consisted of but -two--Mrs. Franklyn, a lovely old woman somewhat past fifty, and her -grandson, a youth of twenty-three years. Here at River Cottage they -lived quietly together on a modest competency, the woman with her sad -face and dreamy eyes absorbed altogether in dreams of her past and in -tender care for Chester, the blue-eyed boy under whose crown of yellow -curls throbbed the restless brain of a genius that was beginning to -express itself in dainty bits of verse--the first callow flights of -ambition. - -The boy was restless. Genius was beginning to burn. Sometimes he -walked the floor for hours while the midnight oil burned on his study -table. At times he loved to walk on the banks of the river, setting -his beautiful thoughts to the music of its melodious rhythm. On that -dark, cold night Chester had wandered from the cottage porch down to -the river's edge, and so he caught with startled ears the sound of that -sullen splash into the waves--caught the sound, and scarce a minute -later saw, with keen eyes strained into the gloom, a body floating in -the river past the cottage. - -"A suicide!" he muttered, in a voice of horror. - -The next minute he threw off his coat and shoes and plunged into the -stream. - -It was a brave deed, and sometimes in the anguished months that came -afterward Chester wondered if he would have risked so much could he -but have known all that was to follow on this night--the full draught -of life's chalice filled to the brim with love and pain that he was -to quaff. But no presentiment of the future came to him now as he -struggled in the almost freezing waves until he caught and held the -form drifting rapidly from him, and by almost superhuman efforts drew -it with him to the shore. - -Mrs. Franklyn always dwelt with loving pride on that night when the -cottage door was pushed open and her brave boy staggered in with his -unconscious burden, both of them dripping water upon her pretty ingrain -carpet, and Chester faltered weakly: - -"I--I have saved--some one--from the river!" Then he fell upon the -floor, too exhausted to utter another word. - -Mrs. Franklyn did not look at the stranger at first. She hastened -to revive Chester by pouring some wine between his pale lips and -chattering teeth. As soon as he could he sat up, saying, anxiously: - -"There, grandma! I'm all right. See about the woman, please." - -And then they found that the woman he had rescued was a young girl--the -most beautiful golden-haired young creature they had ever beheld. When -they had used some little effort at restoring her to consciousness, she -opened on their faces a pair of large, dark, wondering eyes, at whose -gaze Chester Franklyn's romantic heart leaped up in a sort of ecstasy. -He stooped down, almost unconsciously, and pressed his lips to her icy -little hand, carried out of himself by some strange, delicious emotion -he could not resist. - -Tears started to Mrs. Franklyn's eyes as she busied herself about the -patient, who did not answer one word when she spoke to her, but lay -watching her face with dazed, uncomprehending eyes. The good lady sent -Chester up to his room to put on dry garments, and brought some of her -own for the strange young girl thrown upon her care. - -She supposed that this was an attempted suicide, and wondered -what terrible sorrow had driven this beautiful young girl to -self-destruction. - -She ventured to ask the patient the question, but Kathleen seemed dazed -as yet, and did not comprehend anything very clearly. She answered to -every question that was asked her a feeble: "I don't know." - -"I must wait until she gets better," was her thought; and she put -Kathleen to bed, carefully spreading out her long gold curls over the -pillow to dry. Soon the girl fell asleep, and then Mrs. Franklyn turned -down the lamp and slipped away to ask Chester all about it. - -He could tell her nothing but that he had heard the dull thud of her -body striking the water, and that he jumped into the river to save her. -He believed it was a suicide, as he had heard no sound or cry. - -"Some poor girl, perhaps, who can not make an honest living and has -sought death in her despair," he said, and the gentle lady agreed with -him. - -"We will keep her here until she gets well and strong, and then we will -see how we can help her out of her trouble," she added, kindly. - -"Yes, we will take care of her," cried Chester Franklyn, eagerly. "It -may be she has some deadly enemies from whom she sought to escape in -that terrible fashion. We will say nothing of her being here until she -herself tells us what to do." - -When the morrow dawned Kathleen was ill with a low fever, and so it -chanced that while her friends were frantic with anxiety over her fate, -Kathleen lay passive in the river cottage, carefully watched by Mrs. -Franklyn, who wondered much over her mysterious guest. - -"So young and beautiful; and she can not be a poor girl, for her -clothing is of the finest quality," Mrs. Franklyn said to her grandson. -"Perhaps there are people who are anxious over her fate. Do you think -we ought to let it be known through the papers?" she added. - -"No, not yet. Let us wait till she gets well and tells us what to do," -he replied. - -Chester Franklyn had fallen in love at first sight with the beautiful -creature whose life he had saved. He was afraid that some one would -take her away from him if he let her presence be known. - -"Let me have my chance first," he said to himself, with all the selfish -ardor of a young lover. - -It seemed strange that Kathleen lay passive so long after the fever -left her, without seeming to take any interest in anything. They asked -her her name; they asked her where her home was, and how she came to be -in the river. To everything she answered dreamily: - -"I do not know." - -They did not know that before Kathleen had been thrown into the river -she had swallowed with her food a potent drug intended to produce -death. It was entirely owing to the small quantity of food she had -taken that she survived at all, but the strange drug had partially -paralyzed her faculties. Memory was dormant, or returned in such faint -gleams that it threw no light on her present state. - -She knew that two beautiful, kindly faces--a woman's old but strangely -lovely, and a young man's with deep blue eyes and curls of gold--bent -daily over her pillow. She watched them eagerly, she smiled at them -faintly and sweetly, but so numb were her reasoning faculties that she -did not wonder at their presence there. She was utterly quiescent. - -Mrs. Franklyn became alarmed, fearing the girl was an idiot, but -Chester was indignant at the very idea. - -"She has had some shock; that is it," he said. "Be patient, grandma. -She will come to herself." - -It was strange how his heart went out to the girl, who lay so silently -on the pillow all day, looking up at him with dark, inscrutable eyes, -like an infant's in their wondering expression. - -In a week she seemed stronger. She could sit up in an easy-chair. She -even talked a little, but it was just about things that she saw in the -room--books, pictures, flowers. She would say, softly: - -"How sweet! How pretty!" - -At last she was strong enough to walk about the room. - -"Grandma, I think she would like it better in the parlor," said -Chester, one day. He took her hand and led her into a pretty, cozy -apartment. - - - - -CHAPTER L. - -"SHE WAS MY MOTHER." - - - "Sweet face, sweet eyes, and gleaming - Sun-gifted, mingling hair; - Lips like two rosebuds dreaming - In June's fruit-scented air." - - -Kathleen sat down in front of a bright coal fire, and leaned her curly -head back against the easy-chair. In doing so, her upraised eyes -encountered over the mantel the picture of a young girl done in water -colors. It was a life-size head and bust, and represented a beautiful -young creature with rosy cheeks, pouting lips, dark-blue eyes, and -curly golden hair. The expression of the face was piquant and spirited, -and greatly resembled Kathleen's own. - -Kathleen gazed with startled eyes at this beautiful picture, and -gasped, faintly: - -"Who is it?" - -She was alone with Chester, and as he looked up she saw a shadow of -pain cloud his dark-blue eyes. - -Drawing his chair close to hers, he half-whispered: - -"She was my cousin. She has been dead many years." - -"Her name?" exclaimed Kathleen, excitedly, and he lifted a warning hand. - -"Not so loud. Grandma might hear," he said; then, answering the puzzled -look in her eyes, he added, softly: - -"It was grandma's youngest child--her only daughter, and she met such a -tragic fate that it nearly broke her mother's heart. Even now she can -not bear to talk of her. We never speak her name, because it makes our -hearts ache." - -"It was Zaidee--Zaidee Franklyn," murmured the girl. - -"How did you know?" in astonishment. - -"No matter. Tell me all about her," answered Kathleen, whose memory had -returned to her as by a flash of lightning at sight of that lovely face. - -"There is little to tell," he replied. "My poor cousin's story is short -and tragic, like her life. My grandmother had but two children, a son -and a daughter. The son, my father, died years ago, but Zaidee, his -petted young sister, died years before--died, alas! by her own hand." - -She shivered like one in a chill, and he said: - -"Was it not horrible? She was so young, so lovely, and she had -everything, it seemed, to make her happy. But this is her story: When -she was barely sixteen, a rich man from Boston married her and took -her away from her simple home to his grand, rich one. She loved her -handsome husband very dearly, and seemed to be wildly happy. Her people -did not hear from her often, but she sent this picture and many gifts -to her mother. In a year she had a little daughter, but she did not -invite grandma to go and see the child. Vincent Carew was rich and -great, and very proud, so the Franklyns believed that he was trying to -break his young wife off entirely from her past. The Franklyns were -proud, too, in their way. They resented it; and so the communication -between the two families almost ceased, until, suddenly, like a clap of -thunder, came the news that the young wife had committed suicide!" - -"Why?" she gasped. - -"We do not know. It was a profound mystery even to her husband. But -it broke my grandfather's heart. He died in less than a week after -the news came. Grandma came, then, to live with us at River Cottage. -My mother died in a few years after, then my father. We two--grandma -and I--are the last of the family unless my cousin, Kathleen Carew, -Zaidee's child, is yet living. That we do not know. We wrote several -times. No answer came, and we gave up the hope of ever knowing the -daughter of the proud Vincent Carew." - -"And she has never written to you?" asked the girl, in wonder. - -"Never," he replied. - -"There must be some mistake," she faltered. - -"No, there is no mistake; but I fancy the proud Vincent Carew is at the -bottom of it all. He would not care for his child to know her humble -relatives on her mother's side. Why, he was governor of his state -eight years, and was in Congress also. The Franklyns were plain simple -people; my grandfather and my father were mechanics, although nobler -hearts never beat in human breasts, and they were never rich. It is -from the life-insurance money they left us that we are enabled to live -in comparative comfort now." - -Her eager, interested eyes made him go on rather diffidently: - -"As for me, I have no taste that way. My desire is for a literary life. -I have written some trifles that the critics praised." - -"Your name?" the girl asked, curiously, gazing with interest at his -handsome face. - -"Chester Franklyn," he replied. - -"Would you like to meet your unknown cousin--the daughter of the proud -Vincent Carew?" she pursued. - -His face grew grave. - -"I do not know how to answer you," he replied. "She would not care for -us. Perhaps her father has never told her about the Franklyns." - -She looked at him with a strange expression, and held out to him her -little white hand. - -"I am your cousin--I am Kathleen Carew!" she said to him; and, while -he stared in astonishment, she pointed at the picture of the beautiful -girl. - -"She was my mother!" she said. - - - - -CHAPTER LI. - -A COUSIN FOR A LOVER. - - - Ah! love was never yet without - The pang, the agony, the doubt - Which rends my heart with ceaseless sigh, - While day and night roll darkling by. - BYRON. - - -What a day that was! - -Kathleen seemed suddenly to grow well and strong at the wonderful -discovery that it was her own cousin who had saved her life, and that -the sweet, lovely woman who had cared for her so kindly was her own -dear grandmother. - -They had volumes to tell each other; and how Mrs. Franklyn was shocked -when she heard that a decoy letter, pretending to be from herself, had -at last brought Kathleen to Richmond. - -She wept bitterly at the thought that her precious granddaughter had so -nearly lost her life through this mysterious treachery. - -"My dear, I never wrote you a line, nor did I ever hear from you. -I thought you were too proud to care about us; so I let you alone, -although it nearly broke my poor heart!" - -She gazed with untiring love at the beautiful face, trying to trace in -it every faint resemblance to her dead daughter. - -"You are more like your father than your mother," she said, with vague -disappointment. "Your eyes, your features are his; but there is an -expression like Zaidee's, and your hair is gold like hers was, only a -richer, deeper shade. You are more beautiful even than Zaidee was," she -continued, fondly, as she stroked the bronze-gold curls. - -Chester had little to say. He looked and listened eagerly, his heart -thrilling at the thought that Kathleen was his cousin, and in a measure -belonged to them. - -"For her father has disinherited her; her step-mother cast her off. We -are her nearest and dearest, and she will stay with us and share our -lot," he said within himself. - -Kathleen, while confiding very freely in them, had held back with a -young girl's shyness the story of her love affair and her engagement -of marriage. She did not suppose they would care for _that_, and she -was so anxious to know what had befallen her uncle that she dwelt -constantly on that subject. - -"Perhaps they murdered him, too," she sobbed. "Oh, cousin! will you not -telegraph at once to my friends in Boston, and let them know where I -am? Perhaps in that way I may get news of him sooner. And they will be -so uneasy over my fate." - -"They?" the young man repeated, with his curious eyes upon her face. - -"Mrs. Stone, my friend, and--Mr. Darrell--the man I am to marry," -explained Kathleen, with a blush. Her eyes had dropped, so she did not -see the ashen pallor that suddenly overspread Chester Franklyn's face. -"You will telegraph at once, will you not, cousin?" she repeated, and -hastily scribbled down the addresses upon a card. - -"I will go at once," he answered, taking the slip of paper and leaving -the room. But a terrible temptation had assailed him. "Why not wait a -little before I send the telegrams!" he thought. "I can not give her -up just yet to the proud, rich man she is going to marry. If she stays -with us a little longer, I may, perhaps, win beautiful Kathleen from -him. It ought to be so. Grandma and I ought to have Zaidee's child for -our own because we have been cheated of her sweetness all our lives. -I--will--not--send the telegrams just yet. She will never know." - -He had often read the saying that "all is fair in love and war," and it -seemed to him that there could be nothing unfair in this. But yet his -heart smote him when he went back and met the eager light in the dark -eyes he loved so well. - -"They will be so much relieved when they know that I am safe and well," -she exclaimed. "And as soon as they can they will come for me." - -"You are in a great hurry to leave us!" Chester cried, reproachfully. - -"No, indeed, for I love you both dearly," the girl replied, not -dreaming how his heart leaped at the words. "But I am so anxious over -the fate of my uncle. Only think, cousin, I do not know if he is dead -or alive. Perhaps they drowned him, too;" and her eyes filled with -tears. - -"Try and bear the suspense as well as you can. I will try to amuse -you," and he kept his word as far as lay in his power. He read to her, -sung to her, played games, talked, and Kathleen would have really -enjoyed his company only for the cruel suspense of her waiting. - -"It is strange they do not come. It almost seems as if they did not -care for me," she said, wistfully, on the third day. - -"They will come to-morrow. Do not think about them now. I want to sing -you this sweet little song," he said, going over to the piano and -seating himself. - -He had found out that the best way to amuse or interest Kathleen was to -read or sing to her while she lay quietly on the sofa, her arms over -her head, her dark, curly lashes drooping over her sad, dreamy eyes. -Many a time when he was not looking, the burning tears ran down her -cheeks as she thought of Ralph, her dear, lost lover, who was brought -so vividly to mind by Chester's poetry and songs. - -So she lay very still now while Chester, who really played and sung -very well, poured out in the sweet love-song the passion that filled -his heart. - - "When nightly my wild harp I bring - To wake all its music for thee, - So sweet looks that face while I sing, - To reason no longer I'm free. - I forget thou art queen of the land, - 'Tis thy beauty alone that I see! - And trembling at touch of thy hand, - All else is forgotten by me. - - "The spell is upon me asleep, - In the region of dreams thou art mine-- - I wake, but, ah! 