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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13740-0.txt b/13740-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e287a1 --- /dev/null +++ b/13740-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5672 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13740 *** + +MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE + +Author's Special Edition + +by + +LAURA JEAN LIBBEY + +Author of _Ione_, _Parted By Fate_, _Sweet Kitty Clover_, etc. + +1899 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover of Mischievous Maid Faynie] + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LOVER'S TRYST. + + +It was five o'clock on a raw, gusty February afternoon. All that day and +all the night before it had been snowing hard. New York lay buried +beneath over two feet of its cold white mantle, and with the gathering +dusk a fierce hurricane set in, proclaiming the approach of the terrible +blizzard which had been predicted. + +On this afternoon, which was destined to be so memorable, two young men +were breasting the sleet and hail, which tore down Broadway with +demoniac glee, as though amused that the cable cars were stalled fully a +mile along the line, and the people were obliged to get out and walk, +facing the full fury of the elements, if they hoped to arrive at their +destinations that night. + +It could easily be ascertained by the gray, waning light that both young +men were tall, broad-shouldered and handsome of face, bearing a +striking resemblance to one another. + +They were seldom in each other's company, but those who saw them thus +jumped naturally to the conclusion that they were twin brothers; but +this was a great mistake; they were only cousins. One was Clinton +Kendale, whom everybody was speaking of as "the rage of New York," the +handsomest actor who had ever trod the metropolitan boards, the idol of +the matinee girls, and the greatest attraction the delighted managers +had gotten hold of for years. + +His companion was of not much consequence, only Lester Armstrong, +assistant cashier in the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., on upper +Broadway. + +He had entered their employ as a cashboy; had grown to manhood in their +service, and he had no further hope for the future, save to remain in +his present position by strict application, proving himself worthy of a +greater opportunity if the head cashier ever chose to retire. + +He lived in the utmost simplicity, was frugal, dressed with unusual +plainness, and put by money. + +He hadn't a relative on earth, save his handsome, debonair cousin, who +never sought him out save when he wanted to borrow money of him. + +Clint Kendale's salary was fifty dollars per week, but that did not go +far toward paying his bills at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, keeping a fast +horse and giving wine suppers. In his early youth he had begun the pace +he was now going. He had received a fine collegiate education, and at +his majority stepped into the magnificent fortune his parents had left +him. It took him just one year to run through it, then, penniless, he +came from Boston to New York and sought out his poor cousin. Lester +Armstrong succeeded in getting a position for Kendale with the same firm +with which he was employed, but at the end of the first week Clinton +Kendale threw it up with disgust, declaring that what he had gone +through these six days was too much for him. He had rather die than +work. + +He borrowed a hundred dollars from his Cousin Lester and suddenly +disappeared. When he was next heard from he blossomed out, astonishing +all New York as the handsomest society actor who had ever graced the +metropolitan boards, and caused a furore. + +There was another great difference between the two cousins, and that was +a heart; just one of them possessed it, and that one was Lester +Armstrong. + +On this particular afternoon Kendale had lain in wait for his cousin at +the entrance of Marsh & Co.'s to waylay him when he came from the +office. He must see him, he told himself, and Lester must let him have +another loan. + +Lester Armstrong was glad from the bottom of his true, honest heart to +see him, but his brow clouded over with a troubled expression when he +learned that he wanted to borrow five hundred dollars. That amount +seemed small, indeed, to the lordly Kendale, but to Lester it meant +months of toil and rigid self-denial. + +"Come into the café, and while we lunch I will explain to you why I must +have it, old fellow," said Kendale, always ready with some plausible +story on his glib tongue. + +"Haven't time now," declared Armstrong. "I must catch the five-twenty +train from the Grand Central Depot; haven't a moment to lose. I will be +back on the nine o'clock train. If you will come over to my lodging +house then I'll talk with you. I cannot let you have the sum you want. +I'll tell you why then, and you will readily understand my position. Ah, +this is your corner. We part here. Wish me luck on the trip I am about +to take, for I never had more need for your good wishes." + +"You are not going off to be married, I hope?" exclaimed Kendale in the +greatest of astonishment. + +A light-hearted, happy, ringing laugh broke from Armstrong's mustached +lips, the color rushed into his face, and his brown eyes twinkled +merrily. + +"There's the dearest little girl in all the world in the case," he +admitted, "but I haven't time to tell you about it now. I'll see you +later." + +With this remark he plunged forward into the gathering gloom, leaving +Clinton Kendale standing motionless gazing after him in the greatest +surprise. But the cold was too intense for him to remain there but an +instant; then wheeling about, he hastily struck into a side street, +muttering between his teeth: + +"He must let me have that five hundred dollars, or I am ruined. I must +have it from him by fair means or foul, ere the light of another day +dawns. I've borrowed a cool two thousand from him in four months. I +wonder how much more he has laid by? I must have that five hundred, no +matter what I have to resort to to get it, that's all there is about it. +I am desperate to-night, and a person in my terrible fix fears neither +God nor man." + +Meanwhile Lester Armstrong pushed rapidly onward, scarcely heeding the +bitter cold and terrible, raging storm, for his heart was in a glow. + +He reached the Grand Central Depot just as the gates were closing, but +managed to dash through them and swing himself aboard of the train just +as it was moving out of the station. + +The car was crowded; standing room only seemed to be the prospect, but +the young man did not seem disturbed by it, but settled his broad frame +against the door and looked out at the sharp sleet that lashed against +the window panes with something like a smile on his lips. + +He had scarcely twenty miles to ride thus, but that comforting +remembrance did not cause the pleasant smile to deepen about the mobile +mouth. + +He was thinking of the lovely young girl who had written him a note to +say that she expected him at the trysting place, without fail, at seven +that evening, as she had something of the greatest importance to +communicate to him. + +"Of course my dear little girl will not keep the appointment in such a +blizzard as this. She could not have foreseen how the weather would be +when she wrote the precious little note that is tucked away so carefully +in my breast pocket; but, like a true knight, I must obey my little +lady's commands, no matter what they may be, despite storm or +tempests--ay, even though I rode through seas of blood!" + +Half a score of times the engine became firmly wedged in snowdrifts in +traversing as many miles. There were loud exclamations of discomfiture +on all sides, but the handsome young man never heard them. He was still +staring out of the window--staring without seeing--and the smile on his +face had given place to an expression of deep wistfulness. + +"Sometimes I wonder how I have dared to aspire to her love--the +beautiful, petted daughter of a millionaire, and I only an assistant +cashier on a very humble salary--ay, a salary so small that my whole +year's earnings is less than the pin money she spends each month. + +"If she were but poor like myself, how quickly I would make her mine. +How can I, how dare I, ask her to share my lot? Will her father be +amused, or terribly angry at my presumption? + +"This sort of thing must stop. I cannot be meeting my darling +clandestinely any longer. My honor forbids, my manhood cries out against +it. + +"But, oh, God! how the thought terrifies me that from the moment they +find out that we have met, and are lovers, they will try to part +us--tear my darling from me!" + +They had met in a very ordinary manner, but to the infatuated young +lover it seemed the most ideal, most romantic of meetings. The pretty +little heiress had gone to the office of Marsh & Co. to settle her +monthly account. The old cashier was out to lunch. His assistant, Lester +Armstrong, stepped forward and attended to the matter for the pretty +young girl, surely the sweetest and daintiest that he had ever beheld. + +That night he dreamed of the lovely, dimpled rosebud face, framed in a +mass of golden curls; a pair of bewildering violet eyes, and a gay, +musical voice like a chiming of silver bells, and lo! the mischief was +done. The next day the assistant cashier made the first mistake of his +life over his accounts. The old cashier, Mr. Conway, looked at him +grimly from over the tops of his gold-rimmed glasses. + +"I hope you have not taken to playing cards nights, Mr. Armstrong," he +said. "They are dangerous; avoid them. Wine is still worse, and above +all, let me warn you against womankind. They are a snare and a delusion. +Avoid them, one and all, as you would a pestilence." + +But the warning had come to the handsome young assistant cashier too +late. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +"YOU MUST NOT MARRY HIM--HEAVEN INTENDED YOU FOR ME." + + +Slowly but surely the sturdy engine struggled on through the huge +snowdrifts, reaching Beechwood a little after seven, over an hour and a +half behind time. + +Lester Armstrong swung himself off the rear platform into fully five +feet of snow, floundering helplessly about for an instant, while the +train plunged onward, and at last struck the path that led up over the +hills in the village beyond. + +Beechwood consisted of but a few elegant homes owned and occupied by +retired New Yorkers of wealth. Horace Fairfax was perhaps the most +influential, as well as the wealthiest of these; his magnificent home on +the brow of the farthest hill was certainly the most imposing and +pretentious. + +Lester Armstrong's heart gave a great bound as he came within sight of +it, standing like a great castle, with its peaks and gables, and windows +all blazing with light and the red glow of inward warmth against its +dark background of fir trees more than a century old, and the white +wilderness of snow stretching out and losing itself in the darkness +beyond. + +All heedless of the terrible storm raging about him, the young man +paused at the arched gate and looked with sad wistfulness, as he leaned +his arms on one of the stone pillars, up the serpentine path that led to +the main entrance. + +"What I ought to do is never to see Faynie again," he murmured, but as +the bare thought rushed through his mind, his handsome face paled to the +lips and his strong frame trembled. Never see Faynie again! That would +mean shut out the only gleam of sunshine that had ever lighted up the +gray somberness of his existence; take away from him the only dear joy +that had made life worth the living for the few months. He had drifted +into these clandestine meetings, not by design; chance, or fate, rather, +had forced him into it. + +Mr. Marsh, the senior member of the firm by whom he was employed, also +resided in Beechwood. It was his whim that the keys of the private +office should be brought to him each night. Thus it happened that the +performance of his duties led Lester each evening past the Fairfax home. + +One summer evening he espied Faynie, the object of his ardent +admiration, standing in the flower garden, herself the fairest flower of +all. It was beyond human nature to resist stopping still to gaze upon +her. This he did, believing himself unseen, but Faynie Fairfax had +beheld the tall, well-known form afar down the road, and she was not +displeased at the prospect of having a delightful little chat with the +handsome young cashier. + +Faynie's home was not as congenial to the young girl as it might have +been, for a stepmother reigned supreme there, and all of her love was +lavished upon her own daughter Claire, a crippled, quiet girl of about +Faynie's own age, and Faynie was left to do about as she pleased. Her +father almost lived in his library among his books, and she saw little +of him for days at a time. + +Therefore there was no one to notice why Faynie suddenly developed such +a liking for roaming in the garden at twilight; no one to notice the +growing attachment that sprang up and deepened into the strongest of +love between the petted heiress and the poor young cashier. + +Lester Armstrong had struggled manfully against it, but it was for a +higher power than man's to direct where the love of his heart should go. +He made strong resolutions that the lovely maiden should never guess the +existing state of affairs, but he might as well have attempted to stay +the mighty waters of the ocean by his weak will. All in an unforeseen +moment the words burst from his lips--the secret he had attempted to +guard so carefully was out. + +He had expected that beautiful Faynie Fairfax would turn from him in +anger and dismay, but to his intense surprise, she burst into a flood of +tears, even though she looked at him with smiling lips, April sunshine +and showers commingled, confessing with all a young girl's pretty, +hesitating shyness that she loved him, even as he loved her, with all +her heart. Then followed half an hour of bliss for the lovers such as +the poets tell of in their verses of a glimpse of Paradise. + +Although they exchanged a hundred vows of eternal affection, Lester +Armstrong hesitated to speak of marriage yet. Faynie was young--only +eighteen. There was plenty of time. And to tell the truth, he dared not +face the possibilities of it just yet. It required a little more courage +than he had been able to muster up to seek an audience with the +millionaire--beard the lion in his den, as it were--and dare propose +such a monstrously preposterous thing as the asking of his lovely, +dainty young daughter's hand in marriage. Lester was timid. He dreaded +beyond words the setting of the ball rolling which would tear his +beautiful love and himself asunder. Heaven help him, he was so +unutterably happy in the bewildering present. + +His reverie was suddenly interrupted by seeing a little black figure +hurrying down the path. Another instant, and the little breathless +figure was clasped in his arms, close, close to his madly throbbing +heart. + +"Oh, Faynie, my love, my darling, my precious, why did you brave the +fury of the tempest to keep the tryst to-night? I am here, but I did not +expect you, much as I love to see you. I was praying you would not +venture out. Oh, my precious, what is it?" he cried in alarm, as the +fitful light of the gas lamp that hung over the arched gate fell full +upon her. "Your sweet face is as white as marble, and your beautiful +golden hair is wet with drifted snow, as is your cloak." + +To his intense amazement and distress, she burst into the wildest of +sobs and clung to him like a terrified child. All in vain he attempted +to soothe her and find out what it was all about. + +The first thought that flashed through his mind was that their meetings +had been discovered, and that they meant to put him from Faynie, and he +strained her closer to his heart, crying out that whatever it was, +nothing save death should separate them. + +Little by little the story came out, and the two young lovers, clasped +so fondly in each other's arms, did not feel the intense cold or hear +the wild moaning of the winds around them. Through her tears Faynie told +her handsome, strong young lover just what had happened. Her father had +sent for her to come to his library that morning, and when she had +complied with the summons, he had informed her that a friend of his had +asked for her hand in marriage, and he had consented, literally settling +the matter without consulting her, the one most vitally interested. She +had most furiously rebelled, there had been a terrible scene, and it had +ended by her father harshly bidding her to prepare for the wedding, +which would take place on the morrow, adding that a father was supposed +to know best what to do for his daughter's interests; that the fiat had +gone forth; that she would marry the husband he had selected for her on +the morrow, though all the angels above or the demons below attempted to +frustrate it. + +"You will save me, Lester?" cried the girl, wildly clinging to him with +death-cold hands. "Oh, Lester, my love, tell me, what am I to do? He is +very old, quite forty, and I am only eighteen. I abhor him quite as much +as I love you, Lester. Tell me, dear, what am I to do?" + +He gathered her close in his arms in an agony that words are too weak to +portray. + +"You shall not, you must not, marry the man your father has selected for +you, my darling. You are mine, Faynie, and you must marry me," he cried, +hoarsely. "Heaven intended us for each other, and for no one else. You +shall be mine past the power of any one human to part us ere the +morrow's light dawns, if--if you wish it so." + +She clung to him, weeping hysterically, answering: + +"Oh, yes, Lester, let it be so. I will marry you, and you will take me +away from this place, where no one, save Claire--not even my +father--loves me." + +He strained her to his throbbing heart with broken words, but at that +instant the shriek of an approaching train sounded upon his ears. He +tore himself away from her encircling embrace. + +"To do all that I have to do, I must return to the city, quickly arrange +for the marriage and a suitable place to take my bride. I will return by +ten o'clock. Be at this gate, my darling, with whatever change of +clothing you wish to take with you. I will bring a carriage. The way by +carriage road from the city is less than seven miles, you know. We will +drive to the minister's in the village below. A few words and I shall +have the right to protect you through life, and oh! my darling, my idol, +my trusting little love, may God deal by me as I deal with you!" + +Those were the last words Faynie heard, for in the next instant her +lover had torn himself free from her clinging arms and was dashing like +one mad through the drifts toward the railroad station again. Then, with +a strange, unaccountable presentiment of coming evil, Faynie Fairfax +turned and stole up the serpentine path into the house again. + +In just an hour's time Lester Armstrong was hurrying along Broadway +again, making all haste toward his lodgings. Suddenly some one tapped +him on the shoulder, and a voice which he instantly recognised as his +cousin's said, laughingly: + +"Both bent in the same direction, it seems. Well, we'll travel along +together to your lodging house, Lester." + +But alas! Who can see the strange workings of destiny? In that instant +Lester Armstrong slipped on the icy pavement, and Kendale, bending +quickly over him, exclaimed: + +"He has broken his neck! He is dying. He won't last five minutes!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A TERRIBLE PLOT AGAINST A HELPLESS YOUNG GIRL. + + +A gasp of horror broke from Kendale's lips. Yes, Lester Armstrong was +fatally injured, he could see that. + +Glancing up, he saw that they were within a few doors of his lodgings. +Picking him up by main force, he carried him thither at once and placed +him upon his couch. He had expected to see him breathe his last, but to +his great surprise Lester Armstrong opened his eyes and whispered his +name. + +"It is all over with me, Clinton," he whispered. "I--I realize that my +fall was fatal, and that it is a question of moments with me, but I--I +cannot die until I have told you all, and you have promised to go +quickly to my darling and tell her my sad fate." + +"Any commission you have you may be sure I will execute for you," +replied Kendale, and even while he spoke he was wondering whereabouts in +that room Lester Armstrong kept his cash. + +Between gasps, his voice growing fainter and fainter with each word, +poor Lester told his story, of his love, his wooing and the climax which +was to have taken place in two hours' time. + +Kendale listened with bated breath. To say that he was amazed, +dumfounded, scarcely expressed his intense surprise. + +Armstrong, his poor plodding cousin, to strike such luck as to be about +to marry an heiress! It seemed like a veritable fairy story. Who would +have thought the poor cashier would have known enough to play for such +high stakes? + +Almost as soon as Lester Armstrong had uttered the last word, he fell +back upon his pillow in a dead faint. + +"The end is not far," muttered Kendale. "I suppose it would look better +to send a call for an ambulance and have him sent to the hospital." + +He acted upon the thought without a moment's delay, and while the wagon +was _en route_ made a quick search of his unfortunate cousin's +apartment, a sardonic smile of triumph lighting his face. And as he +transferred the money to his pocket, a sudden thought rushed through his +brain--a thought that for the instant almost took his breath away. + +Like one fascinated, he looked down at the white face. "I could do it; +yes, I am sure I could do it," he muttered, drawing his breath hard. + +At that moment the ambulance wagon rattled up to the door. In another +instant the two attachés entered the room. + +"What is the difficulty?" queried the man, and briefly Kendale +explained. + +"It seems hardly worth while to take him to the hospital," said one of +the men; "he would hardly last until we reach there. Still, if you +insist--" + +"Yes, I insist," he cut in sharply. + +"What name is to be entered?" asked the surgeon. + +"Clinton Kendale. He is an actor, and my cousin," he responded in a low +even voice. + +He watched them while they carried forth the unconscious man. + +"My first test will be with the people of this house," he muttered, +shutting his teeth hard. + +Thrusting the money still deeper in his pocket, he walked boldly down +the stairs, tapping at the door to the right, which he knew to be the +living room of the family. + +"I am going to give up my room," he said. + +"Laws a mercy, Mr. Armstrong!" exclaimed the old lady. "What sudden +notice! I am so sorry to lose you!" + +He chatted for a few moments, paid what was due her, then turned hastily +and left the place, remarking before he went that he should not need the +few things that he left in his room; that she could keep them if she +liked as remembrances. + +Once again he was out on the street, with the cold wind blowing on his +face. + +"Nothing ventured, nothing won!" he said, under his breath. "Now for the +heiress and the million of money. By Jove! it's better to be born lucky +than rich. I shall need an accomplice in this affair, and that imp of +Satan, Halloran, is just the one to help me out with my scheme. It's +lucky I have an appointment with him to-night. I shall be sure to catch +him. I think it was a stroke of fate that I wasn't in the cast for the +rest of the week, though I kicked pretty hard against it at the time. +Good-by, footlights and freezing dressing-rooms. I can make a million of +money ere the day dawns." + +He hailed a passing cab, jumped into it and was driven across the city. + +Halloran, the comedian at the same theatre, was sitting in his room +half asleep over a half-emptied rum bottle. He always resorted to this +course to drown his sorrows when he was laid off. + +An hour later the two men were driving with lightning-like rapidity +toward the direction of Beechwood. + +"Ten," sounded from the belfry of a far-off church as the horses, +plunging and panting, struggled up the road that led to the Fairfax +mansion. + +"Now see that you play your cards right," warned Halloran. + +"Trust me for that," replied his companion, removing a cigar from his +white teeth, and blowing forth a cloud of smoke. He was about to draw a +flask from his breast pocket, but Halloran put a restraining hand on his +arm. + +"Remember that is your besetting sin," he said. "You have had enough of +that already. It will require a steady nerve to meet the girl and carry +out the deception, for the eyes of love are quick to discern. If she +should for an instant suspect that you are not her lover, Lester +Armstrong, the game is up, and you have lost the high stake you are +playing for." + +"You are right," exclaimed the other, "nothing must interfere with the +marriage." + +"This must be the place," exclaimed Halloran, in a low voice; "large +gabled house, arched gate, serpentine walk; yes, there is the figure of +a woman in the shadow of the stone post this way. You are actually +trembling. Remember, it's only a young girl you are to face on this +occasion, and a deucedly pretty one, at that. The time that you will be +more apt to be shaky is when you face her father; but I guess you're +equal to it." + +A low laugh was his companion's only answer. The next moment Kendale +called to the driver to halt, threw open the door and sprang out into +the main road, hastening toward the little figure that had emerged out +of the shadow. + +"Oh, Lester, you have been so long," cried the girl, springing into his +arms with a little sobbing cry. "I have been waiting here almost half an +hour." + +"It took longer to come than I had reckoned on, my darling," he +answered. "You know I had to stop at the village below and make +arrangements for the wedding." + +The girl drew back and looked at him. + +"Your voice sounds so hoarse and strange, Lester," she said. "Have you +been crying?" + +His arms fell from her; he drew back, laughing immoderately. + +"What, weeping on the happiest day of my life?" he cried. "Well, that's +pretty good. I've been up to my ears in business, rushing around, to +get everything in shipshape order, but, good Lord! what am I thinking +about, to keep you standing here in the snow? Here is the coach, and by +the way, I've brought along an old friend of mine, who was wild to +witness the marriage ceremony." + +As he spoke he took her by the arm and drew the girl toward the carriage +in waiting. + +What was there about her lover that seemed so changed to the girl, that +caused the love to suddenly die out of her heart? + +"Lester," she cried, drawing back, "oh--oh, please do not be angry with +me, but I've changed my mind. It seemed such a terrible thing to do. Let +us not be married to-night." + +Something like an imprecation rose to his lips, but he chopped it off +quickly, uttering again that laugh, so hard, so cruel, so +blood-curdling, that it sent a chill of terror to her young heart. + +"It's too late to change your mind now," he exclaimed. "It's only +natural you should feel this way; girls always do. Here is the coach and +the horses. The driver and my friend will be impatient to be off." + +Either the excitement of his coming triumph or the brandy he had taken +had made him recklessly wild. + +He drew her along, heedless of her struggles, her passionate protest. +His face was flushed, his dark eyes gleamed; he was ready at that moment +to face and defy devils and men. + +"Don't make a fuss, my darling. You've got to come along," he exclaimed. +"Of course, you have scruples and all that. I think the more of you for +them, but you'll thank me for not listening some day. I'll bring you +back after the ceremony's over and set you down at your own gate, if you +say so, I swear I will," and as he spoke he caught her in his arms and +fairly thrust her into the vehicle, placed her on the seat and sprang in +beside her. + +The door closed with a bang and the horses were off like a flash. + +Too terrified to utter another word of protest, and half fainting from +fright, Faynie sank back, gasping, into the farthest corner. Her +companion turned to the man sitting opposite. + +"My friend, Smith, Faynie," he said by way of introduction, and adding, +before the other could utter one word to acknowledge the introduction, +"let's have a little more of that. I'm chilled to the marrow with the +cold, standing out there in the snow." + +There was a faint move of the little bundle huddled up in the corner. +She fell forward in a dead faint. + +"So much the better," cried Kendale. "She will not bother us until +we've had time to formulate our plans. Ha, ha, ha! how easy it is for a +sharp-witted fellow like myself to make a million of money!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FOND LOVE TO HATRED TURNED. + + +Despite the severe shock which caused Faynie to swoon, her +unconsciousness lasted but a few moments, then, dazed and bewildered, +her blue eyes opened slowly, and she realized with horror too great for +words that she was whirling swiftly over the snowy road, still in the +company of the two men, her lover and his companion. + +They were talking together in low, guarded tones. She could not help but +hear every word distinctly, and they fell upon her ears with horror so +intense she wondered that she lived through it from moment to moment. + +It was Lester Armstrong who was speaking at that moment, and she was +obliged to clutch her hands tightly together to keep from screaming +aloud as she heard him say to his companion: + +"I have always been a free lance among the pretty girls, drifting about +much after the fashion of the bee wherever my fancy listed, and it will +be more than irksome to yoke myself in the matrimonial harness to this +girl. She is not of the kind--face, figure, temperament, anything--that +is calculated to arouse my admiration. I detest your baby-faced +creatures of her stamp, but she's heiress to a million, and I have +concluded to swallow the gilded pill. + +"There's one thing I assure you of, before she is married to me a +fortnight I'll break that cursed temper of hers, if I have to break her +neck or her heart, or both, to do it. She shall find that I'm her lord +and master from this hour henceforth, and my word is law." + +"I'd advise you not to rush the scheme for getting that big sum of money +until you have gained her confidence a little. More flies can be caught +with molasses than vinegar, you know." + +"I shall have little patience with her," declared her lover. "I detested +her the first instant my eyes rested upon her, and I am positive the +feeling will grow upon me with every passing hour, instead of +diminishing." + +"It is easy enough to guess the reason for that," laughed the other. +"You are in love with the queenly Gertrude, who has already more adorers +than she can count. It is common report that you are the beauty's +favorite, however, and if you weren't both so confoundedly poor, you'd +make a first-class couple. As it is, of course it's not to be thought +of." + +"Except in one way," cut in the other in a sharp, dry, hard voice. "If +this girl whom I marry to-night were to die suddenly on the wedding +trip, for instance, I would come in for her fortune; then, when the +excitement blew over, I could go to Gertrude and say--" + +The sentence was never finished, for at that moment the door of the +vehicle was suddenly wrenched open, and with a piercing cry Faynie +sprang out into the raging storm and the inky blackness of the night. + +A terrible imprecation broke from the lips of the handsome scoundrel by +her side. + +"I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that that little fool tricked us by +feigning unconsciousness, and has heard every word we uttered. Of +course, it's to be regretted, but that doesn't change my plans a +particle. I'll be the husband of the willful little heiress in an hour's +time, or my name isn't--" + +"Lester Armstrong," put in the other, laconically. + +The coach was instantly stopped, and both men made a flying leap into +the huge snowdrift that banked both sides of the country road, calling +back to the driver to light a lantern, if he had been careful enough to +bring one with him, and hand it to them in double-quick order. + +The search lasted for fully half an hour. Had the ground suddenly opened +and swallowed her? they asked each other, with imprecations both loud +and furious. + +To have a fortune of a cool million so near his clutches, and suddenly +lose it, was more than the villain could endure calmly. He was frenzied. +His rage at the girl slipping so cleverly, so audaciously, through his +fingers knew no bounds, and he made no attempt to stifle the fierce +exclamations that sprang to his lips of what he should do when he once +found her. + +When Faynie had jumped from the vehicle she lay for an instant half +stunned upon the cold, frozen ground where she had fallen. It had taken +the coach a minute to stop, but that minute had carried it several rods +beyond the spot where she lay. She saw by the uncertain glimmer of the +carriage lamp the two forms spring out into the darkness and come back +in search of her, and a piteous cry of unutterable fear rose to her +blanched lips from the very depths of her panting, terror-stricken +heart. + +She tried to spring to her feet and fly, but the depth to which she sank +with every step exhausted her quickly, and she sank down among the white +drifts awaiting her doom like a wounded bird in the brush whom the +cruel sportsmen are nearing with their hounds. + +She raised her lovely young face to the dark night sky, calling upon God +and the angels to protect her, to save her from the man she had loved +with all the passionate strength of her heart up to that hour, and whom +she hated and feared now a thousandfold more than she had ever loved +him. + +All in a few moments of time her idol had fallen from its high pedestal +of manly honor and lay in ruins at her feet. + +How could she ever have believed Lester Armstrong noble, good and true, +a king among men? Where was the tenderness in voice and manner that had +won her heart from her, and his oft-repeated assurance that he cared for +her for herself alone; that he wished to Heaven she were no heiress, but +as poor as himself, that he might show her the power of his great love? +An hour ago--only an hour ago--yet it seemed the length of a lifetime in +the shadowy past, she had crept out of the house to meet her lover at +the trysting place, her heart beating with love for him, sobbing out to +Heaven to send her true love quickly back to her. + +As she had closed the door of the great mansion noiselessly behind her, +she realized that she was putting wealth and luxury away from her +deliberately and choosing a life of rigid economy with the lover whose +earnings were, alas, so much smaller than even the pin money she had +been accustomed to. + +But with love to brighten the way, she felt that she could endure any +hardship with noble Lester Armstrong, who loved her so dearly and +devotedly. + +After a time, perhaps, her father would forgive her for this step, and +take her back to his home and heart, and welcome Lester, too. She had +read of such things. + +The night air blew bitterly cold against her face as she stepped bravely +forth, but she did not waver. + +The great hall clock chimed the hour of ten, and her heart beat faster, +for she said to herself that her lover was nearing the trysting place +and she had not much time to spare. + +"Good-by, papa," she murmured, turning for an instant and looking up at +his lighted window. "Good-by, my stepmamma," she whispered. "You have +always hated me and wished me out of the way. I am going now, and you +will rejoice. Good-by, Claire," she added, as her eyes wandered upward +to the little lighted window in the western wing. "You never hated me. +You always loved me as though we had indeed been sisters. Good-by, kind +old family servants. You will all miss me, I know, but I am going to +happiness and love. What fate could be better?" + +She waited some moments at the trysting place ere she heard the sound of +crunching wheels on the snow. A moment later she heard the welcome voice +saying: "Faynie, where are you?" The next instant she was folded in a +pair of strong, masculine arms. + +But as the owner of them touched her lips with his own Faynie had +started back with a terrible feeling of faintness rushing over her. For +the first time her lover's breath was strong with the odor of brandy. + +And the voice, which was always so gentle, kind and endearing, was +muttering something about "the cursed darkness of the night." + +No wonder the girl's soul revolted, and that she changed her mind +suddenly about the elopement, which was to make or mar her young life. +And what she heard after he forced her into the coach only added to the +terror which had grown into her heart against him, and when she made +that flying leap from the coach, her one cry to Heaven was that she +might escape the man whom she had but so lately madly adored, but whom +she now so thoroughly abhorred. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +"CAN YOU PERFORM THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY AT ONCE, REVEREND SIR?" + + +It was the hour of eleven by the village clock. Eleven sounded from the +old clock on the mantel. The fire burned low in the grate of Rev. Dr. +Warner's study. The air was growing chill in the room. Still, the old +pastor, who had looked after the village flock for nearly half a +century, heeded neither the time nor the chill, he was so intent upon +the sermon he was writing for the morrow. + +He had scarcely concluded the last line ere he heard a well-known tap +upon the door. + +He smiled as he arose from his chair, crossed the room and flung open +the door. + +He knew well whom he should find standing there, old Adam, the village +sexton and grave digger, who always stopped when he saw a light in the +study window. + +"Come in, Adam," said the reverend gentleman; "come up to the fire and +warm yourself; it's a wild night to be about. Has any one sent you here +for me?" + +"No, parson," replied Adam, hobbling in. "There's no call for you to be +out on this terrible night, thank Heaven. It's quite by chance that I +left my own fireside myself. I had an errand at the other end of the +village. The weather caught me returning--a regular blizzard--and I have +been floundering about in the drifting snow for hours. I thought I had +lost my way until I saw the light in the window, and--" + +But the rest of the sentence was never finished, for at that moment both +men heard distinctly the sound of carriage wheels without, accompanied +by the loud neighing of horses. + +Before they could express their wonderment there was a loud peal at the +front door bell. + +The reverend gentleman answered the summons in person. + +Before him stood three persons, two men and a woman, a slender figure +wearing a long dark cloak, and whose face was covered by a thick veil. + +Both men had their coat collars turned up and their hats pulled low over +their faces to protect them from the stinging cold. + +"You are the Rev. Dr. Warner?" queried one of the gentlemen. The +minister bowed in the affirmative, hurriedly bidding his guests to +enter. + +"You will pardon our errand," exclaimed the stranger who had already +spoken, "but we are here to enlist your services. Can you perform a +wedding ceremony in the old chapel across the way? Our time is limited. +We are in all haste to catch a train, and wish the marriage to take +place with the least possible delay." + +"Certainly, certainly, sir," returned the good man. "I am always pleased +to join two souls in holy matrimony. Step in; the lady must be +thoroughly chilled. This is a dreadful night." + +"We prefer to make our way directly over to the chapel," remarked the +man who had spoken up to this point. "The lady is warm, having but just +left the carriage, a few steps beyond." + +"As you will," responded the pastor. Turning to the old sexton, he said, +quietly: "Will you step over to the church, Adam, brush the snow from +the steps and light the lamps about the altar?" + +Adam hastened to carry out his commands. He had scarcely completed his +task when the bridal party entered, preceded by the pastor. + +Adam watched them curiously as they filed down the aisle, both men still +supporting the slender figure quite until the altar was reached. + +The Rev. Dr. Warner, shivering with the severe cold of the place, picked +up his book quickly. + +"Which is the bridegroom?" he asked, looking from one muffled figure to +the other. The man toward the left of the girl dropped back a pace or +two, silently waving his hand toward his friend. + +The old minister had never heard the names of the contracting parties +before, and the idle thought for an instant found lodgment in his mind +whether or no they could be fictitious. Then he blamed himself roundly +for his momentary suspicion, and went on hurriedly with the ceremony. + +The man answered in a low, guarded voice. There was a tone in it which +somehow jarred on the good minister's sensitive nerves. The girl's voice +was pitifully fluttering, almost hysterical. + +But that was not an uncommon occurrence. Few brides are calm and +self-possessed. + +"You will please lift your veil for the final benediction," said the +aged pastor, pausing, book in hand, and gazing at the slim, silent, +dark-robed figure, who had made her responses faintly, gaspingly, almost +inaudibly. Again it was the stranger to the left who complied with his +request, but for one instant both the clergyman and the old sexton +caught sight of a face white as death, yet beautiful as an angel's, +framed in a mass of dead-gold hair; but the flickering of the lamps +caused strange shadows to flit over it. There was a moment of utter +silence, broken only by the howling of the wind outside. + +Then slowly the minister's voice broke the terrible silence by uttering +the words: "Then I pronounce you man and wife, and whom God hath joined +together let no man put asunder." + +As the last word echoed through the dim old church the cold steel of a +revolver, which had been pressed steadily to the girl's throbbing heart +by the hand of the bridegroom, concealed by her long cloak, was quickly +withdrawn. + +"My wedded wife!" murmured the man, and in his voice there was a tone of +mocking triumph. The girl swooned in his arms, but, turning quickly with +her, he hurried forward into the dense shadows of the church, carrying +her to the coach in waiting without attracting attention. + +He could scarcely restrain himself from shouting aloud, so exuberant +were his spirits. + +"Rave. Do whatever you like. You cannot change matters now. I am your +husband, ay, the husband of a girl worth a million of money. When we are +out of hearing of the old parson I will give three rousing cheers to +celebrate the occasion and give vent to my triumph--ay, three cheers and +a tiger with a will and a vengeance." + +The appearance of his friend, who had remained behind to adjust the +little matters that needed attention, put a stop to his hilarity for the +moment. + +"Well, what's next on the programme? What do you suggest now, Halloran?" +he exclaimed, as that individual sprang into the coach and took his seat +with chattering teeth. + +"I propose that you drive to the nearest inn or hostelry, or whatever +they choose to call it hereabouts. I understand there is one some five +miles from here, and, indeed, the horses won't last much longer than +that." + +"I'm governed by your advice," replied his companion, with a hilarious +laugh. "Give the order to get to the hostelry as soon as the driver can +make it. Anything will suit me. I'm not proud, even if I have made a +cool million in an hour's time. Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Are you mad?" whispered his companion, giving him a violent nudge. + +"Bah! You needn't fear that she will hear what I'm saying. The puny +little dear has swooned again. Didn't you notice that I had to fairly +carry her from the altar?" + +"These dainty little heiresses have to be handled with kid gloves," +remarked Halloran. "Fainting when anything goes wrong seems to be their +especial weakness." + +"She will soon find out that I will not tolerate that kind of thing!" +exclaimed Armstrong, as he insisted upon being called from that moment +out. + +"Be easy with her. Don't show your hand or your temper until you get +hold of the money," warned Halloran. "Remember you are playing for a +great stake, and the surest way of winning is by keeping the girl in +love with you." + +"She is mine now. I am her lord and master. I shall not bother making +love to the milk-and-water, sentimental creature, as the other one +probably did. She isn't my style, and I have little patience with her. +There was a decided feeling of antagonism between us from the start, and +then my forcing her to go through the ceremony at the point of a cold +steel weapon will not have the effect of endearing me to her ladyship. +She is sure to hate me, but that won't bother me a snap of my finger." + +"Don't get independent too soon," remarked Halloran. "Pride always goeth +before a fall, you know. You haven't the money in your hands yet. Don't +lose sight of that important fact, my dear boy." + +They talked on for half an hour or more; then suddenly the driver drew +rein. + +"This is the country tavern, and my horses cannot go any further; they +are dead lame and played out," he announced. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE VILLAIN AND HIS VICTIM. + + +It was certainly something entirely out of the experience of the old +innkeeper at the country crossroads to be aroused from his slumbers at +midnight by guests seeking the shelter of his hospitable roof, and that, +too, on the most terrible night of the year. + +The old man could scarcely believe his ears when he heard the sound of +the old brass knocker on the front door resound loudly through the +house. + +He quite imagined that he must have dreamed it, until a second and third +peal brought him to his senses and his feet at the same instant. + +His bewilderment knew no bounds when he appeared at the door a few +minutes later and found a coach standing there and the occupants seeking +a lodging, also shelter for the horses. + +"I haven't but one room to spare," exclaimed the old innkeeper, holding +a flaring candle high above his head to better view his visitor. + +"Have you a room in which a fire could be made?" asked one of the men. +"We have a lady with us." + +"I suppose we could let you have my daughter Betsy's, she being off to +the city on a visit." + +"My companion and his br--his wife could have that; you can dispose of +me anywhere," returned the speaker. "I could doze in a chair in the +barroom for that matter. The driver could be as easily disposed of." + +"Then bring the lady right in," said the old innkeeper. A moment later, +the lovely girl, still unconscious, was brought in and laid upon the +settee in the best room. + +"What is the matter with the young woman?" gasped the innkeeper, his +eyes opening wide with amazement. + +"Merely fainted from the intense cold," returned one of the men briefly, +adding: "If you will see that a fire is lighted in the room that you +spoke of I shall be very much obliged." + +"I'll have my wife down in a jiffy. No doubt the poor creature's half +frozen, but a hot whiskey toddy will thaw her out quicker than you could +say Jack Robinson," and he trotted off briskly on his double mission of +rousing his wife to look after the girl and his hired help to assist the +driver in putting away the horses, while he himself attended to making a +blazing fire in the little chamber over the best room. + +In less time than it takes to tell it the good housewife was by the +girl's side. + +"What a beautiful young creature!" she exclaimed, as the veil was +thrown back and she beheld the lovely face, white as chiseled marble, +framed in its cloud of golden hair. "Is it your sister, sir?" she asked, +with all a country woman's thoughtless curiosity. + +"No, she is my wife," exclaimed the stranger, who stood over by the +fireplace, his brows meeting in a decided frown. + +"Laws a mercy! Isn't she young to be married?" exclaimed the woman. +"Why, she don't look sixteen. Been married long?" + +The stranger by the fireplace deliberately turned his back on the woman, +vouchsafing her no reply. + +By that time the innkeeper announced that the room above was ready, and +that they might come up as soon as they liked. + +Again the stranger by the fireplace lifted the slender figure, bore her +up the narrow rickety stairway, saying good-night to his friend as he +passed him by. + +"Good-night to you, and pleasant dreams," replied Halloran; "the same to +your wife." + +The innkeeper followed the tall stranger with his burden to see that +everything was made comfortable, put more logs in the fireplace, then +turning, said: + +"Is there anything else I can do for you, stranger?" + +"Nothing," replied the man curtly, but as the old innkeeper reached the +door he called sharply: "Yes, I think there is something else that would +add to my comfort, and that is a good stiff glass of brandy, if you have +such a thing about the place." + +The old man hesitated. + +"I'll pay well for it," said the other, eagerly. + +"You see, we haven't a license, stranger, to sell drinks, and they're +pretty strict with us hereabouts. I generally let a man have it when I +know him pretty well, but I can't say how it would affect you." + +"Have no fear on that score," returned the other. "Here's a five-dollar +note for a pint bottle of brandy. Will that pay you?" + +"Yes," returned the innkeeper. It was the golden key. The man laughed to +see how quickly he trotted off on his errand, returning with the bottle +in a trice. + +"Anything else, sir?" he said. + +"No," replied the other, "save," adding, "do not call us too early +to-morrow. We're not of the kind that rise with the sun. Nine o'clock +will answer. And see that that wife of yours gets up the best breakfast +that can be obtained." + +"You won't have to complain of that, sir," exclaimed the innkeeper, +pompously. "You'll get a piece of steak with the blood followin' the +knife; crisp potatoes, a plate of buckwheat cakes, with butter as is +butter, and honey that's the real thing; a mug of coffee that would bear +up an egg, with good old-fashioned cream, not skim milk, to say nothing +of--" + +"That will do," exclaimed the stranger, with an impatient wave of his +white hand. "I never like to know beforehand what I'm going to get." + +"But the lady, sir? Mebbe she'd like somethin' kind a delicate like--a +bit o' bird or somethin' like that?" + +"We'll see about that to-morrow all in good time," fairly closing the +door in the garrulous innkeeper's face "Good-night," and he shut the +door with a click and turned the key in the lock, and for the first time +he was alone with the girl he had forced so dastardly into the cruellest +of marriages. He had placed Faynie on the white couch. He crossed the +room and stood looking down at her, with his hands behind his back, and +a sardonic smile on his face. + +"You and your millions of money belong to me," he cried, under his +breath. "Ye gods! what a lucky dog I am after all!" and a low laugh that +was not pleasant to hear broke from his lips. + +At that instant a broken sigh stirred the girl's white lips. + +"Ah, you are coming to, are you?" he muttered. "The old lady's toddy is +beginning to revive you." + +He could not help but notice how unusually beautiful the girl was. + +"What a chance of fortune this is for me, but it does not follow, even +though she was madly in love with my cousin, that she will hold me in +the same favor. But I'll stand none of her airs. I'll show her right +from the start that I'm the boss, and see how that will strike her +fancy. There'll be a terrible time when she comes to--screams, shrieks +of anger, that will call everybody to the door." + +He turned on his heel and walked over to the mantel, where the innkeeper +had deposited the bottle and the glass. + +He poured out a heavy draught and drank it at a single swallow. This was +followed by another and yet another. + +"Ah, there's nothing like bracing oneself up for a scene like this," he +muttered, with a sardonic laugh. + +The liquor seemed to turn the blood in his veins to fire and set his +heart in a glow. He laughed aloud. In that moment he felt as rich as a +king, and as diabolical as Satan himself. + +He was nerved for any emergency; he was the girl's lord and master, her +wedded husband. She would be made to understand that fact with little +ceremony. + +He threw himself down in a chair, where he could watch her, and waited +results, and each instant he sat there the fumes of the brandy rose +higher and higher, until it reached his brain. + + "There was a laughing devil in his sneer + That woke emotions of both hate and fear; + And where his scowl of fierceness darkly fell, + Hope, withering, fled and mercy sighed farewell." + +Yes, a few short moments and consciousness would return to the girl--the +stormy scene would begin. + +Would the sharp eyes of love detect the difference between himself and +Lester Armstrong, whom he was impersonating? He knew every tone of his +cousin's voice so perfectly that he would have little difficulty in +imitating that. The more closely he watched the girl, the more conscious +he became of her wonderful beauty, and his heart gave a bound of +triumph. + +It was worth a struggle, after all, to have as beautiful a bride as she, +even though she hated him. + +"If I watch her much longer it will end by my being madly in love with +her," he mused. "I never could withstand a pretty face." + +The wild winds moaned like demons outside. The bare branches writhed and +twisted in the storm, tapping weirdly against the window pane. The room +grew warmer as the fire took hold of the logs in the grate, and with +the heat the fumes of the brandy rose into his brain, and with it his +color heightened, his cheeks and lips were flushed and his eyes +scintillating. With unsteady hand he reached out for the flask again, +uncorked it, and without taking the trouble to reach for the glass, +placed the bottle to his lips and drained it to the dregs. + +"She is awaking," he muttered, with a maudlin laugh, and springing from +his seat with unsteady steps, he crossed the room and stood by the +couch, looking down eagerly into the beautiful white face upon the +pillow. As if impelled by that steady, serpentine, fiery glance, the +girl moaned uneasily. + +"Awaking at last!" he muttered, with a diabolical smile. At that moment +Faynie's violet eyes opened wide and stared up into his face. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HE RAISED HIS CLINCHED HAND, AND THE BLOW FELL HEAVILY UPON THE +BEAUTIFUL UPTURNED FACE. + + +With returning consciousness, Faynie's violet eyes opened slowly--taking +in, by the flickering light of the candle, the strange room in which she +found herself; then, as they opened wider, in amazement too great for +words, she beheld the figure of a man, half hidden among the shadows, +standing but a few feet away from the couch, his eyes fastened upon her; +she could even hear his nervous breathing. + +With a gasp of terror Faynie sprang from the couch with a single bound; +but the cry she would have uttered was strangled upon her lips by the +heavy hand that fell suddenly over them, pressing so tightly against +them as to almost take her breath away. + +"Don't attempt to scream or make any fuss," cried a hissing voice in her +ear--"submit to the inevitable--you are my wife--there is nothing out of +the way in your being here with me. Come, now, take matters +philosophically and we shall get along all right." + +He attempted to draw the girl into his encircling arms, her wonderful +beauty suddenly dawning upon him; but she shrank from his embrace, and +from the approach of his brandy-reeking lips, as though he had been a +scorpion. + +With a suddenness that took him greatly aback, and for an instant at a +disadvantage, she freed herself from his grasp, and stood facing him +like a young tragedy queen in all her furious anger and outraged pride. + +"Do not utter another word, Lester Armstrong!" she panted, "you only add +insult to injury--why it seems to me some horrible trick of the +senses--some nightmare--to imagine even that I could ever have cared for +you--to have believed you noble, honorable and--a gentleman. Why, you +almost seem to be a different person in his guise--you are so changed in +tone and manner from him to whom I gave my heart. The affection that I +thought I had for you died a violent death." + +She did not notice that the man before her started violently at these +words--but the look of fear in his eyes gave place the next instant to +braggadocio. + +He would have answered her, but she held up her little white hand with a +gesture commanding silence, saying, slowly, with quivering lips: + +"I repeat, the affection that I believed filled my heart for you died +suddenly when I told you that I had changed my mind about eloping, and +instead of studying my desires you insisted that the arrangement must be +carried out." + +"My--my--love for you prompted it, Faynie," he exclaimed, in a maudlin +voice. He knew he had the name wrong, but could not think what it was to +save his life. "Come, now, let's kiss and make up, and love each other +in the same old way, as the song goes." + +"What! love a man who thrusts me into a coach despite my entreaties, +takes me to a church, and with a revolver pressed close to my +heart--beneath my cloak--forces me to become his wife! No. No! I loathe, +abhor you--open that door and let me go!" + +With an unsteady spring he placed himself between her and the door, +crying angrily as he ground out a fierce imprecation from between his +white teeth. "Come, now, none of that, my beauty. You're my wife all +right, no matter how much of a fuss you make over it. I want to be +agreeable, but you persist in raising the devil in me, and though you +may not know it, I've a deuce of a temper when I'm thoroughly roused to +anger--at least that's what the folks who know me say. + +"Sit right down here now, and let's talk the matter over--if you want to +go home to the old gent, why I'm sure I have no objection, providing he +agrees to take your hubby along with you. There'll be a scene of +course--we may expect that--but when you tell him how you love me, and +couldn't live without me and all that--and mind, you put it on heavy--it +will end by his saying: 'Youth is youth, and love goes where it is sent. +I forgive you, my children; come right back to the paternal +roof--consider it yours in fact.' And when the occasion is ripe, you +could suggest that the old gent start your hubby in business. Your wish +would be law; he might demur a trifle at first, but if you stuck well +to your point he'd soon cave in and ask what figure I'd take to--" + +"Stop!--stop right where you are, you mercenary wretch!" cried Faynie in +a ringing voice. "I see it all now--as clear as day. You--you--have +married me because you have believed me my father's heiress, and--" + +"You couldn't help but be, my dear," he hiccoughed. "An only child--no +one else on earth to come in for his gold--couldn't help but be his +heiress, you know--couldn't disinherit you if he wanted to. You've got +the old chap foul enough there, ha, ha, ha!" + +"You seem to have suddenly lost sight of the fact that there is some one +beside myself--my stepmother and her daughter Claire." + +He fell back a step and looked at her with dilated eyes--despite the +brandy he had imbibed he still understood thoroughly every word she was +saying. + +"A stepmother--and--another daughter!" he cried, in astonishment--almost +incoherently. + +"You seem to forget that you always used to say to me--that you hoped +they were well," said Faynie with deepening scorn in her clear, young +voice. + +"Oh--ah--yes," he muttered, "but you see I was not thinking of +them---only of you," and deep in his heart he was cursing the hapless +cousin--whom he believed dead by this time--for not mentioning that the +girl had a stepmother and sister. + +"Had you taken the time to listen to something else that I had to tell +you, you might have reconsidered the advisability of eloping with me in +such haste," went on the girl in her clear, ringing tones, "for it has +become apparent to me--with even as little knowledge of the world as I +possess--that you are a fortune hunter--that most despicable of all +creatures--but in this instance your dastardly scheme has entangled your +own feet. Your well-aimed arrow has missed the mark. You have wedded +this night a penniless girl. An hour before you met me at the arched +gate my father disinherited me, and when he has once made up his mind +upon any course of action--nothing human, nothing on earth or in heaven +would have power enough to induce him to change it." + +The effect of her words were magical upon him. With a bound he was at +her side grasping her slender wrists with so tight a hold that they +nearly snapped asunder. + +Intense as the pain was, Faynie would not cry aloud. He should not see +that he had power to hurt her, even though she dropped dead at his feet +at last from the excruciating torture of it. + +"What is it you say--the old rascal has--disinherited you?" he cried, +scarcely crediting the evidence of his own ears. + +"That is just what I said--my father has disinherited me," she replied +slowly and distinctly, adding: "His money was his own--to do with as he +pleased--he gave me the choice of--of--marrying to suit him or being cut +off entirely. I--I--refused to accept the man he had selected for me. +That ended the matter. 'Then from this hour know that you shall not +inherit one penny of my wealth,' he cried. 'I will cut you off with but +the small amount required by law. There is nothing more to be said. You +are a Fairfax. You have taken your choice, and as a Fairfax you must +abide by your decision!' You will remember I told you I had something to +tell you the moment you came up to me at the arched gate, but you would +not listen. Now the consequence is upon your own head." + +"I have married a beggar, when I thought I was marrying an--heiress!" he +cried in a rage so horrible that Faynie, brave as she was, recoiled from +him in terror and, dismay. + +"You have married a penniless young girl," she corrected, half +inaudibly. + +He raised his clinched hand with a terrible volley of oaths, before +which she quailed, despite her bravery. + +"When the old man cast you off you thought you would tie yourself on to +me," he cried. "You women are cunning--oh, yes, you are, don't tell me +you're not; and you are the shrewdest one I've come across yet. You lie +when you say you meant to tell me what had happened beforehand, and you +know it. But you'll find out at your cost what it means to bind me to a +millstone for a wife. But you shan't be a millstone. You'll do your +share toward the support. Yes, by George, you shall. I'll put you on the +stage--and you--" + +"Never!" cried the girl with a bitter sob. "I'd die first." + +"Don't set up your authority against mine," he cried, and as he uttered +the words--half crazed by the brandy he had drunk so copiously--his +clinched fist came down with a heavy blow upon the girl's beautiful, +upturned face, and she fell like one dead at his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT ON THE LONELY RIVER ROAD. + + +For one moment he looked down half stupefied at his work--the girl lay +in a little dark heap at his feet just as he had struck her down--the +crimson blood pouring from a wound on her temple which his ring had +caused. + +"I--I've killed her," he muttered, setting his teeth together +hard--"she--she provoked me to it--curse her! My God! the girl is +actually dying." Then, through his half-dazed brain came the thought +that his crime would soon be discovered, and his only safety lay in +instant flight. + +It was but the work of a moment to hurry from the room, making his way +through the inky darkness as best he could to the barroom, where he knew +he should find Halloran and the cabby dozing in the big armchairs. + +The full realization of his crime had quite sobered him by this time. + +The innkeeper had left a dim light in the barroom. By the aid of this he +made his way quickly to his friend's side. A few rapid words whispered +excitedly in Halloran's ear told him the condition of affairs. + +"You are right," exclaimed Halloran, springing to his feet. "We must +get out of here without a moment's delay. The cabman must go with us, +taking his horses, even though we have to pay him the price of them." + +"I--I--will leave everything to you, Halloran," muttered his companion, +huskily, "your brain is clearer and a thousand times shrewder than +mine." + +"Nor must the girl be left here," went on Halloran. "She must not be +found dead in this house." + +"Why, what in Heaven's name could we do with her?" returned the other, +sharply. "I tell you she is dying, any one could see that." + +"Put her effectually out of the way, and past all human possibility of +any one finding out how she came by her death. I have a desperate plan. +I cannot explain it to you now. All I say is, be guided by my directions +to-night--leave everything to me," said Halloran, with a grim gaze. + +"I put myself in your hands, Halloran," was the husky reply. + +The cabby was hurriedly awakened. At first he demurred angrily against +the idea of starting off again; but when a roll of bank notes was +pressed into his hands as the price of his complying with their +demand--a sum that would more than cover the price of the horses if he +lost them--he no longer found grounds for complaint, but agreed with +alacrity to do their bidding. + +Besides, Halloran knew a little secret of the cabby's past--just how he +came by the money to buy that outfit--and as it was done in a +particularly shady way, the man dared not make an enemy of him. + +In less time than it takes to tell it the coach stood at the door again. + +It was Halloran--nervy, cool-headed Halloran, whom the other had always +dubbed half man, half fiend--who stole up to the room above, found the +girl lying in the exact spot his companion had described, and, catching +up her cloak, wrapped it about her, bore her noiselessly down the stairs +and out to the coach in waiting. + +"Is it all over with her yet?" whispered the other in a strained, husky +voice, showing intense fear. + +"Almost," returned Halloran, briefly, jumping in and closing the door +after him. + +For some moments they rode along in utter silence. Then, as Halloran +made no attempt to break it, his companion leaned over, asking +breathlessly: "Where are we going--and--and--what do you propose to do +with her?" + +"I am just trying to solve that problem in my mind, and it is a knotty +one. I must have more time to think it over," replied Halloran, tersely. + +Before his companion could reply, the coach came to a sudden +standstill, and both of the men within heard their driver's voice in +earnest colloquy with some one standing by the roadside. + +"It is the girl's father, or friends, who have just discovered her +absence and have been scouring the country about to find her," gasped +the fraudulent Lester Armstrong, and the hand that grasped his +companion's arm shook like an aspen leaf. + +"Don't be a coward!" hissed Halloran. "If worst comes to worst, whoever +it is can share the girl's fate," and with these words he opened the +door of the coach, asking sharply, angrily: + +"What is the matter, driver?" + +"Nothing, save a poor old fellow who wants me to give him a lift on the +box beside me. He has lost his way. He's an old grave digger, who says +he lives hereabouts, somewhere. He's half frozen with the cold tramping +about. I told him 'Yes, climb up;' it's a little extra work for the +horses, but I suppose as long as I don't mind it you'll not object." + +"Ha! Satan always helps his own out of difficulties," whispered Halloran +to his companion; and, without waiting for a reply, he was out of the +coach like a flash, and his hand was on the old grave digger's arm ere +he could make the ascent to the box beside the driver. + +"Wait a moment, my good friend," said Halloran, "we have a little work +which you of all persons are best fitted to perform for us ere we +proceed." + +Old Adam, the grave digger, looked at the tall gentleman before him in +some little perplexity, answering, slowly: + +"I hope you will not take it amiss, sir, if I answer that I do not fully +comprehend your words." + +"Perhaps not; but permit me to make them clear to you, in as plain +English as I can command. I want you to dig a grave here and now." + +"A grave--here!" echoed Adam, quite believing his old ears were not +serving him truly--that he had certainly not heard aright. + +"That is what I said," returned Halloran, grimly. + +"But, sir!" began old Adam, "this is no graveyard." + +"Curse you, who said it was?" cut in the other, sharply. + +"It is not to be thought of, sir," murmured the grave digger, trembling +in every limb, his brain too bewildered to try to reason out the meaning +of this strange request, and quite believing the stranger must be an +escaped lunatic. + +Coolly and deliberately Halloran drew a revolver from his pocket, and +placed it at Adam's throbbing temple, saying, grimly, and harshly: + +"You will do as I command or your life will pay the forfeit. I give you +one moment of time to decide." + +It was a moment so fraught with tragic horror that in all the after +years of his life Adam always looked back to it with a shudder of deadly +fear. + +He was no longer young--the sands of life were running slower than in +the long ago--still, life was sweet to him, ah, very sweet. He had a +good wife and little bairns at home, and an aged mother, to whom he was +very dear, and he was their only support. + +Who was this dark-browed stranger? Why did he wish a grave dug by the +roadside on this terrible night? Whom did he wish to bury there, and was +the body within the coach? + +All these thoughts were surging rapidly through his brain, when suddenly +Halloran said: + +"Your moment for contemplation is up. Will you dig the grave here and +now as I command you, or will you prefer that the next passer-by should +find you on this spot with a bullet hole through your head?" + +Even through the semi-darkness old Adam could see the stranger's eyes +gleaming pitilessly upon him as he uttered the words, and he realized +that if he refused he might expect no mercy at this man's hands. + +"Your answer!" said Halloran, pressing the messenger of death still +closer to the throbbing brow of the now thoroughly terrified old grave +digger. + +"Y--es," stammered old Adam. + +"That is well," declared Halloran, removing the weapon. "Begin right +here by the roadside. This is as good a spot as any. You need not make +it the regulation depth--three feet or such a matter will answer. Begin +without delay. I will also add that not only will you save your own +neck, but you shall earn a comfortable fee if you work quickly. Mind, +every minute counts." + +The old grave digger slowly took his spade from his shoulder, and by the +light from the carriage lamp began his work on the spot pointed out, +while Halloran stood by watching him with keen interest. + +Old Adam was used to work in the terrible heat of summer and in the +bitter cold of the winter. He set to work with a will, and the frozen +ground yielded quickly to the strokes of his trusty spade, and surely +the faint moon, glimmering from between the drifting clouds sweeping +across the dark face of the black heavens overhead, never looked upon a +wilder, more weird scene. + +Twice old Adam paused, the perspiration pouring down his face like +rain. + +He was about to cry out: "I cannot go on with this uncanny work," but +each time the cold steel of the revolver was pressed to his throbbing +brow, and the harsh voice of the muffled stranger said: "Go on; your +work is almost accomplished." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +"THERE MUST NOT BE A SINGLE TRACE LEFT TO MARK THE SPOT OF THE GRAVE YOU +ARE NOW DIGGING," SAID THE MUFFLED STRANGER. + + +The old grave digger worked on faster and faster by the fitful light of +the carriage lamp, with the wild night winds howling about him, and the +perspiration streaming down his face, as the stranger stood over him +covering his heart with the deadly revolver. + +"That will do, my man," he said, as old Adam paused for breath a moment. +"That is deep enough, I guess. It will not take long to place its future +tenant therein; then you must replace the earth and pack the snow so +carefully about it that it would not attract the attention of the +casual passer-by. Do you comprehend?" + +"Yes," answered the old grave digger, and it seemed to him that his own +voice sounded like nothing human. + +The stranger turned and walked leisurely to the coach in waiting. + +Old Adam would have fled from the spot in mortal terror, but that his +limbs were trembling and refused to carry him. + +He leaned heavily on his spade, asking himself in growing fright--what +terrible mystery was this that fate had drawn him into, and awaiting +with quaking heart what would follow. + +He had not long to wait. The stranger who had stepped to the carriage +evidently proposed to lose no time. + +In less time than it takes to recount it, he had lifted from the vehicle +a slender figure, closely wrapped in a long dark garment, and as he did +so a second person stepped from the coach--a man, closely muffled like +his companion--and wearing his soft hat pulled low over his eyes. + +One glance at the flickering light of the carriage lamp fell upon them, +bearing the slender figure between them, and old Adam's heart fairly +stood still with horror. + +He recognized them at once as the parties who had stood before the +altar in the old stone church scarcely an hour before. + +Great God! could it be? Ah, yes, it must be the body of the beautiful, +hapless young bride they were bringing to this wild and lonely grave. + +How did she happen to die? She who had been so full of bounding life but +one short hour before--only the all-seeing eye of the God above could +tell--ay, could solve this horrible mystery. + +Another moment, and in utter silence, the slender figure was lowered +into the frozen ground by the two strangers. + +This accomplished, the same man turned to old Adam again, saying, +abruptly: + +"Now finish your work as speedily as possible, I repeat the +caution--mind--not a trace must be visible when you have accomplished +your task, to mark the spot." + +No word from the old grave digger answered him. He could not have +uttered a single syllable if his very life had depended upon it. + +While the other had been speaking, a gust of wind had for a single +instant tossed aside the heavy cloth that covered the face, and old Adam +saw beyond all doubt that it was indeed the lovely young creature who +had within that hour been made a bride, and with that terrible discovery +came another--there was, as sure as fate, a flush upon the beautiful +face of her whom they were consigning to the tomb. + +"Hold!" he cried out with all his strength, drawing back from his work, +shaking with terror. "The--the--girl is not dead; there is color--" + +A fierce oath from the lips of both men simultaneously cut his words +short. + +"The girl is dead," exclaimed the man who had so far done the talking. +"That is blood you see on her face. She had a hemorrhage. Go on with +your work, you fool--or, here! give me the spade. I will make a short +shift of it." + +But as the stranger uttered these words, stepping quickly forward to put +the thought into execution, a sudden thought, like an inspiration, +occurred to the ancient grave digger. + +"No--no--I will finish my work," he muttered. "I--I--can do it best, as +I--I--understand it--and--and--you, would not." + +"Make all haste, then; it is growing bitter cold. We shall all freeze to +death." + +"Could you not get into the coach, sir, to keep warm?" suggested old +Adam; "you can be of no aid to me, you know. When I have +finished--you--you can step out and see if it is done to your +satisfaction." + +For a moment the stranger hesitated, then said, sharply: + +"I think I will take your advice, my man; my feet are about as numb as +they could well be, I assure you; and as you say, my standing here will +not help you. I can watch from the carriage window, and when the work is +done step out and look at it." + +With that he hurried quickly to the vehicle, and with a thankfulness in +his heart that words are weak to describe, and with a mental "God be +praised," the old grave digger bent to his task with renewed energy. + +Both men watched narrowly and anxiously, as spadeful after spadeful of +dirt quickly disappeared from the white ground. Then the white heaping +snow was leveled over the dark narrow space, and the grave digger +announced that his work was completed. + +"I do not know as it is worth while to examine it; the old fellow knows +his business," remarked Halloran to his companion, who was by this time +fairly well under the weather from large draughts of brandy he had drunk +from a bottle he had seized from the bar. "Step up on the box beside the +driver"--thrusting a bank note into the old grave digger's nervous, +trembling hand--"we will take you along the road as far as we go." + +For an instant old Adam hesitated, but it was only for an instant, for +he said to himself he must not arouse the suspicion of this stranger by +refusing to ride, especially as he had begged for that permission so +short a time before. He could frame no reasonable excuse for asking to +remain behind. + +Marking the spot as best he could in the intense darkness, he climbed up +to the driver's box as he had been bidden, and took his seat. + +With a sharp cut of the whip upon their flanks, the horses were started, +and swaying to and fro with their every motion as they dashed along over +the uneven road, the coach sped onward. + +No word fell from the driver's lips, and old Adam was too much excited +to vouchsafe a remark. + +He knew that the men, as well as the rig, did not belong thereabouts, +for he well knew every team in the village, and those of the adjoining +farmers. + +How far they traversed thus he could not judge, but to his intense +relief he saw at last that they were passing a familiar landmark, an old +bridge that spanned a dry creek which was scarcely a dozen rods from his +own door. + +"I will leave you here," said Adam. "I thank you for giving me a lift." + +Again the coach came to a halt, and the man within put out his head, +inquiring sharply: + +"What is the matter now?" + +"This man wants to get off here." + +"Very well," replied Halloran, drawing back into the warmth of the coach +and giving the matter no further thought, and resuming the castles in +the air which he had been building when the vehicle came to a stop. "I +shall see that you carry out to the fullest detail the little plot I am +laying this night for you," he muttered, looking steadily at his +companion, who had dozed off into a heavy stupefied sleep upon the +opposite seat, "and when you come into possession of the money which +your marriage to the little heiress to-night will bring you, I shall +come in for the lion's share of it. You dare not refuse my demands, no +matter how exorbitant they may be, under penalty of exposure. That will +be the sword in my hands that will always hang over your head. + +"It would have been more difficult to accomplish my scheme if the girl +had lived. It is best as it is. Dead people tell no tales. Of course +they will search for the girl when they discover that she has eloped, +but will believe she is cleverly eluding them or traveling about the +country. I have always had golden dreams of a fortune that would be in +my grasp some day, and now, lo! my dream is about to be realized." + +While he was thus soliloquizing, old Adam, the grave digger, was +standing silently in the road where they had set him down, then +suddenly he turned abruptly--not toward his home--but as quickly as his +aged limbs could carry him back over the ground the coach had just +traversed, praying to Heaven to guide him to the spot where he had dug +the lonely grave of the beautiful, hapless young bride of an hour. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SNATCHED FROM THE GRAVE. + + +Back over that terrible road of drifting snow the old grave digger made +his way as swiftly as his trembling limbs could carry him. + +He had endeavored to mark carefully the spot where he had made that +lonely grave, but the snow was drifting so hard with each furious gust +of wind as to make it almost impossible to find it upon retracing his +steps. + +Quaking with terror, and with a prayer on his lips to Heaven to guide +him, old Adam sat down his lantern, and by its dim, flickering light +peered breathlessly around. + +There was the blasted pine tree and toward the right of it the stump. +The grave must be less than a rod below it. + +With a heart beating with great strangling throbs, he paced off the +distance, and then stood quite still, holding his lantern down close to +the frozen earth. + +For an instant his heart almost ceased beating--there was no sign of the +little mound, with the leafless branch of bush he had been so careful to +place there. + +Then, suddenly a moan from beneath his very feet fell upon his ear, +causing him to fairly gasp for breath. + +"Thank God! I have found it!" he cried. + +In an instant he had thrown off his coat, thin though it was, and set to +work as he had never worked in all his life before--against time. + +He had thrown in the earth loosely, taking care to leave the head +exposed, for he felt as sure as he did of his own existence that life +was not yet extinct in the body of the young girl for whom he was forced +to prepare that grave at the point of a revolver in the hands of the two +desperate strangers. + +He had taken his own life in his hands when he had announced the work +finished satisfactorily, for had the man stepped from the coach to +examine the work he would have found the deep hole which left the head +uncovered. + +The cold winds and the drifting snow blew into the old grave digger's +face, but he worked on with desperate zeal, realizing that another life +might depend upon the swiftness of his rescue. + +At last, after what seemed to him an eternity of time, he reached the +body, and quickly lifted it from its resting place. + +Half an hour later he reached his own humble cottage home, bearing the +slender burden in his strong arms. + +His good wife had waited up for him. She could never sleep when Adam was +away from home. + +She heard his footstep on the crunching snow and hastened to open the +door for him, starting back with a cry of great surprise as she caught +sight of the figure in his arms. + +"Is it some neighbor's little girl lost in the storm, Adam?" she cried, +clasping her hands together in affright. + +"Don't ask any questions now, Mary," he exclaimed, delivering the burden +into her willing, motherly arms, and sinking down into the nearest +chair, thoroughly exhausted. "I'll tell you all about it later, when I +get my breath and my nerves are settled. Do everything you can to revive +the poor young creature. She is freezing to death." + +As old Adam's kindly wife threw back the dark cloak which had enveloped +the fair young face and form, an exclamation of surprise broke from her +wondering lips. + +"She is a stranger hereabouts," she observed, but she wisely obeyed her +husband's injunctions, making no further remark, knowing she would hear +all about it in good time. + +In less time than it takes to tell it, the beautiful young stranger was +put to bed in the little spare room up under the eaves, wrapped in +flannel blankets, with bottles of hot water at the feet, and a generous +draught of brandy, which the grave digger's wife always kept in the +house for emergencies, forced down her throat. + +"She will soon return to consciousness now," she exclaimed to her +husband, who stood beside the bedside anxiously watching her labors; +"see that flush on her cheeks. We will sit down quietly and wait until +she opens her eyes. It won't be long." + +And while they waited thus, Adam told his wife the story he had to tell +concerning the young girl--this fair, hapless, beautiful young stranger +whose wedding he had witnessed and burial he had assisted in within the +hour, first binding his wife to solemn secrecy. + +The good woman's amazement as she listened can better be imagined than +described. For once in her life she was too dumfounded to offer even a +theory. + +As they glanced toward the bed, to their amazement they saw the girl's +eyes fastened upon old Adam with an expression of horror in them, +heartrending to behold, and they realized that she had heard every word +he had said. + +In an instant they were on their feet bending over the couch. + +"Is it true--they buried me--and--you--you--rescued me?" she asked, in a +terrified whisper, catching at the old man's hands and clutching them in +a grasp from which he could not draw them away, her teeth chattering, +her violet eyes almost bulging from their sockets. + +"Since you have heard all, I might as well confess that it is quite +true," he answered. "And God forgive that brute of a husband you just +married. He ought to swing for the crime as sure as there is a heaven +above us. There will be no end of the good minister's wrath when he +hears the story, my poor girl." + +Again the beautiful young stranger caught at his hands. + +"He must never know!" she cried, incoherently. "Promise me, by all you +hold dear, that both you and your wife will keep my secret--will never +reveal one word of what has happened this night." + +"It is not right that we should keep silent upon such an amazing +procedure. That would be letting escape the man who should be punished, +if there is any law in the land to reach him for committing such a +heinous crime." + +"I plead with you--I, who know best and am the one wronged, and most +vitally interested, to utter no word that would cause the story to +become blazoned all over the world. Let me make my words a prayer to you +both--to keep my pitiful secret." + +It was beyond human power to look into those beautiful violet eyes, +drowned in the most agonized tears, and the white, terrified, anxious +face, without yielding to her prayer. + +"I do not know what good reason you may have for binding us to secrecy," +he said, slowly and reluctantly, "but we cannot choose but to give you +the promise--nay, the pledge--you plead for. I can answer for my Mary as +well as myself--the story of to-night's happenings shall never pass our +lips until you give us leave to speak." + +"Thank you! Oh, I thank you a thousand times!" sobbed the girl. "You +have lifted a terrible load from my heart. If the time ever comes when I +can repay you, rest assured it shall surely be done." + +She tried to rise from her couch, but the good wife held her back upon +her pillow with a detaining hand, exclaiming: + +"What are you about to do, my dear child?" + +"Go away from here," sobbed the girl, again attempting to arise from the +couch, but falling back upon the pillow from sheer weakness. + +She did not leave that couch for many a day. What she had undergone had +been too much for her shattered nerves. + +Brain fever threatened the hapless girl, but was warded off by the +faithful nursing of old Adam's faithful wife. + +And during those weeks the good woman could learn nothing of the history +of the beautiful young stranger, who persistently refused to divulge one +word concerning herself. She would turn her face to the wall and weep so +violently when any allusion was made to her past that the grave digger's +wife gave up questioning her. + +One morning the bed was empty. It had not been slept in. The girl had +fled in the night. + +Who she was, or where she had gone, was to them the darkest, deepest +mystery. Would it ever be revealed? They could not discuss it with the +old minister or any of the neighbors, for their lips were sealed in +eternal silence concerning the matter. + +"I feel sure the end of this matter is not yet," said old Adam, +prophetically. "When the girl comes face to face with the dastardly +villain she wedded that night, it will end in a tragedy." + +"God forbid!" murmured his wife with a shudder; but down in her own +heart she felt that her husband had spoken the truth; the tragic end of +this affair had not yet come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"YOU ARE DISINHERITED--EVERYTHING IN THIS HOUSE IS MINE." + + +Faynie had indeed departed from that humble home as she had entered it, +in the dark, dim silence of the bitter-cold night. + +She made her way as best she could to the station which, fortunately +enough, was not far distant. The station master was old and anxious to +get home, and therefore paid little heed to the little dark-robed figure +who bought a ticket to New York, and soon after crept silently aboard of +the train which steamed into the little depot of the hamlet, almost +buried in the snowdrifts across the hills. + +Weak and faint from her recent illness, Faynie, the beautiful, petted +little heiress of a short time before, huddled into a corner of the seat +by the door, and drawing her veil carefully over her face, wept silently +and unheeded as the midnight express bore her along to her destination. + +She was going home to Beechwood; going back to the home she had left in +such high spirits to join the lover who was to be all in all to her +forever more; the lover who was to shield her henceforth and forever +from the world's storms, and was to be all devotion to her and love her +fondly until death did them part. And this had been the end of it. Her +high hopes lay in ruins around her. Her idol had been formed of +commonest clay, and lay crumbled in a thousand fragments at her feet. + +Surely, no young girl's love dream ever had such a sad awakening, and +was so cruelly dispelled. + +She would go home to her haughty old father, tell him all, then lie down +at his feet and die. That would end it all. Even in that moment lines +she had once read came back to her with renewed meaning: + + "And this is all! The end has come at last! + The bitter end of all that pleasant dream, + That cast a hallow o'er the happy past, + Like golden sunshine on a summer stream. + + "Sweet were the days that marked life's sunny slope, + When we together drew our hearts atune, + And through the vision of a future hope, + We did not dream that they would pass so soon. + + "In happy mood fair castles we upreared, + And thought that life was one long summer day; + We had no dread of future pain, nor feared + That shadows e'er should fall athwart our way. + + "But sunken rocks lie hid in every stream, + And ships are wrecked when just in sight of land; + So we to-day wake from our pleasant dream + To find our hopes were builded on the sand. + + "I do not blame you that you do not keep + The troth you plighted e'er your heart you knew; + Better the parting now than wake to weep, + When time has robbed life's roses of their dew. + + "Another face will help you to forget, + The idle dream that had its birth in trust, + And other lips will kiss away regret, + For broken faith and idols turned to dust, + + "Ah, well, you chose, perhaps, the better way; + Another love may in your heart be shrined; + And I--I shall go down my darkened way, + Seeking forever what I ne'er shall find." + +It was two o'clock by the church belfry when she reached Beechwood, and +a quarter of an hour later when she reached the great mansion that stood +on the brow of the hill. + +She remembered that one of the rear doors, seldom used, was never +fastened, and toward this she bent her faltering footsteps. It yielded +to her touch, and like a ghost she glided through it and up the wide, +familiar corridors, her tears falling like rain at every step. + +She knew it was her father's custom to spend long hours in his library, +sometimes far into the gray dawn. He found this preferable to the +presence of his sharp-tongued second wife, who was always nagging him +for more money, or to put his property into her name as proof positive +of his unbounded, undying affection for her. + +In his library, among his books, there was no nagging. Here he found +peace, silence and quiet. + +Therefore, toward the library, late as the hour was, Faynie made her +way, stealing along quietly as a shadow. + +The door stood slightly ajar, and a ray of light, a narrow, thread-like +strip, fell athwart the dim corridor. + +When Faynie reached the door she paused, trembling with apprehension, a +feeling of intense dread, like a presentiment of coming evil, stealing +over her like the shadow of doom. + +She was prepared for his bitter anger, for the whirlwind of wrath that +would be sure to follow, but she would cast herself on her knees at his +feet, and with head bowed, oh, so lowly, so piteously, wait for the +hurricane of his rage to exhaust itself. Then she would bend over her +head still lower, her pride crushed, her pitiful humiliation complete, +and sue on her bended knees, with her hands clasped for his pardon and +his love again. + +She would plead for it for the sake of the fair, hapless young mother +whom she had loved and lost in his early youth. Surely, for her sake he +would find mercy, perhaps pardon, for the child she had left behind her, +the fair, petted, hapless daughter, who had been so lonely, and whose +heart yearned so for love ever since he had brought in a second wife to +rule over his household. + +Ay, from that hour he and his daughter had seemed to drift apart. + +Nerving herself for the ordeal, the girl crept to the door and timidly +swung it back. + +There was a figure bending over the writing desk; not the tall form of +her father, but her stepmother. + +Faynie drew back with a startled cry. + +In a single instant, with the swiftness of a lioness, the woman who had +been examining the desk, cleared the space that divided her from the +girl, and clutched her by the shoulder. + +"You!" she panted, in a voice that was scarcely human, it was so full of +venomous hatred. "You!" she repeated, flinging the girl from her, as +though she had been something vile to the touch. "How dare you come +here?" + +Faynie looked at her for a moment with dilated eyes gazing out from her +pale face. + +Had her stepmother suddenly gone mad? was the thought that flashed +through the girl's brain. + +"I--I have come back to my father, and--and to his home--and mine. Any +explanation I have to offer will be made to him alone." + +The woman laughed a sneering, demoniac laugh, and her clutch on the +girl's shoulder grew stronger, fiercer. + +"How lovely, how beautifully worded, how dutiful!" she sneered. "By that +I judge that you have not been keeping abreast of the times, or you +would have known, girl, that your father is dead, and that he has +disinherited you, leaving every dollar of his wealth to me." + +"Dead!" Faynie repeated the words in an awful whisper. + +It seemed to her that every drop of blood in her veins seemed suddenly +turned to ice. A mist swam before her eyes and she put out her hand +gropingly, grasping the back of the nearest chair for support. + +She did not even hear the last of the sentence. Her thoughts and hearing +seemed to end with that one awful word. + +"That is what I said," replied her stepmother, nonchalantly, "and you +are his murderess, girl, quite as much as though you had plunged a +dagger in his heart. Your elopement caused him to have a terrible +hemorrhage. He knew all the details about it in less than an hour's +time, learning from one of the servants how you stole out of the house +and met the tall man at the gate, who took you off in a closed carriage, +and just as he made this discovery one of the maids handed him your +note, which you left pinned to the pillow, addressed to him. He had no +sooner read it than he fell into a rage so horrible that it ended as I +have said, in a hemorrhage. Within ten minutes' time your name, which he +cursed, was stricken from his will, and he left everything to me, +disinheriting you. Do you comprehend the force of my remark?" + +The steady, awful look in the young girl's eyes made the woman quail in +spite of her bravado. "I--I do not care for my father's wealth, but that +he should curse me--oh, that is too much--too much. Oh, God, let me die +here and now, that I may follow him to the Great White Throne and there +kneel before him and tell him all my pitiful story!" + +"That is a pretty theory, but people cannot go to and come at will from +the Great White Throne, as you call it. You had better get back to the +realities of life on this mundane sphere, where you find yourself just +at present. I repeat for the third time that you are disinherited. I +cannot seem to make you grasp that fact. This home and everything in it +belongs absolutely to me." + +Faynie heard and realized, and without a word, turned and staggered like +one dying toward the door, but her stepmother put herself quickly before +her. + +"Sit down there. I have something else to say to you," she added in a +shrill whisper, pushing the girl into the nearest seat. + +"I must go. I will not listen," cried Faynie, struggling to her feet. + +"Yes, you shall listen and comply with my proposition," exclaimed her +stepmother, her glittering eyes fastened on the beautiful face of the +girl she hated so intensely. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +IMPENDING EVIL. + + +We must return for one brief instant, dear reader, to our hero, Lester +Armstrong, whom we left as he was being hurried off to the hospital on +the night which proved so thrillingly eventful. + +At the first rapid glance, the surgeon had believed his patient dying, +but upon examination after he had reached the hospital, it was +discovered that his injury was by no means as serious as had been +apprehended; but a trouble quite as grave confronted the patient. + +"An injury to the base of the brain, such as he has received, no matter +how slight, might, in this instance, produce either insanity or partial +loss of memory, which is almost as bad," said the surgeon. "It will +soon be determined when consciousness, returns to him." + +This indeed proved to be the case. Just as daylight broke Lester +Armstrong opened his eyes, looking in amazement around the strange +apartment in which he found himself. + +A kindly-faced nurse bent over him, who, in answer to his look of +inquiry, said: + +"You had a severe fall and hurt yourself last night and was brought to +the hospital. You are doing finely. Can you remember anything about the +incident?" + +Lester looked up vacantly into the dark-gray eyes. "I--I was in a hurry +to close my books at the office; that is all I recollect," he murmured. + +From documents found in his pockets, it was learned that he had some +connection with the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., and the senior +member of the firm was notified. Within an hour Mr. Marsh responded in +person. He was greatly distressed over the occurrence and took it deeply +to heart. + +"I think as much of that young man as if he were my own son. Do +everything in human power for him. Let no pains be spared. I will stand +every expense," he said, and then and there he also confided a startling +secret to the surgeon. + +"I am a lone man in this world, without one kindred tie on earth. Some +little time since I made my will. I left every dollar I possessed on +earth to my young cashier, Lester Armstrong, though he never even +dreamed of such an existing state of affairs. I never intended that he +should know that I had made him my heir for perhaps years to come yet." + +"Lester Armstrong!" exclaimed the surgeon. "Why, that is not the name he +is entered here under, Mr. Marsh. The friend who was with him did not +call him that." + +"Then the friend who was with him evidently did not know him. I identify +him as my cashier, Lester Armstrong." + +The surgeon bowed courteously. + +"I would also suggest no mention whatever of this affair be given to the +newspapers," continued the gentleman. "They would make a sensational +story out of it, and I detest notoriety." + +"Your wishes shall be respected, sir," replied the surgeon, who had a +great reverence for men of wealth. + +His prediction proved quite correct. When Lester Armstrong arose from +that bed of sickness ten days later, his mind, although as bright and +keen as ever on some subjects, on others was hopelessly clouded. Even +the slightest recollection of beautiful Faynie Fairfax, the little +sweetheart whom he had loved better than his own life, was completely +obliterated from his mind. He did not even remember such a being had +ever existed. + +Another event had transpired on the eventful night of his injury. The +humble boarding house where he had made his home so many years, had been +destroyed by fire, and the people had gone none knew whither. This was +indeed a trying blow to Lester, for the fire had completely wiped out +all of his savings which he had kept in the little haircloth trunk in +his room. But, without a murmur, he took up the burden of life over +again and went back to his work at his desk. + +In going over his accounts he suddenly came across the name of Faynie +Fairfax. + +The pen fell from his fingers and he brushed his hand over his brow. + +"What a strangely familiar ring that name has to me!" he muttered, "but +I cannot imagine who it can be. Her checks seem to be paid in here. I +must remember to notice who she is when next she comes to this window." + +Life had dropped into the same old groove again for Lester Armstrong, +the only difference in the routine of his daily life being that he was +not obliged to take his daily trips to Beechwood any more, for the +reason that his employer, Mr. Marsh, had taken up his residence in the +city again. + +But in less than a fortnight another event happened. + +Mr. Marsh died suddenly, and to the great surprise of every one, Lester +Armstrong was named as his sole heir. At first the young man was +dumfounded. He could not believe the evidence of his own senses, when +first the news was conveyed to him. + +The papers contained columns concerning the young man's wonderful luck. +Those who knew Lester Armstrong said the great fortune which had come to +him would not spoil him. + +There was one who read this account with amazed eyes, and that was +Halloran. + +"Great God!" he muttered, his hands shaking, his teeth chattering. +"Kendale told me that Armstrong was taken to the hospital in a +precarious condition and died there." + +He made all haste to Kendale's lodgings. The latter, who was still +masquerading under the name of Lester Armstrong, had been on a +continuous spree ever since the night he had wedded the little beauty, +and Halloran had let him take his course, saying to himself that there +was plenty of time in the future to carry out their scheme. + +For once he found Kendale partially sober. He knew by Halloran's face +that something out of the usual order of events had transpired. + +"What is the matter?" he cried; "what's up now?" + +For answer Halloran laid the paper before him, pointing to the column, +remarking, grimly: + +"The game's up now, and we've gone through all this trouble for nothing. +Your cousin, Lester Armstrong, is not dead, but instead is alive and +well." + +The papers which contained the account gave another bit of unfortunate +information, stating that Lester Armstrong had suffered from loss of +memory since he had received the fall on that fatal night. + +"Well," said Halloran, as his friend laid down the paper, "you see, the +game's up." + +"By no means," exclaimed Kendale, perfectly sober by this time. "It's a +poor rule that won't work both ways," he added, excitedly. + +"I don't understand your cause for rejoicing," returned Halloran, +gloomily. + +"Don't you?" cried Kendale. "Then let me make it clear to you. We not +only have one fortune through the girl that I tied myself to, and can, +as her husband, collect all in good time, but with a little strategy I +can come in for the Marsh millions. We can decoy Armstrong into a coach, +and let the world find out his fate after that if it can. I will coolly +take his place, just as I did in that other affair, and who is there to +question that I am not he." + +"But they know you there. You worked a week in the employ of Marsh & Co. +You forget that." + +"It was at one of their branch stores," was the reply, "and they had +never heard of Armstrong there, and had never seen him. I left in a +week. I did not resemble my cousin so much at that particular time for +the reason that my mustache was shaven off then. Without that you would +be surprised to see what a wide difference there is between us." + +"It is a great scheme, if you are sure that you can carry it through," +said Halloran, breathing hard and eying his companion fixedly. + +"Trust that to me," replied Kendale, jumping up and walking the floor to +and fro excitedly. + +It was midnight when Halloran left Kendale's apartments. During those +long hours the two plotters had concocted a diabolical scheme, which +they meant to carry out ere the morning light dawned. + +All unconscious of the nefarious plot against his life, Lester Armstrong +was up with the sun the next morning, and was down to the office at an +early hour transacting the great amount of business that he found upon +his hands, contingent upon being the head of the firm of which he had +for so many years been but an humble cashier. + +Despite the sudden wealth which had come to him, all that day he felt a +strange depression of the heart, a strong impression of impending evil, +which he could not shake off. Even those about him noticed what a gloomy +look there was in his eyes. + +He was the last one to leave the great building that night, and as he +stepped out upon the sidewalk, he muttered to himself: "I wonder what is +about to happen to me, my heart feels so heavy, so depressed." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN THE TOILS OF THE CONSPIRATORS. + + +Lester Armstrong had no sooner stepped to the pavement than he was +accosted by a man who stepped suddenly up to him. + +"Mr. Armstrong?" he said, interrogatively, touching his hat +respectfully. + +"Yes," responded Lester, "what can I do for you?" + +"I am here on a deed of mercy. A friend of mine, an employee of yours, +sir, has met with a serious accident and calls for you repeatedly. I am +a hackman, and I volunteered to come for you and ask you to let me take +you to him. It is not very far. My cab stands right here." + +"I will go to the poor fellow, certainly," responded Lester, hurrying to +the vehicle in question and hastily entering it. + +In a moment the driver had mounted the box and was off like the wind. It +did not occur to Lester until he was well under way that he had not +thought to inquire who the injured man was. + +As the cab rolled swiftly along over the crowded thoroughfare, Lester +leaned back and gave himself up to his own thoughts. + +Wealth had come to him, and with it honors had crowded thick and fast +upon him. The world of society held out its arms eagerly to him. Lovely +young girls, matrons of the house, offered their congratulations to him +with the most bewitching of smiles, and mothers with marriageable +daughters from all over the city opened an account with the great dry +goods house, whose sole owner was a young and handsome bachelor. + +But for all this there seemed to be something sadly missing in his life, +a want which he could hardly define, and it seemed to take the shape of +something which he was striving to remember, but could not. + +Only that morning he had been talking with some one in the office about +it, and had been laughingly informed that there was a method that could +bring back to his memory that which he desired so ardently to recollect. +"If you will tell me how to unravel this tangle that is in my brain, you +will have my everlasting gratitude," declared Lester, earnestly. + +"It takes people with nerves of steel to accomplish it. A person who is +nervous to the slightest degree would not dare to try it, for fear of +turning suddenly insane from the terrible mental struggle. Do you still +wish to know what it is?" + +"Yes," responded Lester, "and I can use my judgment whether I dare try +it or not." + +"Very good," replied the gentleman, "then here it is: Counting five +thousand backward will either restore your loss of memory, or, as I have +taken care to warn you gravely in advance, cause you to go insane. It +must be done rapidly, and in a given space of time. In my belief the +remedy is by far worse than the malady. I feel, somehow, as though I +ought not to have told you about it." + +"Nonsense," said Lester. "You need have little fear of my trying it." + +He thought of it, however, as the cab rolled rapidly along. + +"I wonder if harm would result from my trying it?" he mused. "I have +unusually strong nerves, and--and, if anything disastrous should come of +it, there is not one soul on the wide earth that would be injured. There +is no mother to weep, no fair young sister to grieve, no father or +brother to be bowed down with sorrow. I am alone in the world. My +foolhardiness would injure only myself--only myself." + +He had been thinking so deeply that he had not noted the flight of time, +nor that the street lamps had grown fewer and far between, at last +ceasing altogether, and that they were traveling a country road. +Suddenly the vehicle came to a stop. The driver jumped from his box and +opened the door with a jerk, remarking: + +"This is the place." + +Lester alighted, looking about him in a rather mystified manner, but +before he could make the inquiry that rose to his lips the driver +hastened to say: + +"The path that leads to the house, which is just beyond that clump of +trees, is so narrow that we cannot drive there. We will have to walk. It +is but a short distance. You will see the house at the first turn in the +path." + +And as the man uttered the words he gave a peculiar cough. + +"Who is the person who sent for me?" Lester queried, stopping short. The +man made an evasive answer, which aroused his suspicions that all was +not as it should be. + +"Why do you not answer my question? I refuse to proceed a step farther +until you have satisfied me on this point," declared Lester, haughtily. + +"That's your opinion. I think differently, my fine fellow," answered the +man insolently. "I'd advise you to come along quietly." + +Lester Armstrong saw at once that he had been lured into a trap. It was +natural for him to jump to the conclusion that it was for robbery, owing +to the fact of his coming into possession of the great Marsh fortune so +recently, and a sudden sternness settled upon his face. He was not used +to broils, but this fellow should see that he was not quite a stranger +to the manly art of self-defense, and that he had an adversary worthy of +his steel. + +"Are you coming along peaceably with me, or shall I be obliged to call +upon my pals for assistance?" he asked, grimly. + +"I propose to defend myself against all odds," answered Lester, more +than angry with himself for falling so easily into the trap that had +been so cunningly set for him. + +He had but a few dollars in money about him, and the disappointment of +his assailant in not finding a large roll of bills would in all +probability cause the man to take desperate chances in trying to make +away with him. If he was armed he was at the fellow's mercy. There might +be half a dozen accomplices in collusion with him, he had little doubt. + +Again the cabby uttered that peculiar cough which was half a whistle, +and in response two men, whose features were covered by black masks, +sprang from the adjacent bushes. + +Our hero put up a splendid defense, but the united strength of his three +antagonists at length overpowered him. + +What was there in the figure of one of the men that seemed so familiar +to him? he wondered, and just as they were bearing him to the ground by +their united efforts, he suddenly reached forward and tore the mask from +his assailant's face. + +One glance, and the horror of death seemed to suddenly freeze the blood +in his veins. His eyes dilated and seemed to nearly burst from their +sockets. The face into which he gazed was that of Clinton Kendale, his +cousin. + +"You!" he gasped, quite disbelieving the evidence of his own senses. + +Kendale laughed a diabolical laugh, while his features were distorted +into those of a fiend incarnate. + +"I haven't the least hesitation in admitting my identity," he said, +coolly. "Yes, you are in good hands, if you give us no trouble, and come +along quietly, without compelling us to use further force." + +"What is the meaning of this outrage?" cried Lester, white to the lips. + +"That you shall learn all in good time, cousin mine," replied Kendale, +mockingly. + +In struggling out of their grasp to better protect himself, Lester fell +headlong on the icy ground, striking his head heavily against the +gnarled, projecting root of a tree and lying at their feet like one +dead. + +"He will give us little enough trouble now," said Kendale, grimly. "Lend +a hand there, both of you, and get him into the house quickly. I am +almost frozen to death here." + +In less time than it takes to narrate it, Lester Armstrong was hurriedly +conveyed into the house. + +The place consisted of but two rooms, and into the inner one Lester was +thrust with but little ceremony, and tossed upon a pallet of straw in +the corner. + +He had not entirely lost consciousness, as they supposed, but was only +stunned, realizing fully all that was transpiring about him. + +"Your scheme has worked like a charm, Halloran," said Kendale. "We have +bagged our game more easily than I imagined we would. Now there is +nothing in the way between me and the fortune that liberal old fool +Marsh willed to my amiable cousin." + +"Everything rests with the shrewdness with which you play your part," +answered the man addressed as Halloran. + +"You ought not to have any scruples on that score," exclaimed Kendale, +boastfully. "After leaving my amiable cousin on the night of the +accident, did I not go immediately to the pretty little heiress, Faynie +Fairfax, and successfully pass myself off as the lover she was waiting +to elope with? And the little beauty never knew the difference." + +"I must own that you played your cards successfully in that direction," +was the response, "but this will be a far different matter from +hoodwinking a young, unsophisticated girl." + +"Within a month from to-day I shall have the Fairfax fortune and the +Marsh millions added to it," said Clinton Kendale, emphatically. + +"I would put an eternal quietus upon my fortunate cousin here, did I not +need his assistance in one or two matters concerning the method of +running the business, which was known only to old Marsh and himself." + +"Are you fool enough to think that he will divulge those secrets to +you?" said Halloran, impatiently. + +"They can be forced from him. I know how," returned Kendale, with a +brutal laugh. "Come," he said, turning on his heel. + +His companion followed him from the apartment, and the door closed with +a resounding bang, and Lester lay there too horror-stricken to move hand +or foot, fairly spellbound by the disclosures he had overheard as they +stood over him, believing him unconscious. + +All in an instant a great wave of awakened memory swept over him, +opening out the flood-gates of recollection like a flash. He remembered +his interview with his sweetheart, his darling Faynie, and how he was +arranging to hurry back to marry her when the fatal accident occurred, +and how, believing himself dying, he had confided all to his treacherous +cousin, bidding him take the message to his darling, that even in death +his only thought was of her. + +Oh, merciful God! how horribly had his treacherous cousin betrayed that +sacred trust, because of his fatal resemblance to himself! He cried out +to God and the listening angels: + +"Heaven help my beautiful darling and save her from the machinations of +that desperate villain!" + +He knew that Clinton Kendale would stop at nothing to gain his end, and +his agony at the thought that he might be unable to prevent it in time +almost drove him to the verge of madness. + +He felt that they would hold him there until they tortured from him +whatever secret he held which they wished to learn; then they would +deliberately make away with him. Clinton Kendale would step into his +place, personating himself so cleverly that the great world, under whose +very eyes the terrible tragedy had taken place, would never know the +difference. Even Faynie would not know how she had been tricked and +cheated, and the last thought almost drove him to the point of frenzy, +nearly succeeding in turning his tortured brain. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +"YOU ARE OUR PRISONER!" + + +For hours Lester Armstrong lay like one stunned, turning over and over +in his mind the awful revelation he had heard. That a human being, +especially his cousin, Clinton Kendale, should have plotted so horribly +against him seemed almost past believing. Then he remembered how +treacherous he had been in his early days, and he wondered that he had +been so mad as to have trusted him. + +"Heaven save my darling from him!" he cried out in an agony too great +for words. To realize that she was in the mercy of such a man was a +sorrow so great that all else on earth paled before it. Then a mighty +resolve came to him--to foil the villainous plot, weak though he was; he +must make his escape and fly to his darling's aid. + +He knew that Clinton Kendale would follow out his line of action, +keeping him there as long as it was necessary--that is, until he learned +all the secrets that he was so anxious to ascertain--then he would put +him out of the way with as little compunction as he would a dog. He +might expect little mercy at Kendale's hands, when two fortunes and a +beautiful young girl hung in the balance. + +For hours he lay there, turning the matter over in his mind. He knew he +was terribly weak from the awful fall which he had received, and which +had hurt his head the second time in almost the same place; but escape +he must from the clutches of the conspirators, even though he were +dying. + +Suddenly the key turned in the lock, the door swung open and Kendale +entered, bearing a lighted candle in his hand. + +"Ah, you have come to, have you?" he remarked, seeing the other's eyes +turn toward him; and before Lester Armstrong could answer he went on +quickly: "You are the only one who knows the combination which opens the +safe of the late Marsh & Co., and as I intend to open it to-morrow +morning at the usual hour in place of your punctual self, it will be +most necessary for you to give me the required information." + +For one moment Lester Armstrong gazed steadily into the face of the +fiend incarnate before him--a look before which the other quailed +despite his apparent bravado. + +"I am in your power and at your mercy," he said, "but though you torture +me on the rack I shall never tell you what you want to know. That safe +contains valuable papers which belong to others; they are secure in my +keeping. You can kill me, but the secret of the safe combination will +die with me." + +Kendale laughed a little short, hard laugh. + +"You are mad to thus defy me," he cried, harshly, "when you stop to +consider that I can open it in any event. I can simply say the +combination has slipped from my mind. Who is there to question Mr. +Lester Armstrong, the head of the firm? No one--no one. It will be +broken open quite as soon as workmen can be found to accomplish it." + +The lines about the sufferer's mouth tightened; he clutched his hands +hard. He knew the dare devil Kendale would stop at nothing--nothing. + +"I will give you until daylight to decide. I promise you that it will go +hard with you if you are not complaisant." + +With that he turned on his heel and quitted the room. + +During all the long hours of that never-to-be-forgotten night Lester +Armstrong lay there on his pallet of straw praying for strength to foil +the villain--for Heaven to direct him what to do. + +For the Marsh millions he cared nothing; but his heart was wrung with +anguish when he trusted himself to think of Faynie. + +He knew that Kendale had kept the appointment made by himself, but for +some reason the elopement could not have taken place. A thousand causes +might have prevented its successful carrying out, though Kendale was +sure of a satisfactory finish, he imagined. + +Daylight broke at last; he could see it dimly through the dust-begrimed, +boarded-up windows; but it was not until the sun had well risen that his +cousin put in an appearance again. Lester was suffering intense pain +from the terrible bruise on his head at the base of the brain, but he +set his teeth hard together, determining that his mortal foe should not +know it. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Kendale, sneeringly. "Wide awake, I see!--probably the +fixed habit of years. You have, no doubt, come to a more sensible frame +of mind than I left you in last night, I trust, regarding the +information I want concerning the combination of the big safe in the +private office of Marsh & Co." + +"I will never reveal it to you," cried Lester. "Never!" + +For an instant a black, malignant scowl swept over Kendale's face, but +after a moment's deep thought he turned on his heel again, laughing +immoderately as he stepped to the door and held a low conversation with +the two men who were still in the outer apartment, and in a trice they +had joined Kendale, one of them still wearing the black mask which he +had used the night before. + +"We will proceed to relieve him of his private papers, keys, wallet, and +so forth," said Kendale; and, as if in compliance with some previously +arranged plan, the three set upon Lester, and in his almost helpless +condition it was not difficult to overpower him and take from him his +possessions, which Kendale quickly took charge of. + +In the encounter, owing to his exhausted condition, Lester lost +consciousness; and thus they left him, making him their prisoner by +turning the key in the lock again when they reached the outer room. + +"And now," said Halloran, removing the square of black linen from his +face, "what's next on the programme?" + +"Our friend, the cabby, will take me back to town with as much speed as +possible. You, my dear fellow, will remain here on guard, making +yourself as comfortable as is absolutely possible under the dismal +circumstances of keeping guard and circumventing any attempt of our +prisoner to escape. You know we have great need of him yet, in forcing +him to disclose much that is advantageous to us. We can starve it out of +him, if threats fail. As long as you have a good warm fire, plenty of +provisions and plenty to read here you ought not to complain. You are +having the easiest part of the bargain, Halloran, while I am doing all +of the hazardous work." + +"What if I should be suspected in the _rôle_ I am about to play for the +Marsh millions? Why, it would mean State's prison instead of the fortune +we have planned for so desperately." + +"You will carry it through all right," declared Halloran, confidently. + +"My nerve has never failed me so far, and I'm depending on that," said +Kendale, mechanically. + +Two hours later Kendale was breakfasting in a fashionable downtown +restaurant, endeavoring to fortify himself with courage for the trying +ordeal which he was about to face. + +He had given Halloran his promise to abstain from touching even a drop +of liquor, fully realizing it to be his mortal foe; but with Kendale a +promise amounted to scarcely a flip of his white fingers when it ran +contrary to his own desires. + +He told himself that he must have a "bracer" to steady his nerves. It +was not until a second and a third had been drunk that the proper amount +of courage came to him to undertake the dastardly scheme. Half an hour +later he walked boldly into the big dry goods emporium. He had no idea +where the private office was, but his quick wits served him in this +dilemma. Laying his hands on an errand boy who was just passing out, +whose cap bore the name of Marsh & Co., he said, carelessly: + +"Here, lad, take my coat up to the private office; I will follow you. Go +slowly, though, through the crowd of shoppers." + +With a respectful bow the boy took the coat from him. + +It so happened that one of the rules of the house was that the employees +must not use the elevators, and by the time Kendale had climbed the +fourth flight of stairs he was thoroughly exhausted, the perspiration +fairly streaming down his face. + +"Don't you know enough to go by way of the elevator, you young idiot?" +he roared, almost gasping for breath. + +"You forget it's against the rules for us to do so, Mr. Armstrong," +returned the lad. + +"Rules be hanged!" cried his companion. "How many more floors up is it?" + +The lad looked up into his face in the greatest amazement. Such a +question on the lips of the head of the firm rather astounded him; but +then, perhaps it had not occurred to the gentleman just how many flights +of steps the boys were obliged to climb. + +"We are only on the fourth floor, sir," he responded, "and it's up the +other four flights, you know." + +"Get into the elevator," commanded Kendale; and the boy turned, and +walked over to it, closely followed by his companion, mentally wondering +what in the world had come over courteous, kindly Mr. Lester Armstrong. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE NEW BROOM DID NOT SWEEP CLEAN. + + +Clinton Kendale showed himself to be a thorough actor in carrying out a +part carefully, as he followed the boy through the main office, where +all of the bookkeepers were at work, toward the little office in the +rear. + +"Ah, this is indeed comfortable," he exclaimed, flinging himself into a +luxurious leather armchair. "Throw the coat down anywhere, and go," he +said, as the boy stood before him awaiting his dismissal. + +"Great Scott! What an elegant nest Lester got himself into!" he +ejaculated, looking about him. "I can enjoy it far better than he could, +though I don't expect to be cooped up here more than an hour or two a +day. Those fellows out there in the outer office are paid to do the +work, and I'll be hanged if they shan't do it--every bit of it. I'll +break 'em in my way, and they'll think it's new rules. By George! +they'll find plenty of new rules. Ha! ha! ha! I suppose I'd better be +opening that desk." + +Feeling in his pocket, he drew forth the bunch of keys which he had +taken by force from his cousin. One by one he fitted each to the lock, +but none of them seemed to work. + +"Confound the thing!" he muttered. "My patience won't last much longer. +Then I'll stave it in with my heel. + +"Hello, there!" he cried, as, hearing a slight noise behind him, he +wheeled around and found an elderly man, with a pen behind his ear, and +a sheet of paper in his hand, standing there. + +"Why the deuce didn't you knock?" he cried, angrily and flushing hotly, +for he realized this man must have witnessed his vain attempts to open +the desk. "What do you want?" he asked sharply and ill-humoredly. + +Mr. Conway, the old cashier--for it was he--was looking at him with +dilated, amazed eyes; but in a moment he recovered himself. + +"You said to come into your office quite as soon as you came this +morning, as you wished to see me on particular business, Mr. Armstrong," +he replied in the low voice habitual with him. + +For an instant the bogus Lester Armstrong's brows were knit closely +together; then he said, coolly, sharply: "I've changed my mind; I don't +want to see you." + +Still the man lingered. + +"Pardon me," he said. "I thought probably it might be in regard to those +notes of Jordan & Beckwith which you were considering negotiating for." + +"Well, you'll have to think again," exclaimed the other, tartly. + +Mr. Conway turned toward the door, but as he stretched out his hand to +grasp the knob his employer sang out, sharply: + +"Hold on, there! Come here and see if you can do anything with this +confounded desk. It's got the jim-jams or something. I've been monkeying +with it for the last half hour, and can do nothing with it." And as he +uttered the words, he held out the bunch of keys toward him. + +If Mr. Conway had been startled before, he was certainly alarmed now, +and he looked at his companion in amazement which could not be +concealed. + +"Well," cried the other, his temper rising, the result of the brandy +diffusing itself through his brain, "what are you staring at me like +that for? Why don't you take the keys and go ahead?" + +Quite as soon as speech would come to him the old cashier said, slowly: + +"You seem to forget, Mr. Armstrong, that the keys have been done away +with some time, and the desk now opens with a secret spring which you +yourself devised." + +"Well, come here and open it. My fingers are all thumbs to-day," +replied his companion, looking at him doggedly. + +Mr. Conway stepped forward and touched what appeared to be one of the +brass nails that studded the outer rim, and, as if by magic, the desk +flew open, the other watching keenly to see how he did it. + +Without further comment Mr. Conway turned away and with slow, heavy +tread left the private office and walked toward his desk. When he +reached it his emotions overcame him completely, and he laid his head +down upon his ledger, tears falling like rain down his face. + +In an instant half a dozen of his fellow bookkeepers were about him, +frightened beyond words at this unusual scene and inquiring what could +be the matter. + +For a moment the old cashier hesitated, then he resolved to break the +truth to them; they would soon find it out for themselves; he would tell +them, and at the same time instruct them as best he could in this +unfortunate affair. He raised his white head, the head that had grown +gray in the employ of the firm he had loved so well and served so +faithfully. + +"You must know the truth, my fellows," he answered, slowly, huskily, and +with apparent difficulty. "Our Mr. Armstrong has, for the first time +since we have all known him, gone wrong; he is under the influence of +strong drink, and by no means himself. I may add that I earnestly pray +that each of you be loyal to him, even through this misfortune, and not +let even a hint of it go forth to the outside world, for at this crisis +it would ruin the well-known firm of Marsh & Co., which is now vested in +him." + +The horror and amazement on the faces of the men can better be imagined +than described. All had loved and revered Lester Armstrong, and to hear +that he had suddenly gone wrong because he had become possessed of a +fortune was alarming and distressing news to them. + +"Drink changes him so completely in temperament that it is hard to +realize that he is the same courteous companion of those other days. He +was so far gone from the effects of liquor I am not even sure that he +recognized me. Hark! what is that?" + +Several of the detectives of the place were rushing through the main +office toward the private office, in answer to Mr. Armstrong's summons. +The call for them had been so furious that they rushed in pell-mell, +without waiting to take time to rap. + +The bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong still sat in the luxurious leather +armchair, his heels on the desk, fairly hidden in heavy clouds of blue +smoke from his Havana cigar, at which he was puffing vigorously, fairly +going into convulsions of laughter over a letter bearing a blue and +gold monogram, which he was reading. + +The unceremonious entrance of the four men caused him to spring suddenly +to his feet. + +"What the d---l do you fellows want?" he exclaimed angrily. "How dare +you intrude upon me, in my private office, in this unheard-of fashion, +like a herd of escaped lunatics?" + +"You rang for us," replied one of the men. + +"I did not," replied the bogus Mr. Armstrong, resuming his seat +pompously. + +"The bells certainly rang, sir!" exclaimed the other three, +simultaneously. + +"Didn't I tell you that I didn't ring?" he answered, stamping his feet +furiously. + +In less time than it takes to tell it three more men dashed into the +private office, exclaiming: + +"We are here, sir, at the very first tap of your bell." + +"You have all gone suddenly stark mad, or you are a set of the blamedest +fools in existence, as I have just told these men. I did not ring. What +on earth do you mean, by insisting that I did, I should like to know?" + +"I beg your pardon, but you are still ringing, sir," declared one of the +men. "We can distinctly hear the bell ringing furiously. Do you not see +that your foot is still on it?" + +"My foot!" exclaimed the bogus Mr. Armstrong, angrily. "Explain what you +mean at once." + +For answer, the man stepped forward, and pulled aside the mat under his +employer's feet, mentally wondering if Mr. Lester Armstrong had not +grown suddenly daft himself, thereby disclosing a set of electric +buttons which the rug had cunningly concealed. + +"You kept your foot on them and they rang, calling us here instantly," +returned the man. + +"Bless me! I forgot entirely about those confounded electric buttons," +declared the bogus Armstrong, turning very red. "I'll have 'em put +somewhere else to-morrow; great nuisance; always in the way." And after +an instant a bright thought occurred to him, and he said blandly: "Well, +to tell you the truth, men, I was only trying you to see how quickly you +would respond; you may all go now." + +The men quitted the private office, looking rather dumfounded into each +other's blank faces, and in less than half an hour afterward every +employee in the vast dry goods establishment heard the shocking news, +that Mr. Lester Armstrong, whom they all believed well-nigh perfect, was +terribly intoxicated up in his private office, but they were to be +still more astounded ere the eventful day closed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE WILL DISINHERITING FAYNIE. + + +As soon as the men had quitted the private office Kendale sprang to his +feet and began pacing up and down the length of the room excitedly, +muttering under his breath: + + "'Ah, what a fatal web we weave + When first we practice to deceive.' + +"It seems to me that there are traps in every direction to catch me. I +must be extra shrewd. I'll have those confounded bells changed at once. +I shouldn't be at all surprised to find an electric bell connected with +that chair at the desk which would call up the entire fire force of the +city if I were to lean back far enough in it." + +He flung himself down in his seat again and took up the letter which he +had been perusing and which interested him so. + +When he had first broken the seal of this missive his heart had fairly +jumped into his throat; at the first glance he saw that it was from Mrs. +Fairfax, of Beechwood. + +He read it carefully through fully a half dozen times. It ran as +follows: + + "MY DEAR MR. ARMSTRONG: I wish to extend to you my sincere + congratulations over your good fortune in succeeding to the + business of my dear old friend and neighbor, Mr. Marsh, late of + Beechwood village. I feel as though I know you well from hearing + him speak so continually of you. I am indeed thankful that his + business fell into the hands of one whom he trusted so deeply. + + "It was his wish, long ago, that we should meet and know each + other, and in remembrance of this, his earnest and oft-repeated + wish, I now extend you a cordial invitation to visit our home at + Beechwood at your earliest convenience and dine with the family. My + daughter and I will have a most hearty welcome for you. Any date + convenient to you which you may set will be agreeable to us. + + "Trusting that we may have the pleasure of seeing you very soon, I + remain, yours very truly, + + "MRS. HORACE FAIRFAX, Beechwood." + +The bogus Lester Armstrong laid the letter down and looked abstractedly +out of the window. + +"Of all places in the world, to think that I should be invited there," +he mused. "While I have just been wondering how they took Faynie's +elopement--and never hearing from her since--and wondering how in the +world I was to discover all that--lo! a way is opened to me!" + +Then his thoughts flew back to that stormy wedding night, and that +midnight scene in the little inn, when the girl he had just wedded, +believing her to be an heiress, revealed to him the exasperating truth, +that only that night her father had disinherited her, making a new will +in favor of her stepmother and her daughter Claire. The plan which +Halloran had laid out was to wait a reasonable time, then put in an +appearance, stating that he was Faynie's husband, and that she had just +died, and claim her portion of the estate. Every detail had been most +carefully mapped out; but here he saw an easier way of gaining that same +fortune without the trouble of litigation--marry the girl Claire. + +They would never know anything about that previous marriage with Faynie, +and the dead could tell no secrets. + +"I'll go," he muttered. "I shall reply at once, telling her she may +expect me two days hence--let me see, this is Tuesday; I will dine with +her Thursday, and, at least, see what the girl Claire looks like. It +would be the proper caper to gather in as many fortunes as drift my way. +I suppose I shall run through half a dozen of them ere I reach the end +of my tether." + +All in due season his letter of acceptance reached Mrs. Fairfax, and she +was highly elated over it. + +She had seized upon her neighborly acquaintance with the late Mr. Marsh +to invite to her home the young man who had fallen heir to his +millions, in order that her daughter Claire might win him--if it were a +possibility. + +She had succeeded in forcing Faynie to remain beneath that roof, even +after informing her that she was disinherited--dependent upon her +stepmother--by saying that it was her father's wish that she should thus +remain for at least six months. + +Mrs. Fairfax's real reason was that the outside world would not know +just how affairs stood in the family until she had had time to turn +everything into cash and get over to Europe to look up another +millionaire widower. + +On the very night that Faynie had returned so unceremoniously there had +been a most thrilling scene but an hour before between Mrs. Fairfax and +her daughter. + +Unable to sleep, Claire had wandered down to her late stepfather's +library in search of a book. + +She was not a little surprised to see her mother there--writing--at that +late hour. + +Her footsteps had made no sound on the thick velvet carpet, and she +stole up to her side quite unobserved, looking over her shoulder to see +what interested her mother so deeply. + +One--two---three--four--five minutes she stood there, fairly rooted to +the spot, then a gasp of terror broke from her white lips, causing her +mother to spring to her feet like a flash. + +"Claire!" she exclaimed, hoarsely, trembling like an aspen leaf and +clinging to the back of the nearest chair for support. "How long have +you been here?" she gasped. + +"Quite--five--minutes," whispered the girl. + +"And you have seen--" The mother looked into the daughter's eyes +fearfully, not daring to utter the words trembling on her lips. + +"I saw you change the--the will!" whispered Claire, in a terror-stricken +voice. "I saw you erase with a green fluid, which must have been a most +powerful chemical, the words of the will, 'to my daughter Faynie' in the +sentence: 'I bequeath all of my estate, both personal and real,' and +insert therein the words, 'my wife, Margaret' in place of 'my daughter +Faynie.'" + +The woman stepped forward and clutched the girl's arm. + +"It was for your sake, Claire, that I did it," she whispered, shrilly; +"he cut us off with almost nothing, giving all to that proud daughter +Faynie of his. We would have had to step out into the world--beggars +again. We know what it is to be poor--ay, in want; we could never endure +it again--death would be easier for both of us. + +"The will was drawn two years ago; I am confident that it is the +latest--that there is no other. I took a desperate chance to do what I +have done to-night--so cleverly that it could never be detected. + +"A few strokes of the pen meant wealth or poverty for us, Claire. I am +too old to face beggary after living a life of luxury. You will not +betray me, Claire--you dare not, knowing that it was done for your sake, +Claire." + +The girl was not naturally wicked; she had always had a great respect +for the high-bred, beautiful Faynie--her stepfather's daughter by his +first wife. There had been no discord between the two young girls. + +Still, as her mother had said so emphatically, it was better that Faynie +should step out of that lovely home a beggar than that they should lose +it. + +Claire quite agreed with her mother that Faynie must stay there for the +present at all hazards; it would arouse such an uproar if she were +thrust from that roof just then. + +"If my father has expressed the desire that I shall stay here six +months, I--I shall do so, even though it breaks my heart," Faynie had +said. + +She kept her own apartments, refusing to come down to her meals, and +Mrs. Fairfax humored this whim by ordering Faynie's meals served in her +rooms. + +In vain the old housekeeper expostulated with Faynie, urging her to +come down at least to the drawing-room evenings, as she used to do. + +Faynie shook her golden curls. + +"It is no longer my home," she would say, with bitter sobs; "I am only +biding my time here--the six months that I am in duty bound to +remain--then I am going away--it does not matter where." + +The old housekeeper had tried in vain to coax from the girl the story of +where she had been while away from home. + +"That is my secret," Faynie would say, with a burst of bitter tears; "I +shall never divulge it--until the hour I lie dying." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +EVERY MAN TO HIS TRADE. + + +After the bogus Lester Armstrong had dispatched his letter of acceptance +to Mrs. Fairfax he braced himself for what would happen next by taking a +deep draught from the silver brandy flask which he kept in his breast +pocket, though he realized that he had need of all his senses for any +emergency. + +During the next hour a score or more bookkeepers came to him with +bills, letters and papers of all descriptions. To one and all he said, +with a yawn, and very impatiently: "Leave what you have brought on my +desk; I'll look over it this afternoon." + +Then it occurred to him that such a great concern must have a general +manager, and of course he would know something about the different +papers these people had brought for his inspection and for him to pass +upon, which were like so much Greek to him. + +In answer to his summons, a tall, dignified, keen-eyed elderly man +responded--a man who struck considerable awe to Kendale's guilty heart. +He said to himself that he wished to the Lord he knew this man's name to +be able to call him by it--but of course it couldn't be helped. + +"I have concluded to permit you to attend to these matters for me--get +through them the best you can in your own way without bothering me with +them; do just as you would if I were away on a vacation, we will say, +and left everything in your charge--all matters for you to settle as you +deemed best." + +The gentleman looked surprised and bowed gravely. "I can attend to most +of the documents connected with the firm, but there are a few matters I +see there that the parties interested might object to if they saw the +name of Manager Wright attached instead of the name of the proprietor." + +"In that case, show me where you want me to sign, and I'll put down my +name here and now, to end the matter." + +"Without first examining the documents carefully?" asked the manager, in +amazement, thinking how slipshod in his business methods the new +proprietor of the great establishment was becoming since he suddenly +found himself raised from a poor cashier to a multi-millionaire, and +thinking that good old Mr. Marsh would turn over in his grave if he had +heard that. + +"Thank Heaven all that is off my mind," muttered Kendale, breathing +freer as the manager left the office with the papers, adding, +thoughtfully: "I hope I won't have to come in contact with that man very +often. I felt so uncomfortable that it was by the greatest effort I +could control myself--keep from springing from my chair, seizing my hat +and fairly flying out of this place. + +"His keen gray eyes seemed to pierce through and through me. I expected +every moment to hear him shout out: 'Come hither, everybody--quickly; +this man is not Lester Armstrong, striking though the resemblance is. +Send for the police, that this mystery may be solved at once!'" + +He was not far wrong in his suspicions. + +Manager Wright had quitted the private office with a deeply knitted brow +and a troubled expression on his face. + +"The change in Lester Armstrong since yesterday is amazing," he mused. +"Long years of dissipation could not have told more on him than the +change these few hours have worked. He must have been out drinking and +carousing all night long--the odor of the room from the fumes of strong +liquor was almost unbearable; it was blue with smoke, too, and Lester +Armstrong always led us to believe that he had never smoked a cigar in +his life; and, worst of all, from a gentleman he has suddenly turned +into a libertine, if I am any judge of features. + +"I cannot begin to account for the great change in him; it mystifies me +quite as much as it did the store detectives and Mr. Conway, the +cashier. It is all terribly wrong--somehow--somewhere. If it were not +that I have been here so many years I would tender Mr. Armstrong my +resignation. I am not at all satisfied--and yet, yesterday, when Mr. +Armstrong called me into his private office and we had that long talk +about the business matters of the house, I felt that all would go well; +to-day he is like a different man--appears to have forgotten completely +all of the instructions he was so particular to give me. Yesterday he +said: 'We will go over the books and papers very carefully, you and I, +and see that every department is run as carefully and well as +heretofore. I should not like any one in the establishment to feel that +my taking possession will mean any change for them--save for the +better.' + +"To-day he is as different as night from day; he does not know what he +wants; he seems all at sea over the simplest details which he ought to +be decidedly familiar with." His musings were suddenly cut short by an +immediate summons to return to the private office. + +It was with some misgivings that he entered his employer's presence the +second time. + +The bogus Mr. Armstrong was almost invisible from a cloud of smoke from +a freshly lighted Havana. He held the morning paper in his hand and was +perusing its columns with apparent avidity. + +"Wright!" he cried, excitedly, "how much ready money do you suppose +there is in the safe of this shebang---hey?" + +It took Mr. Wright almost a moment to recover his usual calm dignity and +make answer: + +"Five thousand in cash, and there are negotiable notes amounting to +upward of forty thousand more." + +"Are you sure of that?" queried Kendale, his excitement growing keener; +"how do you know?" + +"You placed bills in my hands a few moments since which necessitated +conferring with Mr. Conway, the cashier, about meeting them." + +"Well, hold on--don't pay out any bills to-day; I want to make use of +that money--two great opportunities here. Say!" he added in the next +breath, "do you know anything about sailing yachts and trotters?" + +The question fairly staggered Mr. Wright, but he answered promptly: + +"Nothing whatever, Mr. Armstrong. I have never taken any interest in +them; it would be out of place for a man in my position to cultivate a +taste for that which is so far beyond his means. I am glad to be able to +say to you, sir, that my tastes are simple and my wants few. I have +never been on board a yacht, nor have I ever ridden behind what you call +a trotter." + +"Then you've missed a deal of sport," declared Kendale. "But that isn't +what I sent for you to discuss. What I meant to say is that there's a +fellow from Newport gone all to smash. His fine yacht, the _Daisy Bell_, +is to be sold at auction to-day, likewise the contents of his stables. +There are two of his animals that are flyers--the Lady Albia and +Sterling. Why, the Lady has a record better than 2.05 1-2, open gaited, +warranted sound, both of 'em, and no end of traps, tea carts, and +buggies. I tell you what, Wright, I must have that yacht and that team. +You must go and bid them in for me--get 'em at any price, if you have to +run it up to a hundred thousand, and you can even do a little better +than that rather than see some other lucky fellow get 'em." + +Mr. Wright was staring at him as though he quite believed his employer +had gone suddenly out of his mind. + +"Well," said the bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong, coolly, "you heard my +command to you, didn't you?" + +Without another word the general manager turned and with slow, unsteady +steps quitted his new employer's presence. + +"Heaven help me, that I should live to see this hour," he groaned; "a +hundred thousand dollars--ten fortunes to a poor man like +myself--frittered away on a yacht and a pair of horses! Mr. Marsh would +pitch him out if he could but know and come back long enough to do it. +It spoils the best of 'em to have money thrown at them--to come into a +fortune that they haven't worked for. A yacht and a pair of horses! What +will people say to see me, a business man of supposed sense and +judgment, bidding at a public auction mart for anything like this? +Heaven help me, I can see the finish of the time-honored dry goods house +of Marsh & Co., in which I have taken such a world of pride. But I +suppose I must do as he has ordered, no matter how galling it is to me." + +Mr. Wright had no sooner reached the auction mart than a telegram was +handed him. It was from his employer, and read as follows: + +"There are also a pair of seal-brown pacers to be sold. Secure these in +addition to the others. Price must not stand in the way." + +David Wright crushed the telegram in his hands, and the first oath he +had ever uttered in all his life was ground out between his teeth. + +The yacht and two pairs of horses were spiritedly bid for by half a +dozen gentlemen, who were apparently eager to secure them. + +It was easy to see that the quiet, elderly business man, who always went +higher than the others, was little used to such contests, but he secured +them at last for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and there +was more than one amused laugh in the auction room, knowing ones +whispering that he had paid three times more than the owner had been +asking for them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MARGERY'S LOVE DREAM. + + +An hour after Mr. Wright had concluded his purchase for his employer he +returned to the establishment, accompanied by one of the persons +authorized to collect the money. When he presented the order at the +cashier's window, Mr. Conway, the old cashier, drew back aghast as he +looked at the man. + +"Is--is it possible you have indorsed this?" he asked, turning to the +manager. + +Mr. Wright bowed, but his face betrayed deep agitation. + +"I cannot pay it without consulting Mr. Armstrong," he exclaimed, in a +troubled voice. "Wait a moment." + +Could it be possible that Lester Armstrong had authorized the payment of +an amount like that, knowing that the firm was a little crippled for +cash just at that season of the year? Surely the man must be mad, he +told himself; and that for which the money was to be paid fairly +staggered him. He had to look a second time to satisfy himself that he +had not made a horrible mistake when he read: "For one steam yacht and +two pairs of horses, $125,000; terms cash." + +He set his lips hard together, saying to himself that this was the +beginning of the end. + +At that same moment quite a thrilling scene was taking place in the +private office, which would have unnerved the old cashier completely had +he known of it. It so happened, in exploring the nooks of the office, +Kendale had by chance touched another bell, the bell communicating with +the suit department, which was in charge of Mr. Conway's pretty +daughter, Miss Margery. When that bell tapped it meant that the young +lady was to make all possible haste to the private office, to which she +had been summoned, and this the young girl proceeded to do, not without +some little trepidation, however. Fair Margery Conway had a secret +romance in her life, a romance which no one in the wide world would ever +have guessed. + +For many a long day she had been secretly in love with Mr. Lester +Armstrong, her father's assistant, of whom; she had heard him speak so +much and praise so highly. + +She admired him immensely. Many a time she made excuses to speak with +her father a moment in their private office. No one in the wide world +guessed that grave, handsome Lester Armstrong was the attraction that +brought her there. + +She had many a casual chat with him, and somehow the hope grew in her +heart that he was not altogether indifferent to her. + +Once, when she had started home in the pouring rain, he had gone out of +his way to see her safely to her destination under the shelter of his +umbrella. + +He had only been courteous, but she had built up many a hope from this +little incident alone. + +She had not seen very much of Lester Armstrong since that +never-to-be-forgotten day, but her father had told her that he usually +asked each morning: "How is your daughter, Miss Margery?" and once her +father had said: + +"Of all the young men whom I have met, I have the greatest regard for +Lester Armstrong. Such young men are the salt of the earth. There is a +future before him. When he earns a dollar he puts by more than half of +it against a rainy day. He is not extravagant. Few young men making his +salary would dress so very plainly and make his clothes do him as long. +He has no bad habits; he neither smokes nor drinks, and that is +something you can say of very few young men nowadays." + +Margery looked up into her father's face with shining eyes. She made no +answer, but a vivid flush crept up into her cheeks, and the little hands +that were busy with the teacups trembled a little. She knew quite well +that in the depth of his heart her father was hoping that she and +Lester Armstrong would take a fancy to each other, and that in time +that fancy might ripen into love, and instead of being only +acquaintances, she and the assistant cashier might be nearer and dearer +to each other. + +Not long after this Margery Conway received a letter, a poem, rather, +typewritten. There was no name signed to it, but she felt sure that it +came from some one in the establishment of Marsh & Co. More than one +salesman looked at pretty Margery Conway with admiring eyes, but she +never thought of any of these. The truth was, it was sent by one of the +bookkeepers, but the girl jumped at once to the conclusion that it was +from Lester Armstrong. She imagined that from the tender, sentimental +words. She read the beautiful poem over and over again, until she knew +every word by heart. The lines even floated dreamily through her brain +in her sleep. She would awaken with them on her lips. Ah, surely, the +poem was from Lester Armstrong, she fully believed. It read as follows: + + "What have I done that one face holds me so, + And follows me in fancy through the day? + Why do I seek your love? I only know + That fate is resolute, and points the way + To where you stand, bathed in amber light. + Since first you looked on me I've seen no night-- + What have I done? + + "What can be done? As yet no touch, no kiss; + Only a gaze across your eyes' blue lake. + Better it were, sweetheart, to dream like this, + Than afterward to shudder and awake. + Love is so very bitter, and his ways + Tortured with thorns--with wild weeds overgrown. + Must I endure, unloved, these loveless days?-- + What can be done? + + "This I say, 'Marry where your heart goes first, + Dear heart, and then you will be blessed. + Ah, how can others choose for you + What is for your best? + If you're told to wed for gold, + Dear girl, or for rank or show, + Stand by love, and boldly say, + "No, my heart cries no!"'" + +Like most young girls, pretty Margery was sentimental. She slept with +the folded paper beneath her pillow at night, and all day long it was +carefully tucked away over her beating heart. + +It was quite a week after receiving this ere she saw Lester Armstrong +again; then her face turned burning red. Lester saw it, but how was he +to dream that he was the cause of her emotion? + +"Sweet Margery Conway is not strong," he thought, pityingly. "How +frightened her father would be were he to see that sudden rush of blood +to the head." + +He wondered whether or not he should run to her and proffer his +assistance. He had once seen a young woman who was thus affected fall +to the floor in a fit, and it had been many a long day ere the +unfortunate woman could return to her work again. He devoutly hoped this +might not be the case with poor, pretty Margery. + +She saw him start and look at her searchingly. She could not have +stopped and exchanged a word with him if her life had depended upon it. +She hurried past him with desperate haste, praying that he might not +hear the beating of her heart. + +He noticed that she did not stop to speak, but he quite believed that it +was because she was very busy. The next moment he had forgotten all +about it, and about the girl, too, for that matter. + +He scarcely remembered pretty Margery until he happened to see her +again. The girl was fairly stunned by the intelligence that the great +millionaire owner of the establishment had made Lester Armstrong his +heir. + +At first her joy was so great that she could not speak. Then a sudden +fright swept over her heart. He was rich now, and she was poor. Would it +make any difference with him. She tried to put the chilling thought from +her, for it made her heart turn cold as ice. Her gentle eyes did not +close in sleep all the long night through. Her pillow was wet with +tears. The one prayer on her lips was: "I pray to Heaven this may make +no change in him; that he will care for me as much as when he sent me +the poem." + +She had not seen Lester Armstrong since he had taken his new position as +proprietor of the great establishment, and now, when his bell rang for +her, no wonder the girl's heart leaped into her mouth, and involuntarily +she looked into the long pier glass eagerly. Ah, it was a fair face +reflected there. There were few fairer, with its delicate coloring +framed in nut-brown curls, gathered back so carelessly from the white +brow, and there was a light in the brown eyes beautiful to behold. She +had been wondering only the moment before if the hero of her daydreams +had forgotten her, and lo! the summons of his bell had seemed to come in +answer to the thought. + +With trembling, hopeful anticipation, Margery wended her way to her +employer's office, taking the nearer route, not through the main office, +where her father was, but by a more direct narrow passage, which was +seldom used. + +All unmindful of his daughter's presence in the main office, the old +cashier had bent his steps thither for instructions regarding the bill +which had just been presented, but he had scarcely reached out his hand +to knock, ere he heard a blood-curdling, piercing scream, in a woman's +voice, from within, and recognized, in horror too great for words, the +voice of his own daughter, his Margery! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +PRETTY MARGERY'S TERRIBLE DISCOVERY. + + +Pretty Margery Conway had made her way eagerly enough to Mr. Lester +Armstrong's private office, but her light tap on the door brought no +response, and, as it was slightly ajar, she pushed it open and stepped +across the threshold. + +To her great surprise she saw that her employer was deeply engrossed in +the pictures of a comic weekly, and the loud "Ha! ha! ha!" that fell +from his lips struck upon the girl's sensitive nerves most unpleasantly. + +She was wondering how she should make her presence known to him, when +suddenly he turned around, and then he saw her and a quick gleam of +intense admiration leaped into his bold, dark eyes at the vision of the +lovely, blushing, dimpled face of the slender, graceful young girl. + +"I am here in response to your summons, Mr. Armstrong," she said, with +much embarrassment. "Your bell rang so imperatively that--" + +"I didn't ring any bell, my dear," he exclaimed, "but still I am +uncommonly glad to see you. Sit down and we'll have a little chat." + +"There is a customer awaiting my return as soon as you--" + +"Oh, hang the customer," cut in Kendale. "Sit down, pretty one, and +we'll make each other's acquaintance." + +Margery looked at him in helpless bewilderment. + +Had handsome Lester Armstrong, the hero of her dream, gone suddenly mad, +she wondered? + +"Sit down, my dear," he reiterated, "don't look at me in such affright. +I'm not an ogre; I don't intend to eat you, though, upon my honor, those +peachy cheeks and pomegranate lips are most wonderfully tempting." + +Margery was so intensely surprised she was fairly speechless--incapable +of word or action. + +From where she stood the fumes of strong brandy reached her, and she +realized that the man before her was under its influence to an alarming +extent. + +No wonder her pretty face paled; even her lips grew white. + +She stood before him as one mesmerized by the baleful gleam in his +merciless concentrated gaze, as the fluttering, frightened bird does in +the presence of the deadly serpent that means to destroy it. + +"Won't be sociable, eh?" muttered Kendale. "You are not diplomatic; you +don't know your own interests. Sit down here and tell me all about +yourself--how long you have been here, and all about it. I ought to +know, of course, but I forget. Come, brush up my memory a bit, won't +you?" + +"Your memory seems indeed very poor all at once," said Margery, +spiritedly, "considering the fact that you have known me since I was a +little child"--and, in spite of her efforts at self-control, big tears +brimmed over the pretty eyes and rolled down the round cheeks. + +In an instant Kendale was on his feet. + +"There, there, Susie, don't cry," he said, reaching her side quickly and +grasping both of the little clasped hands in one of his. + +"You must have some one else in your mind--that is quite evident. Please +to recollect that I am Margery Conway, not--not Susie--whoever she may +be." + +He laughed a rollicking, maudlin laugh. The brandy was beginning to +diffuse itself through his brain. + +"I'll never call you anything but Margery again," he cried, "beautiful, +peerless Margery, the sweetest, jolliest, most bewitching and lovable +shop girl in all New York." + +The young girl looked at him with dilated eyes. Every impulse in her +terrified heart warned her to turn and fly from the place, but it was +all in vain. She could not have moved hand or foot if her very life had +been the forfeit. + +"So you are toiling away in a place like this for a mere pittance," he +went on; "probably hardly enough to keep soul and body together. That's +a confounded shame for a pretty girl like you. Work isn't for such as +you--you ought to be out in the sunshine, dressed in silks and velvets +and diamonds galore. It's bad enough for the old and ugly--those whose +hair is streaked with gray and around whose eyes the crow's feet have +been planted by the hand of time, to work--ay, toil for their bread. By +Jove, I say you are far too lovely for such a fate!" + +"Sir!" cried Margery, drawing herself up to her fullest height. "I work +for my living, but I want you to understand that I am proud of the fact, +instead of deeming it a disgrace, as you seem to think it. + +"Up to this hour I have always considered you a man of honor--one of +nature's noblemen--a gentleman. Now I know you as you are--a _roué_--ay, +a scoundrel. I would scorn to remain another hour in your employ. Money +earned in this establishment from this moment would burn my fingers." + +"Hoity-toity! Don't get big feelings too suddenly, my pretty dear," he +cried, with a load, hilarious laugh. "Lord! what simpletons some girls +are! You're standing in your own light, pretty one! Can't you see that?" + +"Sir!" cried Margery, struggling to free herself from the grasp of his +strong hand, "it is dastardly, it is cowardly to summon me here to +subject me to--insult." + +"'Pon my honor, I want to be friendly, but you won't have it so--you +seem determined to kick up a row. Come, now, be friendly; sit down here +and we'll talk it over." + +"Unhand me!" cried Margery in terror. "Let me go, or I shall scream for +help!" + +"You won't do any such thing, my little ruffled birdling," he cut in, an +angry light leaping up into his eyes, adding: "I am disposed to treat +you very kindly, but you seem determined to make an enemy of me instead +of a friend, my dear, and your reason ought to tell you how foolish that +is. Come, be sensible and listen to me. I've taken a violent fancy to +that pretty face of yours. We must be friends--excellent friends. That's +a good beginning, you know." + +Margery glanced toward the door, the fright deepening in her eyes. He +had placed himself between her and the door, kicking it to with his +foot. + +He saw that quick glance, and read it aright, and his brow darkened. + +"Don't be a little fool!" he cried. "Don't anger me, girl. You had +better make a friend instead of an enemy of me." + +"Your enmity or friendship is a matter of equal indifference to me now," +gasped Margery, sobbing bitterly. + +"You have slain my respect for you. I--I am sorry--sorry from the bottom +of my heart--that I realize you have fallen from such a noble height in +my estimation." + +"That's all bosh and moonshine," hiccoughed Kendale; "respect and high +pedestal of honor and all that sort of thing. You're among the clouds; +get down to earth. I'm only a man--you mustn't take me for a little god. +Come, now, what in the name of reason is the use of making such a fuss +over this thing, and storming like an angry princess on the stage +because I tell you frankly that I've taken a notion to you. By George, +you ought to be mighty pleased to know that you've captured the fancy of +a man like me, with no end of money at my command. Do you realize that, +little one?" + +The girl's terror was growing intense with each passing moment. + +Her horror and dread of the man before her was a thousand-fold greater +at that moment than her admiration for Lester Armstrong had been in days +gone by. He seemed to her a different being in the same form--one +suddenly transformed from all that was manly and noble to a very fiend +incarnate. + +An awful stillness had fallen over the girl--a full realization of the +meaning of his jocular remarks was just dawning upon her. She was +looking at him with the awful pallor of death on her lovely young face. + +"Come, my pretty Margery," he cried, quite mistaking the reason that her +struggle to free herself from his clasping hand had so suddenly ceased; +"now you are falling into a more complaisant mood. I am glad of that. +Sit down and we'll talk. I must lock that door, or some blundering fool +will be stumbling in without taking the trouble to knock. But first give +me a kiss from those sweet lips, my dear, to assure me you don't quite +dislike me, you know." + +As he spoke he flung his arm about the girl's slender waist, and it was +then that Margery's piercing scream rang out so loudly upon her father's +ears, fairly electrifying him as he stood with his hand upon the knob of +the door of the private office. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A FATHER'S RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION + + +For an instant the old cashier stood like one suddenly paralyzed before +the door of the private office from which that terrified scream had +issued. + +Great God! was he mad or dreaming, that he should imagine he heard his +daughter Margery's voice calling for help from within? + +But even as he stood there, trembling, irresolute, the piercing cry was +repeated more shrilly, more piteous than before, and it cut through the +frightened father's heart like the thrust of a dagger. + +"I am coming, I am here, Margery!" he answered, twisting the bronze knob +fiercely; But the door did not yield to his touch as usual, and to his +horror he realized that it was locked upon the inside! + +With the fury of a tiger, David Conway threw himself against it with all +his strength; strong as the lock was, it could not withstand the weight +that was brought to bear upon it, and in an instant it was snapped +asunder, the door falling in with a crash. + +With a terrible imprecation Kendale wheeled about, his grasp around the +girl's waist slackening for a single instant. + +And in that instant Margery sprang from him, darting into the arms of +her father, who had leaped over the threshold. + +"How dare you enter here?" shrieked Kendale, fairly beside himself with +baffled rage. + +The old cashier thrust his daughter behind him and walked up to the +foiled villain, gazing him steadily, unflinchingly in the eye. + +"I am here just in time to defend my child," he cried, white to the +lips, "and here to chastise you, you villain, old man as I am"--and with +the rapidity of lightning his clinched fist fell upon the face of the +man before him with stinging blows, that resounded with all the strength +and force of a steel hammer. + +Kendale, who was by this time entirely under the influence of the brandy +he had imbibed, was no match for the enraged cashier, who followed up +his advantage by ringing blows, which fell as thick and fast as driving +hail, until the other, coward as he was, fell down on his knees before +him, shrieking out for mercy. + +The unusual disturbance soon brought a throng of cashiers, bookkeepers +and clerks flocking to the scene. + +The old cashier turned upon them, holding up his hand to stay their +steps as they crowded over the threshold, Mr. Wright, the manager, +calling upon him anxiously to explain at once this unusual scene--this +disgraceful encounter between his employer, who seemed unable to speak +because of his injuries, and himself. + +"It is due you all to know just what has happened," replied the old +cashier, in a high, clear voice, "but I say to you, by the God above me, +if this hound dares arise from his knees ere I have finished, I will +kill him before your very eyes. There is something he has to say before +you all while still on his knees. Let no man speak until I have had my +say, and then you--my companions of years, my fellow-workers, my friends +of a lifetime--shall judge of my action in this matter and deal with me +accordingly." + +The scene was so extraordinary that no man among them seemed capable of +uttering so much as a syllable, so great was their consternation at +beholding their employer on his knees, groveling before the old cashier, +who stood over him like an aroused, avenging spirit. + +In a voice high and clear the old cashier, whom they had known and +revered for years, told his story in a simple, straightforward way, yet +quivering with excitement, drawing his terror-stricken daughter Margery +into the shelter of his strong arms as he spoke. + +"I am Margery's father--her only protector," he said, in conclusion. +"Is there a man among you with a father's heart beating in his bosom who +would not have done as I have done to the villain who dared to thus +insult his child. Ay, there are men among you who would not have +hesitated to have stricken him dead with a single blow--who would have +considered it a crime to have spared him." + +By this time Kendale was recovering from the stunning blows which had +been dealt him--realized that help was at hand; the employees would be +in duty bound to protect him from the enraged man before him. + +He realized, too, that the old cashier meant that he should remain there +on his knees and beg the girl's pardon before all these people. + +Ere Mr. Conway could judge of his design the bogus Lester Armstrong had +bounded to his feet and into the midst of the crowd. + +"You are discharged!" he cried, turning to the old cashier. "I will give +you just ten minutes to get out of this building--you and the girl, both +of you. It was a plan hatched up between you and her to extort money +from me." + +The old cashier attempted to spring at him, but the strong hands of +indignant, pitying friends held him back. + +Suddenly he stopped short, saying, with a dignity wonderful to behold: + +"It is not necessary, I think, to ask any of you, who all know me so +well and know also my little Margery, not to give credence to so heinous +a statement. I am going from this place, friends. I would not stay +another moment in this villain's employ, nor would my Margery, though he +weighed us down with all the wealth the world holds. Come, Margery." + +The crowd slowly parted, making way for them, and together Margery and +her father passed through the line of sympathizing faces, hand in +hand--the old man white, stern and resolute, pretty Margery sobbing as +though her heart would break. + +Mr. Wright, the manager, who had been--like the old cashier--fully five +and twenty years beneath that roof, turned and faced the throng, saying, +huskily: + +"Mr. Armstrong, I herewith tender you my resignation. My friend of a +lifetime is going, and I shall go, too." + +"And I," "And I," "And I," quickly rang out, voice after voice. + +"Confound you all, I discharge the whole lot of you!" shouted Kendale, +now quite sobered by the excitement he was passing through. "Don't think +your going troubles me even a little bit. The set of men don't live who +will ever trouble me or my business!" + +With great rapidity the men fled from the private office, and, without +waiting even to close their ledgers, took down their coats and hats, got +into them quickly and filed downstairs. + +Kendale never could fully comprehend how it happened that in five +minutes' time the five hundred employees of the place heard what had +occurred, and in less time than it takes to recount it the strangest +event that had ever taken place in the annals of a great New York +business house occurred--there was a mighty uproar and by one accord the +great throng of employees quitted their tasks--badly as they needed +work--and dashed out into the street, leaving the vast emporium to the +hundreds of astonished customers with which it was crowded at that hour. + +For an instant Kendale was horror-stricken when he realized what was +occurring. + +"God Almighty!" he gasped, "I am ruined, disgraced! A thousand furies +take that girl; but she shall pay dearly for this. The police will be +here to quell the riot and disperse the crowd outside, and turn out the +people who are still inside!" + +Looking from the window, he saw that the throng of angry employees were +gathered around the old cashier and his daughter in a mighty mob. + +"Good Lord! if Halloran were only here, to advise me this time," he +muttered, turning pale with fear. He could hear their loud, angry voices +hurling imprecations at him, and he knew full well that he would never +be able to pass through that throng of thoroughly aroused and angry men +without their doing him bodily injury, and he told himself in affright +that all the Marsh millions for which he had bartered his soul would not +save him from the hands of that raging mob. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +"I LIKE HER BETTER THAN ANY I HAVE MET--I SHALL MARRY HER." + + +Kendale was clever and quick of resource. He realized that there must be +sudden action on his part. Should he fly headlong from the place and +give up all? Then a remembrance of the yacht and the horses came to him, +and he set his teeth hard together. + +"I will see this game through, come what may," he muttered. + +At that instant a daring thought came to him, and he acted upon it +before he could have time to back down through cowardice. + +Throwing open the window wide, he stepped boldly out upon the ledge in +full view of the angry crowd of five hundred employees. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he exclaimed, raising his voice to a high key +that all might hear, "I have something to say, and it is only due me +that you should listen and then pass judgment. + +"Please believe me, one and all, I had no thought, no wish to offend Mr. +Conway's pretty daughter Margery. I may as well own the truth. I had +fallen desperately in love with the girl and was telling her so, and was +just on the point of asking her to accept me as a suitor for her hand +when she, mistaking my motives, it appears, called for assistance, and I +was not permitted to speak in order to explain. + +"Assuring her and all of you that my motives were most honorable, I beg +of you to reconsider leaving me in this abrupt fashion. Return to your +posts of duty, and this little difficulty will be adjusted +satisfactorily to you and to Miss Conway." + +Kendale was used to making a hit with an audience--used to throwing his +soul, as it were, into anything he had to say. + +The effect on the crowd below was magical; for a moment they were +stunned. + +The old cashier was almost stunned. The young millionaire was just about +proposing marriage to Margery! Why, what a mistake he had made--what a +terrible mistake! Even Margery had fallen back a step or two and was +clinging to her father's hand in the greatest amazement. + +"I--I think I was mad, friends and fellow-workers," he exclaimed, +huskily. "I believe I was too precipitate in this affair. + +"It is so long since I was young I--I had forgotten that it is the +custom of men now, as in the years long since gone by, to speak to a +maiden of love before he said anything of marriage. + +"It did not occur to me that the great millionaire wanted my little girl +for his wife, as he now says. + +"Hear me, friends, one and all. I most heartily regret causing this +disturbance and I move that we return to our places, as our employer +suggests." + +There was a murmur of assent among the throng; then, all in a body, they +moved forward, entering the building again; and in less than five +minutes' time matters were moving on quite as smoothly once more as +though no sudden upheaval had ever occurred in the great dry goods +establishment. + +Mr. Conway, however, was too upset to attend further to his duties that +afternoon, and accepted the manager's suggestion that he should go to +his home, Margery accompanying him. + +Meanwhile Kendale had thrown himself down into the nearest chair, +breathing hard, feeling like a general who had achieved a most wonderful +victory. + +"A few soft, silvery words saved me this time," he muttered, "but it +throws the girl on my hands. Well, I suppose I will have to propose +marriage to her now--every one expects it; there would be a terrible +rumpus kicked up if I did not. Well, let there be an engagement between +us; that doesn't mean that there will be a marriage, by any means. The +engagement can drag along three or four years, and then we can break +off. By that time I shall be ready to marry the heiress of the Fairfax +millions. Ah, how much easier it is to scheme for a fortune than to toil +for one, as most poor mortals do." + +The entrance of the manager with the bill for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand put an end to his musings and plans for the +present. Mr. Wright emerged from the office ten minutes later with a +very troubled expression on his face. It was dearly patent to him that +Mr. Lester Armstrong did not care how badly the business was crippled, +so long as he secured the yacht and the fast horses. + +From that first day, so full of awkward and almost fatal mistakes, +Kendale spent as little time as was absolutely necessary in the +establishment of Marsh & Company, as it was still called, preferring to +let all of the business cares fall upon the manager's already weighted +shoulders. + +In less than a week it was noised about social circles that the young +man who had so suddenly dropped into millions of money was something of +a sport--a yachtsman whose magnificent yachting parties were the wonder +of the metropolis; a horseman whose racing stables were second to none +and were worth a handsome fortune; and it was hinted that he seemed no +stranger at cards and gambled sums of gold that would have purchased a +king's ransom at a single game--until those who looked on in speechless +wonder were sure he must have exhaustless wealth. Every one prophesied, +however, that this reckless extravagance must have an ending some time. +Meanwhile society held out its arms to the young millionaire, welcoming +him with its sweetest smiles. + +The date which he had set to dine with the Fairfaxes, of Beechwood, +rolled around at last, and for once in his life Kendale, or rather the +bogus Lester Armstrong, was punctual in his appointment. + +He was ushered into a drawing-room of such magnificence that for a +moment he fairly caught his breath in wonder. + +"So this was the home of Faynie Fairfax, the girl whom I wedded in the +old church and who died so suddenly on her bridal eve," he soliloquized. +"Well, all this could be mine for the fighting for it as Faynie's +husband, who has survived her, but, as Halloran would say, 'It's a deal +easier getting the same fortune by marrying the stepmother's daughter, +who has come into it by Faynie's father cutting her off at the eleventh +hour.' + +"I wonder what the girl Claire is like." + +There was a portrait of a young girl done in water colors over the +mantel. He stepped over to examine it. + +"If this is Claire's portrait she's certainly not bad looking," he +mused, "but she is one I should not care to cross." + +The figure was slight, draped in a gown of some light, airy fabric. The +head was small, crowned in a mass of waving dark hair. The contour of +the face was perfect; a pair of deep gray eyes looked out of it straight +at you; the lips were small, but a little too compressed, showing that +the owner of them had certainly a will of her own, which it was neither +wise nor best to cross. + +He was startled from his contemplation by the sound of silken robes +rustling across the carpet, and, wheeling suddenly about, he was +confronted by a tall, slim, magnificent woman, who welcomed him most +graciously to Fairfax House. + +"My daughter Claire will join us in a very few minutes. Ah, she is here +now," she announced, as a swift step was heard in the corridor outside; +a moment later the portières parted, and the young girl whose portrait +he had been critically analyzing entered the room. + +"I shall know at once by the first words he utters whether I shall like +him or not," thought the girl, looking straight into his face with her +fearless, keen, gray eyes. "He is handsome, and that generally goes with +great conceit, Faynie always said." + +"I hope we shall be friends, Miss Fairfax," he said, extending his hand +and bowing low over the little brown one that lay for an instant in his +palm. + +"There is a great mistake evident at the outset," said the girl, looking +up into his face. "Mamma said just now: 'This is my daughter Claire.' I +think mamma intended to add, 'Miss Claire Stanhope.' Mr. Fairfax was my +steppapa." + +Kendale smiled amusedly, both at the mother's momentary discomfiture +and the young girl's brusque straightforwardness. + +"I like her better than any one I have ever met. I shall marry her," he +promised himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +CLAIRE'S LOVER. + + +During the dinner that followed Kendale longed to introduce the subject +of "Faynie," but found no opening. His eagerness to know what they +thought and what they had to say concerning her disappearance was +intense, but he had to bide his time to find out. + +Meanwhile he paid the most flattering attention to Claire. + +He had noticed with a keen sense of regret that the girl limped most +painfully in her walk, but, despite this defect, for the first time in +his reckless life, he was thoroughly fascinated with her. + +He took his leave early, promising them that he would certainly avail +himself of their gracious permission to call again, very, very soon. + +Long after his departure the mother and daughter still sat in the +drawing-room discussing him eagerly. + +"It is a good thing for you that Faynie declines to come down to the +drawing-room to see visitors and insists upon having her meals in her +own room. If she had seen this handsome Mr. Armstrong, you would have +stood little chance of winning him, my dear," declared Mrs. Fairfax. + +Claire rose slowly to her feet, turned and faced her mother. + +"You and I do not agree on that point, mamma," she said, quickly, "I +have what you call a Quixotic notion, perhaps, and that is that we are +attracted toward those whom Heaven intended for us, and if this be so he +would not have been attracted toward Faynie if he were intended for me." + +"We will not argue the matter, Claire, for we shall never agree," +declared her mother, adding: "I shall always be opposed to Mr. Armstrong +meeting Faynie or ever hearing one word concerning the existence of such +a person. If he should, mind, I predict harm will come of it." + +Those were the words that rang in Claire's ears long after she retired +to her room. + +"I shall tell Faynie that we had a caller last evening and how handsome +he was; but I shall take good care to follow mamma's advice and never +let her know his name," the girl ruminated. + +She was only a young girl, full of girlish enthusiasm, and it was +certainly beyond human expectation to believe she could refrain from +mentioning that much to Faynie the next morning. + +Faynie laid a little white hand on Claire's nut-brown head. + +"Take care not to fall too deeply in love with this handsome stranger," +she said, "for handsome men are not always good and true as they seem." + +"I am sure this gentleman is," declared impulsive Claire emphatically. +"He has the deepest, richest, mellowest voice I ever heard, and such +eyes--wine dark eyes--those are the only words which seem to express +what they are like--and when he takes your hand and looks down into your +face, the hand he holds so lightly tingles from the finger tips straight +to your heart." + +"I am afraid he has been holding your hand, Claire. Ah, take +care--beware!" warned Faynie. + +During the fortnight that followed Kendale was a constant visitor at the +palatial Fairfax home. + +And those two weeks changed the whole after current of Claire's life, as +Faynie observed with wonder. It was certainly evident the girl was +deeply in love, and Faynie trembled for her, for love would bring to +such natures as hers the greatest peace or the bitterest sorrow. + +She wondered if her stepmother saw how affairs were drifting. + +If it had not been that she and her stepmother were always at +cross-purposes with each other, she would have gone to her and warned +her that it was dangerous to throw this handsome young man so often into +Claire's society, unless she could readily see that he was pleased with +the girl--realizing that poor Claire had a sad drawback in her lameness +and that many would seek her society because she was bright and witty, +who would never dream of asking her hand in marriage because of it. + +Once she attempted to warn Claire of the hidden rocks that lay in love's +ocean, but the girl turned quickly a white, pained face toward her. + +"Say no more, Faynie," she cried; "the mischief, as you call it, has +already been done. My heart has left me and gone to him. If I do not win +him I shall die. You know the words: + + "Some hold that love is a foolish thing, + A thing of little worth; + But little or great, or weak or strong. + 'Tis love that rules the earth. + + "The tale is new, yet ever told; + It has often been breathed ere now--- + 'There was a lad who loved a lass'-- + 'Tis old as the world, I trow! + + "The song I sing has been sung before, + And will often again be sung + While lads and lasses have lips to kiss, + Or bard a tuneful tongue. + + "And this is the burden of my rhyme-- + Though love be of little worth, + Yet from pole to pole and shore to shore, + 'Tis love that rules the earth." + +"And it is love that breaks hearts and wrecks lives," murmured Faynie, +with streaming eyes and quivering lips. "Oh, Claire! again I warn you to +take care--beware!" + +For one brief moment she was tempted to tell Claire her own story. + +Ah, had she but done so, how much misery might have been spared the +hapless girl! But she put the impulse from her with a shudder. + +No, no, she could not breathe to human ears the story of her false lover +and the tragedy that had ended her dream of love. + +She had never permitted her thoughts to dwell upon Lester Armstrong +since that fatal night. + +If there were times when she thought of him as when she knew him first, +seemingly so loving, tender and true, she put the thought quickly from +her, remembering him as she saw him that fatal night--transformed +suddenly into a demon by strong drink, when he struck her down upon +finding that she had just been disinherited--that she was not the +heiress that he had taken her to be. + +He thought his crime buried fathoms deep under the drifting snow heaps. +Ah, how great would be his terror to find that the grave to which he had +consigned her had given her back to the world of the living! No, no, she +could not shock Claire's young ears with that horrible story! + +It would be bad enough for her to learn of it in after years. + +Thus Faynie settled the matter in her own mind, and her lips were +sealed. + +One morning Claire burst eagerly into the room, quite as soon as it was +light. + +"I was here late last night, but you were asleep, Faynie," she said, +"and I came away, though I could scarcely wait to tell you the wonderful +news." + +"I think I can guess what it is," replied Faynie, stroking the girl's +brown curls, "Your lover has declared his love for you and asked you to +be his wife. Is it not so?" + +"You know it could be nothing else which could make me so very, very +happy," laughed Claire, her cheeks reddening. + +"And you have answered--yes?" asked Faynie. + +"Of course I said yes," responded Claire. + +"And when is the wedding to take place?" queried Faynie, hoping with all +her heart that this lover of whom the girl was so desperately fond loved +Claire for herself--not for the wealth she had fallen heir to. + +Claire raised her bright, blushing face shyly, the dimples coming and +going, making her rather plain little face almost beautiful at that +moment. + +"Mamma wanted the marriage put off for a year--I am so young--but Lester +was so impatient that he would consent to no such arrangement. He wants +the ceremony performed with as little delay as is absolutely necessary." + +"Lester!" The name went through Faynie's heart like the thrust of a +knife. + +For an instant every nerve in her body seemed to tremble and throb with +quick, spasmodic pain, then to stand still as though the chill of death +were creeping over her. Her eyes grew dim with an awful darkness, and +Claire's voice seemed far off and indistinct. Then the world faded from +her altogether and she fell at Claire's feet all in a little heap, in a +dead swoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE PROPOSAL. + + +With all possible haste Claire summoned the housekeeper and gave Faynie +into her charge. + +It was more than disappointing to her to have Faynie lapse into +unconsciousness just as she had reached the most interesting part of her +story and was about to tell her how very romantically handsome Lester +had proposed. It had been just like a page from a French novel. + +She little dreamed that the art of making love was an old one to him. + +Kendale had gone to the Fairfax mansion with the express purpose of +proposing marriage that evening, for only that day Mr. Conway, the old +cashier, had told him confidentially that the affairs of the great dry +goods concern were in a bad shape--that the check for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand which had just been paid out had crippled them +sorely. + +And, after a moment's pause and with a husky voice, he added slowly: "If +something like three hundred thousand dollars is not raised within the +next sixty days you are a ruined man, Mr. Armstrong." + +This announcement fell with crushing force upon Kendale, who had +imagined that there could be no end to the flow of money that was +pouring in upon him. + +"There's only one way of raking in that much money in a hurry, and that +is by marrying the little lame heiress," he soliloquized. + +It so happened that he had an engagement to call there on this +particular evening, and he resolved that he would not let the +opportunity slip past him--that there was no time like the present. + +Fortune, fate, call it what you will, favored Kendale on this particular +occasion, as it usually did. He found Claire alone in the drawing-room +practising some sheet music which he had sent her a few days before. + +She started up in confusion as the servant ushered him into the room, a +swift blush crimsoning her cheeks. + +"Mamma will be down directly, Mr. Armstrong," she said, looking at him +shyly from beneath her long lashes. + +"Miss Stanhope--Claire!" he exclaimed impulsively, seizing both of her +little hands in his, "may we not have a few words together before my +card is sent up to your mother? Oh, Claire, you would surely say yes if +you knew all I had to say to you. Be kind and consent." + +"Since you seem to desire it so earnestly, I am sure I have no wish to +object," she answered, trembling in spite of her efforts to appear +unconcerned under the fire of his keen, ardent gaze. + +"You are an angel," he cried, seating himself in a chair so near her +that he could still hold the little fluttering hands, which she fain +would have drawn from his clasp, for, although she had never before had +a proposal of marriage, she guessed intuitively what was coming. + +"Since I have but a few minutes alone with you, Claire, what I have to +say must be said quickly," he began. + +For the first time in her life Claire was at a loss for an answer. + +"I am sure you have guessed my secret, sweetest of all sweet girls," he +murmured. "Every glance of my eyes, every touch of my hand, must have +told it to you from the first moment we met. Did it--not?" + +"No," faltered Claire, her eyes drooping like a flower under the sun's +piercing rays. + +"Then my lips shall tell you," he cried. "It is this--I love you, little +Claire--love you with all my heart, all my soul. You are the light of my +life, the sunshine of my existence, my lode-star, my hope--all that a +young girl is to a man who idolizes her as the one supreme being on +earth who can make him happy. Oh, Claire, I worship you as man never +worshiped woman before, and I want you for my wife." + +She opened her lips to speak, but he went on rapidly, hoarsely: + +"Do not refuse me, for it would be my death warrant if you did. I tell +you I cannot brook a refusal from those dear lips of yours. If you do +not consent I shall make away with myself in your presence here and now +with a revolver which lies in my breast pocket." + +A scream of terror broke from Claire's terrified lips. + +"Oh, do not make away with yourself, Mr; Armstrong!" "I--I will +promise--anything you--you want me to! Only don't shoot +yourself--don't!" + +"Then you accept me?" queried Kendale in a very businesslike manner. + +"Ye-es--if mamma does not--object," she answered in a stifling manner. + +"There must be no ifs," he declared. "You must take me, no matter who +objects. If we cannot bring your mamma around to an amicable way of +thinking, we must elope--that is all there is about it." + +"Elope!" gasped Claire in affright. + +"Why, what else would there be left to do?" he asked, with asperity. "I +love you and I must have you, Claire, and if you are willing to take me, +why, we will marry in spite of anything and everything that opposes. + +"Of course, if your mamma sees things as we do, all well and good; but +I say now to you, her objections must make no difference whatever in our +plans." + +"Oh, Mr. Armstrong!" gasped Claire, not knowing what in the world to say +to this ardent lover, who was so impetuous in his wooing. + +Before he could add a word Mrs. Fairfax came down the grand stairway, +her silken gown making a rustling frou-frou upon the velvet carpet. + +She looked much surprised at finding him there, as she had not been +apprised of his coming. + +Kendale arose to greet her in his usual impressive, languid, courteous +fashion, managing to whisper in Claire's ear hastily: + +"Make some excuse to leave the drawing-room for a few minutes, dear, and +while you are gone I will broach the all-important subject to your +mother." + +Mrs. Fairfax greeted the handsome young man cordially, pretending not to +have noticed how near to each other they had been sitting upon her +entrance to the drawing-room, and how suddenly they had sprung apart. + +Her daughter's blushing face and confused manner told her that the +propitious moment had arrived--the handsome heir to the Marsh millions +had proposed. + +And underneath her calm exterior Mrs. Fairfax's heart beat high with +exultation. Her quick ear had also caught that rapidly whispered last +remark to Claire, and, realizing that her daughter was too much +flustered to act upon it, gave the young man the opportunity to be alone +with her which he seemed to desire by remarking: + +"Dear me, I have left my fan in my boudoir, Claire, dear, would you mind +ringing for my maid to fetch it to me?" + +"I will go for it, mamma," returned Claire, shyly, without daring to +look at her lover. + +"As you like, my dear," returned Mrs. Fairfax, with very natural +appearing carelessness. + +Claire was gone quite half an hour in search of the fan. When she +returned to the drawing-room her mother met her with open arms. + +"Mr. Armstrong has told me all, my darling," she murmured, "and I give +my consent. You may marry him if you love him, daughter, and quite as +soon as he wishes." + +Kendale left the mansion two hours later with a self-satisfied smile on +his lips. + +"Marrying heiresses is much easier than most men suppose," he +muttered--and he stopped short in the grounds, standing under a tree +until the lights went out one by one, shrouding the house in gloom. + +Meanwhile, girl like, Claire had flown to Faynie's apartment to tell +her the wonderful news--that her handsome lover had really proposed and +her mother had given her consent, and she was to be married at once. + +Faynie's swoon had put a stop to confiding to her all the wonderful +things Lester had said. "I will tell her in the morning," she promised +herself, little dreaming what was to transpire ere the morrow dawned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +AN AWFUL APPARITION. + + +When Faynie awoke to consciousness she found the housekeeper bending +over her. Hours had passed and Claire had long since retired to her +room. + +Faynie opened her eyes slowly, in a half-dazed manner, but as she did so +memory returned to her with startling force; but she bravely restrained +the cry that rose to her lips. + +Claire had called her lover "Lester!" She wondered that the sound of +that name had: not stricken her head. + +Could Claire's lover be--Ah! she dared not even imagine such a horrible +possibility. Then she laughed aloud, thinking how foolish she had been +to be so needlessly alarmed. + +The false lover who had wooed and won her so cruelly was not the only +man in the world who bore the fateful name of Lester. + +"Ah, you are better, my dear," exclaimed the old housekeeper in great +relief. "Your swoon lasted so long that I was greatly alarmed; What +caused you to faint, my dear child?" + +Faynie murmured some reply which she could not quite catch, for the +housekeeper was old and very deaf. + +"Take this and go to sleep," she said, holding a soothing, quieting +draught to the girl's white, hot, parched lips. "You will awaken as well +as ever to-morrow." + +Faynie did as she was requested, closing her eyes. She was glad when the +kindly old face was turned away and she was left alone--not to sleep, +but to think. + +Of course it could not be Lester Armstrong who was Claire's suitor, for +he was poor, and her haughty stepmother would never encourage the suit +of a man who did not have wealth at his command. + +If Faynie had but read the papers she would have known what was +transpiring, but, alas! she did not and was utterly unaware of the +strange turn of fortune's wheel which had occurred in the life of the +young assistant cashier to whom she had given the wealth of her love, +when he was poor. + +Lying there, going over every detail of, the past, which seemed now but +the idle vagaries of a fleeting dream, she hardly knew, Heaven help her, +whether she still loved--or hated with all the strength of her +nature--Lester Armstrong. + +Her heart would fill with yearning tenderness almost unbearable when she +looked back at the early days of that brief, sweet courtship. + +How strong, noble, true and brave he had seemed--how kind of heart! + +She had seen him pick up a little birdling that had fallen from its +nest, lying with a bruised wing in the dust of the roadside, and restore +it to the mother bird to be nursed back to health and life, and go out +of his way to rescue a butterfly that had fallen in the millpond. + +It seemed like the distorted imagination of some diseased brain to bring +herself to the realization that this same gentle hand that had rescued +the robin and the butterfly had struck her down to death--that the kind, +earnest voice that had been wont to whisper nothing but words of +devotion and eternal love should fling out the vilest and bitterest of +oaths at her, because she was not the heiress he had taken her to be. + +And without one tear, one bitter regret, he had consigned her to that +lonely grave and gone back to the life which he had declared he could +never live without her. + +Where was he now? she wondered vaguely; then she laughed a low, bitter +laugh, sadder than any tears. + +He had missed the fortune he had hoped for and was back again in the +office of Marsh & Co. + +Then the thought came to her again with crushing, alarming force--would +he not (believing her dead and himself free to woo and wed again) seek +out some other heiress, since that was his design? Many young girls came +to the assistant cashier's window just as she had done; he would select +the richest and marry her. + +The very thought seemed to stab her to the heart with a keen, subtle +pain which she could neither understand nor clearly define, even to +herself. + +"Heaven pity her in the hour when she finds that she has been +deceived--that he married her for gold, not love," she sobbed, covering +her face with her little trembling hands. + +She prayed to Heaven silently that Claire's lover, whoever he might be, +was marrying her for love, and for love alone. + +So restless was she that, despite the quieting draught which the +housekeeper had induced her to swallow, she could not sleep. + +But one thing remained for her to do, and that was to get up and dress +and go down to her father's library and read herself into forgetfulness +until day dawned. + +Faynie acted upon the impulse, noting as she stepped from her room into +the corridor that the clock on her mantel chimed the hour of two. + +She had proceeded scarcely half a dozen steps ere she became aware that +she was not alone in the corridor. + +She stopped short. + +The time was when Faynie would have shrieked aloud or swooned from +terror; but she had gone through so many thrilling scenes during the +last few weeks of her eventful young life that fear within her breast +had quite died out. + +Was it only her wild, fanciful imagination, or did she hear the sound of +low breathing? Faynie stood quite still, leaning behind a marble Flora, +and listened. + +Yes, the sound was audible enough now. There was somebody in the +corridor creeping toward the spot where she stood, with swift but +noiseless feet. + +Nearer, nearer the footsteps crept, the soft, low-bated breathing +sounding closer with every step. + +With a presence of mind which few young girls possessed, Faynie +suddenly stepped forward and turned on the gas jet from an electric +button, full head. + +The sight which met her gaze fairly rooted her to the spot. + +For one brief instant of time it seemed to Faynie as though her breath +was leaving her body. + +She stood paralyzed, unable to stir hand or foot, if her very life had +depended upon it. + +Outside the wind blew dismally; the shutters creaked to and fro on their +hinges; the leafless branches of the trees tapped their ghostly fingers +against the panes. + +Faynie tried to speak--to cry out--but her tongue seemed to cleave to +the roof of her mouth, powerless. Her hands fell to her side a dead +weight, her eyes fairly bulging from their sockets. + +It almost seemed to the girl that she was passing through the awful +transition of death. + +The blood in her veins was turning to ice, and the heart in her bosom to +marble. + +In an upper room, afar off, she heard one of the servants coughing +protractedly in her sleep. + +Oh, God! if she could but burst the icy bonds that bound her hand and +foot and cry out--bring the household about her. Her lips opened, but no +sound came from them. + +The very breath in her body seemed dying out with each faint gasp that +broke over the white, mute lips. + +Outside the night winds grew wilder and fiercer. A gust of hail battered +against the window panes and rattled down the wide-throated chimneys. +Then suddenly; all was still again! + +Oh, pitiful heavens! how hard Faynie tried to break the awful bonds that +held her there, still, silent, motionless, unable to move or utter any +sound, staring in horror words cannot picture at the sight that met her +strained gaze. + +It had only been an instant of time since the bright blaze of the gas +had illuminated the darkened corridor, yet it seemed to Faynie, standing +there, white and cold as an image carved in marble, that long years had +passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +"I INTEND TO WATCH YOU DIE, INCH BY INCH, DAY BY DAY!" + + +Before going on further with the thrilling event which we narrated in +our last chapter it will be necessary to devote a few explanatory lines +to the still more thrilling scene which led up to it, returning to the +real Lester Armstrong, whom we left in the isolated cabin in the custody +of Halloran. + +Lester's intense anxiety when Kendale forcibly took the keys from him +and disappeared can better be imagined than described. + +In vain he pleaded with Halloran to release him, offering every kind of +inducement, but the man was inexorable. + +Your Cousin Kendale will pay me twice as much for detaining you here," +he answered with a boisterous laugh, adding: + +"Besides, I have a grudge against you of many years' standing, Lester +Armstrong, which this affair is wiping out pretty effectively." + +"I was not aware that I had ever seen you before," replied Lester. + +"Permit me to refresh your memory," exclaimed the other grimly. "When +you were a boy of about fourteen years you attended the public school on +Canal Street." + +"Yes," said Lester, still mystified. + +"At that time," went on Halloran, "the school was unusually crowded, +owing to the enforcement of the law that the children of the +neighborhood must attend school, thus bringing in all the urchins of +the poor thereabouts; you surely remember that?" + +"It seems to me I have a faint recollection of some such circumstance," +replied Lester, eying the man who stood over him, his dark, scowling +face growing more foreboding with each word he uttered. + +"If you carry your mind back you will also remember that there was a +ragged boy sitting to the right of you, who seemed to have a weakness +for purloining your pencils and other like articles." + +Lester did not answer; his mind was traveling back to the time this man +recalled. + +"You will also recollect the boy who sat in front of you, who was the +envy of all the boys in the school by being the possessor of a fine, new +five-bladed jackknife, with which he used to whittle kites and whistles +during recess. Ah! I see you do remember," said Halloran grimly, "and +you also remember the day the ragged boy, sitting at the right of you, +believing no one was looking, reached over and quietly, deftly, inserted +his hand in the other's pocket and abstracted the coveted jackknife. + +"He meant to as quietly replace it in the other's pocket after he had +whittled out a kite and whistle for himself; but, lo! without giving him +time to carry out his intentions, you, good boy that you were, squealed +and brought all the teachers in the room to the spot. You cried out to +them what had occurred, and the ragged lad was caught red-handed with +the knife in his possession. He was expelled from the school that day, +but the affair did not end there. The father of the boy who owned the +knife was a great judge, and he caused the ragged lad to be sent to a +State reformatory, where the next five years of his life were spent in +rigid discipline--stigmatized as a common thief! And all these years the +bitterness of a terrible hatred rankled in his bosom against you--who +were responsible for all this. + +"And he vowed a bitter vow of vengeance, that he would repay that act of +yours if it took him a lifetime to accomplish it; that he would make you +suffer like one on the rack for thrice five years, and then tell you +why. + +"It will not take much stretch of imagination for you to surmise, Lester +Armstrong, that I am that boy upon whom you peached, and on whom, +through you, such a severe penalty was inflicted. + +"My hatred against you has intensified as the years rolled on, Lester +Armstrong. You are in my power; I hold your life in my hands. Do you +think if you were to pray to me on your bended knees that I would +release you? No, a thousand times no! Every groan that falls from your +lips is music to my ears. + +"Again I repeat, you are at my mercy, and I will give you a dose of +that same mercy which you showed me in those other days. Ha! you turn +pale, as well you may! + +"Listen! Let me tell you what I intend to do. I think you guess it from +all that has gone on before, but I will repeat it. I intend to watch you +die, inch by inch, day by day! + +"They tell of a man who put himself on exhibition in New York, +challenging the people to come and see him fast forty days, during which +time neither food nor drink should pass his lips. + +"But you will not last so long, Lester Armstrong; I think a week's time +will be your limit. You will understand now how perfectly useless it +would be to plead with me." + +"Do not imagine for one moment that I intend to do so. I am a man of +nerve and iron will, and I can die like one. You have shackled me hand +and foot and placed me in this death trap, but your ears shall not be +greeted with any moans or cries of complaint. The vengeance you have +mapped out will fall short in that." + +A sneer broke from Halloran's lips; he could not help but admire the +dauntless courage of the man before him, but he would not have admitted +it for anything the wide world held. With a fiendish laugh that rang in +Lester's ears for long hours afterward, Halloran turned and left him, +sauntering into the outer room and banging and locking the door after +him. + +It was a night never to be forgotten by Lester to the last day of his +life. His mouth was parched with thirst; the blood in his veins seemed +turning to lava, and his eyes were scorched in their sockets. + +Once the door suddenly opened and Halloran thrust in his head, +exclaiming: + +"Let me give you a piece of news to dream over, my dear fellow: Your +Cousin, Kendale, is with the beauteous Faynie just now, probably holding +her in his arms, kissing the lovely rosebud mouth. 'Pon my honor. I envy +the lucky dog; don't you?" + +The door closed quite as quickly again, and Lester was alone with his +bitter thoughts. + +"What have I done that a just God should torture me thus?" he cried out +in an agony so intense that great beads of cold perspiration gathered on +his forehead and rolled unheeded down his white cheeks. "If he tortured +me to the gates of death I could endure it, but the very thought that my +innocent darling, my beautiful, tender little Faynie, is in that +dastardly villain's power, fairly goads me to madness. Oh, Heaven! if I +but had the strength of Samson for but a single hour, to burst these +cruel bonds asunder and fly to my dear one's side!" + +But, struggle as he would, the thongs which bound him, rendering him +powerless to aid the girl he loved, would not give way. + +Thus a fortnight passed, and Halloran was beside himself with wonder to +find each morning that Lester was still alive and that he had not gone +mad. + +But Lester Armstrong's guardian angel had not quite forgotten him; +Heaven had not intended that he should die by thirst and starvation in +that isolated cabin, and served him in a strange, unlooked-for way. + +He soon discovered that a family of squirrels had made a home beneath a +piece of flooring within easy reach of where he lay, and upon forcing up +the piece of rotten plank he found to his intense joy an almost endless +supply of nuts, and close beside their burrow a running stream of clear, +cool, fresh, bubbling spring water. + +In an instant he had slaked his thirst and laved his burning brow. + +From that hour he felt sure that Heaven intended him to escape from his +foes. He took good care, however, to conceal his wonderful discovery +from Halloran's keen, sharp eyes when he looked in each day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +A FIENDISH ACT. + + + "Like some lone bird + Without a mate, + My lonely heart is desolate; + I look around + And cannot trace, a friendly + smile, a welcome face. + Even in crowds + I'm still alone, because I + cannot love but one." + +Thus a fortnight passed, and under the rigid diet of the strengthening, +nutritious nuts and clear spring water Lester rapidly gained strength. + +He only waited a fitting opportunity to make a dash for liberty. + +Halloran was well armed; he realized that fact, and that he would shoot +him down like a dog ere he would suffer him to escape the fate that had +been laid out for him. + +Therefore his only hope was to get away by strategy. He laid several +plans, but each time they were frustrated by some unexpected act of +Halloran's. + +Meanwhile the latter was pondering over his case, considerably +mystified. + +"Confound the fellow! he does not seem to grow either pale or +emaciated," he muttered. "I could almost say that starving seems to +agree with him. I am quite tempted to give him his quietus and end this +vigil. Remaining in this solitary hut does not quite come up to my +liking. I wonder what Kendale is doing. He promised to let me know how +he got on. + +"I have not heard from him for nearly a week now. Perhaps they made the +discovery that he was not the real Lester Armstrong, and have placed him +in limbo; but it strikes me that in such a predicament he would hasten +to communicate with me, apprising me of the fact. + +"Then, again," he ruminated, "Kendale is thoroughly selfish to the +backbone, and if he has successfully hoodwinked these people and is +living off the fat of the land and rolling in money, as it were, ten +chances to one he has quite forgotten my very existence. + +"He ought to have sent me more provisions to-day, and more tobacco; and +it is nightfall and no sign of any one." + +The next day and the next passed in the same fashion. + +By this time Halloran had become thoroughly exasperated. + +"This settles the bill," he muttered; "I leave this place to-night. I do +not see much need of staying here any longer, anyhow. Armstrong will not +last many hours longer; he couldn't; it's beyond human physical +possibility." + +In the semi-twilight he looked in at his prisoner. + +Lester had fallen into so deep a sleep that he seemed scarcely to +breathe, and the dim, fading light falling in through the chinks of the +boarded window gave his face, which was beginning to grow pale because +of his confinement, an unusually grayish pallor at this twilight hour. + +"Ha! ha!" muttered Halloran, setting his teeth hard together; "it is +perfectly safe to leave him now. He is dying; his hour has come at +last." + +Turning on his heel he strode into the outer apartment, banging the door +to after him, but not taking the trouble to lock it on this occasion. + +"As there seems to be little need of my remaining here longer, now that +he is done for, I'm off for the city," he muttered; "and a pretty tramp +I'll have of it over this barren country road, fully seven miles to the +railway station, and hungry as a bear at that." + +Again he looked at Lester, to assure himself beyond all possibility of a +doubt that he was actually dying. + +And again he was thoroughly deceived. + +"It's all over with him," he muttered, "and Kendale's secret is safe +between him and me, and he'll have to pay me handsomely to keep it; +that's certain." + +On the threshold he halted. + +"Dead men tell no tales," he muttered, "and he would be past all +recognition by the time any one came across him in this isolated spot. +Then, again, some one might happen to wander this way. + +"It's best to be sure; to put it beyond human power to discover his +identity, and the only way to secure that end is to burn this place. Ay! +that is the surest and safest way to effectually conceal the crime." + +He had muttered the words aloud, and they fell distinctly upon the ears +of Lester Armstrong, who had awakened at the sound of his footsteps the +second time, although he had given no sign of having done so. The words +fell with horrible dread upon his ears because of the fact that he was +bound hand and foot by an iron chain, fastened to a heavy ring in the +floor. + +For the last week he had used every endeavor to force the links apart, +but they had frustrated his most strenuous efforts. + +And he said to himself, if the fiend incarnate before him carried out +his intention of firing the place it would be all over with him. The +horrible smoke would assuredly suffocate him ere he could, even by +exerting the most Herculean strength, succeed in liberating himself. + +With bated breath he heard Halloran enter the outer apartment. + +And he heard his impatient, muttered imprecations as he fumbled about +for matches, seemingly without finding any. + +"This is where I put them," exclaimed Halloran, with an oath, "but they +are not here now." + +After a moment's pause his voice broke the awful stillness, exclaiming: + +"Ah! here they are! I imagined they were not far away. One should always +know where to put his hands on such things, even in the dark. A whole +bunch of 'em; I did not remember that I had so many!" + +For the next few moments Lester heard him walking to and fro, apparently +dragging heavy articles over the floor, and he knew that he was piling +pieces of boards together in the middle of the room to start the blaze. + +His blood fairly ran cold in his veins at the thought. + +The moments that followed seemed the length of eternity. + +Each instant he expected to hear the dull scratching of the matches, +quickly followed by the swift, crackling blaze. + +With all his strength he strove to rend asunder the heavy steel chain, +but it resisted his every effort. + +"God in heaven! am I to die here like a rat in a trap?" he groaned, the +veins standing out like knotted whipcord on his forehead, the +perspiration pouring down his face like rain. + +For some moments there was a strange, unaccountable silence in the outer +room. + +Lester paused in his efforts to wrench the iron bands asunder which +bound his wrists, wondering what that ominous silence meant. + +The suspense was terrible, yet each moment meant that much of a respite +from the horrible fate which awaited him. + +What could Halloran be doing? Surely he had not abandoned his intentions +to set fire to the cabin? + +It was almost too good to be true. And yet that awful uncertainty was +almost unbearable. + +In the outer room Halloran sat quietly thinking over his plans, match in +hand, telling himself that he had better perfect them then than wait +until he was journeying toward the railway station. + +He would take the first train bound for New York, seek Kendale at once, +and have an understanding with him before he would disclose to him the +fact that Lester Armstrong was effectually out of his way. + +"Yes, that is the only course to pursue," muttered Halloran, and +springing to his feet, he struck half of the matches in his package at +once, and lighted the pile heaped in the center of the cabin floor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HALLORAN MEETS WITH HIS REWARD. + + +In an instant after the match had been applied a fiery tongue of flame +leaped to the ceiling, lighting the interior of the cabin with a +blinding glare of red light. + +Seizing his hat, Halloran dashed from the place and down the road, never +pausing until he had reached the fork of the roads. Then he stopped for +breath and looked back over his shoulder. + +A high ridge of ground intervened, completely hiding the doomed place +from his view. + +He did not even behold the column of fire and smoke, as he had +anticipated. + +"Those old boards are so damp that it will probably take some time to +ignite them, and there's no use waiting to see that," he muttered. "I +will be well on my way to the railway station by that time." + +He redoubled his speed to get as far away from the scene as possible, +for, villain though he was, this was his first actual crime, and his +conscience troubled him a little. + +Another mile or more he traversed through the heavy snow; then he +suddenly became conscious that there were rapidly approaching footsteps +behind him. + +Great heavens! had Lester Armstrong succeeded in making his escape? No, +it could not be. Even if so, he was too weak to run in that rapid +fashion. Involuntarily he paused and glanced backward over his shoulder. +The next instant a wild, panting cry of mortal terror broke from his +lips. + +In that backward glance he had beheld a huge black bear, making rapidly +toward the spot where he stood, fairly paralyzed with horror. + +It dawned upon him suddenly that only a few days before he had read of +the escape of one of the most ferocious black bears of the zoological +gardens, and, though two days had elapsed and men were scouring all +parts of the adjacent places, no trace of the animal had been found, and +great fears were expressed of the grave damage the bear might do before +he was recaptured. + +This was undoubtedly the animal that had escaped which was making toward +him with great leaps and savage growls, as though it had already marked +him for its prey. + +His teeth chattered like castanets; his eyes fairly bulged from their +sockets; the breath came in hot gasps from his white lips; his brain +reeled, as he took in, in that rapid glance of horror, his awful doom. + +Nearer and nearer sounded the hoarse, awful growls; nearer and nearer +moved the huge black mass over the white, crunching snow. + +The moon was slowly rising over the horizon, rendering all objects +clearly distinct to his frightened gaze. + +He was passing through a narrow belt of woodland, and like an +inspiration it occurred to him that his only hope of escape lay in +climbing one of the trees and thus outwitting the bear. + +He saw with sinking heart that they were scarcely more than saplings, +and whether or not they would bear his weight without snapping in twain +he dared not even pause to consider. + +With a groan of mortal terror he sprang for the nearest tree. Fright +seemed to lend him wonderful strength and agility; he succeeded in +reaching the lowest limb as the animal, with glittering eyes and widely +distended jaws, reached the tree. + +Up, up, crept Halloran, his teeth chattering, his strength almost +leaving him as the animal's roar of baffled rage fell upon his ear. + +To and fro bent the sapling under his weight, threatening to snap +asunder each moment and cast him into the jaws of the enraged beast. + +The hours that followed were of such keen, mortal terror that he vaguely +wondered that he did not lose his reason through fright. + +With fascinated eyes he watched the antics of the thoroughly enraged +animal. The bear made many efforts to climb the tree in pursuit of his +prey, but the swaying sapling was too slender to give him a hold, and +its bark too slippery with its coating of ice to insert the claws, which +had been clipped quite close, rendering them almost powerless in taking +a firm grasp. + +The night had closed in intensely cold, and Halloran could feel his +cramped limbs and hands slowly stiffening, but he dared not lose his +grip. + +The moon rose higher and higher in the night sky, shedding a white, +clear, bright light over the snow-clad earth. + +He knew that the animal was watching his every movement closely, as each +time he shifted his position brought a savage growl from the bear, which +was circling round and round the tree, eying him intently. + +For long hours this lasted, until the half frozen man, hanging on for +dear life to the upper branches of the sapling, thought he should go +mad. + +With the coming of daylight the bear changed his tactics, lying down +directly under the tree, still eying his prey with his small, beady, +expectant eyes, as though measuring the time that his victim could hold +out. + +The daylight grew stronger; slowly in the eastern horizon the red sun +rose, gilding the white, glistening snow with its rosy light. + +Hour by hour it climbed the blue azure height, crossed the zenith, and +then slowly sank behind the western hills, heralding the oncoming of +another night. + +Still the brute, with almost incredible cunning, sat in the same +position under the tree, watching Halloran's every move. + +"God rescue me!" he cried, lifting his white face to the Heaven he had +so offended. + +"If I pass another night here I shall go mad--mad!" + +He was famished with hunger, numb with cold, and his mouth and throat +were dry with unconquerable thirst. + +In those hours of suffering he thought of Lester Armstrong, and of the +awful fate he had doomed him to. He realized by his own experience of a +few hours what he must have endured, and a bitter groan of remorse broke +from his clammy lips. + +"This is Heaven's punishment," he cried. "Oh, Lester Armstrong. God has +surely avenged you! If I could but atone; if it were to be done over +again, I would have no hand in the atrocious crime that has dyed my +hands just as surely as though I had plunged a knife into your heart!" + +In his haste on leaving the cabin he had not taken time to secure his +revolver; he had no weapon; he was doomed to meet the same fate that he +had meted out to Lester Armstrong--starve to death slowly, hour by +hour--knowing that when he was too weak to hold longer to the branch he +would fall. + +Oh, God in heaven! fall into the gaping jaws of the enraged animal that +was waiting to receive him. + +He had led too wicked a life to pray; he did not know a prayer; he could +only raise his agonized eyes to the far-off sky, wondering how long his +awful torture could last-how long he would be able to hold out--how +long. + +He felt his blood slowly turning to ice in his veins, and slowly and +surely the dusk deepened and the darkness of another night fell over the +world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +"SOME TERRIBLE PRESENTIMENT IS WARNING ME THAT MY DARLING IS IN DANGER." + + +There never was a night so long that another day did not dawn--at +last--and when the morrow's light broke, Halloran was slowly but surely +collapsing--giving himself up to the horrible doom that awaited him--for +the bear had not quitted his position under the tree, nor had he taken +his eyes off his intended victim for a single moment. + +As the sun rose, Halloran watched it with dazed, bloodshot eyes, +exclaiming: + +"Good-by, golden sun, I shall never see you set, nor witness you rise +again upon another day. I--" the sentence was never finished, for over +the snowy waste rang a voice like a bugle blast: + +"Keep quiet, take heart, help is at hand; I am going to shoot the animal +and deliver you," and simultaneously with the voice four shots in rapid +succession rang out upon the early morning air. + +There was a wild howl of pain, a terrible roaring bellow, a sudden dash +toward a dark figure hurriedly approaching, two more shots, and the bear +rolled over dying beyond power to harm, his red blood dyeing the white +snow in great pools. Halloran knew no more. His strength and endurance +seemed suddenly to leave him, darkness closed in about him, his hold +loosened and he fell backward down, down through space. + +He did not know that a pair of strong arms caught him, thus saving him +from a broken neck. When he opened his eyes a few moments later, to his +intense surprise he found Lester Armstrong bending over him, and the +sight rendered him fairly dumb with amazement. + +Before he could ask questions that sprang to his lips, Lester explained +to him that owing to the dampness of the place, the fire Halloran had +kindled had quickly gone out, thus saving the young man from being +burned to death. He told him, too, why death had not come to him through +starvation, as had been intended, and that it had taken him all that +time to force apart the links of the chain, when he found that there was +no one to hear or prevent, no matter how much noise he made in so doing. + +He had seen the revolver, which had been forgotten, and little imagining +it would be of such vital use, had thrust it in his pocket and started +forth to make his way back to New York, when he unexpectedly came upon +the scene of the bear under the tree, and a fellow-being in deadly +peril. + +"You saved me--me," cried Halloran, huskily, "your deadly foe, who +tried to rob you of your life." + +"It was my duty, 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,'" quoted Lester, +quietly. + +Halloran fell on his knees, covering the other's hands with passionate +kisses, tears falling like rain from his eyes. + +"From this hour the life that you have saved shall be devoted to +you--and God!" he cried brokenly. "Oh, will Heaven ever forgive me for +the past? There are two bullets left in the revolver; you ought to shoot +me dead at your feet, Lester Armstrong. I deserve it." + +Lester shook his head. + +"Do better with your life than you have done in the past," he said. + +Halloran tried to rise to his feet, but fell back exhausted on the snow. + +"I cannot walk," he gasped. "I--I am sure my limbs are frozen." + +With a humane kindness that won him Halloran's gratitude to his dying +day, Lester helped him to the railway station, and to board the incoming +train, taking him to a hospital when they reached New York City. + +Halloran had lapsed into unconsciousness, but Lester was too kind of +heart to desert him in his hour of need. + +The clock was striking five as Lester left the hospital. + +On the pavement he paused, asking himself if he could go to a hotel +presenting that soiled, unkempt appearance. Then like an inspiration it +occurred to him that the best place in the world to go to was Mr. +Conway's; and he put the thought into execution at once, reaching there +nearly an hour later. + +Mr. Conway and Margery were just sitting down to breakfast as he rang +the bell of the humble little cottage. + +Mr. Conway answered the summons. + +The scene which followed can better be imagined than described. + +It was hard to convince father and daughter, at first, that in telling +his story he was not attempting to play some practical joke upon them. + +That he had a cousin who so cleverly resembled him that even those who +had known Lester intimately for long years should be so cleverly +deceived by him seemed almost incredible. Margery hid her face in her +trembling hands while her father gave Lester a full account of what had +transpired, while the latter's emotion was great; and his distress +intense, upon learning that Kendale had dared betroth himself to Margery +in his name, and that the gentle-hearted girl had learned to care for +the scamp, despite her repugnance to him at first. + +Lester thought it best, under the circumstances, to confide in full to +Margery and her father concerning his own love affair, lest they might +expect him to carry out the contract his cousin had made in regard to +marrying his old friend's pretty daughter. + +Margery's next words, however, set his troubled heart at rest in that +respect. + +She looked up at him suddenly through her tears, saying shyly: + +"There is another who cares for me, not knowing of this affair, one whom +I once thought I could love. Yesterday he wrote me a letter, asking for +my heart and hand. + +"Last night I wrote him a reply, saying 'No,' and telling him why. I +shall destroy that letter to-night, thankful enough that I did not have +time to send it. And my answer will then be 'Yes.'" + +"You have my best wishes for your happiness, little Margery," said +Lester, adding smilingly: "And when; the wedding occurs, which I hope +will be soon, you may, expect a very handsome present from me." + +Long after Mr. Conway and his unexpected visitor had finished their +simple breakfast, they talked over the strange situation of affairs, and +what was best to be done to avoid great publicity. + +"The bogus Lester Armstrong went to Beechwood last night," said the old +cashier. "He probably will remain there, as is his custom, until to-day +noon. You had better confront him there; meanwhile I will break the +amazing story to those of the establishment whom it is absolutely +necessary to tell. The rest of the employees and the public at large +need never know of the glaring fraud that was so cleverly practised +under their very eyes." + +Lester had sprung to his feet trembling with excitement, at the +information that Kendale had gone to the home of Faynie, despite the +fact that Mr. Conway had assured him that Kendale was not married. + +"Only yesterday he told me he contemplated marriage with a little +heiress out at Beechwood, and if his wooing went on smoothly he would be +a benedict in a few days' time--those were his exact words!" declared +Mr. Conway. + +"Thank Heaven the mischief has not yet been done," cried Lester, +fervently. + +He would have started for Beechwood at once, had it not been for Mr. +Conway, who induced him to lie down for a few hours and take a little +much-needed rest, explaining that he could not go in that apparel, and +it would take some little time to secure suitable raiment, and renovate +his appearance. + +Lester yielded to his judgment. + +Neither Mr. Conway nor Margery had the heart to awaken him, as hour +after hour rolled by; he seemed so thoroughly exhausted and his deep +sleep was doing him such a world of good, although the complete outfit +which Mr. Conway had sent for had long since arrived. + +It was night when Lester opened his eyes--imagining his surroundings for +the moment but the idle vagaries of a dream. + +Mr. Conway's kindly, solicitous face bending over him soon brought him +to his senses, and a remembrance of all that had occurred. + +"Oh, Mr. Conway! You should not have let me sleep," he cried. "I ought +to have been at Beechwood hours ago; something in my heart--some +terrible presentiment is warning me that my darling is in danger!" + +"You are only fanciful," returned his old friend. "Anxiety makes you +imagine that." + +"I hope it may prove as you say," replied Lester, huskily, and in an +hour's time he was on his way to Beechwood and Faynie. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +"GREAT GOD, IT IS A GHOST--THE GHOST OF FAYNIE!" + + +We must now return to Faynie, and the thrilling position in which we so +reluctantly left her. + +As the bright blaze of light illumined the corridor Faynie beheld the +dark form of a man creeping toward her. + +"Great Scott! Some one must have touched an electric button +somewhere--the wrong button!" he cried, instantly springing behind a +marble Flora--but not before Faynie had distinctly beheld him, being +herself unseen, because she was standing in the dense shadow. + +"It is he! It is Lester Armstrong!" was the cry that sprang from her +terrified heart to her lips, but no sound issued from them as they +parted. + +She leaned back faint and dizzy against the wall, unable to utter even +the faintest sound. "So this is Claire's lover--the Lester she told me +about--whom she is soon to marry! The dastardly wretch who wrecked my +life and left me for dead under the cold, drifting snow heap," was the +thought that flashed through her dazed brain as she watched him, with +bated breath and dilated eyes. + +"It was only a false alarm; nobody would be roaming through the +corridor of this place at this ghostly hour!" he muttered, sallying +forth. "It seems that I was more scared than hurt on this occasion. +Now for the library, to find that sum of money which my foolish +mamma-in-law-that-is-to-be mentioned having placed there. It's a daring +risk, stealing into the house like a thief in the night to search for +it, but there's no other way to get it, and money I must have without +delay. + +"It's mighty dangerous going through this corridor in this bright light. +I wish I knew where to turn it off; the chandelier is too high or I'd do +it in that way. I'm liable to be seen at any moment, if any one should +take it into their head to come down through the house for any reason +whatsoever." + +The next moment he had disappeared within the library, closing the door +neatly to after him. The next moment he had lighted the shaded night +lamp that stood on the table. + +Turning out the gas in the corridor, Faynie glided forward like a +shadow, and, reaching the library, noiselessly pushed open the door, +which he had left slightly ajar. + +"What was he doing here?" she wondered vaguely, her eyes blazing with +fierce indignation as she stood there considering what her next action +should be. He decided, the question by exclaiming: + +"Ha! This is the little iron safe she mentioned: of course the money is +here, and the will is probably here, too, for that matter, which states +that all of the Fairfax fortune goes to the old lady--which means the +pretty Claire ultimately. Well, the more money the better; there is no +one more competent to make it fly at a gay pace than myself. A prince of +the royal blood couldn't go at a faster pace than I have been going +during these last three weeks! Ha, ha, ha!" + +In a moment he was kneeling before the safe. To his intense satisfaction +the knob yielded to his deft touch. + +"I shall have less trouble than I anticipated," he muttered, with a +little chuckle. + +Faynie stood motionless, scarcely three feet behind him, watching him +intently, with horror-stricken eyes and glued tongue. + +She saw him take a roll of bills, and after carefully counting them, +transfer them to his pocket. + +Heirlooms, too, in the way of a costly diamond stud, sleeve links, and +massive watch and chain, which had been her father's, went the same way. + +Faynie seemed incapable of interfering. + +"Now we will soon determine what else there is here of importance--my +time cannot be more profitably spent than by informing myself." + +Paper after paper he carefully unfolded, glancing quickly through their +contents, and as quickly tossing them back into the safe. + +Evidently he had not yet found that for which he was searching so +intently. + +Suddenly he came across a large square envelope, the words on which +seemed to arrest his attention at once. And in a whispered, yet +distinctly audible voice, he read the words: + + "Horace Fairfax, last message to his wife--dated March 22, 18--." + +"Why that is the very date upon which he died," muttered Kendale. "This +must have been written just before he committed suicide. Well, we will +see what he had to say." + +And slowly he read, half aloud, as follows: + + "MY DEAR WIFE: When you read the words here penned I shall be no + more. I know your heart will be most bitter against me for what I + have just done, but, realizing that my end was near, I have done it + for the best. + + "I refer to the making of my will. + + "When a man sees death before him, he naturally wishes to see those + nearest and dearest to him provided for, so far as he is able to do + so. + + "You will remember distinctly the conversation we had at the time I + proposed marriage to you. I reminded you that I was a widower, + with a daughter whom I loved far better than the apple of my eye. + + "I told you that this daughter would succeed to all my wealth, if + she lived, when time was no more with me; that no being on earth + could ever change my views in this regard--ay, in fulfilling my + duty. + + "I asked you to marry me, knowing fully my intention in this + matter, stating at the time that I would give you in cash an ample + sum of money, which, if used frugally and judiciously, should last + you the remainder of your natural life, providing you outlived me. + + "You accepted me under those conditions; you married me, and I, as + agreed, gave to you in a lump sum the money stipulated. + + "It is needless to recall to you the fact that our wedded life has + been a failure. You have made my life miserable--ay, and that of my + sweet, motherless, tender little Faynie, until, in sheer + desperation, she has fled from her home on the night I write this, + and my grief is more poignant than I can well endure. + + "You must feign neither surprise nor indignation when it is learned + that my will gives all my fortune to Faynie, save the amount set + aside for you. + + "HORACE FAIRFAX." + +"Well! By all that's wonderful, if this isn't a pretty how-do-you-do. +Mrs. Fairfax and her girl are penniless, and I came so near marrying +Claire. I have found this thing out quite in the nick of time. The girl +is clever enough, but it takes money, and plenty of it, to make me put +my head into the yoke of matrimony. + +"I must find this will he speaks of. It will be here unless the woman +has been shrewd enough to destroy it, and women never are clever enough +to burn their telltale bridges which lie behind them, and that's how +they get found out--at last. + +"I see through the whole thing now. Mrs. Fairfax trumped up a will in +favor of herself, a brilliant scheme. I admire her grit immensely. Ah, +yes, here is the real will, in the same handwriting as the letter. Yes, +it gives all to his daughter Faynie. And here is the spurious one, a +good imitation, I admit, still an expert could easily detect the +handwriting of Mrs. Fairfax from beginning to end--signature and all. + +"I think I will take charge of this one giving all the Fairfax wealth to +Faynie." + +But he did not succeed in transferring it to his pocket, for like a +flash it was snatched from his hand. + +With a horrible oath, Kendale wheeled about. + +One glance, and his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets, his face grew +ashen white, his teeth chattered, and the blood in his veins seemed +suddenly to turn to ice. + +"Great Heaven! It is a ghost!" he yelled at the top of his voice; "the +ghost of Faynie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +AT THE LAST. + + +The sound of that hoarse, piercing, awful cry echoed and re-echoed to +every portion of the house, and in less time than it takes to relate it, +the servants in a body, headed by Mrs. Fairfax and Claire, were rushing +toward the library, from whence the sound proceeded. + +One glance as they reached the open doorways, and a cry of consternation +broke from Mrs. Fairfax's lips, which was faintly echoed by her daughter +Claire. + +The servants were too astounded at the sight that met their gaze to +believe the evidence of their own eyes. + +Mrs. Fairfax was the first to recover herself. + +"What is the meaning of this!" she exclaimed, striding forward and +facing Faynie and the horror-stricken man who stood facing her, his +teeth chattering, as he muttered: + +"It is her ghost!--her ghost!" + +"Faynie Fairfax, why do I find you here, in the library, in the dead of +the night, in the company of the man who is to wed my daughter Claire, +and who parted from her scarcely two hours since, supposedly to leave +the house? Why are you two here together! Explain this most +extraordinary and most atrocious scene at once. I command you!" she +cried, her voice rising to a shrill scream in her rising anger. + +Faynie turned a face toward her white as a marble statue, but no word +broke from her lips. + +The presence of the others seemed to bring Kendale back to his senses. + +"It means," spoke Faynie, after a full moment's pause, "that the hour +has come in which I must confess to all gathered here the pitiful story +I have to tell, and which will explain what has long been an unsolved +mystery to you--where, how and with whom I spent the time from the hour +in which I left this roof until I returned to it. + +"You say that this is the man who is your daughter's lover, Mrs. +Fairfax--the man who is soon to marry Claire. + +"I declare that this marriage can never be, because this man has a +living wife," she cried, in a high, clear voice. + +"It is false!" shrieked Kendale. "The girl I married in the old church +is dead--dead, I tell you. I--I saw her buried with my own eyes!" + +"She is not dead, for I am that unfortunate girl," answered Faynie, in a +voice that trembled with agonized emotion. + +"Listen all, while I tell my story," she sobbed. "Surely the saddest, +most pitiful story a young girl ever had to tell." + +Then, in a panting voice, she told her horrified listeners all, from the +beginning to the very end, omitting not the slightest detail, dwelling +with a pathos that brought tears to every eye, of how she had loved him +up to the very hour he had come for her to elope with him; her horror +and fear of him growing more intense because of the marriage he forced +her into, with the concealed revolver pressed so close to her heart she +dared not disobey his slightest command. + +And how the conviction grew upon her that he was marrying her for wealth +only, and the inspiration that came to her to test his so-called love by +telling him that she had been disinherited, though she was confident +that her father had made his will in her favor, leaving her his entire +fortune. + +Dwelling with piteous sobs on how he had then and there struck her down +to death, as he supposed, and that he had made all haste to make away +with her; and that she would at that moment have been lying in an +unmarked grave, under the snowdrifts, if Heaven had not most +miraculously interfered and saved her. + +Faynie ended her thrilling recital by adding that she had not known, +until that hour, that this man was Claire's lover, because they had +refrained from mentioning the name of the man in her presence. How she +had come to the library in search of a book and had encountered him +stealing through the halls, a veritable thief in the dead of the night, +bent upon securing a sum of money which he had learned in some way was +in the safe, and that he now had it in his pocket, and that she had +prevented him from securing her father's will by snatching it from his +grasp. + +Mrs. Fairfax had fallen back, trembling like an aspen leaf. She +recognized her husband's will in Faynie's hands, and that, although the +girl did not say so before the servants, she knew her treachery. + +"Come, Claire, my child," she said, turning to her daughter, "this is no +place for you." + +But Claire did not stir; she stood quite still, looking from the one to +the other, as though she could not fully comprehend all that she saw and +heard. + +By this time Kendale had recovered from his shock, and as he listened to +Faynie's recital, realized that she was not indeed a ghost, but the +heiress of the Fairfax millions, and his own wife at that. And when he +found his voice he cried out: + +"The girl tells the truth! She is mine, and as her husband I am lord and +master of this house, and of her." + +As he uttered the words he strode toward Faynie with a diabolical +chuckle, and seized her slender wrists in his grasp. + +"Unhand me!" shrieked Faynie, struggling frantically in his grasp, +almost fainting with terror. + +"No one dares interfere between man and wife," replied Kendale, +mockingly. + +He did not see three dark forms spring over the threshold, thrusting the +servants hastily aside. + +But in less time than it takes to tell it, a strong arm thrust him +aside, and a tall form sprang between him and Faynie, while a voice that +struck terror to his very soul cried out: + +"You have come to the end of your rope, Clinton Kendale. You have lost +the game, while it was almost in your grasp!" + +"Great Heaven, is it you, Lester Armstrong!" cried the guilty villain, +fairly quivering with terror. "Oh, Lester, have pity--have mercy--I--" + +"You shall have the same quality of mercy dealt out to you that you have +meted out to others!" replied Lester, sternly. + +Suddenly Kendale wrenched himself free from his grasp, crying out, +hoarsely and triumphantly: + +"I am game yet. I have married the girl you love. She is my lawfully +wedded wife. I have lost the Marsh millions, but you are checkmated, +Lester Armstrong. I have the Fairfax fortune, and your Faynie!" + +"Don't delude yourself into believing so prettily an arranged scheme," +exclaimed a voice from the doorway, and a woman whom Kendale had not +noticed among the crowd before glided hastily forward, threw back her +veil, confronting the villain. + +"Gertrude!" he cried aghast, staggering back. + +"Yes, Gertrude, your wife," she replied. "Your wife, though you tried +hard to induce me to go to Dakota and secure a divorce from you. I had +instituted it and would soon have obtained it had I not read in the +papers of the great fortune you had fallen into, for you had told me +your cousin Lester Armstrong was dead, and you were to take his name and +place as assistant cashier--no one knowing of his death, and you could +easily pass yourself off for him owing to your wonderful resemblance to +each other. + +"For my sake," she added, "Mr. Armstrong has promised to let you go +free, providing you go with me." + +"It is false!" shouted Kendale. "All you say is a lie, woman!" + +"The man who accompanied us to the altar a year ago is here," he said. +"He has with him my marriage certificate," pointing toward some one on +the threshold, adding, "come forward, please." + +And Halloran, who had left a sickbed to accompany her, came slowly +forward. + +"So you are against me, too!" cried Kendale. "Then all is up, indeed. I +acknowledge that all that has been said is true. I had a few weeks of a +gay, merry life, and I'm not sorry, either. Come, Gertrude!" + +And without a backward glance they slowly left the Fairfax mansion. + +The reuniting of Faynie and her lover was extremely affecting, and +within an hour a minister was called in who made them one forevermore. + +Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter were offered a home for life, but they +chose to leave the following day. Faynie and Lester had gone through +many thrilling experiences, but were happily reunited--at last. + +THE END. + + + + +No. 1113 of THE NEW EAGLE SERIES, entitled "In Love's Name," by Emma +Garrison Jones, is a story that tells of a romance that, after many +sufferings, ends in a happy marriage feast. + + + + + HAVE YOU READ + + Love Story + + MAGAZINE + + ? + +If not, you have a treat in store for you. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is devoted to the publication of clean, wholesome +romances. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is developing a staff of writers each of which is +destined to become famous. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is really so good that it deserves your immediate +investigation--that is, if you like a _good_ love story. + + * * * * * + +PRICE 15 CENTS + +Published Semimonthly + + * * * * * + +A Street & Smith Publication + + + + +GARVICE + +The Love-Story King + + * * * * * + +Look up the books by Charles Garvice, in the New Eagle Series. There are +many of them, but not a dull one in the lot. + +So, if you want a splendid love story with a dash of adventure +interwoven, investigate the works of Charles Garvice, the king of +love-story writers. + +Novels by unknown authors are virtually foisted upon the public by +certain book publishers. If the books succeed, the public pays; if not, +the publisher does and tries all over again. + +Why take a chance of getting two cents' worth of reading for two +dollars, when you can get two dollars' worth for twenty cents, every +time, without risk? + +Your dealer has or will be glad to get the Garvice books for you. Ask +him. + + + + +WOMEN! + +How many of you have heard of Mrs. Hungerford, or, as she is more +popularly known, + + The Duchess? + +Her novels are really masterpieces of English literature and of intense +interest to every class and creed. + +Unlike so many modern authors, "The Duchess" did not have to descend +into the pit for material to make her novels popular. She relied mainly +upon her knowledge of human nature--that things clean always attract. In +the case of her books she was right; millions of them have been sold. + +Ask your dealer to get some of The Duchess' works in the Select library +for you. Then prepare for the best reading treat you ever enjoyed. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13740 *** diff --git a/13740-h/13740-h.htm b/13740-h/13740-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe9b08f --- /dev/null +++ b/13740-h/13740-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5819 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mischievous Maid Faynie, by Laura Jean Libbey</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; 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All that day and +all the night before it had been snowing hard. New York lay buried +beneath over two feet of its cold white mantle, and with the gathering +dusk a fierce hurricane set in, proclaiming the approach of the terrible +blizzard which had been predicted.</p> + +<p>On this afternoon, which was destined to be so memorable, two young men +were breasting the sleet and hail, which tore down Broadway with +demoniac glee, as though amused that the cable cars were stalled fully a +mile along the line, and the people were obliged to get out and walk, +facing the full fury of the elements, if they hoped to arrive at their +destinations that night.</p> + +<p>It could easily be ascertained by the gray, waning light that both young +men were tall, broad-shouldered and handsome of face, bearing a +striking resemblance to one another.</p> + +<p>They were seldom in each other's company, but those who saw them thus +jumped naturally to the conclusion that they were twin brothers; but +this was a great mistake; they were only cousins. One was Clinton +Kendale, whom everybody was speaking of as "the rage of New York," the +handsomest actor who had ever trod the metropolitan boards, the idol of +the matinee girls, and the greatest attraction the delighted managers +had gotten hold of for years.</p> + +<p>His companion was of not much consequence, only Lester Armstrong, +assistant cashier in the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., on upper +Broadway.</p> + +<p>He had entered their employ as a cashboy; had grown to manhood in their +service, and he had no further hope for the future, save to remain in +his present position by strict application, proving himself worthy of a +greater opportunity if the head cashier ever chose to retire.</p> + +<p>He lived in the utmost simplicity, was frugal, dressed with unusual +plainness, and put by money.</p> + +<p>He hadn't a relative on earth, save his handsome, debonair cousin, who +never sought him out save when he wanted to borrow money of him.</p> + +<p>Clint Kendale's salary was fifty dollars per week, but that did not go +far toward paying his bills at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, keeping a fast +horse and giving wine suppers. In his early youth he had begun the pace +he was now going. He had received a fine collegiate education, and at +his majority stepped into the magnificent fortune his parents had left +him. It took him just one year to run through it, then, penniless, he +came from Boston to New York and sought out his poor cousin. Lester +Armstrong succeeded in getting a position for Kendale with the same firm +with which he was employed, but at the end of the first week Clinton +Kendale threw it up with disgust, declaring that what he had gone +through these six days was too much for him. He had rather die than +work.</p> + +<p>He borrowed a hundred dollars from his Cousin Lester and suddenly +disappeared. When he was next heard from he blossomed out, astonishing +all New York as the handsomest society actor who had ever graced the +metropolitan boards, and caused a furore.</p> + +<p>There was another great difference between the two cousins, and that was +a heart; just one of them possessed it, and that one was Lester +Armstrong.</p> + +<p>On this particular afternoon Kendale had lain in wait for his cousin at +the entrance of Marsh & Co.'s to waylay him when he came from the +office. He must see him, he told himself, and Lester must let him have +another loan.</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong was glad from the bottom of his true, honest heart to +see him, but his brow clouded over with a troubled expression when he +learned that he wanted to borrow five hundred dollars. That amount +seemed small, indeed, to the lordly Kendale, but to Lester it meant +months of toil and rigid self-denial.</p> + +<p>"Come into the café, and while we lunch I will explain to you why I must +have it, old fellow," said Kendale, always ready with some plausible +story on his glib tongue.</p> + +<p>"Haven't time now," declared Armstrong. "I must catch the five-twenty +train from the Grand Central Depot; haven't a moment to lose. I will be +back on the nine o'clock train. If you will come over to my lodging +house then I'll talk with you. I cannot let you have the sum you want. +I'll tell you why then, and you will readily understand my position. Ah, +this is your corner. We part here. Wish me luck on the trip I am about +to take, for I never had more need for your good wishes."</p> + +<p>"You are not going off to be married, I hope?" exclaimed Kendale in the +greatest of astonishment.</p> + +<p>A light-hearted, happy, ringing laugh broke from Armstrong's mustached +lips, the color rushed into his face, and his brown eyes twinkled +merrily.</p> + +<p>"There's the dearest little girl in all the world in the case," he +admitted, "but I haven't time to tell you about it now. I'll see you +later."</p> + +<p>With this remark he plunged forward into the gathering gloom, leaving +Clinton Kendale standing motionless gazing after him in the greatest +surprise. But the cold was too intense for him to remain there but an +instant; then wheeling about, he hastily struck into a side street, +muttering between his teeth:</p> + +<p>"He must let me have that five hundred dollars, or I am ruined. I must +have it from him by fair means or foul, ere the light of another day +dawns. I've borrowed a cool two thousand from him in four months. I +wonder how much more he has laid by? I must have that five hundred, no +matter what I have to resort to to get it, that's all there is about it. +I am desperate to-night, and a person in my terrible fix fears neither +God nor man."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Lester Armstrong pushed rapidly onward, scarcely heeding the +bitter cold and terrible, raging storm, for his heart was in a glow.</p> + +<p>He reached the Grand Central Depot just as the gates were closing, but +managed to dash through them and swing himself aboard of the train just +as it was moving out of the station.</p> + +<p>The car was crowded; standing room only seemed to be the prospect, but +the young man did not seem disturbed by it, but settled his broad frame +against the door and looked out at the sharp sleet that lashed against +the window panes with something like a smile on his lips.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely twenty miles to ride thus, but that comforting +remembrance did not cause the pleasant smile to deepen about the mobile +mouth.</p> + +<p>He was thinking of the lovely young girl who had written him a note to +say that she expected him at the trysting place, without fail, at seven +that evening, as she had something of the greatest importance to +communicate to him.</p> + +<p>"Of course my dear little girl will not keep the appointment in such a +blizzard as this. She could not have foreseen how the weather would be +when she wrote the precious little note that is tucked away so carefully +in my breast pocket; but, like a true knight, I must obey my little +lady's commands, no matter what they may be, despite storm or +tempests—ay, even though I rode through seas of blood!"</p> + +<p>Half a score of times the engine became firmly wedged in snowdrifts in +traversing as many miles. There were loud exclamations of discomfiture +on all sides, but the handsome young man never heard them. He was still +staring out of the window—staring without seeing—and the smile on his +face had given place to an expression of deep wistfulness.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I wonder how I have dared to aspire to her love—the +beautiful, petted daughter of a millionaire, and I only an assistant +cashier on a very humble salary—ay, a salary so small that my whole +year's earnings is less than the pin money she spends each month.</p> + +<p>"If she were but poor like myself, how quickly I would make her mine. +How can I, how dare I, ask her to share my lot? Will her father be +amused, or terribly angry at my presumption?</p> + +<p>"This sort of thing must stop. I cannot be meeting my darling +clandestinely any longer. My honor forbids, my manhood cries out against +it.</p> + +<p>"But, oh, God! how the thought terrifies me that from the moment they +find out that we have met, and are lovers, they will try to part +us—tear my darling from me!"</p> + +<p>They had met in a very ordinary manner, but to the infatuated young +lover it seemed the most ideal, most romantic of meetings. The pretty +little heiress had gone to the office of Marsh & Co. to settle her +monthly account. The old cashier was out to lunch. His assistant, Lester +Armstrong, stepped forward and attended to the matter for the pretty +young girl, surely the sweetest and daintiest that he had ever beheld.</p> + +<p>That night he dreamed of the lovely, dimpled rosebud face, framed in a +mass of golden curls; a pair of bewildering violet eyes, and a gay, +musical voice like a chiming of silver bells, and lo! the mischief was +done. The next day the assistant cashier made the first mistake of his +life over his accounts. The old cashier, Mr. Conway, looked at him +grimly from over the tops of his gold-rimmed glasses.</p> + +<p>"I hope you have not taken to playing cards nights, Mr. Armstrong," he +said. "They are dangerous; avoid them. Wine is still worse, and above +all, let me warn you against womankind. They are a snare and a delusion. +Avoid them, one and all, as you would a pestilence."</p> + +<p>But the warning had come to the handsome young assistant cashier too +late.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_II'></a><h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>"YOU MUST NOT MARRY HIM—HEAVEN INTENDED YOU FOR ME."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Slowly but surely the sturdy engine struggled on through the huge +snowdrifts, reaching Beechwood a little after seven, over an hour and a +half behind time.</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong swung himself off the rear platform into fully five +feet of snow, floundering helplessly about for an instant, while the +train plunged onward, and at last struck the path that led up over the +hills in the village beyond.</p> + +<p>Beechwood consisted of but a few elegant homes owned and occupied by +retired New Yorkers of wealth. Horace Fairfax was perhaps the most +influential, as well as the wealthiest of these; his magnificent home on +the brow of the farthest hill was certainly the most imposing and +pretentious.</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong's heart gave a great bound as he came within sight of +it, standing like a great castle, with its peaks and gables, and windows +all blazing with light and the red glow of inward warmth against its +dark background of fir trees more than a century old, and the white +wilderness of snow stretching out and losing itself in the darkness +beyond.</p> + +<p>All heedless of the terrible storm raging about him, the young man +paused at the arched gate and looked with sad wistfulness, as he leaned +his arms on one of the stone pillars, up the serpentine path that led to +the main entrance.</p> + +<p>"What I ought to do is never to see Faynie again," he murmured, but as +the bare thought rushed through his mind, his handsome face paled to the +lips and his strong frame trembled. Never see Faynie again! That would +mean shut out the only gleam of sunshine that had ever lighted up the +gray somberness of his existence; take away from him the only dear joy +that had made life worth the living for the few months. He had drifted +into these clandestine meetings, not by design; chance, or fate, rather, +had forced him into it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsh, the senior member of the firm by whom he was employed, also +resided in Beechwood. It was his whim that the keys of the private +office should be brought to him each night. Thus it happened that the +performance of his duties led Lester each evening past the Fairfax home.</p> + +<p>One summer evening he espied Faynie, the object of his ardent +admiration, standing in the flower garden, herself the fairest flower of +all. It was beyond human nature to resist stopping still to gaze upon +her. This he did, believing himself unseen, but Faynie Fairfax had +beheld the tall, well-known form afar down the road, and she was not +displeased at the prospect of having a delightful little chat with the +handsome young cashier.</p> + +<p>Faynie's home was not as congenial to the young girl as it might have +been, for a stepmother reigned supreme there, and all of her love was +lavished upon her own daughter Claire, a crippled, quiet girl of about +Faynie's own age, and Faynie was left to do about as she pleased. Her +father almost lived in his library among his books, and she saw little +of him for days at a time.</p> + +<p>Therefore there was no one to notice why Faynie suddenly developed such +a liking for roaming in the garden at twilight; no one to notice the +growing attachment that sprang up and deepened into the strongest of +love between the petted heiress and the poor young cashier.</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong had struggled manfully against it, but it was for a +higher power than man's to direct where the love of his heart should go. +He made strong resolutions that the lovely maiden should never guess the +existing state of affairs, but he might as well have attempted to stay +the mighty waters of the ocean by his weak will. All in an unforeseen +moment the words burst from his lips—the secret he had attempted to +guard so carefully was out.</p> + +<p>He had expected that beautiful Faynie Fairfax would turn from him in +anger and dismay, but to his intense surprise, she burst into a flood of +tears, even though she looked at him with smiling lips, April sunshine +and showers commingled, confessing with all a young girl's pretty, +hesitating shyness that she loved him, even as he loved her, with all +her heart. Then followed half an hour of bliss for the lovers such as +the poets tell of in their verses of a glimpse of Paradise.</p> + +<p>Although they exchanged a hundred vows of eternal affection, Lester +Armstrong hesitated to speak of marriage yet. Faynie was young—only +eighteen. There was plenty of time. And to tell the truth, he dared not +face the possibilities of it just yet. It required a little more courage +than he had been able to muster up to seek an audience with the +millionaire—beard the lion in his den, as it were—and dare propose +such a monstrously preposterous thing as the asking of his lovely, +dainty young daughter's hand in marriage. Lester was timid. He dreaded +beyond words the setting of the ball rolling which would tear his +beautiful love and himself asunder. Heaven help him, he was so +unutterably happy in the bewildering present.</p> + +<p>His reverie was suddenly interrupted by seeing a little black figure +hurrying down the path. Another instant, and the little breathless +figure was clasped in his arms, close, close to his madly throbbing +heart.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Faynie, my love, my darling, my precious, why did you brave the +fury of the tempest to keep the tryst to-night? I am here, but I did not +expect you, much as I love to see you. I was praying you would not +venture out. Oh, my precious, what is it?" he cried in alarm, as the +fitful light of the gas lamp that hung over the arched gate fell full +upon her. "Your sweet face is as white as marble, and your beautiful +golden hair is wet with drifted snow, as is your cloak."</p> + +<p>To his intense amazement and distress, she burst into the wildest of +sobs and clung to him like a terrified child. All in vain he attempted +to soothe her and find out what it was all about.</p> + +<p>The first thought that flashed through his mind was that their meetings +had been discovered, and that they meant to put him from Faynie, and he +strained her closer to his heart, crying out that whatever it was, +nothing save death should separate them.</p> + +<p>Little by little the story came out, and the two young lovers, clasped +so fondly in each other's arms, did not feel the intense cold or hear +the wild moaning of the winds around them. Through her tears Faynie told +her handsome, strong young lover just what had happened. Her father had +sent for her to come to his library that morning, and when she had +complied with the summons, he had informed her that a friend of his had +asked for her hand in marriage, and he had consented, literally settling +the matter without consulting her, the one most vitally interested. She +had most furiously rebelled, there had been a terrible scene, and it had +ended by her father harshly bidding her to prepare for the wedding, +which would take place on the morrow, adding that a father was supposed +to know best what to do for his daughter's interests; that the fiat had +gone forth; that she would marry the husband he had selected for her on +the morrow, though all the angels above or the demons below attempted to +frustrate it.</p> + +<p>"You will save me, Lester?" cried the girl, wildly clinging to him with +death-cold hands. "Oh, Lester, my love, tell me, what am I to do? He is +very old, quite forty, and I am only eighteen. I abhor him quite as much +as I love you, Lester. Tell me, dear, what am I to do?"</p> + +<p>He gathered her close in his arms in an agony that words are too weak to +portray.</p> + +<p>"You shall not, you must not, marry the man your father has selected for +you, my darling. You are mine, Faynie, and you must marry me," he cried, +hoarsely. "Heaven intended us for each other, and for no one else. You +shall be mine past the power of any one human to part us ere the +morrow's light dawns, if—if you wish it so."</p> + +<p>She clung to him, weeping hysterically, answering:</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Lester, let it be so. I will marry you, and you will take me +away from this place, where no one, save Claire—not even my +father—loves me."</p> + +<p>He strained her to his throbbing heart with broken words, but at that +instant the shriek of an approaching train sounded upon his ears. He +tore himself away from her encircling embrace.</p> + +<p>"To do all that I have to do, I must return to the city, quickly arrange +for the marriage and a suitable place to take my bride. I will return by +ten o'clock. Be at this gate, my darling, with whatever change of +clothing you wish to take with you. I will bring a carriage. The way by +carriage road from the city is less than seven miles, you know. We will +drive to the minister's in the village below. A few words and I shall +have the right to protect you through life, and oh! my darling, my idol, +my trusting little love, may God deal by me as I deal with you!"</p> + +<p>Those were the last words Faynie heard, for in the next instant her +lover had torn himself free from her clinging arms and was dashing like +one mad through the drifts toward the railroad station again. Then, with +a strange, unaccountable presentiment of coming evil, Faynie Fairfax +turned and stole up the serpentine path into the house again.</p> + +<p>In just an hour's time Lester Armstrong was hurrying along Broadway +again, making all haste toward his lodgings. Suddenly some one tapped +him on the shoulder, and a voice which he instantly recognised as his +cousin's said, laughingly:</p> + +<p>"Both bent in the same direction, it seems. Well, we'll travel along +together to your lodging house, Lester."</p> + +<p>But alas! Who can see the strange workings of destiny? In that instant +Lester Armstrong slipped on the icy pavement, and Kendale, bending +quickly over him, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"He has broken his neck! He is dying. He won't last five minutes!"</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_III'></a><h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>A TERRIBLE PLOT AGAINST A HELPLESS YOUNG GIRL.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A gasp of horror broke from Kendale's lips. Yes, Lester Armstrong was +fatally injured, he could see that.</p> + +<p>Glancing up, he saw that they were within a few doors of his lodgings. +Picking him up by main force, he carried him thither at once and placed +him upon his couch. He had expected to see him breathe his last, but to +his great surprise Lester Armstrong opened his eyes and whispered his +name.</p> + +<p>"It is all over with me, Clinton," he whispered. "I—I realize that my +fall was fatal, and that it is a question of moments with me, but I—I +cannot die until I have told you all, and you have promised to go +quickly to my darling and tell her my sad fate."</p> + +<p>"Any commission you have you may be sure I will execute for you," +replied Kendale, and even while he spoke he was wondering whereabouts in +that room Lester Armstrong kept his cash.</p> + +<p>Between gasps, his voice growing fainter and fainter with each word, +poor Lester told his story, of his love, his wooing and the climax which +was to have taken place in two hours' time.</p> + +<p>Kendale listened with bated breath. To say that he was amazed, +dumfounded, scarcely expressed his intense surprise.</p> + +<p>Armstrong, his poor plodding cousin, to strike such luck as to be about +to marry an heiress! It seemed like a veritable fairy story. Who would +have thought the poor cashier would have known enough to play for such +high stakes?</p> + +<p>Almost as soon as Lester Armstrong had uttered the last word, he fell +back upon his pillow in a dead faint.</p> + +<p>"The end is not far," muttered Kendale. "I suppose it would look better +to send a call for an ambulance and have him sent to the hospital."</p> + +<p>He acted upon the thought without a moment's delay, and while the wagon +was <i>en route</i> made a quick search of his unfortunate cousin's +apartment, a sardonic smile of triumph lighting his face. And as he +transferred the money to his pocket, a sudden thought rushed through his +brain—a thought that for the instant almost took his breath away.</p> + +<p>Like one fascinated, he looked down at the white face. "I could do it; +yes, I am sure I could do it," he muttered, drawing his breath hard.</p> + +<p>At that moment the ambulance wagon rattled up to the door. In another +instant the two attachés entered the room.</p> + +<p>"What is the difficulty?" queried the man, and briefly Kendale +explained.</p> + +<p>"It seems hardly worth while to take him to the hospital," said one of +the men; "he would hardly last until we reach there. Still, if you +insist—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I insist," he cut in sharply.</p> + +<p>"What name is to be entered?" asked the surgeon.</p> + +<p>"Clinton Kendale. He is an actor, and my cousin," he responded in a low +even voice.</p> + +<p>He watched them while they carried forth the unconscious man.</p> + +<p>"My first test will be with the people of this house," he muttered, +shutting his teeth hard.</p> + +<p>Thrusting the money still deeper in his pocket, he walked boldly down +the stairs, tapping at the door to the right, which he knew to be the +living room of the family.</p> + +<p>"I am going to give up my room," he said.</p> + +<p>"Laws a mercy, Mr. Armstrong!" exclaimed the old lady. "What sudden +notice! I am so sorry to lose you!"</p> + +<p>He chatted for a few moments, paid what was due her, then turned hastily +and left the place, remarking before he went that he should not need the +few things that he left in his room; that she could keep them if she +liked as remembrances.</p> + +<p>Once again he was out on the street, with the cold wind blowing on his +face.</p> + +<p>"Nothing ventured, nothing won!" he said, under his breath. "Now for the +heiress and the million of money. By Jove! it's better to be born lucky +than rich. I shall need an accomplice in this affair, and that imp of +Satan, Halloran, is just the one to help me out with my scheme. It's +lucky I have an appointment with him to-night. I shall be sure to catch +him. I think it was a stroke of fate that I wasn't in the cast for the +rest of the week, though I kicked pretty hard against it at the time. +Good-by, footlights and freezing dressing-rooms. I can make a million of +money ere the day dawns."</p> + +<p>He hailed a passing cab, jumped into it and was driven across the city.</p> + +<p>Halloran, the comedian at the same theatre, was sitting in his room +half asleep over a half-emptied rum bottle. He always resorted to this +course to drown his sorrows when he was laid off.</p> + +<p>An hour later the two men were driving with lightning-like rapidity +toward the direction of Beechwood.</p> + +<p>"Ten," sounded from the belfry of a far-off church as the horses, +plunging and panting, struggled up the road that led to the Fairfax +mansion.</p> + +<p>"Now see that you play your cards right," warned Halloran.</p> + +<p>"Trust me for that," replied his companion, removing a cigar from his +white teeth, and blowing forth a cloud of smoke. He was about to draw a +flask from his breast pocket, but Halloran put a restraining hand on his +arm.</p> + +<p>"Remember that is your besetting sin," he said. "You have had enough of +that already. It will require a steady nerve to meet the girl and carry +out the deception, for the eyes of love are quick to discern. If she +should for an instant suspect that you are not her lover, Lester +Armstrong, the game is up, and you have lost the high stake you are +playing for."</p> + +<p>"You are right," exclaimed the other, "nothing must interfere with the +marriage."</p> + +<p>"This must be the place," exclaimed Halloran, in a low voice; "large +gabled house, arched gate, serpentine walk; yes, there is the figure of +a woman in the shadow of the stone post this way. You are actually +trembling. Remember, it's only a young girl you are to face on this +occasion, and a deucedly pretty one, at that. The time that you will be +more apt to be shaky is when you face her father; but I guess you're +equal to it."</p> + +<p>A low laugh was his companion's only answer. The next moment Kendale +called to the driver to halt, threw open the door and sprang out into +the main road, hastening toward the little figure that had emerged out +of the shadow.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lester, you have been so long," cried the girl, springing into his +arms with a little sobbing cry. "I have been waiting here almost half an +hour."</p> + +<p>"It took longer to come than I had reckoned on, my darling," he +answered. "You know I had to stop at the village below and make +arrangements for the wedding."</p> + +<p>The girl drew back and looked at him.</p> + +<p>"Your voice sounds so hoarse and strange, Lester," she said. "Have you +been crying?"</p> + +<p>His arms fell from her; he drew back, laughing immoderately.</p> + +<p>"What, weeping on the happiest day of my life?" he cried. "Well, that's +pretty good. I've been up to my ears in business, rushing around, to +get everything in shipshape order, but, good Lord! what am I thinking +about, to keep you standing here in the snow? Here is the coach, and by +the way, I've brought along an old friend of mine, who was wild to +witness the marriage ceremony."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he took her by the arm and drew the girl toward the carriage +in waiting.</p> + +<p>What was there about her lover that seemed so changed to the girl, that +caused the love to suddenly die out of her heart?</p> + +<p>"Lester," she cried, drawing back, "oh—oh, please do not be angry with +me, but I've changed my mind. It seemed such a terrible thing to do. Let +us not be married to-night."</p> + +<p>Something like an imprecation rose to his lips, but he chopped it off +quickly, uttering again that laugh, so hard, so cruel, so +blood-curdling, that it sent a chill of terror to her young heart.</p> + +<p>"It's too late to change your mind now," he exclaimed. "It's only +natural you should feel this way; girls always do. Here is the coach and +the horses. The driver and my friend will be impatient to be off."</p> + +<p>Either the excitement of his coming triumph or the brandy he had taken +had made him recklessly wild.</p> + +<p>He drew her along, heedless of her struggles, her passionate protest. +His face was flushed, his dark eyes gleamed; he was ready at that moment +to face and defy devils and men.</p> + +<p>"Don't make a fuss, my darling. You've got to come along," he exclaimed. +"Of course, you have scruples and all that. I think the more of you for +them, but you'll thank me for not listening some day. I'll bring you +back after the ceremony's over and set you down at your own gate, if you +say so, I swear I will," and as he spoke he caught her in his arms and +fairly thrust her into the vehicle, placed her on the seat and sprang in +beside her.</p> + +<p>The door closed with a bang and the horses were off like a flash.</p> + +<p>Too terrified to utter another word of protest, and half fainting from +fright, Faynie sank back, gasping, into the farthest corner. Her +companion turned to the man sitting opposite.</p> + +<p>"My friend, Smith, Faynie," he said by way of introduction, and adding, +before the other could utter one word to acknowledge the introduction, +"let's have a little more of that. I'm chilled to the marrow with the +cold, standing out there in the snow."</p> + +<p>There was a faint move of the little bundle huddled up in the corner. +She fell forward in a dead faint.</p> + +<p>"So much the better," cried Kendale. "She will not bother us until +we've had time to formulate our plans. Ha, ha, ha! how easy it is for a +sharp-witted fellow like myself to make a million of money!"</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a><h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>FOND LOVE TO HATRED TURNED.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Despite the severe shock which caused Faynie to swoon, her +unconsciousness lasted but a few moments, then, dazed and bewildered, +her blue eyes opened slowly, and she realized with horror too great for +words that she was whirling swiftly over the snowy road, still in the +company of the two men, her lover and his companion.</p> + +<p>They were talking together in low, guarded tones. She could not help but +hear every word distinctly, and they fell upon her ears with horror so +intense she wondered that she lived through it from moment to moment.</p> + +<p>It was Lester Armstrong who was speaking at that moment, and she was +obliged to clutch her hands tightly together to keep from screaming +aloud as she heard him say to his companion:</p> + +<p>"I have always been a free lance among the pretty girls, drifting about +much after the fashion of the bee wherever my fancy listed, and it will +be more than irksome to yoke myself in the matrimonial harness to this +girl. She is not of the kind—face, figure, temperament, anything—that +is calculated to arouse my admiration. I detest your baby-faced +creatures of her stamp, but she's heiress to a million, and I have +concluded to swallow the gilded pill.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing I assure you of, before she is married to me a +fortnight I'll break that cursed temper of hers, if I have to break her +neck or her heart, or both, to do it. She shall find that I'm her lord +and master from this hour henceforth, and my word is law."</p> + +<p>"I'd advise you not to rush the scheme for getting that big sum of money +until you have gained her confidence a little. More flies can be caught +with molasses than vinegar, you know."</p> + +<p>"I shall have little patience with her," declared her lover. "I detested +her the first instant my eyes rested upon her, and I am positive the +feeling will grow upon me with every passing hour, instead of +diminishing."</p> + +<p>"It is easy enough to guess the reason for that," laughed the other. +"You are in love with the queenly Gertrude, who has already more adorers +than she can count. It is common report that you are the beauty's +favorite, however, and if you weren't both so confoundedly poor, you'd +make a first-class couple. As it is, of course it's not to be thought +of."</p> + +<p>"Except in one way," cut in the other in a sharp, dry, hard voice. "If +this girl whom I marry to-night were to die suddenly on the wedding +trip, for instance, I would come in for her fortune; then, when the +excitement blew over, I could go to Gertrude and say—"</p> + +<p>The sentence was never finished, for at that moment the door of the +vehicle was suddenly wrenched open, and with a piercing cry Faynie +sprang out into the raging storm and the inky blackness of the night.</p> + +<p>A terrible imprecation broke from the lips of the handsome scoundrel by +her side.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that that little fool tricked us by +feigning unconsciousness, and has heard every word we uttered. Of +course, it's to be regretted, but that doesn't change my plans a +particle. I'll be the husband of the willful little heiress in an hour's +time, or my name isn't—"</p> + +<p>"Lester Armstrong," put in the other, laconically.</p> + +<p>The coach was instantly stopped, and both men made a flying leap into +the huge snowdrift that banked both sides of the country road, calling +back to the driver to light a lantern, if he had been careful enough to +bring one with him, and hand it to them in double-quick order.</p> + +<p>The search lasted for fully half an hour. Had the ground suddenly opened +and swallowed her? they asked each other, with imprecations both loud +and furious.</p> + +<p>To have a fortune of a cool million so near his clutches, and suddenly +lose it, was more than the villain could endure calmly. He was frenzied. +His rage at the girl slipping so cleverly, so audaciously, through his +fingers knew no bounds, and he made no attempt to stifle the fierce +exclamations that sprang to his lips of what he should do when he once +found her.</p> + +<p>When Faynie had jumped from the vehicle she lay for an instant half +stunned upon the cold, frozen ground where she had fallen. It had taken +the coach a minute to stop, but that minute had carried it several rods +beyond the spot where she lay. She saw by the uncertain glimmer of the +carriage lamp the two forms spring out into the darkness and come back +in search of her, and a piteous cry of unutterable fear rose to her +blanched lips from the very depths of her panting, terror-stricken +heart.</p> + +<p>She tried to spring to her feet and fly, but the depth to which she sank +with every step exhausted her quickly, and she sank down among the white +drifts awaiting her doom like a wounded bird in the brush whom the +cruel sportsmen are nearing with their hounds.</p> + +<p>She raised her lovely young face to the dark night sky, calling upon God +and the angels to protect her, to save her from the man she had loved +with all the passionate strength of her heart up to that hour, and whom +she hated and feared now a thousandfold more than she had ever loved +him.</p> + +<p>All in a few moments of time her idol had fallen from its high pedestal +of manly honor and lay in ruins at her feet.</p> + +<p>How could she ever have believed Lester Armstrong noble, good and true, +a king among men? Where was the tenderness in voice and manner that had +won her heart from her, and his oft-repeated assurance that he cared for +her for herself alone; that he wished to Heaven she were no heiress, but +as poor as himself, that he might show her the power of his great love? +An hour ago—only an hour ago—yet it seemed the length of a lifetime in +the shadowy past, she had crept out of the house to meet her lover at +the trysting place, her heart beating with love for him, sobbing out to +Heaven to send her true love quickly back to her.</p> + +<p>As she had closed the door of the great mansion noiselessly behind her, +she realized that she was putting wealth and luxury away from her +deliberately and choosing a life of rigid economy with the lover whose +earnings were, alas, so much smaller than even the pin money she had +been accustomed to.</p> + +<p>But with love to brighten the way, she felt that she could endure any +hardship with noble Lester Armstrong, who loved her so dearly and +devotedly.</p> + +<p>After a time, perhaps, her father would forgive her for this step, and +take her back to his home and heart, and welcome Lester, too. She had +read of such things.</p> + +<p>The night air blew bitterly cold against her face as she stepped bravely +forth, but she did not waver.</p> + +<p>The great hall clock chimed the hour of ten, and her heart beat faster, +for she said to herself that her lover was nearing the trysting place +and she had not much time to spare.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, papa," she murmured, turning for an instant and looking up at +his lighted window. "Good-by, my stepmamma," she whispered. "You have +always hated me and wished me out of the way. I am going now, and you +will rejoice. Good-by, Claire," she added, as her eyes wandered upward +to the little lighted window in the western wing. "You never hated me. +You always loved me as though we had indeed been sisters. Good-by, kind +old family servants. You will all miss me, I know, but I am going to +happiness and love. What fate could be better?"</p> + +<p>She waited some moments at the trysting place ere she heard the sound of +crunching wheels on the snow. A moment later she heard the welcome voice +saying: "Faynie, where are you?" The next instant she was folded in a +pair of strong, masculine arms.</p> + +<p>But as the owner of them touched her lips with his own Faynie had +started back with a terrible feeling of faintness rushing over her. For +the first time her lover's breath was strong with the odor of brandy.</p> + +<p>And the voice, which was always so gentle, kind and endearing, was +muttering something about "the cursed darkness of the night."</p> + +<p>No wonder the girl's soul revolted, and that she changed her mind +suddenly about the elopement, which was to make or mar her young life. +And what she heard after he forced her into the coach only added to the +terror which had grown into her heart against him, and when she made +that flying leap from the coach, her one cry to Heaven was that she +might escape the man whom she had but so lately madly adored, but whom +she now so thoroughly abhorred.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_V'></a><h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>"CAN YOU PERFORM THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY AT ONCE, REVEREND SIR?"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It was the hour of eleven by the village clock. Eleven sounded from the +old clock on the mantel. The fire burned low in the grate of Rev. Dr. +Warner's study. The air was growing chill in the room. Still, the old +pastor, who had looked after the village flock for nearly half a +century, heeded neither the time nor the chill, he was so intent upon +the sermon he was writing for the morrow.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely concluded the last line ere he heard a well-known tap +upon the door.</p> + +<p>He smiled as he arose from his chair, crossed the room and flung open +the door.</p> + +<p>He knew well whom he should find standing there, old Adam, the village +sexton and grave digger, who always stopped when he saw a light in the +study window.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Adam," said the reverend gentleman; "come up to the fire and +warm yourself; it's a wild night to be about. Has any one sent you here +for me?"</p> + +<p>"No, parson," replied Adam, hobbling in. "There's no call for you to be +out on this terrible night, thank Heaven. It's quite by chance that I +left my own fireside myself. I had an errand at the other end of the +village. The weather caught me returning—a regular blizzard—and I have +been floundering about in the drifting snow for hours. I thought I had +lost my way until I saw the light in the window, and—"</p> + +<p>But the rest of the sentence was never finished, for at that moment both +men heard distinctly the sound of carriage wheels without, accompanied +by the loud neighing of horses.</p> + +<p>Before they could express their wonderment there was a loud peal at the +front door bell.</p> + +<p>The reverend gentleman answered the summons in person.</p> + +<p>Before him stood three persons, two men and a woman, a slender figure +wearing a long dark cloak, and whose face was covered by a thick veil.</p> + +<p>Both men had their coat collars turned up and their hats pulled low over +their faces to protect them from the stinging cold.</p> + +<p>"You are the Rev. Dr. Warner?" queried one of the gentlemen. The +minister bowed in the affirmative, hurriedly bidding his guests to +enter.</p> + +<p>"You will pardon our errand," exclaimed the stranger who had already +spoken, "but we are here to enlist your services. Can you perform a +wedding ceremony in the old chapel across the way? Our time is limited. +We are in all haste to catch a train, and wish the marriage to take +place with the least possible delay."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly, sir," returned the good man. "I am always pleased +to join two souls in holy matrimony. Step in; the lady must be +thoroughly chilled. This is a dreadful night."</p> + +<p>"We prefer to make our way directly over to the chapel," remarked the +man who had spoken up to this point. "The lady is warm, having but just +left the carriage, a few steps beyond."</p> + +<p>"As you will," responded the pastor. Turning to the old sexton, he said, +quietly: "Will you step over to the church, Adam, brush the snow from +the steps and light the lamps about the altar?"</p> + +<p>Adam hastened to carry out his commands. He had scarcely completed his +task when the bridal party entered, preceded by the pastor.</p> + +<p>Adam watched them curiously as they filed down the aisle, both men still +supporting the slender figure quite until the altar was reached.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Dr. Warner, shivering with the severe cold of the place, picked +up his book quickly.</p> + +<p>"Which is the bridegroom?" he asked, looking from one muffled figure to +the other. The man toward the left of the girl dropped back a pace or +two, silently waving his hand toward his friend.</p> + +<p>The old minister had never heard the names of the contracting parties +before, and the idle thought for an instant found lodgment in his mind +whether or no they could be fictitious. Then he blamed himself roundly +for his momentary suspicion, and went on hurriedly with the ceremony.</p> + +<p>The man answered in a low, guarded voice. There was a tone in it which +somehow jarred on the good minister's sensitive nerves. The girl's voice +was pitifully fluttering, almost hysterical.</p> + +<p>But that was not an uncommon occurrence. Few brides are calm and +self-possessed.</p> + +<p>"You will please lift your veil for the final benediction," said the +aged pastor, pausing, book in hand, and gazing at the slim, silent, +dark-robed figure, who had made her responses faintly, gaspingly, almost +inaudibly. Again it was the stranger to the left who complied with his +request, but for one instant both the clergyman and the old sexton +caught sight of a face white as death, yet beautiful as an angel's, +framed in a mass of dead-gold hair; but the flickering of the lamps +caused strange shadows to flit over it. There was a moment of utter +silence, broken only by the howling of the wind outside.</p> + +<p>Then slowly the minister's voice broke the terrible silence by uttering +the words: "Then I pronounce you man and wife, and whom God hath joined +together let no man put asunder."</p> + +<p>As the last word echoed through the dim old church the cold steel of a +revolver, which had been pressed steadily to the girl's throbbing heart +by the hand of the bridegroom, concealed by her long cloak, was quickly +withdrawn.</p> + +<p>"My wedded wife!" murmured the man, and in his voice there was a tone of +mocking triumph. The girl swooned in his arms, but, turning quickly with +her, he hurried forward into the dense shadows of the church, carrying +her to the coach in waiting without attracting attention.</p> + +<p>He could scarcely restrain himself from shouting aloud, so exuberant +were his spirits.</p> + +<p>"Rave. Do whatever you like. You cannot change matters now. I am your +husband, ay, the husband of a girl worth a million of money. When we are +out of hearing of the old parson I will give three rousing cheers to +celebrate the occasion and give vent to my triumph—ay, three cheers and +a tiger with a will and a vengeance."</p> + +<p>The appearance of his friend, who had remained behind to adjust the +little matters that needed attention, put a stop to his hilarity for the +moment.</p> + +<p>"Well, what's next on the programme? What do you suggest now, Halloran?" +he exclaimed, as that individual sprang into the coach and took his seat +with chattering teeth.</p> + +<p>"I propose that you drive to the nearest inn or hostelry, or whatever +they choose to call it hereabouts. I understand there is one some five +miles from here, and, indeed, the horses won't last much longer than +that."</p> + +<p>"I'm governed by your advice," replied his companion, with a hilarious +laugh. "Give the order to get to the hostelry as soon as the driver can +make it. Anything will suit me. I'm not proud, even if I have made a +cool million in an hour's time. Ha! ha! ha!"</p> + +<p>"Are you mad?" whispered his companion, giving him a violent nudge.</p> + +<p>"Bah! You needn't fear that she will hear what I'm saying. The puny +little dear has swooned again. Didn't you notice that I had to fairly +carry her from the altar?"</p> + +<p>"These dainty little heiresses have to be handled with kid gloves," +remarked Halloran. "Fainting when anything goes wrong seems to be their +especial weakness."</p> + +<p>"She will soon find out that I will not tolerate that kind of thing!" +exclaimed Armstrong, as he insisted upon being called from that moment +out.</p> + +<p>"Be easy with her. Don't show your hand or your temper until you get +hold of the money," warned Halloran. "Remember you are playing for a +great stake, and the surest way of winning is by keeping the girl in +love with you."</p> + +<p>"She is mine now. I am her lord and master. I shall not bother making +love to the milk-and-water, sentimental creature, as the other one +probably did. She isn't my style, and I have little patience with her. +There was a decided feeling of antagonism between us from the start, and +then my forcing her to go through the ceremony at the point of a cold +steel weapon will not have the effect of endearing me to her ladyship. +She is sure to hate me, but that won't bother me a snap of my finger."</p> + +<p>"Don't get independent too soon," remarked Halloran. "Pride always goeth +before a fall, you know. You haven't the money in your hands yet. Don't +lose sight of that important fact, my dear boy."</p> + +<p>They talked on for half an hour or more; then suddenly the driver drew +rein.</p> + +<p>"This is the country tavern, and my horses cannot go any further; they +are dead lame and played out," he announced.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a><h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE VILLAIN AND HIS VICTIM.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It was certainly something entirely out of the experience of the old +innkeeper at the country crossroads to be aroused from his slumbers at +midnight by guests seeking the shelter of his hospitable roof, and that, +too, on the most terrible night of the year.</p> + +<p>The old man could scarcely believe his ears when he heard the sound of +the old brass knocker on the front door resound loudly through the +house.</p> + +<p>He quite imagined that he must have dreamed it, until a second and third +peal brought him to his senses and his feet at the same instant.