'tis to weep, - And the hope of my slumbers resign. - Ah, hadst thou been less than thou art, - Or I more deserving of thee, - Thou mightst have been queen of my heart, - Thou mightst have been all things to me." - -Tears came to the singer's eyes and tears to the listener's, the words -were so wildly sad. Chester thought of _her_, she of Ralph, so strange -are love's entanglements. - -"Go on," she murmured, unwilling that he should turn and see the -burning tear-drops in her eyes, so Chester selected another song: - - I've something to ask you to-night, Kathleen, - A secret I fain would know, - Oh, why do you seem so strange, Kathleen, - And why do you shun me so? - Come out on the porch in the starlight, sweet, - And tell me my joy or woe-- - Your coldness is breaking my heart, Kathleen, - For, darling, I love you so! - - You were never in earnest--were those your words? - Was that what you meant to say? - Your tones were so strangely low, Kathleen, - Yet I fancied I heard you say: - "I never loved you." Was that your voice, - Or the south wind's dreamy sigh? - Kathleen, Kathleen, you are dreaming, love, - Or perhaps it is only I! - - Go and forget you? Kathleen, Kathleen, - Your light words were spoken in vain, - The revel was wild, and the wine flowed red, - But it never drowned his pain, - Till under the sod in the autumn days - He pillowed his dreamless head, - With "Twenty" carved on the marble slab - For he was but a boy, _she_ said. - - And Kathleen goes on her lightsome way, - And smiles at his simple heart, - And dazzles and lures as she dazzled him - With the coquette's Circean art, - While under the daisy-dimpled turf, - A-sleeping light and low, - Heart-broken molder the lips that sighed - Kathleen, I love you so! - -He turned around on the piano-stool and looked at her. She was sitting -upright, her dark eyes wide and startled. - -"Forgive me," he said, gently. "The name was Irene, but I put in yours -because it rhymed so well." - -"But why do you choose such sad songs?" she said. "They make my heart -ache." - -"Because mine aches already," he answered, impulsively; and, seating -himself by her side, he continued, passionately: "Darling Kathleen, I -love you, and, unless you will give me your love in return, I shall die -of heartbreak, like that poor lad in the song." - -She remained perfectly silent a moment, then answered, rebukingly: - -"But you are my cousin." - -"Cousins often marry," he replied, eagerly. - -"But I can not marry you, Chester; I am engaged to marry a young man in -Boston. Besides, I don't love you," she replied. - -"Do you love _him_?" - -"Of--course," she replied; but her voice faltered as she thought how -impossible it was for her to love Teddy, because of that other passion -in her heart. - -"Oh, Chester, please let me alone!" she cried, with sudden petulance. -"You have not known me two weeks, and I don't want your love! I do not -want anybody's love!" - -Suddenly she burst into hysterical tears. - - - - -CHAPTER LII. - -THE SEARCH FOR KATHLEEN. - - - Oh! when shall the grave hide forever my sorrow? - Oh! when shall the soul wing her flight from this clay? - The present is hell, and the coming to-morrow - But brings with new torture the curse of to-day. - BYRON. - - -On the night when Kathleen was so strangely rescued from the river a -man and woman left Richmond by a midnight train for New York. - -They were Ivan Belmont and Fedora, the woman who had played such a -cruel part in the life of Ralph Chainey. - -Whatever their mission in Richmond, it could not have been an honest -one, since they were leaving the city in partial disguise--Ivan with a -luxuriant blonde beard, and his companion with a curly brown wig over -her flaxen hair, and a dotted veil drawn over her bold, handsome face. - -They traveled second class, and seemed to shun observation, conversing -with each other in low whispers. - -"It was a very ugly thing for us that the old man got away," he -observed. - -She shrugged her shoulders, and replied: - -"Oh, pshaw! I don't think it matters. He can never catch up with us. -Who would suspect you of being the old negro hack-driver, or me of -being that old witch, Grandmother Franklyn? Ha! ha!" - -"True!" he replied; and echoed her laugh of security, forgetting that -"he laughs best who laughs last." - -They thought that Uncle Ben Carew, the old, downcast farmer, was a -simple old fool; but they were doomed to find themselves mistaken. -He had his wits about him, as he proved afterward; for as soon as he -found that the old house was deserted, he made his way from the gloomy -neighborhood into the busiest portion of the city. Within an hour the -police were notified of what had occurred, and were organized to search -for the missing girl. - -They visited the old house, and some one who knew all about it -declared that the place had not been tenanted for a year. The owners -had died, and the property had fallen to their daughter, who was an -actress somewhere, and had never come to claim her inheritance. The -conspirators, whoever they were, had probably taken unlawful possession -of the place just long enough to carry out their evil purposes, and -then fled from the scene. - -The weary night passed away, but there was no sign of the missing girl, -and at the police headquarters the old man was advised to secure the -aid of a detective in the search for Kathleen. - -When he agreed to take their advice, and inquired who was the best -man for the purpose, they all vied with each other in recommending -handsome, dashing Jack Wren, the finest detective in the whole South. - -Uncle Ben, who up in Boston had pretended to be such a poor man, had a -fat wallet in his breast pocket. He sent for Jack Wren, and, giving him -a princely retainer, placed the case in his hands. - -"Now, tell me everything bearing on the case," said the detective. - -Uncle Ben did so, and when dashing Jack heard the story of Ivan Belmont -and the diamonds, he started up excitedly. - -"That's your man!" he exclaimed. "Poor little Miss Carew! things -look dark for her. That miscreant has doubtless made way with his -step-sister, rather than restore the diamonds or their value." - -Uncle Ben fell back, white and trembling. - -"Kathleen murdered! Oh, God! do not hint at anything so horrible!" he -gasped. "You must search for her everywhere. It may be he has only made -her a prisoner." - - - - -CHAPTER LIII. - -"OH, SIR, HAVE PITY ON ME!" PRAYED DAISY LYNN. - - - Misery! we have known each other - Like a sister and a brother, - Dwelling in the same lone home - Many years . . . . . . . . - SHELLEY. - - -It seemed almost as if there was a fate in it that poor Daisy Lynn, -whose life-path had so strangely crossed Kathleen's, should again -become a figure on the scene of her destiny. - -Jack Wren having been furnished by Uncle Ben with a photograph of -Kathleen, suddenly chanced upon a face that made him think he had found -the missing girl. - -It was a face at the window of a little cottage in the suburbs of -the city--a beautiful face, dark-eyed, golden-haired, with piquant -features, so close a copy of Kathleen's that the detective was -startled. He consulted the photograph closely, and it seemed to him -that the description answered in every particular. So he congratulated -himself that he had been mistaken in his theory that Kathleen was dead. - -"But why did they leave her alive, and what is she doing here?" he -asked himself in wonder. - -He made some cautious inquiries among the neighbors, and he found that -the beautiful young girl was a governess in the family of a young -lawyer who occupied the cottage. His wife was an invalid, and had -employed the young girl to fill the position of nursery governess to -her five tow-headed boys, "the worst limbs in the whole neighborhood," -averred the gossiping neighbors. - -The new governess Daisy Lynn, as she called herself, had only been -there three weeks, they said, and they were sure she would not stay the -month out. No one could endure that Perkins tribe more than a month. -The oldest boy was twelve, the youngest only four. "But," said the -grocery man at the corner, "from the biggest to the littlest, they are -all imps of Satan!" - -"But why did the girl come here? why does she stay? Evidently she is -here of her own free will," thought the puzzled detective. - -He made up his mind to a bold procedure: he would go and see the girl. - -He rang the bell at the door, and a slatternly negro girl opened it and -started at the elegant-looking caller with his shiny hat. - -"I want to see Miss Lynn," he said; and she showed him into the little -parlor, and went to call the governess. - -He did not have to wait long before the face he had seen at the window -appeared within the room--such a beautiful face, but, oh! so pale and -frightened, the sweet lips trembling as she said, nervously: - -"I--I don't know you, sir." - -"But I know you, Miss Carew," he replied, as he rose and bowed. - -"Miss Carew!" She caught eagerly at the words. "Oh, I knew you were -mistaken! That is not my name, sir." - -Jack Wren laughed lightly and drew the photograph from his pocket. - -"Is not that your face?" he asked. - -The lovely girl started with surprise. - -"Oh, dear! it does look like me; but I never had my photograph taken in -my life!" she exclaimed. - -The detective smiled unbelievingly. - -"You are a very clever young girl, but I do not understand your game," -he said, bluntly. "Why have you run away from your friends and your -bright prospects, Miss Carew, to masquerade under a false name and wear -out your life teaching the rough Perkins cubs?" - -She trembled and grew deathly pale as she faltered: - -"There is--there must be--some mistake. My name is really Daisy Lynn, -and I--I have not--I have no friends and no bright prospects, except to -earn my own living by unremitting toil." - -Tears came into the dark eyes as she spoke. The great Southern -detective looked at her with puzzled eyes. "What superb acting!" he -thought, admiringly. "But, what the deuce is the matter with the girl, -to make her hide herself in this way from her friends?" - -"Perhaps you do not know who I am?" he said; and he held before her -eyes a card on which was neatly engraved his name and profession. - -"I--I have heard of you, Mr. Wren!" gasped Daisy Lynn. - -She sunk into a chair, and put her small white hand before her eyes, as -if to shut out some dreadful sight, her bosom heaving with frightened -sobs. - -He remained perfectly silent, and all at once Daisy Lynn slid out of -her chair and knelt in child-like humility at his feet. - -"Oh, sir, have pity on me!" she prayed. "Go away, and leave me in -peace! I am not insane, whatever any one may say. That was but a -temporary spell, and, under the care of the kind friend to whom Heaven -directed me that awful night, I soon recovered my reason. A wrecked -love had made me mad, but that is all over now. Only--only you would -not be able to convince them of it. So I--I do not want to go back. -Oh, God! I shall go mad, indeed, if I am sent again to that dreadful -place! Mr. Wren, perhaps you have a sister of your own. Think of her, -and, for sweet pity's sake, do not betray me to my enemies, who, under -the guise of friends, would work me the bitterest woe!" - -A light broke in upon his mind. - -"The girl is insane. That explains everything." - -He was a stern man, inured to trying scenes, but his heart stirred with -pity for her, so young, so beautiful, and--insane. - -He went up to her as she rose and sunk feebly into her chair. Touching -her kindly on the shoulder, he said: - -"I am very, very sorry for you, but it is better that you should -return to your friends. They are almost broken-hearted over your -disappearance, and have sent me here for you. Now, get your bonnet, -like a good girl, and come with me." - -"I can not go back to them. I would rather die," sobbed Daisy Lynn; and -when he insisted, she grew frantic and rebellious. "I--will--not--go!" -she cried. "They will put me in a horrible lunatic asylum, although I -am not mad. Oh, Mr. Wren, have pity on a most unfortunate young girl! -Go away and tell them you could not find me. Heaven will bless you for -your goodness." - -He thought it was a very good proof of her insanity that she expected -Heaven to bless him for telling a falsehood for her sake, and smiled -indulgently as he said: - -"My dear young lady, think of the distress of your lover if I go back -without you--the rich, handsome young man you have promised to marry." - -An expression of blended pain and scorn crossed the lovely face. - -"Do not speak to me of _him_," she cried, passionately. "It was his -falsity that wrecked my life. But that brief madness has passed. I am -sane now, and I scorn him as much as I once loved him." - -Oh, the imperial scorn with which she drew her graceful form erect, the -fire that flashed from her lovely eyes! He said to himself that she -was the most beautiful girl he had ever beheld. - -"It is not _he_, my false lover, that wants me; I am sure of that. It -is my aunt that has sent you," she continued. - -"No, it is your uncle, Mr. Carew," he replied. - -"But I have no uncle," she replied, in surprise. - -He was nonplused at her persistence in deception, and said, with rising -impatience: - -"You must really go with me and see Mr. Carew. If there is any mistake -he will detain you but a few minutes." - -"Will you not go and bring him here?" she asked, beseechingly. - -"And give you a chance to escape while I am away? No; I am too sharp -for that. Get your bonnet and come with me to the hotel where your -uncle is staying," replied Mr. Wren, firmly. - -With a stifled sob she rose to obey, although she said: - -"You are very cruel, and I warn you that if I am sent to the lunatic -asylum I shall kill myself." - -"They will not send you there," he replied, soothingly. - -In a few minutes she joined him in the hall, heavily veiled, and they -set forth on their trip to the Broad Street Hotel, where Uncle Ben and -Teddy Darrell were staying. He called a hack and assisted her into it, -and in a very few minutes they arrived at their destination. - -Uncle Ben was so prostrated with grief that he had been unable to leave -his room for days. He was now in his private parlor, and Teddy was -sitting with him, both men looking very sad and dejected, when the door -suddenly opened and Jack Wren entered, the picture of triumph, leading -a beautiful, weeping, dark-eyed girl. - -"Kathleen, my darling!" cried Teddy, springing to meet her; but she -shrieked, in dismay: - -"I do not know you!" - - - - -CHAPTER LIV. - -"IS THIS YOUR NIECE?" - - - My head is wild with weeping for a grief - Which is the shadow of a gentle mind. - I walk into the air; but no relief - To seek--or, haply, if I sought, to find. - SHELLEY. - - -Teddy Darrell was about to clasp the beautiful, weeping girl in his -arms; but at her quick cry of alarm, he recoiled in amazement--not -alone at her remonstrance, but because her voice was unlike that of -Kathleen Carew. - -Uncle Ben, who had also started forward in eager joy, drew back at the -sound of the girl's voice, and the great detective looked from one face -to the other in astonishment. - -"Mr. Carew," he said at last, "is this your niece?" - -"No," replied Uncle Ben. - -"No," echoed Teddy Darrell. - -"I told you so!" cried Daisy Lynn, with a radiant face; and Mr. Wren -brought out the photograph. - -"But this is her very face!" he exclaimed. - -They agreed with him that it was wonderful--the likeness that existed -between the girl and the picture--but they assured him that there were -subtle differences in the features, and that the voices were quite -unlike. - -"Then I have to beg this young lady's pardon," said the great -detective, rather crestfallen at his mistake; but he added, airily: -"There's no harm done, anyhow." - -"I beg your pardon, but there is," answered Daisy Lynn, her great, -eager eyes brimming over with tears. "I have lost my situation with -Mrs. Perkins through your mistake." - -"Impossible!" he cried. - -"It is, alas! too true," she answered, sadly. "Mrs. Perkins is a very -high-tempered woman, and when I attempted to explain to her why I was -going out so suddenly, she became terribly alarmed at the idea of my -being carried off by a detective. She hinted broadly that I must have -committed some dreadful crime, and discharged me on the spot." - -"The wretch!" cried all three of the gentlemen in chorus, and Teddy, -recalling his native gallantry, hastened to place a chair for the young -girl. - -"Pray sit down, miss," he began. - -"Miss Daisy Lynn, permit me to present to you Mr. Carew and Mr. -Darrell," said the detective. - -Daisy bowed as she sunk into the chair; but Teddy Darrell stopped and -stared as if he had seen a ghost. - -"Daisy Lynn!" he echoed. - -"Daisy Lynn!" cried Uncle Ben. - -Both had heard the story of unfortunate Daisy Lynn, and explanations -followed all around. The tender-hearted girl ceased weeping for herself -to pity the fair young girl who had suffered so bitterly in her stead. - -Then Jack Wren, who, now that everything was explained, no longer -suspected Daisy of insanity, spoke his mind. - -"I have made a great mistake," he said. "But I know that you will agree -with me that it was very natural under the circumstances. I beg your -pardon, and am ready to propose to you a plan by which to atone for my -folly." She looked at him attentively, and he continued: "I have a very -kind friend, a widow lady, who would be very glad to have you for a -companion, I know. If you will permit me, I will take you to this kind -lady at once, and I am sure you will find it a more pleasant situation -than teaching those Perkins cubs." - -"It was not very pleasant," answered the girl, sadly; and when she saw -how eager he was to atone for the trouble he had brought upon her, she -accepted his offer with shy gratitude. - -Taking a pleasant leave of Mr. Carew and Teddy, she withdrew with the -detective, and they were driven immediately to--River Cottage. - - - - -CHAPTER LV. - -KATHLEEN AND DAISY MEET AT LAST. - - - No, no, 'tis vain to hover - Thus round a hope that's dead; - At last my dream is over; - 'Twas sweet--'twas false--'tis fled! - T. MOORE. - - -It was the day following Kathleen's petulant rejection of her cousin's -love, and the young girl, embarrassed by Chester's grieved and dejected -looks, had gone to her room to nurse in solitude the pain at her heart. - -"Why does no one come to me? Am I forgotten by my uncle, Mrs. Stone, -and Teddy? Their silence and delay is very, very strange," she -murmured, sadly; and just then she heard a low murmur of voices in -the parlor, where she had left Mrs. Franklyn and Chester a while ago, -pleading a headache as an excuse for retiring to her room. - -"They have company. I am glad I came upstairs," she thought, feeling -far too dejected to meet strangers. - -The murmur of voices continued a while, then the front door closed, and -Kathleen thought the guests were leaving. - -Directly afterward, Mrs. Franklyn entered the room with an excited face. - -"Kathleen, do you remember the strange story you told us about Daisy -Lynn?" she asked. "Well, she is here in this house! She is no more -insane than you are, and is your living image--only, perhaps, not -_quite_ as pretty. She knows all you suffered in her place, and is just -dying to meet you. Will you come down?" - -"I should like to have her come up here," answered Kathleen, who felt -as if she would like to be quite alone at first with Daisy Lynn, the -fair young girl whose line of life had so strangely and tragically -crossed her own. - -Mrs. Franklyn understood her wish, and a few minutes afterward she led -Daisy to Kathleen's door and gently withdrew. - -They looked at each other--the two beautiful young creatures--then they -smiled at the likeness they saw in each other's faces. At that smile -their hearts leaped to each other. - -"Daisy Lynn! Oh, you poor darling!" cried Kathleen, holding out her -arms. - -Daisy ran into them. They kissed, then wept together. - -They sat down side by side on the bed, like two sisters, and wept like -little children for a while; then Daisy wiped her eyes, and said, -piteously: - -"Oh, Miss Carew, can you _ever_ forgive me?" - -"It was not your fault, Daisy, darling. But you must call me Kathleen; -you know we are not strangers to each other. I know all about you. I -have lived at your home, slept in your pretty room, and--can _you_ ever -forgive _me_, dear?