</p> + +<p>His bewilderment knew no bounds when he appeared at the door a few +minutes later and found a coach standing there and the occupants seeking +a lodging, also shelter for the horses.</p> + +<p>"I haven't but one room to spare," exclaimed the old innkeeper, holding +a flaring candle high above his head to better view his visitor.</p> + +<p>"Have you a room in which a fire could be made?" asked one of the men. +"We have a lady with us."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we could let you have my daughter Betsy's, she being off to +the city on a visit."</p> + +<p>"My companion and his br—his wife could have that; you can dispose of +me anywhere," returned the speaker. "I could doze in a chair in the +barroom for that matter. The driver could be as easily disposed of."</p> + +<p>"Then bring the lady right in," said the old innkeeper. A moment later, +the lovely girl, still unconscious, was brought in and laid upon the +settee in the best room.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with the young woman?" gasped the innkeeper, his +eyes opening wide with amazement.</p> + +<p>"Merely fainted from the intense cold," returned one of the men briefly, +adding: "If you will see that a fire is lighted in the room that you +spoke of I shall be very much obliged."</p> + +<p>"I'll have my wife down in a jiffy. No doubt the poor creature's half +frozen, but a hot whiskey toddy will thaw her out quicker than you could +say Jack Robinson," and he trotted off briskly on his double mission of +rousing his wife to look after the girl and his hired help to assist the +driver in putting away the horses, while he himself attended to making a +blazing fire in the little chamber over the best room.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it the good housewife was by the +girl's side.</p> + +<p>"What a beautiful young creature!" she exclaimed, as the veil was +thrown back and she beheld the lovely face, white as chiseled marble, +framed in its cloud of golden hair. "Is it your sister, sir?" she asked, +with all a country woman's thoughtless curiosity.</p> + +<p>"No, she is my wife," exclaimed the stranger, who stood over by the +fireplace, his brows meeting in a decided frown.</p> + +<p>"Laws a mercy! Isn't she young to be married?" exclaimed the woman. +"Why, she don't look sixteen. Been married long?"</p> + +<p>The stranger by the fireplace deliberately turned his back on the woman, +vouchsafing her no reply.</p> + +<p>By that time the innkeeper announced that the room above was ready, and +that they might come up as soon as they liked.</p> + +<p>Again the stranger by the fireplace lifted the slender figure, bore her +up the narrow rickety stairway, saying good-night to his friend as he +passed him by.</p> + +<p>"Good-night to you, and pleasant dreams," replied Halloran; "the same to +your wife."</p> + +<p>The innkeeper followed the tall stranger with his burden to see that +everything was made comfortable, put more logs in the fireplace, then +turning, said:</p> + +<p>"Is there anything else I can do for you, stranger?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," replied the man curtly, but as the old innkeeper reached the +door he called sharply: "Yes, I think there is something else that would +add to my comfort, and that is a good stiff glass of brandy, if you have +such a thing about the place."</p> + +<p>The old man hesitated.</p> + +<p>"I'll pay well for it," said the other, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"You see, we haven't a license, stranger, to sell drinks, and they're +pretty strict with us hereabouts. I generally let a man have it when I +know him pretty well, but I can't say how it would affect you."</p> + +<p>"Have no fear on that score," returned the other. "Here's a five-dollar +note for a pint bottle of brandy. Will that pay you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned the innkeeper. It was the golden key. The man laughed to +see how quickly he trotted off on his errand, returning with the bottle +in a trice.</p> + +<p>"Anything else, sir?" he said.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the other, "save," adding, "do not call us too early +to-morrow. We're not of the kind that rise with the sun. Nine o'clock +will answer. And see that that wife of yours gets up the best breakfast +that can be obtained."</p> + +<p>"You won't have to complain of that, sir," exclaimed the innkeeper, +pompously. "You'll get a piece of steak with the blood followin' the +knife; crisp potatoes, a plate of buckwheat cakes, with butter as is +butter, and honey that's the real thing; a mug of coffee that would bear +up an egg, with good old-fashioned cream, not skim milk, to say nothing +of—"</p> + +<p>"That will do," exclaimed the stranger, with an impatient wave of his +white hand. "I never like to know beforehand what I'm going to get."</p> + +<p>"But the lady, sir? Mebbe she'd like somethin' kind a delicate like—a +bit o' bird or somethin' like that?"</p> + +<p>"We'll see about that to-morrow all in good time," fairly closing the +door in the garrulous innkeeper's face "Good-night," and he shut the +door with a click and turned the key in the lock, and for the first time +he was alone with the girl he had forced so dastardly into the cruellest +of marriages. He had placed Faynie on the white couch. He crossed the +room and stood looking down at her, with his hands behind his back, and +a sardonic smile on his face.</p> + +<p>"You and your millions of money belong to me," he cried, under his +breath. "Ye gods! what a lucky dog I am after all!" and a low laugh that +was not pleasant to hear broke from his lips.</p> + +<p>At that instant a broken sigh stirred the girl's white lips.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are coming to, are you?" he muttered. "The old lady's toddy is +beginning to revive you."</p> + +<p>He could not help but notice how unusually beautiful the girl was.</p> + +<p>"What a chance of fortune this is for me, but it does not follow, even +though she was madly in love with my cousin, that she will hold me in +the same favor. But I'll stand none of her airs. I'll show her right +from the start that I'm the boss, and see how that will strike her +fancy. There'll be a terrible time when she comes to—screams, shrieks +of anger, that will call everybody to the door."</p> + +<p>He turned on his heel and walked over to the mantel, where the innkeeper +had deposited the bottle and the glass.</p> + +<p>He poured out a heavy draught and drank it at a single swallow. This was +followed by another and yet another.</p> + +<p>"Ah, there's nothing like bracing oneself up for a scene like this," he +muttered, with a sardonic laugh.</p> + +<p>The liquor seemed to turn the blood in his veins to fire and set his +heart in a glow. He laughed aloud. In that moment he felt as rich as a +king, and as diabolical as Satan himself.</p> + +<p>He was nerved for any emergency; he was the girl's lord and master, her +wedded husband. She would be made to understand that fact with little +ceremony.</p> + +<p>He threw himself down in a chair, where he could watch her, and waited +results, and each instant he sat there the fumes of the brandy rose +higher and higher, until it reached his brain.</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"There was a laughing devil in his sneer<br /></span> +<span>That woke emotions of both hate and fear;<br /></span> +<span>And where his scowl of fierceness darkly fell,<br /></span> +<span>Hope, withering, fled and mercy sighed farewell."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Yes, a few short moments and consciousness would return to the girl—the +stormy scene would begin.</p> + +<p>Would the sharp eyes of love detect the difference between himself and +Lester Armstrong, whom he was impersonating? He knew every tone of his +cousin's voice so perfectly that he would have little difficulty in +imitating that. The more closely he watched the girl, the more conscious +he became of her wonderful beauty, and his heart gave a bound of +triumph.</p> + +<p>It was worth a struggle, after all, to have as beautiful a bride as she, +even though she hated him.</p> + +<p>"If I watch her much longer it will end by my being madly in love with +her," he mused. "I never could withstand a pretty face."</p> + +<p>The wild winds moaned like demons outside. The bare branches writhed and +twisted in the storm, tapping weirdly against the window pane. The room +grew warmer as the fire took hold of the logs in the grate, and with +the heat the fumes of the brandy rose into his brain, and with it his +color heightened, his cheeks and lips were flushed and his eyes +scintillating. With unsteady hand he reached out for the flask again, +uncorked it, and without taking the trouble to reach for the glass, +placed the bottle to his lips and drained it to the dregs.</p> + +<p>"She is awaking," he muttered, with a maudlin laugh, and springing from +his seat with unsteady steps, he crossed the room and stood by the +couch, looking down eagerly into the beautiful white face upon the +pillow. As if impelled by that steady, serpentine, fiery glance, the +girl moaned uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Awaking at last!" he muttered, with a diabolical smile. At that moment +Faynie's violet eyes opened wide and stared up into his face.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>HE RAISED HIS CLINCHED HAND, AND THE BLOW FELL HEAVILY UPON THE +BEAUTIFUL UPTURNED FACE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>With returning consciousness, Faynie's violet eyes opened slowly—taking +in, by the flickering light of the candle, the strange room in which she +found herself; then, as they opened wider, in amazement too great for +words, she beheld the figure of a man, half hidden among the shadows, +standing but a few feet away from the couch, his eyes fastened upon her; +she could even hear his nervous breathing.</p> + +<p>With a gasp of terror Faynie sprang from the couch with a single bound; +but the cry she would have uttered was strangled upon her lips by the +heavy hand that fell suddenly over them, pressing so tightly against +them as to almost take her breath away.</p> + +<p>"Don't attempt to scream or make any fuss," cried a hissing voice in her +ear—"submit to the inevitable—you are my wife—there is nothing out of +the way in your being here with me. Come, now, take matters +philosophically and we shall get along all right."</p> + +<p>He attempted to draw the girl into his encircling arms, her wonderful +beauty suddenly dawning upon him; but she shrank from his embrace, and +from the approach of his brandy-reeking lips, as though he had been a +scorpion.</p> + +<p>With a suddenness that took him greatly aback, and for an instant at a +disadvantage, she freed herself from his grasp, and stood facing him +like a young tragedy queen in all her furious anger and outraged pride.</p> + +<p>"Do not utter another word, Lester Armstrong!" she panted, "you only add +insult to injury—why it seems to me some horrible trick of the +senses—some nightmare—to imagine even that I could ever have cared for +you—to have believed you noble, honorable and—a gentleman. Why, you +almost seem to be a different person in his guise—you are so changed in +tone and manner from him to whom I gave my heart. The affection that I +thought I had for you died a violent death."</p> + +<p>She did not notice that the man before her started violently at these +words—but the look of fear in his eyes gave place the next instant to +braggadocio.</p> + +<p>He would have answered her, but she held up her little white hand with a +gesture commanding silence, saying, slowly, with quivering lips:</p> + +<p>"I repeat, the affection that I believed filled my heart for you died +suddenly when I told you that I had changed my mind about eloping, and +instead of studying my desires you insisted that the arrangement must be +carried out."</p> + +<p>"My—my—love for you prompted it, Faynie," he exclaimed, in a maudlin +voice. He knew he had the name wrong, but could not think what it was to +save his life. "Come, now, let's kiss and make up, and love each other +in the same old way, as the song goes."</p> + +<p>"What! love a man who thrusts me into a coach despite my entreaties, +takes me to a church, and with a revolver pressed close to my +heart—beneath my cloak—forces me to become his wife! No. No! I loathe, +abhor you—open that door and let me go!"</p> + +<p>With an unsteady spring he placed himself between her and the door, +crying angrily as he ground out a fierce imprecation from between his +white teeth. "Come, now, none of that, my beauty. You're my wife all +right, no matter how much of a fuss you make over it. I want to be +agreeable, but you persist in raising the devil in me, and though you +may not know it, I've a deuce of a temper when I'm thoroughly roused to +anger—at least that's what the folks who know me say.</p> + +<p>"Sit right down here now, and let's talk the matter over—if you want to +go home to the old gent, why I'm sure I have no objection, providing he +agrees to take your hubby along with you. There'll be a scene of +course—we may expect that—but when you tell him how you love me, and +couldn't live without me and all that—and mind, you put it on heavy—it +will end by his saying: 'Youth is youth, and love goes where it is sent. +I forgive you, my children; come right back to the paternal +roof—consider it yours in fact.' And when the occasion is ripe, you +could suggest that the old gent start your hubby in business. Your wish +would be law; he might demur a trifle at first, but if you stuck well +to your point he'd soon cave in and ask what figure I'd take to—"</p> + +<p>"Stop!—stop right where you are, you mercenary wretch!" cried Faynie in +a ringing voice. "I see it all now—as clear as day. You—you—have +married me because you have believed me my father's heiress, and—"</p> + +<p>"You couldn't help but be, my dear," he hiccoughed. "An only child—no +one else on earth to come in for his gold—couldn't help but be his +heiress, you know—couldn't disinherit you if he wanted to. You've got +the old chap foul enough there, ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p>"You seem to have suddenly lost sight of the fact that there is some one +beside myself—my stepmother and her daughter Claire."</p> + +<p>He fell back a step and looked at her with dilated eyes—despite the +brandy he had imbibed he still understood thoroughly every word she was +saying.</p> + +<p>"A stepmother—and—another daughter!" he cried, in astonishment—almost +incoherently.</p> + +<p>"You seem to forget that you always used to say to me—that you hoped +they were well," said Faynie with deepening scorn in her clear, young +voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh—ah—yes," he muttered, "but you see I was not thinking of +them—-only of you," and deep in his heart he was cursing the hapless +cousin—whom he believed dead by this time—for not mentioning that the +girl had a stepmother and sister.</p> + +<p>"Had you taken the time to listen to something else that I had to tell +you, you might have reconsidered the advisability of eloping with me in +such haste," went on the girl in her clear, ringing tones, "for it has +become apparent to me—with even as little knowledge of the world as I +possess—that you are a fortune hunter—that most despicable of all +creatures—but in this instance your dastardly scheme has entangled your +own feet. Your well-aimed arrow has missed the mark. You have wedded +this night a penniless girl. An hour before you met me at the arched +gate my father disinherited me, and when he has once made up his mind +upon any course of action—nothing human, nothing on earth or in heaven +would have power enough to induce him to change it."</p> + +<p>The effect of her words were magical upon him. With a bound he was at +her side grasping her slender wrists with so tight a hold that they +nearly snapped asunder.</p> + +<p>Intense as the pain was, Faynie would not cry aloud. He should not see +that he had power to hurt her, even though she dropped dead at his feet +at last from the excruciating torture of it.</p> + +<p>"What is it you say—the old rascal has—disinherited you?" he cried, +scarcely crediting the evidence of his own ears.</p> + +<p>"That is just what I said—my father has disinherited me," she replied +slowly and distinctly, adding: "His money was his own—to do with as he +pleased—he gave me the choice of—of—marrying to suit him or being cut +off entirely. I—I—refused to accept the man he had selected for me. +That ended the matter. 'Then from this hour know that you shall not +inherit one penny of my wealth,' he cried. 'I will cut you off with but +the small amount required by law. There is nothing more to be said. You +are a Fairfax. You have taken your choice, and as a Fairfax you must +abide by your decision!' You will remember I told you I had something to +tell you the moment you came up to me at the arched gate, but you would +not listen. Now the consequence is upon your own head."</p> + +<p>"I have married a beggar, when I thought I was marrying an—heiress!" he +cried in a rage so horrible that Faynie, brave as she was, recoiled from +him in terror and, dismay.</p> + +<p>"You have married a penniless young girl," she corrected, half +inaudibly.</p> + +<p>He raised his clinched hand with a terrible volley of oaths, before +which she quailed, despite her bravery.</p> + +<p>"When the old man cast you off you thought you would tie yourself on to +me," he cried. "You women are cunning—oh, yes, you are, don't tell me +you're not; and you are the shrewdest one I've come across yet. You lie +when you say you meant to tell me what had happened beforehand, and you +know it. But you'll find out at your cost what it means to bind me to a +millstone for a wife. But you shan't be a millstone. You'll do your +share toward the support. Yes, by George, you shall. I'll put you on the +stage—and you—"</p> + +<p>"Never!" cried the girl with a bitter sob. "I'd die first."</p> + +<p>"Don't set up your authority against mine," he cried, and as he uttered +the words—half crazed by the brandy he had drunk so copiously—his +clinched fist came down with a heavy blow upon the girl's beautiful, +upturned face, and she fell like one dead at his feet.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT ON THE LONELY RIVER ROAD.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For one moment he looked down half stupefied at his work—the girl lay +in a little dark heap at his feet just as he had struck her down—the +crimson blood pouring from a wound on her temple which his ring had +caused.</p> + +<p>"I—I've killed her," he muttered, setting his teeth together +hard—"she—she provoked me to it—curse her! My God! the girl is +actually dying." Then, through his half-dazed brain came the thought +that his crime would soon be discovered, and his only safety lay in +instant flight.</p> + +<p>It was but the work of a moment to hurry from the room, making his way +through the inky darkness as best he could to the barroom, where he knew +he should find Halloran and the cabby dozing in the big armchairs.</p> + +<p>The full realization of his crime had quite sobered him by this time.</p> + +<p>The innkeeper had left a dim light in the barroom. By the aid of this he +made his way quickly to his friend's side. A few rapid words whispered +excitedly in Halloran's ear told him the condition of affairs.</p> + +<p>"You are right," exclaimed Halloran, springing to his feet. "We must +get out of here without a moment's delay. The cabman must go with us, +taking his horses, even though we have to pay him the price of them."</p> + +<p>"I—I—will leave everything to you, Halloran," muttered his companion, +huskily, "your brain is clearer and a thousand times shrewder than +mine."</p> + +<p>"Nor must the girl be left here," went on Halloran. "She must not be +found dead in this house."</p> + +<p>"Why, what in Heaven's name could we do with her?" returned the other, +sharply. "I tell you she is dying, any one could see that."</p> + +<p>"Put her effectually out of the way, and past all human possibility of +any one finding out how she came by her death. I have a desperate plan. +I cannot explain it to you now. All I say is, be guided by my directions +to-night—leave everything to me," said Halloran, with a grim gaze.</p> + +<p>"I put myself in your hands, Halloran," was the husky reply.</p> + +<p>The cabby was hurriedly awakened. At first he demurred angrily against +the idea of starting off again; but when a roll of bank notes was +pressed into his hands as the price of his complying with their +demand—a sum that would more than cover the price of the horses if he +lost them—he no longer found grounds for complaint, but agreed with +alacrity to do their bidding.</p> + +<p>Besides, Halloran knew a little secret of the cabby's past—just how he +came by the money to buy that outfit—and as it was done in a +particularly shady way, the man dared not make an enemy of him.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it the coach stood at the door again.</p> + +<p>It was Halloran—nervy, cool-headed Halloran, whom the other had always +dubbed half man, half fiend—who stole up to the room above, found the +girl lying in the exact spot his companion had described, and, catching +up her cloak, wrapped it about her, bore her noiselessly down the stairs +and out to the coach in waiting.</p> + +<p>"Is it all over with her yet?" whispered the other in a strained, husky +voice, showing intense fear.</p> + +<p>"Almost," returned Halloran, briefly, jumping in and closing the door +after him.</p> + +<p>For some moments they rode along in utter silence. Then, as Halloran +made no attempt to break it, his companion leaned over, asking +breathlessly: "Where are we going—and—and—what do you propose to do +with her?"</p> + +<p>"I am just trying to solve that problem in my mind, and it is a knotty +one. I must have more time to think it over," replied Halloran, tersely.</p> + +<p>Before his companion could reply, the coach came to a sudden +standstill, and both of the men within heard their driver's voice in +earnest colloquy with some one standing by the roadside.</p> + +<p>"It is the girl's father, or friends, who have just discovered her +absence and have been scouring the country about to find her," gasped +the fraudulent Lester Armstrong, and the hand that grasped his +companion's arm shook like an aspen leaf.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a coward!" hissed Halloran. "If worst comes to worst, whoever +it is can share the girl's fate," and with these words he opened the +door of the coach, asking sharply, angrily:</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, driver?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, save a poor old fellow who wants me to give him a lift on the +box beside me. He has lost his way. He's an old grave digger, who says +he lives hereabouts, somewhere. He's half frozen with the cold tramping +about. I told him 'Yes, climb up;' it's a little extra work for the +horses, but I suppose as long as I don't mind it you'll not object."</p> + +<p>"Ha! Satan always helps his own out of difficulties," whispered Halloran +to his companion; and, without waiting for a reply, he was out of the +coach like a flash, and his hand was on the old grave digger's arm ere +he could make the ascent to the box beside the driver.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment, my good friend," said Halloran, "we have a little work +which you of all persons are best fitted to perform for us ere we +proceed."</p> + +<p>Old Adam, the grave digger, looked at the tall gentleman before him in +some little perplexity, answering, slowly:</p> + +<p>"I hope you will not take it amiss, sir, if I answer that I do not fully +comprehend your words."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not; but permit me to make them clear to you, in as plain +English as I can command. I want you to dig a grave here and now."</p> + +<p>"A grave—here!" echoed Adam, quite believing his old ears were not +serving him truly—that he had certainly not heard aright.</p> + +<p>"That is what I said," returned Halloran, grimly.</p> + +<p>"But, sir!" began old Adam, "this is no graveyard."</p> + +<p>"Curse you, who said it was?" cut in the other, sharply.</p> + +<p>"It is not to be thought of, sir," murmured the grave digger, trembling +in every limb, his brain too bewildered to try to reason out the meaning +of this strange request, and quite believing the stranger must be an +escaped lunatic.</p> + +<p>Coolly and deliberately Halloran drew a revolver from his pocket, and +placed it at Adam's throbbing temple, saying, grimly, and harshly:</p> + +<p>"You will do as I command or your life will pay the forfeit. I give you +one moment of time to decide."</p> + +<p>It was a moment so fraught with tragic horror that in all the after +years of his life Adam always looked back to it with a shudder of deadly +fear.</p> + +<p>He was no longer young—the sands of life were running slower than in +the long ago—still, life was sweet to him, ah, very sweet. He had a +good wife and little bairns at home, and an aged mother, to whom he was +very dear, and he was their only support.</p> + +<p>Who was this dark-browed stranger? Why did he wish a grave dug by the +roadside on this terrible night? Whom did he wish to bury there, and was +the body within the coach?</p> + +<p>All these thoughts were surging rapidly through his brain, when suddenly +Halloran said:</p> + +<p>"Your moment for contemplation is up. Will you dig the grave here and +now as I command you, or will you prefer that the next passer-by should +find you on this spot with a bullet hole through your head?"</p> + +<p>Even through the semi-darkness old Adam could see the stranger's eyes +gleaming pitilessly upon him as he uttered the words, and he realized +that if he refused he might expect no mercy at this man's hands.</p> + +<p>"Your answer!" said Halloran, pressing the messenger of death still +closer to the throbbing brow of the now thoroughly terrified old grave +digger.</p> + +<p>"Y—es," stammered old Adam.</p> + +<p>"That is well," declared Halloran, removing the weapon. "Begin right +here by the roadside. This is as good a spot as any. You need not make +it the regulation depth—three feet or such a matter will answer. Begin +without delay. I will also add that not only will you save your own +neck, but you shall earn a comfortable fee if you work quickly. Mind, +every minute counts."</p> + +<p>The old grave digger slowly took his spade from his shoulder, and by the +light from the carriage lamp began his work on the spot pointed out, +while Halloran stood by watching him with keen interest.</p> + +<p>Old Adam was used to work in the terrible heat of summer and in the +bitter cold of the winter. He set to work with a will, and the frozen +ground yielded quickly to the strokes of his trusty spade, and surely +the faint moon, glimmering from between the drifting clouds sweeping +across the dark face of the black heavens overhead, never looked upon a +wilder, more weird scene.</p> + +<p>Twice old Adam paused, the perspiration pouring down his face like +rain.</p> + +<p>He was about to cry out: "I cannot go on with this uncanny work," but +each time the cold steel of the revolver was pressed to his throbbing +brow, and the harsh voice of the muffled stranger said: "Go on; your +work is almost accomplished."</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a><h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>"THERE MUST NOT BE A SINGLE TRACE LEFT TO MARK THE SPOT OF THE GRAVE YOU +ARE NOW DIGGING," SAID THE MUFFLED STRANGER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The old grave digger worked on faster and faster by the fitful light of +the carriage lamp, with the wild night winds howling about him, and the +perspiration streaming down his face, as the stranger stood over him +covering his heart with the deadly revolver.</p> + +<p>"That will do, my man," he said, as old Adam paused for breath a moment. +"That is deep enough, I guess. It will not take long to place its future +tenant therein; then you must replace the earth and pack the snow so +carefully about it that it would not attract the attention of the +casual passer-by. Do you comprehend?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the old grave digger, and it seemed to him that his own +voice sounded like nothing human.</p> + +<p>The stranger turned and walked leisurely to the coach in waiting.</p> + +<p>Old Adam would have fled from the spot in mortal terror, but that his +limbs were trembling and refused to carry him.</p> + +<p>He leaned heavily on his spade, asking himself in growing fright—what +terrible mystery was this that fate had drawn him into, and awaiting +with quaking heart what would follow.</p> + +<p>He had not long to wait. The stranger who had stepped to the carriage +evidently proposed to lose no time.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to recount it, he had lifted from the vehicle +a slender figure, closely wrapped in a long dark garment, and as he did +so a second person stepped from the coach—a man, closely muffled like +his companion—and wearing his soft hat pulled low over his eyes.</p> + +<p>One glance at the flickering light of the carriage lamp fell upon them, +bearing the slender figure between them, and old Adam's heart fairly +stood still with horror.</p> + +<p>He recognized them at once as the parties who had stood before the +altar in the old stone church scarcely an hour before.</p> + +<p>Great God! could it be? Ah, yes, it must be the body of the beautiful, +hapless young bride they were bringing to this wild and lonely grave.</p> + +<p>How did she happen to die? She who had been so full of bounding life but +one short hour before—only the all-seeing eye of the God above could +tell—ay, could solve this horrible mystery.</p> + +<p>Another moment, and in utter silence, the slender figure was lowered +into the frozen ground by the two strangers.</p> + +<p>This accomplished, the same man turned to old Adam again, saying, +abruptly:</p> + +<p>"Now finish your work as speedily as possible, I repeat the +caution—mind—not a trace must be visible when you have accomplished +your task, to mark the spot."</p> + +<p>No word from the old grave digger answered him. He could not have +uttered a single syllable if his very life had depended upon it.</p> + +<p>While the other had been speaking, a gust of wind had for a single +instant tossed aside the heavy cloth that covered the face, and old Adam +saw beyond all doubt that it was indeed the lovely young creature who +had within that hour been made a bride, and with that terrible discovery +came another—there was, as sure as fate, a flush upon the beautiful +face of her whom they were consigning to the tomb.</p> + +<p>"Hold!" he cried out with all his strength, drawing back from his work, +shaking with terror. "The—the—girl is not dead; there is color—"</p> + +<p>A fierce oath from the lips of both men simultaneously cut his words +short.</p> + +<p>"The girl is dead," exclaimed the man who had so far done the talking. +"That is blood you see on her face. She had a hemorrhage. Go on with +your work, you fool—or, here! give me the spade. I will make a short +shift of it."</p> + +<p>But as the stranger uttered these words, stepping quickly forward to put +the thought into execution, a sudden thought, like an inspiration, +occurred to the ancient grave digger.</p> + +<p>"No—no—I will finish my work," he muttered. "I—I—can do it best, as +I—I—understand it—and—and—you, would not."</p> + +<p>"Make all haste, then; it is growing bitter cold. We shall all freeze to +death."</p> + +<p>"Could you not get into the coach, sir, to keep warm?" suggested old +Adam; "you can be of no aid to me, you know. When I have +finished—you—you can step out and see if it is done to your +satisfaction."</p> + +<p>For a moment the stranger hesitated, then said, sharply:</p> + +<p>"I think I will take your advice, my man; my feet are about as numb as +they could well be, I assure you; and as you say, my standing here will +not help you. I can watch from the carriage window, and when the work is +done step out and look at it."</p> + +<p>With that he hurried quickly to the vehicle, and with a thankfulness in +his heart that words are weak to describe, and with a mental "God be +praised," the old grave digger bent to his task with renewed energy.</p> + +<p>Both men watched narrowly and anxiously, as spadeful after spadeful of +dirt quickly disappeared from the white ground. Then the white heaping +snow was leveled over the dark narrow space, and the grave digger +announced that his work was completed.</p> + +<p>"I do not know as it is worth while to examine it; the old fellow knows +his business," remarked Halloran to his companion, who was by this time +fairly well under the weather from large draughts of brandy he had drunk +from a bottle he had seized from the bar. "Step up on the box beside the +driver"—thrusting a bank note into the old grave digger's nervous, +trembling hand—"we will take you along the road as far as we go."</p> + +<p>For an instant old Adam hesitated, but it was only for an instant, for +he said to himself he must not arouse the suspicion of this stranger by +refusing to ride, especially as he had begged for that permission so +short a time before. He could frame no reasonable excuse for asking to +remain behind.</p> + +<p>Marking the spot as best he could in the intense darkness, he climbed up +to the driver's box as he had been bidden, and took his seat.</p> + +<p>With a sharp cut of the whip upon their flanks, the horses were started, +and swaying to and fro with their every motion as they dashed along over +the uneven road, the coach sped onward.</p> + +<p>No word fell from the driver's lips, and old Adam was too much excited +to vouchsafe a remark.</p> + +<p>He knew that the men, as well as the rig, did not belong thereabouts, +for he well knew every team in the village, and those of the adjoining +farmers.</p> + +<p>How far they traversed thus he could not judge, but to his intense +relief he saw at last that they were passing a familiar landmark, an old +bridge that spanned a dry creek which was scarcely a dozen rods from his +own door.</p> + +<p>"I will leave you here," said Adam. "I thank you for giving me a lift."</p> + +<p>Again the coach came to a halt, and the man within put out his head, +inquiring sharply:</p> + +<p>"What is the matter now?"</p> + +<p>"This man wants to get off here."</p> + +<p>"Very well," replied Halloran, drawing back into the warmth of the coach +and giving the matter no further thought, and resuming the castles in +the air which he had been building when the vehicle came to a stop. "I +shall see that you carry out to the fullest detail the little plot I am +laying this night for you," he muttered, looking steadily at his +companion, who had dozed off into a heavy stupefied sleep upon the +opposite seat, "and when you come into possession of the money which +your marriage to the little heiress to-night will bring you, I shall +come in for the lion's share of it. You dare not refuse my demands, no +matter how exorbitant they may be, under penalty of exposure. That will +be the sword in my hands that will always hang over your head.</p> + +<p>"It would have been more difficult to accomplish my scheme if the girl +had lived. It is best as it is. Dead people tell no tales. Of course +they will search for the girl when they discover that she has eloped, +but will believe she is cleverly eluding them or traveling about the +country. I have always had golden dreams of a fortune that would be in +my grasp some day, and now, lo! my dream is about to be realized."</p> + +<p>While he was thus soliloquizing, old Adam, the grave digger, was +standing silently in the road where they had set him down, then +suddenly he turned abruptly—not toward his home—but as quickly as his +aged limbs could carry him back over the ground the coach had just +traversed, praying to Heaven to guide him to the spot where he had dug +the lonely grave of the beautiful, hapless young bride of an hour.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_X'></a><h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>SNATCHED FROM THE GRAVE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Back over that terrible road of drifting snow the old grave digger made +his way as swiftly as his trembling limbs could carry him.</p> + +<p>He had endeavored to mark carefully the spot where he had made that +lonely grave, but the snow was drifting so hard with each furious gust +of wind as to make it almost impossible to find it upon retracing his +steps.</p> + +<p>Quaking with terror, and with a prayer on his lips to Heaven to guide +him, old Adam sat down his lantern, and by its dim, flickering light +peered breathlessly around.</p> + +<p>There was the blasted pine tree and toward the right of it the stump. +The grave must be less than a rod below it.</p> + +<p>With a heart beating with great strangling throbs, he paced off the +distance, and then stood quite still, holding his lantern down close to +the frozen earth.</p> + +<p>For an instant his heart almost ceased beating—there was no sign of the +little mound, with the leafless branch of bush he had been so careful to +place there.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly a moan from beneath his very feet fell upon his ear, +causing him to fairly gasp for breath.</p> + +<p>"Thank God! I have found it!" he cried.</p> + +<p>In an instant he had thrown off his coat, thin though it was, and set to +work as he had never worked in all his life before—against time.</p> + +<p>He had thrown in the earth loosely, taking care to leave the head +exposed, for he felt as sure as he did of his own existence that life +was not yet extinct in the body of the young girl for whom he was forced +to prepare that grave at the point of a revolver in the hands of the two +desperate strangers.</p> + +<p>He had taken his own life in his hands when he had announced the work +finished satisfactorily, for had the man stepped from the coach to +examine the work he would have found the deep hole which left the head +uncovered.</p> + +<p>The cold winds and the drifting snow blew into the old grave digger's +face, but he worked on with desperate zeal, realizing that another life +might depend upon the swiftness of his rescue.</p> + +<p>At last, after what seemed to him an eternity of time, he reached the +body, and quickly lifted it from its resting place.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later he reached his own humble cottage home, bearing the +slender burden in his strong arms.</p> + +<p>His good wife had waited up for him. She could never sleep when Adam was +away from home.</p> + +<p>She heard his footstep on the crunching snow and hastened to open the +door for him, starting back with a cry of great surprise as she caught +sight of the figure in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Is it some neighbor's little girl lost in the storm, Adam?" she cried, +clasping her hands together in affright.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask any questions now, Mary," he exclaimed, delivering the burden +into her willing, motherly arms, and sinking down into the nearest +chair, thoroughly exhausted. "I'll tell you all about it later, when I +get my breath and my nerves are settled. Do everything you can to revive +the poor young creature. She is freezing to death."</p> + +<p>As old Adam's kindly wife threw back the dark cloak which had enveloped +the fair young face and form, an exclamation of surprise broke from her +wondering lips.</p> + +<p>"She is a stranger hereabouts," she observed, but she wisely obeyed her +husband's injunctions, making no further remark, knowing she would hear +all about it in good time.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it, the beautiful young stranger was +put to bed in the little spare room up under the eaves, wrapped in +flannel blankets, with bottles of hot water at the feet, and a generous +draught of brandy, which the grave digger's wife always kept in the +house for emergencies, forced down her throat.</p> + +<p>"She will soon return to consciousness now," she exclaimed to her +husband, who stood beside the bedside anxiously watching her labors; +"see that flush on her cheeks. We will sit down quietly and wait until +she opens her eyes. It won't be long."</p> + +<p>And while they waited thus, Adam told his wife the story he had to tell +concerning the young girl—this fair, hapless, beautiful young stranger +whose wedding he had witnessed and burial he had assisted in within the +hour, first binding his wife to solemn secrecy.</p> + +<p>The good woman's amazement as she listened can better be imagined than +described. For once in her life she was too dumfounded to offer even a +theory.</p> + +<p>As they glanced toward the bed, to their amazement they saw the girl's +eyes fastened upon old Adam with an expression of horror in them, +heartrending to behold, and they realized that she had heard every word +he had said.</p> + +<p>In an instant they were on their feet bending over the couch.</p> + +<p>"Is it true—they buried me—and—you—you—rescued me?" she asked, in a +terrified whisper, catching at the old man's hands and clutching them in +a grasp from which he could not draw them away, her teeth chattering, +her violet eyes almost bulging from their sockets.</p> + +<p>"Since you have heard all, I might as well confess that it is quite +true," he answered. "And God forgive that brute of a husband you just +married. He ought to swing for the crime as sure as there is a heaven +above us. There will be no end of the good minister's wrath when he +hears the story, my poor girl."</p> + +<p>Again the beautiful young stranger caught at his hands.</p> + +<p>"He must never know!" she cried, incoherently. "Promise me, by all you +hold dear, that both you and your wife will keep my secret—will never +reveal one word of what has happened this night."</p> + +<p>"It is not right that we should keep silent upon such an amazing +procedure. That would be letting escape the man who should be punished, +if there is any law in the land to reach him for committing such a +heinous crime."</p> + +<p>"I plead with you—I, who know best and am the one wronged, and most +vitally interested, to utter no word that would cause the story to +become blazoned all over the world. Let me make my words a prayer to you +both—to keep my pitiful secret."</p> + +<p>It was beyond human power to look into those beautiful violet eyes, +drowned in the most agonized tears, and the white, terrified, anxious +face, without yielding to her prayer.</p> + +<p>"I do not know what good reason you may have for binding us to secrecy," +he said, slowly and reluctantly, "but we cannot choose but to give you +the promise—nay, the pledge—you plead for. I can answer for my Mary as +well as myself—the story of to-night's happenings shall never pass our +lips until you give us leave to speak."</p> + +<p>"Thank you! Oh, I thank you a thousand times!" sobbed the girl. "You +have lifted a terrible load from my heart. If the time ever comes when I +can repay you, rest assured it shall surely be done."</p> + +<p>She tried to rise from her couch, but the good wife held her back upon +her pillow with a detaining hand, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"What are you about to do, my dear child?"</p> + +<p>"Go away from here," sobbed the girl, again attempting to arise from the +couch, but falling back upon the pillow from sheer weakness.</p> + +<p>She did not leave that couch for many a day. What she had undergone had +been too much for her shattered nerves.</p> + +<p>Brain fever threatened the hapless girl, but was warded off by the +faithful nursing of old Adam's faithful wife.</p> + +<p>And during those weeks the good woman could learn nothing of the history +of the beautiful young stranger, who persistently refused to divulge one +word concerning herself. She would turn her face to the wall and weep so +violently when any allusion was made to her past that the grave digger's +wife gave up questioning her.</p> + +<p>One morning the bed was empty. It had not been slept in. The girl had +fled in the night.</p> + +<p>Who she was, or where she had gone, was to them the darkest, deepest +mystery. Would it ever be revealed? They could not discuss it with the +old minister or any of the neighbors, for their lips were sealed in +eternal silence concerning the matter.</p> + +<p>"I feel sure the end of this matter is not yet," said old Adam, +prophetically. "When the girl comes face to face with the dastardly +villain she wedded that night, it will end in a tragedy."</p> + +<p>"God forbid!" murmured his wife with a shudder; but down in her own +heart she felt that her husband had spoken the truth; the tragic end of +this affair had not yet come.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>"YOU ARE DISINHERITED—EVERYTHING IN THIS HOUSE IS MINE."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Faynie had indeed departed from that humble home as she had entered it, +in the dark, dim silence of the bitter-cold night.</p> + +<p>She made her way as best she could to the station which, fortunately +enough, was not far distant. The station master was old and anxious to +get home, and therefore paid little heed to the little dark-robed figure +who bought a ticket to New York, and soon after crept silently aboard of +the train which steamed into the little depot of the hamlet, almost +buried in the snowdrifts across the hills.</p> + +<p>Weak and faint from her recent illness, Faynie, the beautiful, petted +little heiress of a short time before, huddled into a corner of the seat +by the door, and drawing her veil carefully over her face, wept silently +and unheeded as the midnight express bore her along to her destination.</p> + +<p>She was going home to Beechwood; going back to the home she had left in +such high spirits to join the lover who was to be all in all to her +forever more; the lover who was to shield her henceforth and forever +from the world's storms, and was to be all devotion to her and love her +fondly until death did them part. And this had been the end of it. Her +high hopes lay in ruins around her. Her idol had been formed of +commonest clay, and lay crumbled in a thousand fragments at her feet.</p> + +<p>Surely, no young girl's love dream ever had such a sad awakening, and +was so cruelly dispelled.</p> + +<p>She would go home to her haughty old father, tell him all, then lie down +at his feet and die. That would end it all. Even in that moment lines +she had once read came back to her with renewed meaning:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"And this is all! The end has come at last!<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The bitter end of all that pleasant dream,<br /></span> +<span>That cast a hallow o'er the happy past,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Like golden sunshine on a summer stream.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Sweet were the days that marked life's sunny slope,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When we together drew our hearts atune,<br /></span> +<span>And through the vision of a future hope,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>We did not dream that they would pass so soon.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"In happy mood fair castles we upreared,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And thought that life was one long summer day;<br /></span> +<span>We had no dread of future pain, nor feared<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>That shadows e'er should fall athwart our way.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"But sunken rocks lie hid in every stream,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And ships are wrecked when just in sight of land;<br /></span> +<span>So we to-day wake from our pleasant dream<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To find our hopes were builded on the sand.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"I do not blame you that you do not keep<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The troth you plighted e'er your heart you knew;<br /></span> +<span>Better the parting now than wake to weep,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When time has robbed life's roses of their dew.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Another face will help you to forget,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The idle dream that had its birth in trust,<br /></span> +<span>And other lips will kiss away regret,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>For broken faith and idols turned to dust,<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Ah, well, you chose, perhaps, the better way;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Another love may in your heart be shrined;<br /></span> +<span>And I—I shall go down my darkened way,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Seeking forever what I ne'er shall find."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was two o'clock by the church belfry when she reached Beechwood, and +a quarter of an hour later when she reached the great mansion that stood +on the brow of the hill.</p> + +<p>She remembered that one of the rear doors, seldom used, was never +fastened, and toward this she bent her faltering footsteps. It yielded +to her touch, and like a ghost she glided through it and up the wide, +familiar corridors, her tears falling like rain at every step.</p> + +<p>She knew it was her father's custom to spend long hours in his library, +sometimes far into the gray dawn. He found this preferable to the +presence of his sharp-tongued second wife, who was always nagging him +for more money, or to put his property into her name as proof positive +of his unbounded, undying affection for her.</p> + +<p>In his library, among his books, there was no nagging. Here he found +peace, silence and quiet.</p> + +<p>Therefore, toward the library, late as the hour was, Faynie made her +way, stealing along quietly as a shadow.</p> + +<p>The door stood slightly ajar, and a ray of light, a narrow, thread-like +strip, fell athwart the dim corridor.</p> + +<p>When Faynie reached the door she paused, trembling with apprehension, a +feeling of intense dread, like a presentiment of coming evil, stealing +over her like the shadow of doom.</p> + +<p>She was prepared for his bitter anger, for the whirlwind of wrath that +would be sure to follow, but she would cast herself on her knees at his +feet, and with head bowed, oh, so lowly, so piteously, wait for the +hurricane of his rage to exhaust itself. Then she would bend over her +head still lower, her pride crushed, her pitiful humiliation complete, +and sue on her bended knees, with her hands clasped for his pardon and +his love again.</p> + +<p>She would plead for it for the sake of the fair, hapless young mother +whom she had loved and lost in his early youth. Surely, for her sake he +would find mercy, perhaps pardon, for the child she had left behind her, +the fair, petted, hapless daughter, who had been so lonely, and whose +heart yearned so for love ever since he had brought in a second wife to +rule over his household.</p> + +<p>Ay, from that hour he and his daughter had seemed to drift apart.</p> + +<p>Nerving herself for the ordeal, the girl crept to the door and timidly +swung it back.</p> + +<p>There was a figure bending over the writing desk; not the tall form of +her father, but her stepmother.</p> + +<p>Faynie drew back with a startled cry.</p> + +<p>In a single instant, with the swiftness of a lioness, the woman who had +been examining the desk, cleared the space that divided her from the +girl, and clutched her by the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"You!" she panted, in a voice that was scarcely human, it was so full of +venomous hatred. "You!" she repeated, flinging the girl from her, as +though she had been something vile to the touch. "How dare you come +here?"</p> + +<p>Faynie looked at her for a moment with dilated eyes gazing out from her +pale face.</p> + +<p>Had her stepmother suddenly gone mad? was the thought that flashed +through the girl's brain.</p> + +<p>"I—I have come back to my father, and—and to his home—and mine. Any +explanation I have to offer will be made to him alone."</p> + +<p>The woman laughed a sneering, demoniac laugh, and her clutch on the +girl's shoulder grew stronger, fiercer.</p> + +<p>"How lovely, how beautifully worded, how dutiful!" she sneered. "By that +I judge that you have not been keeping abreast of the times, or you +would have known, girl, that your father is dead, and that he has +disinherited you, leaving every dollar of his wealth to me."</p> + +<p>"Dead!" Faynie repeated the words in an awful whisper.</p> + +<p>It seemed to her that every drop of blood in her veins seemed suddenly +turned to ice. A mist swam before her eyes and she put out her hand +gropingly, grasping the back of the nearest chair for support.</p> + +<p>She did not even hear the last of the sentence. Her thoughts and hearing +seemed to end with that one awful word.</p> + +<p>"That is what I said," replied her stepmother, nonchalantly, "and you +are his murderess, girl, quite as much as though you had plunged a +dagger in his heart. Your elopement caused him to have a terrible +hemorrhage. He knew all the details about it in less than an hour's +time, learning from one of the servants how you stole out of the house +and met the tall man at the gate, who took you off in a closed carriage, +and just as he made this discovery one of the maids handed him your +note, which you left pinned to the pillow, addressed to him. He had no +sooner read it than he fell into a rage so horrible that it ended as I +have said, in a hemorrhage. Within ten minutes' time your name, which he +cursed, was stricken from his will, and he left everything to me, +disinheriting you. Do you comprehend the force of my remark?"</p> + +<p>The steady, awful look in the young girl's eyes made the woman quail in +spite of her bravado. "I—I do not care for my father's wealth, but that +he should curse me—oh, that is too much—too much. Oh, God, let me die +here and now, that I may follow him to the Great White Throne and there +kneel before him and tell him all my pitiful story!"</p> + +<p>"That is a pretty theory, but people cannot go to and come at will from +the Great White Throne, as you call it. You had better get back to the +realities of life on this mundane sphere, where you find yourself just +at present. I repeat for the third time that you are disinherited. I +cannot seem to make you grasp that fact. This home and everything in it +belongs absolutely to me."</p> + +<p>Faynie heard and realized, and without a word, turned and staggered like +one dying toward the door, but her stepmother put herself quickly before +her.</p> + +<p>"Sit down there. I have something else to say to you," she added in a +shrill whisper, pushing the girl into the nearest seat.</p> + +<p>"I must go. I will not listen," cried Faynie, struggling to her feet.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you shall listen and comply with my proposition," exclaimed her +stepmother, her glittering eyes fastened on the beautiful face of the +girl she hated so intensely.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>IMPENDING EVIL.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>We must return for one brief instant, dear reader, to our hero, Lester +Armstrong, whom we left as he was being hurried off to the hospital on +the night which proved so thrillingly eventful.</p> + +<p>At the first rapid glance, the surgeon had believed his patient dying, +but upon examination after he had reached the hospital, it was +discovered that his injury was by no means as serious as had been +apprehended; but a trouble quite as grave confronted the patient.</p> + +<p>"An injury to the base of the brain, such as he has received, no matter +how slight, might, in this instance, produce either insanity or partial +loss of memory, which is almost as bad," said the surgeon. "It will +soon be determined when consciousness, returns to him."</p> + +<p>This indeed proved to be the case. Just as daylight broke Lester +Armstrong opened his eyes, looking in amazement around the strange +apartment in which he found himself.</p> + +<p>A kindly-faced nurse bent over him, who, in answer to his look of +inquiry, said:</p> + +<p>"You had a severe fall and hurt yourself last night and was brought to +the hospital. You are doing finely. Can you remember anything about the +incident?"</p> + +<p>Lester looked up vacantly into the dark-gray eyes. "I—I was in a hurry +to close my books at the office; that is all I recollect," he murmured.</p> + +<p>From documents found in his pockets, it was learned that he had some +connection with the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., and the senior +member of the firm was notified. Within an hour Mr. Marsh responded in +person. He was greatly distressed over the occurrence and took it deeply +to heart.</p> + +<p>"I think as much of that young man as if he were my own son. Do +everything in human power for him. Let no pains be spared. I will stand +every expense," he said, and then and there he also confided a startling +secret to the surgeon.</p> + +<p>"I am a lone man in this world, without one kindred tie on earth. Some +little time since I made my will. I left every dollar I possessed on +earth to my young cashier, Lester Armstrong, though he never even +dreamed of such an existing state of affairs. I never intended that he +should know that I had made him my heir for perhaps years to come yet."</p> + +<p>"Lester Armstrong!" exclaimed the surgeon. "Why, that is not the name he +is entered here under, Mr. Marsh. The friend who was with him did not +call him that."</p> + +<p>"Then the friend who was with him evidently did not know him. I identify +him as my cashier, Lester Armstrong."</p> + +<p>The surgeon bowed courteously.</p> + +<p>"I would also suggest no mention whatever of this affair be given to the +newspapers," continued the gentleman. "They would make a sensational +story out of it, and I detest notoriety."</p> + +<p>"Your wishes shall be respected, sir," replied the surgeon, who had a +great reverence for men of wealth.</p> + +<p>His prediction proved quite correct. When Lester Armstrong arose from +that bed of sickness ten days later, his mind, although as bright and +keen as ever on some subjects, on others was hopelessly clouded. Even +the slightest recollection of beautiful Faynie Fairfax, the little +sweetheart whom he had loved better than his own life, was completely +obliterated from his mind. He did not even remember such a being had +ever existed.</p> + +<p>Another event had transpired on the eventful night of his injury. The +humble boarding house where he had made his home so many years, had been +destroyed by fire, and the people had gone none knew whither. This was +indeed a trying blow to Lester, for the fire had completely wiped out +all of his savings which he had kept in the little haircloth trunk in +his room. But, without a murmur, he took up the burden of life over +again and went back to his work at his desk.</p> + +<p>In going over his accounts he suddenly came across the name of Faynie +Fairfax.</p> + +<p>The pen fell from his fingers and he brushed his hand over his brow.</p> + +<p>"What a strangely familiar ring that name has to me!" he muttered, "but +I cannot imagine who it can be. Her checks seem to be paid in here. I +must remember to notice who she is when next she comes to this window."</p> + +<p>Life had dropped into the same old groove again for Lester Armstrong, +the only difference in the routine of his daily life being that he was +not obliged to take his daily trips to Beechwood any more, for the +reason that his employer, Mr. Marsh, had taken up his residence in the +city again.</p> + +<p>But in less than a fortnight another event happened.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsh died suddenly, and to the great surprise of every one, Lester +Armstrong was named as his sole heir. At first the young man was +dumfounded. He could not believe the evidence of his own senses, when +first the news was conveyed to him.</p> + +<p>The papers contained columns concerning the young man's wonderful luck. +Those who knew Lester Armstrong said the great fortune which had come to +him would not spoil him.</p> + +<p>There was one who read this account with amazed eyes, and that was +Halloran.</p> + +<p>"Great God!" he muttered, his hands shaking, his teeth chattering. +"Kendale told me that Armstrong was taken to the hospital in a +precarious condition and died there."</p> + +<p>He made all haste to Kendale's lodgings. The latter, who was still +masquerading under the name of Lester Armstrong, had been on a +continuous spree ever since the night he had wedded the little beauty, +and Halloran had let him take his course, saying to himself that there +was plenty of time in the future to carry out their scheme.</p> + +<p>For once he found Kendale partially sober. He knew by Halloran's face +that something out of the usual order of events had transpired.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?" he cried; "what's up now?"</p> + +<p>For answer Halloran laid the paper before him, pointing to the column, +remarking, grimly:</p> + +<p>"The game's up now, and we've gone through all this trouble for nothing. +Your cousin, Lester Armstrong, is not dead, but instead is alive and +well."</p> + +<p>The papers which contained the account gave another bit of unfortunate +information, stating that Lester Armstrong had suffered from loss of +memory since he had received the fall on that fatal night.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Halloran, as his friend laid down the paper, "you see, the +game's up."</p> + +<p>"By no means," exclaimed Kendale, perfectly sober by this time. "It's a +poor rule that won't work both ways," he added, excitedly.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand your cause for rejoicing," returned Halloran, +gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Don't you?" cried Kendale. "Then let me make it clear to you. We not +only have one fortune through the girl that I tied myself to, and can, +as her husband, collect all in good time, but with a little strategy I +can come in for the Marsh millions. We can decoy Armstrong into a coach, +and let the world find out his fate after that if it can. I will coolly +take his place, just as I did in that other affair, and who is there to +question that I am not he."</p> + +<p>"But they know you there. You worked a week in the employ of Marsh & Co. +You forget that."</p> + +<p>"It was at one of their branch stores," was the reply, "and they had +never heard of Armstrong there, and had never seen him. I left in a +week. I did not resemble my cousin so much at that particular time for +the reason that my mustache was shaven off then. Without that you would +be surprised to see what a wide difference there is between us."</p> + +<p>"It is a great scheme, if you are sure that you can carry it through," +said Halloran, breathing hard and eying his companion fixedly.</p> + +<p>"Trust that to me," replied Kendale, jumping up and walking the floor to +and fro excitedly.</p> + +<p>It was midnight when Halloran left Kendale's apartments. During those +long hours the two plotters had concocted a diabolical scheme, which +they meant to carry out ere the morning light dawned.</p> + +<p>All unconscious of the nefarious plot against his life, Lester Armstrong +was up with the sun the next morning, and was down to the office at an +early hour transacting the great amount of business that he found upon +his hands, contingent upon being the head of the firm of which he had +for so many years been but an humble cashier.</p> + +<p>Despite the sudden wealth which had come to him, all that day he felt a +strange depression of the heart, a strong impression of impending evil, +which he could not shake off. Even those about him noticed what a gloomy +look there was in his eyes.</p> + +<p>He was the last one to leave the great building that night, and as he +stepped out upon the sidewalk, he muttered to himself: "I wonder what is +about to happen to me, my heart feels so heavy, so depressed."</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE TOILS OF THE CONSPIRATORS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Lester Armstrong had no sooner stepped to the pavement than he was +accosted by a man who stepped suddenly up to him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Armstrong?" he said, interrogatively, touching his hat +respectfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded Lester, "what can I do for you?"</p> + +<p>"I am here on a deed of mercy. A friend of mine, an employee of yours, +sir, has met with a serious accident and calls for you repeatedly. I am +a hackman, and I volunteered to come for you and ask you to let me take +you to him. It is not very far. My cab stands right here."</p> + +<p>"I will go to the poor fellow, certainly," responded Lester, hurrying to +the vehicle in question and hastily entering it.</p> + +<p>In a moment the driver had mounted the box and was off like the wind. It +did not occur to Lester until he was well under way that he had not +thought to inquire who the injured man was.</p> + +<p>As the cab rolled swiftly along over the crowded thoroughfare, Lester +leaned back and gave himself up to his own thoughts.</p> + +<p>Wealth had come to him, and with it honors had crowded thick and fast +upon him. The world of society held out its arms eagerly to him. Lovely +young girls, matrons of the house, offered their congratulations to him +with the most bewitching of smiles, and mothers with marriageable +daughters from all over the city opened an account with the great dry +goods house, whose sole owner was a young and handsome bachelor.</p> + +<p>But for all this there seemed to be something sadly missing in his life, +a want which he could hardly define, and it seemed to take the shape of +something which he was striving to remember, but could not.</p> + +<p>Only that morning he had been talking with some one in the office about +it, and had been laughingly informed that there was a method that could +bring back to his memory that which he desired so ardently to recollect. +"If you will tell me how to unravel this tangle that is in my brain, you +will have my everlasting gratitude," declared Lester, earnestly.</p> + +<p>"It takes people with nerves of steel to accomplish it. A person who is +nervous to the slightest degree would not dare to try it, for fear of +turning suddenly insane from the terrible mental struggle. Do you still +wish to know what it is?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded Lester, "and I can use my judgment whether I dare try +it or not."</p> + +<p>"Very good," replied the gentleman, "then here it is: Counting five +thousand backward will either restore your loss of memory, or, as I have +taken care to warn you gravely in advance, cause you to go insane. It +must be done rapidly, and in a given space of time. In my belief the +remedy is by far worse than the malady. I feel, somehow, as though I +ought not to have told you about it."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said Lester. "You need have little fear of my trying it."</p> + +<p>He thought of it, however, as the cab rolled rapidly along.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if harm would result from my trying it?" he mused. "I have +unusually strong nerves, and—and, if anything disastrous should come of +it, there is not one soul on the wide earth that would be injured. There +is no mother to weep, no fair young sister to grieve, no father or +brother to be bowed down with sorrow. I am alone in the world. My +foolhardiness would injure only myself—only myself."</p> + +<p>He had been thinking so deeply that he had not noted the flight of time, +nor that the street lamps had grown fewer and far between, at last +ceasing altogether, and that they were traveling a country road. +Suddenly the vehicle came to a stop. The driver jumped from his box and +opened the door with a jerk, remarking:</p> + +<p>"This is the place."</p> + +<p>Lester alighted, looking about him in a rather mystified manner, but +before he could make the inquiry that rose to his lips the driver +hastened to say:</p> + +<p>"The path that leads to the house, which is just beyond that clump of +trees, is so narrow that we cannot drive there. We will have to walk. It +is but a short distance. You will see the house at the first turn in the +path."</p> + +<p>And as the man uttered the words he gave a peculiar cough.</p> + +<p>"Who is the person who sent for me?" Lester queried, stopping short. The +man made an evasive answer, which aroused his suspicions that all was +not as it should be.</p> + +<p>"Why do you not answer my question? I refuse to proceed a step farther +until you have satisfied me on this point," declared Lester, haughtily.</p> + +<p>"That's your opinion. I think differently, my fine fellow," answered the +man insolently. "I'd advise you to come along quietly."</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong saw at once that he had been lured into a trap. It was +natural for him to jump to the conclusion that it was for robbery, owing +to the fact of his coming into possession of the great Marsh fortune so +recently, and a sudden sternness settled upon his face. He was not used +to broils, but this fellow should see that he was not quite a stranger +to the manly art of self-defense, and that he had an adversary worthy of +his steel.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming along peaceably with me, or shall I be obliged to call +upon my pals for assistance?" he asked, grimly.</p> + +<p>"I propose to defend myself against all odds," answered Lester, more +than angry with himself for falling so easily into the trap that had +been so cunningly set for him.</p> + +<p>He had but a few dollars in money about him, and the disappointment of +his assailant in not finding a large roll of bills would in all +probability cause the man to take desperate chances in trying to make +away with him. If he was armed he was at the fellow's mercy. There might +be half a dozen accomplices in collusion with him, he had little doubt.</p> + +<p>Again the cabby uttered that peculiar cough which was half a whistle, +and in response two men, whose features were covered by black masks, +sprang from the adjacent bushes.</p> + +<p>Our hero put up a splendid defense, but the united strength of his three +antagonists at length overpowered him.</p> + +<p>What was there in the figure of one of the men that seemed so familiar +to him? he wondered, and just as they were bearing him to the ground by +their united efforts, he suddenly reached forward and tore the mask from +his assailant's face.</p> + +<p>One glance, and the horror of death seemed to suddenly freeze the blood +in his veins. His eyes dilated and seemed to nearly burst from their +sockets. The face into which he gazed was that of Clinton Kendale, his +cousin.</p> + +<p>"You!" he gasped, quite disbelieving the evidence of his own senses.</p> + +<p>Kendale laughed a diabolical laugh, while his features were distorted +into those of a fiend incarnate.</p> + +<p>"I haven't the least hesitation in admitting my identity," he said, +coolly. "Yes, you are in good hands, if you give us no trouble, and come +along quietly, without compelling us to use further force."</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this outrage?" cried Lester, white to the lips.</p> + +<p>"That you shall learn all in good time, cousin mine," replied Kendale, +mockingly.</p> + +<p>In struggling out of their grasp to better protect himself, Lester fell +headlong on the icy ground, striking his head heavily against the +gnarled, projecting root of a tree and lying at their feet like one +dead.</p> + +<p>"He will give us little enough trouble now," said Kendale, grimly. "Lend +a hand there, both of you, and get him into the house quickly. I am +almost frozen to death here."</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to narrate it, Lester Armstrong was hurriedly +conveyed into the house.</p> + +<p>The place consisted of but two rooms, and into the inner one Lester was +thrust with but little ceremony, and tossed upon a pallet of straw in +the corner.</p> + +<p>He had not entirely lost consciousness, as they supposed, but was only +stunned, realizing fully all that was transpiring about him.</p> + +<p>"Your scheme has worked like a charm, Halloran," said Kendale. "We have +bagged our game more easily than I imagined we would. Now there is +nothing in the way between me and the fortune that liberal old fool +Marsh willed to my amiable cousin."</p> + +<p>"Everything rests with the shrewdness with which you play your part," +answered the man addressed as Halloran.</p> + +<p>"You ought not to have any scruples on that score," exclaimed Kendale, +boastfully. "After leaving my amiable cousin on the night of the +accident, did I not go immediately to the pretty little heiress, Faynie +Fairfax, and successfully pass myself off as the lover she was waiting +to elope with? And the little beauty never knew the difference."</p> + +<p>"I must own that you played your cards successfully in that direction," +was the response, "but this will be a far different matter from +hoodwinking a young, unsophisticated girl."</p> + +<p>"Within a month from to-day I shall have the Fairfax fortune and the +Marsh millions added to it," said Clinton Kendale, emphatically.</p> + +<p>"I would put an eternal quietus upon my fortunate cousin here, did I not +need his assistance in one or two matters concerning the method of +running the business, which was known only to old Marsh and himself."</p> + +<p>"Are you fool enough to think that he will divulge those secrets to +you?" said Halloran, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"They can be forced from him. I know how," returned Kendale, with a +brutal laugh. "Come," he said, turning on his heel.</p> + +<p>His companion followed him from the apartment, and the door closed with +a resounding bang, and Lester lay there too horror-stricken to move hand +or foot, fairly spellbound by the disclosures he had overheard as they +stood over him, believing him unconscious.</p> + +<p>All in an instant a great wave of awakened memory swept over him, +opening out the flood-gates of recollection like a flash. He remembered +his interview with his sweetheart, his darling Faynie, and how he was +arranging to hurry back to marry her when the fatal accident occurred, +and how, believing himself dying, he had confided all to his treacherous +cousin, bidding him take the message to his darling, that even in death +his only thought was of her.</p> + +<p>Oh, merciful God! how horribly had his treacherous cousin betrayed that +sacred trust, because of his fatal resemblance to himself! He cried out +to God and the listening angels:</p> + +<p>"Heaven help my beautiful darling and save her from the machinations of +that desperate villain!"</p> + +<p>He knew that Clinton Kendale would stop at nothing to gain his end, and +his agony at the thought that he might be unable to prevent it in time +almost drove him to the verge of madness.</p> + +<p>He felt that they would hold him there until they tortured from him +whatever secret he held which they wished to learn; then they would +deliberately make away with him. Clinton Kendale would step into his +place, personating himself so cleverly that the great world, under whose +very eyes the terrible tragedy had taken place, would never know the +difference. Even Faynie would not know how she had been tricked and +cheated, and the last thought almost drove him to the point of frenzy, +nearly succeeding in turning his tortured brain.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>"YOU ARE OUR PRISONER!"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For hours Lester Armstrong lay like one stunned, turning over and over +in his mind the awful revelation he had heard. That a human being, +especially his cousin, Clinton Kendale, should have plotted so horribly +against him seemed almost past believing. Then he remembered how +treacherous he had been in his early days, and he wondered that he had +been so mad as to have trusted him.</p> + +<p>"Heaven save my darling from him!" he cried out in an agony too great +for words. To realize that she was in the mercy of such a man was a +sorrow so great that all else on earth paled before it. Then a mighty +resolve came to him—to foil the villainous plot, weak though he was; he +must make his escape and fly to his darling's aid.</p> + +<p>He knew that Clinton Kendale would follow out his line of action, +keeping him there as long as it was necessary—that is, until he learned +all the secrets that he was so anxious to ascertain—then he would put +him out of the way with as little compunction as he would a dog. He +might expect little mercy at Kendale's hands, when two fortunes and a +beautiful young girl hung in the balance.</p> + +<p>For hours he lay there, turning the matter over in his mind. He knew he +was terribly weak from the awful fall which he had received, and which +had hurt his head the second time in almost the same place; but escape +he must from the clutches of the conspirators, even though he were +dying.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the key turned in the lock, the door swung open and Kendale +entered, bearing a lighted candle in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you have come to, have you?" he remarked, seeing the other's eyes +turn toward him; and before Lester Armstrong could answer he went on +quickly: "You are the only one who knows the combination which opens the +safe of the late Marsh & Co., and as I intend to open it to-morrow +morning at the usual hour in place of your punctual self, it will be +most necessary for you to give me the required information."</p> + +<p>For one moment Lester Armstrong gazed steadily into the face of the +fiend incarnate before him—a look before which the other quailed +despite his apparent bravado.</p> + +<p>"I am in your power and at your mercy," he said, "but though you torture +me on the rack I shall never tell you what you want to know. That safe +contains valuable papers which belong to others; they are secure in my +keeping. You can kill me, but the secret of the safe combination will +die with me."</p> + +<p>Kendale laughed a little short, hard laugh.</p> + +<p>"You are mad to thus defy me," he cried, harshly, "when you stop to +consider that I can open it in any event. I can simply say the +combination has slipped from my mind. Who is there to question Mr. +Lester Armstrong, the head of the firm? No one—no one. It will be +broken open quite as soon as workmen can be found to accomplish it."</p> + +<p>The lines about the sufferer's mouth tightened; he clutched his hands +hard. He knew the dare devil Kendale would stop at nothing—nothing.</p> + +<p>"I will give you until daylight to decide. I promise you that it will go +hard with you if you are not complaisant."</p> + +<p>With that he turned on his heel and quitted the room.</p> + +<p>During all the long hours of that never-to-be-forgotten night Lester +Armstrong lay there on his pallet of straw praying for strength to foil +the villain—for Heaven to direct him what to do.</p> + +<p>For the Marsh millions he cared nothing; but his heart was wrung with +anguish when he trusted himself to think of Faynie.</p> + +<p>He knew that Kendale had kept the appointment made by himself, but for +some reason the elopement could not have taken place. A thousand causes +might have prevented its successful carrying out, though Kendale was +sure of a satisfactory finish, he imagined.</p> + +<p>Daylight broke at last; he could see it dimly through the dust-begrimed, +boarded-up windows; but it was not until the sun had well risen that his +cousin put in an appearance again. Lester was suffering intense pain +from the terrible bruise on his head at the base of the brain, but he +set his teeth hard together, determining that his mortal foe should not +know it.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Kendale, sneeringly. "Wide awake, I see!—probably the +fixed habit of years. You have, no doubt, come to a more sensible frame +of mind than I left you in last night, I trust, regarding the +information I want concerning the combination of the big safe in the +private office of Marsh & Co."</p> + +<p>"I will never reveal it to you," cried Lester. "Never!"</p> + +<p>For an instant a black, malignant scowl swept over Kendale's face, but +after a moment's deep thought he turned on his heel again, laughing +immoderately as he stepped to the door and held a low conversation with +the two men who were still in the outer apartment, and in a trice they +had joined Kendale, one of them still wearing the black mask which he +had used the night before.</p> + +<p>"We will proceed to relieve him of his private papers, keys, wallet, and +so forth," said Kendale; and, as if in compliance with some previously +arranged plan, the three set upon Lester, and in his almost helpless +condition it was not difficult to overpower him and take from him his +possessions, which Kendale quickly took charge of.</p> + +<p>In the encounter, owing to his exhausted condition, Lester lost +consciousness; and thus they left him, making him their prisoner by +turning the key in the lock again when they reached the outer room.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Halloran, removing the square of black linen from his +face, "what's next on the programme?"</p> + +<p>"Our friend, the cabby, will take me back to town with as much speed as +possible. You, my dear fellow, will remain here on guard, making +yourself as comfortable as is absolutely possible under the dismal +circumstances of keeping guard and circumventing any attempt of our +prisoner to escape. You know we have great need of him yet, in forcing +him to disclose much that is advantageous to us. We can starve it out of +him, if threats fail. As long as you have a good warm fire, plenty of +provisions and plenty to read here you ought not to complain. You are +having the easiest part of the bargain, Halloran, while I am doing all +of the hazardous work."</p> + +<p>"What if I should be suspected in the <i>rôle</i> I am about to play for the +Marsh millions? Why, it would mean State's prison instead of the fortune +we have planned for so desperately."</p> + +<p>"You will carry it through all right," declared Halloran, confidently.</p> + +<p>"My nerve has never failed me so far, and I'm depending on that," said +Kendale, mechanically.</p> + +<p>Two hours later Kendale was breakfasting in a fashionable downtown +restaurant, endeavoring to fortify himself with courage for the trying +ordeal which he was about to face.</p> + +<p>He had given Halloran his promise to abstain from touching even a drop +of liquor, fully realizing it to be his mortal foe; but with Kendale a +promise amounted to scarcely a flip of his white fingers when it ran +contrary to his own desires.</p> + +<p>He told himself that he must have a "bracer" to steady his nerves. It +was not until a second and a third had been drunk that the proper amount +of courage came to him to undertake the dastardly scheme. Half an hour +later he walked boldly into the big dry goods emporium. He had no idea +where the private office was, but his quick wits served him in this +dilemma. Laying his hands on an errand boy who was just passing out, +whose cap bore the name of Marsh & Co., he said, carelessly:</p> + +<p>"Here, lad, take my coat up to the private office; I will follow you. Go +slowly, though, through the crowd of shoppers."</p> + +<p>With a respectful bow the boy took the coat from him.</p> + +<p>It so happened that one of the rules of the house was that the employees +must not use the elevators, and by the time Kendale had climbed the +fourth flight of stairs he was thoroughly exhausted, the perspiration +fairly streaming down his face.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know enough to go by way of the elevator, you young idiot?" +he roared, almost gasping for breath.</p> + +<p>"You forget it's against the rules for us to do so, Mr. Armstrong," +returned the lad.</p> + +<p>"Rules be hanged!" cried his companion. "How many more floors up is it?"</p> + +<p>The lad looked up into his face in the greatest amazement. Such a +question on the lips of the head of the firm rather astounded him; but +then, perhaps it had not occurred to the gentleman just how many flights +of steps the boys were obliged to climb.</p> + +<p>"We are only on the fourth floor, sir," he responded, "and it's up the +other four flights, you know."</p> + +<p>"Get into the elevator," commanded Kendale; and the boy turned, and +walked over to it, closely followed by his companion, mentally wondering +what in the world had come over courteous, kindly Mr. Lester Armstrong.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>THE NEW BROOM DID NOT SWEEP CLEAN.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Clinton Kendale showed himself to be a thorough actor in carrying out a +part carefully, as he followed the boy through the main office, where +all of the bookkeepers were at work, toward the little office in the +rear.</p> + +<p>"Ah, this is indeed comfortable," he exclaimed, flinging himself into a +luxurious leather armchair. "Throw the coat down anywhere, and go," he +said, as the boy stood before him awaiting his dismissal.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! What an elegant nest Lester got himself into!" he +ejaculated, looking about him. "I can enjoy it far better than he could, +though I don't expect to be cooped up here more than an hour or two a +day. Those fellows out there in the outer office are paid to do the +work, and I'll be hanged if they shan't do it—every bit of it. I'll +break 'em in my way, and they'll think it's new rules. By George! +they'll find plenty of new rules. Ha! ha! ha! I suppose I'd better be +opening that desk."</p> + +<p>Feeling in his pocket, he drew forth the bunch of keys which he had +taken by force from his cousin. One by one he fitted each to the lock, +but none of them seemed to work.</p> + +<p>"Confound the thing!" he muttered. "My patience won't last much longer. +Then I'll stave it in with my heel.</p> + +<p>"Hello, there!" he cried, as, hearing a slight noise behind him, he +wheeled around and found an elderly man, with a pen behind his ear, and +a sheet of paper in his hand, standing there.</p> + +<p>"Why the deuce didn't you knock?" he cried, angrily and flushing hotly, +for he realized this man must have witnessed his vain attempts to open +the desk. "What do you want?" he asked sharply and ill-humoredly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway, the old cashier—for it was he—was looking at him with +dilated, amazed eyes; but in a moment he recovered himself.</p> + +<p>"You said to come into your office quite as soon as you came this +morning, as you wished to see me on particular business, Mr. Armstrong," +he replied in the low voice habitual with him.</p> + +<p>For an instant the bogus Lester Armstrong's brows were knit closely +together; then he said, coolly, sharply: "I've changed my mind; I don't +want to see you."</p> + +<p>Still the man lingered.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," he said. "I thought probably it might be in regard to those +notes of Jordan & Beckwith which you were considering negotiating for."</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll have to think again," exclaimed the other, tartly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway turned toward the door, but as he stretched out his hand to +grasp the knob his employer sang out, sharply:</p> + +<p>"Hold on, there! Come here and see if you can do anything with this +confounded desk. It's got the jim-jams or something. I've been monkeying +with it for the last half hour, and can do nothing with it." And as he +uttered the words, he held out the bunch of keys toward him.</p> + +<p>If Mr. Conway had been startled before, he was certainly alarmed now, +and he looked at his companion in amazement which could not be +concealed.</p> + +<p>"Well," cried the other, his temper rising, the result of the brandy +diffusing itself through his brain, "what are you staring at me like +that for? Why don't you take the keys and go ahead?"</p> + +<p>Quite as soon as speech would come to him the old cashier said, slowly:</p> + +<p>"You seem to forget, Mr. Armstrong, that the keys have been done away +with some time, and the desk now opens with a secret spring which you +yourself devised."</p> + +<p>"Well, come here and open it. My fingers are all thumbs to-day," +replied his companion, looking at him doggedly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway stepped forward and touched what appeared to be one of the +brass nails that studded the outer rim, and, as if by magic, the desk +flew open, the other watching keenly to see how he did it.</p> + +<p>Without further comment Mr. Conway turned away and with slow, heavy +tread left the private office and walked toward his desk. When he +reached it his emotions overcame him completely, and he laid his head +down upon his ledger, tears falling like rain down his face.</p> + +<p>In an instant half a dozen of his fellow bookkeepers were about him, +frightened beyond words at this unusual scene and inquiring what could +be the matter.</p> + +<p>For a moment the old cashier hesitated, then he resolved to break the +truth to them; they would soon find it out for themselves; he would tell +them, and at the same time instruct them as best he could in this +unfortunate affair. He raised his white head, the head that had grown +gray in the employ of the firm he had loved so well and served so +faithfully.</p> + +<p>"You must know the truth, my fellows," he answered, slowly, huskily, and +with apparent difficulty. "Our Mr. Armstrong has, for the first time +since we have all known him, gone wrong; he is under the influence of +strong drink, and by no means himself. I may add that I earnestly pray +that each of you be loyal to him, even through this misfortune, and not +let even a hint of it go forth to the outside world, for at this crisis +it would ruin the well-known firm of Marsh & Co., which is now vested in +him."</p> + +<p>The horror and amazement on the faces of the men can better be imagined +than described. All had loved and revered Lester Armstrong, and to hear +that he had suddenly gone wrong because he had become possessed of a +fortune was alarming and distressing news to them.</p> + +<p>"Drink changes him so completely in temperament that it is hard to +realize that he is the same courteous companion of those other days. He +was so far gone from the effects of liquor I am not even sure that he +recognized me. Hark! what is that?"</p> + +<p>Several of the detectives of the place were rushing through the main +office toward the private office, in answer to Mr. Armstrong's summons. +The call for them had been so furious that they rushed in pell-mell, +without waiting to take time to rap.</p> + +<p>The bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong still sat in the luxurious leather +armchair, his heels on the desk, fairly hidden in heavy clouds of blue +smoke from his Havana cigar, at which he was puffing vigorously, fairly +going into convulsions of laughter over a letter bearing a blue and +gold monogram, which he was reading.</p> + +<p>The unceremonious entrance of the four men caused him to spring suddenly +to his feet.</p> + +<p>"What the d—-l do you fellows want?" he exclaimed angrily. "How dare +you intrude upon me, in my private office, in this unheard-of fashion, +like a herd of escaped lunatics?"</p> + +<p>"You rang for us," replied one of the men.</p> + +<p>"I did not," replied the bogus Mr. Armstrong, resuming his seat +pompously.</p> + +<p>"The bells certainly rang, sir!" exclaimed the other three, +simultaneously.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you that I didn't ring?" he answered, stamping his feet +furiously.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it three more men dashed into the +private office, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"We are here, sir, at the very first tap of your bell."</p> + +<p>"You have all gone suddenly stark mad, or you are a set of the blamedest +fools in existence, as I have just told these men. I did not ring. What +on earth do you mean, by insisting that I did, I should like to know?"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, but you are still ringing, sir," declared one of the +men. "We can distinctly hear the bell ringing furiously. Do you not see +that your foot is still on it?"</p> + +<p>"My foot!" exclaimed the bogus Mr. Armstrong, angrily. "Explain what you +mean at once."</p> + +<p>For answer, the man stepped forward, and pulled aside the mat under his +employer's feet, mentally wondering if Mr. Lester Armstrong had not +grown suddenly daft himself, thereby disclosing a set of electric +buttons which the rug had cunningly concealed.</p> + +<p>"You kept your foot on them and they rang, calling us here instantly," +returned the man.</p> + +<p>"Bless me! I forgot entirely about those confounded electric buttons," +declared the bogus Armstrong, turning very red. "I'll have 'em put +somewhere else to-morrow; great nuisance; always in the way." And after +an instant a bright thought occurred to him, and he said blandly: "Well, +to tell you the truth, men, I was only trying you to see how quickly you +would respond; you may all go now."</p> + +<p>The men quitted the private office, looking rather dumfounded into each +other's blank faces, and in less than half an hour afterward every +employee in the vast dry goods establishment heard the shocking news, +that Mr. Lester Armstrong, whom they all believed well-nigh perfect, was +terribly intoxicated up in his private office, but they were to be +still more astounded ere the eventful day closed.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE WILL DISINHERITING FAYNIE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>As soon as the men had quitted the private office Kendale sprang to his +feet and began pacing up and down the length of the room excitedly, +muttering under his breath:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"'Ah, what a fatal web we weave<br /></span> +<span>When first we practice to deceive.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"It seems to me that there are traps in every direction to catch me. I +must be extra shrewd. I'll have those confounded bells changed at once. +I shouldn't be at all surprised to find an electric bell connected with +that chair at the desk which would call up the entire fire force of the +city if I were to lean back far enough in it."</p> + +<p>He flung himself down in his seat again and took up the letter which he +had been perusing and which interested him so.</p> + +<p>When he had first broken the seal of this missive his heart had fairly +jumped into his throat; at the first glance he saw that it was from Mrs. +Fairfax, of Beechwood.</p> + +<p>He read it carefully through fully a half dozen times. It ran as +follows:</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"MY DEAR MR. ARMSTRONG: I wish to extend to you my sincere + congratulations over your good fortune in succeeding to the + business of my dear old friend and neighbor, Mr. Marsh, late of + Beechwood village. I feel as though I know you well from hearing + him speak so continually of you. I am indeed thankful that his + business fell into the hands of one whom he trusted so deeply.</p> + +<p> "It was his wish, long ago, that we should meet and know each + other, and in remembrance of this, his earnest and oft-repeated + wish, I now extend you a cordial invitation to visit our home at + Beechwood at your earliest convenience and dine with the family. My + daughter and I will have a most hearty welcome for you. Any date + convenient to you which you may set will be agreeable to us.</p> + +<p> "Trusting that we may have the pleasure of seeing you very soon, I + remain, yours very truly,</p> + +<p> "MRS. HORACE FAIRFAX, Beechwood."</p></div> + +<p>The bogus Lester Armstrong laid the letter down and looked abstractedly +out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Of all places in the world, to think that I should be invited there," +he mused. "While I have just been wondering how they took Faynie's +elopement—and never hearing from her since—and wondering how in the +world I was to discover all that—lo! a way is opened to me!"</p> + +<p>Then his thoughts flew back to that stormy wedding night, and that +midnight scene in the little inn, when the girl he had just wedded, +believing her to be an heiress, revealed to him the exasperating truth, +that only that night her father had disinherited her, making a new will +in favor of her stepmother and her daughter Claire. The plan which +Halloran had laid out was to wait a reasonable time, then put in an +appearance, stating that he was Faynie's husband, and that she had just +died, and claim her portion of the estate. Every detail had been most +carefully mapped out; but here he saw an easier way of gaining that same +fortune without the trouble of litigation—marry the girl Claire.</p> + +<p>They would never know anything about that previous marriage with Faynie, +and the dead could tell no secrets.</p> + +<p>"I'll go," he muttered. "I shall reply at once, telling her she may +expect me two days hence—let me see, this is Tuesday; I will dine with +her Thursday, and, at least, see what the girl Claire looks like. It +would be the proper caper to gather in as many fortunes as drift my way. +I suppose I shall run through half a dozen of them ere I reach the end +of my tether."</p> + +<p>All in due season his letter of acceptance reached Mrs. Fairfax, and she +was highly elated over it.</p> + +<p>She had seized upon her neighborly acquaintance with the late Mr. Marsh +to invite to her home the young man who had fallen heir to his +millions, in order that her daughter Claire might win him—if it were a +possibility.</p> + +<p>She had succeeded in forcing Faynie to remain beneath that roof, even +after informing her that she was disinherited—dependent upon her +stepmother—by saying that it was her father's wish that she should thus +remain for at least six months.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax's real reason was that the outside world would not know +just how affairs stood in the family until she had had time to turn +everything into cash and get over to Europe to look up another +millionaire widower.</p> + +<p>On the very night that Faynie had returned so unceremoniously there had +been a most thrilling scene but an hour before between Mrs. Fairfax and +her daughter.</p> + +<p>Unable to sleep, Claire had wandered down to her late stepfather's +library in search of a book.</p> + +<p>She was not a little surprised to see her mother there—writing—at that +late hour.</p> + +<p>Her footsteps had made no sound on the thick velvet carpet, and she +stole up to her side quite unobserved, looking over her shoulder to see +what interested her mother so deeply.</p> + +<p>One—two—-three—four—five minutes she stood there, fairly rooted to +the spot, then a gasp of terror broke from her white lips, causing her +mother to spring to her feet like a flash.</p> + +<p>"Claire!" she exclaimed, hoarsely, trembling like an aspen leaf and +clinging to the back of the nearest chair for support. "How long have +you been here?" she gasped.</p> + +<p>"Quite—five—minutes," whispered the girl.</p> + +<p>"And you have seen—" The mother looked into the daughter's eyes +fearfully, not daring to utter the words trembling on her lips.</p> + +<p>"I saw you change the—the will!" whispered Claire, in a terror-stricken +voice. "I saw you erase with a green fluid, which must have been a most +powerful chemical, the words of the will, 'to my daughter Faynie' in the +sentence: 'I bequeath all of my estate, both personal and real,' and +insert therein the words, 'my wife, Margaret' in place of 'my daughter +Faynie.'"</p> + +<p>The woman stepped forward and clutched the girl's arm.</p> + +<p>"It was for your sake, Claire, that I did it," she whispered, shrilly; +"he cut us off with almost nothing, giving all to that proud daughter +Faynie of his. We would have had to step out into the world—beggars +again. We know what it is to be poor—ay, in want; we could never endure +it again—death would be easier for both of us.</p> + +<p>"The will was drawn two years ago; I am confident that it is the +latest—that there is no other. I took a desperate chance to do what I +have done to-night—so cleverly that it could never be detected.</p> + +<p>"A few strokes of the pen meant wealth or poverty for us, Claire. I am +too old to face beggary after living a life of luxury. You will not +betray me, Claire—you dare not, knowing that it was done for your sake, +Claire."</p> + +<p>The girl was not naturally wicked; she had always had a great respect +for the high-bred, beautiful Faynie—her stepfather's daughter by his +first wife. There had been no discord between the two young girls.</p> + +<p>Still, as her mother had said so emphatically, it was better that Faynie +should step out of that lovely home a beggar than that they should lose +it.</p> + +<p>Claire quite agreed with her mother that Faynie must stay there for the +present at all hazards; it would arouse such an uproar if she were +thrust from that roof just then.</p> + +<p>"If my father has expressed the desire that I shall stay here six +months, I—I shall do so, even though it breaks my heart," Faynie had +said.</p> + +<p>She kept her own apartments, refusing to come down to her meals, and +Mrs. Fairfax humored this whim by ordering Faynie's meals served in her +rooms.</p> + +<p>In vain the old housekeeper expostulated with Faynie, urging her to +come down at least to the drawing-room evenings, as she used to do.</p> + +<p>Faynie shook her golden curls.</p> + +<p>"It is no longer my home," she would say, with bitter sobs; "I am only +biding my time here—the six months that I am in duty bound to +remain—then I am going away—it does not matter where."</p> + +<p>The old housekeeper had tried in vain to coax from the girl the story of +where she had been while away from home.</p> + +<p>"That is my secret," Faynie would say, with a burst of bitter tears; "I +shall never divulge it—until the hour I lie dying."</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>EVERY MAN TO HIS TRADE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>After the bogus Lester Armstrong had dispatched his letter of acceptance +to Mrs. Fairfax he braced himself for what would happen next by taking a +deep draught from the silver brandy flask which he kept in his breast +pocket, though he realized that he had need of all his senses for any +emergency.</p> + +<p>During the next hour a score or more bookkeepers came to him with +bills, letters and papers of all descriptions. To one and all he said, +with a yawn, and very impatiently: "Leave what you have brought on my +desk; I'll look over it this afternoon."</p> + +<p>Then it occurred to him that such a great concern must have a general +manager, and of course he would know something about the different +papers these people had brought for his inspection and for him to pass +upon, which were like so much Greek to him.</p> + +<p>In answer to his summons, a tall, dignified, keen-eyed elderly man +responded—a man who struck considerable awe to Kendale's guilty heart. +He said to himself that he wished to the Lord he knew this man's name to +be able to call him by it—but of course it couldn't be helped.</p> + +<p>"I have concluded to permit you to attend to these matters for me—get +through them the best you can in your own way without bothering me with +them; do just as you would if I were away on a vacation, we will say, +and left everything in your charge—all matters for you to settle as you +deemed best."</p> + +<p>The gentleman looked surprised and bowed gravely. "I can attend to most +of the documents connected with the firm, but there are a few matters I +see there that the parties interested might object to if they saw the +name of Manager Wright attached instead of the name of the proprietor."</p> + +<p>"In that case, show me where you want me to sign, and I'll put down my +name here and now, to end the matter."</p> + +<p>"Without first examining the documents carefully?" asked the manager, in +amazement, thinking how slipshod in his business methods the new +proprietor of the great establishment was becoming since he suddenly +found himself raised from a poor cashier to a multi-millionaire, and +thinking that good old Mr. Marsh would turn over in his grave if he had +heard that.</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven all that is off my mind," muttered Kendale, breathing +freer as the manager left the office with the papers, adding, +thoughtfully: "I hope I won't have to come in contact with that man very +often. I felt so uncomfortable that it was by the greatest effort I +could control myself—keep from springing from my chair, seizing my hat +and fairly flying out of this place.</p> + +<p>"His keen gray eyes seemed to pierce through and through me. I expected +every moment to hear him shout out: 'Come hither, everybody—quickly; +this man is not Lester Armstrong, striking though the resemblance is. +Send for the police, that this mystery may be solved at once!'"</p> + +<p>He was not far wrong in his suspicions.</p> + +<p>Manager Wright had quitted the private office with a deeply knitted brow +and a troubled expression on his face.</p> + +<p>"The change in Lester Armstrong since yesterday is amazing," he mused. +"Long years of dissipation could not have told more on him than the +change these few hours have worked. He must have been out drinking and +carousing all night long—the odor of the room from the fumes of strong +liquor was almost unbearable; it was blue with smoke, too, and Lester +Armstrong always led us to believe that he had never smoked a cigar in +his life; and, worst of all, from a gentleman he has suddenly turned +into a libertine, if I am any judge of features.</p> + +<p>"I cannot begin to account for the great change in him; it mystifies me +quite as much as it did the store detectives and Mr. Conway, the +cashier. It is all terribly wrong—somehow—somewhere. If it were not +that I have been here so many years I would tender Mr. Armstrong my +resignation. I am not at all satisfied—and yet, yesterday, when Mr. +Armstrong called me into his private office and we had that long talk +about the business matters of the house, I felt that all would go well; +to-day he is like a different man—appears to have forgotten completely +all of the instructions he was so particular to give me. Yesterday he +said: 'We will go over the books and papers very carefully, you and I, +and see that every department is run as carefully and well as +heretofore. I should not like any one in the establishment to feel that +my taking possession will mean any change for them—save for the +better.'</p> + +<p>"To-day he is as different as night from day; he does not know what he +wants; he seems all at sea over the simplest details which he ought to +be decidedly familiar with." His musings were suddenly cut short by an +immediate summons to return to the private office.</p> + +<p>It was with some misgivings that he entered his employer's presence the +second time.</p> + +<p>The bogus Mr. Armstrong was almost invisible from a cloud of smoke from +a freshly lighted Havana. He held the morning paper in his hand and was +perusing its columns with apparent avidity.</p> + +<p>"Wright!" he cried, excitedly, "how much ready money do you suppose +there is in the safe of this shebang—-hey?"</p> + +<p>It took Mr. Wright almost a moment to recover his usual calm dignity and +make answer:</p> + +<p>"Five thousand in cash, and there are negotiable notes amounting to +upward of forty thousand more."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure of that?" queried Kendale, his excitement growing keener; +"how do you know?"</p> + +<p>"You placed bills in my hands a few moments since which necessitated +conferring with Mr. Conway, the cashier, about meeting them."</p> + +<p>"Well, hold on—don't pay out any bills to-day; I want to make use of +that money—two great opportunities here. Say!" he added in the next +breath, "do you know anything about sailing yachts and trotters?"</p> + +<p>The question fairly staggered Mr. Wright, but he answered promptly:</p> + +<p>"Nothing whatever, Mr. Armstrong. I have never taken any interest in +them; it would be out of place for a man in my position to cultivate a +taste for that which is so far beyond his means. I am glad to be able to +say to you, sir, that my tastes are simple and my wants few. I have +never been on board a yacht, nor have I ever ridden behind what you call +a trotter."</p> + +<p>"Then you've missed a deal of sport," declared Kendale. "But that isn't +what I sent for you to discuss. What I meant to say is that there's a +fellow from Newport gone all to smash. His fine yacht, the <i>Daisy Bell</i>, +is to be sold at auction to-day, likewise the contents of his stables. +There are two of his animals that are flyers—the Lady Albia and +Sterling. Why, the Lady has a record better than 2.05 1-2, open gaited, +warranted sound, both of 'em, and no end of traps, tea carts, and +buggies. I tell you what, Wright, I must have that yacht and that team. +You must go and bid them in for me—get 'em at any price, if you have to +run it up to a hundred thousand, and you can even do a little better +than that rather than see some other lucky fellow get 'em."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright was staring at him as though he quite believed his employer +had gone suddenly out of his mind.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong, coolly, "you heard my +command to you, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>Without another word the general manager turned and with slow, unsteady +steps quitted his new employer's presence.</p> + +<p>"Heaven help me, that I should live to see this hour," he groaned; "a +hundred thousand dollars—ten fortunes to a poor man like +myself—frittered away on a yacht and a pair of horses! Mr. Marsh would +pitch him out if he could but know and come back long enough to do it. +It spoils the best of 'em to have money thrown at them—to come into a +fortune that they haven't worked for. A yacht and a pair of horses! What +will people say to see me, a business man of supposed sense and +judgment, bidding at a public auction mart for anything like this? +Heaven help me, I can see the finish of the time-honored dry goods house +of Marsh & Co., in which I have taken such a world of pride. But I +suppose I must do as he has ordered, no matter how galling it is to me."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright had no sooner reached the auction mart than a telegram was +handed him. It was from his employer, and read as follows:</p> + +<p>"There are also a pair of seal-brown pacers to be sold. Secure these in +addition to the others. Price must not stand in the way."</p> + +<p>David Wright crushed the telegram in his hands, and the first oath he +had ever uttered in all his life was ground out between his teeth.</p> + +<p>The yacht and two pairs of horses were spiritedly bid for by half a +dozen gentlemen, who were apparently eager to secure them.</p> + +<p>It was easy to see that the quiet, elderly business man, who always went +higher than the others, was little used to such contests, but he secured +them at last for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and there +was more than one amused laugh in the auction room, knowing ones +whispering that he had paid three times more than the owner had been +asking for them.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>MARGERY'S LOVE DREAM.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>An hour after Mr. Wright had concluded his purchase for his employer he +returned to the establishment, accompanied by one of the persons +authorized to collect the money. When he presented the order at the +cashier's window, Mr. Conway, the old cashier, drew back aghast as he +looked at the man.</p> + +<p>"Is—is it possible you have indorsed this?" he asked, turning to the +manager.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright bowed, but his face betrayed deep agitation.</p> + +<p>"I cannot pay it without consulting Mr. Armstrong," he exclaimed, in a +troubled voice. "Wait a moment."</p> + +<p>Could it be possible that Lester Armstrong had authorized the payment of +an amount like that, knowing that the firm was a little crippled for +cash just at that season of the year? Surely the man must be mad, he +told himself; and that for which the money was to be paid fairly +staggered him. He had to look a second time to satisfy himself that he +had not made a horrible mistake when he read: "For one steam yacht and +two pairs of horses, $125,000; terms cash."</p> + +<p>He set his lips hard together, saying to himself that this was the +beginning of the end.</p> + +<p>At that same moment quite a thrilling scene was taking place in the +private office, which would have unnerved the old cashier completely had +he known of it. It so happened, in exploring the nooks of the office, +Kendale had by chance touched another bell, the bell communicating with +the suit department, which was in charge of Mr. Conway's pretty +daughter, Miss Margery. When that bell tapped it meant that the young +lady was to make all possible haste to the private office, to which she +had been summoned, and this the young girl proceeded to do, not without +some little trepidation, however. Fair Margery Conway had a secret +romance in her life, a romance which no one in the wide world would ever +have guessed.</p> + +<p>For many a long day she had been secretly in love with Mr. Lester +Armstrong, her father's assistant, of whom; she had heard him speak so +much and praise so highly.</p> + +<p>She admired him immensely. Many a time she made excuses to speak with +her father a moment in their private office. No one in the wide world +guessed that grave, handsome Lester Armstrong was the attraction that +brought her there.</p> + +<p>She had many a casual chat with him, and somehow the hope grew in her +heart that he was not altogether indifferent to her.</p> + +<p>Once, when she had started home in the pouring rain, he had gone out of +his way to see her safely to her destination under the shelter of his +umbrella.</p> + +<p>He had only been courteous, but she had built up many a hope from this +little incident alone.</p> + +<p>She had not seen very much of Lester Armstrong since that +never-to-be-forgotten day, but her father had told her that he usually +asked each morning: "How is your daughter, Miss Margery?" and once her +father had said:</p> + +<p>"Of all the young men whom I have met, I have the greatest regard for +Lester Armstrong. Such young men are the salt of the earth. There is a +future before him. When he earns a dollar he puts by more than half of +it against a rainy day. He is not extravagant. Few young men making his +salary would dress so very plainly and make his clothes do him as long. +He has no bad habits; he neither smokes nor drinks, and that is +something you can say of very few young men nowadays."</p> + +<p>Margery looked up into her father's face with shining eyes. She made no +answer, but a vivid flush crept up into her cheeks, and the little hands +that were busy with the teacups trembled a little. She knew quite well +that in the depth of his heart her father was hoping that she and +Lester Armstrong would take a fancy to each other, and that in time +that fancy might ripen into love, and instead of being only +acquaintances, she and the assistant cashier might be nearer and dearer +to each other.</p> + +<p>Not long after this Margery Conway received a letter, a poem, rather, +typewritten. There was no name signed to it, but she felt sure that it +came from some one in the establishment of Marsh & Co. More than one +salesman looked at pretty Margery Conway with admiring eyes, but she +never thought of any of these. The truth was, it was sent by one of the +bookkeepers, but the girl jumped at once to the conclusion that it was +from Lester Armstrong. She imagined that from the tender, sentimental +words. She read the beautiful poem over and over again, until she knew +every word by heart. The lines even floated dreamily through her brain +in her sleep. She would awaken with them on her lips. Ah, surely, the +poem was from Lester Armstrong, she fully believed. It read as follows:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"What have I done that one face holds me so,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And follows me in fancy through the day?<br /></span> +<span>Why do I seek your love? I only know<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>That fate is resolute, and points the way<br /></span> +<span>To where you stand, bathed in amber light.<br /></span> +<span>Since first you looked on me I've seen no night—<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>What have I done?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"What can be done? As yet no touch, no kiss;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Only a gaze across your eyes' blue lake.<br /></span> +<span>Better it were, sweetheart, to dream like this,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Than afterward to shudder and awake.<br /></span> +<span>Love is so very bitter, and his ways<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Tortured with thorns—with wild weeds overgrown.<br /></span> +<span>Must I endure, unloved, these loveless days?—<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>What can be done?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"This I say, 'Marry where your heart goes first,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Dear heart, and then you will be blessed.<br /></span> +<span>Ah, how can others choose for you<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>What is for your best?<br /></span> +<span>If you're told to wed for gold,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Dear girl, or for rank or show,<br /></span> +<span>Stand by love, and boldly say,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>"No, my heart cries no!"'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Like most young girls, pretty Margery was sentimental. She slept with +the folded paper beneath her pillow at night, and all day long it was +carefully tucked away over her beating heart.</p> + +<p>It was quite a week after receiving this ere she saw Lester Armstrong +again; then her face turned burning red. Lester saw it, but how was he +to dream that he was the cause of her emotion?</p> + +<p>"Sweet Margery Conway is not strong," he thought, pityingly. "How +frightened her father would be were he to see that sudden rush of blood +to the head."</p> + +<p>He wondered whether or not he should run to her and proffer his +assistance. He had once seen a young woman who was thus affected fall +to the floor in a fit, and it had been many a long day ere the +unfortunate woman could return to her work again. He devoutly hoped this +might not be the case with poor, pretty Margery.</p> + +<p>She saw him start and look at her searchingly. She could not have +stopped and exchanged a word with him if her life had depended upon it. +She hurried past him with desperate haste, praying that he might not +hear the beating of her heart.</p> + +<p>He noticed that she did not stop to speak, but he quite believed that it +was because she was very busy. The next moment he had forgotten all +about it, and about the girl, too, for that matter.</p> + +<p>He scarcely remembered pretty Margery until he happened to see her +again. The girl was fairly stunned by the intelligence that the great +millionaire owner of the establishment had made Lester Armstrong his +heir.</p> + +<p>At first her joy was so great that she could not speak. Then a sudden +fright swept over her heart. He was rich now, and she was poor. Would it +make any difference with him. She tried to put the chilling thought from +her, for it made her heart turn cold as ice. Her gentle eyes did not +close in sleep all the long night through. Her pillow was wet with +tears. The one prayer on her lips was: "I pray to Heaven this may make +no change in him; that he will care for me as much as when he sent me +the poem."</p> + +<p>She had not seen Lester Armstrong since he had taken his new position as +proprietor of the great establishment, and now, when his bell rang for +her, no wonder the girl's heart leaped into her mouth, and involuntarily +she looked into the long pier glass eagerly. Ah, it was a fair face +reflected there. There were few fairer, with its delicate coloring +framed in nut-brown curls, gathered back so carelessly from the white +brow, and there was a light in the brown eyes beautiful to behold. She +had been wondering only the moment before if the hero of her daydreams +had forgotten her, and lo! the summons of his bell had seemed to come in +answer to the thought.</p> + +<p>With trembling, hopeful anticipation, Margery wended her way to her +employer's office, taking the nearer route, not through the main office, +where her father was, but by a more direct narrow passage, which was +seldom used.</p> + +<p>All unmindful of his daughter's presence in the main office, the old +cashier had bent his steps thither for instructions regarding the bill +which had just been presented, but he had scarcely reached out his hand +to knock, ere he heard a blood-curdling, piercing scream, in a woman's +voice, from within, and recognized, in horror too great for words, the +voice of his own daughter, his Margery!</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIX'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>PRETTY MARGERY'S TERRIBLE DISCOVERY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Pretty Margery Conway had made her way eagerly enough to Mr. Lester +Armstrong's private office, but her light tap on the door brought no +response, and, as it was slightly ajar, she pushed it open and stepped +across the threshold.</p> + +<p>To her great surprise she saw that her employer was deeply engrossed in +the pictures of a comic weekly, and the loud "Ha! ha! ha!" that fell +from his lips struck upon the girl's sensitive nerves most unpleasantly.</p> + +<p>She was wondering how she should make her presence known to him, when +suddenly he turned around, and then he saw her and a quick gleam of +intense admiration leaped into his bold, dark eyes at the vision of the +lovely, blushing, dimpled face of the slender, graceful young girl.</p> + +<p>"I am here in response to your summons, Mr. Armstrong," she said, with +much embarrassment. "Your bell rang so imperatively that—"</p> + +<p>"I didn't ring any bell, my dear," he exclaimed, "but still I am +uncommonly glad to see you. Sit down and we'll have a little chat."</p> + +<p>"There is a customer awaiting my return as soon as you—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, hang the customer," cut in Kendale. "Sit down, pretty one, and +we'll make each other's acquaintance."</p> + +<p>Margery looked at him in helpless bewilderment.</p> + +<p>Had handsome Lester Armstrong, the hero of her dream, gone suddenly mad, +she wondered?</p> + +<p>"Sit down, my dear," he reiterated, "don't look at me in such affright. +I'm not an ogre; I don't intend to eat you, though, upon my honor, those +peachy cheeks and pomegranate lips are most wonderfully tempting."</p> + +<p>Margery was so intensely surprised she was fairly speechless—incapable +of word or action.</p> + +<p>From where she stood the fumes of strong brandy reached her, and she +realized that the man before her was under its influence to an alarming +extent.</p> + +<p>No wonder her pretty face paled; even her lips grew white.</p> + +<p>She stood before him as one mesmerized by the baleful gleam in his +merciless concentrated gaze, as the fluttering, frightened bird does in +the presence of the deadly serpent that means to destroy it.</p> + +<p>"Won't be sociable, eh?" muttered Kendale. "You are not diplomatic; you +don't know your own interests. Sit down here and tell me all about +yourself—how long you have been here, and all about it. I ought to +know, of course, but I forget. Come, brush up my memory a bit, won't +you?"</p> + +<p>"Your memory seems indeed very poor all at once," said Margery, +spiritedly, "considering the fact that you have known me since I was a +little child"—and, in spite of her efforts at self-control, big tears +brimmed over the pretty eyes and rolled down the round cheeks.</p> + +<p>In an instant Kendale was on his feet.</p> + +<p>"There, there, Susie, don't cry," he said, reaching her side quickly and +grasping both of the little clasped hands in one of his.</p> + +<p>"You must have some one else in your mind—that is quite evident. Please +to recollect that I am Margery Conway, not—not Susie—whoever she may +be."</p> + +<p>He laughed a rollicking, maudlin laugh. The brandy was beginning to +diffuse itself through his brain.</p> + +<p>"I'll never call you anything but Margery again," he cried, "beautiful, +peerless Margery, the sweetest, jolliest, most bewitching and lovable +shop girl in all New York."</p> + +<p>The young girl looked at him with dilated eyes. Every impulse in her +terrified heart warned her to turn and fly from the place, but it was +all in vain. She could not have moved hand or foot if her very life had +been the forfeit.</p> + +<p>"So you are toiling away in a place like this for a mere pittance," he +went on; "probably hardly enough to keep soul and body together. That's +a confounded shame for a pretty girl like you. Work isn't for such as +you—you ought to be out in the sunshine, dressed in silks and velvets +and diamonds galore. It's bad enough for the old and ugly—those whose +hair is streaked with gray and around whose eyes the crow's feet have +been planted by the hand of time, to work—ay, toil for their bread. By +Jove, I say you are far too lovely for such a fate!"</p> + +<p>"Sir!" cried Margery, drawing herself up to her fullest height. "I work +for my living, but I want you to understand that I am proud of the fact, +instead of deeming it a disgrace, as you seem to think it.</p> + +<p>"Up to this hour I have always considered you a man of honor—one of +nature's noblemen—a gentleman. Now I know you as you are—a <i>roué</i>—ay, +a scoundrel. I would scorn to remain another hour in your employ. Money +earned in this establishment from this moment would burn my fingers."</p> + +<p>"Hoity-toity! Don't get big feelings too suddenly, my pretty dear," he +cried, with a load, hilarious laugh. "Lord! what simpletons some girls +are! You're standing in your own light, pretty one! Can't you see that?"</p> + +<p>"Sir!" cried Margery, struggling to free herself from the grasp of his +strong hand, "it is dastardly, it is cowardly to summon me here to +subject me to—insult."</p> + +<p>"'Pon my honor, I want to be friendly, but you won't have it so—you +seem determined to kick up a row. Come, now, be friendly; sit down here +and we'll talk it over."</p> + +<p>"Unhand me!" cried Margery in terror. "Let me go, or I shall scream for +help!"</p> + +<p>"You won't do any such thing, my little ruffled birdling," he cut in, an +angry light leaping up into his eyes, adding: "I am disposed to treat +you very kindly, but you seem determined to make an enemy of me instead +of a friend, my dear, and your reason ought to tell you how foolish that +is. Come, be sensible and listen to me. I've taken a violent fancy to +that pretty face of yours. We must be friends—excellent friends. That's +a good beginning, you know."</p> + +<p>Margery glanced toward the door, the fright deepening in her eyes. He +had placed himself between her and the door, kicking it to with his +foot.</p> + +<p>He saw that quick glance, and read it aright, and his brow darkened.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a little fool!" he cried. "Don't anger me, girl. You had +better make a friend instead of an enemy of me."</p> + +<p>"Your enmity or friendship is a matter of equal indifference to me now," +gasped Margery, sobbing bitterly.</p> + +<p>"You have slain my respect for you. I—I am sorry—sorry from the bottom +of my heart—that I realize you have fallen from such a noble height in +my estimation."</p> + +<p>"That's all bosh and moonshine," hiccoughed Kendale; "respect and high +pedestal of honor and all that sort of thing. You're among the clouds; +get down to earth. I'm only a man—you mustn't take me for a little god. +Come, now, what in the name of reason is the use of making such a fuss +over this thing, and storming like an angry princess on the stage +because I tell you frankly that I've taken a notion to you. By George, +you ought to be mighty pleased to know that you've captured the fancy of +a man like me, with no end of money at my command. Do you realize that, +little one?"</p> + +<p>The girl's terror was growing intense with each passing moment.</p> + +<p>Her horror and dread of the man before her was a thousand-fold greater +at that moment than her admiration for Lester Armstrong had been in days +gone by. He seemed to her a different being in the same form—one +suddenly transformed from all that was manly and noble to a very fiend +incarnate.</p> + +<p>An awful stillness had fallen over the girl—a full realization of the +meaning of his jocular remarks was just dawning upon her. She was +looking at him with the awful pallor of death on her lovely young face.</p> + +<p>"Come, my pretty Margery," he cried, quite mistaking the reason that her +struggle to free herself from his clasping hand had so suddenly ceased; +"now you are falling into a more complaisant mood. I am glad of that. +Sit down and we'll talk. I must lock that door, or some blundering fool +will be stumbling in without taking the trouble to knock. But first give +me a kiss from those sweet lips, my dear, to assure me you don't quite +dislike me, you know."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he flung his arm about the girl's slender waist, and it was +then that Margery's piercing scream rang out so loudly upon her father's +ears, fairly electrifying him as he stood with his hand upon the knob of +the door of the private office.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XX'></a><h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>A FATHER'S RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For an instant the old cashier stood like one suddenly paralyzed before +the door of the private office from which that terrified scream had +issued.</p> + +<p>Great God! was he mad or dreaming, that he should imagine he heard his +daughter Margery's voice calling for help from within?</p> + +<p>But even as he stood there, trembling, irresolute, the piercing cry was +repeated more shrilly, more piteous than before, and it cut through the +frightened father's heart like the thrust of a dagger.</p> + +<p>"I am coming, I am here, Margery!" he answered, twisting the bronze knob +fiercely; But the door did not yield to his touch as usual, and to his +horror he realized that it was locked upon the inside!</p> + +<p>With the fury of a tiger, David Conway threw himself against it with all +his strength; strong as the lock was, it could not withstand the weight +that was brought to bear upon it, and in an instant it was snapped +asunder, the door falling in with a crash.</p> + +<p>With a terrible imprecation Kendale wheeled about, his grasp around the +girl's waist slackening for a single instant.</p> + +<p>And in that instant Margery sprang from him, darting into the arms of +her father, who had leaped over the threshold.</p> + +<p>"How dare you enter here?" shrieked Kendale, fairly beside himself with +baffled rage.</p> + +<p>The old cashier thrust his daughter behind him and walked up to the +foiled villain, gazing him steadily, unflinchingly in the eye.</p> + +<p>"I am here just in time to defend my child," he cried, white to the +lips, "and here to chastise you, you villain, old man as I am"—and with +the rapidity of lightning his clinched fist fell upon the face of the +man before him with stinging blows, that resounded with all the strength +and force of a steel hammer.</p> + +<p>Kendale, who was by this time entirely under the influence of the brandy +he had imbibed, was no match for the enraged cashier, who followed up +his advantage by ringing blows, which fell as thick and fast as driving +hail, until the other, coward as he was, fell down on his knees before +him, shrieking out for mercy.</p> + +<p>The unusual disturbance soon brought a throng of cashiers, bookkeepers +and clerks flocking to the scene.</p> + +<p>The old cashier turned upon them, holding up his hand to stay their +steps as they crowded over the threshold, Mr. Wright, the manager, +calling upon him anxiously to explain at once this unusual scene—this +disgraceful encounter between his employer, who seemed unable to speak +because of his injuries, and himself.</p> + +<p>"It is due you all to know just what has happened," replied the old +cashier, in a high, clear voice, "but I say to you, by the God above me, +if this hound dares arise from his knees ere I have finished, I will +kill him before your very eyes. There is something he has to say before +you all while still on his knees. Let no man speak until I have had my +say, and then you—my companions of years, my fellow-workers, my friends +of a lifetime—shall judge of my action in this matter and deal with me +accordingly."</p> + +<p>The scene was so extraordinary that no man among them seemed capable of +uttering so much as a syllable, so great was their consternation at +beholding their employer on his knees, groveling before the old cashier, +who stood over him like an aroused, avenging spirit.</p> + +<p>In a voice high and clear the old cashier, whom they had known and +revered for years, told his story in a simple, straightforward way, yet +quivering with excitement, drawing his terror-stricken daughter Margery +into the shelter of his strong arms as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"I am Margery's father—her only protector," he said, in conclusion. +"Is there a man among you with a father's heart beating in his bosom who +would not have done as I have done to the villain who dared to thus +insult his child. Ay, there are men among you who would not have +hesitated to have stricken him dead with a single blow—who would have +considered it a crime to have spared him."</p> + +<p>By this time Kendale was recovering from the stunning blows which had +been dealt him—realized that help was at hand; the employees would be +in duty bound to protect him from the enraged man before him.</p> + +<p>He realized, too, that the old cashier meant that he should remain there +on his knees and beg the girl's pardon before all these people.</p> + +<p>Ere Mr. Conway could judge of his design the bogus Lester Armstrong had +bounded to his feet and into the midst of the crowd.</p> + +<p>"You are discharged!" he cried, turning to the old cashier. "I will give +you just ten minutes to get out of this building—you and the girl, both +of you. It was a plan hatched up between you and her to extort money +from me."</p> + +<p>The old cashier attempted to spring at him, but the strong hands of +indignant, pitying friends held him back.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he stopped short, saying, with a dignity wonderful to behold:</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary, I think, to ask any of you, who all know me so +well and know also my little Margery, not to give credence to so heinous +a statement. I am going from this place, friends. I would not stay +another moment in this villain's employ, nor would my Margery, though he +weighed us down with all the wealth the world holds. Come, Margery."</p> + +<p>The crowd slowly parted, making way for them, and together Margery and +her father passed through the line of sympathizing faces, hand in +hand—the old man white, stern and resolute, pretty Margery sobbing as +though her heart would break.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright, the manager, who had been—like the old cashier—fully five +and twenty years beneath that roof, turned and faced the throng, saying, +huskily:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Armstrong, I herewith tender you my resignation. My friend of a +lifetime is going, and I shall go, too."</p> + +<p>"And I," "And I," "And I," quickly rang out, voice after voice.</p> + +<p>"Confound you all, I discharge the whole lot of you!" shouted Kendale, +now quite sobered by the excitement he was passing through. "Don't think +your going troubles me even a little bit. The set of men don't live who +will ever trouble me or my business!"</p> + +<p>With great rapidity the men fled from the private office, and, without +waiting even to close their ledgers, took down their coats and hats, got +into them quickly and filed downstairs.</p> + +<p>Kendale never could fully comprehend how it happened that in five +minutes' time the five hundred employees of the place heard what had +occurred, and in less time than it takes to recount it the strangest +event that had ever taken place in the annals of a great New York +business house occurred—there was a mighty uproar and by one accord the +great throng of employees quitted their tasks—badly as they needed +work—and dashed out into the street, leaving the vast emporium to the +hundreds of astonished customers with which it was crowded at that hour.</p> + +<p>For an instant Kendale was horror-stricken when he realized what was +occurring.</p> + +<p>"God Almighty!" he gasped, "I am ruined, disgraced! A thousand furies +take that girl; but she shall pay dearly for this. The police will be +here to quell the riot and disperse the crowd outside, and turn out the +people who are still inside!"</p> + +<p>Looking from the window, he saw that the throng of angry employees were +gathered around the old cashier and his daughter in a mighty mob.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord! if Halloran were only here, to advise me this time," he +muttered, turning pale with fear. He could hear their loud, angry voices +hurling imprecations at him, and he knew full well that he would never +be able to pass through that throng of thoroughly aroused and angry men +without their doing him bodily injury, and he told himself in affright +that all the Marsh millions for which he had bartered his soul would not +save him from the hands of that raging mob.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>"I LIKE HER BETTER THAN ANY I HAVE MET—I SHALL MARRY HER."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Kendale was clever and quick of resource. He realized that there must be +sudden action on his part. Should he fly headlong from the place and +give up all? Then a remembrance of the yacht and the horses came to him, +and he set his teeth hard together.</p> + +<p>"I will see this game through, come what may," he muttered.</p> + +<p>At that instant a daring thought came to him, and he acted upon it +before he could have time to back down through cowardice.</p> + +<p>Throwing open the window wide, he stepped boldly out upon the ledge in +full view of the angry crowd of five hundred employees.</p> + +<p>"Ladies and gentlemen," he exclaimed, raising his voice to a high key +that all might hear, "I have something to say, and it is only due me +that you should listen and then pass judgment.</p> + +<p>"Please believe me, one and all, I had no thought, no wish to offend Mr. +Conway's pretty daughter Margery. I may as well own the truth. I had +fallen desperately in love with the girl and was telling her so, and was +just on the point of asking her to accept me as a suitor for her hand +when she, mistaking my motives, it appears, called for assistance, and I +was not permitted to speak in order to explain.</p> + +<p>"Assuring her and all of you that my motives were most honorable, I beg +of you to reconsider leaving me in this abrupt fashion. Return to your +posts of duty, and this little difficulty will be adjusted +satisfactorily to you and to Miss Conway."</p> + +<p>Kendale was used to making a hit with an audience—used to throwing his +soul, as it were, into anything he had to say.</p> + +<p>The effect on the crowd below was magical; for a moment they were +stunned.</p> + +<p>The old cashier was almost stunned. The young millionaire was just about +proposing marriage to Margery! Why, what a mistake he had made—what a +terrible mistake! Even Margery had fallen back a step or two and was +clinging to her father's hand in the greatest amazement.</p> + +<p>"I—I think I was mad, friends and fellow-workers," he exclaimed, +huskily. "I believe I was too precipitate in this affair.</p> + +<p>"It is so long since I was young I—I had forgotten that it is the +custom of men now, as in the years long since gone by, to speak to a +maiden of love before he said anything of marriage.</p> + +<p>"It did not occur to me that the great millionaire wanted my little girl +for his wife, as he now says.</p> + +<p>"Hear me, friends, one and all. I most heartily regret causing this +disturbance and I move that we return to our places, as our employer +suggests."</p> + +<p>There was a murmur of assent among the throng; then, all in a body, they +moved forward, entering the building again; and in less than five +minutes' time matters were moving on quite as smoothly once more as +though no sudden upheaval had ever occurred in the great dry goods +establishment.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway, however, was too upset to attend further to his duties that +afternoon, and accepted the manager's suggestion that he should go to +his home, Margery accompanying him.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kendale had thrown himself down into the nearest chair, +breathing hard, feeling like a general who had achieved a most wonderful +victory.</p> + +<p>"A few soft, silvery words saved me this time," he muttered, "but it +throws the girl on my hands. Well, I suppose I will have to propose +marriage to her now—every one expects it; there would be a terrible +rumpus kicked up if I did not. Well, let there be an engagement between +us; that doesn't mean that there will be a marriage, by any means. The +engagement can drag along three or four years, and then we can break +off. By that time I shall be ready to marry the heiress of the Fairfax +millions. Ah, how much easier it is to scheme for a fortune than to toil +for one, as most poor mortals do."</p> + +<p>The entrance of the manager with the bill for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand put an end to his musings and plans for the +present. Mr. Wright emerged from the office ten minutes later with a +very troubled expression on his face. It was dearly patent to him that +Mr. Lester Armstrong did not care how badly the business was crippled, +so long as he secured the yacht and the fast horses.</p> + +<p>From that first day, so full of awkward and almost fatal mistakes, +Kendale spent as little time as was absolutely necessary in the +establishment of Marsh & Company, as it was still called, preferring to +let all of the business cares fall upon the manager's already weighted +shoulders.</p> + +<p>In less than a week it was noised about social circles that the young +man who had so suddenly dropped into millions of money was something of +a sport—a yachtsman whose magnificent yachting parties were the wonder +of the metropolis; a horseman whose racing stables were second to none +and were worth a handsome fortune; and it was hinted that he seemed no +stranger at cards and gambled sums of gold that would have purchased a +king's ransom at a single game—until those who looked on in speechless +wonder were sure he must have exhaustless wealth. Every one prophesied, +however, that this reckless extravagance must have an ending some time. +Meanwhile society held out its arms to the young millionaire, welcoming +him with its sweetest smiles.</p> + +<p>The date which he had set to dine with the Fairfaxes, of Beechwood, +rolled around at last, and for once in his life Kendale, or rather the +bogus Lester Armstrong, was punctual in his appointment.</p> + +<p>He was ushered into a drawing-room of such magnificence that for a +moment he fairly caught his breath in wonder.</p> + +<p>"So this was the home of Faynie Fairfax, the girl whom I wedded in the +old church and who died so suddenly on her bridal eve," he soliloquized. +"Well, all this could be mine for the fighting for it as Faynie's +husband, who has survived her, but, as Halloran would say, 'It's a deal +easier getting the same fortune by marrying the stepmother's daughter, +who has come into it by Faynie's father cutting her off at the eleventh +hour.'</p> + +<p>"I wonder what the girl Claire is like."</p> + +<p>There was a portrait of a young girl done in water colors over the +mantel. He stepped over to examine it.</p> + +<p>"If this is Claire's portrait she's certainly not bad looking," he +mused, "but she is one I should not care to cross."</p> + +<p>The figure was slight, draped in a gown of some light, airy fabric. The +head was small, crowned in a mass of waving dark hair. The contour of +the face was perfect; a pair of deep gray eyes looked out of it straight +at you; the lips were small, but a little too compressed, showing that +the owner of them had certainly a will of her own, which it was neither +wise nor best to cross.</p> + +<p>He was startled from his contemplation by the sound of silken robes +rustling across the carpet, and, wheeling suddenly about, he was +confronted by a tall, slim, magnificent woman, who welcomed him most +graciously to Fairfax House.</p> + +<p>"My daughter Claire will join us in a very few minutes. Ah, she is here +now," she announced, as a swift step was heard in the corridor outside; +a moment later the portières parted, and the young girl whose portrait +he had been critically analyzing entered the room.</p> + +<p>"I shall know at once by the first words he utters whether I shall like +him or not," thought the girl, looking straight into his face with her +fearless, keen, gray eyes. "He is handsome, and that generally goes with +great conceit, Faynie always said."</p> + +<p>"I hope we shall be friends, Miss Fairfax," he said, extending his hand +and bowing low over the little brown one that lay for an instant in his +palm.</p> + +<p>"There is a great mistake evident at the outset," said the girl, looking +up into his face. "Mamma said just now: 'This is my daughter Claire.' I +think mamma intended to add, 'Miss Claire Stanhope.' Mr. Fairfax was my +steppapa."</p> + +<p>Kendale smiled amusedly, both at the mother's momentary discomfiture +and the young girl's brusque straightforwardness.</p> + +<p>"I like her better than any one I have ever met. I shall marry her," he +promised himself.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>CLAIRE'S LOVER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>During the dinner that followed Kendale longed to introduce the subject +of "Faynie," but found no opening. His eagerness to know what they +thought and what they had to say concerning her disappearance was +intense, but he had to bide his time to find out.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile he paid the most flattering attention to Claire.</p> + +<p>He had noticed with a keen sense of regret that the girl limped most +painfully in her walk, but, despite this defect, for the first time in +his reckless life, he was thoroughly fascinated with her.</p> + +<p>He took his leave early, promising them that he would certainly avail +himself of their gracious permission to call again, very, very soon.</p> + +<p>Long after his departure the mother and daughter still sat in the +drawing-room discussing him eagerly.</p> + +<p>"It is a good thing for you that Faynie declines to come down to the +drawing-room to see visitors and insists upon having her meals in her +own room. If she had seen this handsome Mr. Armstrong, you would have +stood little chance of winning him, my dear," declared Mrs. Fairfax.</p> + +<p>Claire rose slowly to her feet, turned and faced her mother.</p> + +<p>"You and I do not agree on that point, mamma," she said, quickly, "I +have what you call a Quixotic notion, perhaps, and that is that we are +attracted toward those whom Heaven intended for us, and if this be so he +would not have been attracted toward Faynie if he were intended for me."</p> + +<p>"We will not argue the matter, Claire, for we shall never agree," +declared her mother, adding: "I shall always be opposed to Mr. Armstrong +meeting Faynie or ever hearing one word concerning the existence of such +a person. If he should, mind, I predict harm will come of it."</p> + +<p>Those were the words that rang in Claire's ears long after she retired +to her room.</p> + +<p>"I shall tell Faynie that we had a caller last evening and how handsome +he was; but I shall take good care to follow mamma's advice and never +let her know his name," the girl ruminated.</p> + +<p>She was only a young girl, full of girlish enthusiasm, and it was +certainly beyond human expectation to believe she could refrain from +mentioning that much to Faynie the next morning.</p> + +<p>Faynie laid a little white hand on Claire's nut-brown head.</p> + +<p>"Take care not to fall too deeply in love with this handsome stranger," +she said, "for handsome men are not always good and true as they seem."</p> + +<p>"I am sure this gentleman is," declared impulsive Claire emphatically. +"He has the deepest, richest, mellowest voice I ever heard, and such +eyes—wine dark eyes—those are the only words which seem to express +what they are like—and when he takes your hand and looks down into your +face, the hand he holds so lightly tingles from the finger tips straight +to your heart."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid he has been holding your hand, Claire. Ah, take +care—beware!" warned Faynie.</p> + +<p>During the fortnight that followed Kendale was a constant visitor at the +palatial Fairfax home.</p> + +<p>And those two weeks changed the whole after current of Claire's life, as +Faynie observed with wonder. It was certainly evident the girl was +deeply in love, and Faynie trembled for her, for love would bring to +such natures as hers the greatest peace or the bitterest sorrow.</p> + +<p>She wondered if her stepmother saw how affairs were drifting.</p> + +<p>If it had not been that she and her stepmother were always at +cross-purposes with each other, she would have gone to her and warned +her that it was dangerous to throw this handsome young man so often into +Claire's society, unless she could readily see that he was pleased with +the girl—realizing that poor Claire had a sad drawback in her lameness +and that many would seek her society because she was bright and witty, +who would never dream of asking her hand in marriage because of it.