--I read your sweet diary! I was so lonely and so -curious over the girl whose identity had become mixed with mine." - -"It was very silly, was it not?--that is all I regret about it," Daisy -Lynn answered, blushing crimson. Then she looked fearlessly into -Kathleen's eyes as she added: "But I am cured now. I despise him. I -could not love him now if he begged me on his knees!" - -"I am glad of that, dear, for he was not worthy of you," said Kathleen, -fervently. - -"You know him?" cried the other girl, in surprise, and then Kathleen -told her all about her wicked step-brother. - -She was rejoiced to see how disgusted Daisy Lynn became with the -accomplished villain who had once been the hero of her girlish dreams. - -"But, Daisy, tell me where you have been all this time?" said Kathleen, -curiously; and Daisy smiled as she answered: - -"Most of the time with an old couple in the country, to whose lonely -little house I wandered that night after I escaped from my keeper and -wandered into the woods. You see, Kathleen, I was not violently insane, -only sort of melancholy mad for a while; and because I foolishly -attempted to poison myself, an incompetent physician pronounced me -mad, and persuaded my aunt to send me to a lunatic asylum. Well, in my -horror and grief I confided my cruel distress to those good old people, -and they believed me and pitied me. They let me stay with them, and -were as good to me as if they had been my parents. A few months ago -the good old man died, and his gentle old wife soon followed him to -the grave. Then the little farm passed into the ownership of a distant -connection of theirs, Lawyer Perkins, of Richmond. He employed me to -teach his children." - -She went on then and told Kathleen how strangely the detective had -found her, and all that had happened afterward. - -"So Uncle Ben is alive, thank Heaven! I must go to him!" cried -Kathleen, springing to her feet in wild excitement. - -"No, dear, for Mr. Wren has gone to bring them here to you. Mrs. -Franklyn told him you were here," replied Daisy; then she started as a -low rap sounded on Kathleen's door. - -When she opened it, there was Chester, looking so remorseful and -dejected that her tender heart leaped with pity for his woe. - -"May I speak to you alone for one moment, dear cousin?" he asked, -humbly. - -She went out into the little hall with him, and Chester manfully -confessed his sin, and humbly begged her forgiveness. - -"All my foolish plans for keeping you away from your own true lover and -winning you for myself have come to naught. Heaven watched over you, -dear Kathleen, and foiled my selfish love. Oh, Heaven! how ashamed I -am, how wretched! and you can never forgive me!" - -"Yes, I can," answered the girl, nobly. She pressed his hand gently in -hers as she added: "I forgive you, dear cousin, and I will forget all -about it, and remember nothing but that I owe you my life." - -"God bless you!" he said, chokingly, and went down-stairs. But he was -not brave enough to meet his rival yet. He went away for a long walk, -unwilling to witness the meeting between Kathleen and her betrothed, -the man that Jack Wren said was so rich and handsome. Poor fellow! -he might have felt happier had he known how little Kathleen cared for -Teddy. It was Ralph who filled all her thoughts, hopeless as they were. - - "How am I changed! My hopes were once like fire; - I loved, and I believed that life was love. . . . - I love, but I believe in love no more." - -"Love is a tyrant that has no mercy. I wish I could forget all my -past!" she sighed nightly to her pillow; but Shelley's lines would -recur to her with cruel pathos: - - "Forget the dead, the _past_? O yet - There are ghosts that may take revenge for it; - Memories that make the heart a tomb, - Regrets that glide through the spirit's gloom, - And with ghastly whispers tell - That joy, once lost, is _pain_." - -Chester had scarcely left the house before the detective returned with -Mr. Carew and Teddy Darrell. Kathleen flew down-stairs, vouchsafed -Teddy a sedate kiss, and fell into her uncle's arms. - - - - -CHAPTER LVI. - -"SO SHINES A GOOD DEED IN A NAUGHTY WORLD." - - - Howe'er it be, it seems to me - 'Tis only noble to be good. - Kind hearts are more than coronets, - And simple faith than Norman blood. - TENNYSON. - - -Kathleen remained a week longer with her relatives; but such -importunate letters came to her from Mrs. Stone and Helen Fox that -she decided to go home to Boston, promising her grandmother that they -should meet often in future. - -Leaving her friend Daisy to brighten the quietude of River Cottage, -Kathleen departed with her uncle and her betrothed for Boston. - -She had promised Daisy that she would stop in Philadelphia and inquire -for her about her aunt, Miss Watts. She also wanted to see her -benefactor, the kind-hearted Mr. Hall. - -To her dismay, she found, on inquiry, that Miss Watts had died three -months before, and her will, made years ago, bequeathed her snug little -fortune to her niece, Daisy Lynn. - -There were no greedy relatives to dispute the will, so Kathleen had the -blended pain and pleasure of writing to Daisy that she was bereaved of -her only living relative by death, but that her aunt's demise had left -her rich. - -Kathleen sent her address to Samuel Hall, and the young man came -promptly to call on her, his kind face beaming with delight at seeing -again the beautiful heroine of his romantic adventure. He was shocked, -however, when he heard of the second peril from which she had escaped. - -"It is that woman Fedora who planned it, I feel sure!" he exclaimed; -for he believed the woman was wicked enough for anything. - -Kathleen did not agree with him, for her uncle had confided to her his -and the detective's belief that Ivan Belmont was the guilty party. Jack -Wren had been to Boston, carefully spotting the young man's movements -from the time that Kathleen had charged him with the theft of her -jewels, and he believed he had found a clew that, if carefully followed -up, would lead to his conviction. - -Uncle Ben Carew was very much pleased with Kathleen's friend, and when -he left her went for a stroll down Chestnut Street with him. - -Sammy Hall thought that the old gentleman was very inquisitive, he -asked so many questions, getting out of the rather quiet young man the -fact that he was engaged to a beautiful fellow-clerk, Miss Tessie Mays, -but that they thought themselves too poor to marry until he had laid by -a little sum for housekeeping. - -"You shall hear from me again, young man," said Uncle Ben, -mysteriously; and he did. - -Several months later, when he had almost forgotten all about the -old man's promise, he received a deed of gift to the pretty little -furnished house where Miss Watts had lived. Uncle Ben had bought it -from Daisy Lynn, who continued to reside with the Franklyns, and he -gave it to Sammy Hall in his niece's name. - -"Marry your lovely Tessie and be happy in your cottage home, the gift -of Kathleen's grateful heart to her noble friend," wrote Kathleen, -sweetly. - -Sammy Hall lost no time in taking this pleasant advice, and he and his -charming Tessie spent a long and pleasant life in the pretty cottage -home. Their first daughter was called Tessie, for her mother; but the -next time Heaven sent them girl twins, "as like as two peas," wrote -Sammy, when he announced to Kathleen that he had named them Kathleen -and Daisy. - - - - -CHAPTER LVII. - -MRS. CAREW TRIUMPHS IN HER SWEET REVENGE UPON KATHLEEN. - - - Revenge is a two-edged sword; - It has neither hilt nor guard. - Wouldst thou wield this sword of the Lord? - Is thy grasp, then, firm and hard? - CHARLES H. WEBB. - - -"Kathleen, you and Uncle Ben must come to me soon for a visit. It is -such a little time now before your marriage, and I can never have you -to myself again after that!" exclaimed Helen Fox. - -"Uncle Ben is going back to the country to-morrow, but I shall be glad -to come," Kathleen answered. - -She had been back at Mrs. Stone's for a week, but neither Mrs. Carew -nor Alpine had called on her or sent any message--"the heartless -wretches!" as Mrs. Stone said, indignantly. - -Rumor said that the mother and daughter were making hasty preparations -to sail for Europe, to be absent several years. It was rumored also -that the disreputable Ivan had crossed the sea before them, flying from -justice. The story of Kathleen's lost diamonds was public property now; -but there was no chance that she would ever recover the jewels or their -value, for Ivan had disappeared, and his mother and sister angrily -repudiated the debt. - -Uncle Ben himself went to the two proud women, begging them to do his -niece justice. - -"Think, madame," he said; "you and your daughter have stripped Kathleen -of everything. The jewels were all that remained to her, and now that -she is to marry a rich man, she would like to have the money for her -wedding _trousseau_. It is very little to you out of your great wealth, -but to her it is _all_. Be just and fair, and make good what she has -lost by your son's dishonesty." - -Mrs. Carew laughed mockingly. - -"I would not give her a penny if she were starving to death!" she said. - -"Your own husband's daughter!" he said, reproachfully. - -"I hate her the more for that. I hate everybody he ever loved!" she -replied, vindictively. - -"You hated poor Zaidee and caused her death, I know," he replied, -bitterly. - -Her face suddenly grew livid, and she looked at her accuser with -startled eyes. - -"It--it is false!" she muttered, weakly. - -"It is God's truth," answered the old man. "You told Zaidee Carew -a trumped-up story of her husband's falsity, and then--her death -followed. Answer me this, madame: Was her death a suicide or--a murder?" - -She quailed before the stern old man, pale as death, trembling with -nervous alarm; but Alpine rose up suddenly and interposed between him -and her mother. - -"How dare you distress my mother so with your shocking hints and -suspicions?" she cried, violently. "Get out of here at once, you old -wretch, or I will call Jones to throw you out into the street!" - -"As your mother did poor Kathleen," he sneered. - -"And served her right," she hissed. Then she rang the bell violently. -When Jones appeared, she said: "Take this old beggar and throw him into -the street! If you ever admit him again, you will be discharged." - -Uncle Ben moved toward the door with Jones, but, looking back, asked, -pleadingly: - -"Will _you_ not pay your brother's debt?" - -"Never! Now go!" she stormed, and the rich curtains fell behind the -bent retreating form; but from the hall a strange, exultant laugh came -back to them, and Mrs. Carew shuddered. - -"Heavens! how horribly that laugh sounded like my husband's laugh!" - - - - -CHAPTER LVIII. - -"I WILL NEVER HUMBLE MYSELF TO YOU AGAIN." - - - Fare thee well, and if forever, - Still forever fare thee well, - Even though unforgiving, never - 'Gainst thee shall this heart rebel. - BYRON. - - -Helen Fox was a very bright girl. She did not tell Kathleen that Ralph -Chainey frequently visited the house, nor did she mention to him that -Kathleen was to be her guest. Yet she knew very well that the unhappy -young lovers were sure to meet under her roof. - -And, in fact, Kathleen had not been twenty-four hours at Helen's when -George Fox encountered Ralph somewhere, and dragged him home with him. - -Kathleen was playing and singing for Helen. Her back was turned to the -door, so she did not know when the two young gentlemen entered and -silently seated themselves, obeying a gesture from Helen. - -The young girl, unconscious of her lover's presence, sung on, sweetly -and sadly: - - "One word is too often profaned, - For me to profane it, - One feeling too falsely disdained - For thee to disdain it. - One hope is too like to despair, - For prudence to smother, - And Pity from thee more dear - Than that from another. - - "I can give not when men call love, - But wilt thou accept not-- - The worship the heart lifts above - And the heavens reject not, - The desire of the moth for the star, - Of the day for the morrow, - The devotion to something afar - From the sphere of our sorrow?" - -The plaintive words rang in sad echoes through her lover's brain: - - "The desire of the moth for the star, - Of the day for the morrow?" - -She turned around, and in a minute more she saw him coming forward to -speak to her. A start, and she recovered herself enough to speak to -him, but her voice faltered, and the little hand, as it touched his, -was deadly cold. It was like the old, sad song: - - "We met--'twas in a crowd, - And I thought he would shun me, - He came, I could not breathe, - For his eyes were upon me, - He spoke--his words were cold, - Though his smile was unaltered-- - I knew how much he felt, - For his deep-toned voice faltered." - -She did not know what he was saying to her, or what she murmured in -reply. She could realize nothing clearly but the ecstatic consciousness -of his presence, that had such power to thrill her whole being. - -Then she found herself slipping into a seat by Helen, and twining her -cold fingers in those of her friend. They turned the conversation -cleverly away from her, but in a very few moments George Fox got up and -left the room, saying as he went: - -"I will get those specimens we were talking about, Ralph." - -Ten minutes later he called down the stairs: - -"Helen, will you please come up and help me find those things I brought -from Palestine for Ralph?" - -"George can never find anything without my assistance," laughed the -young girl, as she excused herself and left the room. - -The unhappy lovers were alone together--perhaps by the clever scheming -of George and Helen, perhaps by chance; who could tell? - -There ensued a moment of intense embarrassment. Kathleen, sitting with -down-dropped eyes, felt her lover's eager brown eyes upon her, and a -deep blush arose to her beautiful face. Slowly she raised her bashful -eyes and they met his--deep, passionate, reproachful, beseeching, -all in one. In spite of herself, her own gaze replied to that -look--answered love for love. - -A moment, and he rose and came toward her. She thrilled with ecstasy -as he sat down by her side. Her little hand, icy cold a moment before, -grew burning hot as he touched it with his own. - -"Kathleen, forgive me," he murmured, "but I can not let this blessed -chance pass. I wrote to you. Did you receive my letter?" - -"Yes," she faltered. - -"Cruel girl! And you would not reply? Kathleen, was that just or fair? -Could you find no excuse in your heart for me when I had told you my -whole sad story?" - -"I--I--was sorry for you. I--wanted to--write--but I promised not to," -she whispered, almost inaudibly. - -"Promised not to write to me!" His dark eyes flashed with anger. "Who -was so cruel as to forbid you? Mr. Darrell?" - -"No--No! Teddy knows nothing. It was my uncle. It seemed to him that it -would not be right to my--to--to--Mr. Darrell!" - -"To Mr. Darrell! Oh, Kathleen, is it true, that you will marry him? Do -you love him?" - -"Do not ask me. It is not right. You--you--are not free!" she cried, -trying to be loyal to her absent betrothed. - -"I shall be--soon. The courts will certainly grant me a divorce from -that dreadful woman. But then, Kathleen, my freedom will avail me -nothing if you are lost to me! Oh, my own love--my darling! be brave, -and break through the fetters that bind you to this man you do not -love! Wait for me?" - -Oh, the passionate pleading in his voice and eyes! how they thrilled -her soul. She wished to herself that she had never seen poor Teddy, -whom she had so rashly promised to marry. - -"Oh, I must not listen to you!" she sobbed. "Please, Ralph, do not -speak to me so; do not look at me! I can not bear your eyes!" and she -hid her own with a trembling hand. - -There was silence for a moment, but Ralph could not give it up. It -seemed to him that he was pleading for more than life. - -"Kathleen, don't be angry, dear; but I can not give it up so -easily," he began. "If I thought you did not love me, if I believed -you cared for Teddy Darrell, I would not say another word. -But--if--I--were--free--you--would love me again, would you not, my -dear one?" - -Kathleen had been fighting down the weakness of her loving heart. She -looked at him with sad, hopeless eyes. - -"Spare me!" she sighed. "Oh, Ralph, we must not count on what has been -or what may be. I am promised to another, and I can not break my vow. -Think of the suffering I should bring to Teddy's noble heart." - -"He would soon forget you," Ralph Chainey urged. - -"Then you may soon forget me, too," she replied. - -"But, Kathleen, my darling, it is so different. I love only you, while -your Teddy has had scores of loves. Think, if you marry him, his fickle -heart may soon tire of you; then how wretched you would be!" - -"I do not believe that Teddy is fickle. If I thought so, I would beg -him to release me from my promise. But he loves me truly, in spite of -his past, and so I must be true to him," sadly replied Kathleen. - -"And your marriage day is set?" he asked, gloomily. - -"It is only two weeks from now," she replied; then her courage failed -her; she burst into tears, and sobbed miserably against his shoulder. - -Ralph tried to soothe her, whispering: - -"If he knew you cared like this--for--me--he would not want to marry -you. No true lover would