</p> + +<p>Once she attempted to warn Claire of the hidden rocks that lay in love's +ocean, but the girl turned quickly a white, pained face toward her.</p> + +<p>"Say no more, Faynie," she cried; "the mischief, as you call it, has +already been done. My heart has left me and gone to him. If I do not win +him I shall die. You know the words:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Some hold that love is a foolish thing,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>A thing of little worth;<br /></span> +<span>But little or great, or weak or strong.<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>'Tis love that rules the earth.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"The tale is new, yet ever told;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>It has often been breathed ere now—-<br /></span> +<span>'There was a lad who loved a lass'—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>'Tis old as the world, I trow!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"The song I sing has been sung before,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And will often again be sung<br /></span> +<span>While lads and lasses have lips to kiss,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Or bard a tuneful tongue.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"And this is the burden of my rhyme—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Though love be of little worth,<br /></span> +<span>Yet from pole to pole and shore to shore,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>'Tis love that rules the earth."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"And it is love that breaks hearts and wrecks lives," murmured Faynie, +with streaming eyes and quivering lips. "Oh, Claire! again I warn you to +take care—beware!"</p> + +<p>For one brief moment she was tempted to tell Claire her own story.</p> + +<p>Ah, had she but done so, how much misery might have been spared the +hapless girl! But she put the impulse from her with a shudder.</p> + +<p>No, no, she could not breathe to human ears the story of her false lover +and the tragedy that had ended her dream of love.</p> + +<p>She had never permitted her thoughts to dwell upon Lester Armstrong +since that fatal night.</p> + +<p>If there were times when she thought of him as when she knew him first, +seemingly so loving, tender and true, she put the thought quickly from +her, remembering him as she saw him that fatal night—transformed +suddenly into a demon by strong drink, when he struck her down upon +finding that she had just been disinherited—that she was not the +heiress that he had taken her to be.</p> + +<p>He thought his crime buried fathoms deep under the drifting snow heaps. +Ah, how great would be his terror to find that the grave to which he had +consigned her had given her back to the world of the living! No, no, she +could not shock Claire's young ears with that horrible story!</p> + +<p>It would be bad enough for her to learn of it in after years.</p> + +<p>Thus Faynie settled the matter in her own mind, and her lips were +sealed.</p> + +<p>One morning Claire burst eagerly into the room, quite as soon as it was +light.</p> + +<p>"I was here late last night, but you were asleep, Faynie," she said, +"and I came away, though I could scarcely wait to tell you the wonderful +news."</p> + +<p>"I think I can guess what it is," replied Faynie, stroking the girl's +brown curls, "Your lover has declared his love for you and asked you to +be his wife. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"You know it could be nothing else which could make me so very, very +happy," laughed Claire, her cheeks reddening.</p> + +<p>"And you have answered—yes?" asked Faynie.</p> + +<p>"Of course I said yes," responded Claire.</p> + +<p>"And when is the wedding to take place?" queried Faynie, hoping with all +her heart that this lover of whom the girl was so desperately fond loved +Claire for herself—not for the wealth she had fallen heir to.</p> + +<p>Claire raised her bright, blushing face shyly, the dimples coming and +going, making her rather plain little face almost beautiful at that +moment.</p> + +<p>"Mamma wanted the marriage put off for a year—I am so young—but Lester +was so impatient that he would consent to no such arrangement. He wants +the ceremony performed with as little delay as is absolutely necessary."</p> + +<p>"Lester!" The name went through Faynie's heart like the thrust of a +knife.</p> + +<p>For an instant every nerve in her body seemed to tremble and throb with +quick, spasmodic pain, then to stand still as though the chill of death +were creeping over her. Her eyes grew dim with an awful darkness, and +Claire's voice seemed far off and indistinct. Then the world faded from +her altogether and she fell at Claire's feet all in a little heap, in a +dead swoon.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE PROPOSAL.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>With all possible haste Claire summoned the housekeeper and gave Faynie +into her charge.</p> + +<p>It was more than disappointing to her to have Faynie lapse into +unconsciousness just as she had reached the most interesting part of her +story and was about to tell her how very romantically handsome Lester +had proposed. It had been just like a page from a French novel.</p> + +<p>She little dreamed that the art of making love was an old one to him.</p> + +<p>Kendale had gone to the Fairfax mansion with the express purpose of +proposing marriage that evening, for only that day Mr. Conway, the old +cashier, had told him confidentially that the affairs of the great dry +goods concern were in a bad shape—that the check for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand which had just been paid out had crippled them +sorely.</p> + +<p>And, after a moment's pause and with a husky voice, he added slowly: "If +something like three hundred thousand dollars is not raised within the +next sixty days you are a ruined man, Mr. Armstrong."</p> + +<p>This announcement fell with crushing force upon Kendale, who had +imagined that there could be no end to the flow of money that was +pouring in upon him.</p> + +<p>"There's only one way of raking in that much money in a hurry, and that +is by marrying the little lame heiress," he soliloquized.</p> + +<p>It so happened that he had an engagement to call there on this +particular evening, and he resolved that he would not let the +opportunity slip past him—that there was no time like the present.</p> + +<p>Fortune, fate, call it what you will, favored Kendale on this particular +occasion, as it usually did. He found Claire alone in the drawing-room +practising some sheet music which he had sent her a few days before.</p> + +<p>She started up in confusion as the servant ushered him into the room, a +swift blush crimsoning her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Mamma will be down directly, Mr. Armstrong," she said, looking at him +shyly from beneath her long lashes.</p> + +<p>"Miss Stanhope—Claire!" he exclaimed impulsively, seizing both of her +little hands in his, "may we not have a few words together before my +card is sent up to your mother? Oh, Claire, you would surely say yes if +you knew all I had to say to you. Be kind and consent."</p> + +<p>"Since you seem to desire it so earnestly, I am sure I have no wish to +object," she answered, trembling in spite of her efforts to appear +unconcerned under the fire of his keen, ardent gaze.</p> + +<p>"You are an angel," he cried, seating himself in a chair so near her +that he could still hold the little fluttering hands, which she fain +would have drawn from his clasp, for, although she had never before had +a proposal of marriage, she guessed intuitively what was coming.</p> + +<p>"Since I have but a few minutes alone with you, Claire, what I have to +say must be said quickly," he began.</p> + +<p>For the first time in her life Claire was at a loss for an answer.</p> + +<p>"I am sure you have guessed my secret, sweetest of all sweet girls," he +murmured. "Every glance of my eyes, every touch of my hand, must have +told it to you from the first moment we met. Did it—not?"</p> + +<p>"No," faltered Claire, her eyes drooping like a flower under the sun's +piercing rays.</p> + +<p>"Then my lips shall tell you," he cried. "It is this—I love you, little +Claire—love you with all my heart, all my soul. You are the light of my +life, the sunshine of my existence, my lode-star, my hope—all that a +young girl is to a man who idolizes her as the one supreme being on +earth who can make him happy. Oh, Claire, I worship you as man never +worshiped woman before, and I want you for my wife."</p> + +<p>She opened her lips to speak, but he went on rapidly, hoarsely:</p> + +<p>"Do not refuse me, for it would be my death warrant if you did. I tell +you I cannot brook a refusal from those dear lips of yours. If you do +not consent I shall make away with myself in your presence here and now +with a revolver which lies in my breast pocket."</p> + +<p>A scream of terror broke from Claire's terrified lips.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not make away with yourself, Mr; Armstrong!" "I—I will +promise—anything you—you want me to! Only don't shoot +yourself—don't!"</p> + +<p>"Then you accept me?" queried Kendale in a very businesslike manner.</p> + +<p>"Ye-es—if mamma does not—object," she answered in a stifling manner.</p> + +<p>"There must be no ifs," he declared. "You must take me, no matter who +objects. If we cannot bring your mamma around to an amicable way of +thinking, we must elope—that is all there is about it."</p> + +<p>"Elope!" gasped Claire in affright.</p> + +<p>"Why, what else would there be left to do?" he asked, with asperity. "I +love you and I must have you, Claire, and if you are willing to take me, +why, we will marry in spite of anything and everything that opposes.</p> + +<p>"Of course, if your mamma sees things as we do, all well and good; but +I say now to you, her objections must make no difference whatever in our +plans."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Armstrong!" gasped Claire, not knowing what in the world to say +to this ardent lover, who was so impetuous in his wooing.</p> + +<p>Before he could add a word Mrs. Fairfax came down the grand stairway, +her silken gown making a rustling frou-frou upon the velvet carpet.</p> + +<p>She looked much surprised at finding him there, as she had not been +apprised of his coming.</p> + +<p>Kendale arose to greet her in his usual impressive, languid, courteous +fashion, managing to whisper in Claire's ear hastily:</p> + +<p>"Make some excuse to leave the drawing-room for a few minutes, dear, and +while you are gone I will broach the all-important subject to your +mother."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax greeted the handsome young man cordially, pretending not to +have noticed how near to each other they had been sitting upon her +entrance to the drawing-room, and how suddenly they had sprung apart.</p> + +<p>Her daughter's blushing face and confused manner told her that the +propitious moment had arrived—the handsome heir to the Marsh millions +had proposed.</p> + +<p>And underneath her calm exterior Mrs. Fairfax's heart beat high with +exultation. Her quick ear had also caught that rapidly whispered last +remark to Claire, and, realizing that her daughter was too much +flustered to act upon it, gave the young man the opportunity to be alone +with her which he seemed to desire by remarking:</p> + +<p>"Dear me, I have left my fan in my boudoir, Claire, dear, would you mind +ringing for my maid to fetch it to me?"</p> + +<p>"I will go for it, mamma," returned Claire, shyly, without daring to +look at her lover.</p> + +<p>"As you like, my dear," returned Mrs. Fairfax, with very natural +appearing carelessness.</p> + +<p>Claire was gone quite half an hour in search of the fan. When she +returned to the drawing-room her mother met her with open arms.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Armstrong has told me all, my darling," she murmured, "and I give +my consent. You may marry him if you love him, daughter, and quite as +soon as he wishes."</p> + +<p>Kendale left the mansion two hours later with a self-satisfied smile on +his lips.</p> + +<p>"Marrying heiresses is much easier than most men suppose," he +muttered—and he stopped short in the grounds, standing under a tree +until the lights went out one by one, shrouding the house in gloom.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, girl like, Claire had flown to Faynie's apartment to tell +her the wonderful news—that her handsome lover had really proposed and +her mother had given her consent, and she was to be married at once.</p> + +<p>Faynie's swoon had put a stop to confiding to her all the wonderful +things Lester had said. "I will tell her in the morning," she promised +herself, little dreaming what was to transpire ere the morrow dawned.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXIV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>AN AWFUL APPARITION.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When Faynie awoke to consciousness she found the housekeeper bending +over her. Hours had passed and Claire had long since retired to her +room.</p> + +<p>Faynie opened her eyes slowly, in a half-dazed manner, but as she did so +memory returned to her with startling force; but she bravely restrained +the cry that rose to her lips.</p> + +<p>Claire had called her lover "Lester!" She wondered that the sound of +that name had: not stricken her head.</p> + +<p>Could Claire's lover be—Ah! she dared not even imagine such a horrible +possibility. Then she laughed aloud, thinking how foolish she had been +to be so needlessly alarmed.</p> + +<p>The false lover who had wooed and won her so cruelly was not the only +man in the world who bore the fateful name of Lester.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are better, my dear," exclaimed the old housekeeper in great +relief. "Your swoon lasted so long that I was greatly alarmed; What +caused you to faint, my dear child?"</p> + +<p>Faynie murmured some reply which she could not quite catch, for the +housekeeper was old and very deaf.</p> + +<p>"Take this and go to sleep," she said, holding a soothing, quieting +draught to the girl's white, hot, parched lips. "You will awaken as well +as ever to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Faynie did as she was requested, closing her eyes. She was glad when the +kindly old face was turned away and she was left alone—not to sleep, +but to think.</p> + +<p>Of course it could not be Lester Armstrong who was Claire's suitor, for +he was poor, and her haughty stepmother would never encourage the suit +of a man who did not have wealth at his command.</p> + +<p>If Faynie had but read the papers she would have known what was +transpiring, but, alas! she did not and was utterly unaware of the +strange turn of fortune's wheel which had occurred in the life of the +young assistant cashier to whom she had given the wealth of her love, +when he was poor.</p> + +<p>Lying there, going over every detail of, the past, which seemed now but +the idle vagaries of a fleeting dream, she hardly knew, Heaven help her, +whether she still loved—or hated with all the strength of her +nature—Lester Armstrong.</p> + +<p>Her heart would fill with yearning tenderness almost unbearable when she +looked back at the early days of that brief, sweet courtship.</p> + +<p>How strong, noble, true and brave he had seemed—how kind of heart!</p> + +<p>She had seen him pick up a little birdling that had fallen from its +nest, lying with a bruised wing in the dust of the roadside, and restore +it to the mother bird to be nursed back to health and life, and go out +of his way to rescue a butterfly that had fallen in the millpond.</p> + +<p>It seemed like the distorted imagination of some diseased brain to bring +herself to the realization that this same gentle hand that had rescued +the robin and the butterfly had struck her down to death—that the kind, +earnest voice that had been wont to whisper nothing but words of +devotion and eternal love should fling out the vilest and bitterest of +oaths at her, because she was not the heiress he had taken her to be.</p> + +<p>And without one tear, one bitter regret, he had consigned her to that +lonely grave and gone back to the life which he had declared he could +never live without her.</p> + +<p>Where was he now? she wondered vaguely; then she laughed a low, bitter +laugh, sadder than any tears.</p> + +<p>He had missed the fortune he had hoped for and was back again in the +office of Marsh & Co.</p> + +<p>Then the thought came to her again with crushing, alarming force—would +he not (believing her dead and himself free to woo and wed again) seek +out some other heiress, since that was his design? Many young girls came +to the assistant cashier's window just as she had done; he would select +the richest and marry her.</p> + +<p>The very thought seemed to stab her to the heart with a keen, subtle +pain which she could neither understand nor clearly define, even to +herself.</p> + +<p>"Heaven pity her in the hour when she finds that she has been +deceived—that he married her for gold, not love," she sobbed, covering +her face with her little trembling hands.</p> + +<p>She prayed to Heaven silently that Claire's lover, whoever he might be, +was marrying her for love, and for love alone.</p> + +<p>So restless was she that, despite the quieting draught which the +housekeeper had induced her to swallow, she could not sleep.</p> + +<p>But one thing remained for her to do, and that was to get up and dress +and go down to her father's library and read herself into forgetfulness +until day dawned.</p> + +<p>Faynie acted upon the impulse, noting as she stepped from her room into +the corridor that the clock on her mantel chimed the hour of two.</p> + +<p>She had proceeded scarcely half a dozen steps ere she became aware that +she was not alone in the corridor.</p> + +<p>She stopped short.</p> + +<p>The time was when Faynie would have shrieked aloud or swooned from +terror; but she had gone through so many thrilling scenes during the +last few weeks of her eventful young life that fear within her breast +had quite died out.</p> + +<p>Was it only her wild, fanciful imagination, or did she hear the sound of +low breathing? Faynie stood quite still, leaning behind a marble Flora, +and listened.</p> + +<p>Yes, the sound was audible enough now. There was somebody in the +corridor creeping toward the spot where she stood, with swift but +noiseless feet.</p> + +<p>Nearer, nearer the footsteps crept, the soft, low-bated breathing +sounding closer with every step.</p> + +<p>With a presence of mind which few young girls possessed, Faynie +suddenly stepped forward and turned on the gas jet from an electric +button, full head.</p> + +<p>The sight which met her gaze fairly rooted her to the spot.</p> + +<p>For one brief instant of time it seemed to Faynie as though her breath +was leaving her body.</p> + +<p>She stood paralyzed, unable to stir hand or foot, if her very life had +depended upon it.</p> + +<p>Outside the wind blew dismally; the shutters creaked to and fro on their +hinges; the leafless branches of the trees tapped their ghostly fingers +against the panes.</p> + +<p>Faynie tried to speak—to cry out—but her tongue seemed to cleave to +the roof of her mouth, powerless. Her hands fell to her side a dead +weight, her eyes fairly bulging from their sockets.</p> + +<p>It almost seemed to the girl that she was passing through the awful +transition of death.</p> + +<p>The blood in her veins was turning to ice, and the heart in her bosom to +marble.</p> + +<p>In an upper room, afar off, she heard one of the servants coughing +protractedly in her sleep.</p> + +<p>Oh, God! if she could but burst the icy bonds that bound her hand and +foot and cry out—bring the household about her. Her lips opened, but no +sound came from them.</p> + +<p>The very breath in her body seemed dying out with each faint gasp that +broke over the white, mute lips.</p> + +<p>Outside the night winds grew wilder and fiercer. A gust of hail battered +against the window panes and rattled down the wide-throated chimneys. +Then suddenly; all was still again!</p> + +<p>Oh, pitiful heavens! how hard Faynie tried to break the awful bonds that +held her there, still, silent, motionless, unable to move or utter any +sound, staring in horror words cannot picture at the sight that met her +strained gaze.</p> + +<p>It had only been an instant of time since the bright blaze of the gas +had illuminated the darkened corridor, yet it seemed to Faynie, standing +there, white and cold as an image carved in marble, that long years had +passed.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>"I INTEND TO WATCH YOU DIE, INCH BY INCH, DAY BY DAY!"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Before going on further with the thrilling event which we narrated in +our last chapter it will be necessary to devote a few explanatory lines +to the still more thrilling scene which led up to it, returning to the +real Lester Armstrong, whom we left in the isolated cabin in the custody +of Halloran.</p> + +<p>Lester's intense anxiety when Kendale forcibly took the keys from him +and disappeared can better be imagined than described.</p> + +<p>In vain he pleaded with Halloran to release him, offering every kind of +inducement, but the man was inexorable.</p> + +<p>Your Cousin Kendale will pay me twice as much for detaining you here," +he answered with a boisterous laugh, adding:</p> + +<p>"Besides, I have a grudge against you of many years' standing, Lester +Armstrong, which this affair is wiping out pretty effectively."</p> + +<p>"I was not aware that I had ever seen you before," replied Lester.</p> + +<p>"Permit me to refresh your memory," exclaimed the other grimly. "When +you were a boy of about fourteen years you attended the public school on +Canal Street."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Lester, still mystified.</p> + +<p>"At that time," went on Halloran, "the school was unusually crowded, +owing to the enforcement of the law that the children of the +neighborhood must attend school, thus bringing in all the urchins of +the poor thereabouts; you surely remember that?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me I have a faint recollection of some such circumstance," +replied Lester, eying the man who stood over him, his dark, scowling +face growing more foreboding with each word he uttered.</p> + +<p>"If you carry your mind back you will also remember that there was a +ragged boy sitting to the right of you, who seemed to have a weakness +for purloining your pencils and other like articles."</p> + +<p>Lester did not answer; his mind was traveling back to the time this man +recalled.</p> + +<p>"You will also recollect the boy who sat in front of you, who was the +envy of all the boys in the school by being the possessor of a fine, new +five-bladed jackknife, with which he used to whittle kites and whistles +during recess. Ah! I see you do remember," said Halloran grimly, "and +you also remember the day the ragged boy, sitting at the right of you, +believing no one was looking, reached over and quietly, deftly, inserted +his hand in the other's pocket and abstracted the coveted jackknife.</p> + +<p>"He meant to as quietly replace it in the other's pocket after he had +whittled out a kite and whistle for himself; but, lo! without giving him +time to carry out his intentions, you, good boy that you were, squealed +and brought all the teachers in the room to the spot. You cried out to +them what had occurred, and the ragged lad was caught red-handed with +the knife in his possession. He was expelled from the school that day, +but the affair did not end there. The father of the boy who owned the +knife was a great judge, and he caused the ragged lad to be sent to a +State reformatory, where the next five years of his life were spent in +rigid discipline—stigmatized as a common thief! And all these years the +bitterness of a terrible hatred rankled in his bosom against you—who +were responsible for all this.</p> + +<p>"And he vowed a bitter vow of vengeance, that he would repay that act of +yours if it took him a lifetime to accomplish it; that he would make you +suffer like one on the rack for thrice five years, and then tell you +why.</p> + +<p>"It will not take much stretch of imagination for you to surmise, Lester +Armstrong, that I am that boy upon whom you peached, and on whom, +through you, such a severe penalty was inflicted.</p> + +<p>"My hatred against you has intensified as the years rolled on, Lester +Armstrong. You are in my power; I hold your life in my hands. Do you +think if you were to pray to me on your bended knees that I would +release you? No, a thousand times no! Every groan that falls from your +lips is music to my ears.</p> + +<p>"Again I repeat, you are at my mercy, and I will give you a dose of +that same mercy which you showed me in those other days. Ha! you turn +pale, as well you may!</p> + +<p>"Listen! Let me tell you what I intend to do. I think you guess it from +all that has gone on before, but I will repeat it. I intend to watch you +die, inch by inch, day by day!</p> + +<p>"They tell of a man who put himself on exhibition in New York, +challenging the people to come and see him fast forty days, during which +time neither food nor drink should pass his lips.</p> + +<p>"But you will not last so long, Lester Armstrong; I think a week's time +will be your limit. You will understand now how perfectly useless it +would be to plead with me."</p> + +<p>"Do not imagine for one moment that I intend to do so. I am a man of +nerve and iron will, and I can die like one. You have shackled me hand +and foot and placed me in this death trap, but your ears shall not be +greeted with any moans or cries of complaint. The vengeance you have +mapped out will fall short in that."</p> + +<p>A sneer broke from Halloran's lips; he could not help but admire the +dauntless courage of the man before him, but he would not have admitted +it for anything the wide world held. With a fiendish laugh that rang in +Lester's ears for long hours afterward, Halloran turned and left him, +sauntering into the outer room and banging and locking the door after +him.</p> + +<p>It was a night never to be forgotten by Lester to the last day of his +life. His mouth was parched with thirst; the blood in his veins seemed +turning to lava, and his eyes were scorched in their sockets.</p> + +<p>Once the door suddenly opened and Halloran thrust in his head, +exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Let me give you a piece of news to dream over, my dear fellow: Your +Cousin, Kendale, is with the beauteous Faynie just now, probably holding +her in his arms, kissing the lovely rosebud mouth. 'Pon my honor. I envy +the lucky dog; don't you?"</p> + +<p>The door closed quite as quickly again, and Lester was alone with his +bitter thoughts.</p> + +<p>"What have I done that a just God should torture me thus?" he cried out +in an agony so intense that great beads of cold perspiration gathered on +his forehead and rolled unheeded down his white cheeks. "If he tortured +me to the gates of death I could endure it, but the very thought that my +innocent darling, my beautiful, tender little Faynie, is in that +dastardly villain's power, fairly goads me to madness. Oh, Heaven! if I +but had the strength of Samson for but a single hour, to burst these +cruel bonds asunder and fly to my dear one's side!"</p> + +<p>But, struggle as he would, the thongs which bound him, rendering him +powerless to aid the girl he loved, would not give way.</p> + +<p>Thus a fortnight passed, and Halloran was beside himself with wonder to +find each morning that Lester was still alive and that he had not gone +mad.</p> + +<p>But Lester Armstrong's guardian angel had not quite forgotten him; +Heaven had not intended that he should die by thirst and starvation in +that isolated cabin, and served him in a strange, unlooked-for way.</p> + +<p>He soon discovered that a family of squirrels had made a home beneath a +piece of flooring within easy reach of where he lay, and upon forcing up +the piece of rotten plank he found to his intense joy an almost endless +supply of nuts, and close beside their burrow a running stream of clear, +cool, fresh, bubbling spring water.</p> + +<p>In an instant he had slaked his thirst and laved his burning brow.</p> + +<p>From that hour he felt sure that Heaven intended him to escape from his +foes. He took good care, however, to conceal his wonderful discovery +from Halloran's keen, sharp eyes when he looked in each day.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXVI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>A FIENDISH ACT.</h3> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Like some lone bird<br /></span> +<span>Without a mate,<br /></span> +<span>My lonely heart is desolate;<br /></span> +<span>I look around<br /></span> +<span>And cannot trace, a friendly<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>smile, a welcome face.<br /></span> +<span>Even in crowds<br /></span> +<span>I'm still alone, because I<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>cannot love but one."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Thus a fortnight passed, and under the rigid diet of the strengthening, +nutritious nuts and clear spring water Lester rapidly gained strength.</p> + +<p>He only waited a fitting opportunity to make a dash for liberty.</p> + +<p>Halloran was well armed; he realized that fact, and that he would shoot +him down like a dog ere he would suffer him to escape the fate that had +been laid out for him.</p> + +<p>Therefore his only hope was to get away by strategy. He laid several +plans, but each time they were frustrated by some unexpected act of +Halloran's.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the latter was pondering over his case, considerably +mystified.</p> + +<p>"Confound the fellow! he does not seem to grow either pale or +emaciated," he muttered. "I could almost say that starving seems to +agree with him. I am quite tempted to give him his quietus and end this +vigil. Remaining in this solitary hut does not quite come up to my +liking. I wonder what Kendale is doing. He promised to let me know how +he got on.</p> + +<p>"I have not heard from him for nearly a week now. Perhaps they made the +discovery that he was not the real Lester Armstrong, and have placed him +in limbo; but it strikes me that in such a predicament he would hasten +to communicate with me, apprising me of the fact.</p> + +<p>"Then, again," he ruminated, "Kendale is thoroughly selfish to the +backbone, and if he has successfully hoodwinked these people and is +living off the fat of the land and rolling in money, as it were, ten +chances to one he has quite forgotten my very existence.</p> + +<p>"He ought to have sent me more provisions to-day, and more tobacco; and +it is nightfall and no sign of any one."</p> + +<p>The next day and the next passed in the same fashion.</p> + +<p>By this time Halloran had become thoroughly exasperated.</p> + +<p>"This settles the bill," he muttered; "I leave this place to-night. I do +not see much need of staying here any longer, anyhow. Armstrong will not +last many hours longer; he couldn't; it's beyond human physical +possibility."</p> + +<p>In the semi-twilight he looked in at his prisoner.</p> + +<p>Lester had fallen into so deep a sleep that he seemed scarcely to +breathe, and the dim, fading light falling in through the chinks of the +boarded window gave his face, which was beginning to grow pale because +of his confinement, an unusually grayish pallor at this twilight hour.</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha!" muttered Halloran, setting his teeth hard together; "it is +perfectly safe to leave him now. He is dying; his hour has come at +last."</p> + +<p>Turning on his heel he strode into the outer apartment, banging the door +to after him, but not taking the trouble to lock it on this occasion.</p> + +<p>"As there seems to be little need of my remaining here longer, now that +he is done for, I'm off for the city," he muttered; "and a pretty tramp +I'll have of it over this barren country road, fully seven miles to the +railway station, and hungry as a bear at that."</p> + +<p>Again he looked at Lester, to assure himself beyond all possibility of a +doubt that he was actually dying.</p> + +<p>And again he was thoroughly deceived.</p> + +<p>"It's all over with him," he muttered, "and Kendale's secret is safe +between him and me, and he'll have to pay me handsomely to keep it; +that's certain."</p> + +<p>On the threshold he halted.</p> + +<p>"Dead men tell no tales," he muttered, "and he would be past all +recognition by the time any one came across him in this isolated spot. +Then, again, some one might happen to wander this way.</p> + +<p>"It's best to be sure; to put it beyond human power to discover his +identity, and the only way to secure that end is to burn this place. Ay! +that is the surest and safest way to effectually conceal the crime."</p> + +<p>He had muttered the words aloud, and they fell distinctly upon the ears +of Lester Armstrong, who had awakened at the sound of his footsteps the +second time, although he had given no sign of having done so. The words +fell with horrible dread upon his ears because of the fact that he was +bound hand and foot by an iron chain, fastened to a heavy ring in the +floor.</p> + +<p>For the last week he had used every endeavor to force the links apart, +but they had frustrated his most strenuous efforts.</p> + +<p>And he said to himself, if the fiend incarnate before him carried out +his intention of firing the place it would be all over with him. The +horrible smoke would assuredly suffocate him ere he could, even by +exerting the most Herculean strength, succeed in liberating himself.</p> + +<p>With bated breath he heard Halloran enter the outer apartment.</p> + +<p>And he heard his impatient, muttered imprecations as he fumbled about +for matches, seemingly without finding any.</p> + +<p>"This is where I put them," exclaimed Halloran, with an oath, "but they +are not here now."</p> + +<p>After a moment's pause his voice broke the awful stillness, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Ah! here they are! I imagined they were not far away. One should always +know where to put his hands on such things, even in the dark. A whole +bunch of 'em; I did not remember that I had so many!"</p> + +<p>For the next few moments Lester heard him walking to and fro, apparently +dragging heavy articles over the floor, and he knew that he was piling +pieces of boards together in the middle of the room to start the blaze.</p> + +<p>His blood fairly ran cold in his veins at the thought.</p> + +<p>The moments that followed seemed the length of eternity.</p> + +<p>Each instant he expected to hear the dull scratching of the matches, +quickly followed by the swift, crackling blaze.</p> + +<p>With all his strength he strove to rend asunder the heavy steel chain, +but it resisted his every effort.</p> + +<p>"God in heaven! am I to die here like a rat in a trap?" he groaned, the +veins standing out like knotted whipcord on his forehead, the +perspiration pouring down his face like rain.</p> + +<p>For some moments there was a strange, unaccountable silence in the outer +room.</p> + +<p>Lester paused in his efforts to wrench the iron bands asunder which +bound his wrists, wondering what that ominous silence meant.</p> + +<p>The suspense was terrible, yet each moment meant that much of a respite +from the horrible fate which awaited him.</p> + +<p>What could Halloran be doing? Surely he had not abandoned his intentions +to set fire to the cabin?</p> + +<p>It was almost too good to be true. And yet that awful uncertainty was +almost unbearable.</p> + +<p>In the outer room Halloran sat quietly thinking over his plans, match in +hand, telling himself that he had better perfect them then than wait +until he was journeying toward the railway station.</p> + +<p>He would take the first train bound for New York, seek Kendale at once, +and have an understanding with him before he would disclose to him the +fact that Lester Armstrong was effectually out of his way.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the only course to pursue," muttered Halloran, and +springing to his feet, he struck half of the matches in his package at +once, and lighted the pile heaped in the center of the cabin floor.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXVII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>HALLORAN MEETS WITH HIS REWARD.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In an instant after the match had been applied a fiery tongue of flame +leaped to the ceiling, lighting the interior of the cabin with a +blinding glare of red light.</p> + +<p>Seizing his hat, Halloran dashed from the place and down the road, never +pausing until he had reached the fork of the roads. Then he stopped for +breath and looked back over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>A high ridge of ground intervened, completely hiding the doomed place +from his view.</p> + +<p>He did not even behold the column of fire and smoke, as he had +anticipated.</p> + +<p>"Those old boards are so damp that it will probably take some time to +ignite them, and there's no use waiting to see that," he muttered. "I +will be well on my way to the railway station by that time."</p> + +<p>He redoubled his speed to get as far away from the scene as possible, +for, villain though he was, this was his first actual crime, and his +conscience troubled him a little.</p> + +<p>Another mile or more he traversed through the heavy snow; then he +suddenly became conscious that there were rapidly approaching footsteps +behind him.</p> + +<p>Great heavens! had Lester Armstrong succeeded in making his escape? No, +it could not be. Even if so, he was too weak to run in that rapid +fashion. Involuntarily he paused and glanced backward over his shoulder. +The next instant a wild, panting cry of mortal terror broke from his +lips.</p> + +<p>In that backward glance he had beheld a huge black bear, making rapidly +toward the spot where he stood, fairly paralyzed with horror.</p> + +<p>It dawned upon him suddenly that only a few days before he had read of +the escape of one of the most ferocious black bears of the zoological +gardens, and, though two days had elapsed and men were scouring all +parts of the adjacent places, no trace of the animal had been found, and +great fears were expressed of the grave damage the bear might do before +he was recaptured.</p> + +<p>This was undoubtedly the animal that had escaped which was making toward +him with great leaps and savage growls, as though it had already marked +him for its prey.</p> + +<p>His teeth chattered like castanets; his eyes fairly bulged from their +sockets; the breath came in hot gasps from his white lips; his brain +reeled, as he took in, in that rapid glance of horror, his awful doom.</p> + +<p>Nearer and nearer sounded the hoarse, awful growls; nearer and nearer +moved the huge black mass over the white, crunching snow.</p> + +<p>The moon was slowly rising over the horizon, rendering all objects +clearly distinct to his frightened gaze.</p> + +<p>He was passing through a narrow belt of woodland, and like an +inspiration it occurred to him that his only hope of escape lay in +climbing one of the trees and thus outwitting the bear.</p> + +<p>He saw with sinking heart that they were scarcely more than saplings, +and whether or not they would bear his weight without snapping in twain +he dared not even pause to consider.</p> + +<p>With a groan of mortal terror he sprang for the nearest tree. Fright +seemed to lend him wonderful strength and agility; he succeeded in +reaching the lowest limb as the animal, with glittering eyes and widely +distended jaws, reached the tree.</p> + +<p>Up, up, crept Halloran, his teeth chattering, his strength almost +leaving him as the animal's roar of baffled rage fell upon his ear.</p> + +<p>To and fro bent the sapling under his weight, threatening to snap +asunder each moment and cast him into the jaws of the enraged beast.</p> + +<p>The hours that followed were of such keen, mortal terror that he vaguely +wondered that he did not lose his reason through fright.</p> + +<p>With fascinated eyes he watched the antics of the thoroughly enraged +animal. The bear made many efforts to climb the tree in pursuit of his +prey, but the swaying sapling was too slender to give him a hold, and +its bark too slippery with its coating of ice to insert the claws, which +had been clipped quite close, rendering them almost powerless in taking +a firm grasp.</p> + +<p>The night had closed in intensely cold, and Halloran could feel his +cramped limbs and hands slowly stiffening, but he dared not lose his +grip.</p> + +<p>The moon rose higher and higher in the night sky, shedding a white, +clear, bright light over the snow-clad earth.</p> + +<p>He knew that the animal was watching his every movement closely, as each +time he shifted his position brought a savage growl from the bear, which +was circling round and round the tree, eying him intently.</p> + +<p>For long hours this lasted, until the half frozen man, hanging on for +dear life to the upper branches of the sapling, thought he should go +mad.</p> + +<p>With the coming of daylight the bear changed his tactics, lying down +directly under the tree, still eying his prey with his small, beady, +expectant eyes, as though measuring the time that his victim could hold +out.</p> + +<p>The daylight grew stronger; slowly in the eastern horizon the red sun +rose, gilding the white, glistening snow with its rosy light.</p> + +<p>Hour by hour it climbed the blue azure height, crossed the zenith, and +then slowly sank behind the western hills, heralding the oncoming of +another night.</p> + +<p>Still the brute, with almost incredible cunning, sat in the same +position under the tree, watching Halloran's every move.</p> + +<p>"God rescue me!" he cried, lifting his white face to the Heaven he had +so offended.</p> + +<p>"If I pass another night here I shall go mad—mad!"</p> + +<p>He was famished with hunger, numb with cold, and his mouth and throat +were dry with unconquerable thirst.</p> + +<p>In those hours of suffering he thought of Lester Armstrong, and of the +awful fate he had doomed him to. He realized by his own experience of a +few hours what he must have endured, and a bitter groan of remorse broke +from his clammy lips.</p> + +<p>"This is Heaven's punishment," he cried. "Oh, Lester Armstrong. God has +surely avenged you! If I could but atone; if it were to be done over +again, I would have no hand in the atrocious crime that has dyed my +hands just as surely as though I had plunged a knife into your heart!"</p> + +<p>In his haste on leaving the cabin he had not taken time to secure his +revolver; he had no weapon; he was doomed to meet the same fate that he +had meted out to Lester Armstrong—starve to death slowly, hour by +hour—knowing that when he was too weak to hold longer to the branch he +would fall.</p> + +<p>Oh, God in heaven! fall into the gaping jaws of the enraged animal that +was waiting to receive him.</p> + +<p>He had led too wicked a life to pray; he did not know a prayer; he could +only raise his agonized eyes to the far-off sky, wondering how long his +awful torture could last-how long he would be able to hold out—how +long.</p> + +<p>He felt his blood slowly turning to ice in his veins, and slowly and +surely the dusk deepened and the darkness of another night fell over the +world.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXVIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>"SOME TERRIBLE PRESENTIMENT IS WARNING ME THAT MY DARLING IS IN DANGER."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>There never was a night so long that another day did not dawn—at +last—and when the morrow's light broke, Halloran was slowly but surely +collapsing—giving himself up to the horrible doom that awaited him—for +the bear had not quitted his position under the tree, nor had he taken +his eyes off his intended victim for a single moment.</p> + +<p>As the sun rose, Halloran watched it with dazed, bloodshot eyes, +exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Good-by, golden sun, I shall never see you set, nor witness you rise +again upon another day. I—" the sentence was never finished, for over +the snowy waste rang a voice like a bugle blast:</p> + +<p>"Keep quiet, take heart, help is at hand; I am going to shoot the animal +and deliver you," and simultaneously with the voice four shots in rapid +succession rang out upon the early morning air.</p> + +<p>There was a wild howl of pain, a terrible roaring bellow, a sudden dash +toward a dark figure hurriedly approaching, two more shots, and the bear +rolled over dying beyond power to harm, his red blood dyeing the white +snow in great pools. Halloran knew no more. His strength and endurance +seemed suddenly to leave him, darkness closed in about him, his hold +loosened and he fell backward down, down through space.</p> + +<p>He did not know that a pair of strong arms caught him, thus saving him +from a broken neck. When he opened his eyes a few moments later, to his +intense surprise he found Lester Armstrong bending over him, and the +sight rendered him fairly dumb with amazement.</p> + +<p>Before he could ask questions that sprang to his lips, Lester explained +to him that owing to the dampness of the place, the fire Halloran had +kindled had quickly gone out, thus saving the young man from being +burned to death. He told him, too, why death had not come to him through +starvation, as had been intended, and that it had taken him all that +time to force apart the links of the chain, when he found that there was +no one to hear or prevent, no matter how much noise he made in so doing.</p> + +<p>He had seen the revolver, which had been forgotten, and little imagining +it would be of such vital use, had thrust it in his pocket and started +forth to make his way back to New York, when he unexpectedly came upon +the scene of the bear under the tree, and a fellow-being in deadly +peril.</p> + +<p>"You saved me—me," cried Halloran, huskily, "your deadly foe, who +tried to rob you of your life."</p> + +<p>"It was my duty, 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,'" quoted Lester, +quietly.</p> + +<p>Halloran fell on his knees, covering the other's hands with passionate +kisses, tears falling like rain from his eyes.</p> + +<p>"From this hour the life that you have saved shall be devoted to +you—and God!" he cried brokenly. "Oh, will Heaven ever forgive me for +the past? There are two bullets left in the revolver; you ought to shoot +me dead at your feet, Lester Armstrong. I deserve it."</p> + +<p>Lester shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Do better with your life than you have done in the past," he said.</p> + +<p>Halloran tried to rise to his feet, but fell back exhausted on the snow.</p> + +<p>"I cannot walk," he gasped. "I—I am sure my limbs are frozen."</p> + +<p>With a humane kindness that won him Halloran's gratitude to his dying +day, Lester helped him to the railway station, and to board the incoming +train, taking him to a hospital when they reached New York City.</p> + +<p>Halloran had lapsed into unconsciousness, but Lester was too kind of +heart to desert him in his hour of need.</p> + +<p>The clock was striking five as Lester left the hospital.</p> + +<p>On the pavement he paused, asking himself if he could go to a hotel +presenting that soiled, unkempt appearance. Then like an inspiration it +occurred to him that the best place in the world to go to was Mr. +Conway's; and he put the thought into execution at once, reaching there +nearly an hour later.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway and Margery were just sitting down to breakfast as he rang +the bell of the humble little cottage.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway answered the summons.</p> + +<p>The scene which followed can better be imagined than described.</p> + +<p>It was hard to convince father and daughter, at first, that in telling +his story he was not attempting to play some practical joke upon them.</p> + +<p>That he had a cousin who so cleverly resembled him that even those who +had known Lester intimately for long years should be so cleverly +deceived by him seemed almost incredible. Margery hid her face in her +trembling hands while her father gave Lester a full account of what had +transpired, while the latter's emotion was great; and his distress +intense, upon learning that Kendale had dared betroth himself to Margery +in his name, and that the gentle-hearted girl had learned to care for +the scamp, despite her repugnance to him at first.</p> + +<p>Lester thought it best, under the circumstances, to confide in full to +Margery and her father concerning his own love affair, lest they might +expect him to carry out the contract his cousin had made in regard to +marrying his old friend's pretty daughter.</p> + +<p>Margery's next words, however, set his troubled heart at rest in that +respect.</p> + +<p>She looked up at him suddenly through her tears, saying shyly:</p> + +<p>"There is another who cares for me, not knowing of this affair, one whom +I once thought I could love. Yesterday he wrote me a letter, asking for +my heart and hand.</p> + +<p>"Last night I wrote him a reply, saying 'No,' and telling him why. I +shall destroy that letter to-night, thankful enough that I did not have +time to send it. And my answer will then be 'Yes.'"</p> + +<p>"You have my best wishes for your happiness, little Margery," said +Lester, adding smilingly: "And when; the wedding occurs, which I hope +will be soon, you may, expect a very handsome present from me."</p> + +<p>Long after Mr. Conway and his unexpected visitor had finished their +simple breakfast, they talked over the strange situation of affairs, and +what was best to be done to avoid great publicity.</p> + +<p>"The bogus Lester Armstrong went to Beechwood last night," said the old +cashier. "He probably will remain there, as is his custom, until to-day +noon. You had better confront him there; meanwhile I will break the +amazing story to those of the establishment whom it is absolutely +necessary to tell. The rest of the employees and the public at large +need never know of the glaring fraud that was so cleverly practised +under their very eyes."</p> + +<p>Lester had sprung to his feet trembling with excitement, at the +information that Kendale had gone to the home of Faynie, despite the +fact that Mr. Conway had assured him that Kendale was not married.</p> + +<p>"Only yesterday he told me he contemplated marriage with a little +heiress out at Beechwood, and if his wooing went on smoothly he would be +a benedict in a few days' time—those were his exact words!" declared +Mr. Conway.</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven the mischief has not yet been done," cried Lester, +fervently.</p> + +<p>He would have started for Beechwood at once, had it not been for Mr. +Conway, who induced him to lie down for a few hours and take a little +much-needed rest, explaining that he could not go in that apparel, and +it would take some little time to secure suitable raiment, and renovate +his appearance.</p> + +<p>Lester yielded to his judgment.</p> + +<p>Neither Mr. Conway nor Margery had the heart to awaken him, as hour +after hour rolled by; he seemed so thoroughly exhausted and his deep +sleep was doing him such a world of good, although the complete outfit +which Mr. Conway had sent for had long since arrived.</p> + +<p>It was night when Lester opened his eyes—imagining his surroundings for +the moment but the idle vagaries of a dream.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway's kindly, solicitous face bending over him soon brought him +to his senses, and a remembrance of all that had occurred.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Conway! You should not have let me sleep," he cried. "I ought +to have been at Beechwood hours ago; something in my heart—some +terrible presentiment is warning me that my darling is in danger!"</p> + +<p>"You are only fanciful," returned his old friend. "Anxiety makes you +imagine that."</p> + +<p>"I hope it may prove as you say," replied Lester, huskily, and in an +hour's time he was on his way to Beechwood and Faynie.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXIX'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h3>"GREAT GOD, IT IS A GHOST—THE GHOST OF FAYNIE!"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>We must now return to Faynie, and the thrilling position in which we so +reluctantly left her.</p> + +<p>As the bright blaze of light illumined the corridor Faynie beheld the +dark form of a man creeping toward her.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! Some one must have touched an electric button +somewhere—the wrong button!" he cried, instantly springing behind a +marble Flora—but not before Faynie had distinctly beheld him, being +herself unseen, because she was standing in the dense shadow.</p> + +<p>"It is he! It is Lester Armstrong!" was the cry that sprang from her +terrified heart to her lips, but no sound issued from them as they +parted.</p> + +<p>She leaned back faint and dizzy against the wall, unable to utter even +the faintest sound. "So this is Claire's lover—the Lester she told me +about—whom she is soon to marry! The dastardly wretch who wrecked my +life and left me for dead under the cold, drifting snow heap," was the +thought that flashed through her dazed brain as she watched him, with +bated breath and dilated eyes.</p> + +<p>"It was only a false alarm; nobody would be roaming through the corridor +of this place at this ghostly hour!" he muttered, sallying forth. "It +seems that I was more scared than hurt on this occasion. Now for the +library, to find that sum of money which my foolish +mamma-in-law-that-is-to-be mentioned having placed there. It's a daring +risk, stealing into the house like a thief in the night to search for +it, but there's no other way to get it, and money I must have without +delay.</p> + +<p>"It's mighty dangerous going through this corridor in this bright light. +I wish I knew where to turn it off; the chandelier is too high or I'd do +it in that way. I'm liable to be seen at any moment, if any one should +take it into their head to come down through the house for any reason +whatsoever."</p> + +<p>The next moment he had disappeared within the library, closing the door +neatly to after him. The next moment he had lighted the shaded night +lamp that stood on the table.</p> + +<p>Turning out the gas in the corridor, Faynie glided forward like a +shadow, and, reaching the library, noiselessly pushed open the door, +which he had left slightly ajar.</p> + +<p>"What was he doing here?" she wondered vaguely, her eyes blazing with +fierce indignation as she stood there considering what her next action +should be. He decided, the question by exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Ha! This is the little iron safe she mentioned: of course the money is +here, and the will is probably here, too, for that matter, which states +that all of the Fairfax fortune goes to the old lady—which means the +pretty Claire ultimately. Well, the more money the better; there is no +one more competent to make it fly at a gay pace than myself. A prince of +the royal blood couldn't go at a faster pace than I have been going +during these last three weeks! Ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p>In a moment he was kneeling before the safe. To his intense satisfaction +the knob yielded to his deft touch.</p> + +<p>"I shall have less trouble than I anticipated," he muttered, with a +little chuckle.</p> + +<p>Faynie stood motionless, scarcely three feet behind him, watching him +intently, with horror-stricken eyes and glued tongue.</p> + +<p>She saw him take a roll of bills, and after carefully counting them, +transfer them to his pocket.</p> + +<p>Heirlooms, too, in the way of a costly diamond stud, sleeve links, and +massive watch and chain, which had been her father's, went the same way.</p> + +<p>Faynie seemed incapable of interfering.</p> + +<p>"Now we will soon determine what else there is here of importance—my +time cannot be more profitably spent than by informing myself."</p> + +<p>Paper after paper he carefully unfolded, glancing quickly through their +contents, and as quickly tossing them back into the safe.</p> + +<p>Evidently he had not yet found that for which he was searching so +intently.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he came across a large square envelope, the words on which +seemed to arrest his attention at once. And in a whispered, yet +distinctly audible voice, he read the words:</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"Horace Fairfax, last message to his wife—dated March 22, 18—."</p></div> + +<p>"Why that is the very date upon which he died," muttered Kendale. "This +must have been written just before he committed suicide. Well, we will +see what he had to say."</p> + +<p>And slowly he read, half aloud, as follows:</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"MY DEAR WIFE: When you read the words here penned I shall be no + more. I know your heart will be most bitter against me for what I + have just done, but, realizing that my end was near, I have done it + for the best.</p> + +<p> "I refer to the making of my will.</p> + +<p> "When a man sees death before him, he naturally wishes to see those + nearest and dearest to him provided for, so far as he is able to do + so.</p> + +<p> "You will remember distinctly the conversation we had at the time I + proposed marriage to you. I reminded you that I was a widower, + with a daughter whom I loved far better than the apple of my eye.</p> + +<p> "I told you that this daughter would succeed to all my wealth, if + she lived, when time was no more with me; that no being on earth + could ever change my views in this regard—ay, in fulfilling my + duty.</p> + +<p> "I asked you to marry me, knowing fully my intention in this + matter, stating at the time that I would give you in cash an ample + sum of money, which, if used frugally and judiciously, should last + you the remainder of your natural life, providing you outlived me.</p> + +<p> "You accepted me under those conditions; you married me, and I, as + agreed, gave to you in a lump sum the money stipulated.</p> + +<p> "It is needless to recall to you the fact that our wedded life has + been a failure. You have made my life miserable—ay, and that of my + sweet, motherless, tender little Faynie, until, in sheer + desperation, she has fled from her home on the night I write this, + and my grief is more poignant than I can well endure.</p> + +<p> "You must feign neither surprise nor indignation when it is learned + that my will gives all my fortune to Faynie, save the amount set + aside for you.</p> + +<p> "HORACE FAIRFAX."</p></div> + +<p>"Well! By all that's wonderful, if this isn't a pretty how-do-you-do. +Mrs. Fairfax and her girl are penniless, and I came so near marrying +Claire. I have found this thing out quite in the nick of time. The girl +is clever enough, but it takes money, and plenty of it, to make me put +my head into the yoke of matrimony.</p> + +<p>"I must find this will he speaks of. It will be here unless the woman +has been shrewd enough to destroy it, and women never are clever enough +to burn their telltale bridges which lie behind them, and that's how +they get found out—at last.</p> + +<p>"I see through the whole thing now. Mrs. Fairfax trumped up a will in +favor of herself, a brilliant scheme. I admire her grit immensely. Ah, +yes, here is the real will, in the same handwriting as the letter. Yes, +it gives all to his daughter Faynie. And here is the spurious one, a +good imitation, I admit, still an expert could easily detect the +handwriting of Mrs. Fairfax from beginning to end—signature and all.</p> + +<p>"I think I will take charge of this one giving all the Fairfax wealth to +Faynie."</p> + +<p>But he did not succeed in transferring it to his pocket, for like a +flash it was snatched from his hand.</p> + +<p>With a horrible oath, Kendale wheeled about.</p> + +<p>One glance, and his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets, his face grew +ashen white, his teeth chattered, and the blood in his veins seemed +suddenly to turn to ice.</p> + +<p>"Great Heaven! It is a ghost!" he yelled at the top of his voice; "the +ghost of Faynie!"</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXX'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h3>AT THE LAST.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The sound of that hoarse, piercing, awful cry echoed and re-echoed to +every portion of the house, and in less time than it takes to relate it, +the servants in a body, headed by Mrs. Fairfax and Claire, were rushing +toward the library, from whence the sound proceeded.</p> + +<p>One glance as they reached the open doorways, and a cry of consternation +broke from Mrs. Fairfax's lips, which was faintly echoed by her daughter +Claire.</p> + +<p>The servants were too astounded at the sight that met their gaze to +believe the evidence of their own eyes.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax was the first to recover herself.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this!" she exclaimed, striding forward and +facing Faynie and the horror-stricken man who stood facing her, his +teeth chattering, as he muttered:</p> + +<p>"It is her ghost!—her ghost!"</p> + +<p>"Faynie Fairfax, why do I find you here, in the library, in the dead of +the night, in the company of the man who is to wed my daughter Claire, +and who parted from her scarcely two hours since, supposedly to leave +the house? Why are you two here together! Explain this most +extraordinary and most atrocious scene at once. I command you!" she +cried, her voice rising to a shrill scream in her rising anger.</p> + +<p>Faynie turned a face toward her white as a marble statue, but no word +broke from her lips.</p> + +<p>The presence of the others seemed to bring Kendale back to his senses.</p> + +<p>"It means," spoke Faynie, after a full moment's pause, "that the hour +has come in which I must confess to all gathered here the pitiful story +I have to tell, and which will explain what has long been an unsolved +mystery to you—where, how and with whom I spent the time from the hour +in which I left this roof until I returned to it.</p> + +<p>"You say that this is the man who is your daughter's lover, Mrs. +Fairfax—the man who is soon to marry Claire.</p> + +<p>"I declare that this marriage can never be, because this man has a +living wife," she cried, in a high, clear voice.</p> + +<p>"It is false!" shrieked Kendale. "The girl I married in the old church +is dead—dead, I tell you. I—I saw her buried with my own eyes!"</p> + +<p>"She is not dead, for I am that unfortunate girl," answered Faynie, in a +voice that trembled with agonized emotion.</p> + +<p>"Listen all, while I tell my story," she sobbed. "Surely the saddest, +most pitiful story a young girl ever had to tell."</p> + +<p>Then, in a panting voice, she told her horrified listeners all, from the +beginning to the very end, omitting not the slightest detail, dwelling +with a pathos that brought tears to every eye, of how she had loved him +up to the very hour he had come for her to elope with him; her horror +and fear of him growing more intense because of the marriage he forced +her into, with the concealed revolver pressed so close to her heart she +dared not disobey his slightest command.</p> + +<p>And how the conviction grew upon her that he was marrying her for wealth +only, and the inspiration that came to her to test his so-called love by +telling him that she had been disinherited, though she was confident +that her father had made his will in her favor, leaving her his entire +fortune.</p> + +<p>Dwelling with piteous sobs on how he had then and there struck her down +to death, as he supposed, and that he had made all haste to make away +with her; and that she would at that moment have been lying in an +unmarked grave, under the snowdrifts, if Heaven had not most +miraculously interfered and saved her.</p> + +<p>Faynie ended her thrilling recital by adding that she had not known, +until that hour, that this man was Claire's lover, because they had +refrained from mentioning the name of the man in her presence. How she +had come to the library in search of a book and had encountered him +stealing through the halls, a veritable thief in the dead of the night, +bent upon securing a sum of money which he had learned in some way was +in the safe, and that he now had it in his pocket, and that she had +prevented him from securing her father's will by snatching it from his +grasp.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax had fallen back, trembling like an aspen leaf. She +recognized her husband's will in Faynie's hands, and that, although the +girl did not say so before the servants, she knew her treachery.</p> + +<p>"Come, Claire, my child," she said, turning to her daughter, "this is no +place for you."</p> + +<p>But Claire did not stir; she stood quite still, looking from the one to +the other, as though she could not fully comprehend all that she saw and +heard.</p> + +<p>By this time Kendale had recovered from his shock, and as he listened to +Faynie's recital, realized that she was not indeed a ghost, but the +heiress of the Fairfax millions, and his own wife at that. And when he +found his voice he cried out:</p> + +<p>"The girl tells the truth! She is mine, and as her husband I am lord and +master of this house, and of her."</p> + +<p>As he uttered the words he strode toward Faynie with a diabolical +chuckle, and seized her slender wrists in his grasp.</p> + +<p>"Unhand me!" shrieked Faynie, struggling frantically in his grasp, +almost fainting with terror.</p> + +<p>"No one dares interfere between man and wife," replied Kendale, +mockingly.</p> + +<p>He did not see three dark forms spring over the threshold, thrusting the +servants hastily aside.</p> + +<p>But in less time than it takes to tell it, a strong arm thrust him +aside, and a tall form sprang between him and Faynie, while a voice that +struck terror to his very soul cried out:</p> + +<p>"You have come to the end of your rope, Clinton Kendale. You have lost +the game, while it was almost in your grasp!"</p> + +<p>"Great Heaven, is it you, Lester Armstrong!" cried the guilty villain, +fairly quivering with terror. "Oh, Lester, have pity—have mercy—I—"</p> + +<p>"You shall have the same quality of mercy dealt out to you that you have +meted out to others!" replied Lester, sternly.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Kendale wrenched himself free from his grasp, crying out, +hoarsely and triumphantly:</p> + +<p>"I am game yet. I have married the girl you love. She is my lawfully +wedded wife. I have lost the Marsh millions, but you are checkmated, +Lester Armstrong. I have the Fairfax fortune, and your Faynie!"</p> + +<p>"Don't delude yourself into believing so prettily an arranged scheme," +exclaimed a voice from the doorway, and a woman whom Kendale had not +noticed among the crowd before glided hastily forward, threw back her +veil, confronting the villain.</p> + +<p>"Gertrude!" he cried aghast, staggering back.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Gertrude, your wife," she replied. "Your wife, though you tried +hard to induce me to go to Dakota and secure a divorce from you. I had +instituted it and would soon have obtained it had I not read in the +papers of the great fortune you had fallen into, for you had told me +your cousin Lester Armstrong was dead, and you were to take his name and +place as assistant cashier—no one knowing of his death, and you could +easily pass yourself off for him owing to your wonderful resemblance to +each other.</p> + +<p>"For my sake," she added, "Mr. Armstrong has promised to let you go +free, providing you go with me."</p> + +<p>"It is false!" shouted Kendale. "All you say is a lie, woman!"</p> + +<p>"The man who accompanied us to the altar a year ago is here," he said. +"He has with him my marriage certificate," pointing toward some one on +the threshold, adding, "come forward, please."</p> + +<p>And Halloran, who had left a sickbed to accompany her, came slowly +forward.</p> + +<p>"So you are against me, too!" cried Kendale. "Then all is up, indeed. I +acknowledge that all that has been said is true. I had a few weeks of a +gay, merry life, and I'm not sorry, either. Come, Gertrude!"</p> + +<p>And without a backward glance they slowly left the Fairfax mansion.</p> + +<p>The reuniting of Faynie and her lover was extremely affecting, and +within an hour a minister was called in who made them one forevermore.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter were offered a home for life, but they +chose to leave the following day. Faynie and Lester had gone through +many thrilling experiences, but were happily reunited—at last.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4>THE END.</h4> + + + +<br /> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<br /> + +<div class='advert'><p>No. 1113 of <b>The New Eagle Series</b>, entitled "In +Love's Name," by Emma Garrison Jones, is a story that tells of a romance that, after many +sufferings, ends in a happy marriage feast.</p></div> + + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<br /> + +<h2>HAVE YOU READ</h2> + +<h1><b>Love Story</b></h1> + +<h2>MAGAZINE</h2> + +<h1><b>?</b></h1> + +<div class='advert'><p>If not, you have a treat in store for you.</p> + +<p>LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is devoted to the publication of clean, wholesome +romances.</p> + +<p>LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is developing a staff of writers each of which is +destined to become famous.</p> + +<p>LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is really so good that it deserves your immediate +investigation—that is, if you like a <i>good</i> love story.</p></div> + +<center>PRICE 15 CENTS</center> + +<center>Published Semimonthly</center> + +<center>A Street & Smith Publication</center> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<br /> +<a name='GARVICE'></a><h1>GARVICE</h1> + +<h2>The Love-Story King</h2> + +<div class='advert'><p>Look up the books by Charles Garvice, in the New Eagle Series. There are +many of them, but not a dull one in the lot.</p> + +<p>So, if you want a splendid love story with a dash of adventure +interwoven, investigate the works of Charles Garvice, the king of +love-story writers.</p> + +<p>Novels by unknown authors are virtually foisted upon the public by +certain book publishers. If the books succeed, the public pays; if not, +the publisher does and tries all over again.</p> + +<p>Why take a chance of getting two cents' worth of reading for two +dollars, when you can get two dollars' worth for twenty cents, every +time, without risk?</p> + +<p>Your dealer has or will be glad to get the Garvice books for you. Ask +him.</p></div> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<br /> +<a name='WOMEN'></a><h1>WOMEN!</h1> + +<div class='advert'><p>How many of you have heard of Mrs. Hungerford, or, as she is more +popularly known,</p></div> + +<h1>The Duchess?</h1> + +<div class='advert'><p>Her novels are really masterpieces of English literature and of intense +interest to every class and creed.</p> + +<p>Unlike so many modern authors, "The Duchess" did not have to descend +into the pit for material to make her novels popular. She relied mainly +upon her knowledge of human nature—that things clean always attract. In +the case of her books she was right; millions of them have been sold.</p> + +<p>Ask your dealer to get some of The Duchess' works in the Select library +for you. Then prepare for the best reading treat you ever enjoyed.</p></div> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13740 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/13740-h/images/faynie.jpg b/13740-h/images/faynie.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..828c64a --- /dev/null +++ b/13740-h/images/faynie.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3415b15 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13740 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13740) diff --git a/old/13740-8.txt b/old/13740-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a19741e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13740-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6062 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mischievous Maid Faynie, by Laura Jean Libbey + + +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: Mischievous Maid Faynie + +Author: Laura Jean Libbey + +Release Date: October 13, 2004 [eBook #13740] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE*** + + +E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg Distributed +Proofreaders + + + +MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE + +Author's Special Edition + +by + +LAURA JEAN LIBBEY + +Author of _Ione_, _Parted By Fate_, _Sweet Kitty Clover_, etc. + +1899 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover of Mischievous Maid Faynie] + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LOVER'S TRYST. + + +It was five o'clock on a raw, gusty February afternoon. All that day and +all the night before it had been snowing hard. New York lay buried +beneath over two feet of its cold white mantle, and with the gathering +dusk a fierce hurricane set in, proclaiming the approach of the terrible +blizzard which had been predicted. + +On this afternoon, which was destined to be so memorable, two young men +were breasting the sleet and hail, which tore down Broadway with +demoniac glee, as though amused that the cable cars were stalled fully a +mile along the line, and the people were obliged to get out and walk, +facing the full fury of the elements, if they hoped to arrive at their +destinations that night. + +It could easily be ascertained by the gray, waning light that both young +men were tall, broad-shouldered and handsome of face, bearing a +striking resemblance to one another. + +They were seldom in each other's company, but those who saw them thus +jumped naturally to the conclusion that they were twin brothers; but +this was a great mistake; they were only cousins. One was Clinton +Kendale, whom everybody was speaking of as "the rage of New York," the +handsomest actor who had ever trod the metropolitan boards, the idol of +the matinee girls, and the greatest attraction the delighted managers +had gotten hold of for years. + +His companion was of not much consequence, only Lester Armstrong, +assistant cashier in the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., on upper +Broadway. + +He had entered their employ as a cashboy; had grown to manhood in their +service, and he had no further hope for the future, save to remain in +his present position by strict application, proving himself worthy of a +greater opportunity if the head cashier ever chose to retire. + +He lived in the utmost simplicity, was frugal, dressed with unusual +plainness, and put by money. + +He hadn't a relative on earth, save his handsome, debonair cousin, who +never sought him out save when he wanted to borrow money of him. + +Clint Kendale's salary was fifty dollars per week, but that did not go +far toward paying his bills at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, keeping a fast +horse and giving wine suppers. In his early youth he had begun the pace +he was now going. He had received a fine collegiate education, and at +his majority stepped into the magnificent fortune his parents had left +him. It took him just one year to run through it, then, penniless, he +came from Boston to New York and sought out his poor cousin. Lester +Armstrong succeeded in getting a position for Kendale with the same firm +with which he was employed, but at the end of the first week Clinton +Kendale threw it up with disgust, declaring that what he had gone +through these six days was too much for him. He had rather die than +work. + +He borrowed a hundred dollars from his Cousin Lester and suddenly +disappeared. When he was next heard from he blossomed out, astonishing +all New York as the handsomest society actor who had ever graced the +metropolitan boards, and caused a furore. + +There was another great difference between the two cousins, and that was +a heart; just one of them possessed it, and that one was Lester +Armstrong. + +On this particular afternoon Kendale had lain in wait for his cousin at +the entrance of Marsh & Co.'s to waylay him when he came from the +office. He must see him, he told himself, and Lester must let him have +another loan. + +Lester Armstrong was glad from the bottom of his true, honest heart to +see him, but his brow clouded over with a troubled expression when he +learned that he wanted to borrow five hundred dollars. That amount +seemed small, indeed, to the lordly Kendale, but to Lester it meant +months of toil and rigid self-denial. + +"Come into the café, and while we lunch I will explain to you why I must +have it, old fellow," said Kendale, always ready with some plausible +story on his glib tongue. + +"Haven't time now," declared Armstrong. "I must catch the five-twenty +train from the Grand Central Depot; haven't a moment to lose. I will be +back on the nine o'clock train. If you will come over to my lodging +house then I'll talk with you. I cannot let you have the sum you want. +I'll tell you why then, and you will readily understand my position. Ah, +this is your corner. We part here. Wish me luck on the trip I am about +to take, for I never had more need for your good wishes." + +"You are not going off to be married, I hope?" exclaimed Kendale in the +greatest of astonishment. + +A light-hearted, happy, ringing laugh broke from Armstrong's mustached +lips, the color rushed into his face, and his brown eyes twinkled +merrily. + +"There's the dearest little girl in all the world in the case," he +admitted, "but I haven't time to tell you about it now. I'll see you +later." + +With this remark he plunged forward into the gathering gloom, leaving +Clinton Kendale standing motionless gazing after him in the greatest +surprise. But the cold was too intense for him to remain there but an +instant; then wheeling about, he hastily struck into a side street, +muttering between his teeth: + +"He must let me have that five hundred dollars, or I am ruined. I must +have it from him by fair means or foul, ere the light of another day +dawns. I've borrowed a cool two thousand from him in four months. I +wonder how much more he has laid by? I must have that five hundred, no +matter what I have to resort to to get it, that's all there is about it. +I am desperate to-night, and a person in my terrible fix fears neither +God nor man." + +Meanwhile Lester Armstrong pushed rapidly onward, scarcely heeding the +bitter cold and terrible, raging storm, for his heart was in a glow. + +He reached the Grand Central Depot just as the gates were closing, but +managed to dash through them and swing himself aboard of the train just +as it was moving out of the station. + +The car was crowded; standing room only seemed to be the prospect, but +the young man did not seem disturbed by it, but settled his broad frame +against the door and looked out at the sharp sleet that lashed against +the window panes with something like a smile on his lips. + +He had scarcely twenty miles to ride thus, but that comforting +remembrance did not cause the pleasant smile to deepen about the mobile +mouth. + +He was thinking of the lovely young girl who had written him a note to +say that she expected him at the trysting place, without fail, at seven +that evening, as she had something of the greatest importance to +communicate to him. + +"Of course my dear little girl will not keep the appointment in such a +blizzard as this. She could not have foreseen how the weather would be +when she wrote the precious little note that is tucked away so carefully +in my breast pocket; but, like a true knight, I must obey my little +lady's commands, no matter what they may be, despite storm or +tempests--ay, even though I rode through seas of blood!" + +Half a score of times the engine became firmly wedged in snowdrifts in +traversing as many miles. There were loud exclamations of discomfiture +on all sides, but the handsome young man never heard them. He was still +staring out of the window--staring without seeing--and the smile on his +face had given place to an expression of deep wistfulness. + +"Sometimes I wonder how I have dared to aspire to her love--the +beautiful, petted daughter of a millionaire, and I only an assistant +cashier on a very humble salary--ay, a salary so small that my whole +year's earnings is less than the pin money she spends each month. + +"If she were but poor like myself, how quickly I would make her mine. +How can I, how dare I, ask her to share my lot? Will her father be +amused, or terribly angry at my presumption? + +"This sort of thing must stop. I cannot be meeting my darling +clandestinely any longer. My honor forbids, my manhood cries out against +it. + +"But, oh, God! how the thought terrifies me that from the moment they +find out that we have met, and are lovers, they will try to part +us--tear my darling from me!" + +They had met in a very ordinary manner, but to the infatuated young +lover it seemed the most ideal, most romantic of meetings. The pretty +little heiress had gone to the office of Marsh & Co. to settle her +monthly account. The old cashier was out to lunch. His assistant, Lester +Armstrong, stepped forward and attended to the matter for the pretty +young girl, surely the sweetest and daintiest that he had ever beheld. + +That night he dreamed of the lovely, dimpled rosebud face, framed in a +mass of golden curls; a pair of bewildering violet eyes, and a gay, +musical voice like a chiming of silver bells, and lo! the mischief was +done. The next day the assistant cashier made the first mistake of his +life over his accounts. The old cashier, Mr. Conway, looked at him +grimly from over the tops of his gold-rimmed glasses. + +"I hope you have not taken to playing cards nights, Mr. Armstrong," he +said. "They are dangerous; avoid them. Wine is still worse, and above +all, let me warn you against womankind. They are a snare and a delusion. +Avoid them, one and all, as you would a pestilence." + +But the warning had come to the handsome young assistant cashier too +late. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +"YOU MUST NOT MARRY HIM--HEAVEN INTENDED YOU FOR ME." + + +Slowly but surely the sturdy engine struggled on through the huge +snowdrifts, reaching Beechwood a little after seven, over an hour and a +half behind time. + +Lester Armstrong swung himself off the rear platform into fully five +feet of snow, floundering helplessly about for an instant, while the +train plunged onward, and at last struck the path that led up over the +hills in the village beyond. + +Beechwood consisted of but a few elegant homes owned and occupied by +retired New Yorkers of wealth. Horace Fairfax was perhaps the most +influential, as well as the wealthiest of these; his magnificent home on +the brow of the farthest hill was certainly the most imposing and +pretentious. + +Lester Armstrong's heart gave a great bound as he came within sight of +it, standing like a great castle, with its peaks and gables, and windows +all blazing with light and the red glow of inward warmth against its +dark background of fir trees more than a century old, and the white +wilderness of snow stretching out and losing itself in the darkness +beyond. + +All heedless of the terrible storm raging about him, the young man +paused at the arched gate and looked with sad wistfulness, as he leaned +his arms on one of the stone pillars, up the serpentine path that led to +the main entrance. + +"What I ought to do is never to see Faynie again," he murmured, but as +the bare thought rushed through his mind, his handsome face paled to the +lips and his strong frame trembled. Never see Faynie again! That would +mean shut out the only gleam of sunshine that had ever lighted up the +gray somberness of his existence; take away from him the only dear joy +that had made life worth the living for the few months. He had drifted +into these clandestine meetings, not by design; chance, or fate, rather, +had forced him into it. + +Mr. Marsh, the senior member of the firm by whom he was employed, also +resided in Beechwood. It was his whim that the keys of the private +office should be brought to him each night. Thus it happened that the +performance of his duties led Lester each evening past the Fairfax home. + +One summer evening he espied Faynie, the object of his ardent +admiration, standing in the flower garden, herself the fairest flower of +all. It was beyond human nature to resist stopping still to gaze upon +her. This he did, believing himself unseen, but Faynie Fairfax had +beheld the tall, well-known form afar down the road, and she was not +displeased at the prospect of having a delightful little chat with the +handsome young cashier. + +Faynie's home was not as congenial to the young girl as it might have +been, for a stepmother reigned supreme there, and all of her love was +lavished upon her own daughter Claire, a crippled, quiet girl of about +Faynie's own age, and Faynie was left to do about as she pleased. Her +father almost lived in his library among his books, and she saw little +of him for days at a time. + +Therefore there was no one to notice why Faynie suddenly developed such +a liking for roaming in the garden at twilight; no one to notice the +growing attachment that sprang up and deepened into the strongest of +love between the petted heiress and the poor young cashier. + +Lester Armstrong had struggled manfully against it, but it was for a +higher power than man's to direct where the love of his heart should go. +He made strong resolutions that the lovely maiden should never guess the +existing state of affairs, but he might as well have attempted to stay +the mighty waters of the ocean by his weak will. All in an unforeseen +moment the words burst from his lips--the secret he had attempted to +guard so carefully was out. + +He had expected that beautiful Faynie Fairfax would turn from him in +anger and dismay, but to his intense surprise, she burst into a flood of +tears, even though she looked at him with smiling lips, April sunshine +and showers commingled, confessing with all a young girl's pretty, +hesitating shyness that she loved him, even as he loved her, with all +her heart. Then followed half an hour of bliss for the lovers such as +the poets tell of in their verses of a glimpse of Paradise. + +Although they exchanged a hundred vows of eternal affection, Lester +Armstrong hesitated to speak of marriage yet. Faynie was young--only +eighteen. There was plenty of time. And to tell the truth, he dared not +face the possibilities of it just yet. It required a little more courage +than he had been able to muster up to seek an audience with the +millionaire--beard the lion in his den, as it were--and dare propose +such a monstrously preposterous thing as the asking of his lovely, +dainty young daughter's hand in marriage. Lester was timid. He dreaded +beyond words the setting of the ball rolling which would tear his +beautiful love and himself asunder. Heaven help him, he was so +unutterably happy in the bewildering present. + +His reverie was suddenly interrupted by seeing a little black figure +hurrying down the path. Another instant, and the little breathless +figure was clasped in his arms, close, close to his madly throbbing +heart. + +"Oh, Faynie, my love, my darling, my precious, why did you brave the +fury of the tempest to keep the tryst to-night? I am here, but I did not +expect you, much as I love to see you. I was praying you would not +venture out. Oh, my precious, what is it?" he cried in alarm, as the +fitful light of the gas lamp that hung over the arched gate fell full +upon her. "Your sweet face is as white as marble, and your beautiful +golden hair is wet with drifted snow, as is your cloak." + +To his intense amazement and distress, she burst into the wildest of +sobs and clung to him like a terrified child. All in vain he attempted +to soothe her and find out what it was all about. + +The first thought that flashed through his mind was that their meetings +had been discovered, and that they meant to put him from Faynie, and he +strained her closer to his heart, crying out that whatever it was, +nothing save death should separate them. + +Little by little the story came out, and the two young lovers, clasped +so fondly in each other's arms, did not feel the intense cold or hear +the wild moaning of the winds around them. Through her tears Faynie told +her handsome, strong young lover just what had happened. Her father had +sent for her to come to his library that morning, and when she had +complied with the summons, he had informed her that a friend of his had +asked for her hand in marriage, and he had consented, literally settling +the matter without consulting her, the one most vitally interested. She +had most furiously rebelled, there had been a terrible scene, and it had +ended by her father harshly bidding her to prepare for the wedding, +which would take place on the morrow, adding that a father was supposed +to know best what to do for his daughter's interests; that the fiat had +gone forth; that she would marry the husband he had selected for her on +the morrow, though all the angels above or the demons below attempted to +frustrate it. + +"You will save me, Lester?" cried the girl, wildly clinging to him with +death-cold hands. "Oh, Lester, my love, tell me, what am I to do? He is +very old, quite forty, and I am only eighteen. I abhor him quite as much +as I love you, Lester. Tell me, dear, what am I to do?" + +He gathered her close in his arms in an agony that words are too weak to +portray. + +"You shall not, you must not, marry the man your father has selected for +you, my darling. You are mine, Faynie, and you must marry me," he cried, +hoarsely. "Heaven intended us for each other, and for no one else. You +shall be mine past the power of any one human to part us ere the +morrow's light dawns, if--if you wish it so." + +She clung to him, weeping hysterically, answering: + +"Oh, yes, Lester, let it be so. I will marry you, and you will take me +away from this place, where no one, save Claire--not even my +father--loves me." + +He strained her to his throbbing heart with broken words, but at that +instant the shriek of an approaching train sounded upon his ears. He +tore himself away from her encircling embrace. + +"To do all that I have to do, I must return to the city, quickly arrange +for the marriage and a suitable place to take my bride. I will return by +ten o'clock. Be at this gate, my darling, with whatever change of +clothing you wish to take with you. I will bring a carriage. The way by +carriage road from the city is less than seven miles, you know. We will +drive to the minister's in the village below. A few words and I shall +have the right to protect you through life, and oh! my darling, my idol, +my trusting little love, may God deal by me as I deal with you!" + +Those were the last words Faynie heard, for in the next instant her +lover had torn himself free from her clinging arms and was dashing like +one mad through the drifts toward the railroad station again. Then, with +a strange, unaccountable presentiment of coming evil, Faynie Fairfax +turned and stole up the serpentine path into the house again. + +In just an hour's time Lester Armstrong was hurrying along Broadway +again, making all haste toward his lodgings. Suddenly some one tapped +him on the shoulder, and a voice which he instantly recognised as his +cousin's said, laughingly: + +"Both bent in the same direction, it seems. Well, we'll travel along +together to your lodging house, Lester." + +But alas! Who can see the strange workings of destiny? In that instant +Lester Armstrong slipped on the icy pavement, and Kendale, bending +quickly over him, exclaimed: + +"He has broken his neck! He is dying. He won't last five minutes!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A TERRIBLE PLOT AGAINST A HELPLESS YOUNG GIRL. + + +A gasp of horror broke from Kendale's lips. Yes, Lester Armstrong was +fatally injured, he could see that. + +Glancing up, he saw that they were within a few doors of his lodgings. +Picking him up by main force, he carried him thither at once and placed +him upon his couch. He had expected to see him breathe his last, but to +his great surprise Lester Armstrong opened his eyes and whispered his +name. + +"It is all over with me, Clinton," he whispered. "I--I realize that my +fall was fatal, and that it is a question of moments with me, but I--I +cannot die until I have told you all, and you have promised to go +quickly to my darling and tell her my sad fate." + +"Any commission you have you may be sure I will execute for you," +replied Kendale, and even while he spoke he was wondering whereabouts in +that room Lester Armstrong kept his cash. + +Between gasps, his voice growing fainter and fainter with each word, +poor Lester told his story, of his love, his wooing and the climax which +was to have taken place in two hours' time. + +Kendale listened with bated breath. To say that he was amazed, +dumfounded, scarcely expressed his intense surprise. + +Armstrong, his poor plodding cousin, to strike such luck as to be about +to marry an heiress! It seemed like a veritable fairy story. Who would +have thought the poor cashier would have known enough to play for such +high stakes? + +Almost as soon as Lester Armstrong had uttered the last word, he fell +back upon his pillow in a dead faint. + +"The end is not far," muttered Kendale. "I suppose it would look better +to send a call for an ambulance and have him sent to the hospital." + +He acted upon the thought without a moment's delay, and while the wagon +was _en route_ made a quick search of his unfortunate cousin's +apartment, a sardonic smile of triumph lighting his face. And as he +transferred the money to his pocket, a sudden thought rushed through his +brain--a thought that for the instant almost took his breath away. + +Like one fascinated, he looked down at the white face. "I could do it; +yes, I am sure I could do it," he muttered, drawing his breath hard. + +At that moment the ambulance wagon rattled up to the door. In another +instant the two attachés entered the room. + +"What is the difficulty?" queried the man, and briefly Kendale +explained. + +"It seems hardly worth while to take him to the hospital," said one of +the men; "he would hardly last until we reach there. Still, if you +insist--" + +"Yes, I insist," he cut in sharply. + +"What name is to be entered?" asked the surgeon. + +"Clinton Kendale. He is an actor, and my cousin," he responded in a low +even voice. + +He watched them while they carried forth the unconscious man. + +"My first test will be with the people of this house," he muttered, +shutting his teeth hard. + +Thrusting the money still deeper in his pocket, he walked boldly down +the stairs, tapping at the door to the right, which he knew to be the +living room of the family. + +"I am going to give up my room," he said. + +"Laws a mercy, Mr. Armstrong!" exclaimed the old lady. "What sudden +notice! I am so sorry to lose you!" + +He chatted for a few moments, paid what was due her, then turned hastily +and left the place, remarking before he went that he should not need the +few things that he left in his room; that she could keep them if she +liked as remembrances. + +Once again he was out on the street, with the cold wind blowing on his +face. + +"Nothing ventured, nothing won!" he said, under his breath. "Now for the +heiress and the million of money. By Jove! it's better to be born lucky +than rich. I shall need an accomplice in this affair, and that imp of +Satan, Halloran, is just the one to help me out with my scheme. It's +lucky I have an appointment with him to-night. I shall be sure to catch +him. I think it was a stroke of fate that I wasn't in the cast for the +rest of the week, though I kicked pretty hard against it at the time. +Good-by, footlights and freezing dressing-rooms. I can make a million of +money ere the day dawns." + +He hailed a passing cab, jumped into it and was driven across the city. + +Halloran, the comedian at the same theatre, was sitting in his room +half asleep over a half-emptied rum bottle. He always resorted to this +course to drown his sorrows when he was laid off. + +An hour later the two men were driving with lightning-like rapidity +toward the direction of Beechwood. + +"Ten," sounded from the belfry of a far-off church as the horses, +plunging and panting, struggled up the road that led to the Fairfax +mansion. + +"Now see that you play your cards right," warned Halloran. + +"Trust me for that," replied his companion, removing a cigar from his +white teeth, and blowing forth a cloud of smoke. He was about to draw a +flask from his breast pocket, but Halloran put a restraining hand on his +arm. + +"Remember that is your besetting sin," he said. "You have had enough of +that already. It will require a steady nerve to meet the girl and carry +out the deception, for the eyes of love are quick to discern. If she +should for an instant suspect that you are not her lover, Lester +Armstrong, the game is up, and you have lost the high stake you are +playing for." + +"You are right," exclaimed the other, "nothing must interfere with the +marriage." + +"This must be the place," exclaimed Halloran, in a low voice; "large +gabled house, arched gate, serpentine walk; yes, there is the figure of +a woman in the shadow of the stone post this way. You are actually +trembling. Remember, it's only a young girl you are to face on this +occasion, and a deucedly pretty one, at that. The time that you will be +more apt to be shaky is when you face her father; but I guess you're +equal to it." + +A low laugh was his companion's only answer. The next moment Kendale +called to the driver to halt, threw open the door and sprang out into +the main road, hastening toward the little figure that had emerged out +of the shadow. + +"Oh, Lester, you have been so long," cried the girl, springing into his +arms with a little sobbing cry. "I have been waiting here almost half an +hour." + +"It took longer to come than I had reckoned on, my darling," he +answered. "You know I had to stop at the village below and make +arrangements for the wedding." + +The girl drew back and looked at him. + +"Your voice sounds so hoarse and strange, Lester," she said. "Have you +been crying?" + +His arms fell from her; he drew back, laughing immoderately. + +"What, weeping on the happiest day of my life?" he cried. "Well, that's +pretty good. I've been up to my ears in business, rushing around, to +get everything in shipshape order, but, good Lord! what am I thinking +about, to keep you standing here in the snow? Here is the coach, and by +the way, I've brought along an old friend of mine, who was wild to +witness the marriage ceremony." + +As he spoke he took her by the arm and drew the girl toward the carriage +in waiting. + +What was there about her lover that seemed so changed to the girl, that +caused the love to suddenly die out of her heart? + +"Lester," she cried, drawing back, "oh--oh, please do not be angry with +me, but I've changed my mind. It seemed such a terrible thing to do. Let +us not be married to-night." + +Something like an imprecation rose to his lips, but he chopped it off +quickly, uttering again that laugh, so hard, so cruel, so +blood-curdling, that it sent a chill of terror to her young heart. + +"It's too late to change your mind now," he exclaimed. "It's only +natural you should feel this way; girls always do. Here is the coach and +the horses. The driver and my friend will be impatient to be off." + +Either the excitement of his coming triumph or the brandy he had taken +had made him recklessly wild. + +He drew her along, heedless of her struggles, her passionate protest. +His face was flushed, his dark eyes gleamed; he was ready at that moment +to face and defy devils and men. + +"Don't make a fuss, my darling. You've got to come along," he exclaimed. +"Of course, you have scruples and all that. I think the more of you for +them, but you'll thank me for not listening some day. I'll bring you +back after the ceremony's over and set you down at your own gate, if you +say so, I swear I will," and as he spoke he caught her in his arms and +fairly thrust her into the vehicle, placed her on the seat and sprang in +beside her. + +The door closed with a bang and the horses were off like a flash. + +Too terrified to utter another word of protest, and half fainting from +fright, Faynie sank back, gasping, into the farthest corner. Her +companion turned to the man sitting opposite. + +"My friend, Smith, Faynie," he said by way of introduction, and adding, +before the other could utter one word to acknowledge the introduction, +"let's have a little more of that. I'm chilled to the marrow with the +cold, standing out there in the snow." + +There was a faint move of the little bundle huddled up in the corner. +She fell forward in a dead faint. + +"So much the better," cried Kendale. "She will not bother us until +we've had time to formulate our plans. Ha, ha, ha! how easy it is for a +sharp-witted fellow like myself to make a million of money!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FOND LOVE TO HATRED TURNED. + + +Despite the severe shock which caused Faynie to swoon, her +unconsciousness lasted but a few moments, then, dazed and bewildered, +her blue eyes opened slowly, and she realized with horror too great for +words that she was whirling swiftly over the snowy road, still in the +company of the two men, her lover and his companion. + +They were talking together in low, guarded tones. She could not help but +hear every word distinctly, and they fell upon her ears with horror so +intense she wondered that she lived through it from moment to moment. + +It was Lester Armstrong who was speaking at that moment, and she was +obliged to clutch her hands tightly together to keep from screaming +aloud as she heard him say to his companion: + +"I have always been a free lance among the pretty girls, drifting about +much after the fashion of the bee wherever my fancy listed, and it will +be more than irksome to yoke myself in the matrimonial harness to this +girl. She is not of the kind--face, figure, temperament, anything--that +is calculated to arouse my admiration. I detest your baby-faced +creatures of her stamp, but she's heiress to a million, and I have +concluded to swallow the gilded pill. + +"There's one thing I assure you of, before she is married to me a +fortnight I'll break that cursed temper of hers, if I have to break her +neck or her heart, or both, to do it. She shall find that I'm her lord +and master from this hour henceforth, and my word is law." + +"I'd advise you not to rush the scheme for getting that big sum of money +until you have gained her confidence a little. More flies can be caught +with molasses than vinegar, you know." + +"I shall have little patience with her," declared her lover. "I detested +her the first instant my eyes rested upon her, and I am positive the +feeling will grow upon me with every passing hour, instead of +diminishing." + +"It is easy enough to guess the reason for that," laughed the other. +"You are in love with the queenly Gertrude, who has already more adorers +than she can count. It is common report that you are the beauty's +favorite, however, and if you weren't both so confoundedly poor, you'd +make a first-class couple. As it is, of course it's not to be thought +of." + +"Except in one way," cut in the other in a sharp, dry, hard voice. "If +this girl whom I marry to-night were to die suddenly on the wedding +trip, for instance, I would come in for her fortune; then, when the +excitement blew over, I could go to Gertrude and say--" + +The sentence was never finished, for at that moment the door of the +vehicle was suddenly wrenched open, and with a piercing cry Faynie +sprang out into the raging storm and the inky blackness of the night. + +A terrible imprecation broke from the lips of the handsome scoundrel by +her side. + +"I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that that little fool tricked us by +feigning unconsciousness, and has heard every word we uttered. Of +course, it's to be regretted, but that doesn't change my plans a +particle. I'll be the husband of the willful little heiress in an hour's +time, or my name isn't--" + +"Lester Armstrong," put in the other, laconically. + +The coach was instantly stopped, and both men made a flying leap into +the huge snowdrift that banked both sides of the country road, calling +back to the driver to light a lantern, if he had been careful enough to +bring one with him, and hand it to them in double-quick order. + +The search lasted for fully half an hour. Had the ground suddenly opened +and swallowed her? they asked each other, with imprecations both loud +and furious. + +To have a fortune of a cool million so near his clutches, and suddenly +lose it, was more than the villain could endure calmly. He was frenzied. +His rage at the girl slipping so cleverly, so audaciously, through his +fingers knew no bounds, and he made no attempt to stifle the fierce +exclamations that sprang to his lips of what he should do when he once +found her. + +When Faynie had jumped from the vehicle she lay for an instant half +stunned upon the cold, frozen ground where she had fallen. It had taken +the coach a minute to stop, but that minute had carried it several rods +beyond the spot where she lay. She saw by the uncertain glimmer of the +carriage lamp the two forms spring out into the darkness and come back +in search of her, and a piteous cry of unutterable fear rose to her +blanched lips from the very depths of her panting, terror-stricken +heart. + +She tried to spring to her feet and fly, but the depth to which she sank +with every step exhausted her quickly, and she sank down among the white +drifts awaiting her doom like a wounded bird in the brush whom the +cruel sportsmen are nearing with their hounds. + +She raised her lovely young face to the dark night sky, calling upon God +and the angels to protect her, to save her from the man she had loved +with all the passionate strength of her heart up to that hour, and whom +she hated and feared now a thousandfold more than she had ever loved +him. + +All in a few moments of time her idol had fallen from its high pedestal +of manly honor and lay in ruins at her feet. + +How could she ever have believed Lester Armstrong noble, good and true, +a king among men? Where was the tenderness in voice and manner that had +won her heart from her, and his oft-repeated assurance that he cared for +her for herself alone; that he wished to Heaven she were no heiress, but +as poor as himself, that he might show her the power of his great love? +An hour ago--only an hour ago--yet it seemed the length of a lifetime in +the shadowy past, she had crept out of the house to meet her lover at +the trysting place, her heart beating with love for him, sobbing out to +Heaven to send her true love quickly back to her. + +As she had closed the door of the great mansion noiselessly behind her, +she realized that she was putting wealth and luxury away from her +deliberately and choosing a life of rigid economy with the lover whose +earnings were, alas, so much smaller than even the pin money she had +been accustomed to. + +But with love to brighten the way, she felt that she could endure any +hardship with noble Lester Armstrong, who loved her so dearly and +devotedly. + +After a time, perhaps, her father would forgive her for this step, and +take her back to his home and heart, and welcome Lester, too. She had +read of such things. + +The night air blew bitterly cold against her face as she stepped bravely +forth, but she did not waver. + +The great hall clock chimed the hour of ten, and her heart beat faster, +for she said to herself that her lover was nearing the trysting place +and she had not much time to spare. + +"Good-by, papa," she murmured, turning for an instant and looking up at +his lighted window. "Good-by, my stepmamma," she whispered. "You have +always hated me and wished me out of the way. I am going now, and you +will rejoice. Good-by, Claire," she added, as her eyes wandered upward +to the little lighted window in the western wing. "You never hated me. +You always loved me as though we had indeed been sisters. Good-by, kind +old family servants. You will all miss me, I know, but I am going to +happiness and love. What fate could be better?" + +She waited some moments at the trysting place ere she heard the sound of +crunching wheels on the snow. A moment later she heard the welcome voice +saying: "Faynie, where are you?" The next instant she was folded in a +pair of strong, masculine arms. + +But as the owner of them touched her lips with his own Faynie had +started back with a terrible feeling of faintness rushing over her. For +the first time her lover's breath was strong with the odor of brandy. + +And the voice, which was always so gentle, kind and endearing, was +muttering something about "the cursed darkness of the night." + +No wonder the girl's soul revolted, and that she changed her mind +suddenly about the elopement, which was to make or mar her young life. +And what she heard after he forced her into the coach only added to the +terror which had grown into her heart against him, and when she made +that flying leap from the coach, her one cry to Heaven was that she +might escape the man whom she had but so lately madly adored, but whom +she now so thoroughly abhorred. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +"CAN YOU PERFORM THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY AT ONCE, REVEREND SIR?" + + +It was the hour of eleven by the village clock. Eleven sounded from the +old clock on the mantel. The fire burned low in the grate of Rev. Dr. +Warner's study. The air was growing chill in the room. Still, the old +pastor, who had looked after the village flock for nearly half a +century, heeded neither the time nor the chill, he was so intent upon +the sermon he was writing for the morrow. + +He had scarcely concluded the last line ere he heard a well-known tap +upon the door. + +He smiled as he arose from his chair, crossed the room and flung open +the door. + +He knew well whom he should find standing there, old Adam, the village +sexton and grave digger, who always stopped when he saw a light in the +study window. + +"Come in, Adam," said the reverend gentleman; "come up to the fire and +warm yourself; it's a wild night to be about. Has any one sent you here +for me?" + +"No, parson," replied Adam, hobbling in. "There's no call for you to be +out on this terrible night, thank Heaven. It's quite by chance that I +left my own fireside myself. I had an errand at the other end of the +village. The weather caught me returning--a regular blizzard--and I have +been floundering about in the drifting snow for hours. I thought I had +lost my way until I saw the light in the window, and--" + +But the rest of the sentence was never finished, for at that moment both +men heard distinctly the sound of carriage wheels without, accompanied +by the loud neighing of horses. + +Before they could express their wonderment there was a loud peal at the +front door bell. + +The reverend gentleman answered the summons in person. + +Before him stood three persons, two men and a woman, a slender figure +wearing a long dark cloak, and whose face was covered by a thick veil. + +Both men had their coat collars turned up and their hats pulled low over +their faces to protect them from the stinging cold. + +"You are the Rev. Dr. Warner?" queried one of the gentlemen. The +minister bowed in the affirmative, hurriedly bidding his guests to +enter. + +"You will pardon our errand," exclaimed the stranger who had already +spoken, "but we are here to enlist your services. Can you perform a +wedding ceremony in the old chapel across the way? Our time is limited. +We are in all haste to catch a train, and wish the marriage to take +place with the least possible delay." + +"Certainly, certainly, sir," returned the good man. "I am always pleased +to join two souls in holy matrimony. Step in; the lady must be +thoroughly chilled. This is a dreadful night." + +"We prefer to make our way directly over to the chapel," remarked the +man who had spoken up to this point. "The lady is warm, having but just +left the carriage, a few steps beyond." + +"As you will," responded the pastor. Turning to the old sexton, he said, +quietly: "Will you step over to the church, Adam, brush the snow from +the steps and light the lamps about the altar?" + +Adam hastened to carry out his commands. He had scarcely completed his +task when the bridal party entered, preceded by the pastor. + +Adam watched them curiously as they filed down the aisle, both men still +supporting the slender figure quite until the altar was reached. + +The Rev. Dr. Warner, shivering with the severe cold of the place, picked +up his book quickly. + +"Which is the bridegroom?" he asked, looking from one muffled figure to +the other. The man toward the left of the girl dropped back a pace or +two, silently waving his hand toward his friend. + +The old minister had never heard the names of the contracting parties +before, and the idle thought for an instant found lodgment in his mind +whether or no they could be fictitious. Then he blamed himself roundly +for his momentary suspicion, and went on hurriedly with the ceremony. + +The man answered in a low, guarded voice. There was a tone in it which +somehow jarred on the good minister's sensitive nerves. The girl's voice +was pitifully fluttering, almost hysterical. + +But that was not an uncommon occurrence. Few brides are calm and +self-possessed. + +"You will please lift your veil for the final benediction," said the +aged pastor, pausing, book in hand, and gazing at the slim, silent, +dark-robed figure, who had made her responses faintly, gaspingly, almost +inaudibly. Again it was the stranger to the left who complied with his +request, but for one instant both the clergyman and the old sexton +caught sight of a face white as death, yet beautiful as an angel's, +framed in a mass of dead-gold hair; but the flickering of the lamps +caused strange shadows to flit over it. There was a moment of utter +silence, broken only by the howling of the wind outside. + +Then slowly the minister's voice broke the terrible silence by uttering +the words: "Then I pronounce you man and wife, and whom God hath joined +together let no man put asunder." + +As the last word echoed through the dim old church the cold steel of a +revolver, which had been pressed steadily to the girl's throbbing heart +by the hand of the bridegroom, concealed by her long cloak, was quickly +withdrawn. + +"My wedded wife!" murmured the man, and in his voice there was a tone of +mocking triumph. The girl swooned in his arms, but, turning quickly with +her, he hurried forward into the dense shadows of the church, carrying +her to the coach in waiting without attracting attention. + +He could scarcely restrain himself from shouting aloud, so exuberant +were his spirits. + +"Rave. Do whatever you like. You cannot change matters now. I am your +husband, ay, the husband of a girl worth a million of money. When we are +out of hearing of the old parson I will give three rousing cheers to +celebrate the occasion and give vent to my triumph--ay, three cheers and +a tiger with a will and a vengeance." + +The appearance of his friend, who had remained behind to adjust the +little matters that needed attention, put a stop to his hilarity for the +moment. + +"Well, what's next on the programme? What do you suggest now, Halloran?" +he exclaimed, as that individual sprang into the coach and took his seat +with chattering teeth. + +"I propose that you drive to the nearest inn or hostelry, or whatever +they choose to call it hereabouts. I understand there is one some five +miles from here, and, indeed, the horses won't last much longer than +that." + +"I'm governed by your advice," replied his companion, with a hilarious +laugh. "Give the order to get to the hostelry as soon as the driver can +make it. Anything will suit me. I'm not proud, even if I have made a +cool million in an hour's time. Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Are you mad?" whispered his companion, giving him a violent nudge. + +"Bah! You needn't fear that she will hear what I'm saying. The puny +little dear has swooned again. Didn't you notice that I had to fairly +carry her from the altar?" + +"These dainty little heiresses have to be handled with kid gloves," +remarked Halloran. "Fainting when anything goes wrong seems to be their +especial weakness." + +"She will soon find out that I will not tolerate that kind of thing!" +exclaimed Armstrong, as he insisted upon being called from that moment +out. + +"Be easy with her. Don't show your hand or your temper until you get +hold of the money," warned Halloran. "Remember you are playing for a +great stake, and the surest way of winning is by keeping the girl in +love with you." + +"She is mine now. I am her lord and master. I shall not bother making +love to the milk-and-water, sentimental creature, as the other one +probably did. She isn't my style, and I have little patience with her. +There was a decided feeling of antagonism between us from the start, and +then my forcing her to go through the ceremony at the point of a cold +steel weapon will not have the effect of endearing me to her ladyship. +She is sure to hate me, but that won't bother me a snap of my finger." + +"Don't get independent too soon," remarked Halloran. "Pride always goeth +before a fall, you know. You haven't the money in your hands yet. Don't +lose sight of that important fact, my dear boy." + +They talked on for half an hour or more; then suddenly the driver drew +rein. + +"This is the country tavern, and my horses cannot go any further; they +are dead lame and played out," he announced. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE VILLAIN AND HIS VICTIM. + + +It was certainly something entirely out of the experience of the old +innkeeper at the country crossroads to be aroused from his slumbers at +midnight by guests seeking the shelter of his hospitable roof, and that, +too, on the most terrible night of the year. + +The old man could scarcely believe his ears when he heard the sound of +the old brass knocker on the front door resound loudly through the +house. + +He quite imagined that he must have dreamed it, until a second and third +peal brought him to his senses and his feet at the same instant. + +His bewilderment knew no bounds when he appeared at the door a few +minutes later and found a coach standing there and the occupants seeking +a lodging, also shelter for the horses. + +"I haven't but one room to spare," exclaimed the old innkeeper, holding +a flaring candle high above his head to better view his visitor. + +"Have you a room in which a fire could be made?" asked one of the men. +"We have a lady with us." + +"I suppose we could let you have my daughter Betsy's, she being off to +the city on a visit." + +"My companion and his br--his wife could have that; you can dispose of +me anywhere," returned the speaker. "I could doze in a chair in the +barroom for that matter. The driver could be as easily disposed of." + +"Then bring the lady right in," said the old innkeeper. A moment later, +the lovely girl, still unconscious, was brought in and laid upon the +settee in the best room. + +"What is the matter with the young woman?" gasped the innkeeper, his +eyes opening wide with amazement. + +"Merely fainted from the intense cold," returned one of the men briefly, +adding: "If you will see that a fire is lighted in the room that you +spoke of I shall be very much obliged." + +"I'll have my wife down in a jiffy. No doubt the poor creature's half +frozen, but a hot whiskey toddy will thaw her out quicker than you could +say Jack Robinson," and he trotted off briskly on his double mission of +rousing his wife to look after the girl and his hired help to assist the +driver in putting away the horses, while he himself attended to making a +blazing fire in the little chamber over the best room. + +In less time than it takes to tell it the good housewife was by the +girl's side. + +"What a beautiful young creature!" she exclaimed, as the veil was +thrown back and she beheld the lovely face, white as chiseled marble, +framed in its cloud of golden hair. "Is it your sister, sir?" she asked, +with all a country woman's thoughtless curiosity. + +"No, she is my wife," exclaimed the stranger, who stood over by the +fireplace, his brows meeting in a decided frown. + +"Laws a mercy! Isn't she young to be married?" exclaimed the woman. +"Why, she don't look sixteen. Been married long?" + +The stranger by the fireplace deliberately turned his back on the woman, +vouchsafing her no reply. + +By that time the innkeeper announced that the room above was ready, and +that they might come up as soon as they liked. + +Again the stranger by the fireplace lifted the slender figure, bore her +up the narrow rickety stairway, saying good-night to his friend as he +passed him by. + +"Good-night to you, and pleasant dreams," replied Halloran; "the same to +your wife." + +The innkeeper followed the tall stranger with his burden to see that +everything was made comfortable, put more logs in the fireplace, then +turning, said: + +"Is there anything else I can do for you, stranger?" + +"Nothing," replied the man curtly, but as the old innkeeper reached the +door he called sharply: "Yes, I think there is something else that would +add to my comfort, and that is a good stiff glass of brandy, if you have +such a thing about the place." + +The old man hesitated. + +"I'll pay well for it," said the other, eagerly. + +"You see, we haven't a license, stranger, to sell drinks, and they're +pretty strict with us hereabouts. I generally let a man have it when I +know him pretty well, but I can't say how it would affect you." + +"Have no fear on that score," returned the other. "Here's a five-dollar +note for a pint bottle of brandy. Will that pay you?" + +"Yes," returned the innkeeper. It was the golden key. The man laughed to +see how quickly he trotted off on his errand, returning with the bottle +in a trice. + +"Anything else, sir?" he said. + +"No," replied the other, "save," adding, "do not call us too early +to-morrow. We're not of the kind that rise with the sun. Nine o'clock +will answer. And see that that wife of yours gets up the best breakfast +that can be obtained." + +"You won't have to complain of that, sir," exclaimed the innkeeper, +pompously. "You'll get a piece of steak with the blood followin' the +knife; crisp potatoes, a plate of buckwheat cakes, with butter as is +butter, and honey that's the real thing; a mug of coffee that would bear +up an egg, with good old-fashioned cream, not skim milk, to say nothing +of--" + +"That will do," exclaimed the stranger, with an impatient wave of his +white hand. "I never like to know beforehand what I'm going to get." + +"But the lady, sir? Mebbe she'd like somethin' kind a delicate like--a +bit o' bird or somethin' like that?" + +"We'll see about that to-morrow all in good time," fairly closing the +door in the garrulous innkeeper's face "Good-night," and he shut the +door with a click and turned the key in the lock, and for the first time +he was alone with the girl he had forced so dastardly into the cruellest +of marriages. He had placed Faynie on the white couch. He crossed the +room and stood looking down at her, with his hands behind his back, and +a sardonic smile on his face. + +"You and your millions of money belong to me," he cried, under his +breath. "Ye gods! what a lucky dog I am after all!" and a low laugh that +was not pleasant to hear broke from his lips. + +At that instant a broken sigh stirred the girl's white lips. + +"Ah, you are coming to, are you?" he muttered. "The old lady's toddy is +beginning to revive you." + +He could not help but notice how unusually beautiful the girl was. + +"What a chance of fortune this is for me, but it does not follow, even +though she was madly in love with my cousin, that she will hold me in +the same favor. But I'll stand none of her airs. I'll show her right +from the start that I'm the boss, and see how that will strike her +fancy. There'll be a terrible time when she comes to--screams, shrieks +of anger, that will call everybody to the door." + +He turned on his heel and walked over to the mantel, where the innkeeper +had deposited the bottle and the glass. + +He poured out a heavy draught and drank it at a single swallow. This was +followed by another and yet another. + +"Ah, there's nothing like bracing oneself up for a scene like this," he +muttered, with a sardonic laugh. + +The liquor seemed to turn the blood in his veins to fire and set his +heart in a glow. He laughed aloud. In that moment he felt as rich as a +king, and as diabolical as Satan himself. + +He was nerved for any emergency; he was the girl's lord and master, her +wedded husband. She would be made to understand that fact with little +ceremony. + +He threw himself down in a chair, where he could watch her, and waited +results, and each instant he sat there the fumes of the brandy rose +higher and higher, until it reached his brain. + + "There was a laughing devil in his sneer + That woke emotions of both hate and fear; + And where his scowl of fierceness darkly fell, + Hope, withering, fled and mercy sighed farewell." + +Yes, a few short moments and consciousness would return to the girl--the +stormy scene would begin. + +Would the sharp eyes of love detect the difference between himself and +Lester Armstrong, whom he was impersonating? He knew every tone of his +cousin's voice so perfectly that he would have little difficulty in +imitating that. The more closely he watched the girl, the more conscious +he became of her wonderful beauty, and his heart gave a bound of +triumph. + +It was worth a struggle, after all, to have as beautiful a bride as she, +even though she hated him. + +"If I watch her much longer it will end by my being madly in love with +her," he mused. "I never could withstand a pretty face." + +The wild winds moaned like demons outside. The bare branches writhed and +twisted in the storm, tapping weirdly against the window pane. The room +grew warmer as the fire took hold of the logs in the grate, and with +the heat the fumes of the brandy rose into his brain, and with it his +color heightened, his cheeks and lips were flushed and his eyes +scintillating. With unsteady hand he reached out for the flask again, +uncorked it, and without taking the trouble to reach for the glass, +placed the bottle to his lips and drained it to the dregs. + +"She is awaking," he muttered, with a maudlin laugh, and springing from +his seat with unsteady steps, he crossed the room and stood by the +couch, looking down eagerly into the beautiful white face upon the +pillow. As if impelled by that steady, serpentine, fiery glance, the +girl moaned uneasily. + +"Awaking at last!" he muttered, with a diabolical smile. At that moment +Faynie's violet eyes opened wide and stared up into his face. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HE RAISED HIS CLINCHED HAND, AND THE BLOW FELL HEAVILY UPON THE +BEAUTIFUL UPTURNED FACE. + + +With returning consciousness, Faynie's violet eyes opened slowly--taking +in, by the flickering light of the candle, the strange room in which she +found herself; then, as they opened wider, in amazement too great for +words, she beheld the figure of a man, half hidden among the shadows, +standing but a few feet away from the couch, his eyes fastened upon her; +she could even hear his nervous breathing. + +With a gasp of terror Faynie sprang from the couch with a single bound; +but the cry she would have uttered was strangled upon her lips by the +heavy hand that fell suddenly over them, pressing so tightly against +them as to almost take her breath away. + +"Don't attempt to scream or make any fuss," cried a hissing voice in her +ear--"submit to the inevitable--you are my wife--there is nothing out of +the way in your being here with me. Come, now, take matters +philosophically and we shall get along all right." + +He attempted to draw the girl into his encircling arms, her wonderful +beauty suddenly dawning upon him; but she shrank from his embrace, and +from the approach of his brandy-reeking lips, as though he had been a +scorpion. + +With a suddenness that took him greatly aback, and for an instant at a +disadvantage, she freed herself from his grasp, and stood facing him +like a young tragedy queen in all her furious anger and outraged pride. + +"Do not utter another word, Lester Armstrong!" she panted, "you only add +insult to injury--why it seems to me some horrible trick of the +senses--some nightmare--to imagine even that I could ever have cared for +you--to have believed you noble, honorable and--a gentleman. Why, you +almost seem to be a different person in his guise--you are so changed in +tone and manner from him to whom I gave my heart. The affection that I +thought I had for you died a violent death." + +She did not notice that the man before her started violently at these +words--but the look of fear in his eyes gave place the next instant to +braggadocio. + +He would have answered her, but she held up her little white hand with a +gesture commanding silence, saying, slowly, with quivering lips: + +"I repeat, the affection that I believed filled my heart for you died +suddenly when I told you that I had changed my mind about eloping, and +instead of studying my desires you insisted that the arrangement must be +carried out." + +"My--my--love for you prompted it, Faynie," he exclaimed, in a maudlin +voice. He knew he had the name wrong, but could not think what it was to +save his life. "Come, now, let's kiss and make up, and love each other +in the same old way, as the song goes." + +"What! love a man who thrusts me into a coach despite my entreaties, +takes me to a church, and with a revolver pressed close to my +heart--beneath my cloak--forces me to become his wife! No. No! I loathe, +abhor you--open that door and let me go!" + +With an unsteady spring he placed himself between her and the door, +crying angrily as he ground out a fierce imprecation from between his +white teeth. "Come, now, none of that, my beauty. You're my wife all +right, no matter how much of a fuss you make over it. I want to be +agreeable, but you persist in raising the devil in me, and though you +may not know it, I've a deuce of a temper when I'm thoroughly roused to +anger--at least that's what the folks who know me say. + +"Sit right down here now, and let's talk the matter over--if you want to +go home to the old gent, why I'm sure I have no objection, providing he +agrees to take your hubby along with you. There'll be a scene of +course--we may expect that--but when you tell him how you love me, and +couldn't live without me and all that--and mind, you put it on heavy--it +will end by his saying: 'Youth is youth, and love goes where it is sent. +I forgive you, my children; come right back to the paternal +roof--consider it yours in fact.' And when the occasion is ripe, you +could suggest that the old gent start your hubby in business. Your wish +would be law; he might demur a trifle at first, but if you stuck well +to your point he'd soon cave in and ask what figure I'd take to--" + +"Stop!--stop right where you are, you mercenary wretch!" cried Faynie in +a ringing voice. "I see it all now--as clear as day. You--you--have +married me because you have believed me my father's heiress, and--" + +"You couldn't help but be, my dear," he hiccoughed. "An only child--no +one else on earth to come in for his gold--couldn't help but be his +heiress, you know--couldn't disinherit you if he wanted to. You've got +the old chap foul enough there, ha, ha, ha!" + +"You seem to have suddenly lost sight of the fact that there is some one +beside myself--my stepmother and her daughter Claire." + +He fell back a step and looked at her with dilated eyes--despite the +brandy he had imbibed he still understood thoroughly every word she was +saying. + +"A stepmother--and--another daughter!" he cried, in astonishment--almost +incoherently. + +"You seem to forget that you always used to say to me--that you hoped +they were well," said Faynie with deepening scorn in her clear, young +voice. + +"Oh--ah--yes," he muttered, "but you see I was not thinking of +them---only of you," and deep in his heart he was cursing the hapless +cousin--whom he believed dead by this time--for not mentioning that the +girl had a stepmother and sister. + +"Had you taken the time to listen to something else that I had to tell +you, you might have reconsidered the advisability of eloping with me in +such haste," went on the girl in her clear, ringing tones, "for it has +become apparent to me--with even as little knowledge of the world as I +possess--that you are a fortune hunter--that most despicable of all +creatures--but in this instance your dastardly scheme has entangled your +own feet. Your well-aimed arrow has missed the mark. You have wedded +this night a penniless girl. An hour before you met me at the arched +gate my father disinherited me, and when he has once made up his mind +upon any course of action--nothing human, nothing on earth or in heaven +would have power enough to induce him to change it." + +The effect of her words were magical upon him. With a bound he was at +her side grasping her slender wrists with so tight a hold that they +nearly snapped asunder. + +Intense as the pain was, Faynie would not cry aloud. He should not see +that he had power to hurt her, even though she dropped dead at his feet +at last from the excruciating torture of it. + +"What is it you say--the old rascal has--disinherited you?" he cried, +scarcely crediting the evidence of his own ears. + +"That is just what I said--my father has disinherited me," she replied +slowly and distinctly, adding: "His money was his own--to do with as he +pleased--he gave me the choice of--of--marrying to suit him or being cut +off entirely. I--I--refused to accept the man he had selected for me. +That ended the matter. 'Then from this hour know that you shall not +inherit one penny of my wealth,' he cried. 'I will cut you off with but +the small amount required by law. There is nothing more to be said. You +are a Fairfax. You have taken your choice, and as a Fairfax you must +abide by your decision!' You will remember I told you I had something to +tell you the moment you came up to me at the arched gate, but you would +not listen. Now the consequence is upon your own head." + +"I have married a beggar, when I thought I was marrying an--heiress!" he +cried in a rage so horrible that Faynie, brave as she was, recoiled from +him in terror and, dismay. + +"You have married a penniless young girl," she corrected, half +inaudibly. + +He raised his clinched hand with a terrible volley of oaths, before +which she quailed, despite her bravery. + +"When the old man cast you off you thought you would tie yourself on to +me," he cried. "You women are cunning--oh, yes, you are, don't tell me +you're not; and you are the shrewdest one I've come across yet. You lie +when you say you meant to tell me what had happened beforehand, and you +know it. But you'll find out at your cost what it means to bind me to a +millstone for a wife. But you shan't be a millstone. You'll do your +share toward the support. Yes, by George, you shall. I'll put you on the +stage--and you--" + +"Never!" cried the girl with a bitter sob. "I'd die first." + +"Don't set up your authority against mine," he cried, and as he uttered +the words--half crazed by the brandy he had drunk so copiously--his +clinched fist came down with a heavy blow upon the girl's beautiful, +upturned face, and she fell like one dead at his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT ON THE LONELY RIVER ROAD. + + +For one moment he looked down half stupefied at his work--the girl lay +in a little dark heap at his feet just as he had struck her down--the +crimson blood pouring from a wound on her temple which his ring had +caused. + +"I--I've killed her," he muttered, setting his teeth together +hard--"she--she provoked me to it--curse her! My God! the girl is +actually dying." Then, through his half-dazed brain came the thought +that his crime would soon be discovered, and his only safety lay in +instant flight. + +It was but the work of a moment to hurry from the room, making his way +through the inky darkness as best he could to the barroom, where he knew +he should find Halloran and the cabby dozing in the big armchairs. + +The full realization of his crime had quite sobered him by this time. + +The innkeeper had left a dim light in the barroom. By the aid of this he +made his way quickly to his friend's side. A few rapid words whispered +excitedly in Halloran's ear told him the condition of affairs. + +"You are right," exclaimed Halloran, springing to his feet. "We must +get out of here without a moment's delay. The cabman must go with us, +taking his horses, even though we have to pay him the price of them." + +"I--I--will leave everything to you, Halloran," muttered his companion, +huskily, "your brain is clearer and a thousand times shrewder than +mine." + +"Nor must the girl be left here," went on Halloran. "She must not be +found dead in this house." + +"Why, what in Heaven's name could we do with her?" returned the other, +sharply. "I tell you she is dying, any one could see that." + +"Put her effectually out of the way, and past all human possibility of +any one finding out how she came by her death. I have a desperate plan. +I cannot explain it to you now. All I say is, be guided by my directions +to-night--leave everything to me," said Halloran, with a grim gaze. + +"I put myself in your hands, Halloran," was the husky reply. + +The cabby was hurriedly awakened. At first he demurred angrily against +the idea of starting off again; but when a roll of bank notes was +pressed into his hands as the price of his complying with their +demand--a sum that would more than cover the price of the horses if he +lost them--he no longer found grounds for complaint, but agreed with +alacrity to do their bidding. + +Besides, Halloran knew a little secret of the cabby's past--just how he +came by the money to buy that outfit--and as it was done in a +particularly shady way, the man dared not make an enemy of him. + +In less time than it takes to tell it the coach stood at the door again. + +It was Halloran--nervy, cool-headed Halloran, whom the other had always +dubbed half man, half fiend--who stole up to the room above, found the +girl lying in the exact spot his companion had described, and, catching +up her cloak, wrapped it about her, bore her noiselessly down the stairs +and out to the coach in waiting. + +"Is it all over with her yet?" whispered the other in a strained, husky +voice, showing intense fear. + +"Almost," returned Halloran, briefly, jumping in and closing the door +after him. + +For some moments they rode along in utter silence. Then, as Halloran +made no attempt to break it, his companion leaned over, asking +breathlessly: "Where are we going--and--and--what do you propose to do +with her?" + +"I am just trying to solve that problem in my mind, and it is a knotty +one. I must have more time to think it over," replied Halloran, tersely. + +Before his companion could reply, the coach came to a sudden +standstill, and both of the men within heard their driver's voice in +earnest colloquy with some one standing by the roadside. + +"It is the girl's father, or friends, who have just discovered her +absence and have been scouring the country about to find her," gasped +the fraudulent Lester Armstrong, and the hand that grasped his +companion's arm shook like an aspen leaf. + +"Don't be a coward!" hissed Halloran. "If worst comes to worst, whoever +it is can share the girl's fate," and with these words he opened the +door of the coach, asking sharply, angrily: + +"What is the matter, driver?" + +"Nothing, save a poor old fellow who wants me to give him a lift on the +box beside me. He has lost his way. He's an old grave digger, who says +he lives hereabouts, somewhere. He's half frozen with the cold tramping +about. I told him 'Yes, climb up;' it's a little extra work for the +horses, but I suppose as long as I don't mind it you'll not object." + +"Ha! Satan always helps his own out of difficulties," whispered Halloran +to his companion; and, without waiting for a reply, he was out of the +coach like a flash, and his hand was on the old grave digger's arm ere +he could make the ascent to the box beside the driver. + +"Wait a moment, my good friend," said Halloran, "we have a little work +which you of all persons are best fitted to perform for us ere we +proceed." + +Old Adam, the grave digger, looked at the tall gentleman before him in +some little perplexity, answering, slowly: + +"I hope you will not take it amiss, sir, if I answer that I do not fully +comprehend your words." + +"Perhaps not; but permit me to make them clear to you, in as plain +English as I can command. I want you to dig a grave here and now." + +"A grave--here!" echoed Adam, quite believing his old ears were not +serving him truly--that he had certainly not heard aright. + +"That is what I said," returned Halloran, grimly. + +"But, sir!" began old Adam, "this is no graveyard." + +"Curse you, who said it was?" cut in the other, sharply. + +"It is not to be thought of, sir," murmured the grave digger, trembling +in every limb, his brain too bewildered to try to reason out the meaning +of this strange request, and quite believing the stranger must be an +escaped lunatic. + +Coolly and deliberately Halloran drew a revolver from his pocket, and +placed it at Adam's throbbing temple, saying, grimly, and harshly: + +"You will do as I command or your life will pay the forfeit. I give you +one moment of time to decide." + +It was a moment so fraught with tragic horror that in all the after +years of his life Adam always looked back to it with a shudder of deadly +fear. + +He was no longer young--the sands of life were running slower than in +the long ago--still, life was sweet to him, ah, very sweet. He had a +good wife and little bairns at home, and an aged mother, to whom he was +very dear, and he was their only support. + +Who was this dark-browed stranger? Why did he wish a grave dug by the +roadside on this terrible night? Whom did he wish to bury there, and was +the body within the coach? + +All these thoughts were surging rapidly through his brain, when suddenly +Halloran said: + +"Your moment for contemplation is up. Will you dig the grave here and +now as I command you, or will you prefer that the next passer-by should +find you on this spot with a bullet hole through your head?" + +Even through the semi-darkness old Adam could see the stranger's eyes +gleaming pitilessly upon him as he uttered the words, and he realized +that if he refused he might expect no mercy at this man's hands. + +"Your answer!" said Halloran, pressing the messenger of death still +closer to the throbbing brow of the now thoroughly terrified old grave +digger. + +"Y--es," stammered old Adam. + +"That is well," declared Halloran, removing the weapon. "Begin right +here by the roadside. This is as good a spot as any. You need not make +it the regulation depth--three feet or such a matter will answer. Begin +without delay. I will also add that not only will you save your own +neck, but you shall earn a comfortable fee if you work quickly. Mind, +every minute counts." + +The old grave digger slowly took his spade from his shoulder, and by the +light from the carriage lamp began his work on the spot pointed out, +while Halloran stood by watching him with keen interest. + +Old Adam was used to work in the terrible heat of summer and in the +bitter cold of the winter. He set to work with a will, and the frozen +ground yielded quickly to the strokes of his trusty spade, and surely +the faint moon, glimmering from between the drifting clouds sweeping +across the dark face of the black heavens overhead, never looked upon a +wilder, more weird scene. + +Twice old Adam paused, the perspiration pouring down his face like +rain. + +He was about to cry out: "I cannot go on with this uncanny work," but +each time the cold steel of the revolver was pressed to his throbbing +brow, and the harsh voice of the muffled stranger said: "Go on; your +work is almost accomplished." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +"THERE MUST NOT BE A SINGLE TRACE LEFT TO MARK THE SPOT OF THE GRAVE YOU +ARE NOW DIGGING," SAID THE MUFFLED STRANGER. + + +The old grave digger worked on faster and faster by the fitful light of +the carriage lamp, with the wild night winds howling about him, and the +perspiration streaming down his face, as the stranger stood over him +covering his heart with the deadly revolver. + +"That will do, my man," he said, as old Adam paused for breath a moment. +"That is deep enough, I guess. It will not take long to place its future +tenant therein; then you must replace the earth and pack the snow so +carefully about it that it would not attract the attention of the +casual passer-by. Do you comprehend?" + +"Yes," answered the old grave digger, and it seemed to him that his own +voice sounded like nothing human. + +The stranger turned and walked leisurely to the coach in waiting. + +Old Adam would have fled from the spot in mortal terror, but that his +limbs were trembling and refused to carry him. + +He leaned heavily on his spade, asking himself in growing fright--what +terrible mystery was this that fate had drawn him into, and awaiting +with quaking heart what would follow. + +He had not long to wait. The stranger who had stepped to the carriage +evidently proposed to lose no time. + +In less time than it takes to recount it, he had lifted from the vehicle +a slender figure, closely wrapped in a long dark garment, and as he did +so a second person stepped from the coach--a man, closely muffled like +his companion--and wearing his soft hat pulled low over his eyes. + +One glance at the flickering light of the carriage lamp fell upon them, +bearing the slender figure between them, and old Adam's heart fairly +stood still with horror. + +He recognized them at once as the parties who had stood before the +altar in the old stone church scarcely an hour before. + +Great God! could it be? Ah, yes, it must be the body of the beautiful, +hapless young bride they were bringing to this wild and lonely grave. + +How did she happen to die? She who had been so full of bounding life but +one short hour before--only the all-seeing eye of the God above could +tell--ay, could solve this horrible mystery. + +Another moment, and in utter silence, the slender figure was lowered +into the frozen ground by the two strangers. + +This accomplished, the same man turned to old Adam again, saying, +abruptly: + +"Now finish your work as speedily as possible, I repeat the +caution--mind--not a trace must be visible when you have accomplished +your task, to mark the spot." + +No word from the old grave digger answered him. He could not have +uttered a single syllable if his very life had depended upon it. + +While the other had been speaking, a gust of wind had for a single +instant tossed aside the heavy cloth that covered the face, and old Adam +saw beyond all doubt that it was indeed the lovely young creature who +had within that hour been made a bride, and with that terrible discovery +came another--there was, as sure as fate, a flush upon the beautiful +face of her whom they were consigning to the tomb. + +"Hold!" he cried out with all his strength, drawing back from his work, +shaking with terror. "The--the--girl is not dead; there is color--" + +A fierce oath from the lips of both men simultaneously cut his words +short. + +"The girl is dead," exclaimed the man who had so far done the talking. +"That is blood you see on her face. She had a hemorrhage. Go on with +your work, you fool--or, here! give me the spade. I will make a short +shift of it." + +But as the stranger uttered these words, stepping quickly forward to put +the thought into execution, a sudden thought, like an inspiration, +occurred to the ancient grave digger. + +"No--no--I will finish my work," he muttered. "I--I--can do it best, as +I--I--understand it--and--and--you, would not." + +"Make all haste, then; it is growing bitter cold. We shall all freeze to +death." + +"Could you not get into the coach, sir, to keep warm?" suggested old +Adam; "you can be of no aid to me, you know. When I have +finished--you--you can step out and see if it is done to your +satisfaction." + +For a moment the stranger hesitated, then said, sharply: + +"I think I will take your advice, my man; my feet are about as numb as +they could well be, I assure you; and as you say, my standing here will +not help you. I can watch from the carriage window, and when the work is +done step out and look at it." + +With that he hurried quickly to the vehicle, and with a thankfulness in +his heart that words are weak to describe, and with a mental "God be +praised," the old grave digger bent to his task with renewed energy. + +Both men watched narrowly and anxiously, as spadeful after spadeful of +dirt quickly disappeared from the white ground. Then the white heaping +snow was leveled over the dark narrow space, and the grave digger +announced that his work was completed. + +"I do not know as it is worth while to examine it; the old fellow knows +his business," remarked Halloran to his companion, who was by this time +fairly well under the weather from large draughts of brandy he had drunk +from a bottle he had seized from the bar. "Step up on the box beside the +driver"--thrusting a bank note into the old grave digger's nervous, +trembling hand--"we will take you along the road as far as we go." + +For an instant old Adam hesitated, but it was only for an instant, for +he said to himself he must not arouse the suspicion of this stranger by +refusing to ride, especially as he had begged for that permission so +short a time before. He could frame no reasonable excuse for asking to +remain behind. + +Marking the spot as best he could in the intense darkness, he climbed up +to the driver's box as he had been bidden, and took his seat. + +With a sharp cut of the whip upon their flanks, the horses were started, +and swaying to and fro with their every motion as they dashed along over +the uneven road, the coach sped onward. + +No word fell from the driver's lips, and old Adam was too much excited +to vouchsafe a remark. + +He knew that the men, as well as the rig, did not belong thereabouts, +for he well knew every team in the village, and those of the adjoining +farmers. + +How far they traversed thus he could not judge, but to his intense +relief he saw at last that they were passing a familiar landmark, an old +bridge that spanned a dry creek which was scarcely a dozen rods from his +own door. + +"I will leave you here," said Adam. "I thank you for giving me a lift." + +Again the coach came to a halt, and the man within put out his head, +inquiring sharply: + +"What is the matter now?" + +"This man wants to get off here." + +"Very well," replied Halloran, drawing back into the warmth of the coach +and giving the matter no further thought, and resuming the castles in +the air which he had been building when the vehicle came to a stop. "I +shall see that you carry out to the fullest detail the little plot I am +laying this night for you," he muttered, looking steadily at his +companion, who had dozed off into a heavy stupefied sleep upon the +opposite seat, "and when you come into possession of the money which +your marriage to the little heiress to-night will bring you, I shall +come in for the lion's share of it. You dare not refuse my demands, no +matter how exorbitant they may be, under penalty of exposure. That will +be the sword in my hands that will always hang over your head. + +"It would have been more difficult to accomplish my scheme if the girl +had lived. It is best as it is. Dead people tell no tales. Of course +they will search for the girl when they discover that she has eloped, +but will believe she is cleverly eluding them or traveling about the +country. I have always had golden dreams of a fortune that would be in +my grasp some day, and now, lo! my dream is about to be realized." + +While he was thus soliloquizing, old Adam, the grave digger, was +standing silently in the road where they had set him down, then +suddenly he turned abruptly--not toward his home--but as quickly as his +aged limbs could carry him back over the ground the coach had just +traversed, praying to Heaven to guide him to the spot where he had dug +the lonely grave of the beautiful, hapless young bride of an hour. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SNATCHED FROM THE GRAVE. + + +Back over that terrible road of drifting snow the old grave digger made +his way as swiftly as his trembling limbs could carry him. + +He had endeavored to mark carefully the spot where he had made that +lonely grave, but the snow was drifting so hard with each furious gust +of wind as to make it almost impossible to find it upon retracing his +steps. + +Quaking with terror, and with a prayer on his lips to Heaven to guide +him, old Adam sat down his lantern, and by its dim, flickering light +peered breathlessly around. + +There was the blasted pine tree and toward the right of it the stump. +The grave must be less than a rod below it. + +With a heart beating with great strangling throbs, he paced off the +distance, and then stood quite still, holding his lantern down close to +the frozen earth. + +For an instant his heart almost ceased beating--there was no sign of the +little mound, with the leafless branch of bush he had been so careful to +place there. + +Then, suddenly a moan from beneath his very feet fell upon his ear, +causing him to fairly gasp for breath. + +"Thank God! I have found it!" he cried. + +In an instant he had thrown off his coat, thin though it was, and set to +work as he had never worked in all his life before--against time. + +He had thrown in the earth loosely, taking care to leave the head +exposed, for he felt as sure as he did of his own existence that life +was not yet extinct in the body of the young girl for whom he was forced +to prepare that grave at the point of a revolver in the hands of the two +desperate strangers. + +He had taken his own life in his hands when he had announced the work +finished satisfactorily, for had the man stepped from the coach to +examine the work he would have found the deep hole which left the head +uncovered. + +The cold winds and the drifting snow blew into the old grave digger's +face, but he worked on with desperate zeal, realizing that another life +might depend upon the swiftness of his rescue. + +At last, after what seemed to him an eternity of time, he reached the +body, and quickly lifted it from its resting place. + +Half an hour later he reached his own humble cottage home, bearing the +slender burden in his strong arms. + +His good wife had waited up for him. She could never sleep when Adam was +away from home. + +She heard his footstep on the crunching snow and hastened to open the +door for him, starting back with a cry of great surprise as she caught +sight of the figure in his arms. + +"Is it some neighbor's little girl lost in the storm, Adam?" she cried, +clasping her hands together in affright. + +"Don't ask any questions now, Mary," he exclaimed, delivering the burden +into her willing, motherly arms, and sinking down into the nearest +chair, thoroughly exhausted. "I'll tell you all about it later, when I +get my breath and my nerves are settled. Do everything you can to revive +the poor young creature. She is freezing to death." + +As old Adam's kindly wife threw back the dark cloak which had enveloped +the fair young face and form, an exclamation of surprise broke from her +wondering lips. + +"She is a stranger hereabouts," she observed, but she wisely obeyed her +husband's injunctions, making no further remark, knowing she would hear +all about it in good time. + +In less time than it takes to tell it, the beautiful young stranger was +put to bed in the little spare room up under the eaves, wrapped in +flannel blankets, with bottles of hot water at the feet, and a generous +draught of brandy, which the grave digger's wife always kept in the +house for emergencies, forced down her throat. + +"She will soon return to consciousness now," she exclaimed to her +husband, who stood beside the bedside anxiously watching her labors; +"see that flush on her cheeks. We will sit down quietly and wait until +she opens her eyes. It won't be long." + +And while they waited thus, Adam told his wife the story he had to tell +concerning the young girl--this fair, hapless, beautiful young stranger +whose wedding he had witnessed and burial he had assisted in within the +hour, first binding his wife to solemn secrecy. + +The good woman's amazement as she listened can better be imagined than +described. For once in her life she was too dumfounded to offer even a +theory. + +As they glanced toward the bed, to their amazement they saw the girl's +eyes fastened upon old Adam with an expression of horror in them, +heartrending to behold, and they realized that she had heard every word +he had said. + +In an instant they were on their feet bending over the couch. + +"Is it true--they buried me--and--you--you--rescued me?" she asked, in a +terrified whisper, catching at the old man's hands and clutching them in +a grasp from which he could not draw them away, her teeth chattering, +her violet eyes almost bulging from their sockets. + +"Since you have heard all, I might as well confess that it is quite +true," he answered. "And God forgive that brute of a husband you just +married. He ought to swing for the crime as sure as there is a heaven +above us. There will be no end of the good minister's wrath when he +hears the story, my poor girl." + +Again the beautiful young stranger caught at his hands. + +"He must never know!" she cried, incoherently. "Promise me, by all you +hold dear, that both you and your wife will keep my secret--will never +reveal one word of what has happened this night." + +"It is not right that we should keep silent upon such an amazing +procedure. That would be letting escape the man who should be punished, +if there is any law in the land to reach him for committing such a +heinous crime." + +"I plead with you--I, who know best and am the one wronged, and most +vitally interested, to utter no word that would cause the story to +become blazoned all over the world. Let me make my words a prayer to you +both--to keep my pitiful secret." + +It was beyond human power to look into those beautiful violet eyes, +drowned in the most agonized tears, and the white, terrified, anxious +face, without yielding to her prayer. + +"I do not know what good reason you may have for binding us to secrecy," +he said, slowly and reluctantly, "but we cannot choose but to give you +the promise--nay, the pledge--you plead for. I can answer for my Mary as +well as myself--the story of to-night's happenings shall never pass our +lips until you give us leave to speak." + +"Thank you! Oh, I thank you a thousand times!" sobbed the girl. "You +have lifted a terrible load from my heart. If the time ever comes when I +can repay you, rest assured it shall surely be done." + +She tried to rise from her couch, but the good wife held her back upon +her pillow with a detaining hand, exclaiming: + +"What are you about to do, my dear child?" + +"Go away from here," sobbed the girl, again attempting to arise from the +couch, but falling back upon the pillow from sheer weakness. + +She did not leave that couch for many a day. What she had undergone had +been too much for her shattered nerves. + +Brain fever threatened the hapless girl, but was warded off by the +faithful nursing of old Adam's faithful wife. + +And during those weeks the good woman could learn nothing of the history +of the beautiful young stranger, who persistently refused to divulge one +word concerning herself. She would turn her face to the wall and weep so +violently when any allusion was made to her past that the grave digger's +wife gave up questioning her. + +One morning the bed was empty. It had not been slept in. The girl had +fled in the night. + +Who she was, or where she had gone, was to them the darkest, deepest +mystery. Would it ever be revealed? They could not discuss it with the +old minister or any of the neighbors, for their lips were sealed in +eternal silence concerning the matter. + +"I feel sure the end of this matter is not yet," said old Adam, +prophetically. "When the girl comes face to face with the dastardly +villain she wedded that night, it will end in a tragedy." + +"God forbid!" murmured his wife with a shudder; but down in her own +heart she felt that her husband had spoken the truth; the tragic end of +this affair had not yet come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"YOU ARE DISINHERITED--EVERYTHING IN THIS HOUSE IS MINE." + + +Faynie had indeed departed from that humble home as she had entered it, +in the dark, dim silence of the bitter-cold night. + +She made her way as best she could to the station which, fortunately +enough, was not far distant. The station master was old and anxious to +get home, and therefore paid little heed to the little dark-robed figure +who bought a ticket to New York, and soon after crept silently aboard of +the train which steamed into the little depot of the hamlet, almost +buried in the snowdrifts across the hills. + +Weak and faint from her recent illness, Faynie, the beautiful, petted +little heiress of a short time before, huddled into a corner of the seat +by the door, and drawing her veil carefully over her face, wept silently +and unheeded as the midnight express bore her along to her destination. + +She was going home to Beechwood; going back to the home she had left in +such high spirits to join the lover who was to be all in all to her +forever more; the lover who was to shield her henceforth and forever +from the world's storms, and was to be all devotion to her and love her +fondly until death did them part. And this had been the end of it. Her +high hopes lay in ruins around her. Her idol had been formed of +commonest clay, and lay crumbled in a thousand fragments at her feet. + +Surely, no young girl's love dream ever had such a sad awakening, and +was so cruelly dispelled. + +She would go home to her haughty old father, tell him all, then lie down +at his feet and die. That would end it all. Even in that moment lines +she had once read came back to her with renewed meaning: + + "And this is all! The end has come at last! + The bitter end of all that pleasant dream, + That cast a hallow o'er the happy past, + Like golden sunshine on a summer stream. + + "Sweet were the days that marked life's sunny slope, + When we together drew our hearts atune, + And through the vision of a future hope, + We did not dream that they would pass so soon. + + "In happy mood fair castles we upreared, + And thought that life was one long summer day; + We had no dread of future pain, nor feared + That shadows e'er should fall athwart our way. + + "But sunken rocks lie hid in every stream, + And ships are wrecked when just in sight of land; + So we to-day wake from our pleasant dream + To find our hopes were builded on the sand. + + "I do not blame you that you do not keep + The troth you plighted e'er your heart you knew; + Better the parting now than wake to weep, + When time has robbed life's roses of their dew. + + "Another face will help you to forget, + The idle dream that had its birth in trust, + And other lips will kiss away regret, + For broken faith and idols turned to dust, + + "Ah, well, you chose, perhaps, the better way; + Another love may in your heart be shrined; + And I--I shall go down my darkened way, + Seeking forever what I ne'er shall find." + +It was two o'clock by the church belfry when she reached Beechwood, and +a quarter of an hour later when she reached the great mansion that stood +on the brow of the hill. + +She remembered that one of the rear doors, seldom used, was never +fastened, and toward this she bent her faltering footsteps. It yielded +to her touch, and like a ghost she glided through it and up the wide, +familiar corridors, her tears falling like rain at every step. + +She knew it was her father's custom to spend long hours in his library, +sometimes far into the gray dawn. He found this preferable to the +presence of his sharp-tongued second wife, who was always nagging him +for more money, or to put his property into her name as proof positive +of his unbounded, undying affection for her. + +In his library, among his books, there was no nagging. Here he found +peace, silence and quiet. + +Therefore, toward the library, late as the hour was, Faynie made her +way, stealing along quietly as a shadow. + +The door stood slightly ajar, and a ray of light, a narrow, thread-like +strip, fell athwart the dim corridor. + +When Faynie reached the door she paused, trembling with apprehension, a +feeling of intense dread, like a presentiment of coming evil, stealing +over her like the shadow of doom. + +She was prepared for his bitter anger, for the whirlwind of wrath that +would be sure to follow, but she would cast herself on her knees at his +feet, and with head bowed, oh, so lowly, so piteously, wait for the +hurricane of his rage to exhaust itself. Then she would bend over her +head still lower, her pride crushed, her pitiful humiliation complete, +and sue on her bended knees, with her hands clasped for his pardon and +his love again. + +She would plead for it for the sake of the fair, hapless young mother +whom she had loved and lost in his early youth. Surely, for her sake he +would find mercy, perhaps pardon, for the child she had left behind her, +the fair, petted, hapless daughter, who had been so lonely, and whose +heart yearned so for love ever since he had brought in a second wife to +rule over his household. + +Ay, from that hour he and his daughter had seemed to drift apart. + +Nerving herself for the ordeal, the girl crept to the door and timidly +swung it back. + +There was a figure bending over the writing desk; not the tall form of +her father, but her stepmother. + +Faynie drew back with a startled cry. + +In a single instant, with the swiftness of a lioness, the woman who had +been examining the desk, cleared the space that divided her from the +girl, and clutched her by the shoulder. + +"You!" she panted, in a voice that was scarcely human, it was so full of +venomous hatred. "You!" she repeated, flinging the girl from her, as +though she had been something vile to the touch. "How dare you come +here?" + +Faynie looked at her for a moment with dilated eyes gazing out from her +pale face. + +Had her stepmother suddenly gone mad? was the thought that flashed +through the girl's brain. + +"I--I have come back to my father, and--and to his home--and mine. Any +explanation I have to offer will be made to him alone." + +The woman laughed a sneering, demoniac laugh, and her clutch on the +girl's shoulder grew stronger, fiercer. + +"How lovely, how beautifully worded, how dutiful!" she sneered. "By that +I judge that you have not been keeping abreast of the times, or you +would have known, girl, that your father is dead, and that he has +disinherited you, leaving every dollar of his wealth to me." + +"Dead!" Faynie repeated the words in an awful whisper. + +It seemed to her that every drop of blood in her veins seemed suddenly +turned to ice. A mist swam before her eyes and she put out her hand +gropingly, grasping the back of the nearest chair for support. + +She did not even hear the last of the sentence. Her thoughts and hearing +seemed to end with that one awful word. + +"That is what I said," replied her stepmother, nonchalantly, "and you +are his murderess, girl, quite as much as though you had plunged a +dagger in his heart. Your elopement caused him to have a terrible +hemorrhage. He knew all the details about it in less than an hour's +time, learning from one of the servants how you stole out of the house +and met the tall man at the gate, who took you off in a closed carriage, +and just as he made this discovery one of the maids handed him your +note, which you left pinned to the pillow, addressed to him. He had no +sooner read it than he fell into a rage so horrible that it ended as I +have said, in a hemorrhage. Within ten minutes' time your name, which he +cursed, was stricken from his will, and he left everything to me, +disinheriting you. Do you comprehend the force of my remark?" + +The steady, awful look in the young girl's eyes made the woman quail in +spite of her bravado. "I--I do not care for my father's wealth, but that +he should curse me--oh, that is too much--too much. Oh, God, let me die +here and now, that I may follow him to the Great White Throne and there +kneel before him and tell him all my pitiful story!" + +"That is a pretty theory, but people cannot go to and come at will from +the Great White Throne, as you call it. You had better get back to the +realities of life on this mundane sphere, where you find yourself just +at present. I repeat for the third time that you are disinherited. I +cannot seem to make you grasp that fact. This home and everything in it +belongs absolutely to me." + +Faynie heard and realized, and without a word, turned and staggered like +one dying toward the door, but her stepmother put herself quickly before +her. + +"Sit down there. I have something else to say to you," she added in a +shrill whisper, pushing the girl into the nearest seat. + +"I must go. I will not listen," cried Faynie, struggling to her feet. + +"Yes, you shall listen and comply with my proposition," exclaimed her +stepmother, her glittering eyes fastened on the beautiful face of the +girl she hated so intensely. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +IMPENDING EVIL. + + +We must return for one brief instant, dear reader, to our hero, Lester +Armstrong, whom we left as he was being hurried off to the hospital on +the night which proved so thrillingly eventful. + +At the first rapid glance, the surgeon had believed his patient dying, +but upon examination after he had reached the hospital, it was +discovered that his injury was by no means as serious as had been +apprehended; but a trouble quite as grave confronted the patient. + +"An injury to the base of the brain, such as he has received, no matter +how slight, might, in this instance, produce either insanity or partial +loss of memory, which is almost as bad," said the surgeon. "It will +soon be determined when consciousness, returns to him." + +This indeed proved to be the case. Just as daylight broke Lester +Armstrong opened his eyes, looking in amazement around the strange +apartment in which he found himself. + +A kindly-faced nurse bent over him, who, in answer to his look of +inquiry, said: + +"You had a severe fall and hurt yourself last night and was brought to +the hospital. You are doing finely. Can you remember anything about the +incident?" + +Lester looked up vacantly into the dark-gray eyes. "I--I was in a hurry +to close my books at the office; that is all I recollect," he murmured. + +From documents found in his pockets, it was learned that he had some +connection with the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., and the senior +member of the firm was notified. Within an hour Mr. Marsh responded in +person. He was greatly distressed over the occurrence and took it deeply +to heart. + +"I think as much of that young man as if he were my own son. Do +everything in human power for him. Let no pains be spared. I will stand +every expense," he said, and then and there he also confided a startling +secret to the surgeon. + +"I am a lone man in this world, without one kindred tie on earth. Some +little time since I made my will. I left every dollar I possessed on +earth to my young cashier, Lester Armstrong, though he never even +dreamed of such an existing state of affairs. I never intended that he +should know that I had made him my heir for perhaps years to come yet." + +"Lester Armstrong!" exclaimed the surgeon. "Why, that is not the name he +is entered here under, Mr. Marsh. The friend who was with him did not +call him that." + +"Then the friend who was with him evidently did not know him. I identify +him as my cashier, Lester Armstrong." + +The surgeon bowed courteously. + +"I would also suggest no mention whatever of this affair be given to the +newspapers," continued the gentleman. "They would make a sensational +story out of it, and I detest notoriety." + +"Your wishes shall be respected, sir," replied the surgeon, who had a +great reverence for men of wealth. + +His prediction proved quite correct. When Lester Armstrong arose from +that bed of sickness ten days later, his mind, although as bright and +keen as ever on some subjects, on others was hopelessly clouded. Even +the slightest recollection of beautiful Faynie Fairfax, the little +sweetheart whom he had loved better than his own life, was completely +obliterated from his mind. He did not even remember such a being had +ever existed. + +Another event had transpired on the eventful night of his injury. The +humble boarding house where he had made his home so many years, had been +destroyed by fire, and the people had gone none knew whither. This was +indeed a trying blow to Lester, for the fire had completely wiped out +all of his savings which he had kept in the little haircloth trunk in +his room. But, without a murmur, he took up the burden of life over +again and went back to his work at his desk. + +In going over his accounts he suddenly came across the name of Faynie +Fairfax. + +The pen fell from his fingers and he brushed his hand over his brow. + +"What a strangely familiar ring that name has to me!" he muttered, "but +I cannot imagine who it can be. Her checks seem to be paid in here. I +must remember to notice who she is when next she comes to this window." + +Life had dropped into the same old groove again for Lester Armstrong, +the only difference in the routine of his daily life being that he was +not obliged to take his daily trips to Beechwood any more, for the +reason that his employer, Mr. Marsh, had taken up his residence in the +city again. + +But in less than a fortnight another event happened. + +Mr. Marsh died suddenly, and to the great surprise of every one, Lester +Armstrong was named as his sole heir. At first the young man was +dumfounded. He could not believe the evidence of his own senses, when +first the news was conveyed to him. + +The papers contained columns concerning the young man's wonderful luck. +Those who knew Lester Armstrong said the great fortune which had come to +him would not spoil him. + +There was one who read this account with amazed eyes, and that was +Halloran. + +"Great God!" he muttered, his hands shaking, his teeth chattering. +"Kendale told me that Armstrong was taken to the hospital in a +precarious condition and died there." + +He made all haste to Kendale's lodgings. The latter, who was still +masquerading under the name of Lester Armstrong, had been on a +continuous spree ever since the night he had wedded the little beauty, +and Halloran had let him take his course, saying to himself that there +was plenty of time in the future to carry out their scheme. + +For once he found Kendale partially sober. He knew by Halloran's face +that something out of the usual order of events had transpired. + +"What is the matter?" he cried; "what's up now?" + +For answer Halloran laid the paper before him, pointing to the column, +remarking, grimly: + +"The game's up now, and we've gone through all this trouble for nothing. +Your cousin, Lester Armstrong, is not dead, but instead is alive and +well." + +The papers which contained the account gave another bit of unfortunate +information, stating that Lester Armstrong had suffered from loss of +memory since he had received the fall on that fatal night. + +"Well," said Halloran, as his friend laid down the paper, "you see, the +game's up." + +"By no means," exclaimed Kendale, perfectly sober by this time. "It's a +poor rule that won't work both ways," he added, excitedly. + +"I don't understand your cause for rejoicing," returned Halloran, +gloomily. + +"Don't you?" cried Kendale. "Then let me make it clear to you. We not +only have one fortune through the girl that I tied myself to, and can, +as her husband, collect all in good time, but with a little strategy I +can come in for the Marsh millions. We can decoy Armstrong into a coach, +and let the world find out his fate after that if it can. I will coolly +take his place, just as I did in that other affair, and who is there to +question that I am not he." + +"But they know you there. You worked a week in the employ of Marsh & Co. +You forget that." + +"It was at one of their branch stores," was the reply, "and they had +never heard of Armstrong there, and had never seen him. I left in a +week. I did not resemble my cousin so much at that particular time for +the reason that my mustache was shaven off then. Without that you would +be surprised to see what a wide difference there is between us." + +"It is a great scheme, if you are sure that you can carry it through," +said Halloran, breathing hard and eying his companion fixedly. + +"Trust that to me," replied Kendale, jumping up and walking the floor to +and fro excitedly. + +It was midnight when Halloran left Kendale's apartments. During those +long hours the two plotters had concocted a diabolical scheme, which +they meant to carry out ere the morning light dawned. + +All unconscious of the nefarious plot against his life, Lester Armstrong +was up with the sun the next morning, and was down to the office at an +early hour transacting the great amount of business that he found upon +his hands, contingent upon being the head of the firm of which he had +for so many years been but an humble cashier. + +Despite the sudden wealth which had come to him, all that day he felt a +strange depression of the heart, a strong impression of impending evil, +which he could not shake off. Even those about him noticed what a gloomy +look there was in his eyes. + +He was the last one to leave the great building that night, and as he +stepped out upon the sidewalk, he muttered to himself: "I wonder what is +about to happen to me, my heart feels so heavy, so depressed." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN THE TOILS OF THE CONSPIRATORS. + + +Lester Armstrong had no sooner stepped to the pavement than he was +accosted by a man who stepped suddenly up to him. + +"Mr. Armstrong?" he said, interrogatively, touching his hat +respectfully. + +"Yes," responded Lester, "what can I do for you?" + +"I am here on a deed of mercy. A friend of mine, an employee of yours, +sir, has met with a serious accident and calls for you repeatedly. I am +a hackman, and I volunteered to come for you and ask you to let me take +you to him. It is not very far. My cab stands right here." + +"I will go to the poor fellow, certainly," responded Lester, hurrying to +the vehicle in question and hastily entering it. + +In a moment the driver had mounted the box and was off like the wind. It +did not occur to Lester until he was well under way that he had not +thought to inquire who the injured man was. + +As the cab rolled swiftly along over the crowded thoroughfare, Lester +leaned back and gave himself up to his own thoughts. + +Wealth had come to him, and with it honors had crowded thick and fast +upon him. The world of society held out its arms eagerly to him. Lovely +young girls, matrons of the house, offered their congratulations to him +with the most bewitching of smiles, and mothers with marriageable +daughters from all over the city opened an account with the great dry +goods house, whose sole owner was a young and handsome bachelor. + +But for all this there seemed to be something sadly missing in his life, +a want which he could hardly define, and it seemed to take the shape of +something which he was striving to remember, but could not. + +Only that morning he had been talking with some one in the office about +it, and had been laughingly informed that there was a method that could +bring back to his memory that which he desired so ardently to recollect. +"If you will tell me how to unravel this tangle that is in my brain, you +will have my everlasting gratitude," declared Lester, earnestly. + +"It takes people with nerves of steel to accomplish it. A person who is +nervous to the slightest degree would not dare to try it, for fear of +turning suddenly insane from the terrible mental struggle. Do you still +wish to know what it is?" + +"Yes," responded Lester, "and I can use my judgment whether I dare try +it or not." + +"Very good," replied the gentleman, "then here it is: Counting five +thousand backward will either restore your loss of memory, or, as I have +taken care to warn you gravely in advance, cause you to go insane. It +must be done rapidly, and in a given space of time. In my belief the +remedy is by far worse than the malady. I feel, somehow, as though I +ought not to have told you about it." + +"Nonsense," said Lester. "You need have little fear of my trying it." + +He thought of it, however, as the cab rolled rapidly along. + +"I wonder if harm would result from my trying it?" he mused. "I have +unusually strong nerves, and--and, if anything disastrous should come of +it, there is not one soul on the wide earth that would be injured. There +is no mother to weep, no fair young sister to grieve, no father or +brother to be bowed down with sorrow. I am alone in the world. My +foolhardiness would injure only myself--only myself." + +He had been thinking so deeply that he had not noted the flight of time, +nor that the street lamps had grown fewer and far between, at last +ceasing altogether, and that they were traveling a country road. +Suddenly the vehicle came to a stop. The driver jumped from his box and +opened the door with a jerk, remarking: + +"This is the place." + +Lester alighted, looking about him in a rather mystified manner, but +before he could make the inquiry that rose to his lips the driver +hastened to say: + +"The path that leads to the house, which is just beyond that clump of +trees, is so narrow that we cannot drive there. We will have to walk. It +is but a short distance. You will see the house at the first turn in the +path." + +And as the man uttered the words he gave a peculiar cough. + +"Who is the person who sent for me?" Lester queried, stopping short. The +man made an evasive answer, which aroused his suspicions that all was +not as it should be. + +"Why do you not answer my question? I refuse to proceed a step farther +until you have satisfied me on this point," declared Lester, haughtily. + +"That's your opinion. I think differently, my fine fellow," answered the +man insolently. "I'd advise you to come along quietly." + +Lester Armstrong saw at once that he had been lured into a trap. It was +natural for him to jump to the conclusion that it was for robbery, owing +to the fact of his coming into possession of the great Marsh fortune so +recently, and a sudden sternness settled upon his face. He was not used +to broils, but this fellow should see that he was not quite a stranger +to the manly art of self-defense, and that he had an adversary worthy of +his steel. + +"Are you coming along peaceably with me, or shall I be obliged to call +upon my pals for assistance?" he asked, grimly. + +"I propose to defend myself against all odds," answered Lester, more +than angry with himself for falling so easily into the trap that had +been so cunningly set for him. + +He had but a few dollars in money about him, and the disappointment of +his assailant in not finding a large roll of bills would in all +probability cause the man to take desperate chances in trying to make +away with him. If he was armed he was at the fellow's mercy. There might +be half a dozen accomplices in collusion with him, he had little doubt. + +Again the cabby uttered that peculiar cough which was half a whistle, +and in response two men, whose features were covered by black masks, +sprang from the adjacent bushes. + +Our hero put up a splendid defense, but the united strength of his three +antagonists at length overpowered him. + +What was there in the figure of one of the men that seemed so familiar +to him? he wondered, and just as they were bearing him to the ground by +their united efforts, he suddenly reached forward and tore the mask from +his assailant's face. + +One glance, and the horror of death seemed to suddenly freeze the blood +in his veins. His eyes dilated and seemed to nearly burst from their +sockets. The face into which he gazed was that of Clinton Kendale, his +cousin. + +"You!" he gasped, quite disbelieving the evidence of his own senses. + +Kendale laughed a diabolical laugh, while his features were distorted +into those of a fiend incarnate. + +"I haven't the least hesitation in admitting my identity," he said, +coolly. "Yes, you are in good hands, if you give us no trouble, and come +along quietly, without compelling us to use further force." + +"What is the meaning of this outrage?" cried Lester, white to the lips. + +"That you shall learn all in good time, cousin mine," replied Kendale, +mockingly. + +In struggling out of their grasp to better protect himself, Lester fell +headlong on the icy ground, striking his head heavily against the +gnarled, projecting root of a tree and lying at their feet like one +dead. + +"He will give us little enough trouble now," said Kendale, grimly. "Lend +a hand there, both of you, and get him into the house quickly. I am +almost frozen to death here." + +In less time than it takes to narrate it, Lester Armstrong was hurriedly +conveyed into the house. + +The place consisted of but two rooms, and into the inner one Lester was +thrust with but little ceremony, and tossed upon a pallet of straw in +the corner. + +He had not entirely lost consciousness, as they supposed, but was only +stunned, realizing fully all that was transpiring about him. + +"Your scheme has worked like a charm, Halloran," said Kendale. "We have +bagged our game more easily than I imagined we would. Now there is +nothing in the way between me and the fortune that liberal old fool +Marsh willed to my amiable cousin." + +"Everything rests with the shrewdness with which you play your part," +answered the man addressed as Halloran. + +"You ought not to have any scruples on that score," exclaimed Kendale, +boastfully. "After leaving my amiable cousin on the night of the +accident, did I not go immediately to the pretty little heiress, Faynie +Fairfax, and successfully pass myself off as the lover she was waiting +to elope with? And the little beauty never knew the difference." + +"I must own that you played your cards successfully in that direction," +was the response, "but this will be a far different matter from +hoodwinking a young, unsophisticated girl." + +"Within a month from to-day I shall have the Fairfax fortune and the +Marsh millions added to it," said Clinton Kendale, emphatically. + +"I would put an eternal quietus upon my fortunate cousin here, did I not +need his assistance in one or two matters concerning the method of +running the business, which was known only to old Marsh and himself." + +"Are you fool enough to think that he will divulge those secrets to +you?" said Halloran, impatiently. + +"They can be forced from him. I know how," returned Kendale, with a +brutal laugh. "Come," he said, turning on his heel. + +His companion followed him from the apartment, and the door closed with +a resounding bang, and Lester lay there too horror-stricken to move hand +or foot, fairly spellbound by the disclosures he had overheard as they +stood over him, believing him unconscious. + +All in an instant a great wave of awakened memory swept over him, +opening out the flood-gates of recollection like a flash. He remembered +his interview with his sweetheart, his darling Faynie, and how he was +arranging to hurry back to marry her when the fatal accident occurred, +and how, believing himself dying, he had confided all to his treacherous +cousin, bidding him take the message to his darling, that even in death +his only thought was of her. + +Oh, merciful God! how horribly had his treacherous cousin betrayed that +sacred trust, because of his fatal resemblance to himself! He cried out +to God and the listening angels: + +"Heaven help my beautiful darling and save her from the machinations of +that desperate villain!" + +He knew that Clinton Kendale would stop at nothing to gain his end, and +his agony at the thought that he might be unable to prevent it in time +almost drove him to the verge of madness. + +He felt that they would hold him there until they tortured from him +whatever secret he held which they wished to learn; then they would +deliberately make away with him. Clinton Kendale would step into his +place, personating himself so cleverly that the great world, under whose +very eyes the terrible tragedy had taken place, would never know the +difference. Even Faynie would not know how she had been tricked and +cheated, and the last thought almost drove him to the point of frenzy, +nearly succeeding in turning his tortured brain. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +"YOU ARE OUR PRISONER!" + + +For hours Lester Armstrong lay like one stunned, turning over and over +in his mind the awful revelation he had heard. That a human being, +especially his cousin, Clinton Kendale, should have plotted so horribly +against him seemed almost past believing. Then he remembered how +treacherous he had been in his early days, and he wondered that he had +been so mad as to have trusted him. + +"Heaven save my darling from him!" he cried out in an agony too great +for words. To realize that she was in the mercy of such a man was a +sorrow so great that all else on earth paled before it. Then a mighty +resolve came to him--to foil the villainous plot, weak though he was; he +must make his escape and fly to his darling's aid. + +He knew that Clinton Kendale would follow out his line of action, +keeping him there as long as it was necessary--that is, until he learned +all the secrets that he was so anxious to ascertain--then he would put +him out of the way with as little compunction as he would a dog. He +might expect little mercy at Kendale's hands, when two fortunes and a +beautiful young girl hung in the balance. + +For hours he lay there, turning the matter over in his mind. He knew he +was terribly weak from the awful fall which he had received, and which +had hurt his head the second time in almost the same place; but escape +he must from the clutches of the conspirators, even though he were +dying. + +Suddenly the key turned in the lock, the door swung open and Kendale +entered, bearing a lighted candle in his hand. + +"Ah, you have come to, have you?" he remarked, seeing the other's eyes +turn toward him; and before Lester Armstrong could answer he went on +quickly: "You are the only one who knows the combination which opens the +safe of the late Marsh & Co., and as I intend to open it to-morrow +morning at the usual hour in place of your punctual self, it will be +most necessary for you to give me the required information." + +For one moment Lester Armstrong gazed steadily into the face of the +fiend incarnate before him--a look before which the other quailed +despite his apparent bravado. + +"I am in your power and at your mercy," he said, "but though you torture +me on the rack I shall never tell you what you want to know. That safe +contains valuable papers which belong to others; they are secure in my +keeping. You can kill me, but the secret of the safe combination will +die with me." + +Kendale laughed a little short, hard laugh. + +"You are mad to thus defy me," he cried, harshly, "when you stop to +consider that I can open it in any event. I can simply say the +combination has slipped from my mind. Who is there to question Mr. +Lester Armstrong, the head of the firm? No one--no one. It will be +broken open quite as soon as workmen can be found to accomplish it." + +The lines about the sufferer's mouth tightened; he clutched his hands +hard. He knew the dare devil Kendale would stop at nothing--nothing. + +"I will give you until daylight to decide. I promise you that it will go +hard with you if you are not complaisant." + +With that he turned on his heel and quitted the room. + +During all the long hours of that never-to-be-forgotten night Lester +Armstrong lay there on his pallet of straw praying for strength to foil +the villain--for Heaven to direct him what to do. + +For the Marsh millions he cared nothing; but his heart was wrung with +anguish when he trusted himself to think of Faynie. + +He knew that Kendale had kept the appointment made by himself, but for +some reason the elopement could not have taken place. A thousand causes +might have prevented its successful carrying out, though Kendale was +sure of a satisfactory finish, he imagined. + +Daylight broke at last; he could see it dimly through the dust-begrimed, +boarded-up windows; but it was not until the sun had well risen that his +cousin put in an appearance again. Lester was suffering intense pain +from the terrible bruise on his head at the base of the brain, but he +set his teeth hard together, determining that his mortal foe should not +know it. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Kendale, sneeringly. "Wide awake, I see!--probably the +fixed habit of years. You have, no doubt, come to a more sensible frame +of mind than I left you in last night, I trust, regarding the +information I want concerning the combination of the big safe in the +private office of Marsh & Co." + +"I will never reveal it to you," cried Lester. "Never!" + +For an instant a black, malignant scowl swept over Kendale's face, but +after a moment's deep thought he turned on his heel again, laughing +immoderately as he stepped to the door and held a low conversation with +the two men who were still in the outer apartment, and in a trice they +had joined Kendale, one of them still wearing the black mask which he +had used the night before. + +"We will proceed to relieve him of his private papers, keys, wallet, and +so forth," said Kendale; and, as if in compliance with some previously +arranged plan, the three set upon Lester, and in his almost helpless +condition it was not difficult to overpower him and take from him his +possessions, which Kendale quickly took charge of. + +In the encounter, owing to his exhausted condition, Lester lost +consciousness; and thus they left him, making him their prisoner by +turning the key in the lock again when they reached the outer room. + +"And now," said Halloran, removing the square of black linen from his +face, "what's next on the programme?" + +"Our friend, the cabby, will take me back to town with as much speed as +possible. You, my dear fellow, will remain here on guard, making +yourself as comfortable as is absolutely possible under the dismal +circumstances of keeping guard and circumventing any attempt of our +prisoner to escape. You know we have great need of him yet, in forcing +him to disclose much that is advantageous to us. We can starve it out of +him, if threats fail. As long as you have a good warm fire, plenty of +provisions and plenty to read here you ought not to complain. You are +having the easiest part of the bargain, Halloran, while I am doing all +of the hazardous work." + +"What if I should be suspected in the _rôle_ I am about to play for the +Marsh millions? Why, it would mean State's prison instead of the fortune +we have planned for so desperately." + +"You will carry it through all right," declared Halloran, confidently. + +"My nerve has never failed me so far, and I'm depending on that," said +Kendale, mechanically. + +Two hours later Kendale was breakfasting in a fashionable downtown +restaurant, endeavoring to fortify himself with courage for the trying +ordeal which he was about to face. + +He had given Halloran his promise to abstain from touching even a drop +of liquor, fully realizing it to be his mortal foe; but with Kendale a +promise amounted to scarcely a flip of his white fingers when it ran +contrary to his own desires. + +He told himself that he must have a "bracer" to steady his nerves. It +was not until a second and a third had been drunk that the proper amount +of courage came to him to undertake the dastardly scheme. Half an hour +later he walked boldly into the big dry goods emporium. He had no idea +where the private office was, but his quick wits served him in this +dilemma. Laying his hands on an errand boy who was just passing out, +whose cap bore the name of Marsh & Co., he said, carelessly: + +"Here, lad, take my coat up to the private office; I will follow you. Go +slowly, though, through the crowd of shoppers." + +With a respectful bow the boy took the coat from him. + +It so happened that one of the rules of the house was that the employees +must not use the elevators, and by the time Kendale had climbed the +fourth flight of stairs he was thoroughly exhausted, the perspiration +fairly streaming down his face. + +"Don't you know enough to go by way of the elevator, you young idiot?" +he roared, almost gasping for breath. + +"You forget it's against the rules for us to do so, Mr. Armstrong," +returned the lad. + +"Rules be hanged!" cried his companion. "How many more floors up is it?" + +The lad looked up into his face in the greatest amazement. Such a +question on the lips of the head of the firm rather astounded him; but +then, perhaps it had not occurred to the gentleman just how many flights +of steps the boys were obliged to climb. + +"We are only on the fourth floor, sir," he responded, "and it's up the +other four flights, you know." + +"Get into the elevator," commanded Kendale; and the boy turned, and +walked over to it, closely followed by his companion, mentally wondering +what in the world had come over courteous, kindly Mr. Lester Armstrong. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE NEW BROOM DID NOT SWEEP CLEAN. + + +Clinton Kendale showed himself to be a thorough actor in carrying out a +part carefully, as he followed the boy through the main office, where +all of the bookkeepers were at work, toward the little office in the +rear. + +"Ah, this is indeed comfortable," he exclaimed, flinging himself into a +luxurious leather armchair. "Throw the coat down anywhere, and go," he +said, as the boy stood before him awaiting his dismissal. + +"Great Scott! What an elegant nest Lester got himself into!" he +ejaculated, looking about him. "I can enjoy it far better than he could, +though I don't expect to be cooped up here more than an hour or two a +day. Those fellows out there in the outer office are paid to do the +work, and I'll be hanged if they shan't do it--every bit of it. I'll +break 'em in my way, and they'll think it's new rules. By George! +they'll find plenty of new rules. Ha! ha! ha! I suppose I'd better be +opening that desk." + +Feeling in his pocket, he drew forth the bunch of keys which he had +taken by force from his cousin. One by one he fitted each to the lock, +but none of them seemed to work. + +"Confound the thing!" he muttered. "My patience won't last much longer. +Then I'll stave it in with my heel. + +"Hello, there!" he cried, as, hearing a slight noise behind him, he +wheeled around and found an elderly man, with a pen behind his ear, and +a sheet of paper in his hand, standing there. + +"Why the deuce didn't you knock?" he cried, angrily and flushing hotly, +for he realized this man must have witnessed his vain attempts to open +the desk. "What do you want?" he asked sharply and ill-humoredly. + +Mr. Conway, the old cashier--for it was he--was looking at him with +dilated, amazed eyes; but in a moment he recovered himself. + +"You said to come into your office quite as soon as you came this +morning, as you wished to see me on particular business, Mr. Armstrong," +he replied in the low voice habitual with him. + +For an instant the bogus Lester Armstrong's brows were knit closely +together; then he said, coolly, sharply: "I've changed my mind; I don't +want to see you." + +Still the man lingered. + +"Pardon me," he said. "I thought probably it might be in regard to those +notes of Jordan & Beckwith which you were considering negotiating for." + +"Well, you'll have to think again," exclaimed the other, tartly. + +Mr. Conway turned toward the door, but as he stretched out his hand to +grasp the knob his employer sang out, sharply: + +"Hold on, there! Come here and see if you can do anything with this +confounded desk. It's got the jim-jams or something. I've been monkeying +with it for the last half hour, and can do nothing with it." And as he +uttered the words, he held out the bunch of keys toward him. + +If Mr. Conway had been startled before, he was certainly alarmed now, +and he looked at his companion in amazement which could not be +concealed. + +"Well," cried the other, his temper rising, the result of the brandy +diffusing itself through his brain, "what are you staring at me like +that for? Why don't you take the keys and go ahead?" + +Quite as soon as speech would come to him the old cashier said, slowly: + +"You seem to forget, Mr. Armstrong, that the keys have been done away +with some time, and the desk now opens with a secret spring which you +yourself devised." + +"Well, come here and open it. My fingers are all thumbs to-day," +replied his companion, looking at him doggedly. + +Mr. Conway stepped forward and touched what appeared to be one of the +brass nails that studded the outer rim, and, as if by magic, the desk +flew open, the other watching keenly to see how he did it. + +Without further comment Mr. Conway turned away and with slow, heavy +tread left the private office and walked toward his desk. When he +reached it his emotions overcame him completely, and he laid his head +down upon his ledger, tears falling like rain down his face. + +In an instant half a dozen of his fellow bookkeepers were about him, +frightened beyond words at this unusual scene and inquiring what could +be the matter. + +For a moment the old cashier hesitated, then he resolved to break the +truth to them; they would soon find it out for themselves; he would tell +them, and at the same time instruct them as best he could in this +unfortunate affair. He raised his white head, the head that had grown +gray in the employ of the firm he had loved so well and served so +faithfully. + +"You must know the truth, my fellows," he answered, slowly, huskily, and +with apparent difficulty. "Our Mr. Armstrong has, for the first time +since we have all known him, gone wrong; he is under the influence of +strong drink, and by no means himself. I may add that I earnestly pray +that each of you be loyal to him, even through this misfortune, and not +let even a hint of it go forth to the outside world, for at this crisis +it would ruin the well-known firm of Marsh & Co., which is now vested in +him." + +The horror and amazement on the faces of the men can better be imagined +than described. All had loved and revered Lester Armstrong, and to hear +that he had suddenly gone wrong because he had become possessed of a +fortune was alarming and distressing news to them. + +"Drink changes him so completely in temperament that it is hard to +realize that he is the same courteous companion of those other days. He +was so far gone from the effects of liquor I am not even sure that he +recognized me. Hark! what is that?" + +Several of the detectives of the place were rushing through the main +office toward the private office, in answer to Mr. Armstrong's summons. +The call for them had been so furious that they rushed in pell-mell, +without waiting to take time to rap. + +The bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong still sat in the luxurious leather +armchair, his heels on the desk, fairly hidden in heavy clouds of blue +smoke from his Havana cigar, at which he was puffing vigorously, fairly +going into convulsions of laughter over a letter bearing a blue and +gold monogram, which he was reading. + +The unceremonious entrance of the four men caused him to spring suddenly +to his feet. + +"What the d---l do you fellows want?" he exclaimed angrily. "How dare +you intrude upon me, in my private office, in this unheard-of fashion, +like a herd of escaped lunatics?" + +"You rang for us," replied one of the men. + +"I did not," replied the bogus Mr. Armstrong, resuming his seat +pompously. + +"The bells certainly rang, sir!" exclaimed the other three, +simultaneously. + +"Didn't I tell you that I didn't ring?" he answered, stamping his feet +furiously. + +In less time than it takes to tell it three more men dashed into the +private office, exclaiming: + +"We are here, sir, at the very first tap of your bell." + +"You have all gone suddenly stark mad, or you are a set of the blamedest +fools in existence, as I have just told these men. I did not ring. What +on earth do you mean, by insisting that I did, I should like to know?" + +"I beg your pardon, but you are still ringing, sir," declared one of the +men. "We can distinctly hear the bell ringing furiously. Do you not see +that your foot is still on it?" + +"My foot!" exclaimed the bogus Mr. Armstrong, angrily. "Explain what you +mean at once." + +For answer, the man stepped forward, and pulled aside the mat under his +employer's feet, mentally wondering if Mr. Lester Armstrong had not +grown suddenly daft himself, thereby disclosing a set of electric +buttons which the rug had cunningly concealed. + +"You kept your foot on them and they rang, calling us here instantly," +returned the man. + +"Bless me! I forgot entirely about those confounded electric buttons," +declared the bogus Armstrong, turning very red. "I'll have 'em put +somewhere else to-morrow; great nuisance; always in the way." And after +an instant a bright thought occurred to him, and he said blandly: "Well, +to tell you the truth, men, I was only trying you to see how quickly you +would respond; you may all go now." + +The men quitted the private office, looking rather dumfounded into each +other's blank faces, and in less than half an hour afterward every +employee in the vast dry goods establishment heard the shocking news, +that Mr. Lester Armstrong, whom they all believed well-nigh perfect, was +terribly intoxicated up in his private office, but they were to be +still more astounded ere the eventful day closed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE WILL DISINHERITING FAYNIE. + + +As soon as the men had quitted the private office Kendale sprang to his +feet and began pacing up and down the length of the room excitedly, +muttering under his breath: + + "'Ah, what a fatal web we weave + When first we practice to deceive.' + +"It seems to me that there are traps in every direction to catch me. I +must be extra shrewd. I'll have those confounded bells changed at once. +I shouldn't be at all surprised to find an electric bell connected with +that chair at the desk which would call up the entire fire force of the +city if I were to lean back far enough in it." + +He flung himself down in his seat again and took up the letter which he +had been perusing and which interested him so. + +When he had first broken the seal of this missive his heart had fairly +jumped into his throat; at the first glance he saw that it was from Mrs. +Fairfax, of Beechwood. + +He read it carefully through fully a half dozen times. It ran as +follows: + + "MY DEAR MR. ARMSTRONG: I wish to extend to you my sincere + congratulations over your good fortune in succeeding to the + business of my dear old friend and neighbor, Mr. Marsh, late of + Beechwood village. I feel as though I know you well from hearing + him speak so continually of you. I am indeed thankful that his + business fell into the hands of one whom he trusted so deeply. + + "It was his wish, long ago, that we should meet and know each + other, and in remembrance of this, his earnest and oft-repeated + wish, I now extend you a cordial invitation to visit our home at + Beechwood at your earliest convenience and dine with the family. My + daughter and I will have a most hearty welcome for you. Any date + convenient to you which you may set will be agreeable to us. + + "Trusting that we may have the pleasure of seeing you very soon, I + remain, yours very truly, + + "MRS. HORACE FAIRFAX, Beechwood." + +The bogus Lester Armstrong laid the letter down and looked abstractedly +out of the window. + +"Of all places in the world, to think that I should be invited there," +he mused. "While I have just been wondering how they took Faynie's +elopement--and never hearing from her since--and wondering how in the +world I was to discover all that--lo! a way is opened to me!" + +Then his thoughts flew back to that stormy wedding night, and that +midnight scene in the little inn, when the girl he had just wedded, +believing her to be an heiress, revealed to him the exasperating truth, +that only that night her father had disinherited her, making a new will +in favor of her stepmother and her daughter Claire. The plan which +Halloran had laid out was to wait a reasonable time, then put in an +appearance, stating that he was Faynie's husband, and that she had just +died, and claim her portion of the estate. Every detail had been most +carefully mapped out; but here he saw an easier way of gaining that same +fortune without the trouble of litigation--marry the girl Claire. + +They would never know anything about that previous marriage with Faynie, +and the dead could tell no secrets. + +"I'll go," he muttered. "I shall reply at once, telling her she may +expect me two days hence--let me see, this is Tuesday; I will dine with +her Thursday, and, at least, see what the girl Claire looks like. It +would be the proper caper to gather in as many fortunes as drift my way. +I suppose I shall run through half a dozen of them ere I reach the end +of my tether." + +All in due season his letter of acceptance reached Mrs. Fairfax, and she +was highly elated over it. + +She had seized upon her neighborly acquaintance with the late Mr. Marsh +to invite to her home the young man who had fallen heir to his +millions, in order that her daughter Claire might win him--if it were a +possibility. + +She had succeeded in forcing Faynie to remain beneath that roof, even +after informing her that she was disinherited--dependent upon her +stepmother--by saying that it was her father's wish that she should thus +remain for at least six months. + +Mrs. Fairfax's real reason was that the outside world would not know +just how affairs stood in the family until she had had time to turn +everything into cash and get over to Europe to look up another +millionaire widower. + +On the very night that Faynie had returned so unceremoniously there had +been a most thrilling scene but an hour before between Mrs. Fairfax and +her daughter. + +Unable to sleep, Claire had wandered down to her late stepfather's +library in search of a book. + +She was not a little surprised to see her mother there--writing--at that +late hour. + +Her footsteps had made no sound on the thick velvet carpet, and she +stole up to her side quite unobserved, looking over her shoulder to see +what interested her mother so deeply. + +One--two---three--four--five minutes she stood there, fairly rooted to +the spot, then a gasp of terror broke from her white lips, causing her +mother to spring to her feet like a flash. + +"Claire!" she exclaimed, hoarsely, trembling like an aspen leaf and +clinging to the back of the nearest chair for support. "How long have +you been here?" she gasped. + +"Quite--five--minutes," whispered the girl. + +"And you have seen--" The mother looked into the daughter's eyes +fearfully, not daring to utter the words trembling on her lips. + +"I saw you change the--the will!" whispered Claire, in a terror-stricken +voice. "I saw you erase with a green fluid, which must have been a most +powerful chemical, the words of the will, 'to my daughter Faynie' in the +sentence: 'I bequeath all of my estate, both personal and real,' and +insert therein the words, 'my wife, Margaret' in place of 'my daughter +Faynie.'" + +The woman stepped forward and clutched the girl's arm. + +"It was for your sake, Claire, that I did it," she whispered, shrilly; +"he cut us off with almost nothing, giving all to that proud daughter +Faynie of his. We would have had to step out into the world--beggars +again. We know what it is to be poor--ay, in want; we could never endure +it again--death would be easier for both of us. + +"The will was drawn two years ago; I am confident that it is the +latest--that there is no other. I took a desperate chance to do what I +have done to-night--so cleverly that it could never be detected. + +"A few strokes of the pen meant wealth or poverty for us, Claire. I am +too old to face beggary after living a life of luxury. You will not +betray me, Claire--you dare not, knowing that it was done for your sake, +Claire." + +The girl was not naturally wicked; she had always had a great respect +for the high-bred, beautiful Faynie--her stepfather's daughter by his +first wife. There had been no discord between the two young girls. + +Still, as her mother had said so emphatically, it was better that Faynie +should step out of that lovely home a beggar than that they should lose +it. + +Claire quite agreed with her mother that Faynie must stay there for the +present at all hazards; it would arouse such an uproar if she were +thrust from that roof just then. + +"If my father has expressed the desire that I shall stay here six +months, I--I shall do so, even though it breaks my heart," Faynie had +said. + +She kept her own apartments, refusing to come down to her meals, and +Mrs. Fairfax humored this whim by ordering Faynie's meals served in her +rooms. + +In vain the old housekeeper expostulated with Faynie, urging her to +come down at least to the drawing-room evenings, as she used to do. + +Faynie shook her golden curls. + +"It is no longer my home," she would say, with bitter sobs; "I am only +biding my time here--the six months that I am in duty bound to +remain--then I am going away--it does not matter where." + +The old housekeeper had tried in vain to coax from the girl the story of +where she had been while away from home. + +"That is my secret," Faynie would say, with a burst of bitter tears; "I +shall never divulge it--until the hour I lie dying." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +EVERY MAN TO HIS TRADE. + + +After the bogus Lester Armstrong had dispatched his letter of acceptance +to Mrs. Fairfax he braced himself for what would happen next by taking a +deep draught from the silver brandy flask which he kept in his breast +pocket, though he realized that he had need of all his senses for any +emergency. + +During the next hour a score or more bookkeepers came to him with +bills, letters and papers of all descriptions. To one and all he said, +with a yawn, and very impatiently: "Leave what you have brought on my +desk; I'll look over it this afternoon." + +Then it occurred to him that such a great concern must have a general +manager, and of course he would know something about the different +papers these people had brought for his inspection and for him to pass +upon, which were like so much Greek to him. + +In answer to his summons, a tall, dignified, keen-eyed elderly man +responded--a man who struck considerable awe to Kendale's guilty heart. +He said to himself that he wished to the Lord he knew this man's name to +be able to call him by it--but of course it couldn't be helped. + +"I have concluded to permit you to attend to these matters for me--get +through them the best you can in your own way without bothering me with +them; do just as you would if I were away on a vacation, we will say, +and left everything in your charge--all matters for you to settle as you +deemed best." + +The gentleman looked surprised and bowed gravely. "I can attend to most +of the documents connected with the firm, but there are a few matters I +see there that the parties interested might object to if they saw the +name of Manager Wright attached instead of the name of the proprietor." + +"In that case, show me where you want me to sign, and I'll put down my +name here and now, to end the matter." + +"Without first examining the documents carefully?" asked the manager, in +amazement, thinking how slipshod in his business methods the new +proprietor of the great establishment was becoming since he suddenly +found himself raised from a poor cashier to a multi-millionaire, and +thinking that good old Mr. Marsh would turn over in his grave if he had +heard that. + +"Thank Heaven all that is off my mind," muttered Kendale, breathing +freer as the manager left the office with the papers, adding, +thoughtfully: "I hope I won't have to come in contact with that man very +often. I felt so uncomfortable that it was by the greatest effort I +could control myself--keep from springing from my chair, seizing my hat +and fairly flying out of this place. + +"His keen gray eyes seemed to pierce through and through me. I expected +every moment to hear him shout out: 'Come hither, everybody--quickly; +this man is not Lester Armstrong, striking though the resemblance is. +Send for the police, that this mystery may be solved at once!'" + +He was not far wrong in his suspicions. + +Manager Wright had quitted the private office with a deeply knitted brow +and a troubled expression on his face. + +"The change in Lester Armstrong since yesterday is amazing," he mused. +"Long years of dissipation could not have told more on him than the +change these few hours have worked. He must have been out drinking and +carousing all night long--the odor of the room from the fumes of strong +liquor was almost unbearable; it was blue with smoke, too, and Lester +Armstrong always led us to believe that he had never smoked a cigar in +his life; and, worst of all, from a gentleman he has suddenly turned +into a libertine, if I am any judge of features. + +"I cannot begin to account for the great change in him; it mystifies me +quite as much as it did the store detectives and Mr. Conway, the +cashier. It is all terribly wrong--somehow--somewhere. If it were not +that I have been here so many years I would tender Mr. Armstrong my +resignation. I am not at all satisfied--and yet, yesterday, when Mr. +Armstrong called me into his private office and we had that long talk +about the business matters of the house, I felt that all would go well; +to-day he is like a different man--appears to have forgotten completely +all of the instructions he was so particular to give me. Yesterday he +said: 'We will go over the books and papers very carefully, you and I, +and see that every department is run as carefully and well as +heretofore. I should not like any one in the establishment to feel that +my taking possession will mean any change for them--save for the +better.' + +"To-day he is as different as night from day; he does not know what he +wants; he seems all at sea over the simplest details which he ought to +be decidedly familiar with." His musings were suddenly cut short by an +immediate summons to return to the private office. + +It was with some misgivings that he entered his employer's presence the +second time. + +The bogus Mr. Armstrong was almost invisible from a cloud of smoke from +a freshly lighted Havana. He held the morning paper in his hand and was +perusing its columns with apparent avidity. + +"Wright!" he cried, excitedly, "how much ready money do you suppose +there is in the safe of this shebang---hey?" + +It took Mr. Wright almost a moment to recover his usual calm dignity and +make answer: + +"Five thousand in cash, and there are negotiable notes amounting to +upward of forty thousand more." + +"Are you sure of that?" queried Kendale, his excitement growing keener; +"how do you know?" + +"You placed bills in my hands a few moments since which necessitated +conferring with Mr. Conway, the cashier, about meeting them." + +"Well, hold on--don't pay out any bills to-day; I want to make use of +that money--two great opportunities here. Say!" he added in the next +breath, "do you know anything about sailing yachts and trotters?" + +The question fairly staggered Mr. Wright, but he answered promptly: + +"Nothing whatever, Mr. Armstrong. I have never taken any interest in +them; it would be out of place for a man in my position to cultivate a +taste for that which is so far beyond his means. I am glad to be able to +say to you, sir, that my tastes are simple and my wants few. I have +never been on board a yacht, nor have I ever ridden behind what you call +a trotter." + +"Then you've missed a deal of sport," declared Kendale. "But that isn't +what I sent for you to discuss. What I meant to say is that there's a +fellow from Newport gone all to smash. His fine yacht, the _Daisy Bell_, +is to be sold at auction to-day, likewise the contents of his stables. +There are two of his animals that are flyers--the Lady Albia and +Sterling. Why, the Lady has a record better than 2.05 1-2, open gaited, +warranted sound, both of 'em, and no end of traps, tea carts, and +buggies. I tell you what, Wright, I must have that yacht and that team. +You must go and bid them in for me--get 'em at any price, if you have to +run it up to a hundred thousand, and you can even do a little better +than that rather than see some other lucky fellow get 'em." + +Mr. Wright was staring at him as though he quite believed his employer +had gone suddenly out of his mind. + +"Well," said the bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong, coolly, "you heard my +command to you, didn't you?" + +Without another word the general manager turned and with slow, unsteady +steps quitted his new employer's presence. + +"Heaven help me, that I should live to see this hour," he groaned; "a +hundred thousand dollars--ten fortunes to a poor man like +myself--frittered away on a yacht and a pair of horses! Mr. Marsh would +pitch him out if he could but know and come back long enough to do it. +It spoils the best of 'em to have money thrown at them--to come into a +fortune that they haven't worked for. A yacht and a pair of horses! What +will people say to see me, a business man of supposed sense and +judgment, bidding at a public auction mart for anything like this? +Heaven help me, I can see the finish of the time-honored dry goods house +of Marsh & Co., in which I have taken such a world of pride. But I +suppose I must do as he has ordered, no matter how galling it is to me." + +Mr. Wright had no sooner reached the auction mart than a telegram was +handed him. It was from his employer, and read as follows: + +"There are also a pair of seal-brown pacers to be sold. Secure these in +addition to the others. Price must not stand in the way." + +David Wright crushed the telegram in his hands, and the first oath he +had ever uttered in all his life was ground out between his teeth. + +The yacht and two pairs of horses were spiritedly bid for by half a +dozen gentlemen, who were apparently eager to secure them. + +It was easy to see that the quiet, elderly business man, who always went +higher than the others, was little used to such contests, but he secured +them at last for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and there +was more than one amused laugh in the auction room, knowing ones +whispering that he had paid three times more than the owner had been +asking for them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MARGERY'S LOVE DREAM. + + +An hour after Mr. Wright had concluded his purchase for his employer he +returned to the establishment, accompanied by one of the persons +authorized to collect the money. When he presented the order at the +cashier's window, Mr. Conway, the old cashier, drew back aghast as he +looked at the man. + +"Is--is it possible you have indorsed this?" he asked, turning to the +manager. + +Mr. Wright bowed, but his face betrayed deep agitation. + +"I cannot pay it without consulting Mr. Armstrong," he exclaimed, in a +troubled voice. "Wait a moment." + +Could it be possible that Lester Armstrong had authorized the payment of +an amount like that, knowing that the firm was a little crippled for +cash just at that season of the year? Surely the man must be mad, he +told himself; and that for which the money was to be paid fairly +staggered him. He had to look a second time to satisfy himself that he +had not made a horrible mistake when he read: "For one steam yacht and +two pairs of horses, $125,000; terms cash." + +He set his lips hard together, saying to himself that this was the +beginning of the end. + +At that same moment quite a thrilling scene was taking place in the +private office, which would have unnerved the old cashier completely had +he known of it. It so happened, in exploring the nooks of the office, +Kendale had by chance touched another bell, the bell communicating with +the suit department, which was in charge of Mr. Conway's pretty +daughter, Miss Margery. When that bell tapped it meant that the young +lady was to make all possible haste to the private office, to which she +had been summoned, and this the young girl proceeded to do, not without +some little trepidation, however. Fair Margery Conway had a secret +romance in her life, a romance which no one in the wide world would ever +have guessed. + +For many a long day she had been secretly in love with Mr. Lester +Armstrong, her father's assistant, of whom; she had heard him speak so +much and praise so highly. + +She admired him immensely. Many a time she made excuses to speak with +her father a moment in their private office. No one in the wide world +guessed that grave, handsome Lester Armstrong was the attraction that +brought her there. + +She had many a casual chat with him, and somehow the hope grew in her +heart that he was not altogether indifferent to her. + +Once, when she had started home in the pouring rain, he had gone out of +his way to see her safely to her destination under the shelter of his +umbrella. + +He had only been courteous, but she had built up many a hope from this +little incident alone. + +She had not seen very much of Lester Armstrong since that +never-to-be-forgotten day, but her father had told her that he usually +asked each morning: "How is your daughter, Miss Margery?" and once her +father had said: + +"Of all the young men whom I have met, I have the greatest regard for +Lester Armstrong. Such young men are the salt of the earth. There is a +future before him. When he earns a dollar he puts by more than half of +it against a rainy day. He is not extravagant. Few young men making his +salary would dress so very plainly and make his clothes do him as long. +He has no bad habits; he neither smokes nor drinks, and that is +something you can say of very few young men nowadays." + +Margery looked up into her father's face with shining eyes. She made no +answer, but a vivid flush crept up into her cheeks, and the little hands +that were busy with the teacups trembled a little. She knew quite well +that in the depth of his heart her father was hoping that she and +Lester Armstrong would take a fancy to each other, and that in time +that fancy might ripen into love, and instead of being only +acquaintances, she and the assistant cashier might be nearer and dearer +to each other. + +Not long after this Margery Conway received a letter, a poem, rather, +typewritten. There was no name signed to it, but she felt sure that it +came from some one in the establishment of Marsh & Co. More than one +salesman looked at pretty Margery Conway with admiring eyes, but she +never thought of any of these. The truth was, it was sent by one of the +bookkeepers, but the girl jumped at once to the conclusion that it was +from Lester Armstrong. She imagined that from the tender, sentimental +words. She read the beautiful poem over and over again, until she knew +every word by heart. The lines even floated dreamily through her brain +in her sleep. She would awaken with them on her lips. Ah, surely, the +poem was from Lester Armstrong, she fully believed. It read as follows: + + "What have I done that one face holds me so, + And follows me in fancy through the day? + Why do I seek your love? I only know + That fate is resolute, and points the way + To where you stand, bathed in amber light. + Since first you looked on me I've seen no night-- + What have I done? + + "What can be done? As yet no touch, no kiss; + Only a gaze across your eyes' blue lake. + Better it were, sweetheart, to dream like this, + Than afterward to shudder and awake. + Love is so very bitter, and his ways + Tortured with thorns--with wild weeds overgrown. + Must I endure, unloved, these loveless days?-- + What can be done? + + "This I say, 'Marry where your heart goes first, + Dear heart, and then you will be blessed. + Ah, how can others choose for you + What is for your best? + If you're told to wed for gold, + Dear girl, or for rank or show, + Stand by love, and boldly say, + "No, my heart cries no!"'" + +Like most young girls, pretty Margery was sentimental. She slept with +the folded paper beneath her pillow at night, and all day long it was +carefully tucked away over her beating heart. + +It was quite a week after receiving this ere she saw Lester Armstrong +again; then her face turned burning red. Lester saw it, but how was he +to dream that he was the cause of her emotion? + +"Sweet Margery Conway is not strong," he thought, pityingly. "How +frightened her father would be were he to see that sudden rush of blood +to the head." + +He wondered whether or not he should run to her and proffer his +assistance. He had once seen a young woman who was thus affected fall +to the floor in a fit, and it had been many a long day ere the +unfortunate woman could return to her work again. He devoutly hoped this +might not be the case with poor, pretty Margery. + +She saw him start and look at her searchingly. She could not have +stopped and exchanged a word with him if her life had depended upon it. +She hurried past him with desperate haste, praying that he might not +hear the beating of her heart. + +He noticed that she did not stop to speak, but he quite believed that it +was because she was very busy. The next moment he had forgotten all +about it, and about the girl, too, for that matter. + +He scarcely remembered pretty Margery until he happened to see her +again. The girl was fairly stunned by the intelligence that the great +millionaire owner of the establishment had made Lester Armstrong his +heir. + +At first her joy was so great that she could not speak. Then a sudden +fright swept over her heart. He was rich now, and she was poor. Would it +make any difference with him. She tried to put the chilling thought from +her, for it made her heart turn cold as ice. Her gentle eyes did not +close in sleep all the long night through. Her pillow was wet with +tears. The one prayer on her lips was: "I pray to Heaven this may make +no change in him; that he will care for me as much as when he sent me +the poem." + +She had not seen Lester Armstrong since he had taken his new position as +proprietor of the great establishment, and now, when his bell rang for +her, no wonder the girl's heart leaped into her mouth, and involuntarily +she looked into the long pier glass eagerly. Ah, it was a fair face +reflected there. There were few fairer, with its delicate coloring +framed in nut-brown curls, gathered back so carelessly from the white +brow, and there was a light in the brown eyes beautiful to behold. She +had been wondering only the moment before if the hero of her daydreams +had forgotten her, and lo! the summons of his bell had seemed to come in +answer to the thought. + +With trembling, hopeful anticipation, Margery wended her way to her +employer's office, taking the nearer route, not through the main office, +where her father was, but by a more direct narrow passage, which was +seldom used. + +All unmindful of his daughter's presence in the main office, the old +cashier had bent his steps thither for instructions regarding the bill +which had just been presented, but he had scarcely reached out his hand +to knock, ere he heard a blood-curdling, piercing scream, in a woman's +voice, from within, and recognized, in horror too great for words, the +voice of his own daughter, his Margery! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +PRETTY MARGERY'S TERRIBLE DISCOVERY. + + +Pretty Margery Conway had made her way eagerly enough to Mr. Lester +Armstrong's private office, but her light tap on the door brought no +response, and, as it was slightly ajar, she pushed it open and stepped +across the threshold. + +To her great surprise she saw that her employer was deeply engrossed in +the pictures of a comic weekly, and the loud "Ha! ha! ha!" that fell +from his lips struck upon the girl's sensitive nerves most unpleasantly. + +She was wondering how she should make her presence known to him, when +suddenly he turned around, and then he saw her and a quick gleam of +intense admiration leaped into his bold, dark eyes at the vision of the +lovely, blushing, dimpled face of the slender, graceful young girl. + +"I am here in response to your summons, Mr. Armstrong," she said, with +much embarrassment. "Your bell rang so imperatively that--" + +"I didn't ring any bell, my dear," he exclaimed, "but still I am +uncommonly glad to see you. Sit down and we'll have a little chat." + +"There is a customer awaiting my return as soon as you--" + +"Oh, hang the customer," cut in Kendale. "Sit down, pretty one, and +we'll make each other's acquaintance." + +Margery looked at him in helpless bewilderment. + +Had handsome Lester Armstrong, the hero of her dream, gone suddenly mad, +she wondered? + +"Sit down, my dear," he reiterated, "don't look at me in such affright. +I'm not an ogre; I don't intend to eat you, though, upon my honor, those +peachy cheeks and pomegranate lips are most wonderfully tempting." + +Margery was so intensely surprised she was fairly speechless--incapable +of word or action. + +From where she stood the fumes of strong brandy reached her, and she +realized that the man before her was under its influence to an alarming +extent. + +No wonder her pretty face paled; even her lips grew white. + +She stood before him as one mesmerized by the baleful gleam in his +merciless concentrated gaze, as the fluttering, frightened bird does in +the presence of the deadly serpent that means to destroy it. + +"Won't be sociable, eh?" muttered Kendale. "You are not diplomatic; you +don't know your own interests. Sit down here and tell me all about +yourself--how long you have been here, and all about it. I ought to +know, of course, but I forget. Come, brush up my memory a bit, won't +you?" + +"Your memory seems indeed very poor all at once," said Margery, +spiritedly, "considering the fact that you have known me since I was a +little child"--and, in spite of her efforts at self-control, big tears +brimmed over the pretty eyes and rolled down the round cheeks. + +In an instant Kendale was on his feet. + +"There, there, Susie, don't cry," he said, reaching her side quickly and +grasping both of the little clasped hands in one of his. + +"You must have some one else in your mind--that is quite evident. Please +to recollect that I am Margery Conway, not--not Susie--whoever she may +be." + +He laughed a rollicking, maudlin laugh. The brandy was beginning to +diffuse itself through his brain. + +"I'll never call you anything but Margery again," he cried, "beautiful, +peerless Margery, the sweetest, jolliest, most bewitching and lovable +shop girl in all New York." + +The young girl looked at him with dilated eyes. Every impulse in her +terrified heart warned her to turn and fly from the place, but it was +all in vain. She could not have moved hand or foot if her very life had +been the forfeit. + +"So you are toiling away in a place like this for a mere pittance," he +went on; "probably hardly enough to keep soul and body together. That's +a confounded shame for a pretty girl like you. Work isn't for such as +you--you ought to be out in the sunshine, dressed in silks and velvets +and diamonds galore. It's bad enough for the old and ugly--those whose +hair is streaked with gray and around whose eyes the crow's feet have +been planted by the hand of time, to work--ay, toil for their bread. By +Jove, I say you are far too lovely for such a fate!" + +"Sir!" cried Margery, drawing herself up to her fullest height. "I work +for my living, but I want you to understand that I am proud of the fact, +instead of deeming it a disgrace, as you seem to think it. + +"Up to this hour I have always considered you a man of honor--one of +nature's noblemen--a gentleman. Now I know you as you are--a _roué_--ay, +a scoundrel. I would scorn to remain another hour in your employ. Money +earned in this establishment from this moment would burn my fingers." + +"Hoity-toity! Don't get big feelings too suddenly, my pretty dear," he +cried, with a load, hilarious laugh. "Lord! what simpletons some girls +are! You're standing in your own light, pretty one! Can't you see that?" + +"Sir!" cried Margery, struggling to free herself from the grasp of his +strong hand, "it is dastardly, it is cowardly to summon me here to +subject me to--insult." + +"'Pon my honor, I want to be friendly, but you won't have it so--you +seem determined to kick up a row. Come, now, be friendly; sit down here +and we'll talk it over." + +"Unhand me!" cried Margery in terror. "Let me go, or I shall scream for +help!" + +"You won't do any such thing, my little ruffled birdling," he cut in, an +angry light leaping up into his eyes, adding: "I am disposed to treat +you very kindly, but you seem determined to make an enemy of me instead +of a friend, my dear, and your reason ought to tell you how foolish that +is. Come, be sensible and listen to me. I've taken a violent fancy to +that pretty face of yours. We must be friends--excellent friends. That's +a good beginning, you know." + +Margery glanced toward the door, the fright deepening in her eyes. He +had placed himself between her and the door, kicking it to with his +foot. + +He saw that quick glance, and read it aright, and his brow darkened. + +"Don't be a little fool!" he cried. "Don't anger me, girl. You had +better make a friend instead of an enemy of me." + +"Your enmity or friendship is a matter of equal indifference to me now," +gasped Margery, sobbing bitterly. + +"You have slain my respect for you. I--I am sorry--sorry from the bottom +of my heart--that I realize you have fallen from such a noble height in +my estimation." + +"That's all bosh and moonshine," hiccoughed Kendale; "respect and high +pedestal of honor and all that sort of thing. You're among the clouds; +get down to earth. I'm only a man--you mustn't take me for a little god. +Come, now, what in the name of reason is the use of making such a fuss +over this thing, and storming like an angry princess on the stage +because I tell you frankly that I've taken a notion to you. By George, +you ought to be mighty pleased to know that you've captured the fancy of +a man like me, with no end of money at my command. Do you realize that, +little one?" + +The girl's terror was growing intense with each passing moment. + +Her horror and dread of the man before her was a thousand-fold greater +at that moment than her admiration for Lester Armstrong had been in days +gone by. He seemed to her a different being in the same form--one +suddenly transformed from all that was manly and noble to a very fiend +incarnate. + +An awful stillness had fallen over the girl--a full realization of the +meaning of his jocular remarks was just dawning upon her. She was +looking at him with the awful pallor of death on her lovely young face. + +"Come, my pretty Margery," he cried, quite mistaking the reason that her +struggle to free herself from his clasping hand had so suddenly ceased; +"now you are falling into a more complaisant mood. I am glad of that. +Sit down and we'll talk. I must lock that door, or some blundering fool +will be stumbling in without taking the trouble to knock. But first give +me a kiss from those sweet lips, my dear, to assure me you don't quite +dislike me, you know." + +As he spoke he flung his arm about the girl's slender waist, and it was +then that Margery's piercing scream rang out so loudly upon her father's +ears, fairly electrifying him as he stood with his hand upon the knob of +the door of the private office. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A FATHER'S RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION + + +For an instant the old cashier stood like one suddenly paralyzed before +the door of the private office from which that terrified scream had +issued. + +Great God! was he mad or dreaming, that he should imagine he heard his +daughter Margery's voice calling for help from within? + +But even as he stood there, trembling, irresolute, the piercing cry was +repeated more shrilly, more piteous than before, and it cut through the +frightened father's heart like the thrust of a dagger. + +"I am coming, I am here, Margery!" he answered, twisting the bronze knob +fiercely; But the door did not yield to his touch as usual, and to his +horror he realized that it was locked upon the inside! + +With the fury of a tiger, David Conway threw himself against it with all +his strength; strong as the lock was, it could not withstand the weight +that was brought to bear upon it, and in an instant it was snapped +asunder, the door falling in with a crash. + +With a terrible imprecation Kendale wheeled about, his grasp around the +girl's waist slackening for a single instant. + +And in that instant Margery sprang from him, darting into the arms of +her father, who had leaped over the threshold. + +"How dare you enter here?" shrieked Kendale, fairly beside himself with +baffled rage. + +The old cashier thrust his daughter behind him and walked up to the +foiled villain, gazing him steadily, unflinchingly in the eye. + +"I am here just in time to defend my child," he cried, white to the +lips, "and here to chastise you, you villain, old man as I am"--and with +the rapidity of lightning his clinched fist fell upon the face of the +man before him with stinging blows, that resounded with all the strength +and force of a steel hammer. + +Kendale, who was by this time entirely under the influence of the brandy +he had imbibed, was no match for the enraged cashier, who followed up +his advantage by ringing blows, which fell as thick and fast as driving +hail, until the other, coward as he was, fell down on his knees before +him, shrieking out for mercy. + +The unusual disturbance soon brought a throng of cashiers, bookkeepers +and clerks flocking to the scene. + +The old cashier turned upon them, holding up his hand to stay their +steps as they crowded over the threshold, Mr. Wright, the manager, +calling upon him anxiously to explain at once this unusual scene--this +disgraceful encounter between his employer, who seemed unable to speak +because of his injuries, and himself. + +"It is due you all to know just what has happened," replied the old +cashier, in a high, clear voice, "but I say to you, by the God above me, +if this hound dares arise from his knees ere I have finished, I will +kill him before your very eyes. There is something he has to say before +you all while still on his knees. Let no man speak until I have had my +say, and then you--my companions of years, my fellow-workers, my friends +of a lifetime--shall judge of my action in this matter and deal with me +accordingly." + +The scene was so extraordinary that no man among them seemed capable of +uttering so much as a syllable, so great was their consternation at +beholding their employer on his knees, groveling before the old cashier, +who stood over him like an aroused, avenging spirit. + +In a voice high and clear the old cashier, whom they had known and +revered for years, told his story in a simple, straightforward way, yet +quivering with excitement, drawing his terror-stricken daughter Margery +into the shelter of his strong arms as he spoke. + +"I am Margery's father--her only protector," he said, in conclusion. +"Is there a man among you with a father's heart beating in his bosom who +would not have done as I have done to the villain who dared to thus +insult his child. Ay, there are men among you who would not have +hesitated to have stricken him dead with a single blow--who would have +considered it a crime to have spared him." + +By this time Kendale was recovering from the stunning blows which had +been dealt him--realized that help was at hand; the employees would be +in duty bound to protect him from the enraged man before him. + +He realized, too, that the old cashier meant that he should remain there +on his knees and beg the girl's pardon before all these people. + +Ere Mr. Conway could judge of his design the bogus Lester Armstrong had +bounded to his feet and into the midst of the crowd. + +"You are discharged!" he cried, turning to the old cashier. "I will give +you just ten minutes to get out of this building--you and the girl, both +of you. It was a plan hatched up between you and her to extort money +from me." + +The old cashier attempted to spring at him, but the strong hands of +indignant, pitying friends held him back. + +Suddenly he stopped short, saying, with a dignity wonderful to behold: + +"It is not necessary, I think, to ask any of you, who all know me so +well and know also my little Margery, not to give credence to so heinous +a statement. I am going from this place, friends. I would not stay +another moment in this villain's employ, nor would my Margery, though he +weighed us down with all the wealth the world holds. Come, Margery." + +The crowd slowly parted, making way for them, and together Margery and +her father passed through the line of sympathizing faces, hand in +hand--the old man white, stern and resolute, pretty Margery sobbing as +though her heart would break. + +Mr. Wright, the manager, who had been--like the old cashier--fully five +and twenty years beneath that roof, turned and faced the throng, saying, +huskily: + +"Mr. Armstrong, I herewith tender you my resignation. My friend of a +lifetime is going, and I shall go, too." + +"And I," "And I," "And I," quickly rang out, voice after voice. + +"Confound you all, I discharge the whole lot of you!" shouted Kendale, +now quite sobered by the excitement he was passing through. "Don't think +your going troubles me even a little bit. The set of men don't live who +will ever trouble me or my business!" + +With great rapidity the men fled from the private office, and, without +waiting even to close their ledgers, took down their coats and hats, got +into them quickly and filed downstairs. + +Kendale never could fully comprehend how it happened that in five +minutes' time the five hundred employees of the place heard what had +occurred, and in less time than it takes to recount it the strangest +event that had ever taken place in the annals of a great New York +business house occurred--there was a mighty uproar and by one accord the +great throng of employees quitted their tasks--badly as they needed +work--and dashed out into the street, leaving the vast emporium to the +hundreds of astonished customers with which it was crowded at that hour. + +For an instant Kendale was horror-stricken when he realized what was +occurring. + +"God Almighty!" he gasped, "I am ruined, disgraced! A thousand furies +take that girl; but she shall pay dearly for this. The police will be +here to quell the riot and disperse the crowd outside, and turn out the +people who are still inside!" + +Looking from the window, he saw that the throng of angry employees were +gathered around the old cashier and his daughter in a mighty mob. + +"Good Lord! if Halloran were only here, to advise me this time," he +muttered, turning pale with fear. He could hear their loud, angry voices +hurling imprecations at him, and he knew full well that he would never +be able to pass through that throng of thoroughly aroused and angry men +without their doing him bodily injury, and he told himself in affright +that all the Marsh millions for which he had bartered his soul would not +save him from the hands of that raging mob. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +"I LIKE HER BETTER THAN ANY I HAVE MET--I SHALL MARRY HER." + + +Kendale was clever and quick of resource. He realized that there must be +sudden action on his part. Should he fly headlong from the place and +give up all? Then a remembrance of the yacht and the horses came to him, +and he set his teeth hard together. + +"I will see this game through, come what may," he muttered. + +At that instant a daring thought came to him, and he acted upon it +before he could have time to back down through cowardice. + +Throwing open the window wide, he stepped boldly out upon the ledge in +full view of the angry crowd of five hundred employees. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he exclaimed, raising his voice to a high key +that all might hear, "I have something to say, and it is only due me +that you should listen and then pass judgment. + +"Please believe me, one and all, I had no thought, no wish to offend Mr. +Conway's pretty daughter Margery. I may as well own the truth. I had +fallen desperately in love with the girl and was telling her so, and was +just on the point of asking her to accept me as a suitor for her hand +when she, mistaking my motives, it appears, called for assistance, and I +was not permitted to speak in order to explain. + +"Assuring her and all of you that my motives were most honorable, I beg +of you to reconsider leaving me in this abrupt fashion. Return to your +posts of duty, and this little difficulty will be adjusted +satisfactorily to you and to Miss Conway." + +Kendale was used to making a hit with an audience--used to throwing his +soul, as it were, into anything he had to say. + +The effect on the crowd below was magical; for a moment they were +stunned. + +The old cashier was almost stunned. The young millionaire was just about +proposing marriage to Margery! Why, what a mistake he had made--what a +terrible mistake! Even Margery had fallen back a step or two and was +clinging to her father's hand in the greatest amazement. + +"I--I think I was mad, friends and fellow-workers," he exclaimed, +huskily. "I believe I was too precipitate in this affair. + +"It is so long since I was young I--I had forgotten that it is the +custom of men now, as in the years long since gone by, to speak to a +maiden of love before he said anything of marriage. + +"It did not occur to me that the great millionaire wanted my little girl +for his wife, as he now says. + +"Hear me, friends, one and all. I most heartily regret causing this +disturbance and I move that we return to our places, as our employer +suggests." + +There was a murmur of assent among the throng; then, all in a body, they +moved forward, entering the building again; and in less than five +minutes' time matters were moving on quite as smoothly once more as +though no sudden upheaval had ever occurred in the great dry goods +establishment. + +Mr. Conway, however, was too upset to attend further to his duties that +afternoon, and accepted the manager's suggestion that he should go to +his home, Margery accompanying him. + +Meanwhile Kendale had thrown himself down into the nearest chair, +breathing hard, feeling like a general who had achieved a most wonderful +victory. + +"A few soft, silvery words saved me this time," he muttered, "but it +throws the girl on my hands. Well, I suppose I will have to propose +marriage to her now--every one expects it; there would be a terrible +rumpus kicked up if I did not. Well, let there be an engagement between +us; that doesn't mean that there will be a marriage, by any means. The +engagement can drag along three or four years, and then we can break +off. By that time I shall be ready to marry the heiress of the Fairfax +millions. Ah, how much easier it is to scheme for a fortune than to toil +for one, as most poor mortals do." + +The entrance of the manager with the bill for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand put an end to his musings and plans for the +present. Mr. Wright emerged from the office ten minutes later with a +very troubled expression on his face. It was dearly patent to him that +Mr. Lester Armstrong did not care how badly the business was crippled, +so long as he secured the yacht and the fast horses. + +From that first day, so full of awkward and almost fatal mistakes, +Kendale spent as little time as was absolutely necessary in the +establishment of Marsh & Company, as it was still called, preferring to +let all of the business cares fall upon the manager's already weighted +shoulders. + +In less than a week it was noised about social circles that the young +man who had so suddenly dropped into millions of money was something of +a sport--a yachtsman whose magnificent yachting parties were the wonder +of the metropolis; a horseman whose racing stables were second to none +and were worth a handsome fortune; and it was hinted that he seemed no +stranger at cards and gambled sums of gold that would have purchased a +king's ransom at a single game--until those who looked on in speechless +wonder were sure he must have exhaustless wealth. Every one prophesied, +however, that this reckless extravagance must have an ending some time. +Meanwhile society held out its arms to the young millionaire, welcoming +him with its sweetest smiles. + +The date which he had set to dine with the Fairfaxes, of Beechwood, +rolled around at last, and for once in his life Kendale, or rather the +bogus Lester Armstrong, was punctual in his appointment. + +He was ushered into a drawing-room of such magnificence that for a +moment he fairly caught his breath in wonder. + +"So this was the home of Faynie Fairfax, the girl whom I wedded in the +old church and who died so suddenly on her bridal eve," he soliloquized. +"Well, all this could be mine for the fighting for it as Faynie's +husband, who has survived her, but, as Halloran would say, 'It's a deal +easier getting the same fortune by marrying the stepmother's daughter, +who has come into it by Faynie's father cutting her off at the eleventh +hour.' + +"I wonder what the girl Claire is like." + +There was a portrait of a young girl done in water colors over the +mantel. He stepped over to examine it. + +"If this is Claire's portrait she's certainly not bad looking," he +mused, "but she is one I should not care to cross." + +The figure was slight, draped in a gown of some light, airy fabric. The +head was small, crowned in a mass of waving dark hair. The contour of +the face was perfect; a pair of deep gray eyes looked out of it straight +at you; the lips were small, but a little too compressed, showing that +the owner of them had certainly a will of her own, which it was neither +wise nor best to cross. + +He was startled from his contemplation by the sound of silken robes +rustling across the carpet, and, wheeling suddenly about, he was +confronted by a tall, slim, magnificent woman, who welcomed him most +graciously to Fairfax House. + +"My daughter Claire will join us in a very few minutes. Ah, she is here +now," she announced, as a swift step was heard in the corridor outside; +a moment later the portières parted, and the young girl whose portrait +he had been critically analyzing entered the room. + +"I shall know at once by the first words he utters whether I shall like +him or not," thought the girl, looking straight into his face with her +fearless, keen, gray eyes. "He is handsome, and that generally goes with +great conceit, Faynie always said." + +"I hope we shall be friends, Miss Fairfax," he said, extending his hand +and bowing low over the little brown one that lay for an instant in his +palm. + +"There is a great mistake evident at the outset," said the girl, looking +up into his face. "Mamma said just now: 'This is my daughter Claire.' I +think mamma intended to add, 'Miss Claire Stanhope.' Mr. Fairfax was my +steppapa." + +Kendale smiled amusedly, both at the mother's momentary discomfiture +and the young girl's brusque straightforwardness. + +"I like her better than any one I have ever met. I shall marry her," he +promised himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +CLAIRE'S LOVER. + + +During the dinner that followed Kendale longed to introduce the subject +of "Faynie," but found no opening. His eagerness to know what they +thought and what they had to say concerning her disappearance was +intense, but he had to bide his time to find out. + +Meanwhile he paid the most flattering attention to Claire. + +He had noticed with a keen sense of regret that the girl limped most +painfully in her walk, but, despite this defect, for the first time in +his reckless life, he was thoroughly fascinated with her. + +He took his leave early, promising them that he would certainly avail +himself of their gracious permission to call again, very, very soon. + +Long after his departure the mother and daughter still sat in the +drawing-room discussing him eagerly. + +"It is a good thing for you that Faynie declines to come down to the +drawing-room to see visitors and insists upon having her meals in her +own room. If she had seen this handsome Mr. Armstrong, you would have +stood little chance of winning him, my dear," declared Mrs. Fairfax. + +Claire rose slowly to her feet, turned and faced her mother. + +"You and I do not agree on that point, mamma," she said, quickly, "I +have what you call a Quixotic notion, perhaps, and that is that we are +attracted toward those whom Heaven intended for us, and if this be so he +would not have been attracted toward Faynie if he were intended for me." + +"We will not argue the matter, Claire, for we shall never agree," +declared her mother, adding: "I shall always be opposed to Mr. Armstrong +meeting Faynie or ever hearing one word concerning the existence of such +a person. If he should, mind, I predict harm will come of it." + +Those were the words that rang in Claire's ears long after she retired +to her room. + +"I shall tell Faynie that we had a caller last evening and how handsome +he was; but I shall take good care to follow mamma's advice and never +let her know his name," the girl ruminated. + +She was only a young girl, full of girlish enthusiasm, and it was +certainly beyond human expectation to believe she could refrain from +mentioning that much to Faynie the next morning. + +Faynie laid a little white hand on Claire's nut-brown head. + +"Take care not to fall too deeply in love with this handsome stranger," +she said, "for handsome men are not always good and true as they seem." + +"I am sure this gentleman is," declared impulsive Claire emphatically. +"He has the deepest, richest, mellowest voice I ever heard, and such +eyes--wine dark eyes--those are the only words which seem to express +what they are like--and when he takes your hand and looks down into your +face, the hand he holds so lightly tingles from the finger tips straight +to your heart." + +"I am afraid he has been holding your hand, Claire. Ah, take +care--beware!" warned Faynie. + +During the fortnight that followed Kendale was a constant visitor at the +palatial Fairfax home. + +And those two weeks changed the whole after current of Claire's life, as +Faynie observed with wonder. It was certainly evident the girl was +deeply in love, and Faynie trembled for her, for love would bring to +such natures as hers the greatest peace or the bitterest sorrow. + +She wondered if her stepmother saw how affairs were drifting. + +If it had not been that she and her stepmother were always at +cross-purposes with each other, she would have gone to her and warned +her that it was dangerous to throw this handsome young man so often into +Claire's society, unless she could readily see that he was pleased with +the girl--realizing that poor Claire had a sad drawback in her lameness +and that many would seek her society because she was bright and witty, +who would never dream of asking her hand in marriage because of it. + +Once she attempted to warn Claire of the hidden rocks that lay in love's +ocean, but the girl turned quickly a white, pained face toward her. + +"Say no more, Faynie," she cried; "the mischief, as you call it, has +already been done. My heart has left me and gone to him. If I do not win +him I shall die. You know the words: + + "Some hold that love is a foolish thing, + A thing of little worth; + But little or great, or weak or strong. + 'Tis love that rules the earth. + + "The tale is new, yet ever told; + It has often been breathed ere now--- + 'There was a lad who loved a lass'-- + 'Tis old as the world, I trow! + + "The song I sing has been sung before, + And will often again be sung + While lads and lasses have lips to kiss, + Or bard a tuneful tongue. + + "And this is the burden of my rhyme-- + Though love be of little worth, + Yet from pole to pole and shore to shore, + 'Tis love that rules the earth." + +"And it is love that breaks hearts and wrecks lives," murmured Faynie, +with streaming eyes and quivering lips. "Oh, Claire! again I warn you to +take care--beware!" + +For one brief moment she was tempted to tell Claire her own story. + +Ah, had she but done so, how much misery might have been spared the +hapless girl! But she put the impulse from her with a shudder. + +No, no, she could not breathe to human ears the story of her false lover +and the tragedy that had ended her dream of love. + +She had never permitted her thoughts to dwell upon Lester Armstrong +since that fatal night. + +If there were times when she thought of him as when she knew him first, +seemingly so loving, tender and true, she put the thought quickly from +her, remembering him as she saw him that fatal night--transformed +suddenly into a demon by strong drink, when he struck her down upon +finding that she had just been disinherited--that she was not the +heiress that he had taken her to be. + +He thought his crime buried fathoms deep under the drifting snow heaps. +Ah, how great would be his terror to find that the grave to which he had +consigned her had given her back to the world of the living! No, no, she +could not shock Claire's young ears with that horrible story! + +It would be bad enough for her to learn of it in after years. + +Thus Faynie settled the matter in her own mind, and her lips were +sealed. + +One morning Claire burst eagerly into the room, quite as soon as it was +light. + +"I was here late last night, but you were asleep, Faynie," she said, +"and I came away, though I could scarcely wait to tell you the wonderful +news." + +"I think I can guess what it is," replied Faynie, stroking the girl's +brown curls, "Your lover has declared his love for you and asked you to +be his wife. Is it not so?" + +"You know it could be nothing else which could make me so very, very +happy," laughed Claire, her cheeks reddening. + +"And you have answered--yes?" asked Faynie. + +"Of course I said yes," responded Claire. + +"And when is the wedding to take place?" queried Faynie, hoping with all +her heart that this lover of whom the girl was so desperately fond loved +Claire for herself--not for the wealth she had fallen heir to. + +Claire raised her bright, blushing face shyly, the dimples coming and +going, making her rather plain little face almost beautiful at that +moment. + +"Mamma wanted the marriage put off for a year--I am so young--but Lester +was so impatient that he would consent to no such arrangement. He wants +the ceremony performed with as little delay as is absolutely necessary." + +"Lester!" The name went through Faynie's heart like the thrust of a +knife. + +For an instant every nerve in her body seemed to tremble and throb with +quick, spasmodic pain, then to stand still as though the chill of death +were creeping over her. Her eyes grew dim with an awful darkness, and +Claire's voice seemed far off and indistinct. Then the world faded from +her altogether and she fell at Claire's feet all in a little heap, in a +dead swoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE PROPOSAL. + + +With all possible haste Claire summoned the housekeeper and gave Faynie +into her charge. + +It was more than disappointing to her to have Faynie lapse into +unconsciousness just as she had reached the most interesting part of her +story and was about to tell her how very romantically handsome Lester +had proposed. It had been just like a page from a French novel. + +She little dreamed that the art of making love was an old one to him. + +Kendale had gone to the Fairfax mansion with the express purpose of +proposing marriage that evening, for only that day Mr. Conway, the old +cashier, had told him confidentially that the affairs of the great dry +goods concern were in a bad shape--that the check for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand which had just been paid out had crippled them +sorely. + +And, after a moment's pause and with a husky voice, he added slowly: "If +something like three hundred thousand dollars is not raised within the +next sixty days you are a ruined man, Mr. Armstrong." + +This announcement fell with crushing force upon Kendale, who had +imagined that there could be no end to the flow of money that was +pouring in upon him. + +"There's only one way of raking in that much money in a hurry, and that +is by marrying the little lame heiress," he soliloquized. + +It so happened that he had an engagement to call there on this +particular evening, and he resolved that he would not let the +opportunity slip past him--that there was no time like the present. + +Fortune, fate, call it what you will, favored Kendale on this particular +occasion, as it usually did. He found Claire alone in the drawing-room +practising some sheet music which he had sent her a few days before. + +She started up in confusion as the servant ushered him into the room, a +swift blush crimsoning her cheeks. + +"Mamma will be down directly, Mr. Armstrong," she said, looking at him +shyly from beneath her long lashes. + +"Miss Stanhope--Claire!" he exclaimed impulsively, seizing both of her +little hands in his, "may we not have a few words together before my +card is sent up to your mother? Oh, Claire, you would surely say yes if +you knew all I had to say to you. Be kind and consent." + +"Since you seem to desire it so earnestly, I am sure I have no wish to +object," she answered, trembling in spite of her efforts to appear +unconcerned under the fire of his keen, ardent gaze. + +"You are an angel," he cried, seating himself in a chair so near her +that he could still hold the little fluttering hands, which she fain +would have drawn from his clasp, for, although she had never before had +a proposal of marriage, she guessed intuitively what was coming. + +"Since I have but a few minutes alone with you, Claire, what I have to +say must be said quickly," he began. + +For the first time in her life Claire was at a loss for an answer. + +"I am sure you have guessed my secret, sweetest of all sweet girls," he +murmured. "Every glance of my eyes, every touch of my hand, must have +told it to you from the first moment we met. Did it--not?" + +"No," faltered Claire, her eyes drooping like a flower under the sun's +piercing rays. + +"Then my lips shall tell you," he cried. "It is this--I love you, little +Claire--love you with all my heart, all my soul. You are the light of my +life, the sunshine of my existence, my lode-star, my hope--all that a +young girl is to a man who idolizes her as the one supreme being on +earth who can make him happy. Oh, Claire, I worship you as man never +worshiped woman before, and I want you for my wife." + +She opened her lips to speak, but he went on rapidly, hoarsely: + +"Do not refuse me, for it would be my death warrant if you did. I tell +you I cannot brook a refusal from those dear lips of yours. If you do +not consent I shall make away with myself in your presence here and now +with a revolver which lies in my breast pocket." + +A scream of terror broke from Claire's terrified lips. + +"Oh, do not make away with yourself, Mr; Armstrong!" "I--I will +promise--anything you--you want me to! Only don't shoot +yourself--don't!" + +"Then you accept me?" queried Kendale in a very businesslike manner. + +"Ye-es--if mamma does not--object," she answered in a stifling manner. + +"There must be no ifs," he declared. "You must take me, no matter who +objects. If we cannot bring your mamma around to an amicable way of +thinking, we must elope--that is all there is about it." + +"Elope!" gasped Claire in affright. + +"Why, what else would there be left to do?" he asked, with asperity. "I +love you and I must have you, Claire, and if you are willing to take me, +why, we will marry in spite of anything and everything that opposes. + +"Of course, if your mamma sees things as we do, all well and good; but +I say now to you, her objections must make no difference whatever in our +plans." + +"Oh, Mr. Armstrong!" gasped Claire, not knowing what in the world to say +to this ardent lover, who was so impetuous in his wooing. + +Before he could add a word Mrs. Fairfax came down the grand stairway, +her silken gown making a rustling frou-frou upon the velvet carpet. + +She looked much surprised at finding him there, as she had not been +apprised of his coming. + +Kendale arose to greet her in his usual impressive, languid, courteous +fashion, managing to whisper in Claire's ear hastily: + +"Make some excuse to leave the drawing-room for a few minutes, dear, and +while you are gone I will broach the all-important subject to your +mother." + +Mrs. Fairfax greeted the handsome young man cordially, pretending not to +have noticed how near to each other they had been sitting upon her +entrance to the drawing-room, and how suddenly they had sprung apart. + +Her daughter's blushing face and confused manner told her that the +propitious moment had arrived--the handsome heir to the Marsh millions +had proposed. + +And underneath her calm exterior Mrs. Fairfax's heart beat high with +exultation. Her quick ear had also caught that rapidly whispered last +remark to Claire, and, realizing that her daughter was too much +flustered to act upon it, gave the young man the opportunity to be alone +with her which he seemed to desire by remarking: + +"Dear me, I have left my fan in my boudoir, Claire, dear, would you mind +ringing for my maid to fetch it to me?" + +"I will go for it, mamma," returned Claire, shyly, without daring to +look at her lover. + +"As you like, my dear," returned Mrs. Fairfax, with very natural +appearing carelessness. + +Claire was gone quite half an hour in search of the fan. When she +returned to the drawing-room her mother met her with open arms. + +"Mr. Armstrong has told me all, my darling," she murmured, "and I give +my consent. You may marry him if you love him, daughter, and quite as +soon as he wishes." + +Kendale left the mansion two hours later with a self-satisfied smile on +his lips. + +"Marrying heiresses is much easier than most men suppose," he +muttered--and he stopped short in the grounds, standing under a tree +until the lights went out one by one, shrouding the house in gloom. + +Meanwhile, girl like, Claire had flown to Faynie's apartment to tell +her the wonderful news--that her handsome lover had really proposed and +her mother had given her consent, and she was to be married at once. + +Faynie's swoon had put a stop to confiding to her all the wonderful +things Lester had said. "I will tell her in the morning," she promised +herself, little dreaming what was to transpire ere the morrow dawned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +AN AWFUL APPARITION. + + +When Faynie awoke to consciousness she found the housekeeper bending +over her. Hours had passed and Claire had long since retired to her +room. + +Faynie opened her eyes slowly, in a half-dazed manner, but as she did so +memory returned to her with startling force; but she bravely restrained +the cry that rose to her lips. + +Claire had called her lover "Lester!" She wondered that the sound of +that name had: not stricken her head. + +Could Claire's lover be--Ah! she dared not even imagine such a horrible +possibility. Then she laughed aloud, thinking how foolish she had been +to be so needlessly alarmed. + +The false lover who had wooed and won her so cruelly was not the only +man in the world who bore the fateful name of Lester. + +"Ah, you are better, my dear," exclaimed the old housekeeper in great +relief. "Your swoon lasted so long that I was greatly alarmed; What +caused you to faint, my dear child?" + +Faynie murmured some reply which she could not quite catch, for the +housekeeper was old and very deaf. + +"Take this and go to sleep," she said, holding a soothing, quieting +draught to the girl's white, hot, parched lips. "You will awaken as well +as ever to-morrow." + +Faynie did as she was requested, closing her eyes. She was glad when the +kindly old face was turned away and she was left alone--not to sleep, +but to think. + +Of course it could not be Lester Armstrong who was Claire's suitor, for +he was poor, and her haughty stepmother would never encourage the suit +of a man who did not have wealth at his command. + +If Faynie had but read the papers she would have known what was +transpiring, but, alas! she did not and was utterly unaware of the +strange turn of fortune's wheel which had occurred in the life of the +young assistant cashier to whom she had given the wealth of her love, +when he was poor. + +Lying there, going over every detail of, the past, which seemed now but +the idle vagaries of a fleeting dream, she hardly knew, Heaven help her, +whether she still loved--or hated with all the strength of her +nature--Lester Armstrong. + +Her heart would fill with yearning tenderness almost unbearable when she +looked back at the early days of that brief, sweet courtship. + +How strong, noble, true and brave he had seemed--how kind of heart! + +She had seen him pick up a little birdling that had fallen from its +nest, lying with a bruised wing in the dust of the roadside, and restore +it to the mother bird to be nursed back to health and life, and go out +of his way to rescue a butterfly that had fallen in the millpond. + +It seemed like the distorted imagination of some diseased brain to bring +herself to the realization that this same gentle hand that had rescued +the robin and the butterfly had struck her down to death--that the kind, +earnest voice that had been wont to whisper nothing but words of +devotion and eternal love should fling out the vilest and bitterest of +oaths at her, because she was not the heiress he had taken her to be. + +And without one tear, one bitter regret, he had consigned her to that +lonely grave and gone back to the life which he had declared he could +never live without her. + +Where was he now? she wondered vaguely; then she laughed a low, bitter +laugh, sadder than any tears. + +He had missed the fortune he had hoped for and was back again in the +office of Marsh & Co. + +Then the thought came to her again with crushing, alarming force--would +he not (believing her dead and himself free to woo and wed again) seek +out some other heiress, since that was his design? Many young girls came +to the assistant cashier's window just as she had done; he would select +the richest and marry her. + +The very thought seemed to stab her to the heart with a keen, subtle +pain which she could neither understand nor clearly define, even to +herself. + +"Heaven pity her in the hour when she finds that she has been +deceived--that he married her for gold, not love," she sobbed, covering +her face with her little trembling hands. + +She prayed to Heaven silently that Claire's lover, whoever he might be, +was marrying her for love, and for love alone. + +So restless was she that, despite the quieting draught which the +housekeeper had induced her to swallow, she could not sleep. + +But one thing remained for her to do, and that was to get up and dress +and go down to her father's library and read herself into forgetfulness +until day dawned. + +Faynie acted upon the impulse, noting as she stepped from her room into +the corridor that the clock on her mantel chimed the hour of two. + +She had proceeded scarcely half a dozen steps ere she became aware that +she was not alone in the corridor. + +She stopped short. + +The time was when Faynie would have shrieked aloud or swooned from +terror; but she had gone through so many thrilling scenes during the +last few weeks of her eventful young life that fear within her breast +had quite died out. + +Was it only her wild, fanciful imagination, or did she hear the sound of +low breathing? Faynie stood quite still, leaning behind a marble Flora, +and listened. + +Yes, the sound was audible enough now. There was somebody in the +corridor creeping toward the spot where she stood, with swift but +noiseless feet. + +Nearer, nearer the footsteps crept, the soft, low-bated breathing +sounding closer with every step. + +With a presence of mind which few young girls possessed, Faynie +suddenly stepped forward and turned on the gas jet from an electric +button, full head. + +The sight which met her gaze fairly rooted her to the spot. + +For one brief instant of time it seemed to Faynie as though her breath +was leaving her body. + +She stood paralyzed, unable to stir hand or foot, if her very life had +depended upon it. + +Outside the wind blew dismally; the shutters creaked to and fro on their +hinges; the leafless branches of the trees tapped their ghostly fingers +against the panes. + +Faynie tried to speak--to cry out--but her tongue seemed to cleave to +the roof of her mouth, powerless. Her hands fell to her side a dead +weight, her eyes fairly bulging from their sockets. + +It almost seemed to the girl that she was passing through the awful +transition of death. + +The blood in her veins was turning to ice, and the heart in her bosom to +marble. + +In an upper room, afar off, she heard one of the servants coughing +protractedly in her sleep. + +Oh, God! if she could but burst the icy bonds that bound her hand and +foot and cry out--bring the household about her. Her lips opened, but no +sound came from them. + +The very breath in her body seemed dying out with each faint gasp that +broke over the white, mute lips. + +Outside the night winds grew wilder and fiercer. A gust of hail battered +against the window panes and rattled down the wide-throated chimneys. +Then suddenly; all was still again! + +Oh, pitiful heavens! how hard Faynie tried to break the awful bonds that +held her there, still, silent, motionless, unable to move or utter any +sound, staring in horror words cannot picture at the sight that met her +strained gaze. + +It had only been an instant of time since the bright blaze of the gas +had illuminated the darkened corridor, yet it seemed to Faynie, standing +there, white and cold as an image carved in marble, that long years had +passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +"I INTEND TO WATCH YOU DIE, INCH BY INCH, DAY BY DAY!" + + +Before going on further with the thrilling event which we narrated in +our last chapter it will be necessary to devote a few explanatory lines +to the still more thrilling scene which led up to it, returning to the +real Lester Armstrong, whom we left in the isolated cabin in the custody +of Halloran. + +Lester's intense anxiety when Kendale forcibly took the keys from him +and disappeared can better be imagined than described. + +In vain he pleaded with Halloran to release him, offering every kind of +inducement, but the man was inexorable. + +Your Cousin Kendale will pay me twice as much for detaining you here," +he answered with a boisterous laugh, adding: + +"Besides, I have a grudge against you of many years' standing, Lester +Armstrong, which this affair is wiping out pretty effectively." + +"I was not aware that I had ever seen you before," replied Lester. + +"Permit me to refresh your memory," exclaimed the other grimly. "When +you were a boy of about fourteen years you attended the public school on +Canal Street." + +"Yes," said Lester, still mystified. + +"At that time," went on Halloran, "the school was unusually crowded, +owing to the enforcement of the law that the children of the +neighborhood must attend school, thus bringing in all the urchins of +the poor thereabouts; you surely remember that?" + +"It seems to me I have a faint recollection of some such circumstance," +replied Lester, eying the man who stood over him, his dark, scowling +face growing more foreboding with each word he uttered. + +"If you carry your mind back you will also remember that there was a +ragged boy sitting to the right of you, who seemed to have a weakness +for purloining your pencils and other like articles." + +Lester did not answer; his mind was traveling back to the time this man +recalled. + +"You will also recollect the boy who sat in front of you, who was the +envy of all the boys in the school by being the possessor of a fine, new +five-bladed jackknife, with which he used to whittle kites and whistles +during recess. Ah! I see you do remember," said Halloran grimly, "and +you also remember the day the ragged boy, sitting at the right of you, +believing no one was looking, reached over and quietly, deftly, inserted +his hand in the other's pocket and abstracted the coveted jackknife. + +"He meant to as quietly replace it in the other's pocket after he had +whittled out a kite and whistle for himself; but, lo! without giving him +time to carry out his intentions, you, good boy that you were, squealed +and brought all the teachers in the room to the spot. You cried out to +them what had occurred, and the ragged lad was caught red-handed with +the knife in his possession. He was expelled from the school that day, +but the affair did not end there. The father of the boy who owned the +knife was a great judge, and he caused the ragged lad to be sent to a +State reformatory, where the next five years of his life were spent in +rigid discipline--stigmatized as a common thief! And all these years the +bitterness of a terrible hatred rankled in his bosom against you--who +were responsible for all this. + +"And he vowed a bitter vow of vengeance, that he would repay that act of +yours if it took him a lifetime to accomplish it; that he would make you +suffer like one on the rack for thrice five years, and then tell you +why. + +"It will not take much stretch of imagination for you to surmise, Lester +Armstrong, that I am that boy upon whom you peached, and on whom, +through you, such a severe penalty was inflicted. + +"My hatred against you has intensified as the years rolled on, Lester +Armstrong. You are in my power; I hold your life in my hands. Do you +think if you were to pray to me on your bended knees that I would +release you? No, a thousand times no! Every groan that falls from your +lips is music to my ears. + +"Again I repeat, you are at my mercy, and I will give you a dose of +that same mercy which you showed me in those other days. Ha! you turn +pale, as well you may! + +"Listen! Let me tell you what I intend to do. I think you guess it from +all that has gone on before, but I will repeat it. I intend to watch you +die, inch by inch, day by day! + +"They tell of a man who put himself on exhibition in New York, +challenging the people to come and see him fast forty days, during which +time neither food nor drink should pass his lips. + +"But you will not last so long, Lester Armstrong; I think a week's time +will be your limit. You will understand now how perfectly useless it +would be to plead with me." + +"Do not imagine for one moment that I intend to do so. I am a man of +nerve and iron will, and I can die like one. You have shackled me hand +and foot and placed me in this death trap, but your ears shall not be +greeted with any moans or cries of complaint. The vengeance you have +mapped out will fall short in that." + +A sneer broke from Halloran's lips; he could not help but admire the +dauntless courage of the man before him, but he would not have admitted +it for anything the wide world held. With a fiendish laugh that rang in +Lester's ears for long hours afterward, Halloran turned and left him, +sauntering into the outer room and banging and locking the door after +him. + +It was a night never to be forgotten by Lester to the last day of his +life. His mouth was parched with thirst; the blood in his veins seemed +turning to lava, and his eyes were scorched in their sockets. + +Once the door suddenly opened and Halloran thrust in his head, +exclaiming: + +"Let me give you a piece of news to dream over, my dear fellow: Your +Cousin, Kendale, is with the beauteous Faynie just now, probably holding +her in his arms, kissing the lovely rosebud mouth. 'Pon my honor. I envy +the lucky dog; don't you?" + +The door closed quite as quickly again, and Lester was alone with his +bitter thoughts. + +"What have I done that a just God should torture me thus?" he cried out +in an agony so intense that great beads of cold perspiration gathered on +his forehead and rolled unheeded down his white cheeks. "If he tortured +me to the gates of death I could endure it, but the very thought that my +innocent darling, my beautiful, tender little Faynie, is in that +dastardly villain's power, fairly goads me to madness. Oh, Heaven! if I +but had the strength of Samson for but a single hour, to burst these +cruel bonds asunder and fly to my dear one's side!" + +But, struggle as he would, the thongs which bound him, rendering him +powerless to aid the girl he loved, would not give way. + +Thus a fortnight passed, and Halloran was beside himself with wonder to +find each morning that Lester was still alive and that he had not gone +mad. + +But Lester Armstrong's guardian angel had not quite forgotten him; +Heaven had not intended that he should die by thirst and starvation in +that isolated cabin, and served him in a strange, unlooked-for way. + +He soon discovered that a family of squirrels had made a home beneath a +piece of flooring within easy reach of where he lay, and upon forcing up +the piece of rotten plank he found to his intense joy an almost endless +supply of nuts, and close beside their burrow a running stream of clear, +cool, fresh, bubbling spring water. + +In an instant he had slaked his thirst and laved his burning brow. + +From that hour he felt sure that Heaven intended him to escape from his +foes. He took good care, however, to conceal his wonderful discovery +from Halloran's keen, sharp eyes when he looked in each day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +A FIENDISH ACT. + + + "Like some lone bird + Without a mate, + My lonely heart is desolate; + I look around + And cannot trace, a friendly + smile, a welcome face. + Even in crowds + I'm still alone, because I + cannot love but one." + +Thus a fortnight passed, and under the rigid diet of the strengthening, +nutritious nuts and clear spring water Lester rapidly gained strength. + +He only waited a fitting opportunity to make a dash for liberty. + +Halloran was well armed; he realized that fact, and that he would shoot +him down like a dog ere he would suffer him to escape the fate that had +been laid out for him. + +Therefore his only hope was to get away by strategy. He laid several +plans, but each time they were frustrated by some unexpected act of +Halloran's. + +Meanwhile the latter was pondering over his case, considerably +mystified. + +"Confound the fellow! he does not seem to grow either pale or +emaciated," he muttered. "I could almost say that starving seems to +agree with him. I am quite tempted to give him his quietus and end this +vigil. Remaining in this solitary hut does not quite come up to my +liking. I wonder what Kendale is doing. He promised to let me know how +he got on. + +"I have not heard from him for nearly a week now. Perhaps they made the +discovery that he was not the real Lester Armstrong, and have placed him +in limbo; but it strikes me that in such a predicament he would hasten +to communicate with me, apprising me of the fact. + +"Then, again," he ruminated, "Kendale is thoroughly selfish to the +backbone, and if he has successfully hoodwinked these people and is +living off the fat of the land and rolling in money, as it were, ten +chances to one he has quite forgotten my very existence. + +"He ought to have sent me more provisions to-day, and more tobacco; and +it is nightfall and no sign of any one." + +The next day and the next passed in the same fashion. + +By this time Halloran had become thoroughly exasperated. + +"This settles the bill," he muttered; "I leave this place to-night. I do +not see much need of staying here any longer, anyhow. Armstrong will not +last many hours longer; he couldn't; it's beyond human physical +possibility." + +In the semi-twilight he looked in at his prisoner. + +Lester had fallen into so deep a sleep that he seemed scarcely to +breathe, and the dim, fading light falling in through the chinks of the +boarded window gave his face, which was beginning to grow pale because +of his confinement, an unusually grayish pallor at this twilight hour. + +"Ha! ha!" muttered Halloran, setting his teeth hard together; "it is +perfectly safe to leave him now. He is dying; his hour has come at +last." + +Turning on his heel he strode into the outer apartment, banging the door +to after him, but not taking the trouble to lock it on this occasion. + +"As there seems to be little need of my remaining here longer, now that +he is done for, I'm off for the city," he muttered; "and a pretty tramp +I'll have of it over this barren country road, fully seven miles to the +railway station, and hungry as a bear at that." + +Again he looked at Lester, to assure himself beyond all possibility of a +doubt that he was actually dying. + +And again he was thoroughly deceived. + +"It's all over with him," he muttered, "and Kendale's secret is safe +between him and me, and he'll have to pay me handsomely to keep it; +that's certain." + +On the threshold he halted. + +"Dead men tell no tales," he muttered, "and he would be past all +recognition by the time any one came across him in this isolated spot. +Then, again, some one might happen to wander this way. + +"It's best to be sure; to put it beyond human power to discover his +identity, and the only way to secure that end is to burn this place. Ay! +that is the surest and safest way to effectually conceal the crime." + +He had muttered the words aloud, and they fell distinctly upon the ears +of Lester Armstrong, who had awakened at the sound of his footsteps the +second time, although he had given no sign of having done so. The words +fell with horrible dread upon his ears because of the fact that he was +bound hand and foot by an iron chain, fastened to a heavy ring in the +floor. + +For the last week he had used every endeavor to force the links apart, +but they had frustrated his most strenuous efforts. + +And he said to himself, if the fiend incarnate before him carried out +his intention of firing the place it would be all over with him. The +horrible smoke would assuredly suffocate him ere he could, even by +exerting the most Herculean strength, succeed in liberating himself. + +With bated breath he heard Halloran enter the outer apartment. + +And he heard his impatient, muttered imprecations as he fumbled about +for matches, seemingly without finding any. + +"This is where I put them," exclaimed Halloran, with an oath, "but they +are not here now." + +After a moment's pause his voice broke the awful stillness, exclaiming: + +"Ah! here they are! I imagined they were not far away. One should always +know where to put his hands on such things, even in the dark. A whole +bunch of 'em; I did not remember that I had so many!" + +For the next few moments Lester heard him walking to and fro, apparently +dragging heavy articles over the floor, and he knew that he was piling +pieces of boards together in the middle of the room to start the blaze. + +His blood fairly ran cold in his veins at the thought. + +The moments that followed seemed the length of eternity. + +Each instant he expected to hear the dull scratching of the matches, +quickly followed by the swift, crackling blaze. + +With all his strength he strove to rend asunder the heavy steel chain, +but it resisted his every effort. + +"God in heaven! am I to die here like a rat in a trap?" he groaned, the +veins standing out like knotted whipcord on his forehead, the +perspiration pouring down his face like rain. + +For some moments there was a strange, unaccountable silence in the outer +room. + +Lester paused in his efforts to wrench the iron bands asunder which +bound his wrists, wondering what that ominous silence meant. + +The suspense was terrible, yet each moment meant that much of a respite +from the horrible fate which awaited him. + +What could Halloran be doing? Surely he had not abandoned his intentions +to set fire to the cabin? + +It was almost too good to be true. And yet that awful uncertainty was +almost unbearable. + +In the outer room Halloran sat quietly thinking over his plans, match in +hand, telling himself that he had better perfect them then than wait +until he was journeying toward the railway station. + +He would take the first train bound for New York, seek Kendale at once, +and have an understanding with him before he would disclose to him the +fact that Lester Armstrong was effectually out of his way. + +"Yes, that is the only course to pursue," muttered Halloran, and +springing to his feet, he struck half of the matches in his package at +once, and lighted the pile heaped in the center of the cabin floor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HALLORAN MEETS WITH HIS REWARD. + + +In an instant after the match had been applied a fiery tongue of flame +leaped to the ceiling, lighting the interior of the cabin with a +blinding glare of red light. + +Seizing his hat, Halloran dashed from the place and down the road, never +pausing until he had reached the fork of the roads. Then he stopped for +breath and looked back over his shoulder. + +A high ridge of ground intervened, completely hiding the doomed place +from his view. + +He did not even behold the column of fire and smoke, as he had +anticipated. + +"Those old boards are so damp that it will probably take some time to +ignite them, and there's no use waiting to see that," he muttered. "I +will be well on my way to the railway station by that time." + +He redoubled his speed to get as far away from the scene as possible, +for, villain though he was, this was his first actual crime, and his +conscience troubled him a little. + +Another mile or more he traversed through the heavy snow; then he +suddenly became conscious that there were rapidly approaching footsteps +behind him. + +Great heavens! had Lester Armstrong succeeded in making his escape? No, +it could not be. Even if so, he was too weak to run in that rapid +fashion. Involuntarily he paused and glanced backward over his shoulder. +The next instant a wild, panting cry of mortal terror broke from his +lips. + +In that backward glance he had beheld a huge black bear, making rapidly +toward the spot where he stood, fairly paralyzed with horror. + +It dawned upon him suddenly that only a few days before he had read of +the escape of one of the most ferocious black bears of the zoological +gardens, and, though two days had elapsed and men were scouring all +parts of the adjacent places, no trace of the animal had been found, and +great fears were expressed of the grave damage the bear might do before +he was recaptured. + +This was undoubtedly the animal that had escaped which was making toward +him with great leaps and savage growls, as though it had already marked +him for its prey. + +His teeth chattered like castanets; his eyes fairly bulged from their +sockets; the breath came in hot gasps from his white lips; his brain +reeled, as he took in, in that rapid glance of horror, his awful doom. + +Nearer and nearer sounded the hoarse, awful growls; nearer and nearer +moved the huge black mass over the white, crunching snow. + +The moon was slowly rising over the horizon, rendering all objects +clearly distinct to his frightened gaze. + +He was passing through a narrow belt of woodland, and like an +inspiration it occurred to him that his only hope of escape lay in +climbing one of the trees and thus outwitting the bear. + +He saw with sinking heart that they were scarcely more than saplings, +and whether or not they would bear his weight without snapping in twain +he dared not even pause to consider. + +With a groan of mortal terror he sprang for the nearest tree. Fright +seemed to lend him wonderful strength and agility; he succeeded in +reaching the lowest limb as the animal, with glittering eyes and widely +distended jaws, reached the tree. + +Up, up, crept Halloran, his teeth chattering, his strength almost +leaving him as the animal's roar of baffled rage fell upon his ear. + +To and fro bent the sapling under his weight, threatening to snap +asunder each moment and cast him into the jaws of the enraged beast. + +The hours that followed were of such keen, mortal terror that he vaguely +wondered that he did not lose his reason through fright. + +With fascinated eyes he watched the antics of the thoroughly enraged +animal. The bear made many efforts to climb the tree in pursuit of his +prey, but the swaying sapling was too slender to give him a hold, and +its bark too slippery with its coating of ice to insert the claws, which +had been clipped quite close, rendering them almost powerless in taking +a firm grasp. + +The night had closed in intensely cold, and Halloran could feel his +cramped limbs and hands slowly stiffening, but he dared not lose his +grip. + +The moon rose higher and higher in the night sky, shedding a white, +clear, bright light over the snow-clad earth. + +He knew that the animal was watching his every movement closely, as each +time he shifted his position brought a savage growl from the bear, which +was circling round and round the tree, eying him intently. + +For long hours this lasted, until the half frozen man, hanging on for +dear life to the upper branches of the sapling, thought he should go +mad. + +With the coming of daylight the bear changed his tactics, lying down +directly under the tree, still eying his prey with his small, beady, +expectant eyes, as though measuring the time that his victim could hold +out. + +The daylight grew stronger; slowly in the eastern horizon the red sun +rose, gilding the white, glistening snow with its rosy light. + +Hour by hour it climbed the blue azure height, crossed the zenith, and +then slowly sank behind the western hills, heralding the oncoming of +another night. + +Still the brute, with almost incredible cunning, sat in the same +position under the tree, watching Halloran's every move. + +"God rescue me!" he cried, lifting his white face to the Heaven he had +so offended. + +"If I pass another night here I shall go mad--mad!" + +He was famished with hunger, numb with cold, and his mouth and throat +were dry with unconquerable thirst. + +In those hours of suffering he thought of Lester Armstrong, and of the +awful fate he had doomed him to. He realized by his own experience of a +few hours what he must have endured, and a bitter groan of remorse broke +from his clammy lips. + +"This is Heaven's punishment," he cried. "Oh, Lester Armstrong. God has +surely avenged you! If I could but atone; if it were to be done over +again, I would have no hand in the atrocious crime that has dyed my +hands just as surely as though I had plunged a knife into your heart!" + +In his haste on leaving the cabin he had not taken time to secure his +revolver; he had no weapon; he was doomed to meet the same fate that he +had meted out to Lester Armstrong--starve to death slowly, hour by +hour--knowing that when he was too weak to hold longer to the branch he +would fall. + +Oh, God in heaven! fall into the gaping jaws of the enraged animal that +was waiting to receive him. + +He had led too wicked a life to pray; he did not know a prayer; he could +only raise his agonized eyes to the far-off sky, wondering how long his +awful torture could last-how long he would be able to hold out--how +long. + +He felt his blood slowly turning to ice in his veins, and slowly and +surely the dusk deepened and the darkness of another night fell over the +world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +"SOME TERRIBLE PRESENTIMENT IS WARNING ME THAT MY DARLING IS IN DANGER." + + +There never was a night so long that another day did not dawn--at +last--and when the morrow's light broke, Halloran was slowly but surely +collapsing--giving himself up to the horrible doom that awaited him--for +the bear had not quitted his position under the tree, nor had he taken +his eyes off his intended victim for a single moment. + +As the sun rose, Halloran watched it with dazed, bloodshot eyes, +exclaiming: + +"Good-by, golden sun, I shall never see you set, nor witness you rise +again upon another day. I--" the sentence was never finished, for over +the snowy waste rang a voice like a bugle blast: + +"Keep quiet, take heart, help is at hand; I am going to shoot the animal +and deliver you," and simultaneously with the voice four shots in rapid +succession rang out upon the early morning air. + +There was a wild howl of pain, a terrible roaring bellow, a sudden dash +toward a dark figure hurriedly approaching, two more shots, and the bear +rolled over dying beyond power to harm, his red blood dyeing the white +snow in great pools. Halloran knew no more. His strength and endurance +seemed suddenly to leave him, darkness closed in about him, his hold +loosened and he fell backward down, down through space. + +He did not know that a pair of strong arms caught him, thus saving him +from a broken neck. When he opened his eyes a few moments later, to his +intense surprise he found Lester Armstrong bending over him, and the +sight rendered him fairly dumb with amazement. + +Before he could ask questions that sprang to his lips, Lester explained +to him that owing to the dampness of the place, the fire Halloran had +kindled had quickly gone out, thus saving the young man from being +burned to death. He told him, too, why death had not come to him through +starvation, as had been intended, and that it had taken him all that +time to force apart the links of the chain, when he found that there was +no one to hear or prevent, no matter how much noise he made in so doing. + +He had seen the revolver, which had been forgotten, and little imagining +it would be of such vital use, had thrust it in his pocket and started +forth to make his way back to New York, when he unexpectedly came upon +the scene of the bear under the tree, and a fellow-being in deadly +peril. + +"You saved me--me," cried Halloran, huskily, "your deadly foe, who +tried to rob you of your life." + +"It was my duty, 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,'" quoted Lester, +quietly. + +Halloran fell on his knees, covering the other's hands with passionate +kisses, tears falling like rain from his eyes. + +"From this hour the life that you have saved shall be devoted to +you--and God!" he cried brokenly. "Oh, will Heaven ever forgive me for +the past? There are two bullets left in the revolver; you ought to shoot +me dead at your feet, Lester Armstrong. I deserve it." + +Lester shook his head. + +"Do better with your life than you have done in the past," he said. + +Halloran tried to rise to his feet, but fell back exhausted on the snow. + +"I cannot walk," he gasped. "I--I am sure my limbs are frozen." + +With a humane kindness that won him Halloran's gratitude to his dying +day, Lester helped him to the railway station, and to board the incoming +train, taking him to a hospital when they reached New York City. + +Halloran had lapsed into unconsciousness, but Lester was too kind of +heart to desert him in his hour of need. + +The clock was striking five as Lester left the hospital. + +On the pavement he paused, asking himself if he could go to a hotel +presenting that soiled, unkempt appearance. Then like an inspiration it +occurred to him that the best place in the world to go to was Mr. +Conway's; and he put the thought into execution at once, reaching there +nearly an hour later. + +Mr. Conway and Margery were just sitting down to breakfast as he rang +the bell of the humble little cottage. + +Mr. Conway answered the summons. + +The scene which followed can better be imagined than described. + +It was hard to convince father and daughter, at first, that in telling +his story he was not attempting to play some practical joke upon them. + +That he had a cousin who so cleverly resembled him that even those who +had known Lester intimately for long years should be so cleverly +deceived by him seemed almost incredible. Margery hid her face in her +trembling hands while her father gave Lester a full account of what had +transpired, while the latter's emotion was great; and his distress +intense, upon learning that Kendale had dared betroth himself to Margery +in his name, and that the gentle-hearted girl had learned to care for +the scamp, despite her repugnance to him at first. + +Lester thought it best, under the circumstances, to confide in full to +Margery and her father concerning his own love affair, lest they might +expect him to carry out the contract his cousin had made in regard to +marrying his old friend's pretty daughter. + +Margery's next words, however, set his troubled heart at rest in that +respect. + +She looked up at him suddenly through her tears, saying shyly: + +"There is another who cares for me, not knowing of this affair, one whom +I once thought I could love. Yesterday he wrote me a letter, asking for +my heart and hand. + +"Last night I wrote him a reply, saying 'No,' and telling him why. I +shall destroy that letter to-night, thankful enough that I did not have +time to send it. And my answer will then be 'Yes.'" + +"You have my best wishes for your happiness, little Margery," said +Lester, adding smilingly: "And when; the wedding occurs, which I hope +will be soon, you may, expect a very handsome present from me." + +Long after Mr. Conway and his unexpected visitor had finished their +simple breakfast, they talked over the strange situation of affairs, and +what was best to be done to avoid great publicity. + +"The bogus Lester Armstrong went to Beechwood last night," said the old +cashier. "He probably will remain there, as is his custom, until to-day +noon. You had better confront him there; meanwhile I will break the +amazing story to those of the establishment whom it is absolutely +necessary to tell. The rest of the employees and the public at large +need never know of the glaring fraud that was so cleverly practised +under their very eyes." + +Lester had sprung to his feet trembling with excitement, at the +information that Kendale had gone to the home of Faynie, despite the +fact that Mr. Conway had assured him that Kendale was not married. + +"Only yesterday he told me he contemplated marriage with a little +heiress out at Beechwood, and if his wooing went on smoothly he would be +a benedict in a few days' time--those were his exact words!" declared +Mr. Conway. + +"Thank Heaven the mischief has not yet been done," cried Lester, +fervently. + +He would have started for Beechwood at once, had it not been for Mr. +Conway, who induced him to lie down for a few hours and take a little +much-needed rest, explaining that he could not go in that apparel, and +it would take some little time to secure suitable raiment, and renovate +his appearance. + +Lester yielded to his judgment. + +Neither Mr. Conway nor Margery had the heart to awaken him, as hour +after hour rolled by; he seemed so thoroughly exhausted and his deep +sleep was doing him such a world of good, although the complete outfit +which Mr. Conway had sent for had long since arrived. + +It was night when Lester opened his eyes--imagining his surroundings for +the moment but the idle vagaries of a dream. + +Mr. Conway's kindly, solicitous face bending over him soon brought him +to his senses, and a remembrance of all that had occurred. + +"Oh, Mr. Conway! You should not have let me sleep," he cried. "I ought +to have been at Beechwood hours ago; something in my heart--some +terrible presentiment is warning me that my darling is in danger!" + +"You are only fanciful," returned his old friend. "Anxiety makes you +imagine that." + +"I hope it may prove as you say," replied Lester, huskily, and in an +hour's time he was on his way to Beechwood and Faynie. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +"GREAT GOD, IT IS A GHOST--THE GHOST OF FAYNIE!" + + +We must now return to Faynie, and the thrilling position in which we so +reluctantly left her. + +As the bright blaze of light illumined the corridor Faynie beheld the +dark form of a man creeping toward her. + +"Great Scott! Some one must have touched an electric button +somewhere--the wrong button!" he cried, instantly springing behind a +marble Flora--but not before Faynie had distinctly beheld him, being +herself unseen, because she was standing in the dense shadow. + +"It is he! It is Lester Armstrong!" was the cry that sprang from her +terrified heart to her lips, but no sound issued from them as they +parted. + +She leaned back faint and dizzy against the wall, unable to utter even +the faintest sound. "So this is Claire's lover--the Lester she told me +about--whom she is soon to marry! The dastardly wretch who wrecked my +life and left me for dead under the cold, drifting snow heap," was the +thought that flashed through her dazed brain as she watched him, with +bated breath and dilated eyes. + +"It was only a false alarm; nobody would be roaming through the +corridor of this place at this ghostly hour!" he muttered, sallying +forth. "It seems that I was more scared than hurt on this occasion. +Now for the library, to find that sum of money which my foolish +mamma-in-law-that-is-to-be mentioned having placed there. It's a daring +risk, stealing into the house like a thief in the night to search for +it, but there's no other way to get it, and money I must have without +delay. + +"It's mighty dangerous going through this corridor in this bright light. +I wish I knew where to turn it off; the chandelier is too high or I'd do +it in that way. I'm liable to be seen at any moment, if any one should +take it into their head to come down through the house for any reason +whatsoever." + +The next moment he had disappeared within the library, closing the door +neatly to after him. The next moment he had lighted the shaded night +lamp that stood on the table. + +Turning out the gas in the corridor, Faynie glided forward like a +shadow, and, reaching the library, noiselessly pushed open the door, +which he had left slightly ajar. + +"What was he doing here?" she wondered vaguely, her eyes blazing with +fierce indignation as she stood there considering what her next action +should be. He decided, the question by exclaiming: + +"Ha! This is the little iron safe she mentioned: of course the money is +here, and the will is probably here, too, for that matter, which states +that all of the Fairfax fortune goes to the old lady--which means the +pretty Claire ultimately. Well, the more money the better; there is no +one more competent to make it fly at a gay pace than myself. A prince of +the royal blood couldn't go at a faster pace than I have been going +during these last three weeks! Ha, ha, ha!" + +In a moment he was kneeling before the safe. To his intense satisfaction +the knob yielded to his deft touch. + +"I shall have less trouble than I anticipated," he muttered, with a +little chuckle. + +Faynie stood motionless, scarcely three feet behind him, watching him +intently, with horror-stricken eyes and glued tongue. + +She saw him take a roll of bills, and after carefully counting them, +transfer them to his pocket. + +Heirlooms, too, in the way of a costly diamond stud, sleeve links, and +massive watch and chain, which had been her father's, went the same way. + +Faynie seemed incapable of interfering. + +"Now we will soon determine what else there is here of importance--my +time cannot be more profitably spent than by informing myself." + +Paper after paper he carefully unfolded, glancing quickly through their +contents, and as quickly tossing them back into the safe. + +Evidently he had not yet found that for which he was searching so +intently. + +Suddenly he came across a large square envelope, the words on which +seemed to arrest his attention at once. And in a whispered, yet +distinctly audible voice, he read the words: + + "Horace Fairfax, last message to his wife--dated March 22, 18--." + +"Why that is the very date upon which he died," muttered Kendale. "This +must have been written just before he committed suicide. Well, we will +see what he had to say." + +And slowly he read, half aloud, as follows: + + "MY DEAR WIFE: When you read the words here penned I shall be no + more. I know your heart will be most bitter against me for what I + have just done, but, realizing that my end was near, I have done it + for the best. + + "I refer to the making of my will. + + "When a man sees death before him, he naturally wishes to see those + nearest and dearest to him provided for, so far as he is able to do + so. + + "You will remember distinctly the conversation we had at the time I + proposed marriage to you. I reminded you that I was a widower, + with a daughter whom I loved far better than the apple of my eye. + + "I told you that this daughter would succeed to all my wealth, if + she lived, when time was no more with me; that no being on earth + could ever change my views in this regard--ay, in fulfilling my + duty. + + "I asked you to marry me, knowing fully my intention in this + matter, stating at the time that I would give you in cash an ample + sum of money, which, if used frugally and judiciously, should last + you the remainder of your natural life, providing you outlived me. + + "You accepted me under those conditions; you married me, and I, as + agreed, gave to you in a lump sum the money stipulated. + + "It is needless to recall to you the fact that our wedded life has + been a failure. You have made my life miserable--ay, and that of my + sweet, motherless, tender little Faynie, until, in sheer + desperation, she has fled from her home on the night I write this, + and my grief is more poignant than I can well endure. + + "You must feign neither surprise nor indignation when it is learned + that my will gives all my fortune to Faynie, save the amount set + aside for you. + + "HORACE FAIRFAX." + +"Well! By all that's wonderful, if this isn't a pretty how-do-you-do. +Mrs. Fairfax and her girl are penniless, and I came so near marrying +Claire. I have found this thing out quite in the nick of time. The girl +is clever enough, but it takes money, and plenty of it, to make me put +my head into the yoke of matrimony. + +"I must find this will he speaks of. It will be here unless the woman +has been shrewd enough to destroy it, and women never are clever enough +to burn their telltale bridges which lie behind them, and that's how +they get found out--at last. + +"I see through the whole thing now. Mrs. Fairfax trumped up a will in +favor of herself, a brilliant scheme. I admire her grit immensely. Ah, +yes, here is the real will, in the same handwriting as the letter. Yes, +it gives all to his daughter Faynie. And here is the spurious one, a +good imitation, I admit, still an expert could easily detect the +handwriting of Mrs. Fairfax from beginning to end--signature and all. + +"I think I will take charge of this one giving all the Fairfax wealth to +Faynie." + +But he did not succeed in transferring it to his pocket, for like a +flash it was snatched from his hand. + +With a horrible oath, Kendale wheeled about. + +One glance, and his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets, his face grew +ashen white, his teeth chattered, and the blood in his veins seemed +suddenly to turn to ice. + +"Great Heaven! It is a ghost!" he yelled at the top of his voice; "the +ghost of Faynie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +AT THE LAST. + + +The sound of that hoarse, piercing, awful cry echoed and re-echoed to +every portion of the house, and in less time than it takes to relate it, +the servants in a body, headed by Mrs. Fairfax and Claire, were rushing +toward the library, from whence the sound proceeded. + +One glance as they reached the open doorways, and a cry of consternation +broke from Mrs. Fairfax's lips, which was faintly echoed by her daughter +Claire. + +The servants were too astounded at the sight that met their gaze to +believe the evidence of their own eyes. + +Mrs. Fairfax was the first to recover herself. + +"What is the meaning of this!" she exclaimed, striding forward and +facing Faynie and the horror-stricken man who stood facing her, his +teeth chattering, as he muttered: + +"It is her ghost!--her ghost!" + +"Faynie Fairfax, why do I find you here, in the library, in the dead of +the night, in the company of the man who is to wed my daughter Claire, +and who parted from her scarcely two hours since, supposedly to leave +the house? Why are you two here together! Explain this most +extraordinary and most atrocious scene at once. I command you!" she +cried, her voice rising to a shrill scream in her rising anger. + +Faynie turned a face toward her white as a marble statue, but no word +broke from her lips. + +The presence of the others seemed to bring Kendale back to his senses. + +"It means," spoke Faynie, after a full moment's pause, "that the hour +has come in which I must confess to all gathered here the pitiful story +I have to tell, and which will explain what has long been an unsolved +mystery to you--where, how and with whom I spent the time from the hour +in which I left this roof until I returned to it. + +"You say that this is the man who is your daughter's lover, Mrs. +Fairfax--the man who is soon to marry Claire. + +"I declare that this marriage can never be, because this man has a +living wife," she cried, in a high, clear voice. + +"It is false!" shrieked Kendale. "The girl I married in the old church +is dead--dead, I tell you. I--I saw her buried with my own eyes!" + +"She is not dead, for I am that unfortunate girl," answered Faynie, in a +voice that trembled with agonized emotion. + +"Listen all, while I tell my story," she sobbed. "Surely the saddest, +most pitiful story a young girl ever had to tell." + +Then, in a panting voice, she told her horrified listeners all, from the +beginning to the very end, omitting not the slightest detail, dwelling +with a pathos that brought tears to every eye, of how she had loved him +up to the very hour he had come for her to elope with him; her horror +and fear of him growing more intense because of the marriage he forced +her into, with the concealed revolver pressed so close to her heart she +dared not disobey his slightest command. + +And how the conviction grew upon her that he was marrying her for wealth +only, and the inspiration that came to her to test his so-called love by +telling him that she had been disinherited, though she was confident +that her father had made his will in her favor, leaving her his entire +fortune. + +Dwelling with piteous sobs on how he had then and there struck her down +to death, as he supposed, and that he had made all haste to make away +with her; and that she would at that moment have been lying in an +unmarked grave, under the snowdrifts, if Heaven had not most +miraculously interfered and saved her. + +Faynie ended her thrilling recital by adding that she had not known, +until that hour, that this man was Claire's lover, because they had +refrained from mentioning the name of the man in her presence. How she +had come to the library in search of a book and had encountered him +stealing through the halls, a veritable thief in the dead of the night, +bent upon securing a sum of money which he had learned in some way was +in the safe, and that he now had it in his pocket, and that she had +prevented him from securing her father's will by snatching it from his +grasp. + +Mrs. Fairfax had fallen back, trembling like an aspen leaf. She +recognized her husband's will in Faynie's hands, and that, although the +girl did not say so before the servants, she knew her treachery. + +"Come, Claire, my child," she said, turning to her daughter, "this is no +place for you." + +But Claire did not stir; she stood quite still, looking from the one to +the other, as though she could not fully comprehend all that she saw and +heard. + +By this time Kendale had recovered from his shock, and as he listened to +Faynie's recital, realized that she was not indeed a ghost, but the +heiress of the Fairfax millions, and his own wife at that. And when he +found his voice he cried out: + +"The girl tells the truth! She is mine, and as her husband I am lord and +master of this house, and of her." + +As he uttered the words he strode toward Faynie with a diabolical +chuckle, and seized her slender wrists in his grasp. + +"Unhand me!" shrieked Faynie, struggling frantically in his grasp, +almost fainting with terror. + +"No one dares interfere between man and wife," replied Kendale, +mockingly. + +He did not see three dark forms spring over the threshold, thrusting the +servants hastily aside. + +But in less time than it takes to tell it, a strong arm thrust him +aside, and a tall form sprang between him and Faynie, while a voice that +struck terror to his very soul cried out: + +"You have come to the end of your rope, Clinton Kendale. You have lost +the game, while it was almost in your grasp!" + +"Great Heaven, is it you, Lester Armstrong!" cried the guilty villain, +fairly quivering with terror. "Oh, Lester, have pity--have mercy--I--" + +"You shall have the same quality of mercy dealt out to you that you have +meted out to others!" replied Lester, sternly. + +Suddenly Kendale wrenched himself free from his grasp, crying out, +hoarsely and triumphantly: + +"I am game yet. I have married the girl you love. She is my lawfully +wedded wife. I have lost the Marsh millions, but you are checkmated, +Lester Armstrong. I have the Fairfax fortune, and your Faynie!" + +"Don't delude yourself into believing so prettily an arranged scheme," +exclaimed a voice from the doorway, and a woman whom Kendale had not +noticed among the crowd before glided hastily forward, threw back her +veil, confronting the villain. + +"Gertrude!" he cried aghast, staggering back. + +"Yes, Gertrude, your wife," she replied. "Your wife, though you tried +hard to induce me to go to Dakota and secure a divorce from you. I had +instituted it and would soon have obtained it had I not read in the +papers of the great fortune you had fallen into, for you had told me +your cousin Lester Armstrong was dead, and you were to take his name and +place as assistant cashier--no one knowing of his death, and you could +easily pass yourself off for him owing to your wonderful resemblance to +each other. + +"For my sake," she added, "Mr. Armstrong has promised to let you go +free, providing you go with me." + +"It is false!" shouted Kendale. "All you say is a lie, woman!" + +"The man who accompanied us to the altar a year ago is here," he said. +"He has with him my marriage certificate," pointing toward some one on +the threshold, adding, "come forward, please." + +And Halloran, who had left a sickbed to accompany her, came slowly +forward. + +"So you are against me, too!" cried Kendale. "Then all is up, indeed. I +acknowledge that all that has been said is true. I had a few weeks of a +gay, merry life, and I'm not sorry, either. Come, Gertrude!" + +And without a backward glance they slowly left the Fairfax mansion. + +The reuniting of Faynie and her lover was extremely affecting, and +within an hour a minister was called in who made them one forevermore. + +Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter were offered a home for life, but they +chose to leave the following day. Faynie and Lester had gone through +many thrilling experiences, but were happily reunited--at last. + +THE END. + + + + +No. 1113 of THE NEW EAGLE SERIES, entitled "In Love's Name," by Emma +Garrison Jones, is a story that tells of a romance that, after many +sufferings, ends in a happy marriage feast. + + + + + HAVE YOU READ + + Love Story + + MAGAZINE + + ? + +If not, you have a treat in store for you. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is devoted to the publication of clean, wholesome +romances. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is developing a staff of writers each of which is +destined to become famous. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is really so good that it deserves your immediate +investigation--that is, if you like a _good_ love story. + + * * * * * + +PRICE 15 CENTS + +Published Semimonthly + + * * * * * + +A Street & Smith Publication + + + + +GARVICE + +The Love-Story King + + * * * * * + +Look up the books by Charles Garvice, in the New Eagle Series. There are +many of them, but not a dull one in the lot. + +So, if you want a splendid love story with a dash of adventure +interwoven, investigate the works of Charles Garvice, the king of +love-story writers. + +Novels by unknown authors are virtually foisted upon the public by +certain book publishers. If the books succeed, the public pays; if not, +the publisher does and tries all over again. + +Why take a chance of getting two cents' worth of reading for two +dollars, when you can get two dollars' worth for twenty cents, every +time, without risk? + +Your dealer has or will be glad to get the Garvice books for you. Ask +him. + + + + +WOMEN! + +How many of you have heard of Mrs. Hungerford, or, as she is more +popularly known, + + The Duchess? + +Her novels are really masterpieces of English literature and of intense +interest to every class and creed. + +Unlike so many modern authors, "The Duchess" did not have to descend +into the pit for material to make her novels popular. She relied mainly +upon her knowledge of human nature--that things clean always attract. In +the case of her books she was right; millions of them have been sold. + +Ask your dealer to get some of The Duchess' works in the Select library +for you. Then prepare for the best reading treat you ever enjoyed. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE*** + + +******* This file should be named 13740-8.txt or 13740-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/4/13740 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Mischievous Maid Faynie</p> +<p>Author: Laura Jean Libbey</p> +<p>Release Date: October 13, 2004 [eBook #13740]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders</h3></center><br><br> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE</h1> +<br> + +<h4>AUTHOR'S SPECIAL EDITION</h4> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>BY LAURA JEAN LIBBEY</h2> + +<h4>Author of "Ione," "Parted By Fate," "Sweet Kitty Clover," etc.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<h4>1899</h4> + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<center> +<img src='images/faynie.jpg' width='546' height='800' alt='Cover of Mischievous Maid Faynie' title=''> +</center> + + + +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<br /> +<center> +<h3>Contents</h3> +<table><tr><td> + <a href='#CHAPTER_I'>CHAPTER I.—THE LOVER'S TRYST.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_II'>CHAPTER II.—"YOU MUST NOT MARRY HIM—HEAVEN INTENDED YOU FOR ME."</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_III'>CHAPTER III.—A TERRIBLE PLOT AGAINST A HELPLESS YOUNG GIRL.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_IV'>CHAPTER IV.—FOND LOVE TO HATRED TURNED.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_V'>CHAPTER V.—"CAN YOU PERFORM THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY AT<br> + + + + ONCE, REVEREND SIR?"</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VI'>CHAPTER VI.—THE VILLAIN AND HIS VICTIM.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VII'>CHAPTER VII.—HE RAISED HIS CLINCHED HAND, AND THE BLOW FELL HEAVILY<br> + + + + UPON THE BEAUTIFUL UPTURNED FACE.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'>CHAPTER VIII.—WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT ON THE LONELY RIVER ROAD.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_IX'>CHAPTER IX.—"THERE MUST NOT BE A SINGLE TRACE LEFT TO MARK THE SPOT<br> + + + + OF THE GRAVE YOU ARE NOW DIGGING," SAID THE MUFFLED STRANGER.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_X'>CHAPTER X.—SNATCHED FROM THE GRAVE.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XI'>CHAPTER XI.—"YOU ARE DISINHERITED—EVERYTHING IN THIS HOUSE IS MINE."</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XII'>CHAPTER XII.—IMPENDING EVIL.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'>CHAPTER XIII.—IN THE TOILS OF THE CONSPIRATORS.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XIV'>CHAPTER XIV.—"YOU ARE OUR PRISONER!"</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XV'>CHAPTER XV.—THE NEW BROOM DID NOT SWEEP CLEAN.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XVI'>CHAPTER XVI.—THE WILL DISINHERITING FAYNIE.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XVII'>CHAPTER XVII.—EVERY MAN TO HIS TRADE.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XVIII'>CHAPTER XVIII.—MARGERY'S LOVE DREAM.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XIX'>CHAPTER XIX.—PRETTY MARGERY'S TERRIBLE DISCOVERY.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XX'>CHAPTER XX.—A FATHER'S RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXI'>CHAPTER XXI.—"I LIKE HER BETTER THAN ANY I HAVE MET—I SHALL MARRY HER."</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXII'>CHAPTER XXII.—CLAIRE'S LOVER.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXIII'>CHAPTER XXIII.—THE PROPOSAL.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXIV'>CHAPTER XXIV.—AN AWFUL APPARITION.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXV'>CHAPTER XXV.—"I INTEND TO WATCH YOU DIE, INCH BY INCH, DAY BY DAY!"</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXVI'>CHAPTER XXVI.—A FIENDISH ACT.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXVII'>CHAPTER XXVII.—HALLORAN MEETS WITH HIS REWARD.</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXVIII'>CHAPTER XXVIII.—"SOME TERRIBLE PRESENTIMENT IS WARNING ME THAT<br> + + + + MY DARLING IS IN DANGER."</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXIX'>CHAPTER XXIX.—"GREAT GOD, IT IS A GHOST—THE GHOST OF FAYNIE!"</a><br /> + <a href='#CHAPTER_XXX'>CHAPTER XXX.—AT THE LAST.</a> +</td></tr></table> +</center> +<br /> + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<a name='CHAPTER_I'></a><h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>THE LOVER'S TRYST.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It was five o'clock on a raw, gusty February afternoon. All that day and +all the night before it had been snowing hard. New York lay buried +beneath over two feet of its cold white mantle, and with the gathering +dusk a fierce hurricane set in, proclaiming the approach of the terrible +blizzard which had been predicted.</p> + +<p>On this afternoon, which was destined to be so memorable, two young men +were breasting the sleet and hail, which tore down Broadway with +demoniac glee, as though amused that the cable cars were stalled fully a +mile along the line, and the people were obliged to get out and walk, +facing the full fury of the elements, if they hoped to arrive at their +destinations that night.</p> + +<p>It could easily be ascertained by the gray, waning light that both young +men were tall, broad-shouldered and handsome of face, bearing a +striking resemblance to one another.</p> + +<p>They were seldom in each other's company, but those who saw them thus +jumped naturally to the conclusion that they were twin brothers; but +this was a great mistake; they were only cousins. One was Clinton +Kendale, whom everybody was speaking of as "the rage of New York," the +handsomest actor who had ever trod the metropolitan boards, the idol of +the matinee girls, and the greatest attraction the delighted managers +had gotten hold of for years.</p> + +<p>His companion was of not much consequence, only Lester Armstrong, +assistant cashier in the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., on upper +Broadway.</p> + +<p>He had entered their employ as a cashboy; had grown to manhood in their +service, and he had no further hope for the future, save to remain in +his present position by strict application, proving himself worthy of a +greater opportunity if the head cashier ever chose to retire.</p> + +<p>He lived in the utmost simplicity, was frugal, dressed with unusual +plainness, and put by money.</p> + +<p>He hadn't a relative on earth, save his handsome, debonair cousin, who +never sought him out save when he wanted to borrow money of him.</p> + +<p>Clint Kendale's salary was fifty dollars per week, but that did not go +far toward paying his bills at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, keeping a fast +horse and giving wine suppers. In his early youth he had begun the pace +he was now going. He had received a fine collegiate education, and at +his majority stepped into the magnificent fortune his parents had left +him. It took him just one year to run through it, then, penniless, he +came from Boston to New York and sought out his poor cousin. Lester +Armstrong succeeded in getting a position for Kendale with the same firm +with which he was employed, but at the end of the first week Clinton +Kendale threw it up with disgust, declaring that what he had gone +through these six days was too much for him. He had rather die than +work.</p> + +<p>He borrowed a hundred dollars from his Cousin Lester and suddenly +disappeared. When he was next heard from he blossomed out, astonishing +all New York as the handsomest society actor who had ever graced the +metropolitan boards, and caused a furore.</p> + +<p>There was another great difference between the two cousins, and that was +a heart; just one of them possessed it, and that one was Lester +Armstrong.</p> + +<p>On this particular afternoon Kendale had lain in wait for his cousin at +the entrance of Marsh & Co.'s to waylay him when he came from the +office. He must see him, he told himself, and Lester must let him have +another loan.</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong was glad from the bottom of his true, honest heart to +see him, but his brow clouded over with a troubled expression when he +learned that he wanted to borrow five hundred dollars. That amount +seemed small, indeed, to the lordly Kendale, but to Lester it meant +months of toil and rigid self-denial.</p> + +<p>"Come into the café, and while we lunch I will explain to you why I must +have it, old fellow," said Kendale, always ready with some plausible +story on his glib tongue.</p> + +<p>"Haven't time now," declared Armstrong. "I must catch the five-twenty +train from the Grand Central Depot; haven't a moment to lose. I will be +back on the nine o'clock train. If you will come over to my lodging +house then I'll talk with you. I cannot let you have the sum you want. +I'll tell you why then, and you will readily understand my position. Ah, +this is your corner. We part here. Wish me luck on the trip I am about +to take, for I never had more need for your good wishes."</p> + +<p>"You are not going off to be married, I hope?" exclaimed Kendale in the +greatest of astonishment.</p> + +<p>A light-hearted, happy, ringing laugh broke from Armstrong's mustached +lips, the color rushed into his face, and his brown eyes twinkled +merrily.</p> + +<p>"There's the dearest little girl in all the world in the case," he +admitted, "but I haven't time to tell you about it now. I'll see you +later."</p> + +<p>With this remark he plunged forward into the gathering gloom, leaving +Clinton Kendale standing motionless gazing after him in the greatest +surprise. But the cold was too intense for him to remain there but an +instant; then wheeling about, he hastily struck into a side street, +muttering between his teeth:</p> + +<p>"He must let me have that five hundred dollars, or I am ruined. I must +have it from him by fair means or foul, ere the light of another day +dawns. I've borrowed a cool two thousand from him in four months. I +wonder how much more he has laid by? I must have that five hundred, no +matter what I have to resort to to get it, that's all there is about it. +I am desperate to-night, and a person in my terrible fix fears neither +God nor man."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Lester Armstrong pushed rapidly onward, scarcely heeding the +bitter cold and terrible, raging storm, for his heart was in a glow.</p> + +<p>He reached the Grand Central Depot just as the gates were closing, but +managed to dash through them and swing himself aboard of the train just +as it was moving out of the station.</p> + +<p>The car was crowded; standing room only seemed to be the prospect, but +the young man did not seem disturbed by it, but settled his broad frame +against the door and looked out at the sharp sleet that lashed against +the window panes with something like a smile on his lips.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely twenty miles to ride thus, but that comforting +remembrance did not cause the pleasant smile to deepen about the mobile +mouth.</p> + +<p>He was thinking of the lovely young girl who had written him a note to +say that she expected him at the trysting place, without fail, at seven +that evening, as she had something of the greatest importance to +communicate to him.</p> + +<p>"Of course my dear little girl will not keep the appointment in such a +blizzard as this. She could not have foreseen how the weather would be +when she wrote the precious little note that is tucked away so carefully +in my breast pocket; but, like a true knight, I must obey my little +lady's commands, no matter what they may be, despite storm or +tempests—ay, even though I rode through seas of blood!"</p> + +<p>Half a score of times the engine became firmly wedged in snowdrifts in +traversing as many miles. There were loud exclamations of discomfiture +on all sides, but the handsome young man never heard them. He was still +staring out of the window—staring without seeing—and the smile on his +face had given place to an expression of deep wistfulness.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I wonder how I have dared to aspire to her love—the +beautiful, petted daughter of a millionaire, and I only an assistant +cashier on a very humble salary—ay, a salary so small that my whole +year's earnings is less than the pin money she spends each month.</p> + +<p>"If she were but poor like myself, how quickly I would make her mine. +How can I, how dare I, ask her to share my lot? Will her father be +amused, or terribly angry at my presumption?</p> + +<p>"This sort of thing must stop. I cannot be meeting my darling +clandestinely any longer. My honor forbids, my manhood cries out against +it.</p> + +<p>"But, oh, God! how the thought terrifies me that from the moment they +find out that we have met, and are lovers, they will try to part +us—tear my darling from me!"</p> + +<p>They had met in a very ordinary manner, but to the infatuated young +lover it seemed the most ideal, most romantic of meetings. The pretty +little heiress had gone to the office of Marsh & Co. to settle her +monthly account. The old cashier was out to lunch. His assistant, Lester +Armstrong, stepped forward and attended to the matter for the pretty +young girl, surely the sweetest and daintiest that he had ever beheld.</p> + +<p>That night he dreamed of the lovely, dimpled rosebud face, framed in a +mass of golden curls; a pair of bewildering violet eyes, and a gay, +musical voice like a chiming of silver bells, and lo! the mischief was +done. The next day the assistant cashier made the first mistake of his +life over his accounts. The old cashier, Mr. Conway, looked at him +grimly from over the tops of his gold-rimmed glasses.</p> + +<p>"I hope you have not taken to playing cards nights, Mr. Armstrong," he +said. "They are dangerous; avoid them. Wine is still worse, and above +all, let me warn you against womankind. They are a snare and a delusion. +Avoid them, one and all, as you would a pestilence."</p> + +<p>But the warning had come to the handsome young assistant cashier too +late.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_II'></a><h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>"YOU MUST NOT MARRY HIM—HEAVEN INTENDED YOU FOR ME."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Slowly but surely the sturdy engine struggled on through the huge +snowdrifts, reaching Beechwood a little after seven, over an hour and a +half behind time.</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong swung himself off the rear platform into fully five +feet of snow, floundering helplessly about for an instant, while the +train plunged onward, and at last struck the path that led up over the +hills in the village beyond.</p> + +<p>Beechwood consisted of but a few elegant homes owned and occupied by +retired New Yorkers of wealth. Horace Fairfax was perhaps the most +influential, as well as the wealthiest of these; his magnificent home on +the brow of the farthest hill was certainly the most imposing and +pretentious.</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong's heart gave a great bound as he came within sight of +it, standing like a great castle, with its peaks and gables, and windows +all blazing with light and the red glow of inward warmth against its +dark background of fir trees more than a century old, and the white +wilderness of snow stretching out and losing itself in the darkness +beyond.</p> + +<p>All heedless of the terrible storm raging about him, the young man +paused at the arched gate and looked with sad wistfulness, as he leaned +his arms on one of the stone pillars, up the serpentine path that led to +the main entrance.</p> + +<p>"What I ought to do is never to see Faynie again," he murmured, but as +the bare thought rushed through his mind, his handsome face paled to the +lips and his strong frame trembled. Never see Faynie again! That would +mean shut out the only gleam of sunshine that had ever lighted up the +gray somberness of his existence; take away from him the only dear joy +that had made life worth the living for the few months. He had drifted +into these clandestine meetings, not by design; chance, or fate, rather, +had forced him into it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsh, the senior member of the firm by whom he was employed, also +resided in Beechwood. It was his whim that the keys of the private +office should be brought to him each night. Thus it happened that the +performance of his duties led Lester each evening past the Fairfax home.</p> + +<p>One summer evening he espied Faynie, the object of his ardent +admiration, standing in the flower garden, herself the fairest flower of +all. It was beyond human nature to resist stopping still to gaze upon +her. This he did, believing himself unseen, but Faynie Fairfax had +beheld the tall, well-known form afar down the road, and she was not +displeased at the prospect of having a delightful little chat with the +handsome young cashier.</p> + +<p>Faynie's home was not as congenial to the young girl as it might have +been, for a stepmother reigned supreme there, and all of her love was +lavished upon her own daughter Claire, a crippled, quiet girl of about +Faynie's own age, and Faynie was left to do about as she pleased. Her +father almost lived in his library among his books, and she saw little +of him for days at a time.</p> + +<p>Therefore there was no one to notice why Faynie suddenly developed such +a liking for roaming in the garden at twilight; no one to notice the +growing attachment that sprang up and deepened into the strongest of +love between the petted heiress and the poor young cashier.</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong had struggled manfully against it, but it was for a +higher power than man's to direct where the love of his heart should go. +He made strong resolutions that the lovely maiden should never guess the +existing state of affairs, but he might as well have attempted to stay +the mighty waters of the ocean by his weak will. All in an unforeseen +moment the words burst from his lips—the secret he had attempted to +guard so carefully was out.</p> + +<p>He had expected that beautiful Faynie Fairfax would turn from him in +anger and dismay, but to his intense surprise, she burst into a flood of +tears, even though she looked at him with smiling lips, April sunshine +and showers commingled, confessing with all a young girl's pretty, +hesitating shyness that she loved him, even as he loved her, with all +her heart. Then followed half an hour of bliss for the lovers such as +the poets tell of in their verses of a glimpse of Paradise.</p> + +<p>Although they exchanged a hundred vows of eternal affection, Lester +Armstrong hesitated to speak of marriage yet. Faynie was young—only +eighteen. There was plenty of time. And to tell the truth, he dared not +face the possibilities of it just yet. It required a little more courage +than he had been able to muster up to seek an audience with the +millionaire—beard the lion in his den, as it were—and dare propose +such a monstrously preposterous thing as the asking of his lovely, +dainty young daughter's hand in marriage. Lester was timid. He dreaded +beyond words the setting of the ball rolling which would tear his +beautiful love and himself asunder. Heaven help him, he was so +unutterably happy in the bewildering present.</p> + +<p>His reverie was suddenly interrupted by seeing a little black figure +hurrying down the path. Another instant, and the little breathless +figure was clasped in his arms, close, close to his madly throbbing +heart.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Faynie, my love, my darling, my precious, why did you brave the +fury of the tempest to keep the tryst to-night? I am here, but I did not +expect you, much as I love to see you. I was praying you would not +venture out. Oh, my precious, what is it?" he cried in alarm, as the +fitful light of the gas lamp that hung over the arched gate fell full +upon her. "Your sweet face is as white as marble, and your beautiful +golden hair is wet with drifted snow, as is your cloak."</p> + +<p>To his intense amazement and distress, she burst into the wildest of +sobs and clung to him like a terrified child. All in vain he attempted +to soothe her and find out what it was all about.</p> + +<p>The first thought that flashed through his mind was that their meetings +had been discovered, and that they meant to put him from Faynie, and he +strained her closer to his heart, crying out that whatever it was, +nothing save death should separate them.</p> + +<p>Little by little the story came out, and the two young lovers, clasped +so fondly in each other's arms, did not feel the intense cold or hear +the wild moaning of the winds around them. Through her tears Faynie told +her handsome, strong young lover just what had happened. Her father had +sent for her to come to his library that morning, and when she had +complied with the summons, he had informed her that a friend of his had +asked for her hand in marriage, and he had consented, literally settling +the matter without consulting her, the one most vitally interested. She +had most furiously rebelled, there had been a terrible scene, and it had +ended by her father harshly bidding her to prepare for the wedding, +which would take place on the morrow, adding that a father was supposed +to know best what to do for his daughter's interests; that the fiat had +gone forth; that she would marry the husband he had selected for her on +the morrow, though all the angels above or the demons below attempted to +frustrate it.</p> + +<p>"You will save me, Lester?" cried the girl, wildly clinging to him with +death-cold hands. "Oh, Lester, my love, tell me, what am I to do? He is +very old, quite forty, and I am only eighteen. I abhor him quite as much +as I love you, Lester. Tell me, dear, what am I to do?"</p> + +<p>He gathered her close in his arms in an agony that words are too weak to +portray.</p> + +<p>"You shall not, you must not, marry the man your father has selected for +you, my darling. You are mine, Faynie, and you must marry me," he cried, +hoarsely. "Heaven intended us for each other, and for no one else. You +shall be mine past the power of any one human to part us ere the +morrow's light dawns, if—if you wish it so."</p> + +<p>She clung to him, weeping hysterically, answering:</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, Lester, let it be so. I will marry you, and you will take me +away from this place, where no one, save Claire—not even my +father—loves me."</p> + +<p>He strained her to his throbbing heart with broken words, but at that +instant the shriek of an approaching train sounded upon his ears. He +tore himself away from her encircling embrace.</p> + +<p>"To do all that I have to do, I must return to the city, quickly arrange +for the marriage and a suitable place to take my bride. I will return by +ten o'clock. Be at this gate, my darling, with whatever change of +clothing you wish to take with you. I will bring a carriage. The way by +carriage road from the city is less than seven miles, you know. We will +drive to the minister's in the village below. A few words and I shall +have the right to protect you through life, and oh! my darling, my idol, +my trusting little love, may God deal by me as I deal with you!"</p> + +<p>Those were the last words Faynie heard, for in the next instant her +lover had torn himself free from her clinging arms and was dashing like +one mad through the drifts toward the railroad station again. Then, with +a strange, unaccountable presentiment of coming evil, Faynie Fairfax +turned and stole up the serpentine path into the house again.</p> + +<p>In just an hour's time Lester Armstrong was hurrying along Broadway +again, making all haste toward his lodgings. Suddenly some one tapped +him on the shoulder, and a voice which he instantly recognised as his +cousin's said, laughingly:</p> + +<p>"Both bent in the same direction, it seems. Well, we'll travel along +together to your lodging house, Lester."</p> + +<p>But alas! Who can see the strange workings of destiny? In that instant +Lester Armstrong slipped on the icy pavement, and Kendale, bending +quickly over him, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"He has broken his neck! He is dying. He won't last five minutes!"</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_III'></a><h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>A TERRIBLE PLOT AGAINST A HELPLESS YOUNG GIRL.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>A gasp of horror broke from Kendale's lips. Yes, Lester Armstrong was +fatally injured, he could see that.</p> + +<p>Glancing up, he saw that they were within a few doors of his lodgings. +Picking him up by main force, he carried him thither at once and placed +him upon his couch. He had expected to see him breathe his last, but to +his great surprise Lester Armstrong opened his eyes and whispered his +name.</p> + +<p>"It is all over with me, Clinton," he whispered. "I—I realize that my +fall was fatal, and that it is a question of moments with me, but I—I +cannot die until I have told you all, and you have promised to go +quickly to my darling and tell her my sad fate."</p> + +<p>"Any commission you have you may be sure I will execute for you," +replied Kendale, and even while he spoke he was wondering whereabouts in +that room Lester Armstrong kept his cash.</p> + +<p>Between gasps, his voice growing fainter and fainter with each word, +poor Lester told his story, of his love, his wooing and the climax which +was to have taken place in two hours' time.</p> + +<p>Kendale listened with bated breath. To say that he was amazed, +dumfounded, scarcely expressed his intense surprise.</p> + +<p>Armstrong, his poor plodding cousin, to strike such luck as to be about +to marry an heiress! It seemed like a veritable fairy story. Who would +have thought the poor cashier would have known enough to play for such +high stakes?</p> + +<p>Almost as soon as Lester Armstrong had uttered the last word, he fell +back upon his pillow in a dead faint.</p> + +<p>"The end is not far," muttered Kendale. "I suppose it would look better +to send a call for an ambulance and have him sent to the hospital."</p> + +<p>He acted upon the thought without a moment's delay, and while the wagon +was <i>en route</i> made a quick search of his unfortunate cousin's +apartment, a sardonic smile of triumph lighting his face. And as he +transferred the money to his pocket, a sudden thought rushed through his +brain—a thought that for the instant almost took his breath away.</p> + +<p>Like one fascinated, he looked down at the white face. "I could do it; +yes, I am sure I could do it," he muttered, drawing his breath hard.</p> + +<p>At that moment the ambulance wagon rattled up to the door. In another +instant the two attachés entered the room.</p> + +<p>"What is the difficulty?" queried the man, and briefly Kendale +explained.</p> + +<p>"It seems hardly worth while to take him to the hospital," said one of +the men; "he would hardly last until we reach there. Still, if you +insist—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I insist," he cut in sharply.</p> + +<p>"What name is to be entered?" asked the surgeon.</p> + +<p>"Clinton Kendale. He is an actor, and my cousin," he responded in a low +even voice.</p> + +<p>He watched them while they carried forth the unconscious man.</p> + +<p>"My first test will be with the people of this house," he muttered, +shutting his teeth hard.</p> + +<p>Thrusting the money still deeper in his pocket, he walked boldly down +the stairs, tapping at the door to the right, which he knew to be the +living room of the family.</p> + +<p>"I am going to give up my room," he said.</p> + +<p>"Laws a mercy, Mr. Armstrong!" exclaimed the old lady. "What sudden +notice! I am so sorry to lose you!"</p> + +<p>He chatted for a few moments, paid what was due her, then turned hastily +and left the place, remarking before he went that he should not need the +few things that he left in his room; that she could keep them if she +liked as remembrances.</p> + +<p>Once again he was out on the street, with the cold wind blowing on his +face.</p> + +<p>"Nothing ventured, nothing won!" he said, under his breath. "Now for the +heiress and the million of money. By Jove! it's better to be born lucky +than rich. I shall need an accomplice in this affair, and that imp of +Satan, Halloran, is just the one to help me out with my scheme. It's +lucky I have an appointment with him to-night. I shall be sure to catch +him. I think it was a stroke of fate that I wasn't in the cast for the +rest of the week, though I kicked pretty hard against it at the time. +Good-by, footlights and freezing dressing-rooms. I can make a million of +money ere the day dawns."</p> + +<p>He hailed a passing cab, jumped into it and was driven across the city.</p> + +<p>Halloran, the comedian at the same theatre, was sitting in his room +half asleep over a half-emptied rum bottle. He always resorted to this +course to drown his sorrows when he was laid off.</p> + +<p>An hour later the two men were driving with lightning-like rapidity +toward the direction of Beechwood.</p> + +<p>"Ten," sounded from the belfry of a far-off church as the horses, +plunging and panting, struggled up the road that led to the Fairfax +mansion.</p> + +<p>"Now see that you play your cards right," warned Halloran.</p> + +<p>"Trust me for that," replied his companion, removing a cigar from his +white teeth, and blowing forth a cloud of smoke. He was about to draw a +flask from his breast pocket, but Halloran put a restraining hand on his +arm.</p> + +<p>"Remember that is your besetting sin," he said. "You have had enough of +that already. It will require a steady nerve to meet the girl and carry +out the deception, for the eyes of love are quick to discern. If she +should for an instant suspect that you are not her lover, Lester +Armstrong, the game is up, and you have lost the high stake you are +playing for."</p> + +<p>"You are right," exclaimed the other, "nothing must interfere with the +marriage."</p> + +<p>"This must be the place," exclaimed Halloran, in a low voice; "large +gabled house, arched gate, serpentine walk; yes, there is the figure of +a woman in the shadow of the stone post this way. You are actually +trembling. Remember, it's only a young girl you are to face on this +occasion, and a deucedly pretty one, at that. The time that you will be +more apt to be shaky is when you face her father; but I guess you're +equal to it."</p> + +<p>A low laugh was his companion's only answer. The next moment Kendale +called to the driver to halt, threw open the door and sprang out into +the main road, hastening toward the little figure that had emerged out +of the shadow.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Lester, you have been so long," cried the girl, springing into his +arms with a little sobbing cry. "I have been waiting here almost half an +hour."</p> + +<p>"It took longer to come than I had reckoned on, my darling," he +answered. "You know I had to stop at the village below and make +arrangements for the wedding."</p> + +<p>The girl drew back and looked at him.</p> + +<p>"Your voice sounds so hoarse and strange, Lester," she said. "Have you +been crying?"</p> + +<p>His arms fell from her; he drew back, laughing immoderately.</p> + +<p>"What, weeping on the happiest day of my life?" he cried. "Well, that's +pretty good. I've been up to my ears in business, rushing around, to +get everything in shipshape order, but, good Lord! what am I thinking +about, to keep you standing here in the snow? Here is the coach, and by +the way, I've brought along an old friend of mine, who was wild to +witness the marriage ceremony."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he took her by the arm and drew the girl toward the carriage +in waiting.</p> + +<p>What was there about her lover that seemed so changed to the girl, that +caused the love to suddenly die out of her heart?</p> + +<p>"Lester," she cried, drawing back, "oh—oh, please do not be angry with +me, but I've changed my mind. It seemed such a terrible thing to do. Let +us not be married to-night."</p> + +<p>Something like an imprecation rose to his lips, but he chopped it off +quickly, uttering again that laugh, so hard, so cruel, so +blood-curdling, that it sent a chill of terror to her young heart.</p> + +<p>"It's too late to change your mind now," he exclaimed. "It's only +natural you should feel this way; girls always do. Here is the coach and +the horses. The driver and my friend will be impatient to be off."</p> + +<p>Either the excitement of his coming triumph or the brandy he had taken +had made him recklessly wild.</p> + +<p>He drew her along, heedless of her struggles, her passionate protest. +His face was flushed, his dark eyes gleamed; he was ready at that moment +to face and defy devils and men.</p> + +<p>"Don't make a fuss, my darling. You've got to come along," he exclaimed. +"Of course, you have scruples and all that. I think the more of you for +them, but you'll thank me for not listening some day. I'll bring you +back after the ceremony's over and set you down at your own gate, if you +say so, I swear I will," and as he spoke he caught her in his arms and +fairly thrust her into the vehicle, placed her on the seat and sprang in +beside her.</p> + +<p>The door closed with a bang and the horses were off like a flash.</p> + +<p>Too terrified to utter another word of protest, and half fainting from +fright, Faynie sank back, gasping, into the farthest corner. Her +companion turned to the man sitting opposite.</p> + +<p>"My friend, Smith, Faynie," he said by way of introduction, and adding, +before the other could utter one word to acknowledge the introduction, +"let's have a little more of that. I'm chilled to the marrow with the +cold, standing out there in the snow."</p> + +<p>There was a faint move of the little bundle huddled up in the corner. +She fell forward in a dead faint.</p> + +<p>"So much the better," cried Kendale. "She will not bother us until +we've had time to formulate our plans. Ha, ha, ha! how easy it is for a +sharp-witted fellow like myself to make a million of money!"</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a><h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>FOND LOVE TO HATRED TURNED.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Despite the severe shock which caused Faynie to swoon, her +unconsciousness lasted but a few moments, then, dazed and bewildered, +her blue eyes opened slowly, and she realized with horror too great for +words that she was whirling swiftly over the snowy road, still in the +company of the two men, her lover and his companion.</p> + +<p>They were talking together in low, guarded tones. She could not help but +hear every word distinctly, and they fell upon her ears with horror so +intense she wondered that she lived through it from moment to moment.</p> + +<p>It was Lester Armstrong who was speaking at that moment, and she was +obliged to clutch her hands tightly together to keep from screaming +aloud as she heard him say to his companion:</p> + +<p>"I have always been a free lance among the pretty girls, drifting about +much after the fashion of the bee wherever my fancy listed, and it will +be more than irksome to yoke myself in the matrimonial harness to this +girl. She is not of the kind—face, figure, temperament, anything—that +is calculated to arouse my admiration. I detest your baby-faced +creatures of her stamp, but she's heiress to a million, and I have +concluded to swallow the gilded pill.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing I assure you of, before she is married to me a +fortnight I'll break that cursed temper of hers, if I have to break her +neck or her heart, or both, to do it. She shall find that I'm her lord +and master from this hour henceforth, and my word is law."</p> + +<p>"I'd advise you not to rush the scheme for getting that big sum of money +until you have gained her confidence a little. More flies can be caught +with molasses than vinegar, you know."</p> + +<p>"I shall have little patience with her," declared her lover. "I detested +her the first instant my eyes rested upon her, and I am positive the +feeling will grow upon me with every passing hour, instead of +diminishing."</p> + +<p>"It is easy enough to guess the reason for that," laughed the other. +"You are in love with the queenly Gertrude, who has already more adorers +than she can count. It is common report that you are the beauty's +favorite, however, and if you weren't both so confoundedly poor, you'd +make a first-class couple. As it is, of course it's not to be thought +of."</p> + +<p>"Except in one way," cut in the other in a sharp, dry, hard voice. "If +this girl whom I marry to-night were to die suddenly on the wedding +trip, for instance, I would come in for her fortune; then, when the +excitement blew over, I could go to Gertrude and say—"</p> + +<p>The sentence was never finished, for at that moment the door of the +vehicle was suddenly wrenched open, and with a piercing cry Faynie +sprang out into the raging storm and the inky blackness of the night.</p> + +<p>A terrible imprecation broke from the lips of the handsome scoundrel by +her side.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that that little fool tricked us by +feigning unconsciousness, and has heard every word we uttered. Of +course, it's to be regretted, but that doesn't change my plans a +particle. I'll be the husband of the willful little heiress in an hour's +time, or my name isn't—"</p> + +<p>"Lester Armstrong," put in the other, laconically.</p> + +<p>The coach was instantly stopped, and both men made a flying leap into +the huge snowdrift that banked both sides of the country road, calling +back to the driver to light a lantern, if he had been careful enough to +bring one with him, and hand it to them in double-quick order.</p> + +<p>The search lasted for fully half an hour. Had the ground suddenly opened +and swallowed her? they asked each other, with imprecations both loud +and furious.</p> + +<p>To have a fortune of a cool million so near his clutches, and suddenly +lose it, was more than the villain could endure calmly. He was frenzied. +His rage at the girl slipping so cleverly, so audaciously, through his +fingers knew no bounds, and he made no attempt to stifle the fierce +exclamations that sprang to his lips of what he should do when he once +found her.</p> + +<p>When Faynie had jumped from the vehicle she lay for an instant half +stunned upon the cold, frozen ground where she had fallen. It had taken +the coach a minute to stop, but that minute had carried it several rods +beyond the spot where she lay. She saw by the uncertain glimmer of the +carriage lamp the two forms spring out into the darkness and come back +in search of her, and a piteous cry of unutterable fear rose to her +blanched lips from the very depths of her panting, terror-stricken +heart.</p> + +<p>She tried to spring to her feet and fly, but the depth to which she sank +with every step exhausted her quickly, and she sank down among the white +drifts awaiting her doom like a wounded bird in the brush whom the +cruel sportsmen are nearing with their hounds.</p> + +<p>She raised her lovely young face to the dark night sky, calling upon God +and the angels to protect her, to save her from the man she had loved +with all the passionate strength of her heart up to that hour, and whom +she hated and feared now a thousandfold more than she had ever loved +him.</p> + +<p>All in a few moments of time her idol had fallen from its high pedestal +of manly honor and lay in ruins at her feet.</p> + +<p>How could she ever have believed Lester Armstrong noble, good and true, +a king among men? Where was the tenderness in voice and manner that had +won her heart from her, and his oft-repeated assurance that he cared for +her for herself alone; that he wished to Heaven she were no heiress, but +as poor as himself, that he might show her the power of his great love? +An hour ago—only an hour ago—yet it seemed the length of a lifetime in +the shadowy past, she had crept out of the house to meet her lover at +the trysting place, her heart beating with love for him, sobbing out to +Heaven to send her true love quickly back to her.</p> + +<p>As she had closed the door of the great mansion noiselessly behind her, +she realized that she was putting wealth and luxury away from her +deliberately and choosing a life of rigid economy with the lover whose +earnings were, alas, so much smaller than even the pin money she had +been accustomed to.</p> + +<p>But with love to brighten the way, she felt that she could endure any +hardship with noble Lester Armstrong, who loved her so dearly and +devotedly.</p> + +<p>After a time, perhaps, her father would forgive her for this step, and +take her back to his home and heart, and welcome Lester, too. She had +read of such things.</p> + +<p>The night air blew bitterly cold against her face as she stepped bravely +forth, but she did not waver.</p> + +<p>The great hall clock chimed the hour of ten, and her heart beat faster, +for she said to herself that her lover was nearing the trysting place +and she had not much time to spare.</p> + +<p>"Good-by, papa," she murmured, turning for an instant and looking up at +his lighted window. "Good-by, my stepmamma," she whispered. "You have +always hated me and wished me out of the way. I am going now, and you +will rejoice. Good-by, Claire," she added, as her eyes wandered upward +to the little lighted window in the western wing. "You never hated me. +You always loved me as though we had indeed been sisters. Good-by, kind +old family servants. You will all miss me, I know, but I am going to +happiness and love. What fate could be better?"</p> + +<p>She waited some moments at the trysting place ere she heard the sound of +crunching wheels on the snow. A moment later she heard the welcome voice +saying: "Faynie, where are you?" The next instant she was folded in a +pair of strong, masculine arms.</p> + +<p>But as the owner of them touched her lips with his own Faynie had +started back with a terrible feeling of faintness rushing over her. For +the first time her lover's breath was strong with the odor of brandy.</p> + +<p>And the voice, which was always so gentle, kind and endearing, was +muttering something about "the cursed darkness of the night."</p> + +<p>No wonder the girl's soul revolted, and that she changed her mind +suddenly about the elopement, which was to make or mar her young life. +And what she heard after he forced her into the coach only added to the +terror which had grown into her heart against him, and when she made +that flying leap from the coach, her one cry to Heaven was that she +might escape the man whom she had but so lately madly adored, but whom +she now so thoroughly abhorred.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_V'></a><h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>"CAN YOU PERFORM THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY AT ONCE, REVEREND SIR?"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It was the hour of eleven by the village clock. Eleven sounded from the +old clock on the mantel. The fire burned low in the grate of Rev. Dr. +Warner's study. The air was growing chill in the room. Still, the old +pastor, who had looked after the village flock for nearly half a +century, heeded neither the time nor the chill, he was so intent upon +the sermon he was writing for the morrow.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely concluded the last line ere he heard a well-known tap +upon the door.</p> + +<p>He smiled as he arose from his chair, crossed the room and flung open +the door.</p> + +<p>He knew well whom he should find standing there, old Adam, the village +sexton and grave digger, who always stopped when he saw a light in the +study window.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Adam," said the reverend gentleman; "come up to the fire and +warm yourself; it's a wild night to be about. Has any one sent you here +for me?"</p> + +<p>"No, parson," replied Adam, hobbling in. "There's no call for you to be +out on this terrible night, thank Heaven. It's quite by chance that I +left my own fireside myself. I had an errand at the other end of the +village. The weather caught me returning—a regular blizzard—and I have +been floundering about in the drifting snow for hours. I thought I had +lost my way until I saw the light in the window, and—"</p> + +<p>But the rest of the sentence was never finished, for at that moment both +men heard distinctly the sound of carriage wheels without, accompanied +by the loud neighing of horses.</p> + +<p>Before they could express their wonderment there was a loud peal at the +front door bell.</p> + +<p>The reverend gentleman answered the summons in person.</p> + +<p>Before him stood three persons, two men and a woman, a slender figure +wearing a long dark cloak, and whose face was covered by a thick veil.</p> + +<p>Both men had their coat collars turned up and their hats pulled low over +their faces to protect them from the stinging cold.</p> + +<p>"You are the Rev. Dr. Warner?" queried one of the gentlemen. The +minister bowed in the affirmative, hurriedly bidding his guests to +enter.</p> + +<p>"You will pardon our errand," exclaimed the stranger who had already +spoken, "but we are here to enlist your services. Can you perform a +wedding ceremony in the old chapel across the way? Our time is limited. +We are in all haste to catch a train, and wish the marriage to take +place with the least possible delay."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, certainly, sir," returned the good man. "I am always pleased +to join two souls in holy matrimony. Step in; the lady must be +thoroughly chilled. This is a dreadful night."</p> + +<p>"We prefer to make our way directly over to the chapel," remarked the +man who had spoken up to this point. "The lady is warm, having but just +left the carriage, a few steps beyond."</p> + +<p>"As you will," responded the pastor. Turning to the old sexton, he said, +quietly: "Will you step over to the church, Adam, brush the snow from +the steps and light the lamps about the altar?"</p> + +<p>Adam hastened to carry out his commands. He had scarcely completed his +task when the bridal party entered, preceded by the pastor.</p> + +<p>Adam watched them curiously as they filed down the aisle, both men still +supporting the slender figure quite until the altar was reached.</p> + +<p>The Rev. Dr. Warner, shivering with the severe cold of the place, picked +up his book quickly.</p> + +<p>"Which is the bridegroom?" he asked, looking from one muffled figure to +the other. The man toward the left of the girl dropped back a pace or +two, silently waving his hand toward his friend.</p> + +<p>The old minister had never heard the names of the contracting parties +before, and the idle thought for an instant found lodgment in his mind +whether or no they could be fictitious. Then he blamed himself roundly +for his momentary suspicion, and went on hurriedly with the ceremony.</p> + +<p>The man answered in a low, guarded voice. There was a tone in it which +somehow jarred on the good minister's sensitive nerves. The girl's voice +was pitifully fluttering, almost hysterical.</p> + +<p>But that was not an uncommon occurrence. Few brides are calm and +self-possessed.</p> + +<p>"You will please lift your veil for the final benediction," said the +aged pastor, pausing, book in hand, and gazing at the slim, silent, +dark-robed figure, who had made her responses faintly, gaspingly, almost +inaudibly. Again it was the stranger to the left who complied with his +request, but for one instant both the clergyman and the old sexton +caught sight of a face white as death, yet beautiful as an angel's, +framed in a mass of dead-gold hair; but the flickering of the lamps +caused strange shadows to flit over it. There was a moment of utter +silence, broken only by the howling of the wind outside.</p> + +<p>Then slowly the minister's voice broke the terrible silence by uttering +the words: "Then I pronounce you man and wife, and whom God hath joined +together let no man put asunder."</p> + +<p>As the last word echoed through the dim old church the cold steel of a +revolver, which had been pressed steadily to the girl's throbbing heart +by the hand of the bridegroom, concealed by her long cloak, was quickly +withdrawn.</p> + +<p>"My wedded wife!" murmured the man, and in his voice there was a tone of +mocking triumph. The girl swooned in his arms, but, turning quickly with +her, he hurried forward into the dense shadows of the church, carrying +her to the coach in waiting without attracting attention.</p> + +<p>He could scarcely restrain himself from shouting aloud, so exuberant +were his spirits.</p> + +<p>"Rave. Do whatever you like. You cannot change matters now. I am your +husband, ay, the husband of a girl worth a million of money. When we are +out of hearing of the old parson I will give three rousing cheers to +celebrate the occasion and give vent to my triumph—ay, three cheers and +a tiger with a will and a vengeance."</p> + +<p>The appearance of his friend, who had remained behind to adjust the +little matters that needed attention, put a stop to his hilarity for the +moment.</p> + +<p>"Well, what's next on the programme? What do you suggest now, Halloran?" +he exclaimed, as that individual sprang into the coach and took his seat +with chattering teeth.</p> + +<p>"I propose that you drive to the nearest inn or hostelry, or whatever +they choose to call it hereabouts. I understand there is one some five +miles from here, and, indeed, the horses won't last much longer than +that."</p> + +<p>"I'm governed by your advice," replied his companion, with a hilarious +laugh. "Give the order to get to the hostelry as soon as the driver can +make it. Anything will suit me. I'm not proud, even if I have made a +cool million in an hour's time. Ha! ha! ha!"</p> + +<p>"Are you mad?" whispered his companion, giving him a violent nudge.</p> + +<p>"Bah! You needn't fear that she will hear what I'm saying. The puny +little dear has swooned again. Didn't you notice that I had to fairly +carry her from the altar?"</p> + +<p>"These dainty little heiresses have to be handled with kid gloves," +remarked Halloran. "Fainting when anything goes wrong seems to be their +especial weakness."</p> + +<p>"She will soon find out that I will not tolerate that kind of thing!" +exclaimed Armstrong, as he insisted upon being called from that moment +out.</p> + +<p>"Be easy with her. Don't show your hand or your temper until you get +hold of the money," warned Halloran. "Remember you are playing for a +great stake, and the surest way of winning is by keeping the girl in +love with you."</p> + +<p>"She is mine now. I am her lord and master. I shall not bother making +love to the milk-and-water, sentimental creature, as the other one +probably did. She isn't my style, and I have little patience with her. +There was a decided feeling of antagonism between us from the start, and +then my forcing her to go through the ceremony at the point of a cold +steel weapon will not have the effect of endearing me to her ladyship. +She is sure to hate me, but that won't bother me a snap of my finger."</p> + +<p>"Don't get independent too soon," remarked Halloran. "Pride always goeth +before a fall, you know. You haven't the money in your hands yet. Don't +lose sight of that important fact, my dear boy."</p> + +<p>They talked on for half an hour or more; then suddenly the driver drew +rein.</p> + +<p>"This is the country tavern, and my horses cannot go any further; they +are dead lame and played out," he announced.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a><h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>THE VILLAIN AND HIS VICTIM.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>It was certainly something entirely out of the experience of the old +innkeeper at the country crossroads to be aroused from his slumbers at +midnight by guests seeking the shelter of his hospitable roof, and that, +too, on the most terrible night of the year.</p> + +<p>The old man could scarcely believe his ears when he heard the sound of +the old brass knocker on the front door resound loudly through the +house.</p> + +<p>He quite imagined that he must have dreamed it, until a second and third +peal brought him to his senses and his feet at the same instant.</p> + +<p>His bewilderment knew no bounds when he appeared at the door a few +minutes later and found a coach standing there and the occupants seeking +a lodging, also shelter for the horses.</p> + +<p>"I haven't but one room to spare," exclaimed the old innkeeper, holding +a flaring candle high above his head to better view his visitor.</p> + +<p>"Have you a room in which a fire could be made?" asked one of the men. +"We have a lady with us."</p> + +<p>"I suppose we could let you have my daughter Betsy's, she being off to +the city on a visit."</p> + +<p>"My companion and his br—his wife could have that; you can dispose of +me anywhere," returned the speaker. "I could doze in a chair in the +barroom for that matter. The driver could be as easily disposed of."</p> + +<p>"Then bring the lady right in," said the old innkeeper. A moment later, +the lovely girl, still unconscious, was brought in and laid upon the +settee in the best room.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with the young woman?" gasped the innkeeper, his +eyes opening wide with amazement.</p> + +<p>"Merely fainted from the intense cold," returned one of the men briefly, +adding: "If you will see that a fire is lighted in the room that you +spoke of I shall be very much obliged."</p> + +<p>"I'll have my wife down in a jiffy. No doubt the poor creature's half +frozen, but a hot whiskey toddy will thaw her out quicker than you could +say Jack Robinson," and he trotted off briskly on his double mission of +rousing his wife to look after the girl and his hired help to assist the +driver in putting away the horses, while he himself attended to making a +blazing fire in the little chamber over the best room.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it the good housewife was by the +girl's side.</p> + +<p>"What a beautiful young creature!" she exclaimed, as the veil was +thrown back and she beheld the lovely face, white as chiseled marble, +framed in its cloud of golden hair. "Is it your sister, sir?" she asked, +with all a country woman's thoughtless curiosity.</p> + +<p>"No, she is my wife," exclaimed the stranger, who stood over by the +fireplace, his brows meeting in a decided frown.</p> + +<p>"Laws a mercy! Isn't she young to be married?" exclaimed the woman. +"Why, she don't look sixteen. Been married long?"</p> + +<p>The stranger by the fireplace deliberately turned his back on the woman, +vouchsafing her no reply.</p> + +<p>By that time the innkeeper announced that the room above was ready, and +that they might come up as soon as they liked.</p> + +<p>Again the stranger by the fireplace lifted the slender figure, bore her +up the narrow rickety stairway, saying good-night to his friend as he +passed him by.</p> + +<p>"Good-night to you, and pleasant dreams," replied Halloran; "the same to +your wife."</p> + +<p>The innkeeper followed the tall stranger with his burden to see that +everything was made comfortable, put more logs in the fireplace, then +turning, said:</p> + +<p>"Is there anything else I can do for you, stranger?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing," replied the man curtly, but as the old innkeeper reached the +door he called sharply: "Yes, I think there is something else that would +add to my comfort, and that is a good stiff glass of brandy, if you have +such a thing about the place."</p> + +<p>The old man hesitated.</p> + +<p>"I'll pay well for it," said the other, eagerly.</p> + +<p>"You see, we haven't a license, stranger, to sell drinks, and they're +pretty strict with us hereabouts. I generally let a man have it when I +know him pretty well, but I can't say how it would affect you."</p> + +<p>"Have no fear on that score," returned the other. "Here's a five-dollar +note for a pint bottle of brandy. Will that pay you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," returned the innkeeper. It was the golden key. The man laughed to +see how quickly he trotted off on his errand, returning with the bottle +in a trice.</p> + +<p>"Anything else, sir?" he said.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the other, "save," adding, "do not call us too early +to-morrow. We're not of the kind that rise with the sun. Nine o'clock +will answer. And see that that wife of yours gets up the best breakfast +that can be obtained."</p> + +<p>"You won't have to complain of that, sir," exclaimed the innkeeper, +pompously. "You'll get a piece of steak with the blood followin' the +knife; crisp potatoes, a plate of buckwheat cakes, with butter as is +butter, and honey that's the real thing; a mug of coffee that would bear +up an egg, with good old-fashioned cream, not skim milk, to say nothing +of—"</p> + +<p>"That will do," exclaimed the stranger, with an impatient wave of his +white hand. "I never like to know beforehand what I'm going to get."</p> + +<p>"But the lady, sir? Mebbe she'd like somethin' kind a delicate like—a +bit o' bird or somethin' like that?"</p> + +<p>"We'll see about that to-morrow all in good time," fairly closing the +door in the garrulous innkeeper's face "Good-night," and he shut the +door with a click and turned the key in the lock, and for the first time +he was alone with the girl he had forced so dastardly into the cruellest +of marriages. He had placed Faynie on the white couch. He crossed the +room and stood looking down at her, with his hands behind his back, and +a sardonic smile on his face.</p> + +<p>"You and your millions of money belong to me," he cried, under his +breath. "Ye gods! what a lucky dog I am after all!" and a low laugh that +was not pleasant to hear broke from his lips.</p> + +<p>At that instant a broken sigh stirred the girl's white lips.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are coming to, are you?" he muttered. "The old lady's toddy is +beginning to revive you."</p> + +<p>He could not help but notice how unusually beautiful the girl was.</p> + +<p>"What a chance of fortune this is for me, but it does not follow, even +though she was madly in love with my cousin, that she will hold me in +the same favor. But I'll stand none of her airs. I'll show her right +from the start that I'm the boss, and see how that will strike her +fancy. There'll be a terrible time when she comes to—screams, shrieks +of anger, that will call everybody to the door."</p> + +<p>He turned on his heel and walked over to the mantel, where the innkeeper +had deposited the bottle and the glass.</p> + +<p>He poured out a heavy draught and drank it at a single swallow. This was +followed by another and yet another.</p> + +<p>"Ah, there's nothing like bracing oneself up for a scene like this," he +muttered, with a sardonic laugh.</p> + +<p>The liquor seemed to turn the blood in his veins to fire and set his +heart in a glow. He laughed aloud. In that moment he felt as rich as a +king, and as diabolical as Satan himself.</p> + +<p>He was nerved for any emergency; he was the girl's lord and master, her +wedded husband. She would be made to understand that fact with little +ceremony.</p> + +<p>He threw himself down in a chair, where he could watch her, and waited +results, and each instant he sat there the fumes of the brandy rose +higher and higher, until it reached his brain.</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"There was a laughing devil in his sneer<br /></span> +<span>That woke emotions of both hate and fear;<br /></span> +<span>And where his scowl of fierceness darkly fell,<br /></span> +<span>Hope, withering, fled and mercy sighed farewell."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Yes, a few short moments and consciousness would return to the girl—the +stormy scene would begin.</p> + +<p>Would the sharp eyes of love detect the difference between himself and +Lester Armstrong, whom he was impersonating? He knew every tone of his +cousin's voice so perfectly that he would have little difficulty in +imitating that. The more closely he watched the girl, the more conscious +he became of her wonderful beauty, and his heart gave a bound of +triumph.</p> + +<p>It was worth a struggle, after all, to have as beautiful a bride as she, +even though she hated him.</p> + +<p>"If I watch her much longer it will end by my being madly in love with +her," he mused. "I never could withstand a pretty face."</p> + +<p>The wild winds moaned like demons outside. The bare branches writhed and +twisted in the storm, tapping weirdly against the window pane. The room +grew warmer as the fire took hold of the logs in the grate, and with +the heat the fumes of the brandy rose into his brain, and with it his +color heightened, his cheeks and lips were flushed and his eyes +scintillating. With unsteady hand he reached out for the flask again, +uncorked it, and without taking the trouble to reach for the glass, +placed the bottle to his lips and drained it to the dregs.</p> + +<p>"She is awaking," he muttered, with a maudlin laugh, and springing from +his seat with unsteady steps, he crossed the room and stood by the +couch, looking down eagerly into the beautiful white face upon the +pillow. As if impelled by that steady, serpentine, fiery glance, the +girl moaned uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Awaking at last!" he muttered, with a diabolical smile. At that moment +Faynie's violet eyes opened wide and stared up into his face.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>HE RAISED HIS CLINCHED HAND, AND THE BLOW FELL HEAVILY UPON THE +BEAUTIFUL UPTURNED FACE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>With returning consciousness, Faynie's violet eyes opened slowly—taking +in, by the flickering light of the candle, the strange room in which she +found herself; then, as they opened wider, in amazement too great for +words, she beheld the figure of a man, half hidden among the shadows, +standing but a few feet away from the couch, his eyes fastened upon her; +she could even hear his nervous breathing.</p> + +<p>With a gasp of terror Faynie sprang from the couch with a single bound; +but the cry she would have uttered was strangled upon her lips by the +heavy hand that fell suddenly over them, pressing so tightly against +them as to almost take her breath away.</p> + +<p>"Don't attempt to scream or make any fuss," cried a hissing voice in her +ear—"submit to the inevitable—you are my wife—there is nothing out of +the way in your being here with me. Come, now, take matters +philosophically and we shall get along all right."</p> + +<p>He attempted to draw the girl into his encircling arms, her wonderful +beauty suddenly dawning upon him; but she shrank from his embrace, and +from the approach of his brandy-reeking lips, as though he had been a +scorpion.</p> + +<p>With a suddenness that took him greatly aback, and for an instant at a +disadvantage, she freed herself from his grasp, and stood facing him +like a young tragedy queen in all her furious anger and outraged pride.</p> + +<p>"Do not utter another word, Lester Armstrong!" she panted, "you only add +insult to injury—why it seems to me some horrible trick of the +senses—some nightmare—to imagine even that I could ever have cared for +you—to have believed you noble, honorable and—a gentleman. Why, you +almost seem to be a different person in his guise—you are so changed in +tone and manner from him to whom I gave my heart. The affection that I +thought I had for you died a violent death."</p> + +<p>She did not notice that the man before her started violently at these +words—but the look of fear in his eyes gave place the next instant to +braggadocio.</p> + +<p>He would have answered her, but she held up her little white hand with a +gesture commanding silence, saying, slowly, with quivering lips:</p> + +<p>"I repeat, the affection that I believed filled my heart for you died +suddenly when I told you that I had changed my mind about eloping, and +instead of studying my desires you insisted that the arrangement must be +carried out."</p> + +<p>"My—my—love for you prompted it, Faynie," he exclaimed, in a maudlin +voice. He knew he had the name wrong, but could not think what it was to +save his life. "Come, now, let's kiss and make up, and love each other +in the same old way, as the song goes."</p> + +<p>"What! love a man who thrusts me into a coach despite my entreaties, +takes me to a church, and with a revolver pressed close to my +heart—beneath my cloak—forces me to become his wife! No. No! I loathe, +abhor you—open that door and let me go!"</p> + +<p>With an unsteady spring he placed himself between her and the door, +crying angrily as he ground out a fierce imprecation from between his +white teeth. "Come, now, none of that, my beauty. You're my wife all +right, no matter how much of a fuss you make over it. I want to be +agreeable, but you persist in raising the devil in me, and though you +may not know it, I've a deuce of a temper when I'm thoroughly roused to +anger—at least that's what the folks who know me say.</p> + +<p>"Sit right down here now, and let's talk the matter over—if you want to +go home to the old gent, why I'm sure I have no objection, providing he +agrees to take your hubby along with you. There'll be a scene of +course—we may expect that—but when you tell him how you love me, and +couldn't live without me and all that—and mind, you put it on heavy—it +will end by his saying: 'Youth is youth, and love goes where it is sent. +I forgive you, my children; come right back to the paternal +roof—consider it yours in fact.' And when the occasion is ripe, you +could suggest that the old gent start your hubby in business. Your wish +would be law; he might demur a trifle at first, but if you stuck well +to your point he'd soon cave in and ask what figure I'd take to—"</p> + +<p>"Stop!—stop right where you are, you mercenary wretch!" cried Faynie in +a ringing voice. "I see it all now—as clear as day. You—you—have +married me because you have believed me my father's heiress, and—"</p> + +<p>"You couldn't help but be, my dear," he hiccoughed. "An only child—no +one else on earth to come in for his gold—couldn't help but be his +heiress, you know—couldn't disinherit you if he wanted to. You've got +the old chap foul enough there, ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p>"You seem to have suddenly lost sight of the fact that there is some one +beside myself—my stepmother and her daughter Claire."</p> + +<p>He fell back a step and looked at her with dilated eyes—despite the +brandy he had imbibed he still understood thoroughly every word she was +saying.</p> + +<p>"A stepmother—and—another daughter!" he cried, in astonishment—almost +incoherently.</p> + +<p>"You seem to forget that you always used to say to me—that you hoped +they were well," said Faynie with deepening scorn in her clear, young +voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh—ah—yes," he muttered, "but you see I was not thinking of +them—-only of you," and deep in his heart he was cursing the hapless +cousin—whom he believed dead by this time—for not mentioning that the +girl had a stepmother and sister.</p> + +<p>"Had you taken the time to listen to something else that I had to tell +you, you might have reconsidered the advisability of eloping with me in +such haste," went on the girl in her clear, ringing tones, "for it has +become apparent to me—with even as little knowledge of the world as I +possess—that you are a fortune hunter—that most despicable of all +creatures—but in this instance your dastardly scheme has entangled your +own feet. Your well-aimed arrow has missed the mark. You have wedded +this night a penniless girl. An hour before you met me at the arched +gate my father disinherited me, and when he has once made up his mind +upon any course of action—nothing human, nothing on earth or in heaven +would have power enough to induce him to change it."</p> + +<p>The effect of her words were magical upon him. With a bound he was at +her side grasping her slender wrists with so tight a hold that they +nearly snapped asunder.</p> + +<p>Intense as the pain was, Faynie would not cry aloud. He should not see +that he had power to hurt her, even though she dropped dead at his feet +at last from the excruciating torture of it.</p> + +<p>"What is it you say—the old rascal has—disinherited you?" he cried, +scarcely crediting the evidence of his own ears.</p> + +<p>"That is just what I said—my father has disinherited me," she replied +slowly and distinctly, adding: "His money was his own—to do with as he +pleased—he gave me the choice of—of—marrying to suit him or being cut +off entirely. I—I—refused to accept the man he had selected for me. +That ended the matter. 'Then from this hour know that you shall not +inherit one penny of my wealth,' he cried. 'I will cut you off with but +the small amount required by law. There is nothing more to be said. You +are a Fairfax. You have taken your choice, and as a Fairfax you must +abide by your decision!' You will remember I told you I had something to +tell you the moment you came up to me at the arched gate, but you would +not listen. Now the consequence is upon your own head."</p> + +<p>"I have married a beggar, when I thought I was marrying an—heiress!" he +cried in a rage so horrible that Faynie, brave as she was, recoiled from +him in terror and, dismay.</p> + +<p>"You have married a penniless young girl," she corrected, half +inaudibly.</p> + +<p>He raised his clinched hand with a terrible volley of oaths, before +which she quailed, despite her bravery.</p> + +<p>"When the old man cast you off you thought you would tie yourself on to +me," he cried. "You women are cunning—oh, yes, you are, don't tell me +you're not; and you are the shrewdest one I've come across yet. You lie +when you say you meant to tell me what had happened beforehand, and you +know it. But you'll find out at your cost what it means to bind me to a +millstone for a wife. But you shan't be a millstone. You'll do your +share toward the support. Yes, by George, you shall. I'll put you on the +stage—and you—"</p> + +<p>"Never!" cried the girl with a bitter sob. "I'd die first."</p> + +<p>"Don't set up your authority against mine," he cried, and as he uttered +the words—half crazed by the brandy he had drunk so copiously—his +clinched fist came down with a heavy blow upon the girl's beautiful, +upturned face, and she fell like one dead at his feet.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT ON THE LONELY RIVER ROAD.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For one moment he looked down half stupefied at his work—the girl lay +in a little dark heap at his feet just as he had struck her down—the +crimson blood pouring from a wound on her temple which his ring had +caused.</p> + +<p>"I—I've killed her," he muttered, setting his teeth together +hard—"she—she provoked me to it—curse her! My God! the girl is +actually dying." Then, through his half-dazed brain came the thought +that his crime would soon be discovered, and his only safety lay in +instant flight.</p> + +<p>It was but the work of a moment to hurry from the room, making his way +through the inky darkness as best he could to the barroom, where he knew +he should find Halloran and the cabby dozing in the big armchairs.</p> + +<p>The full realization of his crime had quite sobered him by this time.</p> + +<p>The innkeeper had left a dim light in the barroom. By the aid of this he +made his way quickly to his friend's side. A few rapid words whispered +excitedly in Halloran's ear told him the condition of affairs.</p> + +<p>"You are right," exclaimed Halloran, springing to his feet. "We must +get out of here without a moment's delay. The cabman must go with us, +taking his horses, even though we have to pay him the price of them."</p> + +<p>"I—I—will leave everything to you, Halloran," muttered his companion, +huskily, "your brain is clearer and a thousand times shrewder than +mine."</p> + +<p>"Nor must the girl be left here," went on Halloran. "She must not be +found dead in this house."</p> + +<p>"Why, what in Heaven's name could we do with her?" returned the other, +sharply. "I tell you she is dying, any one could see that."</p> + +<p>"Put her effectually out of the way, and past all human possibility of +any one finding out how she came by her death. I have a desperate plan. +I cannot explain it to you now. All I say is, be guided by my directions +to-night—leave everything to me," said Halloran, with a grim gaze.</p> + +<p>"I put myself in your hands, Halloran," was the husky reply.</p> + +<p>The cabby was hurriedly awakened. At first he demurred angrily against +the idea of starting off again; but when a roll of bank notes was +pressed into his hands as the price of his complying with their +demand—a sum that would more than cover the price of the horses if he +lost them—he no longer found grounds for complaint, but agreed with +alacrity to do their bidding.</p> + +<p>Besides, Halloran knew a little secret of the cabby's past—just how he +came by the money to buy that outfit—and as it was done in a +particularly shady way, the man dared not make an enemy of him.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it the coach stood at the door again.</p> + +<p>It was Halloran—nervy, cool-headed Halloran, whom the other had always +dubbed half man, half fiend—who stole up to the room above, found the +girl lying in the exact spot his companion had described, and, catching +up her cloak, wrapped it about her, bore her noiselessly down the stairs +and out to the coach in waiting.</p> + +<p>"Is it all over with her yet?" whispered the other in a strained, husky +voice, showing intense fear.</p> + +<p>"Almost," returned Halloran, briefly, jumping in and closing the door +after him.</p> + +<p>For some moments they rode along in utter silence. Then, as Halloran +made no attempt to break it, his companion leaned over, asking +breathlessly: "Where are we going—and—and—what do you propose to do +with her?"</p> + +<p>"I am just trying to solve that problem in my mind, and it is a knotty +one. I must have more time to think it over," replied Halloran, tersely.</p> + +<p>Before his companion could reply, the coach came to a sudden +standstill, and both of the men within heard their driver's voice in +earnest colloquy with some one standing by the roadside.</p> + +<p>"It is the girl's father, or friends, who have just discovered her +absence and have been scouring the country about to find her," gasped +the fraudulent Lester Armstrong, and the hand that grasped his +companion's arm shook like an aspen leaf.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a coward!" hissed Halloran. "If worst comes to worst, whoever +it is can share the girl's fate," and with these words he opened the +door of the coach, asking sharply, angrily:</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, driver?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, save a poor old fellow who wants me to give him a lift on the +box beside me. He has lost his way. He's an old grave digger, who says +he lives hereabouts, somewhere. He's half frozen with the cold tramping +about. I told him 'Yes, climb up;' it's a little extra work for the +horses, but I suppose as long as I don't mind it you'll not object."</p> + +<p>"Ha! Satan always helps his own out of difficulties," whispered Halloran +to his companion; and, without waiting for a reply, he was out of the +coach like a flash, and his hand was on the old grave digger's arm ere +he could make the ascent to the box beside the driver.</p> + +<p>"Wait a moment, my good friend," said Halloran, "we have a little work +which you of all persons are best fitted to perform for us ere we +proceed."</p> + +<p>Old Adam, the grave digger, looked at the tall gentleman before him in +some little perplexity, answering, slowly:</p> + +<p>"I hope you will not take it amiss, sir, if I answer that I do not fully +comprehend your words."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not; but permit me to make them clear to you, in as plain +English as I can command. I want you to dig a grave here and now."</p> + +<p>"A grave—here!" echoed Adam, quite believing his old ears were not +serving him truly—that he had certainly not heard aright.</p> + +<p>"That is what I said," returned Halloran, grimly.</p> + +<p>"But, sir!" began old Adam, "this is no graveyard."</p> + +<p>"Curse you, who said it was?" cut in the other, sharply.</p> + +<p>"It is not to be thought of, sir," murmured the grave digger, trembling +in every limb, his brain too bewildered to try to reason out the meaning +of this strange request, and quite believing the stranger must be an +escaped lunatic.</p> + +<p>Coolly and deliberately Halloran drew a revolver from his pocket, and +placed it at Adam's throbbing temple, saying, grimly, and harshly:</p> + +<p>"You will do as I command or your life will pay the forfeit. I give you +one moment of time to decide."</p> + +<p>It was a moment so fraught with tragic horror that in all the after +years of his life Adam always looked back to it with a shudder of deadly +fear.</p> + +<p>He was no longer young—the sands of life were running slower than in +the long ago—still, life was sweet to him, ah, very sweet. He had a +good wife and little bairns at home, and an aged mother, to whom he was +very dear, and he was their only support.</p> + +<p>Who was this dark-browed stranger? Why did he wish a grave dug by the +roadside on this terrible night? Whom did he wish to bury there, and was +the body within the coach?</p> + +<p>All these thoughts were surging rapidly through his brain, when suddenly +Halloran said:</p> + +<p>"Your moment for contemplation is up. Will you dig the grave here and +now as I command you, or will you prefer that the next passer-by should +find you on this spot with a bullet hole through your head?"</p> + +<p>Even through the semi-darkness old Adam could see the stranger's eyes +gleaming pitilessly upon him as he uttered the words, and he realized +that if he refused he might expect no mercy at this man's hands.</p> + +<p>"Your answer!" said Halloran, pressing the messenger of death still +closer to the throbbing brow of the now thoroughly terrified old grave +digger.</p> + +<p>"Y—es," stammered old Adam.</p> + +<p>"That is well," declared Halloran, removing the weapon. "Begin right +here by the roadside. This is as good a spot as any. You need not make +it the regulation depth—three feet or such a matter will answer. Begin +without delay. I will also add that not only will you save your own +neck, but you shall earn a comfortable fee if you work quickly. Mind, +every minute counts."</p> + +<p>The old grave digger slowly took his spade from his shoulder, and by the +light from the carriage lamp began his work on the spot pointed out, +while Halloran stood by watching him with keen interest.</p> + +<p>Old Adam was used to work in the terrible heat of summer and in the +bitter cold of the winter. He set to work with a will, and the frozen +ground yielded quickly to the strokes of his trusty spade, and surely +the faint moon, glimmering from between the drifting clouds sweeping +across the dark face of the black heavens overhead, never looked upon a +wilder, more weird scene.</p> + +<p>Twice old Adam paused, the perspiration pouring down his face like +rain.</p> + +<p>He was about to cry out: "I cannot go on with this uncanny work," but +each time the cold steel of the revolver was pressed to his throbbing +brow, and the harsh voice of the muffled stranger said: "Go on; your +work is almost accomplished."</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a><h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>"THERE MUST NOT BE A SINGLE TRACE LEFT TO MARK THE SPOT OF THE GRAVE YOU +ARE NOW DIGGING," SAID THE MUFFLED STRANGER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The old grave digger worked on faster and faster by the fitful light of +the carriage lamp, with the wild night winds howling about him, and the +perspiration streaming down his face, as the stranger stood over him +covering his heart with the deadly revolver.</p> + +<p>"That will do, my man," he said, as old Adam paused for breath a moment. +"That is deep enough, I guess. It will not take long to place its future +tenant therein; then you must replace the earth and pack the snow so +carefully about it that it would not attract the attention of the +casual passer-by. Do you comprehend?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the old grave digger, and it seemed to him that his own +voice sounded like nothing human.</p> + +<p>The stranger turned and walked leisurely to the coach in waiting.</p> + +<p>Old Adam would have fled from the spot in mortal terror, but that his +limbs were trembling and refused to carry him.</p> + +<p>He leaned heavily on his spade, asking himself in growing fright—what +terrible mystery was this that fate had drawn him into, and awaiting +with quaking heart what would follow.</p> + +<p>He had not long to wait. The stranger who had stepped to the carriage +evidently proposed to lose no time.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to recount it, he had lifted from the vehicle +a slender figure, closely wrapped in a long dark garment, and as he did +so a second person stepped from the coach—a man, closely muffled like +his companion—and wearing his soft hat pulled low over his eyes.</p> + +<p>One glance at the flickering light of the carriage lamp fell upon them, +bearing the slender figure between them, and old Adam's heart fairly +stood still with horror.</p> + +<p>He recognized them at once as the parties who had stood before the +altar in the old stone church scarcely an hour before.</p> + +<p>Great God! could it be? Ah, yes, it must be the body of the beautiful, +hapless young bride they were bringing to this wild and lonely grave.</p> + +<p>How did she happen to die? She who had been so full of bounding life but +one short hour before—only the all-seeing eye of the God above could +tell—ay, could solve this horrible mystery.</p> + +<p>Another moment, and in utter silence, the slender figure was lowered +into the frozen ground by the two strangers.</p> + +<p>This accomplished, the same man turned to old Adam again, saying, +abruptly:</p> + +<p>"Now finish your work as speedily as possible, I repeat the +caution—mind—not a trace must be visible when you have accomplished +your task, to mark the spot."</p> + +<p>No word from the old grave digger answered him. He could not have +uttered a single syllable if his very life had depended upon it.</p> + +<p>While the other had been speaking, a gust of wind had for a single +instant tossed aside the heavy cloth that covered the face, and old Adam +saw beyond all doubt that it was indeed the lovely young creature who +had within that hour been made a bride, and with that terrible discovery +came another—there was, as sure as fate, a flush upon the beautiful +face of her whom they were consigning to the tomb.</p> + +<p>"Hold!" he cried out with all his strength, drawing back from his work, +shaking with terror. "The—the—girl is not dead; there is color—"</p> + +<p>A fierce oath from the lips of both men simultaneously cut his words +short.</p> + +<p>"The girl is dead," exclaimed the man who had so far done the talking. +"That is blood you see on her face. She had a hemorrhage. Go on with +your work, you fool—or, here! give me the spade. I will make a short +shift of it."</p> + +<p>But as the stranger uttered these words, stepping quickly forward to put +the thought into execution, a sudden thought, like an inspiration, +occurred to the ancient grave digger.</p> + +<p>"No—no—I will finish my work," he muttered. "I—I—can do it best, as +I—I—understand it—and—and—you, would not."</p> + +<p>"Make all haste, then; it is growing bitter cold. We shall all freeze to +death."</p> + +<p>"Could you not get into the coach, sir, to keep warm?" suggested old +Adam; "you can be of no aid to me, you know. When I have +finished—you—you can step out and see if it is done to your +satisfaction."</p> + +<p>For a moment the stranger hesitated, then said, sharply:</p> + +<p>"I think I will take your advice, my man; my feet are about as numb as +they could well be, I assure you; and as you say, my standing here will +not help you. I can watch from the carriage window, and when the work is +done step out and look at it."</p> + +<p>With that he hurried quickly to the vehicle, and with a thankfulness in +his heart that words are weak to describe, and with a mental "God be +praised," the old grave digger bent to his task with renewed energy.</p> + +<p>Both men watched narrowly and anxiously, as spadeful after spadeful of +dirt quickly disappeared from the white ground. Then the white heaping +snow was leveled over the dark narrow space, and the grave digger +announced that his work was completed.</p> + +<p>"I do not know as it is worth while to examine it; the old fellow knows +his business," remarked Halloran to his companion, who was by this time +fairly well under the weather from large draughts of brandy he had drunk +from a bottle he had seized from the bar. "Step up on the box beside the +driver"—thrusting a bank note into the old grave digger's nervous, +trembling hand—"we will take you along the road as far as we go."</p> + +<p>For an instant old Adam hesitated, but it was only for an instant, for +he said to himself he must not arouse the suspicion of this stranger by +refusing to ride, especially as he had begged for that permission so +short a time before. He could frame no reasonable excuse for asking to +remain behind.</p> + +<p>Marking the spot as best he could in the intense darkness, he climbed up +to the driver's box as he had been bidden, and took his seat.</p> + +<p>With a sharp cut of the whip upon their flanks, the horses were started, +and swaying to and fro with their every motion as they dashed along over +the uneven road, the coach sped onward.</p> + +<p>No word fell from the driver's lips, and old Adam was too much excited +to vouchsafe a remark.</p> + +<p>He knew that the men, as well as the rig, did not belong thereabouts, +for he well knew every team in the village, and those of the adjoining +farmers.</p> + +<p>How far they traversed thus he could not judge, but to his intense +relief he saw at last that they were passing a familiar landmark, an old +bridge that spanned a dry creek which was scarcely a dozen rods from his +own door.</p> + +<p>"I will leave you here," said Adam. "I thank you for giving me a lift."</p> + +<p>Again the coach came to a halt, and the man within put out his head, +inquiring sharply:</p> + +<p>"What is the matter now?"</p> + +<p>"This man wants to get off here."</p> + +<p>"Very well," replied Halloran, drawing back into the warmth of the coach +and giving the matter no further thought, and resuming the castles in +the air which he had been building when the vehicle came to a stop. "I +shall see that you carry out to the fullest detail the little plot I am +laying this night for you," he muttered, looking steadily at his +companion, who had dozed off into a heavy stupefied sleep upon the +opposite seat, "and when you come into possession of the money which +your marriage to the little heiress to-night will bring you, I shall +come in for the lion's share of it. You dare not refuse my demands, no +matter how exorbitant they may be, under penalty of exposure. That will +be the sword in my hands that will always hang over your head.</p> + +<p>"It would have been more difficult to accomplish my scheme if the girl +had lived. It is best as it is. Dead people tell no tales. Of course +they will search for the girl when they discover that she has eloped, +but will believe she is cleverly eluding them or traveling about the +country. I have always had golden dreams of a fortune that would be in +my grasp some day, and now, lo! my dream is about to be realized."</p> + +<p>While he was thus soliloquizing, old Adam, the grave digger, was +standing silently in the road where they had set him down, then +suddenly he turned abruptly—not toward his home—but as quickly as his +aged limbs could carry him back over the ground the coach had just +traversed, praying to Heaven to guide him to the spot where he had dug +the lonely grave of the beautiful, hapless young bride of an hour.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_X'></a><h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>SNATCHED FROM THE GRAVE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Back over that terrible road of drifting snow the old grave digger made +his way as swiftly as his trembling limbs could carry him.</p> + +<p>He had endeavored to mark carefully the spot where he had made that +lonely grave, but the snow was drifting so hard with each furious gust +of wind as to make it almost impossible to find it upon retracing his +steps.</p> + +<p>Quaking with terror, and with a prayer on his lips to Heaven to guide +him, old Adam sat down his lantern, and by its dim, flickering light +peered breathlessly around.</p> + +<p>There was the blasted pine tree and toward the right of it the stump. +The grave must be less than a rod below it.</p> + +<p>With a heart beating with great strangling throbs, he paced off the +distance, and then stood quite still, holding his lantern down close to +the frozen earth.</p> + +<p>For an instant his heart almost ceased beating—there was no sign of the +little mound, with the leafless branch of bush he had been so careful to +place there.</p> + +<p>Then, suddenly a moan from beneath his very feet fell upon his ear, +causing him to fairly gasp for breath.</p> + +<p>"Thank God! I have found it!" he cried.</p> + +<p>In an instant he had thrown off his coat, thin though it was, and set to +work as he had never worked in all his life before—against time.</p> + +<p>He had thrown in the earth loosely, taking care to leave the head +exposed, for he felt as sure as he did of his own existence that life +was not yet extinct in the body of the young girl for whom he was forced +to prepare that grave at the point of a revolver in the hands of the two +desperate strangers.</p> + +<p>He had taken his own life in his hands when he had announced the work +finished satisfactorily, for had the man stepped from the coach to +examine the work he would have found the deep hole which left the head +uncovered.</p> + +<p>The cold winds and the drifting snow blew into the old grave digger's +face, but he worked on with desperate zeal, realizing that another life +might depend upon the swiftness of his rescue.</p> + +<p>At last, after what seemed to him an eternity of time, he reached the +body, and quickly lifted it from its resting place.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later he reached his own humble cottage home, bearing the +slender burden in his strong arms.</p> + +<p>His good wife had waited up for him. She could never sleep when Adam was +away from home.</p> + +<p>She heard his footstep on the crunching snow and hastened to open the +door for him, starting back with a cry of great surprise as she caught +sight of the figure in his arms.</p> + +<p>"Is it some neighbor's little girl lost in the storm, Adam?" she cried, +clasping her hands together in affright.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask any questions now, Mary," he exclaimed, delivering the burden +into her willing, motherly arms, and sinking down into the nearest +chair, thoroughly exhausted. "I'll tell you all about it later, when I +get my breath and my nerves are settled. Do everything you can to revive +the poor young creature. She is freezing to death."</p> + +<p>As old Adam's kindly wife threw back the dark cloak which had enveloped +the fair young face and form, an exclamation of surprise broke from her +wondering lips.</p> + +<p>"She is a stranger hereabouts," she observed, but she wisely obeyed her +husband's injunctions, making no further remark, knowing she would hear +all about it in good time.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it, the beautiful young stranger was +put to bed in the little spare room up under the eaves, wrapped in +flannel blankets, with bottles of hot water at the feet, and a generous +draught of brandy, which the grave digger's wife always kept in the +house for emergencies, forced down her throat.</p> + +<p>"She will soon return to consciousness now," she exclaimed to her +husband, who stood beside the bedside anxiously watching her labors; +"see that flush on her cheeks. We will sit down quietly and wait until +she opens her eyes. It won't be long."</p> + +<p>And while they waited thus, Adam told his wife the story he had to tell +concerning the young girl—this fair, hapless, beautiful young stranger +whose wedding he had witnessed and burial he had assisted in within the +hour, first binding his wife to solemn secrecy.</p> + +<p>The good woman's amazement as she listened can better be imagined than +described. For once in her life she was too dumfounded to offer even a +theory.</p> + +<p>As they glanced toward the bed, to their amazement they saw the girl's +eyes fastened upon old Adam with an expression of horror in them, +heartrending to behold, and they realized that she had heard every word +he had said.</p> + +<p>In an instant they were on their feet bending over the couch.</p> + +<p>"Is it true—they buried me—and—you—you—rescued me?" she asked, in a +terrified whisper, catching at the old man's hands and clutching them in +a grasp from which he could not draw them away, her teeth chattering, +her violet eyes almost bulging from their sockets.</p> + +<p>"Since you have heard all, I might as well confess that it is quite +true," he answered. "And God forgive that brute of a husband you just +married. He ought to swing for the crime as sure as there is a heaven +above us. There will be no end of the good minister's wrath when he +hears the story, my poor girl."</p> + +<p>Again the beautiful young stranger caught at his hands.</p> + +<p>"He must never know!" she cried, incoherently. "Promise me, by all you +hold dear, that both you and your wife will keep my secret—will never +reveal one word of what has happened this night."</p> + +<p>"It is not right that we should keep silent upon such an amazing +procedure. That would be letting escape the man who should be punished, +if there is any law in the land to reach him for committing such a +heinous crime."</p> + +<p>"I plead with you—I, who know best and am the one wronged, and most +vitally interested, to utter no word that would cause the story to +become blazoned all over the world. Let me make my words a prayer to you +both—to keep my pitiful secret."</p> + +<p>It was beyond human power to look into those beautiful violet eyes, +drowned in the most agonized tears, and the white, terrified, anxious +face, without yielding to her prayer.</p> + +<p>"I do not know what good reason you may have for binding us to secrecy," +he said, slowly and reluctantly, "but we cannot choose but to give you +the promise—nay, the pledge—you plead for. I can answer for my Mary as +well as myself—the story of to-night's happenings shall never pass our +lips until you give us leave to speak."</p> + +<p>"Thank you! Oh, I thank you a thousand times!" sobbed the girl. "You +have lifted a terrible load from my heart. If the time ever comes when I +can repay you, rest assured it shall surely be done."</p> + +<p>She tried to rise from her couch, but the good wife held her back upon +her pillow with a detaining hand, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"What are you about to do, my dear child?"</p> + +<p>"Go away from here," sobbed the girl, again attempting to arise from the +couch, but falling back upon the pillow from sheer weakness.</p> + +<p>She did not leave that couch for many a day. What she had undergone had +been too much for her shattered nerves.</p> + +<p>Brain fever threatened the hapless girl, but was warded off by the +faithful nursing of old Adam's faithful wife.</p> + +<p>And during those weeks the good woman could learn nothing of the history +of the beautiful young stranger, who persistently refused to divulge one +word concerning herself. She would turn her face to the wall and weep so +violently when any allusion was made to her past that the grave digger's +wife gave up questioning her.</p> + +<p>One morning the bed was empty. It had not been slept in. The girl had +fled in the night.</p> + +<p>Who she was, or where she had gone, was to them the darkest, deepest +mystery. Would it ever be revealed? They could not discuss it with the +old minister or any of the neighbors, for their lips were sealed in +eternal silence concerning the matter.</p> + +<p>"I feel sure the end of this matter is not yet," said old Adam, +prophetically. "When the girl comes face to face with the dastardly +villain she wedded that night, it will end in a tragedy."</p> + +<p>"God forbid!" murmured his wife with a shudder; but down in her own +heart she felt that her husband had spoken the truth; the tragic end of +this affair had not yet come.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>"YOU ARE DISINHERITED—EVERYTHING IN THIS HOUSE IS MINE."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Faynie had indeed departed from that humble home as she had entered it, +in the dark, dim silence of the bitter-cold night.</p> + +<p>She made her way as best she could to the station which, fortunately +enough, was not far distant. The station master was old and anxious to +get home, and therefore paid little heed to the little dark-robed figure +who bought a ticket to New York, and soon after crept silently aboard of +the train which steamed into the little depot of the hamlet, almost +buried in the snowdrifts across the hills.</p> + +<p>Weak and faint from her recent illness, Faynie, the beautiful, petted +little heiress of a short time before, huddled into a corner of the seat +by the door, and drawing her veil carefully over her face, wept silently +and unheeded as the midnight express bore her along to her destination.</p> + +<p>She was going home to Beechwood; going back to the home she had left in +such high spirits to join the lover who was to be all in all to her +forever more; the lover who was to shield her henceforth and forever +from the world's storms, and was to be all devotion to her and love her +fondly until death did them part. And this had been the end of it. Her +high hopes lay in ruins around her. Her idol had been formed of +commonest clay, and lay crumbled in a thousand fragments at her feet.</p> + +<p>Surely, no young girl's love dream ever had such a sad awakening, and +was so cruelly dispelled.</p> + +<p>She would go home to her haughty old father, tell him all, then lie down +at his feet and die. That would end it all. Even in that moment lines +she had once read came back to her with renewed meaning:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"And this is all! The end has come at last!<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The bitter end of all that pleasant dream,<br /></span> +<span>That cast a hallow o'er the happy past,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Like golden sunshine on a summer stream.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Sweet were the days that marked life's sunny slope,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When we together drew our hearts atune,<br /></span> +<span>And through the vision of a future hope,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>We did not dream that they would pass so soon.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"In happy mood fair castles we upreared,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And thought that life was one long summer day;<br /></span> +<span>We had no dread of future pain, nor feared<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>That shadows e'er should fall athwart our way.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"But sunken rocks lie hid in every stream,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And ships are wrecked when just in sight of land;<br /></span> +<span>So we to-day wake from our pleasant dream<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>To find our hopes were builded on the sand.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"I do not blame you that you do not keep<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The troth you plighted e'er your heart you knew;<br /></span> +<span>Better the parting now than wake to weep,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>When time has robbed life's roses of their dew.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Another face will help you to forget,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>The idle dream that had its birth in trust,<br /></span> +<span>And other lips will kiss away regret,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>For broken faith and idols turned to dust,<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Ah, well, you chose, perhaps, the better way;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Another love may in your heart be shrined;<br /></span> +<span>And I—I shall go down my darkened way,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Seeking forever what I ne'er shall find."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It was two o'clock by the church belfry when she reached Beechwood, and +a quarter of an hour later when she reached the great mansion that stood +on the brow of the hill.</p> + +<p>She remembered that one of the rear doors, seldom used, was never +fastened, and toward this she bent her faltering footsteps. It yielded +to her touch, and like a ghost she glided through it and up the wide, +familiar corridors, her tears falling like rain at every step.</p> + +<p>She knew it was her father's custom to spend long hours in his library, +sometimes far into the gray dawn. He found this preferable to the +presence of his sharp-tongued second wife, who was always nagging him +for more money, or to put his property into her name as proof positive +of his unbounded, undying affection for her.</p> + +<p>In his library, among his books, there was no nagging. Here he found +peace, silence and quiet.</p> + +<p>Therefore, toward the library, late as the hour was, Faynie made her +way, stealing along quietly as a shadow.</p> + +<p>The door stood slightly ajar, and a ray of light, a narrow, thread-like +strip, fell athwart the dim corridor.</p> + +<p>When Faynie reached the door she paused, trembling with apprehension, a +feeling of intense dread, like a presentiment of coming evil, stealing +over her like the shadow of doom.</p> + +<p>She was prepared for his bitter anger, for the whirlwind of wrath that +would be sure to follow, but she would cast herself on her knees at his +feet, and with head bowed, oh, so lowly, so piteously, wait for the +hurricane of his rage to exhaust itself. Then she would bend over her +head still lower, her pride crushed, her pitiful humiliation complete, +and sue on her bended knees, with her hands clasped for his pardon and +his love again.</p> + +<p>She would plead for it for the sake of the fair, hapless young mother +whom she had loved and lost in his early youth. Surely, for her sake he +would find mercy, perhaps pardon, for the child she had left behind her, +the fair, petted, hapless daughter, who had been so lonely, and whose +heart yearned so for love ever since he had brought in a second wife to +rule over his household.</p> + +<p>Ay, from that hour he and his daughter had seemed to drift apart.</p> + +<p>Nerving herself for the ordeal, the girl crept to the door and timidly +swung it back.</p> + +<p>There was a figure bending over the writing desk; not the tall form of +her father, but her stepmother.</p> + +<p>Faynie drew back with a startled cry.</p> + +<p>In a single instant, with the swiftness of a lioness, the woman who had +been examining the desk, cleared the space that divided her from the +girl, and clutched her by the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"You!" she panted, in a voice that was scarcely human, it was so full of +venomous hatred. "You!" she repeated, flinging the girl from her, as +though she had been something vile to the touch. "How dare you come +here?"</p> + +<p>Faynie looked at her for a moment with dilated eyes gazing out from her +pale face.</p> + +<p>Had her stepmother suddenly gone mad? was the thought that flashed +through the girl's brain.</p> + +<p>"I—I have come back to my father, and—and to his home—and mine. Any +explanation I have to offer will be made to him alone."</p> + +<p>The woman laughed a sneering, demoniac laugh, and her clutch on the +girl's shoulder grew stronger, fiercer.</p> + +<p>"How lovely, how beautifully worded, how dutiful!" she sneered. "By that +I judge that you have not been keeping abreast of the times, or you +would have known, girl, that your father is dead, and that he has +disinherited you, leaving every dollar of his wealth to me."</p> + +<p>"Dead!" Faynie repeated the words in an awful whisper.</p> + +<p>It seemed to her that every drop of blood in her veins seemed suddenly +turned to ice. A mist swam before her eyes and she put out her hand +gropingly, grasping the back of the nearest chair for support.</p> + +<p>She did not even hear the last of the sentence. Her thoughts and hearing +seemed to end with that one awful word.</p> + +<p>"That is what I said," replied her stepmother, nonchalantly, "and you +are his murderess, girl, quite as much as though you had plunged a +dagger in his heart. Your elopement caused him to have a terrible +hemorrhage. He knew all the details about it in less than an hour's +time, learning from one of the servants how you stole out of the house +and met the tall man at the gate, who took you off in a closed carriage, +and just as he made this discovery one of the maids handed him your +note, which you left pinned to the pillow, addressed to him. He had no +sooner read it than he fell into a rage so horrible that it ended as I +have said, in a hemorrhage. Within ten minutes' time your name, which he +cursed, was stricken from his will, and he left everything to me, +disinheriting you. Do you comprehend the force of my remark?"</p> + +<p>The steady, awful look in the young girl's eyes made the woman quail in +spite of her bravado. "I—I do not care for my father's wealth, but that +he should curse me—oh, that is too much—too much. Oh, God, let me die +here and now, that I may follow him to the Great White Throne and there +kneel before him and tell him all my pitiful story!"</p> + +<p>"That is a pretty theory, but people cannot go to and come at will from +the Great White Throne, as you call it. You had better get back to the +realities of life on this mundane sphere, where you find yourself just +at present. I repeat for the third time that you are disinherited. I +cannot seem to make you grasp that fact. This home and everything in it +belongs absolutely to me."</p> + +<p>Faynie heard and realized, and without a word, turned and staggered like +one dying toward the door, but her stepmother put herself quickly before +her.</p> + +<p>"Sit down there. I have something else to say to you," she added in a +shrill whisper, pushing the girl into the nearest seat.</p> + +<p>"I must go. I will not listen," cried Faynie, struggling to her feet.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you shall listen and comply with my proposition," exclaimed her +stepmother, her glittering eyes fastened on the beautiful face of the +girl she hated so intensely.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>IMPENDING EVIL.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>We must return for one brief instant, dear reader, to our hero, Lester +Armstrong, whom we left as he was being hurried off to the hospital on +the night which proved so thrillingly eventful.</p> + +<p>At the first rapid glance, the surgeon had believed his patient dying, +but upon examination after he had reached the hospital, it was +discovered that his injury was by no means as serious as had been +apprehended; but a trouble quite as grave confronted the patient.</p> + +<p>"An injury to the base of the brain, such as he has received, no matter +how slight, might, in this instance, produce either insanity or partial +loss of memory, which is almost as bad," said the surgeon. "It will +soon be determined when consciousness, returns to him."</p> + +<p>This indeed proved to be the case. Just as daylight broke Lester +Armstrong opened his eyes, looking in amazement around the strange +apartment in which he found himself.</p> + +<p>A kindly-faced nurse bent over him, who, in answer to his look of +inquiry, said:</p> + +<p>"You had a severe fall and hurt yourself last night and was brought to +the hospital. You are doing finely. Can you remember anything about the +incident?"</p> + +<p>Lester looked up vacantly into the dark-gray eyes. "I—I was in a hurry +to close my books at the office; that is all I recollect," he murmured.</p> + +<p>From documents found in his pockets, it was learned that he had some +connection with the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., and the senior +member of the firm was notified. Within an hour Mr. Marsh responded in +person. He was greatly distressed over the occurrence and took it deeply +to heart.</p> + +<p>"I think as much of that young man as if he were my own son. Do +everything in human power for him. Let no pains be spared. I will stand +every expense," he said, and then and there he also confided a startling +secret to the surgeon.</p> + +<p>"I am a lone man in this world, without one kindred tie on earth. Some +little time since I made my will. I left every dollar I possessed on +earth to my young cashier, Lester Armstrong, though he never even +dreamed of such an existing state of affairs. I never intended that he +should know that I had made him my heir for perhaps years to come yet."</p> + +<p>"Lester Armstrong!" exclaimed the surgeon. "Why, that is not the name he +is entered here under, Mr. Marsh. The friend who was with him did not +call him that."</p> + +<p>"Then the friend who was with him evidently did not know him. I identify +him as my cashier, Lester Armstrong."</p> + +<p>The surgeon bowed courteously.</p> + +<p>"I would also suggest no mention whatever of this affair be given to the +newspapers," continued the gentleman. "They would make a sensational +story out of it, and I detest notoriety."</p> + +<p>"Your wishes shall be respected, sir," replied the surgeon, who had a +great reverence for men of wealth.</p> + +<p>His prediction proved quite correct. When Lester Armstrong arose from +that bed of sickness ten days later, his mind, although as bright and +keen as ever on some subjects, on others was hopelessly clouded. Even +the slightest recollection of beautiful Faynie Fairfax, the little +sweetheart whom he had loved better than his own life, was completely +obliterated from his mind. He did not even remember such a being had +ever existed.</p> + +<p>Another event had transpired on the eventful night of his injury. The +humble boarding house where he had made his home so many years, had been +destroyed by fire, and the people had gone none knew whither. This was +indeed a trying blow to Lester, for the fire had completely wiped out +all of his savings which he had kept in the little haircloth trunk in +his room. But, without a murmur, he took up the burden of life over +again and went back to his work at his desk.</p> + +<p>In going over his accounts he suddenly came across the name of Faynie +Fairfax.</p> + +<p>The pen fell from his fingers and he brushed his hand over his brow.</p> + +<p>"What a strangely familiar ring that name has to me!" he muttered, "but +I cannot imagine who it can be. Her checks seem to be paid in here. I +must remember to notice who she is when next she comes to this window."</p> + +<p>Life had dropped into the same old groove again for Lester Armstrong, +the only difference in the routine of his daily life being that he was +not obliged to take his daily trips to Beechwood any more, for the +reason that his employer, Mr. Marsh, had taken up his residence in the +city again.</p> + +<p>But in less than a fortnight another event happened.</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsh died suddenly, and to the great surprise of every one, Lester +Armstrong was named as his sole heir. At first the young man was +dumfounded. He could not believe the evidence of his own senses, when +first the news was conveyed to him.</p> + +<p>The papers contained columns concerning the young man's wonderful luck. +Those who knew Lester Armstrong said the great fortune which had come to +him would not spoil him.</p> + +<p>There was one who read this account with amazed eyes, and that was +Halloran.</p> + +<p>"Great God!" he muttered, his hands shaking, his teeth chattering. +"Kendale told me that Armstrong was taken to the hospital in a +precarious condition and died there."</p> + +<p>He made all haste to Kendale's lodgings. The latter, who was still +masquerading under the name of Lester Armstrong, had been on a +continuous spree ever since the night he had wedded the little beauty, +and Halloran had let him take his course, saying to himself that there +was plenty of time in the future to carry out their scheme.</p> + +<p>For once he found Kendale partially sober. He knew by Halloran's face +that something out of the usual order of events had transpired.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter?" he cried; "what's up now?"</p> + +<p>For answer Halloran laid the paper before him, pointing to the column, +remarking, grimly:</p> + +<p>"The game's up now, and we've gone through all this trouble for nothing. +Your cousin, Lester Armstrong, is not dead, but instead is alive and +well."</p> + +<p>The papers which contained the account gave another bit of unfortunate +information, stating that Lester Armstrong had suffered from loss of +memory since he had received the fall on that fatal night.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Halloran, as his friend laid down the paper, "you see, the +game's up."</p> + +<p>"By no means," exclaimed Kendale, perfectly sober by this time. "It's a +poor rule that won't work both ways," he added, excitedly.</p> + +<p>"I don't understand your cause for rejoicing," returned Halloran, +gloomily.</p> + +<p>"Don't you?" cried Kendale. "Then let me make it clear to you. We not +only have one fortune through the girl that I tied myself to, and can, +as her husband, collect all in good time, but with a little strategy I +can come in for the Marsh millions. We can decoy Armstrong into a coach, +and let the world find out his fate after that if it can. I will coolly +take his place, just as I did in that other affair, and who is there to +question that I am not he."</p> + +<p>"But they know you there. You worked a week in the employ of Marsh & Co. +You forget that."</p> + +<p>"It was at one of their branch stores," was the reply, "and they had +never heard of Armstrong there, and had never seen him. I left in a +week. I did not resemble my cousin so much at that particular time for +the reason that my mustache was shaven off then. Without that you would +be surprised to see what a wide difference there is between us."</p> + +<p>"It is a great scheme, if you are sure that you can carry it through," +said Halloran, breathing hard and eying his companion fixedly.</p> + +<p>"Trust that to me," replied Kendale, jumping up and walking the floor to +and fro excitedly.</p> + +<p>It was midnight when Halloran left Kendale's apartments. During those +long hours the two plotters had concocted a diabolical scheme, which +they meant to carry out ere the morning light dawned.</p> + +<p>All unconscious of the nefarious plot against his life, Lester Armstrong +was up with the sun the next morning, and was down to the office at an +early hour transacting the great amount of business that he found upon +his hands, contingent upon being the head of the firm of which he had +for so many years been but an humble cashier.</p> + +<p>Despite the sudden wealth which had come to him, all that day he felt a +strange depression of the heart, a strong impression of impending evil, +which he could not shake off. Even those about him noticed what a gloomy +look there was in his eyes.</p> + +<p>He was the last one to leave the great building that night, and as he +stepped out upon the sidewalk, he muttered to himself: "I wonder what is +about to happen to me, my heart feels so heavy, so depressed."</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>IN THE TOILS OF THE CONSPIRATORS.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Lester Armstrong had no sooner stepped to the pavement than he was +accosted by a man who stepped suddenly up to him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Armstrong?" he said, interrogatively, touching his hat +respectfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded Lester, "what can I do for you?"</p> + +<p>"I am here on a deed of mercy. A friend of mine, an employee of yours, +sir, has met with a serious accident and calls for you repeatedly. I am +a hackman, and I volunteered to come for you and ask you to let me take +you to him. It is not very far. My cab stands right here."</p> + +<p>"I will go to the poor fellow, certainly," responded Lester, hurrying to +the vehicle in question and hastily entering it.</p> + +<p>In a moment the driver had mounted the box and was off like the wind. It +did not occur to Lester until he was well under way that he had not +thought to inquire who the injured man was.</p> + +<p>As the cab rolled swiftly along over the crowded thoroughfare, Lester +leaned back and gave himself up to his own thoughts.</p> + +<p>Wealth had come to him, and with it honors had crowded thick and fast +upon him. The world of society held out its arms eagerly to him. Lovely +young girls, matrons of the house, offered their congratulations to him +with the most bewitching of smiles, and mothers with marriageable +daughters from all over the city opened an account with the great dry +goods house, whose sole owner was a young and handsome bachelor.</p> + +<p>But for all this there seemed to be something sadly missing in his life, +a want which he could hardly define, and it seemed to take the shape of +something which he was striving to remember, but could not.</p> + +<p>Only that morning he had been talking with some one in the office about +it, and had been laughingly informed that there was a method that could +bring back to his memory that which he desired so ardently to recollect. +"If you will tell me how to unravel this tangle that is in my brain, you +will have my everlasting gratitude," declared Lester, earnestly.</p> + +<p>"It takes people with nerves of steel to accomplish it. A person who is +nervous to the slightest degree would not dare to try it, for fear of +turning suddenly insane from the terrible mental struggle. Do you still +wish to know what it is?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," responded Lester, "and I can use my judgment whether I dare try +it or not."</p> + +<p>"Very good," replied the gentleman, "then here it is: Counting five +thousand backward will either restore your loss of memory, or, as I have +taken care to warn you gravely in advance, cause you to go insane. It +must be done rapidly, and in a given space of time. In my belief the +remedy is by far worse than the malady. I feel, somehow, as though I +ought not to have told you about it."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said Lester. "You need have little fear of my trying it."</p> + +<p>He thought of it, however, as the cab rolled rapidly along.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if harm would result from my trying it?" he mused. "I have +unusually strong nerves, and—and, if anything disastrous should come of +it, there is not one soul on the wide earth that would be injured. There +is no mother to weep, no fair young sister to grieve, no father or +brother to be bowed down with sorrow. I am alone in the world. My +foolhardiness would injure only myself—only myself."</p> + +<p>He had been thinking so deeply that he had not noted the flight of time, +nor that the street lamps had grown fewer and far between, at last +ceasing altogether, and that they were traveling a country road. +Suddenly the vehicle came to a stop. The driver jumped from his box and +opened the door with a jerk, remarking:</p> + +<p>"This is the place."</p> + +<p>Lester alighted, looking about him in a rather mystified manner, but +before he could make the inquiry that rose to his lips the driver +hastened to say:</p> + +<p>"The path that leads to the house, which is just beyond that clump of +trees, is so narrow that we cannot drive there. We will have to walk. It +is but a short distance. You will see the house at the first turn in the +path."</p> + +<p>And as the man uttered the words he gave a peculiar cough.</p> + +<p>"Who is the person who sent for me?" Lester queried, stopping short. The +man made an evasive answer, which aroused his suspicions that all was +not as it should be.</p> + +<p>"Why do you not answer my question? I refuse to proceed a step farther +until you have satisfied me on this point," declared Lester, haughtily.</p> + +<p>"That's your opinion. I think differently, my fine fellow," answered the +man insolently. "I'd advise you to come along quietly."</p> + +<p>Lester Armstrong saw at once that he had been lured into a trap. It was +natural for him to jump to the conclusion that it was for robbery, owing +to the fact of his coming into possession of the great Marsh fortune so +recently, and a sudden sternness settled upon his face. He was not used +to broils, but this fellow should see that he was not quite a stranger +to the manly art of self-defense, and that he had an adversary worthy of +his steel.</p> + +<p>"Are you coming along peaceably with me, or shall I be obliged to call +upon my pals for assistance?" he asked, grimly.</p> + +<p>"I propose to defend myself against all odds," answered Lester, more +than angry with himself for falling so easily into the trap that had +been so cunningly set for him.</p> + +<p>He had but a few dollars in money about him, and the disappointment of +his assailant in not finding a large roll of bills would in all +probability cause the man to take desperate chances in trying to make +away with him. If he was armed he was at the fellow's mercy. There might +be half a dozen accomplices in collusion with him, he had little doubt.</p> + +<p>Again the cabby uttered that peculiar cough which was half a whistle, +and in response two men, whose features were covered by black masks, +sprang from the adjacent bushes.</p> + +<p>Our hero put up a splendid defense, but the united strength of his three +antagonists at length overpowered him.</p> + +<p>What was there in the figure of one of the men that seemed so familiar +to him? he wondered, and just as they were bearing him to the ground by +their united efforts, he suddenly reached forward and tore the mask from +his assailant's face.</p> + +<p>One glance, and the horror of death seemed to suddenly freeze the blood +in his veins. His eyes dilated and seemed to nearly burst from their +sockets. The face into which he gazed was that of Clinton Kendale, his +cousin.</p> + +<p>"You!" he gasped, quite disbelieving the evidence of his own senses.</p> + +<p>Kendale laughed a diabolical laugh, while his features were distorted +into those of a fiend incarnate.</p> + +<p>"I haven't the least hesitation in admitting my identity," he said, +coolly. "Yes, you are in good hands, if you give us no trouble, and come +along quietly, without compelling us to use further force."</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this outrage?" cried Lester, white to the lips.</p> + +<p>"That you shall learn all in good time, cousin mine," replied Kendale, +mockingly.</p> + +<p>In struggling out of their grasp to better protect himself, Lester fell +headlong on the icy ground, striking his head heavily against the +gnarled, projecting root of a tree and lying at their feet like one +dead.</p> + +<p>"He will give us little enough trouble now," said Kendale, grimly. "Lend +a hand there, both of you, and get him into the house quickly. I am +almost frozen to death here."</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to narrate it, Lester Armstrong was hurriedly +conveyed into the house.</p> + +<p>The place consisted of but two rooms, and into the inner one Lester was +thrust with but little ceremony, and tossed upon a pallet of straw in +the corner.</p> + +<p>He had not entirely lost consciousness, as they supposed, but was only +stunned, realizing fully all that was transpiring about him.</p> + +<p>"Your scheme has worked like a charm, Halloran," said Kendale. "We have +bagged our game more easily than I imagined we would. Now there is +nothing in the way between me and the fortune that liberal old fool +Marsh willed to my amiable cousin."</p> + +<p>"Everything rests with the shrewdness with which you play your part," +answered the man addressed as Halloran.</p> + +<p>"You ought not to have any scruples on that score," exclaimed Kendale, +boastfully. "After leaving my amiable cousin on the night of the +accident, did I not go immediately to the pretty little heiress, Faynie +Fairfax, and successfully pass myself off as the lover she was waiting +to elope with? And the little beauty never knew the difference."</p> + +<p>"I must own that you played your cards successfully in that direction," +was the response, "but this will be a far different matter from +hoodwinking a young, unsophisticated girl."</p> + +<p>"Within a month from to-day I shall have the Fairfax fortune and the +Marsh millions added to it," said Clinton Kendale, emphatically.</p> + +<p>"I would put an eternal quietus upon my fortunate cousin here, did I not +need his assistance in one or two matters concerning the method of +running the business, which was known only to old Marsh and himself."</p> + +<p>"Are you fool enough to think that he will divulge those secrets to +you?" said Halloran, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"They can be forced from him. I know how," returned Kendale, with a +brutal laugh. "Come," he said, turning on his heel.</p> + +<p>His companion followed him from the apartment, and the door closed with +a resounding bang, and Lester lay there too horror-stricken to move hand +or foot, fairly spellbound by the disclosures he had overheard as they +stood over him, believing him unconscious.</p> + +<p>All in an instant a great wave of awakened memory swept over him, +opening out the flood-gates of recollection like a flash. He remembered +his interview with his sweetheart, his darling Faynie, and how he was +arranging to hurry back to marry her when the fatal accident occurred, +and how, believing himself dying, he had confided all to his treacherous +cousin, bidding him take the message to his darling, that even in death +his only thought was of her.</p> + +<p>Oh, merciful God! how horribly had his treacherous cousin betrayed that +sacred trust, because of his fatal resemblance to himself! He cried out +to God and the listening angels:</p> + +<p>"Heaven help my beautiful darling and save her from the machinations of +that desperate villain!"</p> + +<p>He knew that Clinton Kendale would stop at nothing to gain his end, and +his agony at the thought that he might be unable to prevent it in time +almost drove him to the verge of madness.</p> + +<p>He felt that they would hold him there until they tortured from him +whatever secret he held which they wished to learn; then they would +deliberately make away with him. Clinton Kendale would step into his +place, personating himself so cleverly that the great world, under whose +very eyes the terrible tragedy had taken place, would never know the +difference. Even Faynie would not know how she had been tricked and +cheated, and the last thought almost drove him to the point of frenzy, +nearly succeeding in turning his tortured brain.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>"YOU ARE OUR PRISONER!"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For hours Lester Armstrong lay like one stunned, turning over and over +in his mind the awful revelation he had heard. That a human being, +especially his cousin, Clinton Kendale, should have plotted so horribly +against him seemed almost past believing. Then he remembered how +treacherous he had been in his early days, and he wondered that he had +been so mad as to have trusted him.</p> + +<p>"Heaven save my darling from him!" he cried out in an agony too great +for words. To realize that she was in the mercy of such a man was a +sorrow so great that all else on earth paled before it. Then a mighty +resolve came to him—to foil the villainous plot, weak though he was; he +must make his escape and fly to his darling's aid.</p> + +<p>He knew that Clinton Kendale would follow out his line of action, +keeping him there as long as it was necessary—that is, until he learned +all the secrets that he was so anxious to ascertain—then he would put +him out of the way with as little compunction as he would a dog. He +might expect little mercy at Kendale's hands, when two fortunes and a +beautiful young girl hung in the balance.</p> + +<p>For hours he lay there, turning the matter over in his mind. He knew he +was terribly weak from the awful fall which he had received, and which +had hurt his head the second time in almost the same place; but escape +he must from the clutches of the conspirators, even though he were +dying.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the key turned in the lock, the door swung open and Kendale +entered, bearing a lighted candle in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you have come to, have you?" he remarked, seeing the other's eyes +turn toward him; and before Lester Armstrong could answer he went on +quickly: "You are the only one who knows the combination which opens the +safe of the late Marsh & Co., and as I intend to open it to-morrow +morning at the usual hour in place of your punctual self, it will be +most necessary for you to give me the required information."</p> + +<p>For one moment Lester Armstrong gazed steadily into the face of the +fiend incarnate before him—a look before which the other quailed +despite his apparent bravado.</p> + +<p>"I am in your power and at your mercy," he said, "but though you torture +me on the rack I shall never tell you what you want to know. That safe +contains valuable papers which belong to others; they are secure in my +keeping. You can kill me, but the secret of the safe combination will +die with me."</p> + +<p>Kendale laughed a little short, hard laugh.</p> + +<p>"You are mad to thus defy me," he cried, harshly, "when you stop to +consider that I can open it in any event. I can simply say the +combination has slipped from my mind. Who is there to question Mr. +Lester Armstrong, the head of the firm? No one—no one. It will be +broken open quite as soon as workmen can be found to accomplish it."</p> + +<p>The lines about the sufferer's mouth tightened; he clutched his hands +hard. He knew the dare devil Kendale would stop at nothing—nothing.</p> + +<p>"I will give you until daylight to decide. I promise you that it will go +hard with you if you are not complaisant."</p> + +<p>With that he turned on his heel and quitted the room.</p> + +<p>During all the long hours of that never-to-be-forgotten night Lester +Armstrong lay there on his pallet of straw praying for strength to foil +the villain—for Heaven to direct him what to do.</p> + +<p>For the Marsh millions he cared nothing; but his heart was wrung with +anguish when he trusted himself to think of Faynie.</p> + +<p>He knew that Kendale had kept the appointment made by himself, but for +some reason the elopement could not have taken place. A thousand causes +might have prevented its successful carrying out, though Kendale was +sure of a satisfactory finish, he imagined.</p> + +<p>Daylight broke at last; he could see it dimly through the dust-begrimed, +boarded-up windows; but it was not until the sun had well risen that his +cousin put in an appearance again. Lester was suffering intense pain +from the terrible bruise on his head at the base of the brain, but he +set his teeth hard together, determining that his mortal foe should not +know it.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" exclaimed Kendale, sneeringly. "Wide awake, I see!—probably the +fixed habit of years. You have, no doubt, come to a more sensible frame +of mind than I left you in last night, I trust, regarding the +information I want concerning the combination of the big safe in the +private office of Marsh & Co."</p> + +<p>"I will never reveal it to you," cried Lester. "Never!"</p> + +<p>For an instant a black, malignant scowl swept over Kendale's face, but +after a moment's deep thought he turned on his heel again, laughing +immoderately as he stepped to the door and held a low conversation with +the two men who were still in the outer apartment, and in a trice they +had joined Kendale, one of them still wearing the black mask which he +had used the night before.</p> + +<p>"We will proceed to relieve him of his private papers, keys, wallet, and +so forth," said Kendale; and, as if in compliance with some previously +arranged plan, the three set upon Lester, and in his almost helpless +condition it was not difficult to overpower him and take from him his +possessions, which Kendale quickly took charge of.</p> + +<p>In the encounter, owing to his exhausted condition, Lester lost +consciousness; and thus they left him, making him their prisoner by +turning the key in the lock again when they reached the outer room.</p> + +<p>"And now," said Halloran, removing the square of black linen from his +face, "what's next on the programme?"</p> + +<p>"Our friend, the cabby, will take me back to town with as much speed as +possible. You, my dear fellow, will remain here on guard, making +yourself as comfortable as is absolutely possible under the dismal +circumstances of keeping guard and circumventing any attempt of our +prisoner to escape. You know we have great need of him yet, in forcing +him to disclose much that is advantageous to us. We can starve it out of +him, if threats fail. As long as you have a good warm fire, plenty of +provisions and plenty to read here you ought not to complain. You are +having the easiest part of the bargain, Halloran, while I am doing all +of the hazardous work."</p> + +<p>"What if I should be suspected in the <i>rôle</i> I am about to play for the +Marsh millions? Why, it would mean State's prison instead of the fortune +we have planned for so desperately."</p> + +<p>"You will carry it through all right," declared Halloran, confidently.</p> + +<p>"My nerve has never failed me so far, and I'm depending on that," said +Kendale, mechanically.</p> + +<p>Two hours later Kendale was breakfasting in a fashionable downtown +restaurant, endeavoring to fortify himself with courage for the trying +ordeal which he was about to face.</p> + +<p>He had given Halloran his promise to abstain from touching even a drop +of liquor, fully realizing it to be his mortal foe; but with Kendale a +promise amounted to scarcely a flip of his white fingers when it ran +contrary to his own desires.</p> + +<p>He told himself that he must have a "bracer" to steady his nerves. It +was not until a second and a third had been drunk that the proper amount +of courage came to him to undertake the dastardly scheme. Half an hour +later he walked boldly into the big dry goods emporium. He had no idea +where the private office was, but his quick wits served him in this +dilemma. Laying his hands on an errand boy who was just passing out, +whose cap bore the name of Marsh & Co., he said, carelessly:</p> + +<p>"Here, lad, take my coat up to the private office; I will follow you. Go +slowly, though, through the crowd of shoppers."</p> + +<p>With a respectful bow the boy took the coat from him.</p> + +<p>It so happened that one of the rules of the house was that the employees +must not use the elevators, and by the time Kendale had climbed the +fourth flight of stairs he was thoroughly exhausted, the perspiration +fairly streaming down his face.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know enough to go by way of the elevator, you young idiot?" +he roared, almost gasping for breath.</p> + +<p>"You forget it's against the rules for us to do so, Mr. Armstrong," +returned the lad.</p> + +<p>"Rules be hanged!" cried his companion. "How many more floors up is it?"</p> + +<p>The lad looked up into his face in the greatest amazement. Such a +question on the lips of the head of the firm rather astounded him; but +then, perhaps it had not occurred to the gentleman just how many flights +of steps the boys were obliged to climb.</p> + +<p>"We are only on the fourth floor, sir," he responded, "and it's up the +other four flights, you know."</p> + +<p>"Get into the elevator," commanded Kendale; and the boy turned, and +walked over to it, closely followed by his companion, mentally wondering +what in the world had come over courteous, kindly Mr. Lester Armstrong.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>THE NEW BROOM DID NOT SWEEP CLEAN.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Clinton Kendale showed himself to be a thorough actor in carrying out a +part carefully, as he followed the boy through the main office, where +all of the bookkeepers were at work, toward the little office in the +rear.</p> + +<p>"Ah, this is indeed comfortable," he exclaimed, flinging himself into a +luxurious leather armchair. "Throw the coat down anywhere, and go," he +said, as the boy stood before him awaiting his dismissal.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! What an elegant nest Lester got himself into!" he +ejaculated, looking about him. "I can enjoy it far better than he could, +though I don't expect to be cooped up here more than an hour or two a +day. Those fellows out there in the outer office are paid to do the +work, and I'll be hanged if they shan't do it—every bit of it. I'll +break 'em in my way, and they'll think it's new rules. By George! +they'll find plenty of new rules. Ha! ha! ha! I suppose I'd better be +opening that desk."</p> + +<p>Feeling in his pocket, he drew forth the bunch of keys which he had +taken by force from his cousin. One by one he fitted each to the lock, +but none of them seemed to work.</p> + +<p>"Confound the thing!" he muttered. "My patience won't last much longer. +Then I'll stave it in with my heel.</p> + +<p>"Hello, there!" he cried, as, hearing a slight noise behind him, he +wheeled around and found an elderly man, with a pen behind his ear, and +a sheet of paper in his hand, standing there.</p> + +<p>"Why the deuce didn't you knock?" he cried, angrily and flushing hotly, +for he realized this man must have witnessed his vain attempts to open +the desk. "What do you want?" he asked sharply and ill-humoredly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway, the old cashier—for it was he—was looking at him with +dilated, amazed eyes; but in a moment he recovered himself.</p> + +<p>"You said to come into your office quite as soon as you came this +morning, as you wished to see me on particular business, Mr. Armstrong," +he replied in the low voice habitual with him.</p> + +<p>For an instant the bogus Lester Armstrong's brows were knit closely +together; then he said, coolly, sharply: "I've changed my mind; I don't +want to see you."</p> + +<p>Still the man lingered.</p> + +<p>"Pardon me," he said. "I thought probably it might be in regard to those +notes of Jordan & Beckwith which you were considering negotiating for."</p> + +<p>"Well, you'll have to think again," exclaimed the other, tartly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway turned toward the door, but as he stretched out his hand to +grasp the knob his employer sang out, sharply:</p> + +<p>"Hold on, there! Come here and see if you can do anything with this +confounded desk. It's got the jim-jams or something. I've been monkeying +with it for the last half hour, and can do nothing with it." And as he +uttered the words, he held out the bunch of keys toward him.</p> + +<p>If Mr. Conway had been startled before, he was certainly alarmed now, +and he looked at his companion in amazement which could not be +concealed.</p> + +<p>"Well," cried the other, his temper rising, the result of the brandy +diffusing itself through his brain, "what are you staring at me like +that for? Why don't you take the keys and go ahead?"</p> + +<p>Quite as soon as speech would come to him the old cashier said, slowly:</p> + +<p>"You seem to forget, Mr. Armstrong, that the keys have been done away +with some time, and the desk now opens with a secret spring which you +yourself devised."</p> + +<p>"Well, come here and open it. My fingers are all thumbs to-day," +replied his companion, looking at him doggedly.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway stepped forward and touched what appeared to be one of the +brass nails that studded the outer rim, and, as if by magic, the desk +flew open, the other watching keenly to see how he did it.</p> + +<p>Without further comment Mr. Conway turned away and with slow, heavy +tread left the private office and walked toward his desk. When he +reached it his emotions overcame him completely, and he laid his head +down upon his ledger, tears falling like rain down his face.</p> + +<p>In an instant half a dozen of his fellow bookkeepers were about him, +frightened beyond words at this unusual scene and inquiring what could +be the matter.</p> + +<p>For a moment the old cashier hesitated, then he resolved to break the +truth to them; they would soon find it out for themselves; he would tell +them, and at the same time instruct them as best he could in this +unfortunate affair. He raised his white head, the head that had grown +gray in the employ of the firm he had loved so well and served so +faithfully.</p> + +<p>"You must know the truth, my fellows," he answered, slowly, huskily, and +with apparent difficulty. "Our Mr. Armstrong has, for the first time +since we have all known him, gone wrong; he is under the influence of +strong drink, and by no means himself. I may add that I earnestly pray +that each of you be loyal to him, even through this misfortune, and not +let even a hint of it go forth to the outside world, for at this crisis +it would ruin the well-known firm of Marsh & Co., which is now vested in +him."</p> + +<p>The horror and amazement on the faces of the men can better be imagined +than described. All had loved and revered Lester Armstrong, and to hear +that he had suddenly gone wrong because he had become possessed of a +fortune was alarming and distressing news to them.</p> + +<p>"Drink changes him so completely in temperament that it is hard to +realize that he is the same courteous companion of those other days. He +was so far gone from the effects of liquor I am not even sure that he +recognized me. Hark! what is that?"</p> + +<p>Several of the detectives of the place were rushing through the main +office toward the private office, in answer to Mr. Armstrong's summons. +The call for them had been so furious that they rushed in pell-mell, +without waiting to take time to rap.</p> + +<p>The bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong still sat in the luxurious leather +armchair, his heels on the desk, fairly hidden in heavy clouds of blue +smoke from his Havana cigar, at which he was puffing vigorously, fairly +going into convulsions of laughter over a letter bearing a blue and +gold monogram, which he was reading.</p> + +<p>The unceremonious entrance of the four men caused him to spring suddenly +to his feet.</p> + +<p>"What the d—-l do you fellows want?" he exclaimed angrily. "How dare +you intrude upon me, in my private office, in this unheard-of fashion, +like a herd of escaped lunatics?"</p> + +<p>"You rang for us," replied one of the men.</p> + +<p>"I did not," replied the bogus Mr. Armstrong, resuming his seat +pompously.</p> + +<p>"The bells certainly rang, sir!" exclaimed the other three, +simultaneously.</p> + +<p>"Didn't I tell you that I didn't ring?" he answered, stamping his feet +furiously.</p> + +<p>In less time than it takes to tell it three more men dashed into the +private office, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"We are here, sir, at the very first tap of your bell."</p> + +<p>"You have all gone suddenly stark mad, or you are a set of the blamedest +fools in existence, as I have just told these men. I did not ring. What +on earth do you mean, by insisting that I did, I should like to know?"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, but you are still ringing, sir," declared one of the +men. "We can distinctly hear the bell ringing furiously. Do you not see +that your foot is still on it?"</p> + +<p>"My foot!" exclaimed the bogus Mr. Armstrong, angrily. "Explain what you +mean at once."</p> + +<p>For answer, the man stepped forward, and pulled aside the mat under his +employer's feet, mentally wondering if Mr. Lester Armstrong had not +grown suddenly daft himself, thereby disclosing a set of electric +buttons which the rug had cunningly concealed.</p> + +<p>"You kept your foot on them and they rang, calling us here instantly," +returned the man.</p> + +<p>"Bless me! I forgot entirely about those confounded electric buttons," +declared the bogus Armstrong, turning very red. "I'll have 'em put +somewhere else to-morrow; great nuisance; always in the way." And after +an instant a bright thought occurred to him, and he said blandly: "Well, +to tell you the truth, men, I was only trying you to see how quickly you +would respond; you may all go now."</p> + +<p>The men quitted the private office, looking rather dumfounded into each +other's blank faces, and in less than half an hour afterward every +employee in the vast dry goods establishment heard the shocking news, +that Mr. Lester Armstrong, whom they all believed well-nigh perfect, was +terribly intoxicated up in his private office, but they were to be +still more astounded ere the eventful day closed.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE WILL DISINHERITING FAYNIE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>As soon as the men had quitted the private office Kendale sprang to his +feet and began pacing up and down the length of the room excitedly, +muttering under his breath:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"'Ah, what a fatal web we weave<br /></span> +<span>When first we practice to deceive.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"It seems to me that there are traps in every direction to catch me. I +must be extra shrewd. I'll have those confounded bells changed at once. +I shouldn't be at all surprised to find an electric bell connected with +that chair at the desk which would call up the entire fire force of the +city if I were to lean back far enough in it."</p> + +<p>He flung himself down in his seat again and took up the letter which he +had been perusing and which interested him so.</p> + +<p>When he had first broken the seal of this missive his heart had fairly +jumped into his throat; at the first glance he saw that it was from Mrs. +Fairfax, of Beechwood.</p> + +<p>He read it carefully through fully a half dozen times. It ran as +follows:</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"MY DEAR MR. ARMSTRONG: I wish to extend to you my sincere + congratulations over your good fortune in succeeding to the + business of my dear old friend and neighbor, Mr. Marsh, late of + Beechwood village. I feel as though I know you well from hearing + him speak so continually of you. I am indeed thankful that his + business fell into the hands of one whom he trusted so deeply.</p> + +<p> "It was his wish, long ago, that we should meet and know each + other, and in remembrance of this, his earnest and oft-repeated + wish, I now extend you a cordial invitation to visit our home at + Beechwood at your earliest convenience and dine with the family. My + daughter and I will have a most hearty welcome for you. Any date + convenient to you which you may set will be agreeable to us.</p> + +<p> "Trusting that we may have the pleasure of seeing you very soon, I + remain, yours very truly,</p> + +<p> "MRS. HORACE FAIRFAX, Beechwood."</p></div> + +<p>The bogus Lester Armstrong laid the letter down and looked abstractedly +out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Of all places in the world, to think that I should be invited there," +he mused. "While I have just been wondering how they took Faynie's +elopement—and never hearing from her since—and wondering how in the +world I was to discover all that—lo! a way is opened to me!"</p> + +<p>Then his thoughts flew back to that stormy wedding night, and that +midnight scene in the little inn, when the girl he had just wedded, +believing her to be an heiress, revealed to him the exasperating truth, +that only that night her father had disinherited her, making a new will +in favor of her stepmother and her daughter Claire. The plan which +Halloran had laid out was to wait a reasonable time, then put in an +appearance, stating that he was Faynie's husband, and that she had just +died, and claim her portion of the estate. Every detail had been most +carefully mapped out; but here he saw an easier way of gaining that same +fortune without the trouble of litigation—marry the girl Claire.</p> + +<p>They would never know anything about that previous marriage with Faynie, +and the dead could tell no secrets.</p> + +<p>"I'll go," he muttered. "I shall reply at once, telling her she may +expect me two days hence—let me see, this is Tuesday; I will dine with +her Thursday, and, at least, see what the girl Claire looks like. It +would be the proper caper to gather in as many fortunes as drift my way. +I suppose I shall run through half a dozen of them ere I reach the end +of my tether."</p> + +<p>All in due season his letter of acceptance reached Mrs. Fairfax, and she +was highly elated over it.</p> + +<p>She had seized upon her neighborly acquaintance with the late Mr. Marsh +to invite to her home the young man who had fallen heir to his +millions, in order that her daughter Claire might win him—if it were a +possibility.</p> + +<p>She had succeeded in forcing Faynie to remain beneath that roof, even +after informing her that she was disinherited—dependent upon her +stepmother—by saying that it was her father's wish that she should thus +remain for at least six months.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax's real reason was that the outside world would not know +just how affairs stood in the family until she had had time to turn +everything into cash and get over to Europe to look up another +millionaire widower.</p> + +<p>On the very night that Faynie had returned so unceremoniously there had +been a most thrilling scene but an hour before between Mrs. Fairfax and +her daughter.</p> + +<p>Unable to sleep, Claire had wandered down to her late stepfather's +library in search of a book.</p> + +<p>She was not a little surprised to see her mother there—writing—at that +late hour.</p> + +<p>Her footsteps had made no sound on the thick velvet carpet, and she +stole up to her side quite unobserved, looking over her shoulder to see +what interested her mother so deeply.</p> + +<p>One—two—-three—four—five minutes she stood there, fairly rooted to +the spot, then a gasp of terror broke from her white lips, causing her +mother to spring to her feet like a flash.</p> + +<p>"Claire!" she exclaimed, hoarsely, trembling like an aspen leaf and +clinging to the back of the nearest chair for support. "How long have +you been here?" she gasped.</p> + +<p>"Quite—five—minutes," whispered the girl.</p> + +<p>"And you have seen—" The mother looked into the daughter's eyes +fearfully, not daring to utter the words trembling on her lips.</p> + +<p>"I saw you change the—the will!" whispered Claire, in a terror-stricken +voice. "I saw you erase with a green fluid, which must have been a most +powerful chemical, the words of the will, 'to my daughter Faynie' in the +sentence: 'I bequeath all of my estate, both personal and real,' and +insert therein the words, 'my wife, Margaret' in place of 'my daughter +Faynie.'"</p> + +<p>The woman stepped forward and clutched the girl's arm.</p> + +<p>"It was for your sake, Claire, that I did it," she whispered, shrilly; +"he cut us off with almost nothing, giving all to that proud daughter +Faynie of his. We would have had to step out into the world—beggars +again. We know what it is to be poor—ay, in want; we could never endure +it again—death would be easier for both of us.</p> + +<p>"The will was drawn two years ago; I am confident that it is the +latest—that there is no other. I took a desperate chance to do what I +have done to-night—so cleverly that it could never be detected.</p> + +<p>"A few strokes of the pen meant wealth or poverty for us, Claire. I am +too old to face beggary after living a life of luxury. You will not +betray me, Claire—you dare not, knowing that it was done for your sake, +Claire."</p> + +<p>The girl was not naturally wicked; she had always had a great respect +for the high-bred, beautiful Faynie—her stepfather's daughter by his +first wife. There had been no discord between the two young girls.</p> + +<p>Still, as her mother had said so emphatically, it was better that Faynie +should step out of that lovely home a beggar than that they should lose +it.</p> + +<p>Claire quite agreed with her mother that Faynie must stay there for the +present at all hazards; it would arouse such an uproar if she were +thrust from that roof just then.</p> + +<p>"If my father has expressed the desire that I shall stay here six +months, I—I shall do so, even though it breaks my heart," Faynie had +said.</p> + +<p>She kept her own apartments, refusing to come down to her meals, and +Mrs. Fairfax humored this whim by ordering Faynie's meals served in her +rooms.</p> + +<p>In vain the old housekeeper expostulated with Faynie, urging her to +come down at least to the drawing-room evenings, as she used to do.</p> + +<p>Faynie shook her golden curls.</p> + +<p>"It is no longer my home," she would say, with bitter sobs; "I am only +biding my time here—the six months that I am in duty bound to +remain—then I am going away—it does not matter where."</p> + +<p>The old housekeeper had tried in vain to coax from the girl the story of +where she had been while away from home.</p> + +<p>"That is my secret," Faynie would say, with a burst of bitter tears; "I +shall never divulge it—until the hour I lie dying."</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>EVERY MAN TO HIS TRADE.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>After the bogus Lester Armstrong had dispatched his letter of acceptance +to Mrs. Fairfax he braced himself for what would happen next by taking a +deep draught from the silver brandy flask which he kept in his breast +pocket, though he realized that he had need of all his senses for any +emergency.</p> + +<p>During the next hour a score or more bookkeepers came to him with +bills, letters and papers of all descriptions. To one and all he said, +with a yawn, and very impatiently: "Leave what you have brought on my +desk; I'll look over it this afternoon."</p> + +<p>Then it occurred to him that such a great concern must have a general +manager, and of course he would know something about the different +papers these people had brought for his inspection and for him to pass +upon, which were like so much Greek to him.</p> + +<p>In answer to his summons, a tall, dignified, keen-eyed elderly man +responded—a man who struck considerable awe to Kendale's guilty heart. +He said to himself that he wished to the Lord he knew this man's name to +be able to call him by it—but of course it couldn't be helped.</p> + +<p>"I have concluded to permit you to attend to these matters for me—get +through them the best you can in your own way without bothering me with +them; do just as you would if I were away on a vacation, we will say, +and left everything in your charge—all matters for you to settle as you +deemed best."</p> + +<p>The gentleman looked surprised and bowed gravely. "I can attend to most +of the documents connected with the firm, but there are a few matters I +see there that the parties interested might object to if they saw the +name of Manager Wright attached instead of the name of the proprietor."</p> + +<p>"In that case, show me where you want me to sign, and I'll put down my +name here and now, to end the matter."</p> + +<p>"Without first examining the documents carefully?" asked the manager, in +amazement, thinking how slipshod in his business methods the new +proprietor of the great establishment was becoming since he suddenly +found himself raised from a poor cashier to a multi-millionaire, and +thinking that good old Mr. Marsh would turn over in his grave if he had +heard that.</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven all that is off my mind," muttered Kendale, breathing +freer as the manager left the office with the papers, adding, +thoughtfully: "I hope I won't have to come in contact with that man very +often. I felt so uncomfortable that it was by the greatest effort I +could control myself—keep from springing from my chair, seizing my hat +and fairly flying out of this place.</p> + +<p>"His keen gray eyes seemed to pierce through and through me. I expected +every moment to hear him shout out: 'Come hither, everybody—quickly; +this man is not Lester Armstrong, striking though the resemblance is. +Send for the police, that this mystery may be solved at once!'"</p> + +<p>He was not far wrong in his suspicions.</p> + +<p>Manager Wright had quitted the private office with a deeply knitted brow +and a troubled expression on his face.</p> + +<p>"The change in Lester Armstrong since yesterday is amazing," he mused. +"Long years of dissipation could not have told more on him than the +change these few hours have worked. He must have been out drinking and +carousing all night long—the odor of the room from the fumes of strong +liquor was almost unbearable; it was blue with smoke, too, and Lester +Armstrong always led us to believe that he had never smoked a cigar in +his life; and, worst of all, from a gentleman he has suddenly turned +into a libertine, if I am any judge of features.</p> + +<p>"I cannot begin to account for the great change in him; it mystifies me +quite as much as it did the store detectives and Mr. Conway, the +cashier. It is all terribly wrong—somehow—somewhere. If it were not +that I have been here so many years I would tender Mr. Armstrong my +resignation. I am not at all satisfied—and yet, yesterday, when Mr. +Armstrong called me into his private office and we had that long talk +about the business matters of the house, I felt that all would go well; +to-day he is like a different man—appears to have forgotten completely +all of the instructions he was so particular to give me. Yesterday he +said: 'We will go over the books and papers very carefully, you and I, +and see that every department is run as carefully and well as +heretofore. I should not like any one in the establishment to feel that +my taking possession will mean any change for them—save for the +better.'</p> + +<p>"To-day he is as different as night from day; he does not know what he +wants; he seems all at sea over the simplest details which he ought to +be decidedly familiar with." His musings were suddenly cut short by an +immediate summons to return to the private office.</p> + +<p>It was with some misgivings that he entered his employer's presence the +second time.</p> + +<p>The bogus Mr. Armstrong was almost invisible from a cloud of smoke from +a freshly lighted Havana. He held the morning paper in his hand and was +perusing its columns with apparent avidity.</p> + +<p>"Wright!" he cried, excitedly, "how much ready money do you suppose +there is in the safe of this shebang—-hey?"</p> + +<p>It took Mr. Wright almost a moment to recover his usual calm dignity and +make answer:</p> + +<p>"Five thousand in cash, and there are negotiable notes amounting to +upward of forty thousand more."</p> + +<p>"Are you sure of that?" queried Kendale, his excitement growing keener; +"how do you know?"</p> + +<p>"You placed bills in my hands a few moments since which necessitated +conferring with Mr. Conway, the cashier, about meeting them."</p> + +<p>"Well, hold on—don't pay out any bills to-day; I want to make use of +that money—two great opportunities here. Say!" he added in the next +breath, "do you know anything about sailing yachts and trotters?"</p> + +<p>The question fairly staggered Mr. Wright, but he answered promptly:</p> + +<p>"Nothing whatever, Mr. Armstrong. I have never taken any interest in +them; it would be out of place for a man in my position to cultivate a +taste for that which is so far beyond his means. I am glad to be able to +say to you, sir, that my tastes are simple and my wants few. I have +never been on board a yacht, nor have I ever ridden behind what you call +a trotter."</p> + +<p>"Then you've missed a deal of sport," declared Kendale. "But that isn't +what I sent for you to discuss. What I meant to say is that there's a +fellow from Newport gone all to smash. His fine yacht, the <i>Daisy Bell</i>, +is to be sold at auction to-day, likewise the contents of his stables. +There are two of his animals that are flyers—the Lady Albia and +Sterling. Why, the Lady has a record better than 2.05 1-2, open gaited, +warranted sound, both of 'em, and no end of traps, tea carts, and +buggies. I tell you what, Wright, I must have that yacht and that team. +You must go and bid them in for me—get 'em at any price, if you have to +run it up to a hundred thousand, and you can even do a little better +than that rather than see some other lucky fellow get 'em."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright was staring at him as though he quite believed his employer +had gone suddenly out of his mind.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong, coolly, "you heard my +command to you, didn't you?"</p> + +<p>Without another word the general manager turned and with slow, unsteady +steps quitted his new employer's presence.</p> + +<p>"Heaven help me, that I should live to see this hour," he groaned; "a +hundred thousand dollars—ten fortunes to a poor man like +myself—frittered away on a yacht and a pair of horses! Mr. Marsh would +pitch him out if he could but know and come back long enough to do it. +It spoils the best of 'em to have money thrown at them—to come into a +fortune that they haven't worked for. A yacht and a pair of horses! What +will people say to see me, a business man of supposed sense and +judgment, bidding at a public auction mart for anything like this? +Heaven help me, I can see the finish of the time-honored dry goods house +of Marsh & Co., in which I have taken such a world of pride. But I +suppose I must do as he has ordered, no matter how galling it is to me."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright had no sooner reached the auction mart than a telegram was +handed him. It was from his employer, and read as follows:</p> + +<p>"There are also a pair of seal-brown pacers to be sold. Secure these in +addition to the others. Price must not stand in the way."</p> + +<p>David Wright crushed the telegram in his hands, and the first oath he +had ever uttered in all his life was ground out between his teeth.</p> + +<p>The yacht and two pairs of horses were spiritedly bid for by half a +dozen gentlemen, who were apparently eager to secure them.</p> + +<p>It was easy to see that the quiet, elderly business man, who always went +higher than the others, was little used to such contests, but he secured +them at last for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and there +was more than one amused laugh in the auction room, knowing ones +whispering that he had paid three times more than the owner had been +asking for them.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XVIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>MARGERY'S LOVE DREAM.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>An hour after Mr. Wright had concluded his purchase for his employer he +returned to the establishment, accompanied by one of the persons +authorized to collect the money. When he presented the order at the +cashier's window, Mr. Conway, the old cashier, drew back aghast as he +looked at the man.</p> + +<p>"Is—is it possible you have indorsed this?" he asked, turning to the +manager.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright bowed, but his face betrayed deep agitation.</p> + +<p>"I cannot pay it without consulting Mr. Armstrong," he exclaimed, in a +troubled voice. "Wait a moment."</p> + +<p>Could it be possible that Lester Armstrong had authorized the payment of +an amount like that, knowing that the firm was a little crippled for +cash just at that season of the year? Surely the man must be mad, he +told himself; and that for which the money was to be paid fairly +staggered him. He had to look a second time to satisfy himself that he +had not made a horrible mistake when he read: "For one steam yacht and +two pairs of horses, $125,000; terms cash."</p> + +<p>He set his lips hard together, saying to himself that this was the +beginning of the end.</p> + +<p>At that same moment quite a thrilling scene was taking place in the +private office, which would have unnerved the old cashier completely had +he known of it. It so happened, in exploring the nooks of the office, +Kendale had by chance touched another bell, the bell communicating with +the suit department, which was in charge of Mr. Conway's pretty +daughter, Miss Margery. When that bell tapped it meant that the young +lady was to make all possible haste to the private office, to which she +had been summoned, and this the young girl proceeded to do, not without +some little trepidation, however. Fair Margery Conway had a secret +romance in her life, a romance which no one in the wide world would ever +have guessed.</p> + +<p>For many a long day she had been secretly in love with Mr. Lester +Armstrong, her father's assistant, of whom; she had heard him speak so +much and praise so highly.</p> + +<p>She admired him immensely. Many a time she made excuses to speak with +her father a moment in their private office. No one in the wide world +guessed that grave, handsome Lester Armstrong was the attraction that +brought her there.</p> + +<p>She had many a casual chat with him, and somehow the hope grew in her +heart that he was not altogether indifferent to her.</p> + +<p>Once, when she had started home in the pouring rain, he had gone out of +his way to see her safely to her destination under the shelter of his +umbrella.</p> + +<p>He had only been courteous, but she had built up many a hope from this +little incident alone.</p> + +<p>She had not seen very much of Lester Armstrong since that +never-to-be-forgotten day, but her father had told her that he usually +asked each morning: "How is your daughter, Miss Margery?" and once her +father had said:</p> + +<p>"Of all the young men whom I have met, I have the greatest regard for +Lester Armstrong. Such young men are the salt of the earth. There is a +future before him. When he earns a dollar he puts by more than half of +it against a rainy day. He is not extravagant. Few young men making his +salary would dress so very plainly and make his clothes do him as long. +He has no bad habits; he neither smokes nor drinks, and that is +something you can say of very few young men nowadays."</p> + +<p>Margery looked up into her father's face with shining eyes. She made no +answer, but a vivid flush crept up into her cheeks, and the little hands +that were busy with the teacups trembled a little. She knew quite well +that in the depth of his heart her father was hoping that she and +Lester Armstrong would take a fancy to each other, and that in time +that fancy might ripen into love, and instead of being only +acquaintances, she and the assistant cashier might be nearer and dearer +to each other.</p> + +<p>Not long after this Margery Conway received a letter, a poem, rather, +typewritten. There was no name signed to it, but she felt sure that it +came from some one in the establishment of Marsh & Co. More than one +salesman looked at pretty Margery Conway with admiring eyes, but she +never thought of any of these. The truth was, it was sent by one of the +bookkeepers, but the girl jumped at once to the conclusion that it was +from Lester Armstrong. She imagined that from the tender, sentimental +words. She read the beautiful poem over and over again, until she knew +every word by heart. The lines even floated dreamily through her brain +in her sleep. She would awaken with them on her lips. Ah, surely, the +poem was from Lester Armstrong, she fully believed. It read as follows:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"What have I done that one face holds me so,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And follows me in fancy through the day?<br /></span> +<span>Why do I seek your love? I only know<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>That fate is resolute, and points the way<br /></span> +<span>To where you stand, bathed in amber light.<br /></span> +<span>Since first you looked on me I've seen no night—<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>What have I done?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"What can be done? As yet no touch, no kiss;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Only a gaze across your eyes' blue lake.<br /></span> +<span>Better it were, sweetheart, to dream like this,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Than afterward to shudder and awake.<br /></span> +<span>Love is so very bitter, and his ways<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Tortured with thorns—with wild weeds overgrown.<br /></span> +<span>Must I endure, unloved, these loveless days?—<br /></span> +<span class='i4'>What can be done?<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"This I say, 'Marry where your heart goes first,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Dear heart, and then you will be blessed.<br /></span> +<span>Ah, how can others choose for you<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>What is for your best?<br /></span> +<span>If you're told to wed for gold,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Dear girl, or for rank or show,<br /></span> +<span>Stand by love, and boldly say,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>"No, my heart cries no!"'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Like most young girls, pretty Margery was sentimental. She slept with +the folded paper beneath her pillow at night, and all day long it was +carefully tucked away over her beating heart.</p> + +<p>It was quite a week after receiving this ere she saw Lester Armstrong +again; then her face turned burning red. Lester saw it, but how was he +to dream that he was the cause of her emotion?</p> + +<p>"Sweet Margery Conway is not strong," he thought, pityingly. "How +frightened her father would be were he to see that sudden rush of blood +to the head."</p> + +<p>He wondered whether or not he should run to her and proffer his +assistance. He had once seen a young woman who was thus affected fall +to the floor in a fit, and it had been many a long day ere the +unfortunate woman could return to her work again. He devoutly hoped this +might not be the case with poor, pretty Margery.</p> + +<p>She saw him start and look at her searchingly. She could not have +stopped and exchanged a word with him if her life had depended upon it. +She hurried past him with desperate haste, praying that he might not +hear the beating of her heart.</p> + +<p>He noticed that she did not stop to speak, but he quite believed that it +was because she was very busy. The next moment he had forgotten all +about it, and about the girl, too, for that matter.</p> + +<p>He scarcely remembered pretty Margery until he happened to see her +again. The girl was fairly stunned by the intelligence that the great +millionaire owner of the establishment had made Lester Armstrong his +heir.</p> + +<p>At first her joy was so great that she could not speak. Then a sudden +fright swept over her heart. He was rich now, and she was poor. Would it +make any difference with him. She tried to put the chilling thought from +her, for it made her heart turn cold as ice. Her gentle eyes did not +close in sleep all the long night through. Her pillow was wet with +tears. The one prayer on her lips was: "I pray to Heaven this may make +no change in him; that he will care for me as much as when he sent me +the poem."</p> + +<p>She had not seen Lester Armstrong since he had taken his new position as +proprietor of the great establishment, and now, when his bell rang for +her, no wonder the girl's heart leaped into her mouth, and involuntarily +she looked into the long pier glass eagerly. Ah, it was a fair face +reflected there. There were few fairer, with its delicate coloring +framed in nut-brown curls, gathered back so carelessly from the white +brow, and there was a light in the brown eyes beautiful to behold. She +had been wondering only the moment before if the hero of her daydreams +had forgotten her, and lo! the summons of his bell had seemed to come in +answer to the thought.</p> + +<p>With trembling, hopeful anticipation, Margery wended her way to her +employer's office, taking the nearer route, not through the main office, +where her father was, but by a more direct narrow passage, which was +seldom used.</p> + +<p>All unmindful of his daughter's presence in the main office, the old +cashier had bent his steps thither for instructions regarding the bill +which had just been presented, but he had scarcely reached out his hand +to knock, ere he heard a blood-curdling, piercing scream, in a woman's +voice, from within, and recognized, in horror too great for words, the +voice of his own daughter, his Margery!</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XIX'></a><h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>PRETTY MARGERY'S TERRIBLE DISCOVERY.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Pretty Margery Conway had made her way eagerly enough to Mr. Lester +Armstrong's private office, but her light tap on the door brought no +response, and, as it was slightly ajar, she pushed it open and stepped +across the threshold.</p> + +<p>To her great surprise she saw that her employer was deeply engrossed in +the pictures of a comic weekly, and the loud "Ha! ha! ha!" that fell +from his lips struck upon the girl's sensitive nerves most unpleasantly.</p> + +<p>She was wondering how she should make her presence known to him, when +suddenly he turned around, and then he saw her and a quick gleam of +intense admiration leaped into his bold, dark eyes at the vision of the +lovely, blushing, dimpled face of the slender, graceful young girl.</p> + +<p>"I am here in response to your summons, Mr. Armstrong," she said, with +much embarrassment. "Your bell rang so imperatively that—"</p> + +<p>"I didn't ring any bell, my dear," he exclaimed, "but still I am +uncommonly glad to see you. Sit down and we'll have a little chat."</p> + +<p>"There is a customer awaiting my return as soon as you—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, hang the customer," cut in Kendale. "Sit down, pretty one, and +we'll make each other's acquaintance."</p> + +<p>Margery looked at him in helpless bewilderment.</p> + +<p>Had handsome Lester Armstrong, the hero of her dream, gone suddenly mad, +she wondered?</p> + +<p>"Sit down, my dear," he reiterated, "don't look at me in such affright. +I'm not an ogre; I don't intend to eat you, though, upon my honor, those +peachy cheeks and pomegranate lips are most wonderfully tempting."</p> + +<p>Margery was so intensely surprised she was fairly speechless—incapable +of word or action.</p> + +<p>From where she stood the fumes of strong brandy reached her, and she +realized that the man before her was under its influence to an alarming +extent.</p> + +<p>No wonder her pretty face paled; even her lips grew white.</p> + +<p>She stood before him as one mesmerized by the baleful gleam in his +merciless concentrated gaze, as the fluttering, frightened bird does in +the presence of the deadly serpent that means to destroy it.</p> + +<p>"Won't be sociable, eh?" muttered Kendale. "You are not diplomatic; you +don't know your own interests. Sit down here and tell me all about +yourself—how long you have been here, and all about it. I ought to +know, of course, but I forget. Come, brush up my memory a bit, won't +you?"</p> + +<p>"Your memory seems indeed very poor all at once," said Margery, +spiritedly, "considering the fact that you have known me since I was a +little child"—and, in spite of her efforts at self-control, big tears +brimmed over the pretty eyes and rolled down the round cheeks.</p> + +<p>In an instant Kendale was on his feet.</p> + +<p>"There, there, Susie, don't cry," he said, reaching her side quickly and +grasping both of the little clasped hands in one of his.</p> + +<p>"You must have some one else in your mind—that is quite evident. Please +to recollect that I am Margery Conway, not—not Susie—whoever she may +be."</p> + +<p>He laughed a rollicking, maudlin laugh. The brandy was beginning to +diffuse itself through his brain.</p> + +<p>"I'll never call you anything but Margery again," he cried, "beautiful, +peerless Margery, the sweetest, jolliest, most bewitching and lovable +shop girl in all New York."</p> + +<p>The young girl looked at him with dilated eyes. Every impulse in her +terrified heart warned her to turn and fly from the place, but it was +all in vain. She could not have moved hand or foot if her very life had +been the forfeit.</p> + +<p>"So you are toiling away in a place like this for a mere pittance," he +went on; "probably hardly enough to keep soul and body together. That's +a confounded shame for a pretty girl like you. Work isn't for such as +you—you ought to be out in the sunshine, dressed in silks and velvets +and diamonds galore. It's bad enough for the old and ugly—those whose +hair is streaked with gray and around whose eyes the crow's feet have +been planted by the hand of time, to work—ay, toil for their bread. By +Jove, I say you are far too lovely for such a fate!"</p> + +<p>"Sir!" cried Margery, drawing herself up to her fullest height. "I work +for my living, but I want you to understand that I am proud of the fact, +instead of deeming it a disgrace, as you seem to think it.</p> + +<p>"Up to this hour I have always considered you a man of honor—one of +nature's noblemen—a gentleman. Now I know you as you are—a <i>roué</i>—ay, +a scoundrel. I would scorn to remain another hour in your employ. Money +earned in this establishment from this moment would burn my fingers."</p> + +<p>"Hoity-toity! Don't get big feelings too suddenly, my pretty dear," he +cried, with a load, hilarious laugh. "Lord! what simpletons some girls +are! You're standing in your own light, pretty one! Can't you see that?"</p> + +<p>"Sir!" cried Margery, struggling to free herself from the grasp of his +strong hand, "it is dastardly, it is cowardly to summon me here to +subject me to—insult."</p> + +<p>"'Pon my honor, I want to be friendly, but you won't have it so—you +seem determined to kick up a row. Come, now, be friendly; sit down here +and we'll talk it over."</p> + +<p>"Unhand me!" cried Margery in terror. "Let me go, or I shall scream for +help!"</p> + +<p>"You won't do any such thing, my little ruffled birdling," he cut in, an +angry light leaping up into his eyes, adding: "I am disposed to treat +you very kindly, but you seem determined to make an enemy of me instead +of a friend, my dear, and your reason ought to tell you how foolish that +is. Come, be sensible and listen to me. I've taken a violent fancy to +that pretty face of yours. We must be friends—excellent friends. That's +a good beginning, you know."</p> + +<p>Margery glanced toward the door, the fright deepening in her eyes. He +had placed himself between her and the door, kicking it to with his +foot.</p> + +<p>He saw that quick glance, and read it aright, and his brow darkened.</p> + +<p>"Don't be a little fool!" he cried. "Don't anger me, girl. You had +better make a friend instead of an enemy of me."</p> + +<p>"Your enmity or friendship is a matter of equal indifference to me now," +gasped Margery, sobbing bitterly.</p> + +<p>"You have slain my respect for you. I—I am sorry—sorry from the bottom +of my heart—that I realize you have fallen from such a noble height in +my estimation."</p> + +<p>"That's all bosh and moonshine," hiccoughed Kendale; "respect and high +pedestal of honor and all that sort of thing. You're among the clouds; +get down to earth. I'm only a man—you mustn't take me for a little god. +Come, now, what in the name of reason is the use of making such a fuss +over this thing, and storming like an angry princess on the stage +because I tell you frankly that I've taken a notion to you. By George, +you ought to be mighty pleased to know that you've captured the fancy of +a man like me, with no end of money at my command. Do you realize that, +little one?"</p> + +<p>The girl's terror was growing intense with each passing moment.</p> + +<p>Her horror and dread of the man before her was a thousand-fold greater +at that moment than her admiration for Lester Armstrong had been in days +gone by. He seemed to her a different being in the same form—one +suddenly transformed from all that was manly and noble to a very fiend +incarnate.</p> + +<p>An awful stillness had fallen over the girl—a full realization of the +meaning of his jocular remarks was just dawning upon her. She was +looking at him with the awful pallor of death on her lovely young face.</p> + +<p>"Come, my pretty Margery," he cried, quite mistaking the reason that her +struggle to free herself from his clasping hand had so suddenly ceased; +"now you are falling into a more complaisant mood. I am glad of that. +Sit down and we'll talk. I must lock that door, or some blundering fool +will be stumbling in without taking the trouble to knock. But first give +me a kiss from those sweet lips, my dear, to assure me you don't quite +dislike me, you know."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he flung his arm about the girl's slender waist, and it was +then that Margery's piercing scream rang out so loudly upon her father's +ears, fairly electrifying him as he stood with his hand upon the knob of +the door of the private office.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XX'></a><h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>A FATHER'S RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION</h3> +<br /> + +<p>For an instant the old cashier stood like one suddenly paralyzed before +the door of the private office from which that terrified scream had +issued.</p> + +<p>Great God! was he mad or dreaming, that he should imagine he heard his +daughter Margery's voice calling for help from within?</p> + +<p>But even as he stood there, trembling, irresolute, the piercing cry was +repeated more shrilly, more piteous than before, and it cut through the +frightened father's heart like the thrust of a dagger.</p> + +<p>"I am coming, I am here, Margery!" he answered, twisting the bronze knob +fiercely; But the door did not yield to his touch as usual, and to his +horror he realized that it was locked upon the inside!</p> + +<p>With the fury of a tiger, David Conway threw himself against it with all +his strength; strong as the lock was, it could not withstand the weight +that was brought to bear upon it, and in an instant it was snapped +asunder, the door falling in with a crash.</p> + +<p>With a terrible imprecation Kendale wheeled about, his grasp around the +girl's waist slackening for a single instant.</p> + +<p>And in that instant Margery sprang from him, darting into the arms of +her father, who had leaped over the threshold.</p> + +<p>"How dare you enter here?" shrieked Kendale, fairly beside himself with +baffled rage.</p> + +<p>The old cashier thrust his daughter behind him and walked up to the +foiled villain, gazing him steadily, unflinchingly in the eye.</p> + +<p>"I am here just in time to defend my child," he cried, white to the +lips, "and here to chastise you, you villain, old man as I am"—and with +the rapidity of lightning his clinched fist fell upon the face of the +man before him with stinging blows, that resounded with all the strength +and force of a steel hammer.</p> + +<p>Kendale, who was by this time entirely under the influence of the brandy +he had imbibed, was no match for the enraged cashier, who followed up +his advantage by ringing blows, which fell as thick and fast as driving +hail, until the other, coward as he was, fell down on his knees before +him, shrieking out for mercy.</p> + +<p>The unusual disturbance soon brought a throng of cashiers, bookkeepers +and clerks flocking to the scene.</p> + +<p>The old cashier turned upon them, holding up his hand to stay their +steps as they crowded over the threshold, Mr. Wright, the manager, +calling upon him anxiously to explain at once this unusual scene—this +disgraceful encounter between his employer, who seemed unable to speak +because of his injuries, and himself.</p> + +<p>"It is due you all to know just what has happened," replied the old +cashier, in a high, clear voice, "but I say to you, by the God above me, +if this hound dares arise from his knees ere I have finished, I will +kill him before your very eyes. There is something he has to say before +you all while still on his knees. Let no man speak until I have had my +say, and then you—my companions of years, my fellow-workers, my friends +of a lifetime—shall judge of my action in this matter and deal with me +accordingly."</p> + +<p>The scene was so extraordinary that no man among them seemed capable of +uttering so much as a syllable, so great was their consternation at +beholding their employer on his knees, groveling before the old cashier, +who stood over him like an aroused, avenging spirit.</p> + +<p>In a voice high and clear the old cashier, whom they had known and +revered for years, told his story in a simple, straightforward way, yet +quivering with excitement, drawing his terror-stricken daughter Margery +into the shelter of his strong arms as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"I am Margery's father—her only protector," he said, in conclusion. +"Is there a man among you with a father's heart beating in his bosom who +would not have done as I have done to the villain who dared to thus +insult his child. Ay, there are men among you who would not have +hesitated to have stricken him dead with a single blow—who would have +considered it a crime to have spared him."</p> + +<p>By this time Kendale was recovering from the stunning blows which had +been dealt him—realized that help was at hand; the employees would be +in duty bound to protect him from the enraged man before him.</p> + +<p>He realized, too, that the old cashier meant that he should remain there +on his knees and beg the girl's pardon before all these people.</p> + +<p>Ere Mr. Conway could judge of his design the bogus Lester Armstrong had +bounded to his feet and into the midst of the crowd.</p> + +<p>"You are discharged!" he cried, turning to the old cashier. "I will give +you just ten minutes to get out of this building—you and the girl, both +of you. It was a plan hatched up between you and her to extort money +from me."</p> + +<p>The old cashier attempted to spring at him, but the strong hands of +indignant, pitying friends held him back.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he stopped short, saying, with a dignity wonderful to behold:</p> + +<p>"It is not necessary, I think, to ask any of you, who all know me so +well and know also my little Margery, not to give credence to so heinous +a statement. I am going from this place, friends. I would not stay +another moment in this villain's employ, nor would my Margery, though he +weighed us down with all the wealth the world holds. Come, Margery."</p> + +<p>The crowd slowly parted, making way for them, and together Margery and +her father passed through the line of sympathizing faces, hand in +hand—the old man white, stern and resolute, pretty Margery sobbing as +though her heart would break.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wright, the manager, who had been—like the old cashier—fully five +and twenty years beneath that roof, turned and faced the throng, saying, +huskily:</p> + +<p>"Mr. Armstrong, I herewith tender you my resignation. My friend of a +lifetime is going, and I shall go, too."</p> + +<p>"And I," "And I," "And I," quickly rang out, voice after voice.</p> + +<p>"Confound you all, I discharge the whole lot of you!" shouted Kendale, +now quite sobered by the excitement he was passing through. "Don't think +your going troubles me even a little bit. The set of men don't live who +will ever trouble me or my business!"</p> + +<p>With great rapidity the men fled from the private office, and, without +waiting even to close their ledgers, took down their coats and hats, got +into them quickly and filed downstairs.</p> + +<p>Kendale never could fully comprehend how it happened that in five +minutes' time the five hundred employees of the place heard what had +occurred, and in less time than it takes to recount it the strangest +event that had ever taken place in the annals of a great New York +business house occurred—there was a mighty uproar and by one accord the +great throng of employees quitted their tasks—badly as they needed +work—and dashed out into the street, leaving the vast emporium to the +hundreds of astonished customers with which it was crowded at that hour.</p> + +<p>For an instant Kendale was horror-stricken when he realized what was +occurring.</p> + +<p>"God Almighty!" he gasped, "I am ruined, disgraced! A thousand furies +take that girl; but she shall pay dearly for this. The police will be +here to quell the riot and disperse the crowd outside, and turn out the +people who are still inside!"</p> + +<p>Looking from the window, he saw that the throng of angry employees were +gathered around the old cashier and his daughter in a mighty mob.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord! if Halloran were only here, to advise me this time," he +muttered, turning pale with fear. He could hear their loud, angry voices +hurling imprecations at him, and he knew full well that he would never +be able to pass through that throng of thoroughly aroused and angry men +without their doing him bodily injury, and he told himself in affright +that all the Marsh millions for which he had bartered his soul would not +save him from the hands of that raging mob.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>"I LIKE HER BETTER THAN ANY I HAVE MET—I SHALL MARRY HER."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Kendale was clever and quick of resource. He realized that there must be +sudden action on his part. Should he fly headlong from the place and +give up all? Then a remembrance of the yacht and the horses came to him, +and he set his teeth hard together.</p> + +<p>"I will see this game through, come what may," he muttered.</p> + +<p>At that instant a daring thought came to him, and he acted upon it +before he could have time to back down through cowardice.</p> + +<p>Throwing open the window wide, he stepped boldly out upon the ledge in +full view of the angry crowd of five hundred employees.</p> + +<p>"Ladies and gentlemen," he exclaimed, raising his voice to a high key +that all might hear, "I have something to say, and it is only due me +that you should listen and then pass judgment.</p> + +<p>"Please believe me, one and all, I had no thought, no wish to offend Mr. +Conway's pretty daughter Margery. I may as well own the truth. I had +fallen desperately in love with the girl and was telling her so, and was +just on the point of asking her to accept me as a suitor for her hand +when she, mistaking my motives, it appears, called for assistance, and I +was not permitted to speak in order to explain.</p> + +<p>"Assuring her and all of you that my motives were most honorable, I beg +of you to reconsider leaving me in this abrupt fashion. Return to your +posts of duty, and this little difficulty will be adjusted +satisfactorily to you and to Miss Conway."</p> + +<p>Kendale was used to making a hit with an audience—used to throwing his +soul, as it were, into anything he had to say.</p> + +<p>The effect on the crowd below was magical; for a moment they were +stunned.</p> + +<p>The old cashier was almost stunned. The young millionaire was just about +proposing marriage to Margery! Why, what a mistake he had made—what a +terrible mistake! Even Margery had fallen back a step or two and was +clinging to her father's hand in the greatest amazement.</p> + +<p>"I—I think I was mad, friends and fellow-workers," he exclaimed, +huskily. "I believe I was too precipitate in this affair.</p> + +<p>"It is so long since I was young I—I had forgotten that it is the +custom of men now, as in the years long since gone by, to speak to a +maiden of love before he said anything of marriage.</p> + +<p>"It did not occur to me that the great millionaire wanted my little girl +for his wife, as he now says.</p> + +<p>"Hear me, friends, one and all. I most heartily regret causing this +disturbance and I move that we return to our places, as our employer +suggests."</p> + +<p>There was a murmur of assent among the throng; then, all in a body, they +moved forward, entering the building again; and in less than five +minutes' time matters were moving on quite as smoothly once more as +though no sudden upheaval had ever occurred in the great dry goods +establishment.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway, however, was too upset to attend further to his duties that +afternoon, and accepted the manager's suggestion that he should go to +his home, Margery accompanying him.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Kendale had thrown himself down into the nearest chair, +breathing hard, feeling like a general who had achieved a most wonderful +victory.</p> + +<p>"A few soft, silvery words saved me this time," he muttered, "but it +throws the girl on my hands. Well, I suppose I will have to propose +marriage to her now—every one expects it; there would be a terrible +rumpus kicked up if I did not. Well, let there be an engagement between +us; that doesn't mean that there will be a marriage, by any means. The +engagement can drag along three or four years, and then we can break +off. By that time I shall be ready to marry the heiress of the Fairfax +millions. Ah, how much easier it is to scheme for a fortune than to toil +for one, as most poor mortals do."</p> + +<p>The entrance of the manager with the bill for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand put an end to his musings and plans for the +present. Mr. Wright emerged from the office ten minutes later with a +very troubled expression on his face. It was dearly patent to him that +Mr. Lester Armstrong did not care how badly the business was crippled, +so long as he secured the yacht and the fast horses.</p> + +<p>From that first day, so full of awkward and almost fatal mistakes, +Kendale spent as little time as was absolutely necessary in the +establishment of Marsh & Company, as it was still called, preferring to +let all of the business cares fall upon the manager's already weighted +shoulders.</p> + +<p>In less than a week it was noised about social circles that the young +man who had so suddenly dropped into millions of money was something of +a sport—a yachtsman whose magnificent yachting parties were the wonder +of the metropolis; a horseman whose racing stables were second to none +and were worth a handsome fortune; and it was hinted that he seemed no +stranger at cards and gambled sums of gold that would have purchased a +king's ransom at a single game—until those who looked on in speechless +wonder were sure he must have exhaustless wealth. Every one prophesied, +however, that this reckless extravagance must have an ending some time. +Meanwhile society held out its arms to the young millionaire, welcoming +him with its sweetest smiles.</p> + +<p>The date which he had set to dine with the Fairfaxes, of Beechwood, +rolled around at last, and for once in his life Kendale, or rather the +bogus Lester Armstrong, was punctual in his appointment.</p> + +<p>He was ushered into a drawing-room of such magnificence that for a +moment he fairly caught his breath in wonder.</p> + +<p>"So this was the home of Faynie Fairfax, the girl whom I wedded in the +old church and who died so suddenly on her bridal eve," he soliloquized. +"Well, all this could be mine for the fighting for it as Faynie's +husband, who has survived her, but, as Halloran would say, 'It's a deal +easier getting the same fortune by marrying the stepmother's daughter, +who has come into it by Faynie's father cutting her off at the eleventh +hour.'</p> + +<p>"I wonder what the girl Claire is like."</p> + +<p>There was a portrait of a young girl done in water colors over the +mantel. He stepped over to examine it.</p> + +<p>"If this is Claire's portrait she's certainly not bad looking," he +mused, "but she is one I should not care to cross."</p> + +<p>The figure was slight, draped in a gown of some light, airy fabric. The +head was small, crowned in a mass of waving dark hair. The contour of +the face was perfect; a pair of deep gray eyes looked out of it straight +at you; the lips were small, but a little too compressed, showing that +the owner of them had certainly a will of her own, which it was neither +wise nor best to cross.</p> + +<p>He was startled from his contemplation by the sound of silken robes +rustling across the carpet, and, wheeling suddenly about, he was +confronted by a tall, slim, magnificent woman, who welcomed him most +graciously to Fairfax House.</p> + +<p>"My daughter Claire will join us in a very few minutes. Ah, she is here +now," she announced, as a swift step was heard in the corridor outside; +a moment later the portières parted, and the young girl whose portrait +he had been critically analyzing entered the room.</p> + +<p>"I shall know at once by the first words he utters whether I shall like +him or not," thought the girl, looking straight into his face with her +fearless, keen, gray eyes. "He is handsome, and that generally goes with +great conceit, Faynie always said."</p> + +<p>"I hope we shall be friends, Miss Fairfax," he said, extending his hand +and bowing low over the little brown one that lay for an instant in his +palm.</p> + +<p>"There is a great mistake evident at the outset," said the girl, looking +up into his face. "Mamma said just now: 'This is my daughter Claire.' I +think mamma intended to add, 'Miss Claire Stanhope.' Mr. Fairfax was my +steppapa."</p> + +<p>Kendale smiled amusedly, both at the mother's momentary discomfiture +and the young girl's brusque straightforwardness.</p> + +<p>"I like her better than any one I have ever met. I shall marry her," he +promised himself.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>CLAIRE'S LOVER.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>During the dinner that followed Kendale longed to introduce the subject +of "Faynie," but found no opening. His eagerness to know what they +thought and what they had to say concerning her disappearance was +intense, but he had to bide his time to find out.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile he paid the most flattering attention to Claire.</p> + +<p>He had noticed with a keen sense of regret that the girl limped most +painfully in her walk, but, despite this defect, for the first time in +his reckless life, he was thoroughly fascinated with her.</p> + +<p>He took his leave early, promising them that he would certainly avail +himself of their gracious permission to call again, very, very soon.</p> + +<p>Long after his departure the mother and daughter still sat in the +drawing-room discussing him eagerly.</p> + +<p>"It is a good thing for you that Faynie declines to come down to the +drawing-room to see visitors and insists upon having her meals in her +own room. If she had seen this handsome Mr. Armstrong, you would have +stood little chance of winning him, my dear," declared Mrs. Fairfax.</p> + +<p>Claire rose slowly to her feet, turned and faced her mother.</p> + +<p>"You and I do not agree on that point, mamma," she said, quickly, "I +have what you call a Quixotic notion, perhaps, and that is that we are +attracted toward those whom Heaven intended for us, and if this be so he +would not have been attracted toward Faynie if he were intended for me."</p> + +<p>"We will not argue the matter, Claire, for we shall never agree," +declared her mother, adding: "I shall always be opposed to Mr. Armstrong +meeting Faynie or ever hearing one word concerning the existence of such +a person. If he should, mind, I predict harm will come of it."</p> + +<p>Those were the words that rang in Claire's ears long after she retired +to her room.</p> + +<p>"I shall tell Faynie that we had a caller last evening and how handsome +he was; but I shall take good care to follow mamma's advice and never +let her know his name," the girl ruminated.</p> + +<p>She was only a young girl, full of girlish enthusiasm, and it was +certainly beyond human expectation to believe she could refrain from +mentioning that much to Faynie the next morning.</p> + +<p>Faynie laid a little white hand on Claire's nut-brown head.</p> + +<p>"Take care not to fall too deeply in love with this handsome stranger," +she said, "for handsome men are not always good and true as they seem."</p> + +<p>"I am sure this gentleman is," declared impulsive Claire emphatically. +"He has the deepest, richest, mellowest voice I ever heard, and such +eyes—wine dark eyes—those are the only words which seem to express +what they are like—and when he takes your hand and looks down into your +face, the hand he holds so lightly tingles from the finger tips straight +to your heart."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid he has been holding your hand, Claire. Ah, take +care—beware!" warned Faynie.</p> + +<p>During the fortnight that followed Kendale was a constant visitor at the +palatial Fairfax home.</p> + +<p>And those two weeks changed the whole after current of Claire's life, as +Faynie observed with wonder. It was certainly evident the girl was +deeply in love, and Faynie trembled for her, for love would bring to +such natures as hers the greatest peace or the bitterest sorrow.</p> + +<p>She wondered if her stepmother saw how affairs were drifting.</p> + +<p>If it had not been that she and her stepmother were always at +cross-purposes with each other, she would have gone to her and warned +her that it was dangerous to throw this handsome young man so often into +Claire's society, unless she could readily see that he was pleased with +the girl—realizing that poor Claire had a sad drawback in her lameness +and that many would seek her society because she was bright and witty, +who would never dream of asking her hand in marriage because of it.</p> + +<p>Once she attempted to warn Claire of the hidden rocks that lay in love's +ocean, but the girl turned quickly a white, pained face toward her.</p> + +<p>"Say no more, Faynie," she cried; "the mischief, as you call it, has +already been done. My heart has left me and gone to him. If I do not win +him I shall die. You know the words:</p> + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Some hold that love is a foolish thing,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>A thing of little worth;<br /></span> +<span>But little or great, or weak or strong.<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>'Tis love that rules the earth.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"The tale is new, yet ever told;<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>It has often been breathed ere now—-<br /></span> +<span>'There was a lad who loved a lass'—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>'Tis old as the world, I trow!<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"The song I sing has been sung before,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>And will often again be sung<br /></span> +<span>While lads and lasses have lips to kiss,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Or bard a tuneful tongue.<br /></span> +</div><div class='stanza'> +<span>"And this is the burden of my rhyme—<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>Though love be of little worth,<br /></span> +<span>Yet from pole to pole and shore to shore,<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>'Tis love that rules the earth."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"And it is love that breaks hearts and wrecks lives," murmured Faynie, +with streaming eyes and quivering lips. "Oh, Claire! again I warn you to +take care—beware!"</p> + +<p>For one brief moment she was tempted to tell Claire her own story.</p> + +<p>Ah, had she but done so, how much misery might have been spared the +hapless girl! But she put the impulse from her with a shudder.</p> + +<p>No, no, she could not breathe to human ears the story of her false lover +and the tragedy that had ended her dream of love.</p> + +<p>She had never permitted her thoughts to dwell upon Lester Armstrong +since that fatal night.</p> + +<p>If there were times when she thought of him as when she knew him first, +seemingly so loving, tender and true, she put the thought quickly from +her, remembering him as she saw him that fatal night—transformed +suddenly into a demon by strong drink, when he struck her down upon +finding that she had just been disinherited—that she was not the +heiress that he had taken her to be.</p> + +<p>He thought his crime buried fathoms deep under the drifting snow heaps. +Ah, how great would be his terror to find that the grave to which he had +consigned her had given her back to the world of the living! No, no, she +could not shock Claire's young ears with that horrible story!</p> + +<p>It would be bad enough for her to learn of it in after years.</p> + +<p>Thus Faynie settled the matter in her own mind, and her lips were +sealed.</p> + +<p>One morning Claire burst eagerly into the room, quite as soon as it was +light.</p> + +<p>"I was here late last night, but you were asleep, Faynie," she said, +"and I came away, though I could scarcely wait to tell you the wonderful +news."</p> + +<p>"I think I can guess what it is," replied Faynie, stroking the girl's +brown curls, "Your lover has declared his love for you and asked you to +be his wife. Is it not so?"</p> + +<p>"You know it could be nothing else which could make me so very, very +happy," laughed Claire, her cheeks reddening.</p> + +<p>"And you have answered—yes?" asked Faynie.</p> + +<p>"Of course I said yes," responded Claire.</p> + +<p>"And when is the wedding to take place?" queried Faynie, hoping with all +her heart that this lover of whom the girl was so desperately fond loved +Claire for herself—not for the wealth she had fallen heir to.</p> + +<p>Claire raised her bright, blushing face shyly, the dimples coming and +going, making her rather plain little face almost beautiful at that +moment.</p> + +<p>"Mamma wanted the marriage put off for a year—I am so young—but Lester +was so impatient that he would consent to no such arrangement. He wants +the ceremony performed with as little delay as is absolutely necessary."</p> + +<p>"Lester!" The name went through Faynie's heart like the thrust of a +knife.</p> + +<p>For an instant every nerve in her body seemed to tremble and throb with +quick, spasmodic pain, then to stand still as though the chill of death +were creeping over her. Her eyes grew dim with an awful darkness, and +Claire's voice seemed far off and indistinct. Then the world faded from +her altogether and she fell at Claire's feet all in a little heap, in a +dead swoon.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE PROPOSAL.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>With all possible haste Claire summoned the housekeeper and gave Faynie +into her charge.</p> + +<p>It was more than disappointing to her to have Faynie lapse into +unconsciousness just as she had reached the most interesting part of her +story and was about to tell her how very romantically handsome Lester +had proposed. It had been just like a page from a French novel.</p> + +<p>She little dreamed that the art of making love was an old one to him.</p> + +<p>Kendale had gone to the Fairfax mansion with the express purpose of +proposing marriage that evening, for only that day Mr. Conway, the old +cashier, had told him confidentially that the affairs of the great dry +goods concern were in a bad shape—that the check for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand which had just been paid out had crippled them +sorely.</p> + +<p>And, after a moment's pause and with a husky voice, he added slowly: "If +something like three hundred thousand dollars is not raised within the +next sixty days you are a ruined man, Mr. Armstrong."</p> + +<p>This announcement fell with crushing force upon Kendale, who had +imagined that there could be no end to the flow of money that was +pouring in upon him.</p> + +<p>"There's only one way of raking in that much money in a hurry, and that +is by marrying the little lame heiress," he soliloquized.</p> + +<p>It so happened that he had an engagement to call there on this +particular evening, and he resolved that he would not let the +opportunity slip past him—that there was no time like the present.</p> + +<p>Fortune, fate, call it what you will, favored Kendale on this particular +occasion, as it usually did. He found Claire alone in the drawing-room +practising some sheet music which he had sent her a few days before.</p> + +<p>She started up in confusion as the servant ushered him into the room, a +swift blush crimsoning her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"Mamma will be down directly, Mr. Armstrong," she said, looking at him +shyly from beneath her long lashes.</p> + +<p>"Miss Stanhope—Claire!" he exclaimed impulsively, seizing both of her +little hands in his, "may we not have a few words together before my +card is sent up to your mother? Oh, Claire, you would surely say yes if +you knew all I had to say to you. Be kind and consent."</p> + +<p>"Since you seem to desire it so earnestly, I am sure I have no wish to +object," she answered, trembling in spite of her efforts to appear +unconcerned under the fire of his keen, ardent gaze.</p> + +<p>"You are an angel," he cried, seating himself in a chair so near her +that he could still hold the little fluttering hands, which she fain +would have drawn from his clasp, for, although she had never before had +a proposal of marriage, she guessed intuitively what was coming.</p> + +<p>"Since I have but a few minutes alone with you, Claire, what I have to +say must be said quickly," he began.</p> + +<p>For the first time in her life Claire was at a loss for an answer.</p> + +<p>"I am sure you have guessed my secret, sweetest of all sweet girls," he +murmured. "Every glance of my eyes, every touch of my hand, must have +told it to you from the first moment we met. Did it—not?"</p> + +<p>"No," faltered Claire, her eyes drooping like a flower under the sun's +piercing rays.</p> + +<p>"Then my lips shall tell you," he cried. "It is this—I love you, little +Claire—love you with all my heart, all my soul. You are the light of my +life, the sunshine of my existence, my lode-star, my hope—all that a +young girl is to a man who idolizes her as the one supreme being on +earth who can make him happy. Oh, Claire, I worship you as man never +worshiped woman before, and I want you for my wife."</p> + +<p>She opened her lips to speak, but he went on rapidly, hoarsely:</p> + +<p>"Do not refuse me, for it would be my death warrant if you did. I tell +you I cannot brook a refusal from those dear lips of yours. If you do +not consent I shall make away with myself in your presence here and now +with a revolver which lies in my breast pocket."</p> + +<p>A scream of terror broke from Claire's terrified lips.</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not make away with yourself, Mr; Armstrong!" "I—I will +promise—anything you—you want me to! Only don't shoot +yourself—don't!"</p> + +<p>"Then you accept me?" queried Kendale in a very businesslike manner.</p> + +<p>"Ye-es—if mamma does not—object," she answered in a stifling manner.</p> + +<p>"There must be no ifs," he declared. "You must take me, no matter who +objects. If we cannot bring your mamma around to an amicable way of +thinking, we must elope—that is all there is about it."</p> + +<p>"Elope!" gasped Claire in affright.</p> + +<p>"Why, what else would there be left to do?" he asked, with asperity. "I +love you and I must have you, Claire, and if you are willing to take me, +why, we will marry in spite of anything and everything that opposes.</p> + +<p>"Of course, if your mamma sees things as we do, all well and good; but +I say now to you, her objections must make no difference whatever in our +plans."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Armstrong!" gasped Claire, not knowing what in the world to say +to this ardent lover, who was so impetuous in his wooing.</p> + +<p>Before he could add a word Mrs. Fairfax came down the grand stairway, +her silken gown making a rustling frou-frou upon the velvet carpet.</p> + +<p>She looked much surprised at finding him there, as she had not been +apprised of his coming.</p> + +<p>Kendale arose to greet her in his usual impressive, languid, courteous +fashion, managing to whisper in Claire's ear hastily:</p> + +<p>"Make some excuse to leave the drawing-room for a few minutes, dear, and +while you are gone I will broach the all-important subject to your +mother."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax greeted the handsome young man cordially, pretending not to +have noticed how near to each other they had been sitting upon her +entrance to the drawing-room, and how suddenly they had sprung apart.</p> + +<p>Her daughter's blushing face and confused manner told her that the +propitious moment had arrived—the handsome heir to the Marsh millions +had proposed.</p> + +<p>And underneath her calm exterior Mrs. Fairfax's heart beat high with +exultation. Her quick ear had also caught that rapidly whispered last +remark to Claire, and, realizing that her daughter was too much +flustered to act upon it, gave the young man the opportunity to be alone +with her which he seemed to desire by remarking:</p> + +<p>"Dear me, I have left my fan in my boudoir, Claire, dear, would you mind +ringing for my maid to fetch it to me?"</p> + +<p>"I will go for it, mamma," returned Claire, shyly, without daring to +look at her lover.</p> + +<p>"As you like, my dear," returned Mrs. Fairfax, with very natural +appearing carelessness.</p> + +<p>Claire was gone quite half an hour in search of the fan. When she +returned to the drawing-room her mother met her with open arms.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Armstrong has told me all, my darling," she murmured, "and I give +my consent. You may marry him if you love him, daughter, and quite as +soon as he wishes."</p> + +<p>Kendale left the mansion two hours later with a self-satisfied smile on +his lips.</p> + +<p>"Marrying heiresses is much easier than most men suppose," he +muttered—and he stopped short in the grounds, standing under a tree +until the lights went out one by one, shrouding the house in gloom.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, girl like, Claire had flown to Faynie's apartment to tell +her the wonderful news—that her handsome lover had really proposed and +her mother had given her consent, and she was to be married at once.</p> + +<p>Faynie's swoon had put a stop to confiding to her all the wonderful +things Lester had said. "I will tell her in the morning," she promised +herself, little dreaming what was to transpire ere the morrow dawned.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXIV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>AN AWFUL APPARITION.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>When Faynie awoke to consciousness she found the housekeeper bending +over her. Hours had passed and Claire had long since retired to her +room.</p> + +<p>Faynie opened her eyes slowly, in a half-dazed manner, but as she did so +memory returned to her with startling force; but she bravely restrained +the cry that rose to her lips.</p> + +<p>Claire had called her lover "Lester!" She wondered that the sound of +that name had: not stricken her head.</p> + +<p>Could Claire's lover be—Ah! she dared not even imagine such a horrible +possibility. Then she laughed aloud, thinking how foolish she had been +to be so needlessly alarmed.</p> + +<p>The false lover who had wooed and won her so cruelly was not the only +man in the world who bore the fateful name of Lester.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you are better, my dear," exclaimed the old housekeeper in great +relief. "Your swoon lasted so long that I was greatly alarmed; What +caused you to faint, my dear child?"</p> + +<p>Faynie murmured some reply which she could not quite catch, for the +housekeeper was old and very deaf.</p> + +<p>"Take this and go to sleep," she said, holding a soothing, quieting +draught to the girl's white, hot, parched lips. "You will awaken as well +as ever to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Faynie did as she was requested, closing her eyes. She was glad when the +kindly old face was turned away and she was left alone—not to sleep, +but to think.</p> + +<p>Of course it could not be Lester Armstrong who was Claire's suitor, for +he was poor, and her haughty stepmother would never encourage the suit +of a man who did not have wealth at his command.</p> + +<p>If Faynie had but read the papers she would have known what was +transpiring, but, alas! she did not and was utterly unaware of the +strange turn of fortune's wheel which had occurred in the life of the +young assistant cashier to whom she had given the wealth of her love, +when he was poor.</p> + +<p>Lying there, going over every detail of, the past, which seemed now but +the idle vagaries of a fleeting dream, she hardly knew, Heaven help her, +whether she still loved—or hated with all the strength of her +nature—Lester Armstrong.</p> + +<p>Her heart would fill with yearning tenderness almost unbearable when she +looked back at the early days of that brief, sweet courtship.</p> + +<p>How strong, noble, true and brave he had seemed—how kind of heart!</p> + +<p>She had seen him pick up a little birdling that had fallen from its +nest, lying with a bruised wing in the dust of the roadside, and restore +it to the mother bird to be nursed back to health and life, and go out +of his way to rescue a butterfly that had fallen in the millpond.</p> + +<p>It seemed like the distorted imagination of some diseased brain to bring +herself to the realization that this same gentle hand that had rescued +the robin and the butterfly had struck her down to death—that the kind, +earnest voice that had been wont to whisper nothing but words of +devotion and eternal love should fling out the vilest and bitterest of +oaths at her, because she was not the heiress he had taken her to be.</p> + +<p>And without one tear, one bitter regret, he had consigned her to that +lonely grave and gone back to the life which he had declared he could +never live without her.</p> + +<p>Where was he now? she wondered vaguely; then she laughed a low, bitter +laugh, sadder than any tears.</p> + +<p>He had missed the fortune he had hoped for and was back again in the +office of Marsh & Co.</p> + +<p>Then the thought came to her again with crushing, alarming force—would +he not (believing her dead and himself free to woo and wed again) seek +out some other heiress, since that was his design? Many young girls came +to the assistant cashier's window just as she had done; he would select +the richest and marry her.</p> + +<p>The very thought seemed to stab her to the heart with a keen, subtle +pain which she could neither understand nor clearly define, even to +herself.</p> + +<p>"Heaven pity her in the hour when she finds that she has been +deceived—that he married her for gold, not love," she sobbed, covering +her face with her little trembling hands.</p> + +<p>She prayed to Heaven silently that Claire's lover, whoever he might be, +was marrying her for love, and for love alone.</p> + +<p>So restless was she that, despite the quieting draught which the +housekeeper had induced her to swallow, she could not sleep.</p> + +<p>But one thing remained for her to do, and that was to get up and dress +and go down to her father's library and read herself into forgetfulness +until day dawned.</p> + +<p>Faynie acted upon the impulse, noting as she stepped from her room into +the corridor that the clock on her mantel chimed the hour of two.</p> + +<p>She had proceeded scarcely half a dozen steps ere she became aware that +she was not alone in the corridor.</p> + +<p>She stopped short.</p> + +<p>The time was when Faynie would have shrieked aloud or swooned from +terror; but she had gone through so many thrilling scenes during the +last few weeks of her eventful young life that fear within her breast +had quite died out.</p> + +<p>Was it only her wild, fanciful imagination, or did she hear the sound of +low breathing? Faynie stood quite still, leaning behind a marble Flora, +and listened.</p> + +<p>Yes, the sound was audible enough now. There was somebody in the +corridor creeping toward the spot where she stood, with swift but +noiseless feet.</p> + +<p>Nearer, nearer the footsteps crept, the soft, low-bated breathing +sounding closer with every step.</p> + +<p>With a presence of mind which few young girls possessed, Faynie +suddenly stepped forward and turned on the gas jet from an electric +button, full head.</p> + +<p>The sight which met her gaze fairly rooted her to the spot.</p> + +<p>For one brief instant of time it seemed to Faynie as though her breath +was leaving her body.</p> + +<p>She stood paralyzed, unable to stir hand or foot, if her very life had +depended upon it.</p> + +<p>Outside the wind blew dismally; the shutters creaked to and fro on their +hinges; the leafless branches of the trees tapped their ghostly fingers +against the panes.</p> + +<p>Faynie tried to speak—to cry out—but her tongue seemed to cleave to +the roof of her mouth, powerless. Her hands fell to her side a dead +weight, her eyes fairly bulging from their sockets.</p> + +<p>It almost seemed to the girl that she was passing through the awful +transition of death.</p> + +<p>The blood in her veins was turning to ice, and the heart in her bosom to +marble.</p> + +<p>In an upper room, afar off, she heard one of the servants coughing +protractedly in her sleep.</p> + +<p>Oh, God! if she could but burst the icy bonds that bound her hand and +foot and cry out—bring the household about her. Her lips opened, but no +sound came from them.</p> + +<p>The very breath in her body seemed dying out with each faint gasp that +broke over the white, mute lips.</p> + +<p>Outside the night winds grew wilder and fiercer. A gust of hail battered +against the window panes and rattled down the wide-throated chimneys. +Then suddenly; all was still again!</p> + +<p>Oh, pitiful heavens! how hard Faynie tried to break the awful bonds that +held her there, still, silent, motionless, unable to move or utter any +sound, staring in horror words cannot picture at the sight that met her +strained gaze.</p> + +<p>It had only been an instant of time since the bright blaze of the gas +had illuminated the darkened corridor, yet it seemed to Faynie, standing +there, white and cold as an image carved in marble, that long years had +passed.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXV'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>"I INTEND TO WATCH YOU DIE, INCH BY INCH, DAY BY DAY!"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Before going on further with the thrilling event which we narrated in +our last chapter it will be necessary to devote a few explanatory lines +to the still more thrilling scene which led up to it, returning to the +real Lester Armstrong, whom we left in the isolated cabin in the custody +of Halloran.</p> + +<p>Lester's intense anxiety when Kendale forcibly took the keys from him +and disappeared can better be imagined than described.</p> + +<p>In vain he pleaded with Halloran to release him, offering every kind of +inducement, but the man was inexorable.</p> + +<p>Your Cousin Kendale will pay me twice as much for detaining you here," +he answered with a boisterous laugh, adding:</p> + +<p>"Besides, I have a grudge against you of many years' standing, Lester +Armstrong, which this affair is wiping out pretty effectively."</p> + +<p>"I was not aware that I had ever seen you before," replied Lester.</p> + +<p>"Permit me to refresh your memory," exclaimed the other grimly. "When +you were a boy of about fourteen years you attended the public school on +Canal Street."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Lester, still mystified.</p> + +<p>"At that time," went on Halloran, "the school was unusually crowded, +owing to the enforcement of the law that the children of the +neighborhood must attend school, thus bringing in all the urchins of +the poor thereabouts; you surely remember that?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me I have a faint recollection of some such circumstance," +replied Lester, eying the man who stood over him, his dark, scowling +face growing more foreboding with each word he uttered.</p> + +<p>"If you carry your mind back you will also remember that there was a +ragged boy sitting to the right of you, who seemed to have a weakness +for purloining your pencils and other like articles."</p> + +<p>Lester did not answer; his mind was traveling back to the time this man +recalled.</p> + +<p>"You will also recollect the boy who sat in front of you, who was the +envy of all the boys in the school by being the possessor of a fine, new +five-bladed jackknife, with which he used to whittle kites and whistles +during recess. Ah! I see you do remember," said Halloran grimly, "and +you also remember the day the ragged boy, sitting at the right of you, +believing no one was looking, reached over and quietly, deftly, inserted +his hand in the other's pocket and abstracted the coveted jackknife.</p> + +<p>"He meant to as quietly replace it in the other's pocket after he had +whittled out a kite and whistle for himself; but, lo! without giving him +time to carry out his intentions, you, good boy that you were, squealed +and brought all the teachers in the room to the spot. You cried out to +them what had occurred, and the ragged lad was caught red-handed with +the knife in his possession. He was expelled from the school that day, +but the affair did not end there. The father of the boy who owned the +knife was a great judge, and he caused the ragged lad to be sent to a +State reformatory, where the next five years of his life were spent in +rigid discipline—stigmatized as a common thief! And all these years the +bitterness of a terrible hatred rankled in his bosom against you—who +were responsible for all this.</p> + +<p>"And he vowed a bitter vow of vengeance, that he would repay that act of +yours if it took him a lifetime to accomplish it; that he would make you +suffer like one on the rack for thrice five years, and then tell you +why.</p> + +<p>"It will not take much stretch of imagination for you to surmise, Lester +Armstrong, that I am that boy upon whom you peached, and on whom, +through you, such a severe penalty was inflicted.</p> + +<p>"My hatred against you has intensified as the years rolled on, Lester +Armstrong. You are in my power; I hold your life in my hands. Do you +think if you were to pray to me on your bended knees that I would +release you? No, a thousand times no! Every groan that falls from your +lips is music to my ears.</p> + +<p>"Again I repeat, you are at my mercy, and I will give you a dose of +that same mercy which you showed me in those other days. Ha! you turn +pale, as well you may!</p> + +<p>"Listen! Let me tell you what I intend to do. I think you guess it from +all that has gone on before, but I will repeat it. I intend to watch you +die, inch by inch, day by day!</p> + +<p>"They tell of a man who put himself on exhibition in New York, +challenging the people to come and see him fast forty days, during which +time neither food nor drink should pass his lips.</p> + +<p>"But you will not last so long, Lester Armstrong; I think a week's time +will be your limit. You will understand now how perfectly useless it +would be to plead with me."</p> + +<p>"Do not imagine for one moment that I intend to do so. I am a man of +nerve and iron will, and I can die like one. You have shackled me hand +and foot and placed me in this death trap, but your ears shall not be +greeted with any moans or cries of complaint. The vengeance you have +mapped out will fall short in that."</p> + +<p>A sneer broke from Halloran's lips; he could not help but admire the +dauntless courage of the man before him, but he would not have admitted +it for anything the wide world held. With a fiendish laugh that rang in +Lester's ears for long hours afterward, Halloran turned and left him, +sauntering into the outer room and banging and locking the door after +him.</p> + +<p>It was a night never to be forgotten by Lester to the last day of his +life. His mouth was parched with thirst; the blood in his veins seemed +turning to lava, and his eyes were scorched in their sockets.</p> + +<p>Once the door suddenly opened and Halloran thrust in his head, +exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Let me give you a piece of news to dream over, my dear fellow: Your +Cousin, Kendale, is with the beauteous Faynie just now, probably holding +her in his arms, kissing the lovely rosebud mouth. 'Pon my honor. I envy +the lucky dog; don't you?"</p> + +<p>The door closed quite as quickly again, and Lester was alone with his +bitter thoughts.</p> + +<p>"What have I done that a just God should torture me thus?" he cried out +in an agony so intense that great beads of cold perspiration gathered on +his forehead and rolled unheeded down his white cheeks. "If he tortured +me to the gates of death I could endure it, but the very thought that my +innocent darling, my beautiful, tender little Faynie, is in that +dastardly villain's power, fairly goads me to madness. Oh, Heaven! if I +but had the strength of Samson for but a single hour, to burst these +cruel bonds asunder and fly to my dear one's side!"</p> + +<p>But, struggle as he would, the thongs which bound him, rendering him +powerless to aid the girl he loved, would not give way.</p> + +<p>Thus a fortnight passed, and Halloran was beside himself with wonder to +find each morning that Lester was still alive and that he had not gone +mad.</p> + +<p>But Lester Armstrong's guardian angel had not quite forgotten him; +Heaven had not intended that he should die by thirst and starvation in +that isolated cabin, and served him in a strange, unlooked-for way.</p> + +<p>He soon discovered that a family of squirrels had made a home beneath a +piece of flooring within easy reach of where he lay, and upon forcing up +the piece of rotten plank he found to his intense joy an almost endless +supply of nuts, and close beside their burrow a running stream of clear, +cool, fresh, bubbling spring water.</p> + +<p>In an instant he had slaked his thirst and laved his burning brow.</p> + +<p>From that hour he felt sure that Heaven intended him to escape from his +foes. He took good care, however, to conceal his wonderful discovery +from Halloran's keen, sharp eyes when he looked in each day.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXVI'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>A FIENDISH ACT.</h3> + + +<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'> +<span>"Like some lone bird<br /></span> +<span>Without a mate,<br /></span> +<span>My lonely heart is desolate;<br /></span> +<span>I look around<br /></span> +<span>And cannot trace, a friendly<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>smile, a welcome face.<br /></span> +<span>Even in crowds<br /></span> +<span>I'm still alone, because I<br /></span> +<span class='i2'>cannot love but one."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Thus a fortnight passed, and under the rigid diet of the strengthening, +nutritious nuts and clear spring water Lester rapidly gained strength.</p> + +<p>He only waited a fitting opportunity to make a dash for liberty.</p> + +<p>Halloran was well armed; he realized that fact, and that he would shoot +him down like a dog ere he would suffer him to escape the fate that had +been laid out for him.</p> + +<p>Therefore his only hope was to get away by strategy. He laid several +plans, but each time they were frustrated by some unexpected act of +Halloran's.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the latter was pondering over his case, considerably +mystified.</p> + +<p>"Confound the fellow! he does not seem to grow either pale or +emaciated," he muttered. "I could almost say that starving seems to +agree with him. I am quite tempted to give him his quietus and end this +vigil. Remaining in this solitary hut does not quite come up to my +liking. I wonder what Kendale is doing. He promised to let me know how +he got on.</p> + +<p>"I have not heard from him for nearly a week now. Perhaps they made the +discovery that he was not the real Lester Armstrong, and have placed him +in limbo; but it strikes me that in such a predicament he would hasten +to communicate with me, apprising me of the fact.</p> + +<p>"Then, again," he ruminated, "Kendale is thoroughly selfish to the +backbone, and if he has successfully hoodwinked these people and is +living off the fat of the land and rolling in money, as it were, ten +chances to one he has quite forgotten my very existence.</p> + +<p>"He ought to have sent me more provisions to-day, and more tobacco; and +it is nightfall and no sign of any one."</p> + +<p>The next day and the next passed in the same fashion.</p> + +<p>By this time Halloran had become thoroughly exasperated.</p> + +<p>"This settles the bill," he muttered; "I leave this place to-night. I do +not see much need of staying here any longer, anyhow. Armstrong will not +last many hours longer; he couldn't; it's beyond human physical +possibility."</p> + +<p>In the semi-twilight he looked in at his prisoner.</p> + +<p>Lester had fallen into so deep a sleep that he seemed scarcely to +breathe, and the dim, fading light falling in through the chinks of the +boarded window gave his face, which was beginning to grow pale because +of his confinement, an unusually grayish pallor at this twilight hour.</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha!" muttered Halloran, setting his teeth hard together; "it is +perfectly safe to leave him now. He is dying; his hour has come at +last."</p> + +<p>Turning on his heel he strode into the outer apartment, banging the door +to after him, but not taking the trouble to lock it on this occasion.</p> + +<p>"As there seems to be little need of my remaining here longer, now that +he is done for, I'm off for the city," he muttered; "and a pretty tramp +I'll have of it over this barren country road, fully seven miles to the +railway station, and hungry as a bear at that."</p> + +<p>Again he looked at Lester, to assure himself beyond all possibility of a +doubt that he was actually dying.</p> + +<p>And again he was thoroughly deceived.</p> + +<p>"It's all over with him," he muttered, "and Kendale's secret is safe +between him and me, and he'll have to pay me handsomely to keep it; +that's certain."</p> + +<p>On the threshold he halted.</p> + +<p>"Dead men tell no tales," he muttered, "and he would be past all +recognition by the time any one came across him in this isolated spot. +Then, again, some one might happen to wander this way.</p> + +<p>"It's best to be sure; to put it beyond human power to discover his +identity, and the only way to secure that end is to burn this place. Ay! +that is the surest and safest way to effectually conceal the crime."</p> + +<p>He had muttered the words aloud, and they fell distinctly upon the ears +of Lester Armstrong, who had awakened at the sound of his footsteps the +second time, although he had given no sign of having done so. The words +fell with horrible dread upon his ears because of the fact that he was +bound hand and foot by an iron chain, fastened to a heavy ring in the +floor.</p> + +<p>For the last week he had used every endeavor to force the links apart, +but they had frustrated his most strenuous efforts.</p> + +<p>And he said to himself, if the fiend incarnate before him carried out +his intention of firing the place it would be all over with him. The +horrible smoke would assuredly suffocate him ere he could, even by +exerting the most Herculean strength, succeed in liberating himself.</p> + +<p>With bated breath he heard Halloran enter the outer apartment.</p> + +<p>And he heard his impatient, muttered imprecations as he fumbled about +for matches, seemingly without finding any.</p> + +<p>"This is where I put them," exclaimed Halloran, with an oath, "but they +are not here now."</p> + +<p>After a moment's pause his voice broke the awful stillness, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Ah! here they are! I imagined they were not far away. One should always +know where to put his hands on such things, even in the dark. A whole +bunch of 'em; I did not remember that I had so many!"</p> + +<p>For the next few moments Lester heard him walking to and fro, apparently +dragging heavy articles over the floor, and he knew that he was piling +pieces of boards together in the middle of the room to start the blaze.</p> + +<p>His blood fairly ran cold in his veins at the thought.</p> + +<p>The moments that followed seemed the length of eternity.</p> + +<p>Each instant he expected to hear the dull scratching of the matches, +quickly followed by the swift, crackling blaze.</p> + +<p>With all his strength he strove to rend asunder the heavy steel chain, +but it resisted his every effort.</p> + +<p>"God in heaven! am I to die here like a rat in a trap?" he groaned, the +veins standing out like knotted whipcord on his forehead, the +perspiration pouring down his face like rain.</p> + +<p>For some moments there was a strange, unaccountable silence in the outer +room.</p> + +<p>Lester paused in his efforts to wrench the iron bands asunder which +bound his wrists, wondering what that ominous silence meant.</p> + +<p>The suspense was terrible, yet each moment meant that much of a respite +from the horrible fate which awaited him.</p> + +<p>What could Halloran be doing? Surely he had not abandoned his intentions +to set fire to the cabin?</p> + +<p>It was almost too good to be true. And yet that awful uncertainty was +almost unbearable.</p> + +<p>In the outer room Halloran sat quietly thinking over his plans, match in +hand, telling himself that he had better perfect them then than wait +until he was journeying toward the railway station.</p> + +<p>He would take the first train bound for New York, seek Kendale at once, +and have an understanding with him before he would disclose to him the +fact that Lester Armstrong was effectually out of his way.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the only course to pursue," muttered Halloran, and +springing to his feet, he struck half of the matches in his package at +once, and lighted the pile heaped in the center of the cabin floor.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXVII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>HALLORAN MEETS WITH HIS REWARD.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>In an instant after the match had been applied a fiery tongue of flame +leaped to the ceiling, lighting the interior of the cabin with a +blinding glare of red light.</p> + +<p>Seizing his hat, Halloran dashed from the place and down the road, never +pausing until he had reached the fork of the roads. Then he stopped for +breath and looked back over his shoulder.</p> + +<p>A high ridge of ground intervened, completely hiding the doomed place +from his view.</p> + +<p>He did not even behold the column of fire and smoke, as he had +anticipated.</p> + +<p>"Those old boards are so damp that it will probably take some time to +ignite them, and there's no use waiting to see that," he muttered. "I +will be well on my way to the railway station by that time."</p> + +<p>He redoubled his speed to get as far away from the scene as possible, +for, villain though he was, this was his first actual crime, and his +conscience troubled him a little.</p> + +<p>Another mile or more he traversed through the heavy snow; then he +suddenly became conscious that there were rapidly approaching footsteps +behind him.</p> + +<p>Great heavens! had Lester Armstrong succeeded in making his escape? No, +it could not be. Even if so, he was too weak to run in that rapid +fashion. Involuntarily he paused and glanced backward over his shoulder. +The next instant a wild, panting cry of mortal terror broke from his +lips.</p> + +<p>In that backward glance he had beheld a huge black bear, making rapidly +toward the spot where he stood, fairly paralyzed with horror.</p> + +<p>It dawned upon him suddenly that only a few days before he had read of +the escape of one of the most ferocious black bears of the zoological +gardens, and, though two days had elapsed and men were scouring all +parts of the adjacent places, no trace of the animal had been found, and +great fears were expressed of the grave damage the bear might do before +he was recaptured.</p> + +<p>This was undoubtedly the animal that had escaped which was making toward +him with great leaps and savage growls, as though it had already marked +him for its prey.</p> + +<p>His teeth chattered like castanets; his eyes fairly bulged from their +sockets; the breath came in hot gasps from his white lips; his brain +reeled, as he took in, in that rapid glance of horror, his awful doom.</p> + +<p>Nearer and nearer sounded the hoarse, awful growls; nearer and nearer +moved the huge black mass over the white, crunching snow.</p> + +<p>The moon was slowly rising over the horizon, rendering all objects +clearly distinct to his frightened gaze.</p> + +<p>He was passing through a narrow belt of woodland, and like an +inspiration it occurred to him that his only hope of escape lay in +climbing one of the trees and thus outwitting the bear.</p> + +<p>He saw with sinking heart that they were scarcely more than saplings, +and whether or not they would bear his weight without snapping in twain +he dared not even pause to consider.</p> + +<p>With a groan of mortal terror he sprang for the nearest tree. Fright +seemed to lend him wonderful strength and agility; he succeeded in +reaching the lowest limb as the animal, with glittering eyes and widely +distended jaws, reached the tree.</p> + +<p>Up, up, crept Halloran, his teeth chattering, his strength almost +leaving him as the animal's roar of baffled rage fell upon his ear.</p> + +<p>To and fro bent the sapling under his weight, threatening to snap +asunder each moment and cast him into the jaws of the enraged beast.</p> + +<p>The hours that followed were of such keen, mortal terror that he vaguely +wondered that he did not lose his reason through fright.</p> + +<p>With fascinated eyes he watched the antics of the thoroughly enraged +animal. The bear made many efforts to climb the tree in pursuit of his +prey, but the swaying sapling was too slender to give him a hold, and +its bark too slippery with its coating of ice to insert the claws, which +had been clipped quite close, rendering them almost powerless in taking +a firm grasp.</p> + +<p>The night had closed in intensely cold, and Halloran could feel his +cramped limbs and hands slowly stiffening, but he dared not lose his +grip.</p> + +<p>The moon rose higher and higher in the night sky, shedding a white, +clear, bright light over the snow-clad earth.</p> + +<p>He knew that the animal was watching his every movement closely, as each +time he shifted his position brought a savage growl from the bear, which +was circling round and round the tree, eying him intently.</p> + +<p>For long hours this lasted, until the half frozen man, hanging on for +dear life to the upper branches of the sapling, thought he should go +mad.</p> + +<p>With the coming of daylight the bear changed his tactics, lying down +directly under the tree, still eying his prey with his small, beady, +expectant eyes, as though measuring the time that his victim could hold +out.</p> + +<p>The daylight grew stronger; slowly in the eastern horizon the red sun +rose, gilding the white, glistening snow with its rosy light.</p> + +<p>Hour by hour it climbed the blue azure height, crossed the zenith, and +then slowly sank behind the western hills, heralding the oncoming of +another night.</p> + +<p>Still the brute, with almost incredible cunning, sat in the same +position under the tree, watching Halloran's every move.</p> + +<p>"God rescue me!" he cried, lifting his white face to the Heaven he had +so offended.</p> + +<p>"If I pass another night here I shall go mad—mad!"</p> + +<p>He was famished with hunger, numb with cold, and his mouth and throat +were dry with unconquerable thirst.</p> + +<p>In those hours of suffering he thought of Lester Armstrong, and of the +awful fate he had doomed him to. He realized by his own experience of a +few hours what he must have endured, and a bitter groan of remorse broke +from his clammy lips.</p> + +<p>"This is Heaven's punishment," he cried. "Oh, Lester Armstrong. God has +surely avenged you! If I could but atone; if it were to be done over +again, I would have no hand in the atrocious crime that has dyed my +hands just as surely as though I had plunged a knife into your heart!"</p> + +<p>In his haste on leaving the cabin he had not taken time to secure his +revolver; he had no weapon; he was doomed to meet the same fate that he +had meted out to Lester Armstrong—starve to death slowly, hour by +hour—knowing that when he was too weak to hold longer to the branch he +would fall.</p> + +<p>Oh, God in heaven! fall into the gaping jaws of the enraged animal that +was waiting to receive him.</p> + +<p>He had led too wicked a life to pray; he did not know a prayer; he could +only raise his agonized eyes to the far-off sky, wondering how long his +awful torture could last-how long he would be able to hold out—how +long.</p> + +<p>He felt his blood slowly turning to ice in his veins, and slowly and +surely the dusk deepened and the darkness of another night fell over the +world.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXVIII'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>"SOME TERRIBLE PRESENTIMENT IS WARNING ME THAT MY DARLING IS IN DANGER."</h3> +<br /> + +<p>There never was a night so long that another day did not dawn—at +last—and when the morrow's light broke, Halloran was slowly but surely +collapsing—giving himself up to the horrible doom that awaited him—for +the bear had not quitted his position under the tree, nor had he taken +his eyes off his intended victim for a single moment.</p> + +<p>As the sun rose, Halloran watched it with dazed, bloodshot eyes, +exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Good-by, golden sun, I shall never see you set, nor witness you rise +again upon another day. I—" the sentence was never finished, for over +the snowy waste rang a voice like a bugle blast:</p> + +<p>"Keep quiet, take heart, help is at hand; I am going to shoot the animal +and deliver you," and simultaneously with the voice four shots in rapid +succession rang out upon the early morning air.</p> + +<p>There was a wild howl of pain, a terrible roaring bellow, a sudden dash +toward a dark figure hurriedly approaching, two more shots, and the bear +rolled over dying beyond power to harm, his red blood dyeing the white +snow in great pools. Halloran knew no more. His strength and endurance +seemed suddenly to leave him, darkness closed in about him, his hold +loosened and he fell backward down, down through space.</p> + +<p>He did not know that a pair of strong arms caught him, thus saving him +from a broken neck. When he opened his eyes a few moments later, to his +intense surprise he found Lester Armstrong bending over him, and the +sight rendered him fairly dumb with amazement.</p> + +<p>Before he could ask questions that sprang to his lips, Lester explained +to him that owing to the dampness of the place, the fire Halloran had +kindled had quickly gone out, thus saving the young man from being +burned to death. He told him, too, why death had not come to him through +starvation, as had been intended, and that it had taken him all that +time to force apart the links of the chain, when he found that there was +no one to hear or prevent, no matter how much noise he made in so doing.</p> + +<p>He had seen the revolver, which had been forgotten, and little imagining +it would be of such vital use, had thrust it in his pocket and started +forth to make his way back to New York, when he unexpectedly came upon +the scene of the bear under the tree, and a fellow-being in deadly +peril.</p> + +<p>"You saved me—me," cried Halloran, huskily, "your deadly foe, who +tried to rob you of your life."</p> + +<p>"It was my duty, 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,'" quoted Lester, +quietly.</p> + +<p>Halloran fell on his knees, covering the other's hands with passionate +kisses, tears falling like rain from his eyes.</p> + +<p>"From this hour the life that you have saved shall be devoted to +you—and God!" he cried brokenly. "Oh, will Heaven ever forgive me for +the past? There are two bullets left in the revolver; you ought to shoot +me dead at your feet, Lester Armstrong. I deserve it."</p> + +<p>Lester shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Do better with your life than you have done in the past," he said.</p> + +<p>Halloran tried to rise to his feet, but fell back exhausted on the snow.</p> + +<p>"I cannot walk," he gasped. "I—I am sure my limbs are frozen."</p> + +<p>With a humane kindness that won him Halloran's gratitude to his dying +day, Lester helped him to the railway station, and to board the incoming +train, taking him to a hospital when they reached New York City.</p> + +<p>Halloran had lapsed into unconsciousness, but Lester was too kind of +heart to desert him in his hour of need.</p> + +<p>The clock was striking five as Lester left the hospital.</p> + +<p>On the pavement he paused, asking himself if he could go to a hotel +presenting that soiled, unkempt appearance. Then like an inspiration it +occurred to him that the best place in the world to go to was Mr. +Conway's; and he put the thought into execution at once, reaching there +nearly an hour later.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway and Margery were just sitting down to breakfast as he rang +the bell of the humble little cottage.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway answered the summons.</p> + +<p>The scene which followed can better be imagined than described.</p> + +<p>It was hard to convince father and daughter, at first, that in telling +his story he was not attempting to play some practical joke upon them.</p> + +<p>That he had a cousin who so cleverly resembled him that even those who +had known Lester intimately for long years should be so cleverly +deceived by him seemed almost incredible. Margery hid her face in her +trembling hands while her father gave Lester a full account of what had +transpired, while the latter's emotion was great; and his distress +intense, upon learning that Kendale had dared betroth himself to Margery +in his name, and that the gentle-hearted girl had learned to care for +the scamp, despite her repugnance to him at first.</p> + +<p>Lester thought it best, under the circumstances, to confide in full to +Margery and her father concerning his own love affair, lest they might +expect him to carry out the contract his cousin had made in regard to +marrying his old friend's pretty daughter.</p> + +<p>Margery's next words, however, set his troubled heart at rest in that +respect.</p> + +<p>She looked up at him suddenly through her tears, saying shyly:</p> + +<p>"There is another who cares for me, not knowing of this affair, one whom +I once thought I could love. Yesterday he wrote me a letter, asking for +my heart and hand.</p> + +<p>"Last night I wrote him a reply, saying 'No,' and telling him why. I +shall destroy that letter to-night, thankful enough that I did not have +time to send it. And my answer will then be 'Yes.'"</p> + +<p>"You have my best wishes for your happiness, little Margery," said +Lester, adding smilingly: "And when; the wedding occurs, which I hope +will be soon, you may, expect a very handsome present from me."</p> + +<p>Long after Mr. Conway and his unexpected visitor had finished their +simple breakfast, they talked over the strange situation of affairs, and +what was best to be done to avoid great publicity.</p> + +<p>"The bogus Lester Armstrong went to Beechwood last night," said the old +cashier. "He probably will remain there, as is his custom, until to-day +noon. You had better confront him there; meanwhile I will break the +amazing story to those of the establishment whom it is absolutely +necessary to tell. The rest of the employees and the public at large +need never know of the glaring fraud that was so cleverly practised +under their very eyes."</p> + +<p>Lester had sprung to his feet trembling with excitement, at the +information that Kendale had gone to the home of Faynie, despite the +fact that Mr. Conway had assured him that Kendale was not married.</p> + +<p>"Only yesterday he told me he contemplated marriage with a little +heiress out at Beechwood, and if his wooing went on smoothly he would be +a benedict in a few days' time—those were his exact words!" declared +Mr. Conway.</p> + +<p>"Thank Heaven the mischief has not yet been done," cried Lester, +fervently.</p> + +<p>He would have started for Beechwood at once, had it not been for Mr. +Conway, who induced him to lie down for a few hours and take a little +much-needed rest, explaining that he could not go in that apparel, and +it would take some little time to secure suitable raiment, and renovate +his appearance.</p> + +<p>Lester yielded to his judgment.</p> + +<p>Neither Mr. Conway nor Margery had the heart to awaken him, as hour +after hour rolled by; he seemed so thoroughly exhausted and his deep +sleep was doing him such a world of good, although the complete outfit +which Mr. Conway had sent for had long since arrived.</p> + +<p>It was night when Lester opened his eyes—imagining his surroundings for +the moment but the idle vagaries of a dream.</p> + +<p>Mr. Conway's kindly, solicitous face bending over him soon brought him +to his senses, and a remembrance of all that had occurred.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Mr. Conway! You should not have let me sleep," he cried. "I ought +to have been at Beechwood hours ago; something in my heart—some +terrible presentiment is warning me that my darling is in danger!"</p> + +<p>"You are only fanciful," returned his old friend. "Anxiety makes you +imagine that."</p> + +<p>"I hope it may prove as you say," replied Lester, huskily, and in an +hour's time he was on his way to Beechwood and Faynie.</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXIX'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h3>"GREAT GOD, IT IS A GHOST—THE GHOST OF FAYNIE!"</h3> +<br /> + +<p>We must now return to Faynie, and the thrilling position in which we so +reluctantly left her.</p> + +<p>As the bright blaze of light illumined the corridor Faynie beheld the +dark form of a man creeping toward her.</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! Some one must have touched an electric button +somewhere—the wrong button!" he cried, instantly springing behind a +marble Flora—but not before Faynie had distinctly beheld him, being +herself unseen, because she was standing in the dense shadow.</p> + +<p>"It is he! It is Lester Armstrong!" was the cry that sprang from her +terrified heart to her lips, but no sound issued from them as they +parted.</p> + +<p>She leaned back faint and dizzy against the wall, unable to utter even +the faintest sound. "So this is Claire's lover—the Lester she told me +about—whom she is soon to marry! The dastardly wretch who wrecked my +life and left me for dead under the cold, drifting snow heap," was the +thought that flashed through her dazed brain as she watched him, with +bated breath and dilated eyes.</p> + +<p>"It was only a false alarm; nobody would be roaming through the corridor +of this place at this ghostly hour!" he muttered, sallying forth. "It +seems that I was more scared than hurt on this occasion. Now for the +library, to find that sum of money which my foolish +mamma-in-law-that-is-to-be mentioned having placed there. It's a daring +risk, stealing into the house like a thief in the night to search for +it, but there's no other way to get it, and money I must have without +delay.</p> + +<p>"It's mighty dangerous going through this corridor in this bright light. +I wish I knew where to turn it off; the chandelier is too high or I'd do +it in that way. I'm liable to be seen at any moment, if any one should +take it into their head to come down through the house for any reason +whatsoever."</p> + +<p>The next moment he had disappeared within the library, closing the door +neatly to after him. The next moment he had lighted the shaded night +lamp that stood on the table.</p> + +<p>Turning out the gas in the corridor, Faynie glided forward like a +shadow, and, reaching the library, noiselessly pushed open the door, +which he had left slightly ajar.</p> + +<p>"What was he doing here?" she wondered vaguely, her eyes blazing with +fierce indignation as she stood there considering what her next action +should be. He decided, the question by exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Ha! This is the little iron safe she mentioned: of course the money is +here, and the will is probably here, too, for that matter, which states +that all of the Fairfax fortune goes to the old lady—which means the +pretty Claire ultimately. Well, the more money the better; there is no +one more competent to make it fly at a gay pace than myself. A prince of +the royal blood couldn't go at a faster pace than I have been going +during these last three weeks! Ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p>In a moment he was kneeling before the safe. To his intense satisfaction +the knob yielded to his deft touch.</p> + +<p>"I shall have less trouble than I anticipated," he muttered, with a +little chuckle.</p> + +<p>Faynie stood motionless, scarcely three feet behind him, watching him +intently, with horror-stricken eyes and glued tongue.</p> + +<p>She saw him take a roll of bills, and after carefully counting them, +transfer them to his pocket.</p> + +<p>Heirlooms, too, in the way of a costly diamond stud, sleeve links, and +massive watch and chain, which had been her father's, went the same way.</p> + +<p>Faynie seemed incapable of interfering.</p> + +<p>"Now we will soon determine what else there is here of importance—my +time cannot be more profitably spent than by informing myself."</p> + +<p>Paper after paper he carefully unfolded, glancing quickly through their +contents, and as quickly tossing them back into the safe.</p> + +<p>Evidently he had not yet found that for which he was searching so +intently.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he came across a large square envelope, the words on which +seemed to arrest his attention at once. And in a whispered, yet +distinctly audible voice, he read the words:</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"Horace Fairfax, last message to his wife—dated March 22, 18—."</p></div> + +<p>"Why that is the very date upon which he died," muttered Kendale. "This +must have been written just before he committed suicide. Well, we will +see what he had to say."</p> + +<p>And slowly he read, half aloud, as follows:</p> + +<div class='blkquot'><p>"MY DEAR WIFE: When you read the words here penned I shall be no + more. I know your heart will be most bitter against me for what I + have just done, but, realizing that my end was near, I have done it + for the best.</p> + +<p> "I refer to the making of my will.</p> + +<p> "When a man sees death before him, he naturally wishes to see those + nearest and dearest to him provided for, so far as he is able to do + so.</p> + +<p> "You will remember distinctly the conversation we had at the time I + proposed marriage to you. I reminded you that I was a widower, + with a daughter whom I loved far better than the apple of my eye.</p> + +<p> "I told you that this daughter would succeed to all my wealth, if + she lived, when time was no more with me; that no being on earth + could ever change my views in this regard—ay, in fulfilling my + duty.</p> + +<p> "I asked you to marry me, knowing fully my intention in this + matter, stating at the time that I would give you in cash an ample + sum of money, which, if used frugally and judiciously, should last + you the remainder of your natural life, providing you outlived me.</p> + +<p> "You accepted me under those conditions; you married me, and I, as + agreed, gave to you in a lump sum the money stipulated.</p> + +<p> "It is needless to recall to you the fact that our wedded life has + been a failure. You have made my life miserable—ay, and that of my + sweet, motherless, tender little Faynie, until, in sheer + desperation, she has fled from her home on the night I write this, + and my grief is more poignant than I can well endure.</p> + +<p> "You must feign neither surprise nor indignation when it is learned + that my will gives all my fortune to Faynie, save the amount set + aside for you.</p> + +<p> "HORACE FAIRFAX."</p></div> + +<p>"Well! By all that's wonderful, if this isn't a pretty how-do-you-do. +Mrs. Fairfax and her girl are penniless, and I came so near marrying +Claire. I have found this thing out quite in the nick of time. The girl +is clever enough, but it takes money, and plenty of it, to make me put +my head into the yoke of matrimony.</p> + +<p>"I must find this will he speaks of. It will be here unless the woman +has been shrewd enough to destroy it, and women never are clever enough +to burn their telltale bridges which lie behind them, and that's how +they get found out—at last.</p> + +<p>"I see through the whole thing now. Mrs. Fairfax trumped up a will in +favor of herself, a brilliant scheme. I admire her grit immensely. Ah, +yes, here is the real will, in the same handwriting as the letter. Yes, +it gives all to his daughter Faynie. And here is the spurious one, a +good imitation, I admit, still an expert could easily detect the +handwriting of Mrs. Fairfax from beginning to end—signature and all.</p> + +<p>"I think I will take charge of this one giving all the Fairfax wealth to +Faynie."</p> + +<p>But he did not succeed in transferring it to his pocket, for like a +flash it was snatched from his hand.</p> + +<p>With a horrible oath, Kendale wheeled about.</p> + +<p>One glance, and his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets, his face grew +ashen white, his teeth chattered, and the blood in his veins seemed +suddenly to turn to ice.</p> + +<p>"Great Heaven! It is a ghost!" he yelled at the top of his voice; "the +ghost of Faynie!"</p> + + + +<br /> +<a name='CHAPTER_XXX'></a><h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h3>AT THE LAST.</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The sound of that hoarse, piercing, awful cry echoed and re-echoed to +every portion of the house, and in less time than it takes to relate it, +the servants in a body, headed by Mrs. Fairfax and Claire, were rushing +toward the library, from whence the sound proceeded.</p> + +<p>One glance as they reached the open doorways, and a cry of consternation +broke from Mrs. Fairfax's lips, which was faintly echoed by her daughter +Claire.</p> + +<p>The servants were too astounded at the sight that met their gaze to +believe the evidence of their own eyes.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax was the first to recover herself.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this!" she exclaimed, striding forward and +facing Faynie and the horror-stricken man who stood facing her, his +teeth chattering, as he muttered:</p> + +<p>"It is her ghost!—her ghost!"</p> + +<p>"Faynie Fairfax, why do I find you here, in the library, in the dead of +the night, in the company of the man who is to wed my daughter Claire, +and who parted from her scarcely two hours since, supposedly to leave +the house? Why are you two here together! Explain this most +extraordinary and most atrocious scene at once. I command you!" she +cried, her voice rising to a shrill scream in her rising anger.</p> + +<p>Faynie turned a face toward her white as a marble statue, but no word +broke from her lips.</p> + +<p>The presence of the others seemed to bring Kendale back to his senses.</p> + +<p>"It means," spoke Faynie, after a full moment's pause, "that the hour +has come in which I must confess to all gathered here the pitiful story +I have to tell, and which will explain what has long been an unsolved +mystery to you—where, how and with whom I spent the time from the hour +in which I left this roof until I returned to it.</p> + +<p>"You say that this is the man who is your daughter's lover, Mrs. +Fairfax—the man who is soon to marry Claire.</p> + +<p>"I declare that this marriage can never be, because this man has a +living wife," she cried, in a high, clear voice.</p> + +<p>"It is false!" shrieked Kendale. "The girl I married in the old church +is dead—dead, I tell you. I—I saw her buried with my own eyes!"</p> + +<p>"She is not dead, for I am that unfortunate girl," answered Faynie, in a +voice that trembled with agonized emotion.</p> + +<p>"Listen all, while I tell my story," she sobbed. "Surely the saddest, +most pitiful story a young girl ever had to tell."</p> + +<p>Then, in a panting voice, she told her horrified listeners all, from the +beginning to the very end, omitting not the slightest detail, dwelling +with a pathos that brought tears to every eye, of how she had loved him +up to the very hour he had come for her to elope with him; her horror +and fear of him growing more intense because of the marriage he forced +her into, with the concealed revolver pressed so close to her heart she +dared not disobey his slightest command.</p> + +<p>And how the conviction grew upon her that he was marrying her for wealth +only, and the inspiration that came to her to test his so-called love by +telling him that she had been disinherited, though she was confident +that her father had made his will in her favor, leaving her his entire +fortune.</p> + +<p>Dwelling with piteous sobs on how he had then and there struck her down +to death, as he supposed, and that he had made all haste to make away +with her; and that she would at that moment have been lying in an +unmarked grave, under the snowdrifts, if Heaven had not most +miraculously interfered and saved her.</p> + +<p>Faynie ended her thrilling recital by adding that she had not known, +until that hour, that this man was Claire's lover, because they had +refrained from mentioning the name of the man in her presence. How she +had come to the library in search of a book and had encountered him +stealing through the halls, a veritable thief in the dead of the night, +bent upon securing a sum of money which he had learned in some way was +in the safe, and that he now had it in his pocket, and that she had +prevented him from securing her father's will by snatching it from his +grasp.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax had fallen back, trembling like an aspen leaf. She +recognized her husband's will in Faynie's hands, and that, although the +girl did not say so before the servants, she knew her treachery.</p> + +<p>"Come, Claire, my child," she said, turning to her daughter, "this is no +place for you."</p> + +<p>But Claire did not stir; she stood quite still, looking from the one to +the other, as though she could not fully comprehend all that she saw and +heard.</p> + +<p>By this time Kendale had recovered from his shock, and as he listened to +Faynie's recital, realized that she was not indeed a ghost, but the +heiress of the Fairfax millions, and his own wife at that. And when he +found his voice he cried out:</p> + +<p>"The girl tells the truth! She is mine, and as her husband I am lord and +master of this house, and of her."</p> + +<p>As he uttered the words he strode toward Faynie with a diabolical +chuckle, and seized her slender wrists in his grasp.</p> + +<p>"Unhand me!" shrieked Faynie, struggling frantically in his grasp, +almost fainting with terror.</p> + +<p>"No one dares interfere between man and wife," replied Kendale, +mockingly.</p> + +<p>He did not see three dark forms spring over the threshold, thrusting the +servants hastily aside.</p> + +<p>But in less time than it takes to tell it, a strong arm thrust him +aside, and a tall form sprang between him and Faynie, while a voice that +struck terror to his very soul cried out:</p> + +<p>"You have come to the end of your rope, Clinton Kendale. You have lost +the game, while it was almost in your grasp!"</p> + +<p>"Great Heaven, is it you, Lester Armstrong!" cried the guilty villain, +fairly quivering with terror. "Oh, Lester, have pity—have mercy—I—"</p> + +<p>"You shall have the same quality of mercy dealt out to you that you have +meted out to others!" replied Lester, sternly.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Kendale wrenched himself free from his grasp, crying out, +hoarsely and triumphantly:</p> + +<p>"I am game yet. I have married the girl you love. She is my lawfully +wedded wife. I have lost the Marsh millions, but you are checkmated, +Lester Armstrong. I have the Fairfax fortune, and your Faynie!"</p> + +<p>"Don't delude yourself into believing so prettily an arranged scheme," +exclaimed a voice from the doorway, and a woman whom Kendale had not +noticed among the crowd before glided hastily forward, threw back her +veil, confronting the villain.</p> + +<p>"Gertrude!" he cried aghast, staggering back.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Gertrude, your wife," she replied. "Your wife, though you tried +hard to induce me to go to Dakota and secure a divorce from you. I had +instituted it and would soon have obtained it had I not read in the +papers of the great fortune you had fallen into, for you had told me +your cousin Lester Armstrong was dead, and you were to take his name and +place as assistant cashier—no one knowing of his death, and you could +easily pass yourself off for him owing to your wonderful resemblance to +each other.</p> + +<p>"For my sake," she added, "Mr. Armstrong has promised to let you go +free, providing you go with me."</p> + +<p>"It is false!" shouted Kendale. "All you say is a lie, woman!"</p> + +<p>"The man who accompanied us to the altar a year ago is here," he said. +"He has with him my marriage certificate," pointing toward some one on +the threshold, adding, "come forward, please."</p> + +<p>And Halloran, who had left a sickbed to accompany her, came slowly +forward.</p> + +<p>"So you are against me, too!" cried Kendale. "Then all is up, indeed. I +acknowledge that all that has been said is true. I had a few weeks of a +gay, merry life, and I'm not sorry, either. Come, Gertrude!"</p> + +<p>And without a backward glance they slowly left the Fairfax mansion.</p> + +<p>The reuniting of Faynie and her lover was extremely affecting, and +within an hour a minister was called in who made them one forevermore.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter were offered a home for life, but they +chose to leave the following day. Faynie and Lester had gone through +many thrilling experiences, but were happily reunited—at last.</p> + +<br /> + +<h4>THE END.</h4> + + + +<br /> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<br /> + +<div class='advert'><p>No. 1113 of <b>The New Eagle Series</b>, entitled "In +Love's Name," by Emma Garrison Jones, is a story that tells of a romance that, after many +sufferings, ends in a happy marriage feast.</p></div> + + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<br /> + +<h2>HAVE YOU READ</h2> + +<h1><b>Love Story</b></h1> + +<h2>MAGAZINE</h2> + +<h1><b>?</b></h1> + +<div class='advert'><p>If not, you have a treat in store for you.</p> + +<p>LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is devoted to the publication of clean, wholesome +romances.</p> + +<p>LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is developing a staff of writers each of which is +destined to become famous.</p> + +<p>LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is really so good that it deserves your immediate +investigation—that is, if you like a <i>good</i> love story.</p></div> + +<center>PRICE 15 CENTS</center> + +<center>Published Semimonthly</center> + +<center>A Street & Smith Publication</center> + +<br /> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<br /> +<a name='GARVICE'></a><h1>GARVICE</h1> + +<h2>The Love-Story King</h2> + +<div class='advert'><p>Look up the books by Charles Garvice, in the New Eagle Series. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/13740-h/images/faynie.jpg b/old/13740-h/images/faynie.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..828c64a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13740-h/images/faynie.jpg diff --git a/old/13740.txt b/old/13740.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3098e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13740.