accept the hand without the heart." - -"He must never know--for--I--I--shall learn to love him by and by. Mrs. -Stone says so; they all say so," she whispered. - -"They are driving you into a--a--a wretched future with their silly -advice!" cried the young man, violently, despair goading him to -desperation. He pushed her from him and rose to his feet. - -"I have been deluding myself," he said, bitterly. "I thought you loved -me. I was mistaken, I see. I will never humble myself to you again, -proud Kathleen. From this moment to my life's end, we are strangers. -Farewell!" and with a stately bow he was gone. - -Kathleen sprung to her feet with wild despair at her loss. - -"Oh, Ralph! come back!" she cried, faintly; but he was beyond the reach -of her voice. - -She threw herself weeping into the chair where he had sat but just now. - -"Gone--and forever!" she sobbed in bitterest agony, and there came over -her a longing to die and be at rest from her sorrow. Life seemed too -bitter to be borne, now that the last hope had failed, and Ralph had -gone from her "forever." - - - - -CHAPTER LIX. - -OH, RALPH CHAINEY, WAKE! - - - How murderers walk the earth, - Beneath the curse of Cain, - With crimson clouds before their eyes - And flames about their brain; - For blood has left upon their souls - Its everlasting stain! - _The Dream of Eugene Aram_. - - -Ralph Chainey left the presence of his loved and lost Kathleen with a -heart full of bitterness and pain, and hurried home. - -He had concluded his engagement in Boston the previous evening, and it -was a great relief to him, for he was eager to get away from the city -that held Kathleen. Stay there, and see her wedded to another, he could -not! That way lay madness. - -He had dismissed his company for several months. He was going to -travel, he said, although the manager pointed out to him that now was -the time to reap a golden harvest, if ever. He was even more popular -now than before, if such a thing could be. The divorce proceedings had -given him notoriety. People who had not gone to see him act before, -went now, just for a sight of his handsome face. - -He loved his art, but the money was no object to him. Fortune had -already showered her golden favors on him in lavish measure. He could -not be tempted to remain. - -"No, mother, I can not stay," he answered, sadly, when she pleaded with -him. "I must get away as soon as this divorce business is settled. -That will be soon--in a week or so, my lawyers tell me. Then I will go -abroad and try to live down this unpleasant notoriety. You do not blame -me, mother?" - -She sighed, but answered bravely: - -"No; but it will be very lonely, my son." - -"You will have my brother, his wife and little ones to cheer you," he -said, moved to the heart by her tears. He knew well that he was her -favorite son. - -He kissed her, and went to his own room, wrote some letters, and then -went with his mother for a drive. At night he felt as if the day had -been a month long. Oh, how cruel it was, this love that mastered him in -spite of his pride! - - "You may rouse your pride, you may use your reason, - And seem for a space to slay Love so; - But all in his own good time and season - It will rise and follow where'er you go." - -He threw himself down, dressed, on a couch in the luxurious room, -and gave himself up to bitter-sweet memories of the girl he loved so -hopelessly, living over in his thoughts every time he had met her until -now, when her dark eyes had made shipwreck of his life. Time passed -unnoted, although the tiny French clock had tinkled musically the -midnight hour. - -What a picture of manly beauty he made, lying there with half-shut -eyes on the rich couch with its Oriental draperies. The gas-light, -half-turned down, cast weird shadows all about the room. In the little -sleeping-room beyond, seen through the half-drawn _portière_, all -was dark and still. Did a white, desperate face with gleaming eyes -peer out of that gloom upon the young man resting there in his velvet -dressing-gown, one shapely hand tossed up over his brown curly head, -the dark, curly lashes drooping downward to the pale cheek? - -Yes, he was well worth looking at, this gifted young actor, this genius -who at barely twenty-five had scored such dazzling successes in the -dramatic world, and written his name up high upon the scroll of fame. -It was no wonder that women raved over his beauty and his genius, and -that they filled his daily mail with love letters that he flung into -the fire after one contemptuous glance. - -But were they eyes of love that gleamed on him now, lying so pale and -still and sad, with his thoughts upon his beautiful young love? - -Alas! a gleam of tigerish hate shone in those steel-blue orbs as they -watched the young man; and when at last the fringed lashes drooped -against his cheek, a faint sigh of relief escaped the lips of the -impatient watcher. For hours and hours she had been waiting there; but -it seemed as if he did not mean to retire to-night. Now he had fallen -into a light doze. Perhaps he would sleep there all night. - -Oh, Ralph Chainey, wake! From the curtained darkness beyond a fiend is -gliding toward you! - -The shrouding hood of the long cloak has fallen back from the face of -a woman--a bold, handsome face with steel-blue eyes, and glittering -golden hair. In her upraised hand glitters a long thin dagger, on her -face is stamped in awful, ashen pallor the fell purpose--murder! - -But he sleeps on lightly, dreaming, perhaps, of Kathleen, while this -beautiful fury glides soundlessly across the thick moquette carpet, -gains his side, poises her shining weapon on high, aims for his heart, -and--it descends, it pierces his breast! - -Ralph Chainey was sleeping but lightly, and as the cold steel entered -his breast a shudder ran over his whole frame, the dew of pain started -on his brow, and with a shriek of mortal agony he staggered to his -feet, clutching blindly at the midnight assailant. - -She had not counted on this; she thought her frenzied blow would be -short, sharp, and decisive, that she would have time to fly from the -scene of her terrible crime. - -She was mistaken. His outstretched arms caught and held her with the -momentary fierce strength of a dying man; his blood spurted out in hot -streams upon her face and hands. - -And meanwhile his shriek of agony had aroused the house. Earl Chainey, -his brother, started wildly from his dreams, and his wife, affrighted -at that awful sound, buried her pale face in the pillows. Mrs. Chainey, -lying awake and restless, brooding over her son's departure, recognized -Ralph's voice in an instant, and, with a terrible foreboding of evil, -sprung forward to his rescue. - -Upon the threshold of the door they met--the mother and her elder son. -Earl flung the door wide, and together they sprung into the room. - -Not a moment too soon was their entrance, for Ralph's momentary -strength had failed from the profuse loss of blood. He had struggled -madly to hold his assailant, but her superior strength had overpowered -him, and as he sunk back heavily upon the couch, she raised her bloody -weapon for a second, surer blow. - -But it never reached its mark, for Earl's strong arm caught and flung -her fiercely aside as he knelt by his fallen brother. - - - - -CHAPTER LX. - -"MY LOVE SHALL CALL HIM BACK FROM THE GRAVE!" - - -"Oh, my dear, how ill you look this morning. Surely you did not sleep -well!" Helen Fox exclaimed, gazing in surprise and pain at Kathleen's -pale cheeks and heavy, somber eyes. - -It was the morning after her painful interview with Ralph. Kathleen had -not closed her heavy eyes all night for thinking of her lost lover and -his cruel, parting words. They had pierced her heart like a thorn, and -some sweet, sad lines, strangely appropriate, rang in dizzy changes -through her brain: - - "It came with the merry May, love, - It bloomed with the summer prime; - In a dying year's decay, love, - It brightened the fading time. - I thought it would last for years, love, - But it went with the winter snow-- - Only a year ago, love-- - Only a year ago! - - "'Twas a plant with a deeper root, love, - Than the blighting Eastern tree; - For it grew in my heart, and its fruit, love, - Was a bitter morsel to me. - The poison is yet in my brain, love, - The thorn in my heart, for you know, - 'Twas only a year ago, love-- - Only a year ago!" - -"Yes," the girl thought, sadly, bitterly, "the root of that love went -so deep in my heart that I can never pluck it out unless my life goes -with it! Oh, God! that I _could_ forget--that I could give _all_ my -heart to the one who holds the promise of my hand! Oh, Teddy, Teddy! -you deserve more of me than this! You are so good, so noble, you -believe in me so fully, little dreaming that the heart which should be -yours is given to another!" - -She looked at Helen with a smile so faint that it was sadder than -tears. She could not speak, and Helen put her arm tenderly about -the drooping little figure, so pathetic in its unspoken despair, -understanding without one word all the sorrow in Kathleen's heart. - -And even then the newsboys running through the streets were shouting -wildly: - -"Extra copies of _The Globe_--all about the murder of the handsome -actor, Ralph Chainey, by his jealous wife!" - -Their startled ears caught the sound--the name. Starting apart, the two -beautiful young girls gazed with blanched faces into each other's eyes. - -The words were repeated clearly just beneath the window--blasting -words, that coldly drove the shuddering blood back from Kathleen's lips -to her heart. With a moan, she slipped down to the floor, winding her -arms about Helen's knees, leaning her head against her while she wailed: - -"Dead! Murdered! Oh, my love, Ralph!" - -Then consciousness fled, she slipped inertly to the floor, and Helen, -with a pallid face and trembling limbs, ran out to purchase a copy of -_The Globe_. - -Ere Kathleen had recovered from her swoon, Helen had hastily run over -the startling news--the attempted murder of Ralph Chainey by Fedora, -the woman whom he was suing in the courts for divorce. - - "But for the opportune entrance of his brother, Mr. Earl Chainey," ran - the paragraph, "the fiend would have succeeded in her fell design. - The deadly blade was descending a second time to sheath itself in - the victim's breast, when she was caught and violently hurled aside - by Earl Chainey. She proved to be Fedora, the wife whom he was suing - for divorce. She now lies in a prison cell, awaiting her punishment, - which will probably be a capital one, as Ralph Chainey has never - regained consciousness, owing to the loss of blood, and his death is - momentarily expected." - -It was to bear this terrible shock to her heart that Kathleen recovered -consciousness. Was it not a wonder she did not go mad with the horror -of it all? - -Parting from her only yesterday in despair and anger--lying dead, -perhaps, this moment--dying at least, and dying before he had forgiven -her for her coldness and hardness. Oh, God, the pity of it all! - -Weeping, she lay upon Helen's breast. Pride all gone, she laid her -heart bare to her sympathetic friend. - -"Oh, Helen, it will kill me unless I go to him--unless he speaks my -forgiveness before he dies!" - -"You _shall_ go my darling," was the answer; and in less than an hour -the carriage was at the door. The two girls stepped into it, and they -were rapidly driven to Mrs. Chainey's suburban home. - -All the way Kathleen lay upon her friend's breast, weeping, always -weeping. In all her long after-life she could never forget that long -hour of misery and suspense, in which she could not tell whether she -should find him dead or alive. Would he pronounce her forgiveness, or -would his lips be stiff in death, and the memory of his anger remain -forever a thorn in her heart? - -How the cold March rain swirled through the leafless shrubbery about -the great stone house, with its closed doors and windows, suggesting -so vividly the presence of death. Thank God! there was one thing -lacking--the funereal crape upon the door. At the worst, he was still -alive. - -"Alive, alive! oh, thank God!" murmured Kathleen through her raining -tears. - -Helen tenderly supported her as they left the carriage. Soon they were -within the house; Kathleen was waiting with a wildly beating heart for -some one to come to them. - -But when Ralph's mother came to them, Kathleen was beyond speech. -It was Helen who had to prefer the request that they should see -Ralph--"Friends, old and dear friends," she said, in excuse. - -The gentle, gray-haired lady looked in wonder at the beautiful, weeping -girl, the fairest she had ever beheld. Her heart went out to her at -those tears. - -"They are for my boy," she thought, tenderly. - -But she hesitated, for the doctors had forbidden any one to enter the -room. - -"He knows no one. He has spoken but twice, and then just to utter a -name," she said, looking doubtfully at the two fair supplicants. - -"A name?" whispered Kathleen, eagerly. - -"Yes; it is that of a young girl whom I fancy he loves. If it were only -_her_ now," she said, musingly. - -"The name?" questioned Helen Fox, with eager impatience. - -"Kathleen!" replied Mrs. Chainey. - -Oh, what a cry came from Kathleen's lips! - -"Oh, my love, my love, you have not forgotten me! I am Kathleen! Oh, -madame, let me go to him!" - -"Come!" was the thrilling answer, and as she led the girl away, -Kathleen's heart throbbed wildly with the thought that she should hear -his lips pronounce her forgiveness. - -"And he shall not die! My love shall call him back from the grave!" she -sobbed. - - - - -CHAPTER LXI. - -SHE LOVED MUCH. - - - I would have rather been a slave - In tears, in bondage, by his side, - Than shared in all, if wanting him, - This world had power to give beside. - L. E. LANDON. - - -She was kneeling by his couch--she was gazing through her blinding -tears upon that pallid, emotionless face, as still now as though it -already bore the stamp of death; her hand touched his, but it did not -respond to her passionate pressure, and when she called his name, there -was no answer--not even a quiver of the dark, curling lashes lying so -heavily against the marble-white cheek. - -Mrs. Chainey and the two physicians looked on in the tenderest -compassion. The story of the young girl's love was written on her -anguished face, and they knew, alas! that Ralph Chainey lay close to -the borders of spirit-land. The dark eyes would never open on that most -beautiful face bending over him, the pale lips would never unclose to -speak her name. - -Breathlessly she called upon his name, beseeching him to look at her, -to speak to her; but the spell that wrapped him was too deep. Those -strong men listening to her wept in sympathy. They had no hope. It had -been so difficult to stanch the flow of blood from the terrible wound -so close to his heart, that he was sinking from inanition--he could not -survive the weakness. - -Suddenly the girl turned and looked at them. They were whispering -together. She caught some disjointed words: - -"It has been tried with success. You remember cases of?--but he is so -far gone, I doubt--transfusion of blood--do you think?" - -It startled them, the way the weeping girl sprung to her feet. New -life seemed to come to her. She threw off the long fur cloak from her -slender form, pushed back the sleeve from the most beautiful white arm -they had ever beheld, and cried, beseechingly: - -"You can save him! Oh, take my blood--my very life, so that you restore -him!" - -They were shocked at first, but she would not listen. She implored them -to yield to her wish. - -"I am so strong, I have such splendid health, it will not hurt me--I -can bear it!" she cried, pleadingly, and they were full of admiration -for her courage and bravery. - -Her lovely face shone with its lofty purpose. - -"Impossible!" they answered; but they gazed with admiring eyes at the -beautiful girl whose fresh young loveliness indeed hinted at glowing -health and strength; but it seemed hopeless, such an experiment. He was -so far gone. Any minute might launch his life's bark out upon death's -unknown sea. - -She could not bear it, this obstinate refusal. Oh, to save him, to save -him she would lay down her life! - -A desperate thought came to her. Her dark eyes fastened on a rich blue -vein in the rosy white arm she had bared to their view. A furtive -movement and she had slipped from the burnished mass of her golden -tresses a toy dagger with a jewel-studded hilt. Maddened with misery, -she thrust the keen point against the blue vein, and the scarlet tide -of her life-blood spurted out in a tiny vivid jet. Oh, horror! - -They sprung toward her, one bound a handkerchief over the wound, -but--her bravery had thrilled their hearts. They could not hesitate -longer. It was a forlorn hope, but yes, they would try the experiment! - - - - -CHAPTER LXII. - -"GOD BLESS BRAVE, BONNY KATHLEEN CAREW!" - - - So silent! Yet it seems to me - That had you lived, and had I died, - My dead heart must have heard you call, - And, throbbing with new life, replied. - - -Doctor Beard was an enthusiast in his art, and his fine eyes shone with -eager interest as he realized the delicate and dangerous operation -that lay before him and his colleague, Doctor Miller. Both were -comparatively young, but they had attained eminence already, and if any -physician in Boston was capable of conducting this experiment, it was -one or both of these two. - -They gazed anxiously into each other's eyes as they made their hasty -preparations. Would it fail, or would it succeed? Death was so near--so -perilously near! Would the rushing tide of life ever flow through those -numb veins again? Yes, if there were any efficacy in love and prayer; -for the stricken mother knelt, weeping and praying, by her boy's side, -and down-stairs, in the darkened parlor, Helen Fox, waiting in keen -suspense, lifted her heart in earnest petitions that God would spare -the young life trembling in the balance. Within the great house all was -trembling anxiety and suspense, while outside the wild March wind shook -the dead branches of the trees and drove the gusty rain against the -windows with a mournful patter, as though kindly Nature wept for the -bright young life going out into darkness. - -When years had fled and gray hairs began to creep into their bonny -brown curls, Doctor Beard and Doctor Miller still loved to tell the -story of that day, and how it ended--of the patient who lay so close, -so awfully close to the portals of death that it did not seem possible -for human art to save him, and of the beautiful, brave young girl who -had prayed them on her knees to take the blood from her round, white -arm and infuse it into the patient's, giving him new life; how they had -hesitated to wound that tender, exquisite flesh, and how she had taken -the initiative, thrusting a jeweled pin from her hair into the blue -vein. - -"I tell you it was _grand_!" cried Doctor Beard, with enthusiasm. "I -could hesitate no longer. I was longing to make the experiment from the -first moment the thought entered my head. So we asked the consent of -Miss Fox, the young girl's dearest friend, who had brought her there. -She was willing, and we tried it. Tried it, and--with the grandest -success." - -"It was magical the way that the girl's fresh young blood put new life -into him," agreed Doctor Miller. "Why, I give you my word, I had _no_ -faith in the operation. The fellow looked like a dead man. I could have -sworn he would never revive again, yet--it was magical, as I said just -now--when we had carefully bound up their arms, that brave, beautiful -girl leaned over him, looked into his face, and cried in accents of -piercing anguish: - -"'Oh, Ralph, my darling, come back to Kathleen! You must not die!'" - -"And you may believe me or not," said Doctor Beard, taking the thread -of the story again, "but the dead man opened his eyes and met her look. -The color began to come back to his ashen face. He smiled faintly, -whispered her name, 'Kathleen,' turned on his side, and slept calmly as -a weary child." - -"That was the proudest moment of my life!" cried Doctor Miller. "God -bless brave, bonny Kathleen Carew!" - - - - -CHAPTER LXIII. - -WITHIN PRISON BARS. - - - Oh, my heart, my heart is sick, a-wishing and awaiting: - * * * * * - I looked out for his coming as a prisoner through the grating - Looks and longs and longs and wishes for its opening day. - JEAN INGELOW. - - -"A week, and yet he has never been near me! Not a word, not a sign! -What does he mean? Why has he left me to my cruel fate?" - -The beautiful prisoner raged up and down the narrow limits of her -prison cell like a caged lioness, so desperate was her mood, so fierce -her unrest. - -"Such cruel and heartless neglect from him who incited me to that dark -deed is unbearable! He does not yet know Fedora if he believes she -will tamely bear it!" And she clinched her white hands ominously, her -eyes glittering with anger, as she thought of the man for whom she had -risked so much, yet who seemed to have left her to her fate without an -effort to save her. - -"Where is he? What has become of him? Will he leave me to die like a -rat in a hole? And I thought he loved me--fool that I was! Did I not -already know men too well to trust him? Oh, fool that I was! And yet, -dare he desert me, the partner in his terrible secret? Perhaps the -coward has fled, fearing that I may betray him!" - -So she raved on, every moment increasing her impotent fury. - -"No answer to my letters, no notice taken of my passionate appeals! -Why, he might have effected my escape ere this if he had tried, and I -_must_ escape! It is true I can not be hung, since that foolish girl -saved Ralph's life when he was on the brink of death; but if I am -sentenced I shall be sent to prison for long, long years! I can not -bear the thought! Oh, God, I'm stifling--dying!" She threw herself on -her hard couch, sobbing in hysterical _abandon_. - -A grating sound at the door; the key turned in the lock; the portal -opened, closed again. Inside stood a beautiful young girl gazing with -sad, accusing eyes at the wretched, sobbing woman. - -Fedora looked up with a cry of wonder mingled with rage: - -"Kathleen Carew!" - -"Yes, Kathleen!" answered the other. She advanced, and they gazed in -momentary silence into each other's eyes--the girl Ralph Chainey loved, -and the woman that was his wife. - -"Why are you here?" muttered Fedora, hoarsely, as she started to her -feet. - -"For justice," answered Kathleen, sternly. - -"Justice?" - -"Yes, justice to the man you tried to murder--the man I saved from -death!" - -"Saved, yes--curse you forever for that deed!" snarled the prisoner, -viciously. - -Kathleen recoiled a little at her terrible aspect, and said, in wonder: - -"Why did you do it? Why did you want him dead?" - -"I hated him! I hate you!" - -"I know, but you would soon have been free of him by the law. Why did -you want to kill him? It was horrible. Life is so sweet when one is -young; and Ralph is young--only twenty-five," said the young girl, -almost piteously. - -"Why do you come here to probe into my secrets?" Fedora cried, -fiercely. "Listen, then: I wanted him dead before he secured the -divorce, so that I might inherit his wealth. I, his loving widow! Ha! -ha! Was it not a clever scheme?" She laughed wildly; and, coming closer -to Kathleen, glared threateningly into her eyes as she hissed: "You -foiled me--you--curse you, I repeat! Let me but escape, and I will -murder you!" - -A weaker heart than Kathleen's might have quailed before such threats; -but she stood there trembling but courageous, an earnest purpose in her -splendid eyes. - -"These are idle words, and I did not come here to bandy words with -you. I came to make a solemn appeal to you," she said meekly, almost -beseechingly. - -"Appeal to me?" asked the prisoner, with a scornful laugh; and then she -waited out of curiosity for the other's answer. - -"Do you remember that night in Philadelphia?" Kathleen asked. - -"Yes, I remember." - -"You were wearing my diamonds--the ones that were stolen from me that -night when I was left for dead on the ground at Lincoln Station. You -told me--told me," her voice faltering, "that Ralph Chainey gave you -the jewels. Oh, God! I think if I had quite believed that horrible -story, I should have died! But there was always the merciful doubt--the -hope that it might not be true--that saved me from madness!" - -She paused, but the prisoner did not speak--only smiled derisively. - -"So I have come to you for the truth," went on the girl. "Oh, for God's -sake, speak and tell me you lied! It was not Ralph; it could not be. -Perhaps you are shielding the guilty man behind his identity. Are you? -Tell me the truth! I will not ask you to betray the criminal. I do not -wish to punish him. Only tell me it was not Ralph!" and she waited in -wild suspense for the answer. - -Fedora's evilly handsome face had on it a smile of triumph. She was -gloating over the young girl's misery. - -"So you love _my husband_?" she exclaimed, tauntingly, and the deep -color rose up over Kathleen's face at the cruel sneer. She trembled -with emotion, although she tried to appear indifferent as she answered: - -"I did not come here to discuss _that_ with you, madame." - -Fedora was regarding her with a fixed gaze. A cunning thought had -entered her mind. - -"How much is my secret worth to you?" she asked. - -"All the wealth in the world, if I had it, but I am penniless. I can -not buy your secret," Kathleen answered, sadly. - -Fedora came nearer and whispered in her ear: - -"If I tell you the truth, will you help me to escape?" - -"I could not do it if I wished to do so ever so much. It would take -money, and I have already told you I have none." - -The voice was cold and dull. Kathleen began to realize how hopeless was -her mission. The cruel, calculating woman before her had no pity for -her misery. - -But Fedora was scheming in her mind how to turn her secret to account. -She hated Kathleen too bitterly to show her any kindness; but if she -could pay for the secret she wanted so badly, why, let her have it. - -She looked at Kathleen with a cunning expression. - -"There is one condition on which I will tell you what you want to know." - -"I have already told you that I have no money." - -"I do not mean money. Listen, Miss Carew: You know Ivan Belmont?" - -"Yes," with a contemptuous gesture. - -"He is a friend of mine; and if he knew about my trouble he would try -to help me, I think. Do you know where he is? Can you send word to him?" - -"I do not know anything about his whereabouts." - -"You must find out. You must tell him that I, Fedora, have sent you -to him. Tell him I command him to come to me here. Return to me with -a letter from Ivan Belmont, and you shall hear the truth about the -diamonds. I swear it!" - -They gazed at each other--Fedora flushed and eager, Kathleen excited, -sorely tempted. - -"What say you? Is my price too great?" demanded the prisoner. - -"No," Kathleen replied. Turning to go, she said: - -"I will surely find Ivan Belmont, and bring the letter." - -The door closed. The prisoner was again alone within the grated cell. - - * * * * * - - -The hours dragged on and brought the gloomy night. With it there -hovered over the great city the black and vulture wings of a terrible -storm. It hissed, it roared, it swept with devastating, cyclonic force -through that area where the prison was situated. Trees, roofs, houses -even, yielded to its terrific fury, and flew like feathers before its -angry breath. The poor prisoners, cowering in superstitious terror -before the awful voices of the warring elements, prayed to God for -mercy; but the answer seemed far, far away, for suddenly there came a -terrible, deafening roar; the earth seemed to rock like a cradle, and -the great stone tower of the prison fell with a sound as though heaven -and hell had clashed, while lurid flames shot up from the awful ruin -into the midnight air. Sentence of death had already been pronounced on -many who were awaiting trial, and many a soul went up in that holocaust -of smoke and flame and tempest to render an account of the deeds done -in the flesh. Some few survived, some few escaped. Where was Fedora? - - - - -CHAPTER LXIV. - -"YOUR FATHER IS GEORGE HARRISON, THE CONVICT!" - - - It is a common fate--a woman's lot-- - To waste on one the riches of her soul, - Who takes the wealth she gives him, but can not - Repay the interest, and much less the whole. - ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. - - -"Another letter! Gad, they come thick and fast! Ta, ta, Fedora! sorry -I haven't time to read it; but a fellow must look out for his own -neck, and mine has felt deuced uncomfortable ever since I found out -that that devil Jack Wren is on my trail. How _did_ he strike it, I -wonder; for I thought we had covered up our tracks very cleverly. But -the fellow's a sleuth-hound, they tell me, and I've got to escape him. -Poor Fedora! it's a pity to leave you to your fate, but the sooner I -pack up and be afloat on the briny, the better for my neck," muttered -Ivan Belmont, airily, as he moved about his shabby apartment, in a very -unsavory quarter of Boston, gathering together his belongings, that -were scattered about on chairs and tables. - -The letter from Fedora that he had found on coming in he tossed unread -into the fire, and as he ransacked the bureau drawers he hummed, -carelessly: - - "'Long have I been true to you, - Now I'm true no longer.'" - -It was long past midnight. The tempest had spent its force, and only -a fitful, soughing wind and gusty dashes of icy rain remained as -souvenirs of its terrific fury. Its worst force had not reached this -neighborhood, and Ivan little dreamed that the prison doors had been -hurled asunder by the blind force of nature, and that his partner in -wickedness had been released and was hastening to their rendezvous in -eager joy. - -Recklessly he flung on the floor her dainty garments and pretty -trinkets, seeking the diamonds he had given her in the days when he -loved her first--love that had long ago tired, and had now grown -heedless, indifferent. - -"But what the devil did she do with them? I'm positive she left them -here. Can they have been stolen? They are worth a pretty penny to me -now--they would help me to get away from this place that is getting too -hot to hold me." - -"Help you to get away, you coward! Who helped me, I wonder? The devil, -I suppose. They say he takes care of his own!" said a mocking voice -behind him. He turned with a start. There stood Fedora! - -Fedora or her ghost? The voice was there, the glittering, steel-blue -eyes; but where was all the prettiness, where the burnished golden -locks, the silk attire? This woman was drenched with rain, clothed -in rags, and the disheveled tresses that straggled over her brow and -shoulders had turned dead white, and their silver gleam was in awful -contrast with the drops of blood that trickled down her ashen face. - -He stared like one turned to stone. He doubted the evidence of his own -eyes. That voice, those eyes--but could it be Fedora? - -"Yes, it is I," she said, answering that mute, wondering look. "I am -here, escaped from the wreck of my prison to find you--you dastardly -thief--trying to steal my jewels, your own gift to me! You shall suffer -for this night's work! Villain! you tempted me to aid you in your -crimes, then left me to suffer the penalty alone. But I will betray -you, and you shall know how it feels to be shut within prison walls, -deserted by the one who swore fealty forever in happier days!" - -He had been so disgusted, so enraged, that he was about to retort in -angry, sneering words that would drive her forever from him; but at her -threatening words his defiant mood changed to one of cringing, abject -fear. Though inwardly shrinking from her altered looks in keen disgust, -he dared not show his feelings. He must temporize; he must turn her -from her savage purpose. - -He approached her; he held out his hand. - -"Ta, ta, Dolly; we are not going to part in this fashion, are we? -Surely you did not mind if I sold the diamonds to get you out of -prison. It was a big bribe, I know; but the guard would not listen to -a penny less. To-morrow you should have been free; but how lucky that -you escaped, and we have the jewels still!" He slipped his arm around -her, and--in spite of her anger, in spite of her suspicions of his -falsity--the woman's head dropped against his breast. - -She loved him with all the heart she had, this petted darling of the -foot-lights; she who had trifled with the hearts of nobler men had -found in this weak nature her ideal, and he led her on to lower and -lower depths until she was wrecked on the shoals of sin. - -Nestling in the arms that were so reluctant to hold her, Fedora told -the man how she had escaped from her prison in the company of an aged -prisoner--a convict under a life-sentence for murder. - -"You have often told me that your father was dead, Ivan," she said. -"Did you believe it, or was it a falsehood?" - -"I--I--believed it," he replied, weakly. - -"No, you did not," she replied, triumphantly. "Ah, my lord, how proud -you have been of your connection with the Carews! Yet your father is an -escaped convict under sentence for life! Have you forgotten his name? -Let me refresh your memory. George Harrison--alias Dutch Fred. Ah, you -start--you remember! Yes, he told me his whole history, and I gave him -the address of your mother--once his wife. He will go to her, he said, -and demand half her fortune!" - -Ivan Belmont was silent a moment from chagrin. Then he rose superior to -the situation. - -"Ha! ha! how the _mater_ will rave!" he laughed. "I wish papa success -in plucking the madame. The devil knows what a time I had coaxing and -wheedling pennies out of her pocket." - -The vision rising in his mind of this proud mother and sister's -consternation roused his risibilities, and he laughed loud and long. -They had discarded him--flung him off like a dog. What a glorious -retribution! - -But they turned presently from even this savory morsel to their own -affairs. Both were in peril, and it would not do to remain in reach of -the law. Yet Ivan was by no means ready to give up his cherished plans. -They sat far into the wintry dawn, exchanging confidences and plotting -new schemes, to be unraveled on Fate's dark loom. - - - - -CHAPTER LXV. - -A STARTLING DÉNOUEMENT. - - - You may bury it deep, and leave behind you - The land, the people that knew your slain; - It will push the sods from its grave and find you - On wastes of water and desert plain. - ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. - - -"Jones says there is a horrible old man down-stairs, mamma, asking for -you, and will not go away until he sees you," Alpine Belmont said, -entering her mother's _boudoir_ one rainy evening just a few days after -the cyclone. - -"I will not see him. I have just refused to see that old impostor--my -husband's brother, indeed!" contemptuously--"and I will not be annoyed -again. Tell Jones to send the old beggar away." - -Alpine was pale. Her eyes had a troubled look. - -"He says that he is not a beggar, mamma--that he has claims on you. -I am afraid you had better see him. He is making such a noise at the -door, and Jones says he is somewhat intoxicated." - -"Tell Jones to pitch him into the street." - -"He tried to, but the old man was more than a match for him. Do come, -mamma; it's so disgraceful, the sensation he is creating. People are -gathering around the house. Let us have him in and try to pacify him." - -Her arguments conquered, and Mrs. Carew sent down word to admit the old -man to a small room where the servants were accustomed to come to her -for orders. - -Alpine's trepidation had somewhat unnerved her mother, and as she swept -into the little room her air was a trifle less haughty, and her proud -eyes gazed anxiously about for the cause of this commotion. - -There he lay, sprawled upon a luxurious sofa--an old, blear-eyed man in -ragged garments, but with a very close-shaven head, and the stubble of -several days' growth upon his chin. His keen, close-set eyes devoured -with a hungry gaze the handsome face before him. - -A cry of surprise and terror burst from her blanching lips: - -"George!--George Harrison!--_you_!" - -"Yes, George Harrison--your husband!" answered the intruder, and a -hoarse cry of despair broke upon the air from the lips of Alpine, who -had glided in unheeded by both. - -She stood behind her mother, gazing with affrighted eyes at the man's -coarse, leering face. - -Mrs. Carew recoiled--she threw out her white hands, all glittering -with costly rings, as though to shut out some terrible sight. - -The man laughed at her terror and, gliding forward, seized and held her -hands. - -"Are you glad to see me, my wife? Come, give me a kiss for the old -times' sake, my beauty!" - -She struggled with him, loathing the offered caresses, and Alpine -sprung to her mother's assistance, beating him back with dainty jeweled -hands. - -He turned then and saw her for the first time. His narrow eyes dilated -with surprise. - -"Why, you pretty wild-cat, you must be my daughter Alpine! How do you -do, my dear? Give your papa a kiss, dear!" - -"You are not--not----" she choked over the word, and he answered, with -sudden gravity: - -"I am your father, George Harrison, my little girl, and I went to -prison for life for killing a man who was once my dearest friend. Why? -Well, your mother might tell you if she would. I will spare her for -your sake. You seem to love her." He seemed to have grown suddenly -sober after the first sight of his daughter's face. "Well, she has -prospered, has she not? She is rich and grand, while I have lain in -prison all these years, but a few miles from her, my heart burning -with hate for her, and aching with love for my boy and girl, Ivan and -Alpine, while she taught them to forget that they ever had a father -other than Vincent Carew, the proud millionaire. Alpine, speak to me -for once; call me father!" - -A spasm of pain contracted the worn features he raised longingly to her -face. Love shone in his eyes, poor convict that he was, and although -he had come to curse the mother and extort money from her, the memory -of it fled from him now as he gazed imploringly on Alpine's lovely, -soulless face. With outstretched hands he besought her kindness. - -Surely the fiends in hell could have had no more hateful look than the -girl turned upon the suppliant as he bowed the knee before her so -entreatingly. Angrily she struck at the outstretched, toil-worn hands, -exclaiming: - -"You have no claim on me. I hate you--hate you!" - -Could a strong man's heart break for so common a thing as a child's -hardness and ingratitude? It would seem so, for the escaped felon -turned aside with such a look on his face as it might have worn had a -dagger pierced his heart. It seemed as if he meant to go. He staggered -toward the door, tripped, and fell prostrate. His face quivered with -one or two spasms, then he lay still and dead, his white face upturned -to their startled gaze. - -"Dead!" muttered Mrs. Carew, staring down in mingled terror and relief. - -"Dead!" echoed Alpine, in a sort of awe. - -And for a few minutes there was a terrible silence. - -Then Alpine crept to her mother's side. - -"Mamma, was it true?" - -"Yes, it was true. There, you have my awful secret. Bury it deep in -your heart, Alpine, for no one must ever know. Now we must call the -servants to put the body out. We can not have anything so vulgar as a -dead tramp lying in the house!" - -She moved toward the door, but her steps were arrested by a stern voice: - -"Stay!" - -She turned with a start and shudder. - -A man had emerged from behind the curtain. At first sight it seemed to -be Uncle Ben Carew, the old man so cordially despised. - -But with a rapid hand he flung off wig, whiskers, and spectacles, -standing revealed in majestic beauty--Vincent Carew! - -"My God!" she cried, and flew to embrace him. - -He repulsed her with scorn and loathing. - -"How dare you, you Jezebel?" he cried. "Down on your knees to that dead -man there, you and your cowardly daughter, and pray his forgiveness -for the sin that wrecked his life! Vile creature that you are, you -would throw him into the street like a dog! No; let him lie there to be -buried at my expense. I heard all that was said. I know all your guilty -secrets!" - -"Oh, Vincent, forgive me, forgive me! My temptation was so great!" she -cried, frantically; but he spurned her outstretched hands. - -"Can one forgive a fiend?" he said, sternly. "I tell you I know -all--the plot that broke my Zaidee's heart, and drove her to madness -and death--perhaps you murdered her--who knows?" - -"No, no--I swear I did not! I am innocent of that charge. She was so -young, so jealous, it was easy to drive her mad. But, Vincent, it was -for love of you! Can you not forgive so great a love?" - -If scorn could have blasted her, his look would have struck her dead at -his feet. - -"Forgiveness is not possible," he answered, bleakly, and silenced her -with a gesture of his hand. "Listen," he said, looking her in the face: -"I was not lost at sea when my ship burned. I was cast away on a desert -island, where I remained until a few months ago. When I returned I took -a fancy to masquerade to see how matters were going. There is no Uncle -Ben. I never had a brother, but the disguise has served its purpose. I -know you now--you and your scheming daughter. Now listen to your fate. -No, do not speak. Hear me out. I will keep the secret of your disgrace; -and--you were to have sailed to-morrow--you two--for Europe. Your -trunks are packed--your passage taken. You will go, just the same, but -you will never return. You have no claim on me. You belong to that dead -man there. Go now to your rooms. I wish never to look on your faces -again, but the curse of a broken-hearted man will follow you to your -grave!" - - - - -CHAPTER LXVI. - -"I WILL GO TO THE OLD HAUNTED MILL," SAID KATHLEEN, BRAVELY. - - - "We must love and unlove and forget, dear, - Fashion and shatter the spell - Of how many a love in a life, dear, - Ere we learn to love once and love well." - - -Kathleen Carew sat in the library of Helen Fox's home, with her cheek -bowed in the hollow of her delicate hand, and a very sad expression in -her downcast eyes. She was thinking of the tragedy of two weeks ago, by -which the prison walls had been rent asunder, sending so many wicked -souls to their account with God. - -"And in that awful wreck Fedora perished--poor guilty soul!--and -with her died the secret I would have risked so much to know. Now I -shall never know it; but Ralph, dear Ralph, I must trust you blindly. -I must not let this dark cloud of suspicion drift between us. But, -oh, Heaven! that it might have been lifted!" she half sobbed, in her -self-absorption. - -In those two weeks many things had transpired of interest to Kathleen. -The Carews had gone abroad, and, although Kathleen knew it not, they -had faded forever out of the life that they had done so much to wreck -and ruin. Uncle Ben, as he still called himself, had not yet disclosed -his identity to his daughter, but kept up his _incognito_ for reasons -best known to himself. The grand Carew mansion remained closed and -silent, and people said that Mrs. Carew and Miss Belmont intended to be -absent for years. - -Ralph Chainey, under the magical influence of renewed hope, was fast -recovering his health again. Kathleen and Helen had been to see him -several times, and, although no tender words had been uttered between -them, Ralph no longer feared and dreaded handsome Teddy. He fancied -that all would come right between him and his darling. - -But Kathleen was very sad at heart. She had the greatest esteem and -regard for her betrothed, and shrunk from telling him the unflattering -truth that her heart belonged to another man. - -"He has been so good and kind to me, how can I grieve him so?" she -thought. - -The ring of the door-bell startled her from her sad thoughts. - -Several letters were handed in. On one she recognized the writing of -her cousin Chester. She broke the seal with eager impatience, and as -she read on smiles began to dimple her scarlet lips. - -Helen, who was reading her own letters, was startled at a gay -exclamation from her friend. - -"Oh, Helen! good news! Chester and Daisy are--engaged!" - -"But I thought it was you he loved, my dear." - -"Oh, a mere fancy! It is that dear, darling Daisy Lynn he loves. And -she--there's a little note from her, too--she has forgotten or outlived -that old love--gives her whole tender heart to Chester. Listen, Helen, -how he writes me--apologetically, you know, fearing I may think him -fickle." - -She read aloud, with a mischievous smile playing round her lips: - - "'Both born of beauty at one birth, - She held o'er hearts a kindred sway, - And wore the only form on earth - That could have lured my heart away.'" - -Helen smiled in sympathy. - -"Poor boy! I'm glad he's to be made happy," she said. Then she -nervously fingered a letter she held. - -"_Mine_ is from Loyal," she said, bashfully. - -"From Loyal? Oh, Helen, is he ever coming back to America? You cruel -girl! why did you send him away?" - -"I did not know my own mind," the beautiful young girl answered, in a -low voice, and then she added, softly: "You remember those sweet lines -of Jean Ingelow? - - "'Thou didst set thy foot on the ship, and sail - To the ice-fields and the snow; - Thou wert sad, for thy love did not avail, - And the end I could not know. - How could I tell I should love thee to-day - Whom that day I held not dear? - How could I know I should love thee away, - When I did not love thee anear?'" - -"Oh, you darling, I'm so glad!" cried Kathleen, springing to her -friend's side and giving her a girlish hug. "That dear Loyal Graham! -I always thought he was perfectly grand, and I know you will be happy -with him. Does he _know_ yet, darling?" - -"Yes; and he is coming home to _me_;" and her soft blue eyes drooped -with a loving smile to the dear letter. - -Ah, the gladness, ah, the madness, ah, the magic of a letter! - -And Helen recalled the beautiful lines of Adelaide Proctor: - - "Dear, I tried to write you such a letter - As would tell you all my heart to-day. - Written Love is poor; one word were better-- - Easier, too, a thousand times, to say. - - "I can tell you all: fears, doubts unheeding, - While I can be near you, hold your hand-- - Looking right into your eyes, and reading - Reassurance that you understand. - - "Yet I wrote it through; then lingered, thinking - Of its reaching you--what hour, what day; - Till I felt my heart and courage sinking - With a strange, new, wondering dismay. - - "Then I leant against the casement, turning - Tearful eyes towards the far-off west, - Where the golden evening light was burning, - Till my heart throbbed back again to rest. - - "And I thought: 'Love's soul is not in fetters, - Neither space nor time keep souls apart; - Since I cannot--dare not--send my letters, - Through the silence I will send my heart. - - "'She will hear, while twilight shades infold her; - All the gathered Love she knows so well-- - Deepest love my words have ever told her, - Deeper still--all I could never tell. - - "'Wondering at the strange, mysterious power - That has touched her heart, then she will say: - "Some one whom I love, this very hour - Thinks of me and loves me far away."' - - "So I dreamed and watched the stars' far splendour - Glimmering on the azure darkness start, - While the star of trust rose bright and tender - Through the twilight shadows of my heart." - -"I must go and tell mamma that I shall marry Loyal, after all," said -the blushing Helen, gliding from the room; and then Kathleen turned to -her other letter. - -It was superscribed in a strange hand--feminine, yet bold and dashing. - -"It is a strange hand," Kathleen said to herself, as she tore it open; -but stranger yet were the words it contained--strange, few, mysterious: - - "If you wish to have full proof of the guilt or innocence of the - man you love, come alone at twilight this evening to the old Cooper - saw-mill, where I am dying. I can not survive the night. Do not - hesitate about coming. I know that a beautiful young girl like you - will do and dare all for love and happiness, and it is all-important - that you should know what I have to tell you. If I die with the secret - untold, you will forever rue it. Come without fail, secretly and - _alone_. Destroy this letter. - - "ONE WHO KNOWS ALL." - -Kathleen read and reread this strange letter with fascinated eyes. - -"I know the old Cooper saw-mill," she murmured. "It is on the old -country road where we used to drive so often, near the glen and the -waterfall. I have seen old Myron Cooper, too, that strange old man with -his long gray duster. People said he wrote poetry as wild and gloomy -as the glen where he lived. Yes, I will go, although they say the old -mill is haunted after nightfall. But my unknown correspondent is right. -A young girl will do and dare much for love--love, that mighty passion -that moves the whole world." - -She spent the remainder of the day in restless thought, longing for the -hour to come when she should go upon her strange mission, and yet half -ashamed of the longing to know all the truth about her lover. - -"Why is it that I can not trust him wholly?" she asked herself; but -the reckless curiosity of a woman's nature drove her forward on that -perilous quest fraught with mystery and danger. "I must _know_!" she -declared, passionately, to herself. - - - - -CHAPTER LXVII. - -TEDDY'S LOVE LETTERS. - - - "Closely shut within my chamber, - Where the fire is burning bright, - All these letters, long since written, - I must read and burn to-night." - - -"I wonder what has detained Jack Wren? He promised to be here this -evening at five o'clock sharp. Here it is six," Teddy Darrell said, -impatiently, as he looked at his watch, then lingered dreamily a moment -over the fair face of Kathleen smiling up at him from within the golden -lid. - -"Sweet darling! in a few more days she will be mine," he murmured, and -forgot Jack Wren in sweet anticipations of his wedding-day now near at -hand. - -Teddy was waiting in his rooms for the detective; and now, to beguile -the time, he took some letters from his inside pocket and began to run -over their perfumed contents, smiling softly now and then to himself. - -Then he got up, walked about the room, shook himself together and -sighed, then laughed. - -"Poor little dears! it's hard to give you up, after all." - -The "little dears" probably referred to Teddy's old sweethearts, -whose names were "legion"--such a string of them there was: Hatties, -Helens, Lauras, Gussies, Saras, Emmies, Roses, Fredas, Annies, Nellies, -Katies, Lenas, Noras, Mauds, Nannies, and so on through a list of the -belles and beauties of several seasons, whose letters and photographs -were treasured in Teddy's desk, soon to be ruefully sacrificed to the -fire-fiend; for "Benedict, the married man," must not carry any of -these sentimental mementoes of the past into his new life. - - "Here a dainty school-girl's letter - Still retains its faint perfume, - But the little hand that wrote it - Molders in a foreign tomb. - Close beside it lies another - In an awkward, girlish hand, - Desperately sentimental-- - Ah! I now can understand - Just how silly two such lovers - As we were then must have been-- - She about a year my junior, - I a youngster just nineteen!" - -Teddy unlocked a drawer of his desk and brought out a miscellaneous -pile of letters, photographs, faded flowers, and locks of hair of every -shade known to woman's head. I am ashamed to record it of Kathleen's -prospective bridegroom that he cast glances of unfeigned regret -at these treasures as he prepared to devote them to the flames--a -sacrifice on the altar of his love for Kathleen. - -How he lingered over those pretty photographs!--over Rose, the -beautiful actress, in the dress she had worn as Iza in "The Clemenceau -Case." - -"Ah, Rose was a model girl!" he laughed, as he laid it down and turned -to stately Laura in the two-thousand-dollar gown, the very envy of all -her feminine friends when she wore it to Madame Frivolity's ball. Next -to it was Gussie, with her sweet and serious face, the dark curls lying -softly against her temples, the dimpled white shoulders peeping above -the little sleeves of that simple white lace dress in which Teddy had -liked her best. He gazed long and earnestly at the girlish face, and a -memory came to him of that moonlight evening in the vine-covered arbor -when Gussie's arms had clung about his neck, drawing his dark, handsome -face down close to hers while the blue-gray eyes gazed tenderly into -his dark ones as she whispered, in answer to his question, "My dear old -Dark Eyes, I love _you_!" - -"Upon my soul, I believe that flirtation hit me hard! She was the -sweetest of them all, and I was almost sorry I let her marry Bob. Ah, -well, Gussie, dear, I too shall be married soon, and these bitter-sweet -memories of ours must be tossed into the rag-bag of the past!" - -He sorted out _her_ letters, and placed them with her picture in a -secret drawer, for he had a lingering fondness for his old sweetheart, -pretty Gussie, the famous novelist. - -"I will just keep these," he said. "I don't believe Kathleen would -care, for she reads and loves Gussie's novels. And if anything should -happen that I do not marry Kathleen--and it was strange the way she -acted about Chainey--I should like to know I have these still." - -He gathered all his mementoes and, with a genuine sigh, flung them upon -the glowing blaze. - -"It is but just to Kathleen," he said, trying to stifle his regret. - - "Back the mists of years are rolling - As these relics of the past, - With a wondrous fascination, - Have their spells around me cast. - Crowds of tender recollections - Fill my eyes with unshed tears; - Dimmer grows the glowing future-- - Dimmer till it disappears." - -Teddy had a warm heart, and it was no disloyalty to Kathleen that made -him sigh so sadly. He would not have exchanged her for any other girl -he had ever loved; but somehow the thought of Gussie haunted him. She -had been his first love, and it was a lover's quarrel that had driven -them asunder. That was several years ago, and now she was married and a -shining literary light: but it was quite certain that if ever Kathleen -had a rival in Teddy's thoughts, it would be this one lost love. - -A loud rap at the door startled him. It was Jack Wren, who entered in -haste with an excited face. - -"I had quite given you up, Mr. Wren," said Teddy, startled out of his -tender recollections. - -"Darrell, come with me. We have no time to lose. I have made a -startling discovery. I have a cab waiting below, and you must come with -me to the rescue of one you love, for she is at this moment in peril of -her life! I have been on Ivan Belmont's track ever since I saw you, and -he and Fedora, who escaped from the prison when the cyclone shattered -it, are together now at Cooper's saw-mill, in Wild Cat Glen, plotting a -terrible crime!" breathlessly answered Jack Wren. - - - - -CHAPTER LXVIII. - -IN MORTAL PERIL. - - - Listen to the water-wheel - All the live long day-- - How the clinking of the mill - Wears the hours away. - --_Old Song_. - - -People always wondered why old Cooper ever built his saw-mill in -so wild a place as that lonely glen; but the scene, the crazy old -building, and the strange old man, all seemed to chime together, and -no one was surprised that when he died he expressed the wish to be -buried in the glen, close to the old mill, that his dreamless rest -might be soothed by the sound of the grinding wheel day by day. Madame -Rumor said that the old man's ghost haunted the wild, forbidding gorge, -and Kathleen shuddered with dread as she climbed up the rocky path, -with the cascade tumbling wildly beneath, on her rendezvous with her -unknown correspondent. She had come within half a mile in a cab, which -she left waiting for her while she made the rest of the journey on -foot. To escape Helen's kind inquiries, she had said she was going to -spend the night with Mrs. Stone, which she really intended doing on her -return. - -How gloomy the old mill looked in the pallor of the swiftly falling -night! All winter the snows had held it bound in an icy thrall, but now -the April sun had sent the mass of foaming, dashing water tumbling over -the falls, and turned the old saw. What a scene for a crime! thought -Kathleen, with a thrill of superstitious dread, as she hurried on in -the deepening gloom, casting furtive glances about her, as though she -expected to see Cooper's disembodied spirit hovering near. Frightened -and nervous, she half regretted that she had come, and at the hooting -of an owl in the tree near by, she uttered a frightened scream which -rang through the gloomy glen in hollow, reverberating echoes, and fell -prostrate on the ground. - -An icy fear seemed to clutch her heart. It seemed to her that she had -no strength to rise to go on. The gloom, the darkness, coupled with the -mystery of the whole affair, began to weigh with crushing force upon -her spirits. - -She laid her fair golden head down on the rough stones, and prayed -piteously: - -"Dear God! give me strength to go on, to bear whatever is before me! -For, oh! I love him so, I love him so! and I _must_ know if he is -worthy of that love! If he is not--if they tell me he is guilty of that -sin with which Fedora accused him, dear God, let me die! I can not -live and know him false and wicked! I would sooner throw myself over -those rocks down into the terrible cascade, and end my wretched young -life!" - -New courage came with that incoherent prayer, and struggling to her -feet, she tottered on, murmuring faintly: - -"Oh, Ralph, dear Ralph, how much I must love you to risk so much for -your sake!" - -She gained the threshold at last. With a hopeful glance upward at the -feeble glimmering light in the window, she knocked upon the door. It -was jerked rudely open on the instant, and Kathleen saw before her a -frowsy-looking old woman with a short clay pipe in her mouth. - -This repulsive old woman thrust out a hand and dragged the trembling -girl into the mill. - -"What made you so long? I've been expecting you more than an hour!" she -exclaimed, in a tone of savage anger. - -Not waiting for an answer, she dragged the girl rudely along with her -into a small room, and, turning quickly, slipped the bolt into the lock. - -Kathleen gave a startled glance around the room. No one was there -but the old hag, who was gazing at her with malicious eyes, in whose -tigerish gleam of hate there was something so strangely familiar that -she shuddered with terror, and a name leaped to her lips: - -"Fedora!" - -"Yes, Fedora; but you have keen eyes to see through this disguise," -cried the woman. "Do you remember, I told you I would murder you if I -ever got out of prison? Well, I shall keep my vow!" She sprung savagely -toward her, but at the cruel grasp of her foe Kathleen uttered a moan -of horror and slipped limply to the floor like one already dead. - -"Is she dead so easily? I hope not, for I want to torture her first!" -hissed Fedora, spurning the prostrate body with her foot. - -She tore open the door at a slight tap upon it, and stood face to face -with Ivan Belmont. - -He spoke hurriedly: - -"Ralph Chainey is coming, Fedora! Quick! lock the girl in, and come out -and meet him alone. I must not be seen yet." - -Fedora obeyed him, and Kathleen, coming back to life with a shuddering -gasp, found herself alone, locked in, and heard outside the voice of -her lover, and the words spoken held her spell-bound. - -"Kathleen? Where is Kathleen? She told me to meet her here." - -With a hissing laugh of savage hate, Fedora flung off the hood that -she wore and stood revealed, scarred, hideous, gray-haired, but Fedora -still--the woman who held his honor in her light keeping and bore his -name. - -"Kathleen is dead!" she laughed. "Dead, and I killed her without a -blow! My weapon was a lie. It slew her as fatally as a dagger!" - -He could not speak. He could only stare at her in dumb horror as she -continued: - -"Do you see these diamonds flashing in my ears? They are the ones that -were stolen from Kathleen Carew the night of the attempted murder, when -you found and saved her at Lincoln Station. I told her that you, my -husband, did that foul deed, and robbing her of her money and jewels, -brought them to me. A fiendish lie, you say? Ha! ha! but it killed her, -all the same. Do you want to know the real thief? It was Ivan Belmont, -my lover; and she was slain by a lie!" - -Kathleen had struggled with difficulty to her feet. She tottered to -the little window that looked into the mill; she saw her noble lover's -handsome face, and uttered a piercing cry: - -"Ralph! Ralph! I am here! Save me! Save me!" - -He sprung toward the voice. The movement was fatal. - -Ivan Belmont had stolen up softly behind him, bearing a heavy mallet in -his hand. A moment more, and it was lifted high in air, and Kathleen's -anguished eyes beheld her darling struck down before her into apparent -death! - -Kathleen would never forget the horror of that moment. It seemed -to her that she went mad with grief and terror. Shriek after shriek -burst from her lips, and she beat her little hands wildly against -the smoky little window-pane, struggling wildly to get free. But the -fiends before her did not heed her cries. Between them they lifted the -inanimate form of their victim, and bearing it a short distance away, -but in full view of the window, they laid it on a plank upon a table -in front of the large steel circular saw. Kathleen saw his arms fall -limply to his side, and the dark curly head drop back heavily. The -death-white face, the closed eyes, assured her that he was either in a -deep swoon or already dead from the terrible blow that had felled him -to the ground. - -Hushing the piercing shrieks upon her blanched lips, Kathleen watched -in terrible suspense the movements of the two fiends. - -Perhaps they doubted whether their victim was already dead, for they -bent over him, feeling his pulse and listening for his heart. - -"He lives," Ivan Belmont said, with fiendish joy. "Let us bind him hand -and foot, and leave him on the plank till he revives. I want to enjoy -his agony when he realizes the awful death that lies before him. He -must know that Kathleen is here, that she will witness his death, and -then meet the same horrible fate." - -It was a scene on which the devils in hell might have gloated: the -old mill, with its dim lights and strange, flickering shadows; the -prostrate man, with his death-white face; the two fiends binding him -with strong cords, lest he should recover and escape their vengeful -fury; and looking on with anguished eyes at the doom of her beloved was -our beautiful Kathleen. - -"He revives!" hissed Fedora. - -"Good!" laughed Ivan, hoarsely; and he looked back over his shoulder at -Kathleen's convulsed, almost supernaturally pale face at the window. - -"Ha! ha! my proud lady, you would send me to prison for stealing your -diamonds, would you? But I foiled your game! It was I that decoyed -you to Richmond with a lying letter; I that flung you into the deep, -dark river to perish. Well, you escaped then, but you will not be so -fortunate now. Do you realize the fate that lies before you? I decoyed -both you and your lover here. Why, you ask? For revenge upon you both. -Do you see yonder glittering saw, with its hungry teeth, waiting to cut -your delicate body to atoms and drink your life-blood? Well, we are -only waiting for you to see your lover dead before we devote you to the -same torture. He is dead already, you say? No; he is reviving. See that -tremor creep along his frame! See his eyelids tremble! Ha! his eyes -open! he sees! he understands! Oh, the anguish on his face! How happy -it makes me! Look, Fedora, at his tortures. Are we not already avenged?" - -Her answer was a laugh of fiendish triumph. - -"Oh, yes; it is glorious--glorious! I am in no haste for their death. I -like to see them suffering like this. I want to prolong their torture!" -she exclaimed. "What do you say, dear Ivan? Shall we let them live a -few hours yet to realize the horrors that surround them? What avails -their love, their beauty, their wealth now? To-morrow they will be -lifeless clods, and I the rich widow, Mrs. Chainey!" - -"Baffled!" said a hoarse, triumphant voice, and, turning, she met -Ralph Chainey's burning gaze. "You mistake," said her victim, faintly -but audibly. "I made my will weeks ago, and divided my whole fortune -between my mother and Kathleen." - -A scream of baffled fury escaped her lips; but Ivan said, quickly: - -"You can contest the will, Fedora." - -"Yes; I will fight for my rights to the bitter end!" she shrieked, then -sprung toward him in a fury. "Let us end this farce; let us show them -no further mercy. He dies now, Ivan! Go, set the saw in motion!" - -He moved forward in eager obedience to her order, and Ralph Chainey -realized that his moments were indeed numbered, and that death in the -most horrible and soul-sickening shape was approaching. He made an -almost superhuman effort to burst the bonds that held him fast, but -the attempt was useless. He was weakened by the illness through which -he had just passed, and could not move. With a prayer in his heart -to Heaven, he turned his dark, despairing eyes toward the beautiful, -anguished face at the window. - -"Courage, my own love!" he called to her, bravely. "Death is but a -fleeting pang, and then it will be life forever. Turn your sweet eyes -away, my own Kathleen; do not torture yourself with the sight of my -fate. You will come to me soon, and we----" His voice broke, drowned by -the whir of the wheel as it began its revolutions, slowly drawing the -plank with its doomed victim within its jaws. - -Oh, God, what a moment! - -Surely the pitying angels, who know and see all things, hovered near -and aided weak, despairing Kathleen in her frantic struggle for liberty. - -As Ivan Belmont stepped out to open the water-chute, she sprung with -a strength born of despair against the door. The rusty lock yielded -to her onslaught, the door fell crashing beneath her weight, and -staggering, tottering, her loosened golden hair flying like a banner -behind her, Kathleen fled across the moonlit space, the torturing sound -of the revolving wheel grating on her ears, the flying sawdust blinding -her eyes, and gained his side. Brave Kathleen, noble Kathleen, you are -not one-half a second too soon! The swift revolutions of the saw are -drawing your doomed lover closer to the encroaching steel! Throw out in -an agony those fair white arms, gifted with such momentary, wondrous -strength, grasp your loved one wildly, eagerly, and draw him madly from -his couch of deadly peril! Saved! And watching angels weep joyful tears -at the victory of love over hate and revenge. - -Fedora, dazed with wonder, mad with rage, darted forward to thwart -Kathleen's angelic purpose. But Heaven had interposed. Ere she reached -them, Kathleen's frenzied hands had dragged Ralph from the fatal plank. -His falling body struck the fiend, tripping and throwing her violently -upon the cruel saw. Blindly she threw up her arms, shrieked in demoniac -fear, and then--there came a horrible, grating sound, the sickening -smell of fresh blood spurting into the air, and--Fedora's headless body -fell with an awful thud upon the floor, while from the gloom beyond -there followed upon her dying shriek the sound of pistol-shots and -men's angry voices! Jack Wren and Teddy Darrell had arrived upon the -scene; but only that the heavenly hosts had helped Kathleen, they would -have come too late. - -Ivan Belmont, in the midst of his exultation over his terrible crime, -had met a swift retribution. Turning to rejoin Fedora, and gloat -with her over the destruction of their victims, he was confronted by -the detective and Teddy Darrell. Snatching a pistol from his breast, -he fired at the foremost one, and received in return a fatal bullet -from the ready weapon of the dashing detective. He fell dead, and his -crime-stained soul wandered forth on the wings of the night, with that -of Fedora, to the realms of darkness and eternal gloom. - - * * * * * - -Hastening into the mill in search of Kathleen, the two men were -horrified to find upon the floor the ghastly, decapitated body of -Fedora. - -In another moment they saw near at hand the inanimate forms of Ralph -and Kathleen. - -"Oh, Heaven, we are too late! They are all dead!" exclaimed Teddy in -anguish; but a low moan from Kathleen arrested him. - -He stooped over his beautiful betrothed and lifted her in his arms. -She opened her eyes, but they gazed blankly into his, and Kathleen -murmured, gladly: - -"Ralph, darling! I have saved you from a terrible death. Thank God! -thank God! for I love only you, and had you died, I should have gone -mad with grief!" - -Teddy Darrell started and shivered, but the arms that held Kathleen -did not let her fall, only pressed her closer to his throbbing heart. - -"She loves Ralph Chainey. That is the key to the mystery of her -coldness for me," he murmured, sadly. "Oh, my beautiful love! must I -then lose you? I loved you so, and I would have tried to make you so -happy. Must I give you up?" And only the pitying angels knew the pang -that rent his heart. - - - - -CHAPTER LXIX. - -"I'LL TAKE YOU HOME AGAIN, KATHLEEN." - - - I know you love me, Kathleen, dear, - Your heart was ever fond and true, - I always feel when you are near - That life holds nothing dear but you. - Oh, I will take you back, Kathleen, - To where your heart will feel no pain, - And when the fields are fresh and green - I'll take you to your home again. - THOMAS P. WESTENDORF. - - -But true love is never selfish. Teddy Darrell's heart bore that cruel -wrench gravely and in silence. They took Ralph and Kathleen home; and a -few days later, when the girl was stronger and better, her noble young -betrothed came to her and bravely gave her back her promise. - -"I know all your love for Ralph," he said. "I know how bravely you have -held to your promise to me. I have not one unkind thought of you, dear, -and I give you back your vow, for I know you would be happier with him -than me. But think sometimes of me, Kathleen, for I shall always love -you." - -He meant what he said, and he thought it would be so, but something -happened just a few weeks later that changed all the world to handsome -Teddy Darrell. - -Far away, in a beautiful Southern home, where the magnolias bloomed and -the orange groves drooped their white blossoms down on her dark head, a -beautiful young widow laid aside her pen too often to dream of one who -had been her lover in the dear old days, before that fatal quarrel had -driven her into a marriage for pique with the proud, rich man who had -now been lying for more than a year beneath a costly granite shaft in -Howard Cemetery. - -To-day, in a magazine that she had been reading, some sweet, sad lines -had touched her heart. Obeying an uncontrollable impulse, she drew pen -and ink toward her, exclaiming: - -"What if I copy these sweet, sad verses and send them to my dear old -Dark Eyes? He is not married yet, I know, and I will send him the -notice of Bob's death with the verses; for I love Ted still, and I -would give the world to win him back!" - -And so the letter came to Teddy from that far-off Southern home, and he -read with tender eyes the little poem, entitled "Dark Eyes," which it -contained: - - Which eyes do I love the best, - Dark or blue or gray? - Each are beautiful and blest - In their way. - But I think if some sweet soul - Dearer to us than the rest - Shone through light or dark, we'd love - _That_ color best. - - One I loved in happier days, - Under happier skies, - One whose looks breathed only praise, - Had _dark_ eyes. - Darkly radiant eyes that rest - Nevermore to wake, - And I love _dark_ eyes the best - For _his_ sake. - - Dark eyes, oh, you haunt me yet - With your magic splendor! - All my heart holds one regret - Deep and tender. - Oft you come as all sweet things, - Memory-saddened, come; - As the scent of roses brings - Dead perfume. - - As the sadly dying strain - Of a song we used to know - Stirs the heart to sudden pain, - You come and go; - Shining on me in my dreams - With the light you used to wear, - Deepening with your starlight beams - My despair, - Till the sad heart in my breast - Throbbing seems to break, - And I love dark eyes the best - _For his sake_! - -Teddy's dark eyes grew dim, but he smiled as he exclaimed: - -"Bob had blue eyes, so she must mean _me_, for she used to call me her -'Dark Eyes.' Poor fellow! I'm sorry he died; but I do believe all the -old love for Gussie is coming back again. I'll take the first 'flier' -for the South." And, sure enough, it was only a few months later that -he bore away from the Crescent City the fairest flower of the Magnolia -State, his bonny bride. - -But it was long before Teddy's wedding-day that he had cards to attend -a grand reception at the Carew mansion on Commonwealth Avenue. - -It seemed that Mrs. Carew really meant to stay abroad for years, for -Madame Rumor said, in a week after their departure, that the handsome -old house had been rented to a rich and eccentric old man, a relative -of the late Vincent Carew. Kathleen herself was surprised when she -received that letter from Uncle Ben, far away in his country home, -telling her all about it. - -"I wanted to give you a big party on your betrothal to that grand young -actor, Ralph Chainey, my dear, so I rented the house from the agent, -and I want you to be sure to come, Kathleen," he wrote. "Never mind -about buying a new dress, dear. Uncle Ben is not as poor as he looks, -and you must come in your every-day dress. Go up to your own old room, -and you will find there a new dress and jewels, a gift from Uncle Ben." - -To know that Uncle Ben was rich was surprise enough, but when Helen and -Kathleen arrived with Mrs. Fox and Mrs. Stone at the mansion, she was -transported with joy to meet in the hall her aunt, Mrs. Franklyn, her -cousin Chester, and beautiful, happy Daisy Lynn. - -"Uncle Ben invited us on a long visit," they exclaimed, and hurried her -upstairs to the beautiful rooms once her own, but to which, for almost -two years, Kathleen had been a stranger. - -Kathleen, now the happy promised bride of noble Ralph Chainey, could -not keep back the tender tears as she crossed the threshold of the -familiar rooms; but Daisy wiped them away, begging her to look at her -new dress. - -"The people will be coming presently, and you don't want Mr. Chainey -to see you with pink rims around your beautiful dark eyes," she said, -gayly, and hurried her into the beautiful white dress costly enough for -a bride. - -"And here are these diamonds, Kathleen, that he gave you to replace -those that you lost by the villainy of Ivan Belmont," continued Daisy, -lifting a set of glorious diamonds from their white velvet bed. - -They slipped through her white fingers like rivers of light, and -Kathleen uttered a cry of rapture. - -"They are worth a fortune! Oh, how good Uncle Ben is to me! I must put -them on and go down to him, Daisy." - -But when she was going along the hall in the beautiful, bride-like -robes, she paused suddenly at the library door. - -"Daisy, I must go in alone to see papa's portrait first," she said, and -tears came into the lovely eyes as she crossed the threshold. - -Again she knelt before the portrait, weeping for the loved and lost, -but suddenly Uncle Ben came in and stood by her side. - -"He wronged you, my darling, and left you to fight the bitter battle -of poverty alone. How can you forgive him?" - -She put her hand in his, and answered, sweetly: - -"My step-mother was to blame, I'm sure, Uncle Ben, and so I have never -harbored one unkind thought of my dear, dead father; and, oh, what -would I not give if he were alive to-night to bless Ralph and me in our -happiness!" - -"My angel daughter!" cried the old man, and he flung aside the -disfiguring disguises in which he had masqueraded while unmasking his -wicked wife. There he stood, tall, dark and handsome, although with a -sadness that would never leave his face--Vincent Carew, her beloved -father! - -She flew to his arms, and they had a blessed half hour of sacred -rejoicing and love. Then there came a light rap on the door. - -It was Ralph Chainey, handsome as a prince in his evening suit. - -"They told me to come here for you, my darling! Oh, how beautiful you -are!" he cried, taking her into his arms. - -Vincent Carew came forward into the light. - -"See, papa has come back to me," she said; and he smiled on the pair -of lovers. He had had a rooted antipathy to actors, but for Kathleen's -sake he was willing to accept Ralph Chainey for a beloved son-in-law. -Kathleen had whispered to him that she was to marry her lover soon, and -he shook hands most cordially now with the young man ere he turned away -and left them together for a few sweet moments before they joined the -guests. - -Ralph took beautiful Kathleen in his fond arms, and kissed that radiant -face with adoring love. - -"My love, my bride so soon to be," he whispered; and then she drew him -away. - -"We must go, although I had rather stay here with you, dear love," she -whispered; and they went along the hall arm in arm, happiest lovers the -world ever knew. - -Daisy Lynn was singing at the piano when they entered the crowded -drawing-room. It was a song that Vincent Carew had chosen. The words -rang out in sweet and jubilant echoes on the air: - - "I'll take you home again, Kathleen, - Across the ocean wild and wide, - To where your heart has ever been - Since first you were my bonny bride. - To that dear home beyond the sea - My Kathleen shall again return; - And when thy old friends welcome thee - Thy loving heart will cease to yearn!" - - -THE END - - - - -THE HART SERIES - - Laura Jean Libbey Miss Caroline Hart - Mrs. E. Burke Collins Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller - Charlotte M. Braeme Barbara Howard - Lucy Randall Comfort Mary E. Bryan Marie Corelli - - Was there ever a galaxy of names representing such authors offered - to the public before? Masters all of writing stories that arouse the - emotions, in sentiment, passion and love, their books excel any that - have ever been written. - - -NOW READY - - 1--Kidnapped at the Altar, Laura Jean Libbey. - 2--Gladiola's Two Lovers, Laura Jean Libbey. - 3--Lil, the Dancing Girl, Caroline Hart. - 5--The Woman Who Came Between, Caroline Hart. - 6--Aleta's Terrible Secret, Laura Jean Libbey. - 7--For Love or Honor, Caroline Hart. - 8--The Romance of Enola, Laura Jean Libbey. - 9--A Handsome Engineer's Flirtation, Laura J. Libbey. - 10--A Little Princess, Caroline Hart. - 11--Was She Sweetheart or Wife, Laura Jean Libbey. - 12--Nameless Bess, Caroline Hart. - 13--Della's Handsome Lover, Laura Jean Libbey. - 14--That Awful Scar, Caroline Hart. - 15--Flora Garland's Courtship, Laura Jean Libbey. - 16--Love's Rugged Path, Caroline Hart. - 17--My Sweetheart Idabell, Laura Jean Libbey. - 18--Married at Sight, Caroline Hart. - 19--Pretty Madcap Dorothy, Laura Jean Libbey. - 20--Her Right to Love, Caroline Hart. - 21--The Loan of a Lover, Laura Jean Libbey. - 22--The Game of Love, Caroline Hart. - 23--A Fatal Elopement, Laura Jean Libbey. - 24--Vendetta, Marie Corelli. - 25--The Girl He Forsook, Laura Jean Libbey. - 26--Redeemed by Love, Caroline Hart. - 28--A Wasted Love, Caroline Hart. - 29--A Dangerous Flirtation, Laura Jean Libbey. - 30--A Haunted Life, Caroline Hart. - 31--Garnetta, the Silver King's Daughter, L. J. Libbey. - 32--A Romance of Two Worlds, Marie Corelli. - 34--Her Ransom, Charles Garvice. - 36--A Hidden Terror, Caroline Hart. - 37--Flora Temple, Laura Jean Libbey. - 38--Claribel's Love Story, Charlotte M. Braeme. - 39--Pretty Rose Hall, Laura Jean Libbey. - 40--The Mystery of Suicide Place, Mrs. Alex. Miller. - 41--Cora, the Pet of the Regiment, Laura Jean Libbey. - 42--The Vengeance of Love, Caroline Hart. - 43--Jolly Sally Pendleton, Laura Jean Libbey. - 44--A Bitter Reckoning, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. - 45--Kathleen's Diamonds, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. - 46--Angela's Lover, Caroline Hart. - 47--Lancaster's Choice, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. - 48--The Madness of Love, Caroline Hart. - 49--Little Sweetheart, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. - 50--A Working Girl's Honor, Caroline Hart. - 51--The Mystery of Colde Fell, Charlotte M. Braeme. - 52--The Rival Heiresses, Caroline Hart. - 53--Little Nobody, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. - 54--Her Husband's Ghost, Mary E. Bryan. - 55--Sold for Gold, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. - 56--Her Husband's Secret, Lucy Randall Comfort. - 57--A Passionate Love, Barbara Howard. - 58--From Want to Wealth, Caroline Hart. - 59--Loved You Better Than You Knew, Mrs. A. Miller. - 60--Irene's Vow, Charlotte M. Braeme. - 61--She Loved Not Wisely, Caroline Hart. - 62--Molly's Treachery, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. - 63--Was It Wrong? Barbara Howard. - 64--The Midnight Marriage, Mrs. Sumner Hayden. - 65--Ailsa, Wenona Gilman. - 66--Her Dark Inheritance, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. - 67--Viola's Vanity, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. - 68--The Ghost of the Hurricane Hills, Mary E. Bryan. - 69--A Woman Wronged, Caroline Hart. - 70--Was She His Lawful Wife?, Barbara Howard. - 71--Val, the Tomboy, Wenona Gilman. - 72--The Richmond Secret, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. - 73--Edna's Vow, Charlotte M. Stanley. - 74--Hearts of Fire, Caroline Hart. - 75--St. Elmo, Augusta J. Evans. - 76--Nobody's Wife, Caroline Hart. - 77--Ishmael, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. - 78--Self-Raised, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. - 79--Pretty Little Rosebud, Barbara Howard. - 80--Inez, Augusta J. Evans. - 81--The Girl Wife, Mrs. Sumner Hayden. - 82--Dora Thorne, Charlotte M. Braeme. - 83--Followed by Fate, Lucy Randall Comfort. - 84--India, or the Pearl of Pearl River, Southworth. - 85--Mad Kingsley's Heir, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. - 86--The Missing Bride, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. - 87--Wicked Sir Dare, Charles Garvice. - 88--Daintie's Cruel Rivals, Mrs. Alex. McV. Miller. - 89--Lillian's Vow, Caroline Hart. - 90--Miss Estcourt, Charles Garvice. - 91--Beulah, Augusta J. Evans. - 92--Daphne's Fate, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. - 93--Wormwood, Marie Corelli. - 94--Nellie, Charles Garvice. - 95--His Legal Wife, Mary E. Bryan. - 96--Macaria, Augusta J. Evans. - 97--Lost and Found, Charlotte M. Stanley. - 98--The Curse of Clifton, Mrs. Southworth. - 99--That Strange Girl, Charles Garvice. - 100--The Lovers at Storm Castle, Mrs. M. A. Collins. - 101--Margerie's Mistake, Lucy Randall Comfort. - 102--The Curse of Pocahontas, Wenona Gilman. - 103--My Love Kitty, Charles Garvice. - 104--His Fairy Queen, Elizabeth Stiles. - 105--From Worse than Death, Caroline Hart. - 106--Audrey Fane's Love, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. - 107--Thorns and Orange Blossoms, Charlotte Braeme. - 108--Ethel Dreeme, Frank Corey. - 109--Three Girls, Mary E. Bryan. - 110--A Strange Marriage, Caroline Hart. - 111--Violet, Charles Garvice. - 112--The Ghost of the Power, Mrs. Sumner Hayden. - 113--Baptised with a Curse, Edith Stewart Drewry. - 114--A Tragic Blunder, Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron. - 115--The Secret of Her Life, Edward Jenkins. - 116--My Guardian, Ada Cambridge. - 117--A Last Love, Georges Ohnet. - 118--His Angel, Henry Herman. - 119--Pretty Miss Bellew, Theo. Gift. - 120--Blind Love, Wilkie Collins. - 121--A Life's Mistake, Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron. - 122--Won By Waiting, Edna Lyall. - 123--Passion's Slave, King. - 124--Under Currents, Duchess. - 125--False Vow, Braeme. - 126--The Belle of Lynne, Braeme. - 127--Lord Lynne's Choice, Braeme. - 128--Blossom and Fruit, Braeme. - 129--Weaker Than a Woman, Braeme. - 130--Tempest and Sunshine, Mary J. Holmes. - 131--Lady Muriel's Secret, Braeme. - 132--A Mad Love, Braeme. - - The Hart Series books are for sale everywhere, or they will be sent by - mail, postage paid, for 30 cents a copy by the publisher; 6 copies for - $1.00. Postage stamps taken the same as money. - - - THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - - -This story was originally serialized in the _New York Fireside -Companion_ story paper from December 19, 1891 to April 16, 1892. - -Thanks to Deidre Johnson, Joseph Rainone and Northern Illinois -University for assistance in locating story paper installments in order -to restore text omitted from the Westbrook edition. - -Some inconsistent hyphenation retained (e.g. bedroom vs. bed-room). - -Italics are represented with _underscores_. - -Page 3, changed "Darrel" to "Darrell" (twice). - -Page 5, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 7, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 11, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version -and changed "heydey" to "heyday." - -Page 12, changed "drooping lips" to "drooping lids." - -Page 15, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 19, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 22, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 27, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 28, changed ? to ! after "having saved your life." - -Page 33, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 37, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 40, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version -and changed single quote to double quote after "again." - -Page 43, changed comma to period after "getting off, sir." - -Page 45, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 46, restored omitted poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 50, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 53, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version -and added missing second "for" to "after being vainly looked for for -more than two days." - -Page 57, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version -and removed unnecessary comma after "throwing." - -Page 63, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 66, changed period to comma in "Now, listen to me." - -Page 70, the Westbrook edition was missing the poetry from Daisy Lynn's -book. This text has been restored from the original Fireside Companion -serialization along with the chapter head poem. - -Page 73, changed "Watnut" to "Walnut." - -Page 74, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 79, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 83, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 88, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 89, removed unnecessary comma from "dry, eyes." - -Page 91, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 93, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version -and changed "recontre" to "rencontre." - -Page 97, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 101, the Westbrook edition was missing the word "put" in "put me -into a lunatic asylum." The word has been restored by checking the -original _Fireside Companion_ appearance of the text. - -Page 102, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version; -in Fireside Companion, this chapter is entitled "TURNED OUT INTO THE -STORM TO PERISH." - -Page 105, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 107, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 111, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 113, restored poetry and introductory paragraph ("Some burning -words...") from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 115, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 118, changed "grimmace" to "grimace." - -Page 119, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 122, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 124, restored lengthy passage of Teddy reading poetry from -Fireside Companion version; removed unnecessary comma in "Teddy -Darrell, came." - -Page 126, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 128, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 132, restored missing poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 133, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 135, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 138, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 142, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 146, Page 146, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside -Companion version and changed "money-moon" to "honey-moon." and changed -"money-moon" to "honey-moon." - -Page 147, restored two omitted poems from the Fireside Companion version. - -Page 148, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 153, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 157, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 160, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 162, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 167, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 171, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 173, the Westbrook edition omits some poetry on this page; it has -been restored from the original Fireside Companion appearance. - -Page 175, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 179, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version -and changed "a animated" to "an animated." - -Page 180, restored poetry and introductory paragraph ("Some touching -verses...") omitted from the Westbrook edition. - -Page 181, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 184, restored start-of-chapter poem found in Fireside Companion -edition but omitted from Westbrook reprint. - -Page 185, restored poetry omitted from Westbrook edition. - -Page 188, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 189, removed unnecessary comma after "romantic heart." - -Page 192, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 194, changed period to comma after "Never." - -Page 195, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 197, restored song lyrics removed from Westbrook edition. - -Page 198, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 200, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 205, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version -and changed "subtile" to "subtle." - -Page 207, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 210, restored poetry and related paragraph to end of chapter LV -and restored chapter head poetry to chapter LVI. - -Page 212, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 214, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version -along with several song lyrics and accompanying text - -Page 217, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 218, restored poetry cut from Westbrook edition. - -Page 221, restored poetry and introductory text cut from Westbrook -edition. - -Page 223, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 225, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 227, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 231, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 234, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 238, changed "you passage" to "your passage." - -Page 239, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 240, added missing close quote after "fickle" and restored poetry -cut from Westbrook edition. - -Page 242, restored missing poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 244, restored poetry missing from Westbrook edition. - -Page 252, restored chapter head poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 253, restored "Dark Eyes" poetry from Fireside Companion version. - -Page 256, changed "you heart" to "your heart." - -Back cover, changed "Barabara" to "Barbara"; changed "Heart's of -Fire" to "Hearts of Fire"; changed "Gorvice" to "Garvice."; changed -"Daphane's" to "Daphne's."; changed "Passions Slave" to "Passion's -Slave." - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Kathleen's Diamonds, by Mrs. Alex. 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