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6062 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mischievous Maid Faynie, by Laura Jean Libbey + + +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: Mischievous Maid Faynie + +Author: Laura Jean Libbey + +Release Date: October 13, 2004 [eBook #13740] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE*** + + +E-text prepared by Steven desJardins and Project Gutenberg Distributed +Proofreaders + + + +MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE + +Author's Special Edition + +by + +LAURA JEAN LIBBEY + +Author of _Ione_, _Parted By Fate_, _Sweet Kitty Clover_, etc. + +1899 + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover of Mischievous Maid Faynie] + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LOVER'S TRYST. + + +It was five o'clock on a raw, gusty February afternoon. All that day and +all the night before it had been snowing hard. New York lay buried +beneath over two feet of its cold white mantle, and with the gathering +dusk a fierce hurricane set in, proclaiming the approach of the terrible +blizzard which had been predicted. + +On this afternoon, which was destined to be so memorable, two young men +were breasting the sleet and hail, which tore down Broadway with +demoniac glee, as though amused that the cable cars were stalled fully a +mile along the line, and the people were obliged to get out and walk, +facing the full fury of the elements, if they hoped to arrive at their +destinations that night. + +It could easily be ascertained by the gray, waning light that both young +men were tall, broad-shouldered and handsome of face, bearing a +striking resemblance to one another. + +They were seldom in each other's company, but those who saw them thus +jumped naturally to the conclusion that they were twin brothers; but +this was a great mistake; they were only cousins. One was Clinton +Kendale, whom everybody was speaking of as "the rage of New York," the +handsomest actor who had ever trod the metropolitan boards, the idol of +the matinee girls, and the greatest attraction the delighted managers +had gotten hold of for years. + +His companion was of not much consequence, only Lester Armstrong, +assistant cashier in the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., on upper +Broadway. + +He had entered their employ as a cashboy; had grown to manhood in their +service, and he had no further hope for the future, save to remain in +his present position by strict application, proving himself worthy of a +greater opportunity if the head cashier ever chose to retire. + +He lived in the utmost simplicity, was frugal, dressed with unusual +plainness, and put by money. + +He hadn't a relative on earth, save his handsome, debonair cousin, who +never sought him out save when he wanted to borrow money of him. + +Clint Kendale's salary was fifty dollars per week, but that did not go +far toward paying his bills at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, keeping a fast +horse and giving wine suppers. In his early youth he had begun the pace +he was now going. He had received a fine collegiate education, and at +his majority stepped into the magnificent fortune his parents had left +him. It took him just one year to run through it, then, penniless, he +came from Boston to New York and sought out his poor cousin. Lester +Armstrong succeeded in getting a position for Kendale with the same firm +with which he was employed, but at the end of the first week Clinton +Kendale threw it up with disgust, declaring that what he had gone +through these six days was too much for him. He had rather die than +work. + +He borrowed a hundred dollars from his Cousin Lester and suddenly +disappeared. When he was next heard from he blossomed out, astonishing +all New York as the handsomest society actor who had ever graced the +metropolitan boards, and caused a furore. + +There was another great difference between the two cousins, and that was +a heart; just one of them possessed it, and that one was Lester +Armstrong. + +On this particular afternoon Kendale had lain in wait for his cousin at +the entrance of Marsh & Co.'s to waylay him when he came from the +office. He must see him, he told himself, and Lester must let him have +another loan. + +Lester Armstrong was glad from the bottom of his true, honest heart to +see him, but his brow clouded over with a troubled expression when he +learned that he wanted to borrow five hundred dollars. That amount +seemed small, indeed, to the lordly Kendale, but to Lester it meant +months of toil and rigid self-denial. + +"Come into the cafe, and while we lunch I will explain to you why I must +have it, old fellow," said Kendale, always ready with some plausible +story on his glib tongue. + +"Haven't time now," declared Armstrong. "I must catch the five-twenty +train from the Grand Central Depot; haven't a moment to lose. I will be +back on the nine o'clock train. If you will come over to my lodging +house then I'll talk with you. I cannot let you have the sum you want. +I'll tell you why then, and you will readily understand my position. Ah, +this is your corner. We part here. Wish me luck on the trip I am about +to take, for I never had more need for your good wishes." + +"You are not going off to be married, I hope?" exclaimed Kendale in the +greatest of astonishment. + +A light-hearted, happy, ringing laugh broke from Armstrong's mustached +lips, the color rushed into his face, and his brown eyes twinkled +merrily. + +"There's the dearest little girl in all the world in the case," he +admitted, "but I haven't time to tell you about it now. I'll see you +later." + +With this remark he plunged forward into the gathering gloom, leaving +Clinton Kendale standing motionless gazing after him in the greatest +surprise. But the cold was too intense for him to remain there but an +instant; then wheeling about, he hastily struck into a side street, +muttering between his teeth: + +"He must let me have that five hundred dollars, or I am ruined. I must +have it from him by fair means or foul, ere the light of another day +dawns. I've borrowed a cool two thousand from him in four months. I +wonder how much more he has laid by? I must have that five hundred, no +matter what I have to resort to to get it, that's all there is about it. +I am desperate to-night, and a person in my terrible fix fears neither +God nor man." + +Meanwhile Lester Armstrong pushed rapidly onward, scarcely heeding the +bitter cold and terrible, raging storm, for his heart was in a glow. + +He reached the Grand Central Depot just as the gates were closing, but +managed to dash through them and swing himself aboard of the train just +as it was moving out of the station. + +The car was crowded; standing room only seemed to be the prospect, but +the young man did not seem disturbed by it, but settled his broad frame +against the door and looked out at the sharp sleet that lashed against +the window panes with something like a smile on his lips. + +He had scarcely twenty miles to ride thus, but that comforting +remembrance did not cause the pleasant smile to deepen about the mobile +mouth. + +He was thinking of the lovely young girl who had written him a note to +say that she expected him at the trysting place, without fail, at seven +that evening, as she had something of the greatest importance to +communicate to him. + +"Of course my dear little girl will not keep the appointment in such a +blizzard as this. She could not have foreseen how the weather would be +when she wrote the precious little note that is tucked away so carefully +in my breast pocket; but, like a true knight, I must obey my little +lady's commands, no matter what they may be, despite storm or +tempests--ay, even though I rode through seas of blood!" + +Half a score of times the engine became firmly wedged in snowdrifts in +traversing as many miles. There were loud exclamations of discomfiture +on all sides, but the handsome young man never heard them. He was still +staring out of the window--staring without seeing--and the smile on his +face had given place to an expression of deep wistfulness. + +"Sometimes I wonder how I have dared to aspire to her love--the +beautiful, petted daughter of a millionaire, and I only an assistant +cashier on a very humble salary--ay, a salary so small that my whole +year's earnings is less than the pin money she spends each month. + +"If she were but poor like myself, how quickly I would make her mine. +How can I, how dare I, ask her to share my lot? Will her father be +amused, or terribly angry at my presumption? + +"This sort of thing must stop. I cannot be meeting my darling +clandestinely any longer. My honor forbids, my manhood cries out against +it. + +"But, oh, God! how the thought terrifies me that from the moment they +find out that we have met, and are lovers, they will try to part +us--tear my darling from me!" + +They had met in a very ordinary manner, but to the infatuated young +lover it seemed the most ideal, most romantic of meetings. The pretty +little heiress had gone to the office of Marsh & Co. to settle her +monthly account. The old cashier was out to lunch. His assistant, Lester +Armstrong, stepped forward and attended to the matter for the pretty +young girl, surely the sweetest and daintiest that he had ever beheld. + +That night he dreamed of the lovely, dimpled rosebud face, framed in a +mass of golden curls; a pair of bewildering violet eyes, and a gay, +musical voice like a chiming of silver bells, and lo! the mischief was +done. The next day the assistant cashier made the first mistake of his +life over his accounts. The old cashier, Mr. Conway, looked at him +grimly from over the tops of his gold-rimmed glasses. + +"I hope you have not taken to playing cards nights, Mr. Armstrong," he +said. "They are dangerous; avoid them. Wine is still worse, and above +all, let me warn you against womankind. They are a snare and a delusion. +Avoid them, one and all, as you would a pestilence." + +But the warning had come to the handsome young assistant cashier too +late. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +"YOU MUST NOT MARRY HIM--HEAVEN INTENDED YOU FOR ME." + + +Slowly but surely the sturdy engine struggled on through the huge +snowdrifts, reaching Beechwood a little after seven, over an hour and a +half behind time. + +Lester Armstrong swung himself off the rear platform into fully five +feet of snow, floundering helplessly about for an instant, while the +train plunged onward, and at last struck the path that led up over the +hills in the village beyond. + +Beechwood consisted of but a few elegant homes owned and occupied by +retired New Yorkers of wealth. Horace Fairfax was perhaps the most +influential, as well as the wealthiest of these; his magnificent home on +the brow of the farthest hill was certainly the most imposing and +pretentious. + +Lester Armstrong's heart gave a great bound as he came within sight of +it, standing like a great castle, with its peaks and gables, and windows +all blazing with light and the red glow of inward warmth against its +dark background of fir trees more than a century old, and the white +wilderness of snow stretching out and losing itself in the darkness +beyond. + +All heedless of the terrible storm raging about him, the young man +paused at the arched gate and looked with sad wistfulness, as he leaned +his arms on one of the stone pillars, up the serpentine path that led to +the main entrance. + +"What I ought to do is never to see Faynie again," he murmured, but as +the bare thought rushed through his mind, his handsome face paled to the +lips and his strong frame trembled. Never see Faynie again! That would +mean shut out the only gleam of sunshine that had ever lighted up the +gray somberness of his existence; take away from him the only dear joy +that had made life worth the living for the few months. He had drifted +into these clandestine meetings, not by design; chance, or fate, rather, +had forced him into it. + +Mr. Marsh, the senior member of the firm by whom he was employed, also +resided in Beechwood. It was his whim that the keys of the private +office should be brought to him each night. Thus it happened that the +performance of his duties led Lester each evening past the Fairfax home. + +One summer evening he espied Faynie, the object of his ardent +admiration, standing in the flower garden, herself the fairest flower of +all. It was beyond human nature to resist stopping still to gaze upon +her. This he did, believing himself unseen, but Faynie Fairfax had +beheld the tall, well-known form afar down the road, and she was not +displeased at the prospect of having a delightful little chat with the +handsome young cashier. + +Faynie's home was not as congenial to the young girl as it might have +been, for a stepmother reigned supreme there, and all of her love was +lavished upon her own daughter Claire, a crippled, quiet girl of about +Faynie's own age, and Faynie was left to do about as she pleased. Her +father almost lived in his library among his books, and she saw little +of him for days at a time. + +Therefore there was no one to notice why Faynie suddenly developed such +a liking for roaming in the garden at twilight; no one to notice the +growing attachment that sprang up and deepened into the strongest of +love between the petted heiress and the poor young cashier. + +Lester Armstrong had struggled manfully against it, but it was for a +higher power than man's to direct where the love of his heart should go. +He made strong resolutions that the lovely maiden should never guess the +existing state of affairs, but he might as well have attempted to stay +the mighty waters of the ocean by his weak will. All in an unforeseen +moment the words burst from his lips--the secret he had attempted to +guard so carefully was out. + +He had expected that beautiful Faynie Fairfax would turn from him in +anger and dismay, but to his intense surprise, she burst into a flood of +tears, even though she looked at him with smiling lips, April sunshine +and showers commingled, confessing with all a young girl's pretty, +hesitating shyness that she loved him, even as he loved her, with all +her heart. Then followed half an hour of bliss for the lovers such as +the poets tell of in their verses of a glimpse of Paradise. + +Although they exchanged a hundred vows of eternal affection, Lester +Armstrong hesitated to speak of marriage yet. Faynie was young--only +eighteen. There was plenty of time. And to tell the truth, he dared not +face the possibilities of it just yet. It required a little more courage +than he had been able to muster up to seek an audience with the +millionaire--beard the lion in his den, as it were--and dare propose +such a monstrously preposterous thing as the asking of his lovely, +dainty young daughter's hand in marriage. Lester was timid. He dreaded +beyond words the setting of the ball rolling which would tear his +beautiful love and himself asunder. Heaven help him, he was so +unutterably happy in the bewildering present. + +His reverie was suddenly interrupted by seeing a little black figure +hurrying down the path. Another instant, and the little breathless +figure was clasped in his arms, close, close to his madly throbbing +heart. + +"Oh, Faynie, my love, my darling, my precious, why did you brave the +fury of the tempest to keep the tryst to-night? I am here, but I did not +expect you, much as I love to see you. I was praying you would not +venture out. Oh, my precious, what is it?" he cried in alarm, as the +fitful light of the gas lamp that hung over the arched gate fell full +upon her. "Your sweet face is as white as marble, and your beautiful +golden hair is wet with drifted snow, as is your cloak." + +To his intense amazement and distress, she burst into the wildest of +sobs and clung to him like a terrified child. All in vain he attempted +to soothe her and find out what it was all about. + +The first thought that flashed through his mind was that their meetings +had been discovered, and that they meant to put him from Faynie, and he +strained her closer to his heart, crying out that whatever it was, +nothing save death should separate them. + +Little by little the story came out, and the two young lovers, clasped +so fondly in each other's arms, did not feel the intense cold or hear +the wild moaning of the winds around them. Through her tears Faynie told +her handsome, strong young lover just what had happened. Her father had +sent for her to come to his library that morning, and when she had +complied with the summons, he had informed her that a friend of his had +asked for her hand in marriage, and he had consented, literally settling +the matter without consulting her, the one most vitally interested. She +had most furiously rebelled, there had been a terrible scene, and it had +ended by her father harshly bidding her to prepare for the wedding, +which would take place on the morrow, adding that a father was supposed +to know best what to do for his daughter's interests; that the fiat had +gone forth; that she would marry the husband he had selected for her on +the morrow, though all the angels above or the demons below attempted to +frustrate it. + +"You will save me, Lester?" cried the girl, wildly clinging to him with +death-cold hands. "Oh, Lester, my love, tell me, what am I to do? He is +very old, quite forty, and I am only eighteen. I abhor him quite as much +as I love you, Lester. Tell me, dear, what am I to do?" + +He gathered her close in his arms in an agony that words are too weak to +portray. + +"You shall not, you must not, marry the man your father has selected for +you, my darling. You are mine, Faynie, and you must marry me," he cried, +hoarsely. "Heaven intended us for each other, and for no one else. You +shall be mine past the power of any one human to part us ere the +morrow's light dawns, if--if you wish it so." + +She clung to him, weeping hysterically, answering: + +"Oh, yes, Lester, let it be so. I will marry you, and you will take me +away from this place, where no one, save Claire--not even my +father--loves me." + +He strained her to his throbbing heart with broken words, but at that +instant the shriek of an approaching train sounded upon his ears. He +tore himself away from her encircling embrace. + +"To do all that I have to do, I must return to the city, quickly arrange +for the marriage and a suitable place to take my bride. I will return by +ten o'clock. Be at this gate, my darling, with whatever change of +clothing you wish to take with you. I will bring a carriage. The way by +carriage road from the city is less than seven miles, you know. We will +drive to the minister's in the village below. A few words and I shall +have the right to protect you through life, and oh! my darling, my idol, +my trusting little love, may God deal by me as I deal with you!" + +Those were the last words Faynie heard, for in the next instant her +lover had torn himself free from her clinging arms and was dashing like +one mad through the drifts toward the railroad station again. Then, with +a strange, unaccountable presentiment of coming evil, Faynie Fairfax +turned and stole up the serpentine path into the house again. + +In just an hour's time Lester Armstrong was hurrying along Broadway +again, making all haste toward his lodgings. Suddenly some one tapped +him on the shoulder, and a voice which he instantly recognised as his +cousin's said, laughingly: + +"Both bent in the same direction, it seems. Well, we'll travel along +together to your lodging house, Lester." + +But alas! Who can see the strange workings of destiny? In that instant +Lester Armstrong slipped on the icy pavement, and Kendale, bending +quickly over him, exclaimed: + +"He has broken his neck! He is dying. He won't last five minutes!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A TERRIBLE PLOT AGAINST A HELPLESS YOUNG GIRL. + + +A gasp of horror broke from Kendale's lips. Yes, Lester Armstrong was +fatally injured, he could see that. + +Glancing up, he saw that they were within a few doors of his lodgings. +Picking him up by main force, he carried him thither at once and placed +him upon his couch. He had expected to see him breathe his last, but to +his great surprise Lester Armstrong opened his eyes and whispered his +name. + +"It is all over with me, Clinton," he whispered. "I--I realize that my +fall was fatal, and that it is a question of moments with me, but I--I +cannot die until I have told you all, and you have promised to go +quickly to my darling and tell her my sad fate." + +"Any commission you have you may be sure I will execute for you," +replied Kendale, and even while he spoke he was wondering whereabouts in +that room Lester Armstrong kept his cash. + +Between gasps, his voice growing fainter and fainter with each word, +poor Lester told his story, of his love, his wooing and the climax which +was to have taken place in two hours' time. + +Kendale listened with bated breath. To say that he was amazed, +dumfounded, scarcely expressed his intense surprise. + +Armstrong, his poor plodding cousin, to strike such luck as to be about +to marry an heiress! It seemed like a veritable fairy story. Who would +have thought the poor cashier would have known enough to play for such +high stakes? + +Almost as soon as Lester Armstrong had uttered the last word, he fell +back upon his pillow in a dead faint. + +"The end is not far," muttered Kendale. "I suppose it would look better +to send a call for an ambulance and have him sent to the hospital." + +He acted upon the thought without a moment's delay, and while the wagon +was _en route_ made a quick search of his unfortunate cousin's +apartment, a sardonic smile of triumph lighting his face. And as he +transferred the money to his pocket, a sudden thought rushed through his +brain--a thought that for the instant almost took his breath away. + +Like one fascinated, he looked down at the white face. "I could do it; +yes, I am sure I could do it," he muttered, drawing his breath hard. + +At that moment the ambulance wagon rattled up to the door. In another +instant the two attaches entered the room. + +"What is the difficulty?" queried the man, and briefly Kendale +explained. + +"It seems hardly worth while to take him to the hospital," said one of +the men; "he would hardly last until we reach there. Still, if you +insist--" + +"Yes, I insist," he cut in sharply. + +"What name is to be entered?" asked the surgeon. + +"Clinton Kendale. He is an actor, and my cousin," he responded in a low +even voice. + +He watched them while they carried forth the unconscious man. + +"My first test will be with the people of this house," he muttered, +shutting his teeth hard. + +Thrusting the money still deeper in his pocket, he walked boldly down +the stairs, tapping at the door to the right, which he knew to be the +living room of the family. + +"I am going to give up my room," he said. + +"Laws a mercy, Mr. Armstrong!" exclaimed the old lady. "What sudden +notice! I am so sorry to lose you!" + +He chatted for a few moments, paid what was due her, then turned hastily +and left the place, remarking before he went that he should not need the +few things that he left in his room; that she could keep them if she +liked as remembrances. + +Once again he was out on the street, with the cold wind blowing on his +face. + +"Nothing ventured, nothing won!" he said, under his breath. "Now for the +heiress and the million of money. By Jove! it's better to be born lucky +than rich. I shall need an accomplice in this affair, and that imp of +Satan, Halloran, is just the one to help me out with my scheme. It's +lucky I have an appointment with him to-night. I shall be sure to catch +him. I think it was a stroke of fate that I wasn't in the cast for the +rest of the week, though I kicked pretty hard against it at the time. +Good-by, footlights and freezing dressing-rooms. I can make a million of +money ere the day dawns." + +He hailed a passing cab, jumped into it and was driven across the city. + +Halloran, the comedian at the same theatre, was sitting in his room +half asleep over a half-emptied rum bottle. He always resorted to this +course to drown his sorrows when he was laid off. + +An hour later the two men were driving with lightning-like rapidity +toward the direction of Beechwood. + +"Ten," sounded from the belfry of a far-off church as the horses, +plunging and panting, struggled up the road that led to the Fairfax +mansion. + +"Now see that you play your cards right," warned Halloran. + +"Trust me for that," replied his companion, removing a cigar from his +white teeth, and blowing forth a cloud of smoke. He was about to draw a +flask from his breast pocket, but Halloran put a restraining hand on his +arm. + +"Remember that is your besetting sin," he said. "You have had enough of +that already. It will require a steady nerve to meet the girl and carry +out the deception, for the eyes of love are quick to discern. If she +should for an instant suspect that you are not her lover, Lester +Armstrong, the game is up, and you have lost the high stake you are +playing for." + +"You are right," exclaimed the other, "nothing must interfere with the +marriage." + +"This must be the place," exclaimed Halloran, in a low voice; "large +gabled house, arched gate, serpentine walk; yes, there is the figure of +a woman in the shadow of the stone post this way. You are actually +trembling. Remember, it's only a young girl you are to face on this +occasion, and a deucedly pretty one, at that. The time that you will be +more apt to be shaky is when you face her father; but I guess you're +equal to it." + +A low laugh was his companion's only answer. The next moment Kendale +called to the driver to halt, threw open the door and sprang out into +the main road, hastening toward the little figure that had emerged out +of the shadow. + +"Oh, Lester, you have been so long," cried the girl, springing into his +arms with a little sobbing cry. "I have been waiting here almost half an +hour." + +"It took longer to come than I had reckoned on, my darling," he +answered. "You know I had to stop at the village below and make +arrangements for the wedding." + +The girl drew back and looked at him. + +"Your voice sounds so hoarse and strange, Lester," she said. "Have you +been crying?" + +His arms fell from her; he drew back, laughing immoderately. + +"What, weeping on the happiest day of my life?" he cried. "Well, that's +pretty good. I've been up to my ears in business, rushing around, to +get everything in shipshape order, but, good Lord! what am I thinking +about, to keep you standing here in the snow? Here is the coach, and by +the way, I've brought along an old friend of mine, who was wild to +witness the marriage ceremony." + +As he spoke he took her by the arm and drew the girl toward the carriage +in waiting. + +What was there about her lover that seemed so changed to the girl, that +caused the love to suddenly die out of her heart? + +"Lester," she cried, drawing back, "oh--oh, please do not be angry with +me, but I've changed my mind. It seemed such a terrible thing to do. Let +us not be married to-night." + +Something like an imprecation rose to his lips, but he chopped it off +quickly, uttering again that laugh, so hard, so cruel, so +blood-curdling, that it sent a chill of terror to her young heart. + +"It's too late to change your mind now," he exclaimed. "It's only +natural you should feel this way; girls always do. Here is the coach and +the horses. The driver and my friend will be impatient to be off." + +Either the excitement of his coming triumph or the brandy he had taken +had made him recklessly wild. + +He drew her along, heedless of her struggles, her passionate protest. +His face was flushed, his dark eyes gleamed; he was ready at that moment +to face and defy devils and men. + +"Don't make a fuss, my darling. You've got to come along," he exclaimed. +"Of course, you have scruples and all that. I think the more of you for +them, but you'll thank me for not listening some day. I'll bring you +back after the ceremony's over and set you down at your own gate, if you +say so, I swear I will," and as he spoke he caught her in his arms and +fairly thrust her into the vehicle, placed her on the seat and sprang in +beside her. + +The door closed with a bang and the horses were off like a flash. + +Too terrified to utter another word of protest, and half fainting from +fright, Faynie sank back, gasping, into the farthest corner. Her +companion turned to the man sitting opposite. + +"My friend, Smith, Faynie," he said by way of introduction, and adding, +before the other could utter one word to acknowledge the introduction, +"let's have a little more of that. I'm chilled to the marrow with the +cold, standing out there in the snow." + +There was a faint move of the little bundle huddled up in the corner. +She fell forward in a dead faint. + +"So much the better," cried Kendale. "She will not bother us until +we've had time to formulate our plans. Ha, ha, ha! how easy it is for a +sharp-witted fellow like myself to make a million of money!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FOND LOVE TO HATRED TURNED. + + +Despite the severe shock which caused Faynie to swoon, her +unconsciousness lasted but a few moments, then, dazed and bewildered, +her blue eyes opened slowly, and she realized with horror too great for +words that she was whirling swiftly over the snowy road, still in the +company of the two men, her lover and his companion. + +They were talking together in low, guarded tones. She could not help but +hear every word distinctly, and they fell upon her ears with horror so +intense she wondered that she lived through it from moment to moment. + +It was Lester Armstrong who was speaking at that moment, and she was +obliged to clutch her hands tightly together to keep from screaming +aloud as she heard him say to his companion: + +"I have always been a free lance among the pretty girls, drifting about +much after the fashion of the bee wherever my fancy listed, and it will +be more than irksome to yoke myself in the matrimonial harness to this +girl. She is not of the kind--face, figure, temperament, anything--that +is calculated to arouse my admiration. I detest your baby-faced +creatures of her stamp, but she's heiress to a million, and I have +concluded to swallow the gilded pill. + +"There's one thing I assure you of, before she is married to me a +fortnight I'll break that cursed temper of hers, if I have to break her +neck or her heart, or both, to do it. She shall find that I'm her lord +and master from this hour henceforth, and my word is law." + +"I'd advise you not to rush the scheme for getting that big sum of money +until you have gained her confidence a little. More flies can be caught +with molasses than vinegar, you know." + +"I shall have little patience with her," declared her lover. "I detested +her the first instant my eyes rested upon her, and I am positive the +feeling will grow upon me with every passing hour, instead of +diminishing." + +"It is easy enough to guess the reason for that," laughed the other. +"You are in love with the queenly Gertrude, who has already more adorers +than she can count. It is common report that you are the beauty's +favorite, however, and if you weren't both so confoundedly poor, you'd +make a first-class couple. As it is, of course it's not to be thought +of." + +"Except in one way," cut in the other in a sharp, dry, hard voice. "If +this girl whom I marry to-night were to die suddenly on the wedding +trip, for instance, I would come in for her fortune; then, when the +excitement blew over, I could go to Gertrude and say--" + +The sentence was never finished, for at that moment the door of the +vehicle was suddenly wrenched open, and with a piercing cry Faynie +sprang out into the raging storm and the inky blackness of the night. + +A terrible imprecation broke from the lips of the handsome scoundrel by +her side. + +"I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that that little fool tricked us by +feigning unconsciousness, and has heard every word we uttered. Of +course, it's to be regretted, but that doesn't change my plans a +particle. I'll be the husband of the willful little heiress in an hour's +time, or my name isn't--" + +"Lester Armstrong," put in the other, laconically. + +The coach was instantly stopped, and both men made a flying leap into +the huge snowdrift that banked both sides of the country road, calling +back to the driver to light a lantern, if he had been careful enough to +bring one with him, and hand it to them in double-quick order. + +The search lasted for fully half an hour. Had the ground suddenly opened +and swallowed her? they asked each other, with imprecations both loud +and furious. + +To have a fortune of a cool million so near his clutches, and suddenly +lose it, was more than the villain could endure calmly. He was frenzied. +His rage at the girl slipping so cleverly, so audaciously, through his +fingers knew no bounds, and he made no attempt to stifle the fierce +exclamations that sprang to his lips of what he should do when he once +found her. + +When Faynie had jumped from the vehicle she lay for an instant half +stunned upon the cold, frozen ground where she had fallen. It had taken +the coach a minute to stop, but that minute had carried it several rods +beyond the spot where she lay. She saw by the uncertain glimmer of the +carriage lamp the two forms spring out into the darkness and come back +in search of her, and a piteous cry of unutterable fear rose to her +blanched lips from the very depths of her panting, terror-stricken +heart. + +She tried to spring to her feet and fly, but the depth to which she sank +with every step exhausted her quickly, and she sank down among the white +drifts awaiting her doom like a wounded bird in the brush whom the +cruel sportsmen are nearing with their hounds. + +She raised her lovely young face to the dark night sky, calling upon God +and the angels to protect her, to save her from the man she had loved +with all the passionate strength of her heart up to that hour, and whom +she hated and feared now a thousandfold more than she had ever loved +him. + +All in a few moments of time her idol had fallen from its high pedestal +of manly honor and lay in ruins at her feet. + +How could she ever have believed Lester Armstrong noble, good and true, +a king among men? Where was the tenderness in voice and manner that had +won her heart from her, and his oft-repeated assurance that he cared for +her for herself alone; that he wished to Heaven she were no heiress, but +as poor as himself, that he might show her the power of his great love? +An hour ago--only an hour ago--yet it seemed the length of a lifetime in +the shadowy past, she had crept out of the house to meet her lover at +the trysting place, her heart beating with love for him, sobbing out to +Heaven to send her true love quickly back to her. + +As she had closed the door of the great mansion noiselessly behind her, +she realized that she was putting wealth and luxury away from her +deliberately and choosing a life of rigid economy with the lover whose +earnings were, alas, so much smaller than even the pin money she had +been accustomed to. + +But with love to brighten the way, she felt that she could endure any +hardship with noble Lester Armstrong, who loved her so dearly and +devotedly. + +After a time, perhaps, her father would forgive her for this step, and +take her back to his home and heart, and welcome Lester, too. She had +read of such things. + +The night air blew bitterly cold against her face as she stepped bravely +forth, but she did not waver. + +The great hall clock chimed the hour of ten, and her heart beat faster, +for she said to herself that her lover was nearing the trysting place +and she had not much time to spare. + +"Good-by, papa," she murmured, turning for an instant and looking up at +his lighted window. "Good-by, my stepmamma," she whispered. "You have +always hated me and wished me out of the way. I am going now, and you +will rejoice. Good-by, Claire," she added, as her eyes wandered upward +to the little lighted window in the western wing. "You never hated me. +You always loved me as though we had indeed been sisters. Good-by, kind +old family servants. You will all miss me, I know, but I am going to +happiness and love. What fate could be better?" + +She waited some moments at the trysting place ere she heard the sound of +crunching wheels on the snow. A moment later she heard the welcome voice +saying: "Faynie, where are you?" The next instant she was folded in a +pair of strong, masculine arms. + +But as the owner of them touched her lips with his own Faynie had +started back with a terrible feeling of faintness rushing over her. For +the first time her lover's breath was strong with the odor of brandy. + +And the voice, which was always so gentle, kind and endearing, was +muttering something about "the cursed darkness of the night." + +No wonder the girl's soul revolted, and that she changed her mind +suddenly about the elopement, which was to make or mar her young life. +And what she heard after he forced her into the coach only added to the +terror which had grown into her heart against him, and when she made +that flying leap from the coach, her one cry to Heaven was that she +might escape the man whom she had but so lately madly adored, but whom +she now so thoroughly abhorred. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +"CAN YOU PERFORM THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY AT ONCE, REVEREND SIR?" + + +It was the hour of eleven by the village clock. Eleven sounded from the +old clock on the mantel. The fire burned low in the grate of Rev. Dr. +Warner's study. The air was growing chill in the room. Still, the old +pastor, who had looked after the village flock for nearly half a +century, heeded neither the time nor the chill, he was so intent upon +the sermon he was writing for the morrow. + +He had scarcely concluded the last line ere he heard a well-known tap +upon the door. + +He smiled as he arose from his chair, crossed the room and flung open +the door. + +He knew well whom he should find standing there, old Adam, the village +sexton and grave digger, who always stopped when he saw a light in the +study window. + +"Come in, Adam," said the reverend gentleman; "come up to the fire and +warm yourself; it's a wild night to be about. Has any one sent you here +for me?" + +"No, parson," replied Adam, hobbling in. "There's no call for you to be +out on this terrible night, thank Heaven. It's quite by chance that I +left my own fireside myself. I had an errand at the other end of the +village. The weather caught me returning--a regular blizzard--and I have +been floundering about in the drifting snow for hours. I thought I had +lost my way until I saw the light in the window, and--" + +But the rest of the sentence was never finished, for at that moment both +men heard distinctly the sound of carriage wheels without, accompanied +by the loud neighing of horses. + +Before they could express their wonderment there was a loud peal at the +front door bell. + +The reverend gentleman answered the summons in person. + +Before him stood three persons, two men and a woman, a slender figure +wearing a long dark cloak, and whose face was covered by a thick veil. + +Both men had their coat collars turned up and their hats pulled low over +their faces to protect them from the stinging cold. + +"You are the Rev. Dr. Warner?" queried one of the gentlemen. The +minister bowed in the affirmative, hurriedly bidding his guests to +enter. + +"You will pardon our errand," exclaimed the stranger who had already +spoken, "but we are here to enlist your services. Can you perform a +wedding ceremony in the old chapel across the way? Our time is limited. +We are in all haste to catch a train, and wish the marriage to take +place with the least possible delay." + +"Certainly, certainly, sir," returned the good man. "I am always pleased +to join two souls in holy matrimony. Step in; the lady must be +thoroughly chilled. This is a dreadful night." + +"We prefer to make our way directly over to the chapel," remarked the +man who had spoken up to this point. "The lady is warm, having but just +left the carriage, a few steps beyond." + +"As you will," responded the pastor. Turning to the old sexton, he said, +quietly: "Will you step over to the church, Adam, brush the snow from +the steps and light the lamps about the altar?" + +Adam hastened to carry out his commands. He had scarcely completed his +task when the bridal party entered, preceded by the pastor. + +Adam watched them curiously as they filed down the aisle, both men still +supporting the slender figure quite until the altar was reached. + +The Rev. Dr. Warner, shivering with the severe cold of the place, picked +up his book quickly. + +"Which is the bridegroom?" he asked, looking from one muffled figure to +the other. The man toward the left of the girl dropped back a pace or +two, silently waving his hand toward his friend. + +The old minister had never heard the names of the contracting parties +before, and the idle thought for an instant found lodgment in his mind +whether or no they could be fictitious. Then he blamed himself roundly +for his momentary suspicion, and went on hurriedly with the ceremony. + +The man answered in a low, guarded voice. There was a tone in it which +somehow jarred on the good minister's sensitive nerves. The girl's voice +was pitifully fluttering, almost hysterical. + +But that was not an uncommon occurrence. Few brides are calm and +self-possessed. + +"You will please lift your veil for the final benediction," said the +aged pastor, pausing, book in hand, and gazing at the slim, silent, +dark-robed figure, who had made her responses faintly, gaspingly, almost +inaudibly. Again it was the stranger to the left who complied with his +request, but for one instant both the clergyman and the old sexton +caught sight of a face white as death, yet beautiful as an angel's, +framed in a mass of dead-gold hair; but the flickering of the lamps +caused strange shadows to flit over it. There was a moment of utter +silence, broken only by the howling of the wind outside. + +Then slowly the minister's voice broke the terrible silence by uttering +the words: "Then I pronounce you man and wife, and whom God hath joined +together let no man put asunder." + +As the last word echoed through the dim old church the cold steel of a +revolver, which had been pressed steadily to the girl's throbbing heart +by the hand of the bridegroom, concealed by her long cloak, was quickly +withdrawn. + +"My wedded wife!" murmured the man, and in his voice there was a tone of +mocking triumph. The girl swooned in his arms, but, turning quickly with +her, he hurried forward into the dense shadows of the church, carrying +her to the coach in waiting without attracting attention. + +He could scarcely restrain himself from shouting aloud, so exuberant +were his spirits. + +"Rave. Do whatever you like. You cannot change matters now. I am your +husband, ay, the husband of a girl worth a million of money. When we are +out of hearing of the old parson I will give three rousing cheers to +celebrate the occasion and give vent to my triumph--ay, three cheers and +a tiger with a will and a vengeance." + +The appearance of his friend, who had remained behind to adjust the +little matters that needed attention, put a stop to his hilarity for the +moment. + +"Well, what's next on the programme? What do you suggest now, Halloran?" +he exclaimed, as that individual sprang into the coach and took his seat +with chattering teeth. + +"I propose that you drive to the nearest inn or hostelry, or whatever +they choose to call it hereabouts. I understand there is one some five +miles from here, and, indeed, the horses won't last much longer than +that." + +"I'm governed by your advice," replied his companion, with a hilarious +laugh. "Give the order to get to the hostelry as soon as the driver can +make it. Anything will suit me. I'm not proud, even if I have made a +cool million in an hour's time. Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Are you mad?" whispered his companion, giving him a violent nudge. + +"Bah! You needn't fear that she will hear what I'm saying. The puny +little dear has swooned again. Didn't you notice that I had to fairly +carry her from the altar?" + +"These dainty little heiresses have to be handled with kid gloves," +remarked Halloran. "Fainting when anything goes wrong seems to be their +especial weakness." + +"She will soon find out that I will not tolerate that kind of thing!" +exclaimed Armstrong, as he insisted upon being called from that moment +out. + +"Be easy with her. Don't show your hand or your temper until you get +hold of the money," warned Halloran. "Remember you are playing for a +great stake, and the surest way of winning is by keeping the girl in +love with you." + +"She is mine now. I am her lord and master. I shall not bother making +love to the milk-and-water, sentimental creature, as the other one +probably did. She isn't my style, and I have little patience with her. +There was a decided feeling of antagonism between us from the start, and +then my forcing her to go through the ceremony at the point of a cold +steel weapon will not have the effect of endearing me to her ladyship. +She is sure to hate me, but that won't bother me a snap of my finger." + +"Don't get independent too soon," remarked Halloran. "Pride always goeth +before a fall, you know. You haven't the money in your hands yet. Don't +lose sight of that important fact, my dear boy." + +They talked on for half an hour or more; then suddenly the driver drew +rein. + +"This is the country tavern, and my horses cannot go any further; they +are dead lame and played out," he announced. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE VILLAIN AND HIS VICTIM. + + +It was certainly something entirely out of the experience of the old +innkeeper at the country crossroads to be aroused from his slumbers at +midnight by guests seeking the shelter of his hospitable roof, and that, +too, on the most terrible night of the year. + +The old man could scarcely believe his ears when he heard the sound of +the old brass knocker on the front door resound loudly through the +house. + +He quite imagined that he must have dreamed it, until a second and third +peal brought him to his senses and his feet at the same instant. + +His bewilderment knew no bounds when he appeared at the door a few +minutes later and found a coach standing there and the occupants seeking +a lodging, also shelter for the horses. + +"I haven't but one room to spare," exclaimed the old innkeeper, holding +a flaring candle high above his head to better view his visitor. + +"Have you a room in which a fire could be made?" asked one of the men. +"We have a lady with us." + +"I suppose we could let you have my daughter Betsy's, she being off to +the city on a visit." + +"My companion and his br--his wife could have that; you can dispose of +me anywhere," returned the speaker. "I could doze in a chair in the +barroom for that matter. The driver could be as easily disposed of." + +"Then bring the lady right in," said the old innkeeper. A moment later, +the lovely girl, still unconscious, was brought in and laid upon the +settee in the best room. + +"What is the matter with the young woman?" gasped the innkeeper, his +eyes opening wide with amazement. + +"Merely fainted from the intense cold," returned one of the men briefly, +adding: "If you will see that a fire is lighted in the room that you +spoke of I shall be very much obliged." + +"I'll have my wife down in a jiffy. No doubt the poor creature's half +frozen, but a hot whiskey toddy will thaw her out quicker than you could +say Jack Robinson," and he trotted off briskly on his double mission of +rousing his wife to look after the girl and his hired help to assist the +driver in putting away the horses, while he himself attended to making a +blazing fire in the little chamber over the best room. + +In less time than it takes to tell it the good housewife was by the +girl's side. + +"What a beautiful young creature!" she exclaimed, as the veil was +thrown back and she beheld the lovely face, white as chiseled marble, +framed in its cloud of golden hair. "Is it your sister, sir?" she asked, +with all a country woman's thoughtless curiosity. + +"No, she is my wife," exclaimed the stranger, who stood over by the +fireplace, his brows meeting in a decided frown. + +"Laws a mercy! Isn't she young to be married?" exclaimed the woman. +"Why, she don't look sixteen. Been married long?" + +The stranger by the fireplace deliberately turned his back on the woman, +vouchsafing her no reply. + +By that time the innkeeper announced that the room above was ready, and +that they might come up as soon as they liked. + +Again the stranger by the fireplace lifted the slender figure, bore her +up the narrow rickety stairway, saying good-night to his friend as he +passed him by. + +"Good-night to you, and pleasant dreams," replied Halloran; "the same to +your wife." + +The innkeeper followed the tall stranger with his burden to see that +everything was made comfortable, put more logs in the fireplace, then +turning, said: + +"Is there anything else I can do for you, stranger?" + +"Nothing," replied the man curtly, but as the old innkeeper reached the +door he called sharply: "Yes, I think there is something else that would +add to my comfort, and that is a good stiff glass of brandy, if you have +such a thing about the place." + +The old man hesitated. + +"I'll pay well for it," said the other, eagerly. + +"You see, we haven't a license, stranger, to sell drinks, and they're +pretty strict with us hereabouts. I generally let a man have it when I +know him pretty well, but I can't say how it would affect you." + +"Have no fear on that score," returned the other. "Here's a five-dollar +note for a pint bottle of brandy. Will that pay you?" + +"Yes," returned the innkeeper. It was the golden key. The man laughed to +see how quickly he trotted off on his errand, returning with the bottle +in a trice. + +"Anything else, sir?" he said. + +"No," replied the other, "save," adding, "do not call us too early +to-morrow. We're not of the kind that rise with the sun. Nine o'clock +will answer. And see that that wife of yours gets up the best breakfast +that can be obtained." + +"You won't have to complain of that, sir," exclaimed the innkeeper, +pompously. "You'll get a piece of steak with the blood followin' the +knife; crisp potatoes, a plate of buckwheat cakes, with butter as is +butter, and honey that's the real thing; a mug of coffee that would bear +up an egg, with good old-fashioned cream, not skim milk, to say nothing +of--" + +"That will do," exclaimed the stranger, with an impatient wave of his +white hand. "I never like to know beforehand what I'm going to get." + +"But the lady, sir? Mebbe she'd like somethin' kind a delicate like--a +bit o' bird or somethin' like that?" + +"We'll see about that to-morrow all in good time," fairly closing the +door in the garrulous innkeeper's face "Good-night," and he shut the +door with a click and turned the key in the lock, and for the first time +he was alone with the girl he had forced so dastardly into the cruellest +of marriages. He had placed Faynie on the white couch. He crossed the +room and stood looking down at her, with his hands behind his back, and +a sardonic smile on his face. + +"You and your millions of money belong to me," he cried, under his +breath. "Ye gods! what a lucky dog I am after all!" and a low laugh that +was not pleasant to hear broke from his lips. + +At that instant a broken sigh stirred the girl's white lips. + +"Ah, you are coming to, are you?" he muttered. "The old lady's toddy is +beginning to revive you." + +He could not help but notice how unusually beautiful the girl was. + +"What a chance of fortune this is for me, but it does not follow, even +though she was madly in love with my cousin, that she will hold me in +the same favor. But I'll stand none of her airs. I'll show her right +from the start that I'm the boss, and see how that will strike her +fancy. There'll be a terrible time when she comes to--screams, shrieks +of anger, that will call everybody to the door." + +He turned on his heel and walked over to the mantel, where the innkeeper +had deposited the bottle and the glass. + +He poured out a heavy draught and drank it at a single swallow. This was +followed by another and yet another. + +"Ah, there's nothing like bracing oneself up for a scene like this," he +muttered, with a sardonic laugh. + +The liquor seemed to turn the blood in his veins to fire and set his +heart in a glow. He laughed aloud. In that moment he felt as rich as a +king, and as diabolical as Satan himself. + +He was nerved for any emergency; he was the girl's lord and master, her +wedded husband. She would be made to understand that fact with little +ceremony. + +He threw himself down in a chair, where he could watch her, and waited +results, and each instant he sat there the fumes of the brandy rose +higher and higher, until it reached his brain. + + "There was a laughing devil in his sneer + That woke emotions of both hate and fear; + And where his scowl of fierceness darkly fell, + Hope, withering, fled and mercy sighed farewell." + +Yes, a few short moments and consciousness would return to the girl--the +stormy scene would begin. + +Would the sharp eyes of love detect the difference between himself and +Lester Armstrong, whom he was impersonating? He knew every tone of his +cousin's voice so perfectly that he would have little difficulty in +imitating that. The more closely he watched the girl, the more conscious +he became of her wonderful beauty, and his heart gave a bound of +triumph. + +It was worth a struggle, after all, to have as beautiful a bride as she, +even though she hated him. + +"If I watch her much longer it will end by my being madly in love with +her," he mused. "I never could withstand a pretty face." + +The wild winds moaned like demons outside. The bare branches writhed and +twisted in the storm, tapping weirdly against the window pane. The room +grew warmer as the fire took hold of the logs in the grate, and with +the heat the fumes of the brandy rose into his brain, and with it his +color heightened, his cheeks and lips were flushed and his eyes +scintillating. With unsteady hand he reached out for the flask again, +uncorked it, and without taking the trouble to reach for the glass, +placed the bottle to his lips and drained it to the dregs. + +"She is awaking," he muttered, with a maudlin laugh, and springing from +his seat with unsteady steps, he crossed the room and stood by the +couch, looking down eagerly into the beautiful white face upon the +pillow. As if impelled by that steady, serpentine, fiery glance, the +girl moaned uneasily. + +"Awaking at last!" he muttered, with a diabolical smile. At that moment +Faynie's violet eyes opened wide and stared up into his face. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HE RAISED HIS CLINCHED HAND, AND THE BLOW FELL HEAVILY UPON THE +BEAUTIFUL UPTURNED FACE. + + +With returning consciousness, Faynie's violet eyes opened slowly--taking +in, by the flickering light of the candle, the strange room in which she +found herself; then, as they opened wider, in amazement too great for +words, she beheld the figure of a man, half hidden among the shadows, +standing but a few feet away from the couch, his eyes fastened upon her; +she could even hear his nervous breathing. + +With a gasp of terror Faynie sprang from the couch with a single bound; +but the cry she would have uttered was strangled upon her lips by the +heavy hand that fell suddenly over them, pressing so tightly against +them as to almost take her breath away. + +"Don't attempt to scream or make any fuss," cried a hissing voice in her +ear--"submit to the inevitable--you are my wife--there is nothing out of +the way in your being here with me. Come, now, take matters +philosophically and we shall get along all right." + +He attempted to draw the girl into his encircling arms, her wonderful +beauty suddenly dawning upon him; but she shrank from his embrace, and +from the approach of his brandy-reeking lips, as though he had been a +scorpion. + +With a suddenness that took him greatly aback, and for an instant at a +disadvantage, she freed herself from his grasp, and stood facing him +like a young tragedy queen in all her furious anger and outraged pride. + +"Do not utter another word, Lester Armstrong!" she panted, "you only add +insult to injury--why it seems to me some horrible trick of the +senses--some nightmare--to imagine even that I could ever have cared for +you--to have believed you noble, honorable and--a gentleman. Why, you +almost seem to be a different person in his guise--you are so changed in +tone and manner from him to whom I gave my heart. The affection that I +thought I had for you died a violent death." + +She did not notice that the man before her started violently at these +words--but the look of fear in his eyes gave place the next instant to +braggadocio. + +He would have answered her, but she held up her little white hand with a +gesture commanding silence, saying, slowly, with quivering lips: + +"I repeat, the affection that I believed filled my heart for you died +suddenly when I told you that I had changed my mind about eloping, and +instead of studying my desires you insisted that the arrangement must be +carried out." + +"My--my--love for you prompted it, Faynie," he exclaimed, in a maudlin +voice. He knew he had the name wrong, but could not think what it was to +save his life. "Come, now, let's kiss and make up, and love each other +in the same old way, as the song goes." + +"What! love a man who thrusts me into a coach despite my entreaties, +takes me to a church, and with a revolver pressed close to my +heart--beneath my cloak--forces me to become his wife! No. No! I loathe, +abhor you--open that door and let me go!" + +With an unsteady spring he placed himself between her and the door, +crying angrily as he ground out a fierce imprecation from between his +white teeth. "Come, now, none of that, my beauty. You're my wife all +right, no matter how much of a fuss you make over it. I want to be +agreeable, but you persist in raising the devil in me, and though you +may not know it, I've a deuce of a temper when I'm thoroughly roused to +anger--at least that's what the folks who know me say. + +"Sit right down here now, and let's talk the matter over--if you want to +go home to the old gent, why I'm sure I have no objection, providing he +agrees to take your hubby along with you. There'll be a scene of +course--we may expect that--but when you tell him how you love me, and +couldn't live without me and all that--and mind, you put it on heavy--it +will end by his saying: 'Youth is youth, and love goes where it is sent. +I forgive you, my children; come right back to the paternal +roof--consider it yours in fact.' And when the occasion is ripe, you +could suggest that the old gent start your hubby in business. Your wish +would be law; he might demur a trifle at first, but if you stuck well +to your point he'd soon cave in and ask what figure I'd take to--" + +"Stop!--stop right where you are, you mercenary wretch!" cried Faynie in +a ringing voice. "I see it all now--as clear as day. You--you--have +married me because you have believed me my father's heiress, and--" + +"You couldn't help but be, my dear," he hiccoughed. "An only child--no +one else on earth to come in for his gold--couldn't help but be his +heiress, you know--couldn't disinherit you if he wanted to. You've got +the old chap foul enough there, ha, ha, ha!" + +"You seem to have suddenly lost sight of the fact that there is some one +beside myself--my stepmother and her daughter Claire." + +He fell back a step and looked at her with dilated eyes--despite the +brandy he had imbibed he still understood thoroughly every word she was +saying. + +"A stepmother--and--another daughter!" he cried, in astonishment--almost +incoherently. + +"You seem to forget that you always used to say to me--that you hoped +they were well," said Faynie with deepening scorn in her clear, young +voice. + +"Oh--ah--yes," he muttered, "but you see I was not thinking of +them---only of you," and deep in his heart he was cursing the hapless +cousin--whom he believed dead by this time--for not mentioning that the +girl had a stepmother and sister. + +"Had you taken the time to listen to something else that I had to tell +you, you might have reconsidered the advisability of eloping with me in +such haste," went on the girl in her clear, ringing tones, "for it has +become apparent to me--with even as little knowledge of the world as I +possess--that you are a fortune hunter--that most despicable of all +creatures--but in this instance your dastardly scheme has entangled your +own feet. Your well-aimed arrow has missed the mark. You have wedded +this night a penniless girl. An hour before you met me at the arched +gate my father disinherited me, and when he has once made up his mind +upon any course of action--nothing human, nothing on earth or in heaven +would have power enough to induce him to change it." + +The effect of her words were magical upon him. With a bound he was at +her side grasping her slender wrists with so tight a hold that they +nearly snapped asunder. + +Intense as the pain was, Faynie would not cry aloud. He should not see +that he had power to hurt her, even though she dropped dead at his feet +at last from the excruciating torture of it. + +"What is it you say--the old rascal has--disinherited you?" he cried, +scarcely crediting the evidence of his own ears. + +"That is just what I said--my father has disinherited me," she replied +slowly and distinctly, adding: "His money was his own--to do with as he +pleased--he gave me the choice of--of--marrying to suit him or being cut +off entirely. I--I--refused to accept the man he had selected for me. +That ended the matter. 'Then from this hour know that you shall not +inherit one penny of my wealth,' he cried. 'I will cut you off with but +the small amount required by law. There is nothing more to be said. You +are a Fairfax. You have taken your choice, and as a Fairfax you must +abide by your decision!' You will remember I told you I had something to +tell you the moment you came up to me at the arched gate, but you would +not listen. Now the consequence is upon your own head." + +"I have married a beggar, when I thought I was marrying an--heiress!" he +cried in a rage so horrible that Faynie, brave as she was, recoiled from +him in terror and, dismay. + +"You have married a penniless young girl," she corrected, half +inaudibly. + +He raised his clinched hand with a terrible volley of oaths, before +which she quailed, despite her bravery. + +"When the old man cast you off you thought you would tie yourself on to +me," he cried. "You women are cunning--oh, yes, you are, don't tell me +you're not; and you are the shrewdest one I've come across yet. You lie +when you say you meant to tell me what had happened beforehand, and you +know it. But you'll find out at your cost what it means to bind me to a +millstone for a wife. But you shan't be a millstone. You'll do your +share toward the support. Yes, by George, you shall. I'll put you on the +stage--and you--" + +"Never!" cried the girl with a bitter sob. "I'd die first." + +"Don't set up your authority against mine," he cried, and as he uttered +the words--half crazed by the brandy he had drunk so copiously--his +clinched fist came down with a heavy blow upon the girl's beautiful, +upturned face, and she fell like one dead at his feet. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHAT HAPPENED AT MIDNIGHT ON THE LONELY RIVER ROAD. + + +For one moment he looked down half stupefied at his work--the girl lay +in a little dark heap at his feet just as he had struck her down--the +crimson blood pouring from a wound on her temple which his ring had +caused. + +"I--I've killed her," he muttered, setting his teeth together +hard--"she--she provoked me to it--curse her! My God! the girl is +actually dying." Then, through his half-dazed brain came the thought +that his crime would soon be discovered, and his only safety lay in +instant flight. + +It was but the work of a moment to hurry from the room, making his way +through the inky darkness as best he could to the barroom, where he knew +he should find Halloran and the cabby dozing in the big armchairs. + +The full realization of his crime had quite sobered him by this time. + +The innkeeper had left a dim light in the barroom. By the aid of this he +made his way quickly to his friend's side. A few rapid words whispered +excitedly in Halloran's ear told him the condition of affairs. + +"You are right," exclaimed Halloran, springing to his feet. "We must +get out of here without a moment's delay. The cabman must go with us, +taking his horses, even though we have to pay him the price of them." + +"I--I--will leave everything to you, Halloran," muttered his companion, +huskily, "your brain is clearer and a thousand times shrewder than +mine." + +"Nor must the girl be left here," went on Halloran. "She must not be +found dead in this house." + +"Why, what in Heaven's name could we do with her?" returned the other, +sharply. "I tell you she is dying, any one could see that." + +"Put her effectually out of the way, and past all human possibility of +any one finding out how she came by her death. I have a desperate plan. +I cannot explain it to you now. All I say is, be guided by my directions +to-night--leave everything to me," said Halloran, with a grim gaze. + +"I put myself in your hands, Halloran," was the husky reply. + +The cabby was hurriedly awakened. At first he demurred angrily against +the idea of starting off again; but when a roll of bank notes was +pressed into his hands as the price of his complying with their +demand--a sum that would more than cover the price of the horses if he +lost them--he no longer found grounds for complaint, but agreed with +alacrity to do their bidding. + +Besides, Halloran knew a little secret of the cabby's past--just how he +came by the money to buy that outfit--and as it was done in a +particularly shady way, the man dared not make an enemy of him. + +In less time than it takes to tell it the coach stood at the door again. + +It was Halloran--nervy, cool-headed Halloran, whom the other had always +dubbed half man, half fiend--who stole up to the room above, found the +girl lying in the exact spot his companion had described, and, catching +up her cloak, wrapped it about her, bore her noiselessly down the stairs +and out to the coach in waiting. + +"Is it all over with her yet?" whispered the other in a strained, husky +voice, showing intense fear. + +"Almost," returned Halloran, briefly, jumping in and closing the door +after him. + +For some moments they rode along in utter silence. Then, as Halloran +made no attempt to break it, his companion leaned over, asking +breathlessly: "Where are we going--and--and--what do you propose to do +with her?" + +"I am just trying to solve that problem in my mind, and it is a knotty +one. I must have more time to think it over," replied Halloran, tersely. + +Before his companion could reply, the coach came to a sudden +standstill, and both of the men within heard their driver's voice in +earnest colloquy with some one standing by the roadside. + +"It is the girl's father, or friends, who have just discovered her +absence and have been scouring the country about to find her," gasped +the fraudulent Lester Armstrong, and the hand that grasped his +companion's arm shook like an aspen leaf. + +"Don't be a coward!" hissed Halloran. "If worst comes to worst, whoever +it is can share the girl's fate," and with these words he opened the +door of the coach, asking sharply, angrily: + +"What is the matter, driver?" + +"Nothing, save a poor old fellow who wants me to give him a lift on the +box beside me. He has lost his way. He's an old grave digger, who says +he lives hereabouts, somewhere. He's half frozen with the cold tramping +about. I told him 'Yes, climb up;' it's a little extra work for the +horses, but I suppose as long as I don't mind it you'll not object." + +"Ha! Satan always helps his own out of difficulties," whispered Halloran +to his companion; and, without waiting for a reply, he was out of the +coach like a flash, and his hand was on the old grave digger's arm ere +he could make the ascent to the box beside the driver. + +"Wait a moment, my good friend," said Halloran, "we have a little work +which you of all persons are best fitted to perform for us ere we +proceed." + +Old Adam, the grave digger, looked at the tall gentleman before him in +some little perplexity, answering, slowly: + +"I hope you will not take it amiss, sir, if I answer that I do not fully +comprehend your words." + +"Perhaps not; but permit me to make them clear to you, in as plain +English as I can command. I want you to dig a grave here and now." + +"A grave--here!" echoed Adam, quite believing his old ears were not +serving him truly--that he had certainly not heard aright. + +"That is what I said," returned Halloran, grimly. + +"But, sir!" began old Adam, "this is no graveyard." + +"Curse you, who said it was?" cut in the other, sharply. + +"It is not to be thought of, sir," murmured the grave digger, trembling +in every limb, his brain too bewildered to try to reason out the meaning +of this strange request, and quite believing the stranger must be an +escaped lunatic. + +Coolly and deliberately Halloran drew a revolver from his pocket, and +placed it at Adam's throbbing temple, saying, grimly, and harshly: + +"You will do as I command or your life will pay the forfeit. I give you +one moment of time to decide." + +It was a moment so fraught with tragic horror that in all the after +years of his life Adam always looked back to it with a shudder of deadly +fear. + +He was no longer young--the sands of life were running slower than in +the long ago--still, life was sweet to him, ah, very sweet. He had a +good wife and little bairns at home, and an aged mother, to whom he was +very dear, and he was their only support. + +Who was this dark-browed stranger? Why did he wish a grave dug by the +roadside on this terrible night? Whom did he wish to bury there, and was +the body within the coach? + +All these thoughts were surging rapidly through his brain, when suddenly +Halloran said: + +"Your moment for contemplation is up. Will you dig the grave here and +now as I command you, or will you prefer that the next passer-by should +find you on this spot with a bullet hole through your head?" + +Even through the semi-darkness old Adam could see the stranger's eyes +gleaming pitilessly upon him as he uttered the words, and he realized +that if he refused he might expect no mercy at this man's hands. + +"Your answer!" said Halloran, pressing the messenger of death still +closer to the throbbing brow of the now thoroughly terrified old grave +digger. + +"Y--es," stammered old Adam. + +"That is well," declared Halloran, removing the weapon. "Begin right +here by the roadside. This is as good a spot as any. You need not make +it the regulation depth--three feet or such a matter will answer. Begin +without delay. I will also add that not only will you save your own +neck, but you shall earn a comfortable fee if you work quickly. Mind, +every minute counts." + +The old grave digger slowly took his spade from his shoulder, and by the +light from the carriage lamp began his work on the spot pointed out, +while Halloran stood by watching him with keen interest. + +Old Adam was used to work in the terrible heat of summer and in the +bitter cold of the winter. He set to work with a will, and the frozen +ground yielded quickly to the strokes of his trusty spade, and surely +the faint moon, glimmering from between the drifting clouds sweeping +across the dark face of the black heavens overhead, never looked upon a +wilder, more weird scene. + +Twice old Adam paused, the perspiration pouring down his face like +rain. + +He was about to cry out: "I cannot go on with this uncanny work," but +each time the cold steel of the revolver was pressed to his throbbing +brow, and the harsh voice of the muffled stranger said: "Go on; your +work is almost accomplished." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +"THERE MUST NOT BE A SINGLE TRACE LEFT TO MARK THE SPOT OF THE GRAVE YOU +ARE NOW DIGGING," SAID THE MUFFLED STRANGER. + + +The old grave digger worked on faster and faster by the fitful light of +the carriage lamp, with the wild night winds howling about him, and the +perspiration streaming down his face, as the stranger stood over him +covering his heart with the deadly revolver. + +"That will do, my man," he said, as old Adam paused for breath a moment. +"That is deep enough, I guess. It will not take long to place its future +tenant therein; then you must replace the earth and pack the snow so +carefully about it that it would not attract the attention of the +casual passer-by. Do you comprehend?" + +"Yes," answered the old grave digger, and it seemed to him that his own +voice sounded like nothing human. + +The stranger turned and walked leisurely to the coach in waiting. + +Old Adam would have fled from the spot in mortal terror, but that his +limbs were trembling and refused to carry him. + +He leaned heavily on his spade, asking himself in growing fright--what +terrible mystery was this that fate had drawn him into, and awaiting +with quaking heart what would follow. + +He had not long to wait. The stranger who had stepped to the carriage +evidently proposed to lose no time. + +In less time than it takes to recount it, he had lifted from the vehicle +a slender figure, closely wrapped in a long dark garment, and as he did +so a second person stepped from the coach--a man, closely muffled like +his companion--and wearing his soft hat pulled low over his eyes. + +One glance at the flickering light of the carriage lamp fell upon them, +bearing the slender figure between them, and old Adam's heart fairly +stood still with horror. + +He recognized them at once as the parties who had stood before the +altar in the old stone church scarcely an hour before. + +Great God! could it be? Ah, yes, it must be the body of the beautiful, +hapless young bride they were bringing to this wild and lonely grave. + +How did she happen to die? She who had been so full of bounding life but +one short hour before--only the all-seeing eye of the God above could +tell--ay, could solve this horrible mystery. + +Another moment, and in utter silence, the slender figure was lowered +into the frozen ground by the two strangers. + +This accomplished, the same man turned to old Adam again, saying, +abruptly: + +"Now finish your work as speedily as possible, I repeat the +caution--mind--not a trace must be visible when you have accomplished +your task, to mark the spot." + +No word from the old grave digger answered him. He could not have +uttered a single syllable if his very life had depended upon it. + +While the other had been speaking, a gust of wind had for a single +instant tossed aside the heavy cloth that covered the face, and old Adam +saw beyond all doubt that it was indeed the lovely young creature who +had within that hour been made a bride, and with that terrible discovery +came another--there was, as sure as fate, a flush upon the beautiful +face of her whom they were consigning to the tomb. + +"Hold!" he cried out with all his strength, drawing back from his work, +shaking with terror. "The--the--girl is not dead; there is color--" + +A fierce oath from the lips of both men simultaneously cut his words +short. + +"The girl is dead," exclaimed the man who had so far done the talking. +"That is blood you see on her face. She had a hemorrhage. Go on with +your work, you fool--or, here! give me the spade. I will make a short +shift of it." + +But as the stranger uttered these words, stepping quickly forward to put +the thought into execution, a sudden thought, like an inspiration, +occurred to the ancient grave digger. + +"No--no--I will finish my work," he muttered. "I--I--can do it best, as +I--I--understand it--and--and--you, would not." + +"Make all haste, then; it is growing bitter cold. We shall all freeze to +death." + +"Could you not get into the coach, sir, to keep warm?" suggested old +Adam; "you can be of no aid to me, you know. When I have +finished--you--you can step out and see if it is done to your +satisfaction." + +For a moment the stranger hesitated, then said, sharply: + +"I think I will take your advice, my man; my feet are about as numb as +they could well be, I assure you; and as you say, my standing here will +not help you. I can watch from the carriage window, and when the work is +done step out and look at it." + +With that he hurried quickly to the vehicle, and with a thankfulness in +his heart that words are weak to describe, and with a mental "God be +praised," the old grave digger bent to his task with renewed energy. + +Both men watched narrowly and anxiously, as spadeful after spadeful of +dirt quickly disappeared from the white ground. Then the white heaping +snow was leveled over the dark narrow space, and the grave digger +announced that his work was completed. + +"I do not know as it is worth while to examine it; the old fellow knows +his business," remarked Halloran to his companion, who was by this time +fairly well under the weather from large draughts of brandy he had drunk +from a bottle he had seized from the bar. "Step up on the box beside the +driver"--thrusting a bank note into the old grave digger's nervous, +trembling hand--"we will take you along the road as far as we go." + +For an instant old Adam hesitated, but it was only for an instant, for +he said to himself he must not arouse the suspicion of this stranger by +refusing to ride, especially as he had begged for that permission so +short a time before. He could frame no reasonable excuse for asking to +remain behind. + +Marking the spot as best he could in the intense darkness, he climbed up +to the driver's box as he had been bidden, and took his seat. + +With a sharp cut of the whip upon their flanks, the horses were started, +and swaying to and fro with their every motion as they dashed along over +the uneven road, the coach sped onward. + +No word fell from the driver's lips, and old Adam was too much excited +to vouchsafe a remark. + +He knew that the men, as well as the rig, did not belong thereabouts, +for he well knew every team in the village, and those of the adjoining +farmers. + +How far they traversed thus he could not judge, but to his intense +relief he saw at last that they were passing a familiar landmark, an old +bridge that spanned a dry creek which was scarcely a dozen rods from his +own door. + +"I will leave you here," said Adam. "I thank you for giving me a lift." + +Again the coach came to a halt, and the man within put out his head, +inquiring sharply: + +"What is the matter now?" + +"This man wants to get off here." + +"Very well," replied Halloran, drawing back into the warmth of the coach +and giving the matter no further thought, and resuming the castles in +the air which he had been building when the vehicle came to a stop. "I +shall see that you carry out to the fullest detail the little plot I am +laying this night for you," he muttered, looking steadily at his +companion, who had dozed off into a heavy stupefied sleep upon the +opposite seat, "and when you come into possession of the money which +your marriage to the little heiress to-night will bring you, I shall +come in for the lion's share of it. You dare not refuse my demands, no +matter how exorbitant they may be, under penalty of exposure. That will +be the sword in my hands that will always hang over your head. + +"It would have been more difficult to accomplish my scheme if the girl +had lived. It is best as it is. Dead people tell no tales. Of course +they will search for the girl when they discover that she has eloped, +but will believe she is cleverly eluding them or traveling about the +country. I have always had golden dreams of a fortune that would be in +my grasp some day, and now, lo! my dream is about to be realized." + +While he was thus soliloquizing, old Adam, the grave digger, was +standing silently in the road where they had set him down, then +suddenly he turned abruptly--not toward his home--but as quickly as his +aged limbs could carry him back over the ground the coach had just +traversed, praying to Heaven to guide him to the spot where he had dug +the lonely grave of the beautiful, hapless young bride of an hour. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +SNATCHED FROM THE GRAVE. + + +Back over that terrible road of drifting snow the old grave digger made +his way as swiftly as his trembling limbs could carry him. + +He had endeavored to mark carefully the spot where he had made that +lonely grave, but the snow was drifting so hard with each furious gust +of wind as to make it almost impossible to find it upon retracing his +steps. + +Quaking with terror, and with a prayer on his lips to Heaven to guide +him, old Adam sat down his lantern, and by its dim, flickering light +peered breathlessly around. + +There was the blasted pine tree and toward the right of it the stump. +The grave must be less than a rod below it. + +With a heart beating with great strangling throbs, he paced off the +distance, and then stood quite still, holding his lantern down close to +the frozen earth. + +For an instant his heart almost ceased beating--there was no sign of the +little mound, with the leafless branch of bush he had been so careful to +place there. + +Then, suddenly a moan from beneath his very feet fell upon his ear, +causing him to fairly gasp for breath. + +"Thank God! I have found it!" he cried. + +In an instant he had thrown off his coat, thin though it was, and set to +work as he had never worked in all his life before--against time. + +He had thrown in the earth loosely, taking care to leave the head +exposed, for he felt as sure as he did of his own existence that life +was not yet extinct in the body of the young girl for whom he was forced +to prepare that grave at the point of a revolver in the hands of the two +desperate strangers. + +He had taken his own life in his hands when he had announced the work +finished satisfactorily, for had the man stepped from the coach to +examine the work he would have found the deep hole which left the head +uncovered. + +The cold winds and the drifting snow blew into the old grave digger's +face, but he worked on with desperate zeal, realizing that another life +might depend upon the swiftness of his rescue. + +At last, after what seemed to him an eternity of time, he reached the +body, and quickly lifted it from its resting place. + +Half an hour later he reached his own humble cottage home, bearing the +slender burden in his strong arms. + +His good wife had waited up for him. She could never sleep when Adam was +away from home. + +She heard his footstep on the crunching snow and hastened to open the +door for him, starting back with a cry of great surprise as she caught +sight of the figure in his arms. + +"Is it some neighbor's little girl lost in the storm, Adam?" she cried, +clasping her hands together in affright. + +"Don't ask any questions now, Mary," he exclaimed, delivering the burden +into her willing, motherly arms, and sinking down into the nearest +chair, thoroughly exhausted. "I'll tell you all about it later, when I +get my breath and my nerves are settled. Do everything you can to revive +the poor young creature. She is freezing to death." + +As old Adam's kindly wife threw back the dark cloak which had enveloped +the fair young face and form, an exclamation of surprise broke from her +wondering lips. + +"She is a stranger hereabouts," she observed, but she wisely obeyed her +husband's injunctions, making no further remark, knowing she would hear +all about it in good time. + +In less time than it takes to tell it, the beautiful young stranger was +put to bed in the little spare room up under the eaves, wrapped in +flannel blankets, with bottles of hot water at the feet, and a generous +draught of brandy, which the grave digger's wife always kept in the +house for emergencies, forced down her throat. + +"She will soon return to consciousness now," she exclaimed to her +husband, who stood beside the bedside anxiously watching her labors; +"see that flush on her cheeks. We will sit down quietly and wait until +she opens her eyes. It won't be long." + +And while they waited thus, Adam told his wife the story he had to tell +concerning the young girl--this fair, hapless, beautiful young stranger +whose wedding he had witnessed and burial he had assisted in within the +hour, first binding his wife to solemn secrecy. + +The good woman's amazement as she listened can better be imagined than +described. For once in her life she was too dumfounded to offer even a +theory. + +As they glanced toward the bed, to their amazement they saw the girl's +eyes fastened upon old Adam with an expression of horror in them, +heartrending to behold, and they realized that she had heard every word +he had said. + +In an instant they were on their feet bending over the couch. + +"Is it true--they buried me--and--you--you--rescued me?" she asked, in a +terrified whisper, catching at the old man's hands and clutching them in +a grasp from which he could not draw them away, her teeth chattering, +her violet eyes almost bulging from their sockets. + +"Since you have heard all, I might as well confess that it is quite +true," he answered. "And God forgive that brute of a husband you just +married. He ought to swing for the crime as sure as there is a heaven +above us. There will be no end of the good minister's wrath when he +hears the story, my poor girl." + +Again the beautiful young stranger caught at his hands. + +"He must never know!" she cried, incoherently. "Promise me, by all you +hold dear, that both you and your wife will keep my secret--will never +reveal one word of what has happened this night." + +"It is not right that we should keep silent upon such an amazing +procedure. That would be letting escape the man who should be punished, +if there is any law in the land to reach him for committing such a +heinous crime." + +"I plead with you--I, who know best and am the one wronged, and most +vitally interested, to utter no word that would cause the story to +become blazoned all over the world. Let me make my words a prayer to you +both--to keep my pitiful secret." + +It was beyond human power to look into those beautiful violet eyes, +drowned in the most agonized tears, and the white, terrified, anxious +face, without yielding to her prayer. + +"I do not know what good reason you may have for binding us to secrecy," +he said, slowly and reluctantly, "but we cannot choose but to give you +the promise--nay, the pledge--you plead for. I can answer for my Mary as +well as myself--the story of to-night's happenings shall never pass our +lips until you give us leave to speak." + +"Thank you! Oh, I thank you a thousand times!" sobbed the girl. "You +have lifted a terrible load from my heart. If the time ever comes when I +can repay you, rest assured it shall surely be done." + +She tried to rise from her couch, but the good wife held her back upon +her pillow with a detaining hand, exclaiming: + +"What are you about to do, my dear child?" + +"Go away from here," sobbed the girl, again attempting to arise from the +couch, but falling back upon the pillow from sheer weakness. + +She did not leave that couch for many a day. What she had undergone had +been too much for her shattered nerves. + +Brain fever threatened the hapless girl, but was warded off by the +faithful nursing of old Adam's faithful wife. + +And during those weeks the good woman could learn nothing of the history +of the beautiful young stranger, who persistently refused to divulge one +word concerning herself. She would turn her face to the wall and weep so +violently when any allusion was made to her past that the grave digger's +wife gave up questioning her. + +One morning the bed was empty. It had not been slept in. The girl had +fled in the night. + +Who she was, or where she had gone, was to them the darkest, deepest +mystery. Would it ever be revealed? They could not discuss it with the +old minister or any of the neighbors, for their lips were sealed in +eternal silence concerning the matter. + +"I feel sure the end of this matter is not yet," said old Adam, +prophetically. "When the girl comes face to face with the dastardly +villain she wedded that night, it will end in a tragedy." + +"God forbid!" murmured his wife with a shudder; but down in her own +heart she felt that her husband had spoken the truth; the tragic end of +this affair had not yet come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"YOU ARE DISINHERITED--EVERYTHING IN THIS HOUSE IS MINE." + + +Faynie had indeed departed from that humble home as she had entered it, +in the dark, dim silence of the bitter-cold night. + +She made her way as best she could to the station which, fortunately +enough, was not far distant. The station master was old and anxious to +get home, and therefore paid little heed to the little dark-robed figure +who bought a ticket to New York, and soon after crept silently aboard of +the train which steamed into the little depot of the hamlet, almost +buried in the snowdrifts across the hills. + +Weak and faint from her recent illness, Faynie, the beautiful, petted +little heiress of a short time before, huddled into a corner of the seat +by the door, and drawing her veil carefully over her face, wept silently +and unheeded as the midnight express bore her along to her destination. + +She was going home to Beechwood; going back to the home she had left in +such high spirits to join the lover who was to be all in all to her +forever more; the lover who was to shield her henceforth and forever +from the world's storms, and was to be all devotion to her and love her +fondly until death did them part. And this had been the end of it. Her +high hopes lay in ruins around her. Her idol had been formed of +commonest clay, and lay crumbled in a thousand fragments at her feet. + +Surely, no young girl's love dream ever had such a sad awakening, and +was so cruelly dispelled. + +She would go home to her haughty old father, tell him all, then lie down +at his feet and die. That would end it all. Even in that moment lines +she had once read came back to her with renewed meaning: + + "And this is all! The end has come at last! + The bitter end of all that pleasant dream, + That cast a hallow o'er the happy past, + Like golden sunshine on a summer stream. + + "Sweet were the days that marked life's sunny slope, + When we together drew our hearts atune, + And through the vision of a future hope, + We did not dream that they would pass so soon. + + "In happy mood fair castles we upreared, + And thought that life was one long summer day; + We had no dread of future pain, nor feared + That shadows e'er should fall athwart our way. + + "But sunken rocks lie hid in every stream, + And ships are wrecked when just in sight of land; + So we to-day wake from our pleasant dream + To find our hopes were builded on the sand. + + "I do not blame you that you do not keep + The troth you plighted e'er your heart you knew; + Better the parting now than wake to weep, + When time has robbed life's roses of their dew. + + "Another face will help you to forget, + The idle dream that had its birth in trust, + And other lips will kiss away regret, + For broken faith and idols turned to dust, + + "Ah, well, you chose, perhaps, the better way; + Another love may in your heart be shrined; + And I--I shall go down my darkened way, + Seeking forever what I ne'er shall find." + +It was two o'clock by the church belfry when she reached Beechwood, and +a quarter of an hour later when she reached the great mansion that stood +on the brow of the hill. + +She remembered that one of the rear doors, seldom used, was never +fastened, and toward this she bent her faltering footsteps. It yielded +to her touch, and like a ghost she glided through it and up the wide, +familiar corridors, her tears falling like rain at every step. + +She knew it was her father's custom to spend long hours in his library, +sometimes far into the gray dawn. He found this preferable to the +presence of his sharp-tongued second wife, who was always nagging him +for more money, or to put his property into her name as proof positive +of his unbounded, undying affection for her. + +In his library, among his books, there was no nagging. Here he found +peace, silence and quiet. + +Therefore, toward the library, late as the hour was, Faynie made her +way, stealing along quietly as a shadow. + +The door stood slightly ajar, and a ray of light, a narrow, thread-like +strip, fell athwart the dim corridor. + +When Faynie reached the door she paused, trembling with apprehension, a +feeling of intense dread, like a presentiment of coming evil, stealing +over her like the shadow of doom. + +She was prepared for his bitter anger, for the whirlwind of wrath that +would be sure to follow, but she would cast herself on her knees at his +feet, and with head bowed, oh, so lowly, so piteously, wait for the +hurricane of his rage to exhaust itself. Then she would bend over her +head still lower, her pride crushed, her pitiful humiliation complete, +and sue on her bended knees, with her hands clasped for his pardon and +his love again. + +She would plead for it for the sake of the fair, hapless young mother +whom she had loved and lost in his early youth. Surely, for her sake he +would find mercy, perhaps pardon, for the child she had left behind her, +the fair, petted, hapless daughter, who had been so lonely, and whose +heart yearned so for love ever since he had brought in a second wife to +rule over his household. + +Ay, from that hour he and his daughter had seemed to drift apart. + +Nerving herself for the ordeal, the girl crept to the door and timidly +swung it back. + +There was a figure bending over the writing desk; not the tall form of +her father, but her stepmother. + +Faynie drew back with a startled cry. + +In a single instant, with the swiftness of a lioness, the woman who had +been examining the desk, cleared the space that divided her from the +girl, and clutched her by the shoulder. + +"You!" she panted, in a voice that was scarcely human, it was so full of +venomous hatred. "You!" she repeated, flinging the girl from her, as +though she had been something vile to the touch. "How dare you come +here?" + +Faynie looked at her for a moment with dilated eyes gazing out from her +pale face. + +Had her stepmother suddenly gone mad? was the thought that flashed +through the girl's brain. + +"I--I have come back to my father, and--and to his home--and mine. Any +explanation I have to offer will be made to him alone." + +The woman laughed a sneering, demoniac laugh, and her clutch on the +girl's shoulder grew stronger, fiercer. + +"How lovely, how beautifully worded, how dutiful!" she sneered. "By that +I judge that you have not been keeping abreast of the times, or you +would have known, girl, that your father is dead, and that he has +disinherited you, leaving every dollar of his wealth to me." + +"Dead!" Faynie repeated the words in an awful whisper. + +It seemed to her that every drop of blood in her veins seemed suddenly +turned to ice. A mist swam before her eyes and she put out her hand +gropingly, grasping the back of the nearest chair for support. + +She did not even hear the last of the sentence. Her thoughts and hearing +seemed to end with that one awful word. + +"That is what I said," replied her stepmother, nonchalantly, "and you +are his murderess, girl, quite as much as though you had plunged a +dagger in his heart. Your elopement caused him to have a terrible +hemorrhage. He knew all the details about it in less than an hour's +time, learning from one of the servants how you stole out of the house +and met the tall man at the gate, who took you off in a closed carriage, +and just as he made this discovery one of the maids handed him your +note, which you left pinned to the pillow, addressed to him. He had no +sooner read it than he fell into a rage so horrible that it ended as I +have said, in a hemorrhage. Within ten minutes' time your name, which he +cursed, was stricken from his will, and he left everything to me, +disinheriting you. Do you comprehend the force of my remark?" + +The steady, awful look in the young girl's eyes made the woman quail in +spite of her bravado. "I--I do not care for my father's wealth, but that +he should curse me--oh, that is too much--too much. Oh, God, let me die +here and now, that I may follow him to the Great White Throne and there +kneel before him and tell him all my pitiful story!" + +"That is a pretty theory, but people cannot go to and come at will from +the Great White Throne, as you call it. You had better get back to the +realities of life on this mundane sphere, where you find yourself just +at present. I repeat for the third time that you are disinherited. I +cannot seem to make you grasp that fact. This home and everything in it +belongs absolutely to me." + +Faynie heard and realized, and without a word, turned and staggered like +one dying toward the door, but her stepmother put herself quickly before +her. + +"Sit down there. I have something else to say to you," she added in a +shrill whisper, pushing the girl into the nearest seat. + +"I must go. I will not listen," cried Faynie, struggling to her feet. + +"Yes, you shall listen and comply with my proposition," exclaimed her +stepmother, her glittering eyes fastened on the beautiful face of the +girl she hated so intensely. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +IMPENDING EVIL. + + +We must return for one brief instant, dear reader, to our hero, Lester +Armstrong, whom we left as he was being hurried off to the hospital on +the night which proved so thrillingly eventful. + +At the first rapid glance, the surgeon had believed his patient dying, +but upon examination after he had reached the hospital, it was +discovered that his injury was by no means as serious as had been +apprehended; but a trouble quite as grave confronted the patient. + +"An injury to the base of the brain, such as he has received, no matter +how slight, might, in this instance, produce either insanity or partial +loss of memory, which is almost as bad," said the surgeon. "It will +soon be determined when consciousness, returns to him." + +This indeed proved to be the case. Just as daylight broke Lester +Armstrong opened his eyes, looking in amazement around the strange +apartment in which he found himself. + +A kindly-faced nurse bent over him, who, in answer to his look of +inquiry, said: + +"You had a severe fall and hurt yourself last night and was brought to +the hospital. You are doing finely. Can you remember anything about the +incident?" + +Lester looked up vacantly into the dark-gray eyes. "I--I was in a hurry +to close my books at the office; that is all I recollect," he murmured. + +From documents found in his pockets, it was learned that he had some +connection with the great dry goods house of Marsh & Co., and the senior +member of the firm was notified. Within an hour Mr. Marsh responded in +person. He was greatly distressed over the occurrence and took it deeply +to heart. + +"I think as much of that young man as if he were my own son. Do +everything in human power for him. Let no pains be spared. I will stand +every expense," he said, and then and there he also confided a startling +secret to the surgeon. + +"I am a lone man in this world, without one kindred tie on earth. Some +little time since I made my will. I left every dollar I possessed on +earth to my young cashier, Lester Armstrong, though he never even +dreamed of such an existing state of affairs. I never intended that he +should know that I had made him my heir for perhaps years to come yet." + +"Lester Armstrong!" exclaimed the surgeon. "Why, that is not the name he +is entered here under, Mr. Marsh. The friend who was with him did not +call him that." + +"Then the friend who was with him evidently did not know him. I identify +him as my cashier, Lester Armstrong." + +The surgeon bowed courteously. + +"I would also suggest no mention whatever of this affair be given to the +newspapers," continued the gentleman. "They would make a sensational +story out of it, and I detest notoriety." + +"Your wishes shall be respected, sir," replied the surgeon, who had a +great reverence for men of wealth. + +His prediction proved quite correct. When Lester Armstrong arose from +that bed of sickness ten days later, his mind, although as bright and +keen as ever on some subjects, on others was hopelessly clouded. Even +the slightest recollection of beautiful Faynie Fairfax, the little +sweetheart whom he had loved better than his own life, was completely +obliterated from his mind. He did not even remember such a being had +ever existed. + +Another event had transpired on the eventful night of his injury. The +humble boarding house where he had made his home so many years, had been +destroyed by fire, and the people had gone none knew whither. This was +indeed a trying blow to Lester, for the fire had completely wiped out +all of his savings which he had kept in the little haircloth trunk in +his room. But, without a murmur, he took up the burden of life over +again and went back to his work at his desk. + +In going over his accounts he suddenly came across the name of Faynie +Fairfax. + +The pen fell from his fingers and he brushed his hand over his brow. + +"What a strangely familiar ring that name has to me!" he muttered, "but +I cannot imagine who it can be. Her checks seem to be paid in here. I +must remember to notice who she is when next she comes to this window." + +Life had dropped into the same old groove again for Lester Armstrong, +the only difference in the routine of his daily life being that he was +not obliged to take his daily trips to Beechwood any more, for the +reason that his employer, Mr. Marsh, had taken up his residence in the +city again. + +But in less than a fortnight another event happened. + +Mr. Marsh died suddenly, and to the great surprise of every one, Lester +Armstrong was named as his sole heir. At first the young man was +dumfounded. He could not believe the evidence of his own senses, when +first the news was conveyed to him. + +The papers contained columns concerning the young man's wonderful luck. +Those who knew Lester Armstrong said the great fortune which had come to +him would not spoil him. + +There was one who read this account with amazed eyes, and that was +Halloran. + +"Great God!" he muttered, his hands shaking, his teeth chattering. +"Kendale told me that Armstrong was taken to the hospital in a +precarious condition and died there." + +He made all haste to Kendale's lodgings. The latter, who was still +masquerading under the name of Lester Armstrong, had been on a +continuous spree ever since the night he had wedded the little beauty, +and Halloran had let him take his course, saying to himself that there +was plenty of time in the future to carry out their scheme. + +For once he found Kendale partially sober. He knew by Halloran's face +that something out of the usual order of events had transpired. + +"What is the matter?" he cried; "what's up now?" + +For answer Halloran laid the paper before him, pointing to the column, +remarking, grimly: + +"The game's up now, and we've gone through all this trouble for nothing. +Your cousin, Lester Armstrong, is not dead, but instead is alive and +well." + +The papers which contained the account gave another bit of unfortunate +information, stating that Lester Armstrong had suffered from loss of +memory since he had received the fall on that fatal night. + +"Well," said Halloran, as his friend laid down the paper, "you see, the +game's up." + +"By no means," exclaimed Kendale, perfectly sober by this time. "It's a +poor rule that won't work both ways," he added, excitedly. + +"I don't understand your cause for rejoicing," returned Halloran, +gloomily. + +"Don't you?" cried Kendale. "Then let me make it clear to you. We not +only have one fortune through the girl that I tied myself to, and can, +as her husband, collect all in good time, but with a little strategy I +can come in for the Marsh millions. We can decoy Armstrong into a coach, +and let the world find out his fate after that if it can. I will coolly +take his place, just as I did in that other affair, and who is there to +question that I am not he." + +"But they know you there. You worked a week in the employ of Marsh & Co. +You forget that." + +"It was at one of their branch stores," was the reply, "and they had +never heard of Armstrong there, and had never seen him. I left in a +week. I did not resemble my cousin so much at that particular time for +the reason that my mustache was shaven off then. Without that you would +be surprised to see what a wide difference there is between us." + +"It is a great scheme, if you are sure that you can carry it through," +said Halloran, breathing hard and eying his companion fixedly. + +"Trust that to me," replied Kendale, jumping up and walking the floor to +and fro excitedly. + +It was midnight when Halloran left Kendale's apartments. During those +long hours the two plotters had concocted a diabolical scheme, which +they meant to carry out ere the morning light dawned. + +All unconscious of the nefarious plot against his life, Lester Armstrong +was up with the sun the next morning, and was down to the office at an +early hour transacting the great amount of business that he found upon +his hands, contingent upon being the head of the firm of which he had +for so many years been but an humble cashier. + +Despite the sudden wealth which had come to him, all that day he felt a +strange depression of the heart, a strong impression of impending evil, +which he could not shake off. Even those about him noticed what a gloomy +look there was in his eyes. + +He was the last one to leave the great building that night, and as he +stepped out upon the sidewalk, he muttered to himself: "I wonder what is +about to happen to me, my heart feels so heavy, so depressed." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN THE TOILS OF THE CONSPIRATORS. + + +Lester Armstrong had no sooner stepped to the pavement than he was +accosted by a man who stepped suddenly up to him. + +"Mr. Armstrong?" he said, interrogatively, touching his hat +respectfully. + +"Yes," responded Lester, "what can I do for you?" + +"I am here on a deed of mercy. A friend of mine, an employee of yours, +sir, has met with a serious accident and calls for you repeatedly. I am +a hackman, and I volunteered to come for you and ask you to let me take +you to him. It is not very far. My cab stands right here." + +"I will go to the poor fellow, certainly," responded Lester, hurrying to +the vehicle in question and hastily entering it. + +In a moment the driver had mounted the box and was off like the wind. It +did not occur to Lester until he was well under way that he had not +thought to inquire who the injured man was. + +As the cab rolled swiftly along over the crowded thoroughfare, Lester +leaned back and gave himself up to his own thoughts. + +Wealth had come to him, and with it honors had crowded thick and fast +upon him. The world of society held out its arms eagerly to him. Lovely +young girls, matrons of the house, offered their congratulations to him +with the most bewitching of smiles, and mothers with marriageable +daughters from all over the city opened an account with the great dry +goods house, whose sole owner was a young and handsome bachelor. + +But for all this there seemed to be something sadly missing in his life, +a want which he could hardly define, and it seemed to take the shape of +something which he was striving to remember, but could not. + +Only that morning he had been talking with some one in the office about +it, and had been laughingly informed that there was a method that could +bring back to his memory that which he desired so ardently to recollect. +"If you will tell me how to unravel this tangle that is in my brain, you +will have my everlasting gratitude," declared Lester, earnestly. + +"It takes people with nerves of steel to accomplish it. A person who is +nervous to the slightest degree would not dare to try it, for fear of +turning suddenly insane from the terrible mental struggle. Do you still +wish to know what it is?" + +"Yes," responded Lester, "and I can use my judgment whether I dare try +it or not." + +"Very good," replied the gentleman, "then here it is: Counting five +thousand backward will either restore your loss of memory, or, as I have +taken care to warn you gravely in advance, cause you to go insane. It +must be done rapidly, and in a given space of time. In my belief the +remedy is by far worse than the malady. I feel, somehow, as though I +ought not to have told you about it." + +"Nonsense," said Lester. "You need have little fear of my trying it." + +He thought of it, however, as the cab rolled rapidly along. + +"I wonder if harm would result from my trying it?" he mused. "I have +unusually strong nerves, and--and, if anything disastrous should come of +it, there is not one soul on the wide earth that would be injured. There +is no mother to weep, no fair young sister to grieve, no father or +brother to be bowed down with sorrow. I am alone in the world. My +foolhardiness would injure only myself--only myself." + +He had been thinking so deeply that he had not noted the flight of time, +nor that the street lamps had grown fewer and far between, at last +ceasing altogether, and that they were traveling a country road. +Suddenly the vehicle came to a stop. The driver jumped from his box and +opened the door with a jerk, remarking: + +"This is the place." + +Lester alighted, looking about him in a rather mystified manner, but +before he could make the inquiry that rose to his lips the driver +hastened to say: + +"The path that leads to the house, which is just beyond that clump of +trees, is so narrow that we cannot drive there. We will have to walk. It +is but a short distance. You will see the house at the first turn in the +path." + +And as the man uttered the words he gave a peculiar cough. + +"Who is the person who sent for me?" Lester queried, stopping short. The +man made an evasive answer, which aroused his suspicions that all was +not as it should be. + +"Why do you not answer my question? I refuse to proceed a step farther +until you have satisfied me on this point," declared Lester, haughtily. + +"That's your opinion. I think differently, my fine fellow," answered the +man insolently. "I'd advise you to come along quietly." + +Lester Armstrong saw at once that he had been lured into a trap. It was +natural for him to jump to the conclusion that it was for robbery, owing +to the fact of his coming into possession of the great Marsh fortune so +recently, and a sudden sternness settled upon his face. He was not used +to broils, but this fellow should see that he was not quite a stranger +to the manly art of self-defense, and that he had an adversary worthy of +his steel. + +"Are you coming along peaceably with me, or shall I be obliged to call +upon my pals for assistance?" he asked, grimly. + +"I propose to defend myself against all odds," answered Lester, more +than angry with himself for falling so easily into the trap that had +been so cunningly set for him. + +He had but a few dollars in money about him, and the disappointment of +his assailant in not finding a large roll of bills would in all +probability cause the man to take desperate chances in trying to make +away with him. If he was armed he was at the fellow's mercy. There might +be half a dozen accomplices in collusion with him, he had little doubt. + +Again the cabby uttered that peculiar cough which was half a whistle, +and in response two men, whose features were covered by black masks, +sprang from the adjacent bushes. + +Our hero put up a splendid defense, but the united strength of his three +antagonists at length overpowered him. + +What was there in the figure of one of the men that seemed so familiar +to him? he wondered, and just as they were bearing him to the ground by +their united efforts, he suddenly reached forward and tore the mask from +his assailant's face. + +One glance, and the horror of death seemed to suddenly freeze the blood +in his veins. His eyes dilated and seemed to nearly burst from their +sockets. The face into which he gazed was that of Clinton Kendale, his +cousin. + +"You!" he gasped, quite disbelieving the evidence of his own senses. + +Kendale laughed a diabolical laugh, while his features were distorted +into those of a fiend incarnate. + +"I haven't the least hesitation in admitting my identity," he said, +coolly. "Yes, you are in good hands, if you give us no trouble, and come +along quietly, without compelling us to use further force." + +"What is the meaning of this outrage?" cried Lester, white to the lips. + +"That you shall learn all in good time, cousin mine," replied Kendale, +mockingly. + +In struggling out of their grasp to better protect himself, Lester fell +headlong on the icy ground, striking his head heavily against the +gnarled, projecting root of a tree and lying at their feet like one +dead. + +"He will give us little enough trouble now," said Kendale, grimly. "Lend +a hand there, both of you, and get him into the house quickly. I am +almost frozen to death here." + +In less time than it takes to narrate it, Lester Armstrong was hurriedly +conveyed into the house. + +The place consisted of but two rooms, and into the inner one Lester was +thrust with but little ceremony, and tossed upon a pallet of straw in +the corner. + +He had not entirely lost consciousness, as they supposed, but was only +stunned, realizing fully all that was transpiring about him. + +"Your scheme has worked like a charm, Halloran," said Kendale. "We have +bagged our game more easily than I imagined we would. Now there is +nothing in the way between me and the fortune that liberal old fool +Marsh willed to my amiable cousin." + +"Everything rests with the shrewdness with which you play your part," +answered the man addressed as Halloran. + +"You ought not to have any scruples on that score," exclaimed Kendale, +boastfully. "After leaving my amiable cousin on the night of the +accident, did I not go immediately to the pretty little heiress, Faynie +Fairfax, and successfully pass myself off as the lover she was waiting +to elope with? And the little beauty never knew the difference." + +"I must own that you played your cards successfully in that direction," +was the response, "but this will be a far different matter from +hoodwinking a young, unsophisticated girl." + +"Within a month from to-day I shall have the Fairfax fortune and the +Marsh millions added to it," said Clinton Kendale, emphatically. + +"I would put an eternal quietus upon my fortunate cousin here, did I not +need his assistance in one or two matters concerning the method of +running the business, which was known only to old Marsh and himself." + +"Are you fool enough to think that he will divulge those secrets to +you?" said Halloran, impatiently. + +"They can be forced from him. I know how," returned Kendale, with a +brutal laugh. "Come," he said, turning on his heel. + +His companion followed him from the apartment, and the door closed with +a resounding bang, and Lester lay there too horror-stricken to move hand +or foot, fairly spellbound by the disclosures he had overheard as they +stood over him, believing him unconscious. + +All in an instant a great wave of awakened memory swept over him, +opening out the flood-gates of recollection like a flash. He remembered +his interview with his sweetheart, his darling Faynie, and how he was +arranging to hurry back to marry her when the fatal accident occurred, +and how, believing himself dying, he had confided all to his treacherous +cousin, bidding him take the message to his darling, that even in death +his only thought was of her. + +Oh, merciful God! how horribly had his treacherous cousin betrayed that +sacred trust, because of his fatal resemblance to himself! He cried out +to God and the listening angels: + +"Heaven help my beautiful darling and save her from the machinations of +that desperate villain!" + +He knew that Clinton Kendale would stop at nothing to gain his end, and +his agony at the thought that he might be unable to prevent it in time +almost drove him to the verge of madness. + +He felt that they would hold him there until they tortured from him +whatever secret he held which they wished to learn; then they would +deliberately make away with him. Clinton Kendale would step into his +place, personating himself so cleverly that the great world, under whose +very eyes the terrible tragedy had taken place, would never know the +difference. Even Faynie would not know how she had been tricked and +cheated, and the last thought almost drove him to the point of frenzy, +nearly succeeding in turning his tortured brain. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +"YOU ARE OUR PRISONER!" + + +For hours Lester Armstrong lay like one stunned, turning over and over +in his mind the awful revelation he had heard. That a human being, +especially his cousin, Clinton Kendale, should have plotted so horribly +against him seemed almost past believing. Then he remembered how +treacherous he had been in his early days, and he wondered that he had +been so mad as to have trusted him. + +"Heaven save my darling from him!" he cried out in an agony too great +for words. To realize that she was in the mercy of such a man was a +sorrow so great that all else on earth paled before it. Then a mighty +resolve came to him--to foil the villainous plot, weak though he was; he +must make his escape and fly to his darling's aid. + +He knew that Clinton Kendale would follow out his line of action, +keeping him there as long as it was necessary--that is, until he learned +all the secrets that he was so anxious to ascertain--then he would put +him out of the way with as little compunction as he would a dog. He +might expect little mercy at Kendale's hands, when two fortunes and a +beautiful young girl hung in the balance. + +For hours he lay there, turning the matter over in his mind. He knew he +was terribly weak from the awful fall which he had received, and which +had hurt his head the second time in almost the same place; but escape +he must from the clutches of the conspirators, even though he were +dying. + +Suddenly the key turned in the lock, the door swung open and Kendale +entered, bearing a lighted candle in his hand. + +"Ah, you have come to, have you?" he remarked, seeing the other's eyes +turn toward him; and before Lester Armstrong could answer he went on +quickly: "You are the only one who knows the combination which opens the +safe of the late Marsh & Co., and as I intend to open it to-morrow +morning at the usual hour in place of your punctual self, it will be +most necessary for you to give me the required information." + +For one moment Lester Armstrong gazed steadily into the face of the +fiend incarnate before him--a look before which the other quailed +despite his apparent bravado. + +"I am in your power and at your mercy," he said, "but though you torture +me on the rack I shall never tell you what you want to know. That safe +contains valuable papers which belong to others; they are secure in my +keeping. You can kill me, but the secret of the safe combination will +die with me." + +Kendale laughed a little short, hard laugh. + +"You are mad to thus defy me," he cried, harshly, "when you stop to +consider that I can open it in any event. I can simply say the +combination has slipped from my mind. Who is there to question Mr. +Lester Armstrong, the head of the firm? No one--no one. It will be +broken open quite as soon as workmen can be found to accomplish it." + +The lines about the sufferer's mouth tightened; he clutched his hands +hard. He knew the dare devil Kendale would stop at nothing--nothing. + +"I will give you until daylight to decide. I promise you that it will go +hard with you if you are not complaisant." + +With that he turned on his heel and quitted the room. + +During all the long hours of that never-to-be-forgotten night Lester +Armstrong lay there on his pallet of straw praying for strength to foil +the villain--for Heaven to direct him what to do. + +For the Marsh millions he cared nothing; but his heart was wrung with +anguish when he trusted himself to think of Faynie. + +He knew that Kendale had kept the appointment made by himself, but for +some reason the elopement could not have taken place. A thousand causes +might have prevented its successful carrying out, though Kendale was +sure of a satisfactory finish, he imagined. + +Daylight broke at last; he could see it dimly through the dust-begrimed, +boarded-up windows; but it was not until the sun had well risen that his +cousin put in an appearance again. Lester was suffering intense pain +from the terrible bruise on his head at the base of the brain, but he +set his teeth hard together, determining that his mortal foe should not +know it. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Kendale, sneeringly. "Wide awake, I see!--probably the +fixed habit of years. You have, no doubt, come to a more sensible frame +of mind than I left you in last night, I trust, regarding the +information I want concerning the combination of the big safe in the +private office of Marsh & Co." + +"I will never reveal it to you," cried Lester. "Never!" + +For an instant a black, malignant scowl swept over Kendale's face, but +after a moment's deep thought he turned on his heel again, laughing +immoderately as he stepped to the door and held a low conversation with +the two men who were still in the outer apartment, and in a trice they +had joined Kendale, one of them still wearing the black mask which he +had used the night before. + +"We will proceed to relieve him of his private papers, keys, wallet, and +so forth," said Kendale; and, as if in compliance with some previously +arranged plan, the three set upon Lester, and in his almost helpless +condition it was not difficult to overpower him and take from him his +possessions, which Kendale quickly took charge of. + +In the encounter, owing to his exhausted condition, Lester lost +consciousness; and thus they left him, making him their prisoner by +turning the key in the lock again when they reached the outer room. + +"And now," said Halloran, removing the square of black linen from his +face, "what's next on the programme?" + +"Our friend, the cabby, will take me back to town with as much speed as +possible. You, my dear fellow, will remain here on guard, making +yourself as comfortable as is absolutely possible under the dismal +circumstances of keeping guard and circumventing any attempt of our +prisoner to escape. You know we have great need of him yet, in forcing +him to disclose much that is advantageous to us. We can starve it out of +him, if threats fail. As long as you have a good warm fire, plenty of +provisions and plenty to read here you ought not to complain. You are +having the easiest part of the bargain, Halloran, while I am doing all +of the hazardous work." + +"What if I should be suspected in the _role_ I am about to play for the +Marsh millions? Why, it would mean State's prison instead of the fortune +we have planned for so desperately." + +"You will carry it through all right," declared Halloran, confidently. + +"My nerve has never failed me so far, and I'm depending on that," said +Kendale, mechanically. + +Two hours later Kendale was breakfasting in a fashionable downtown +restaurant, endeavoring to fortify himself with courage for the trying +ordeal which he was about to face. + +He had given Halloran his promise to abstain from touching even a drop +of liquor, fully realizing it to be his mortal foe; but with Kendale a +promise amounted to scarcely a flip of his white fingers when it ran +contrary to his own desires. + +He told himself that he must have a "bracer" to steady his nerves. It +was not until a second and a third had been drunk that the proper amount +of courage came to him to undertake the dastardly scheme. Half an hour +later he walked boldly into the big dry goods emporium. He had no idea +where the private office was, but his quick wits served him in this +dilemma. Laying his hands on an errand boy who was just passing out, +whose cap bore the name of Marsh & Co., he said, carelessly: + +"Here, lad, take my coat up to the private office; I will follow you. Go +slowly, though, through the crowd of shoppers." + +With a respectful bow the boy took the coat from him. + +It so happened that one of the rules of the house was that the employees +must not use the elevators, and by the time Kendale had climbed the +fourth flight of stairs he was thoroughly exhausted, the perspiration +fairly streaming down his face. + +"Don't you know enough to go by way of the elevator, you young idiot?" +he roared, almost gasping for breath. + +"You forget it's against the rules for us to do so, Mr. Armstrong," +returned the lad. + +"Rules be hanged!" cried his companion. "How many more floors up is it?" + +The lad looked up into his face in the greatest amazement. Such a +question on the lips of the head of the firm rather astounded him; but +then, perhaps it had not occurred to the gentleman just how many flights +of steps the boys were obliged to climb. + +"We are only on the fourth floor, sir," he responded, "and it's up the +other four flights, you know." + +"Get into the elevator," commanded Kendale; and the boy turned, and +walked over to it, closely followed by his companion, mentally wondering +what in the world had come over courteous, kindly Mr. Lester Armstrong. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE NEW BROOM DID NOT SWEEP CLEAN. + + +Clinton Kendale showed himself to be a thorough actor in carrying out a +part carefully, as he followed the boy through the main office, where +all of the bookkeepers were at work, toward the little office in the +rear. + +"Ah, this is indeed comfortable," he exclaimed, flinging himself into a +luxurious leather armchair. "Throw the coat down anywhere, and go," he +said, as the boy stood before him awaiting his dismissal. + +"Great Scott! What an elegant nest Lester got himself into!" he +ejaculated, looking about him. "I can enjoy it far better than he could, +though I don't expect to be cooped up here more than an hour or two a +day. Those fellows out there in the outer office are paid to do the +work, and I'll be hanged if they shan't do it--every bit of it. I'll +break 'em in my way, and they'll think it's new rules. By George! +they'll find plenty of new rules. Ha! ha! ha! I suppose I'd better be +opening that desk." + +Feeling in his pocket, he drew forth the bunch of keys which he had +taken by force from his cousin. One by one he fitted each to the lock, +but none of them seemed to work. + +"Confound the thing!" he muttered. "My patience won't last much longer. +Then I'll stave it in with my heel. + +"Hello, there!" he cried, as, hearing a slight noise behind him, he +wheeled around and found an elderly man, with a pen behind his ear, and +a sheet of paper in his hand, standing there. + +"Why the deuce didn't you knock?" he cried, angrily and flushing hotly, +for he realized this man must have witnessed his vain attempts to open +the desk. "What do you want?" he asked sharply and ill-humoredly. + +Mr. Conway, the old cashier--for it was he--was looking at him with +dilated, amazed eyes; but in a moment he recovered himself. + +"You said to come into your office quite as soon as you came this +morning, as you wished to see me on particular business, Mr. Armstrong," +he replied in the low voice habitual with him. + +For an instant the bogus Lester Armstrong's brows were knit closely +together; then he said, coolly, sharply: "I've changed my mind; I don't +want to see you." + +Still the man lingered. + +"Pardon me," he said. "I thought probably it might be in regard to those +notes of Jordan & Beckwith which you were considering negotiating for." + +"Well, you'll have to think again," exclaimed the other, tartly. + +Mr. Conway turned toward the door, but as he stretched out his hand to +grasp the knob his employer sang out, sharply: + +"Hold on, there! Come here and see if you can do anything with this +confounded desk. It's got the jim-jams or something. I've been monkeying +with it for the last half hour, and can do nothing with it." And as he +uttered the words, he held out the bunch of keys toward him. + +If Mr. Conway had been startled before, he was certainly alarmed now, +and he looked at his companion in amazement which could not be +concealed. + +"Well," cried the other, his temper rising, the result of the brandy +diffusing itself through his brain, "what are you staring at me like +that for? Why don't you take the keys and go ahead?" + +Quite as soon as speech would come to him the old cashier said, slowly: + +"You seem to forget, Mr. Armstrong, that the keys have been done away +with some time, and the desk now opens with a secret spring which you +yourself devised." + +"Well, come here and open it. My fingers are all thumbs to-day," +replied his companion, looking at him doggedly. + +Mr. Conway stepped forward and touched what appeared to be one of the +brass nails that studded the outer rim, and, as if by magic, the desk +flew open, the other watching keenly to see how he did it. + +Without further comment Mr. Conway turned away and with slow, heavy +tread left the private office and walked toward his desk. When he +reached it his emotions overcame him completely, and he laid his head +down upon his ledger, tears falling like rain down his face. + +In an instant half a dozen of his fellow bookkeepers were about him, +frightened beyond words at this unusual scene and inquiring what could +be the matter. + +For a moment the old cashier hesitated, then he resolved to break the +truth to them; they would soon find it out for themselves; he would tell +them, and at the same time instruct them as best he could in this +unfortunate affair. He raised his white head, the head that had grown +gray in the employ of the firm he had loved so well and served so +faithfully. + +"You must know the truth, my fellows," he answered, slowly, huskily, and +with apparent difficulty. "Our Mr. Armstrong has, for the first time +since we have all known him, gone wrong; he is under the influence of +strong drink, and by no means himself. I may add that I earnestly pray +that each of you be loyal to him, even through this misfortune, and not +let even a hint of it go forth to the outside world, for at this crisis +it would ruin the well-known firm of Marsh & Co., which is now vested in +him." + +The horror and amazement on the faces of the men can better be imagined +than described. All had loved and revered Lester Armstrong, and to hear +that he had suddenly gone wrong because he had become possessed of a +fortune was alarming and distressing news to them. + +"Drink changes him so completely in temperament that it is hard to +realize that he is the same courteous companion of those other days. He +was so far gone from the effects of liquor I am not even sure that he +recognized me. Hark! what is that?" + +Several of the detectives of the place were rushing through the main +office toward the private office, in answer to Mr. Armstrong's summons. +The call for them had been so furious that they rushed in pell-mell, +without waiting to take time to rap. + +The bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong still sat in the luxurious leather +armchair, his heels on the desk, fairly hidden in heavy clouds of blue +smoke from his Havana cigar, at which he was puffing vigorously, fairly +going into convulsions of laughter over a letter bearing a blue and +gold monogram, which he was reading. + +The unceremonious entrance of the four men caused him to spring suddenly +to his feet. + +"What the d---l do you fellows want?" he exclaimed angrily. "How dare +you intrude upon me, in my private office, in this unheard-of fashion, +like a herd of escaped lunatics?" + +"You rang for us," replied one of the men. + +"I did not," replied the bogus Mr. Armstrong, resuming his seat +pompously. + +"The bells certainly rang, sir!" exclaimed the other three, +simultaneously. + +"Didn't I tell you that I didn't ring?" he answered, stamping his feet +furiously. + +In less time than it takes to tell it three more men dashed into the +private office, exclaiming: + +"We are here, sir, at the very first tap of your bell." + +"You have all gone suddenly stark mad, or you are a set of the blamedest +fools in existence, as I have just told these men. I did not ring. What +on earth do you mean, by insisting that I did, I should like to know?" + +"I beg your pardon, but you are still ringing, sir," declared one of the +men. "We can distinctly hear the bell ringing furiously. Do you not see +that your foot is still on it?" + +"My foot!" exclaimed the bogus Mr. Armstrong, angrily. "Explain what you +mean at once." + +For answer, the man stepped forward, and pulled aside the mat under his +employer's feet, mentally wondering if Mr. Lester Armstrong had not +grown suddenly daft himself, thereby disclosing a set of electric +buttons which the rug had cunningly concealed. + +"You kept your foot on them and they rang, calling us here instantly," +returned the man. + +"Bless me! I forgot entirely about those confounded electric buttons," +declared the bogus Armstrong, turning very red. "I'll have 'em put +somewhere else to-morrow; great nuisance; always in the way." And after +an instant a bright thought occurred to him, and he said blandly: "Well, +to tell you the truth, men, I was only trying you to see how quickly you +would respond; you may all go now." + +The men quitted the private office, looking rather dumfounded into each +other's blank faces, and in less than half an hour afterward every +employee in the vast dry goods establishment heard the shocking news, +that Mr. Lester Armstrong, whom they all believed well-nigh perfect, was +terribly intoxicated up in his private office, but they were to be +still more astounded ere the eventful day closed. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE WILL DISINHERITING FAYNIE. + + +As soon as the men had quitted the private office Kendale sprang to his +feet and began pacing up and down the length of the room excitedly, +muttering under his breath: + + "'Ah, what a fatal web we weave + When first we practice to deceive.' + +"It seems to me that there are traps in every direction to catch me. I +must be extra shrewd. I'll have those confounded bells changed at once. +I shouldn't be at all surprised to find an electric bell connected with +that chair at the desk which would call up the entire fire force of the +city if I were to lean back far enough in it." + +He flung himself down in his seat again and took up the letter which he +had been perusing and which interested him so. + +When he had first broken the seal of this missive his heart had fairly +jumped into his throat; at the first glance he saw that it was from Mrs. +Fairfax, of Beechwood. + +He read it carefully through fully a half dozen times. It ran as +follows: + + "MY DEAR MR. ARMSTRONG: I wish to extend to you my sincere + congratulations over your good fortune in succeeding to the + business of my dear old friend and neighbor, Mr. Marsh, late of + Beechwood village. I feel as though I know you well from hearing + him speak so continually of you. I am indeed thankful that his + business fell into the hands of one whom he trusted so deeply. + + "It was his wish, long ago, that we should meet and know each + other, and in remembrance of this, his earnest and oft-repeated + wish, I now extend you a cordial invitation to visit our home at + Beechwood at your earliest convenience and dine with the family. My + daughter and I will have a most hearty welcome for you. Any date + convenient to you which you may set will be agreeable to us. + + "Trusting that we may have the pleasure of seeing you very soon, I + remain, yours very truly, + + "MRS. HORACE FAIRFAX, Beechwood." + +The bogus Lester Armstrong laid the letter down and looked abstractedly +out of the window. + +"Of all places in the world, to think that I should be invited there," +he mused. "While I have just been wondering how they took Faynie's +elopement--and never hearing from her since--and wondering how in the +world I was to discover all that--lo! a way is opened to me!" + +Then his thoughts flew back to that stormy wedding night, and that +midnight scene in the little inn, when the girl he had just wedded, +believing her to be an heiress, revealed to him the exasperating truth, +that only that night her father had disinherited her, making a new will +in favor of her stepmother and her daughter Claire. The plan which +Halloran had laid out was to wait a reasonable time, then put in an +appearance, stating that he was Faynie's husband, and that she had just +died, and claim her portion of the estate. Every detail had been most +carefully mapped out; but here he saw an easier way of gaining that same +fortune without the trouble of litigation--marry the girl Claire. + +They would never know anything about that previous marriage with Faynie, +and the dead could tell no secrets. + +"I'll go," he muttered. "I shall reply at once, telling her she may +expect me two days hence--let me see, this is Tuesday; I will dine with +her Thursday, and, at least, see what the girl Claire looks like. It +would be the proper caper to gather in as many fortunes as drift my way. +I suppose I shall run through half a dozen of them ere I reach the end +of my tether." + +All in due season his letter of acceptance reached Mrs. Fairfax, and she +was highly elated over it. + +She had seized upon her neighborly acquaintance with the late Mr. Marsh +to invite to her home the young man who had fallen heir to his +millions, in order that her daughter Claire might win him--if it were a +possibility. + +She had succeeded in forcing Faynie to remain beneath that roof, even +after informing her that she was disinherited--dependent upon her +stepmother--by saying that it was her father's wish that she should thus +remain for at least six months. + +Mrs. Fairfax's real reason was that the outside world would not know +just how affairs stood in the family until she had had time to turn +everything into cash and get over to Europe to look up another +millionaire widower. + +On the very night that Faynie had returned so unceremoniously there had +been a most thrilling scene but an hour before between Mrs. Fairfax and +her daughter. + +Unable to sleep, Claire had wandered down to her late stepfather's +library in search of a book. + +She was not a little surprised to see her mother there--writing--at that +late hour. + +Her footsteps had made no sound on the thick velvet carpet, and she +stole up to her side quite unobserved, looking over her shoulder to see +what interested her mother so deeply. + +One--two---three--four--five minutes she stood there, fairly rooted to +the spot, then a gasp of terror broke from her white lips, causing her +mother to spring to her feet like a flash. + +"Claire!" she exclaimed, hoarsely, trembling like an aspen leaf and +clinging to the back of the nearest chair for support. "How long have +you been here?" she gasped. + +"Quite--five--minutes," whispered the girl. + +"And you have seen--" The mother looked into the daughter's eyes +fearfully, not daring to utter the words trembling on her lips. + +"I saw you change the--the will!" whispered Claire, in a terror-stricken +voice. "I saw you erase with a green fluid, which must have been a most +powerful chemical, the words of the will, 'to my daughter Faynie' in the +sentence: 'I bequeath all of my estate, both personal and real,' and +insert therein the words, 'my wife, Margaret' in place of 'my daughter +Faynie.'" + +The woman stepped forward and clutched the girl's arm. + +"It was for your sake, Claire, that I did it," she whispered, shrilly; +"he cut us off with almost nothing, giving all to that proud daughter +Faynie of his. We would have had to step out into the world--beggars +again. We know what it is to be poor--ay, in want; we could never endure +it again--death would be easier for both of us. + +"The will was drawn two years ago; I am confident that it is the +latest--that there is no other. I took a desperate chance to do what I +have done to-night--so cleverly that it could never be detected. + +"A few strokes of the pen meant wealth or poverty for us, Claire. I am +too old to face beggary after living a life of luxury. You will not +betray me, Claire--you dare not, knowing that it was done for your sake, +Claire." + +The girl was not naturally wicked; she had always had a great respect +for the high-bred, beautiful Faynie--her stepfather's daughter by his +first wife. There had been no discord between the two young girls. + +Still, as her mother had said so emphatically, it was better that Faynie +should step out of that lovely home a beggar than that they should lose +it. + +Claire quite agreed with her mother that Faynie must stay there for the +present at all hazards; it would arouse such an uproar if she were +thrust from that roof just then. + +"If my father has expressed the desire that I shall stay here six +months, I--I shall do so, even though it breaks my heart," Faynie had +said. + +She kept her own apartments, refusing to come down to her meals, and +Mrs. Fairfax humored this whim by ordering Faynie's meals served in her +rooms. + +In vain the old housekeeper expostulated with Faynie, urging her to +come down at least to the drawing-room evenings, as she used to do. + +Faynie shook her golden curls. + +"It is no longer my home," she would say, with bitter sobs; "I am only +biding my time here--the six months that I am in duty bound to +remain--then I am going away--it does not matter where." + +The old housekeeper had tried in vain to coax from the girl the story of +where she had been while away from home. + +"That is my secret," Faynie would say, with a burst of bitter tears; "I +shall never divulge it--until the hour I lie dying." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +EVERY MAN TO HIS TRADE. + + +After the bogus Lester Armstrong had dispatched his letter of acceptance +to Mrs. Fairfax he braced himself for what would happen next by taking a +deep draught from the silver brandy flask which he kept in his breast +pocket, though he realized that he had need of all his senses for any +emergency. + +During the next hour a score or more bookkeepers came to him with +bills, letters and papers of all descriptions. To one and all he said, +with a yawn, and very impatiently: "Leave what you have brought on my +desk; I'll look over it this afternoon." + +Then it occurred to him that such a great concern must have a general +manager, and of course he would know something about the different +papers these people had brought for his inspection and for him to pass +upon, which were like so much Greek to him. + +In answer to his summons, a tall, dignified, keen-eyed elderly man +responded--a man who struck considerable awe to Kendale's guilty heart. +He said to himself that he wished to the Lord he knew this man's name to +be able to call him by it--but of course it couldn't be helped. + +"I have concluded to permit you to attend to these matters for me--get +through them the best you can in your own way without bothering me with +them; do just as you would if I were away on a vacation, we will say, +and left everything in your charge--all matters for you to settle as you +deemed best." + +The gentleman looked surprised and bowed gravely. "I can attend to most +of the documents connected with the firm, but there are a few matters I +see there that the parties interested might object to if they saw the +name of Manager Wright attached instead of the name of the proprietor." + +"In that case, show me where you want me to sign, and I'll put down my +name here and now, to end the matter." + +"Without first examining the documents carefully?" asked the manager, in +amazement, thinking how slipshod in his business methods the new +proprietor of the great establishment was becoming since he suddenly +found himself raised from a poor cashier to a multi-millionaire, and +thinking that good old Mr. Marsh would turn over in his grave if he had +heard that. + +"Thank Heaven all that is off my mind," muttered Kendale, breathing +freer as the manager left the office with the papers, adding, +thoughtfully: "I hope I won't have to come in contact with that man very +often. I felt so uncomfortable that it was by the greatest effort I +could control myself--keep from springing from my chair, seizing my hat +and fairly flying out of this place. + +"His keen gray eyes seemed to pierce through and through me. I expected +every moment to hear him shout out: 'Come hither, everybody--quickly; +this man is not Lester Armstrong, striking though the resemblance is. +Send for the police, that this mystery may be solved at once!'" + +He was not far wrong in his suspicions. + +Manager Wright had quitted the private office with a deeply knitted brow +and a troubled expression on his face. + +"The change in Lester Armstrong since yesterday is amazing," he mused. +"Long years of dissipation could not have told more on him than the +change these few hours have worked. He must have been out drinking and +carousing all night long--the odor of the room from the fumes of strong +liquor was almost unbearable; it was blue with smoke, too, and Lester +Armstrong always led us to believe that he had never smoked a cigar in +his life; and, worst of all, from a gentleman he has suddenly turned +into a libertine, if I am any judge of features. + +"I cannot begin to account for the great change in him; it mystifies me +quite as much as it did the store detectives and Mr. Conway, the +cashier. It is all terribly wrong--somehow--somewhere. If it were not +that I have been here so many years I would tender Mr. Armstrong my +resignation. I am not at all satisfied--and yet, yesterday, when Mr. +Armstrong called me into his private office and we had that long talk +about the business matters of the house, I felt that all would go well; +to-day he is like a different man--appears to have forgotten completely +all of the instructions he was so particular to give me. Yesterday he +said: 'We will go over the books and papers very carefully, you and I, +and see that every department is run as carefully and well as +heretofore. I should not like any one in the establishment to feel that +my taking possession will mean any change for them--save for the +better.' + +"To-day he is as different as night from day; he does not know what he +wants; he seems all at sea over the simplest details which he ought to +be decidedly familiar with." His musings were suddenly cut short by an +immediate summons to return to the private office. + +It was with some misgivings that he entered his employer's presence the +second time. + +The bogus Mr. Armstrong was almost invisible from a cloud of smoke from +a freshly lighted Havana. He held the morning paper in his hand and was +perusing its columns with apparent avidity. + +"Wright!" he cried, excitedly, "how much ready money do you suppose +there is in the safe of this shebang---hey?" + +It took Mr. Wright almost a moment to recover his usual calm dignity and +make answer: + +"Five thousand in cash, and there are negotiable notes amounting to +upward of forty thousand more." + +"Are you sure of that?" queried Kendale, his excitement growing keener; +"how do you know?" + +"You placed bills in my hands a few moments since which necessitated +conferring with Mr. Conway, the cashier, about meeting them." + +"Well, hold on--don't pay out any bills to-day; I want to make use of +that money--two great opportunities here. Say!" he added in the next +breath, "do you know anything about sailing yachts and trotters?" + +The question fairly staggered Mr. Wright, but he answered promptly: + +"Nothing whatever, Mr. Armstrong. I have never taken any interest in +them; it would be out of place for a man in my position to cultivate a +taste for that which is so far beyond his means. I am glad to be able to +say to you, sir, that my tastes are simple and my wants few. I have +never been on board a yacht, nor have I ever ridden behind what you call +a trotter." + +"Then you've missed a deal of sport," declared Kendale. "But that isn't +what I sent for you to discuss. What I meant to say is that there's a +fellow from Newport gone all to smash. His fine yacht, the _Daisy Bell_, +is to be sold at auction to-day, likewise the contents of his stables. +There are two of his animals that are flyers--the Lady Albia and +Sterling. Why, the Lady has a record better than 2.05 1-2, open gaited, +warranted sound, both of 'em, and no end of traps, tea carts, and +buggies. I tell you what, Wright, I must have that yacht and that team. +You must go and bid them in for me--get 'em at any price, if you have to +run it up to a hundred thousand, and you can even do a little better +than that rather than see some other lucky fellow get 'em." + +Mr. Wright was staring at him as though he quite believed his employer +had gone suddenly out of his mind. + +"Well," said the bogus Mr. Lester Armstrong, coolly, "you heard my +command to you, didn't you?" + +Without another word the general manager turned and with slow, unsteady +steps quitted his new employer's presence. + +"Heaven help me, that I should live to see this hour," he groaned; "a +hundred thousand dollars--ten fortunes to a poor man like +myself--frittered away on a yacht and a pair of horses! Mr. Marsh would +pitch him out if he could but know and come back long enough to do it. +It spoils the best of 'em to have money thrown at them--to come into a +fortune that they haven't worked for. A yacht and a pair of horses! What +will people say to see me, a business man of supposed sense and +judgment, bidding at a public auction mart for anything like this? +Heaven help me, I can see the finish of the time-honored dry goods house +of Marsh & Co., in which I have taken such a world of pride. But I +suppose I must do as he has ordered, no matter how galling it is to me." + +Mr. Wright had no sooner reached the auction mart than a telegram was +handed him. It was from his employer, and read as follows: + +"There are also a pair of seal-brown pacers to be sold. Secure these in +addition to the others. Price must not stand in the way." + +David Wright crushed the telegram in his hands, and the first oath he +had ever uttered in all his life was ground out between his teeth. + +The yacht and two pairs of horses were spiritedly bid for by half a +dozen gentlemen, who were apparently eager to secure them. + +It was easy to see that the quiet, elderly business man, who always went +higher than the others, was little used to such contests, but he secured +them at last for one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and there +was more than one amused laugh in the auction room, knowing ones +whispering that he had paid three times more than the owner had been +asking for them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MARGERY'S LOVE DREAM. + + +An hour after Mr. Wright had concluded his purchase for his employer he +returned to the establishment, accompanied by one of the persons +authorized to collect the money. When he presented the order at the +cashier's window, Mr. Conway, the old cashier, drew back aghast as he +looked at the man. + +"Is--is it possible you have indorsed this?" he asked, turning to the +manager. + +Mr. Wright bowed, but his face betrayed deep agitation. + +"I cannot pay it without consulting Mr. Armstrong," he exclaimed, in a +troubled voice. "Wait a moment." + +Could it be possible that Lester Armstrong had authorized the payment of +an amount like that, knowing that the firm was a little crippled for +cash just at that season of the year? Surely the man must be mad, he +told himself; and that for which the money was to be paid fairly +staggered him. He had to look a second time to satisfy himself that he +had not made a horrible mistake when he read: "For one steam yacht and +two pairs of horses, $125,000; terms cash." + +He set his lips hard together, saying to himself that this was the +beginning of the end. + +At that same moment quite a thrilling scene was taking place in the +private office, which would have unnerved the old cashier completely had +he known of it. It so happened, in exploring the nooks of the office, +Kendale had by chance touched another bell, the bell communicating with +the suit department, which was in charge of Mr. Conway's pretty +daughter, Miss Margery. When that bell tapped it meant that the young +lady was to make all possible haste to the private office, to which she +had been summoned, and this the young girl proceeded to do, not without +some little trepidation, however. Fair Margery Conway had a secret +romance in her life, a romance which no one in the wide world would ever +have guessed. + +For many a long day she had been secretly in love with Mr. Lester +Armstrong, her father's assistant, of whom; she had heard him speak so +much and praise so highly. + +She admired him immensely. Many a time she made excuses to speak with +her father a moment in their private office. No one in the wide world +guessed that grave, handsome Lester Armstrong was the attraction that +brought her there. + +She had many a casual chat with him, and somehow the hope grew in her +heart that he was not altogether indifferent to her. + +Once, when she had started home in the pouring rain, he had gone out of +his way to see her safely to her destination under the shelter of his +umbrella. + +He had only been courteous, but she had built up many a hope from this +little incident alone. + +She had not seen very much of Lester Armstrong since that +never-to-be-forgotten day, but her father had told her that he usually +asked each morning: "How is your daughter, Miss Margery?" and once her +father had said: + +"Of all the young men whom I have met, I have the greatest regard for +Lester Armstrong. Such young men are the salt of the earth. There is a +future before him. When he earns a dollar he puts by more than half of +it against a rainy day. He is not extravagant. Few young men making his +salary would dress so very plainly and make his clothes do him as long. +He has no bad habits; he neither smokes nor drinks, and that is +something you can say of very few young men nowadays." + +Margery looked up into her father's face with shining eyes. She made no +answer, but a vivid flush crept up into her cheeks, and the little hands +that were busy with the teacups trembled a little. She knew quite well +that in the depth of his heart her father was hoping that she and +Lester Armstrong would take a fancy to each other, and that in time +that fancy might ripen into love, and instead of being only +acquaintances, she and the assistant cashier might be nearer and dearer +to each other. + +Not long after this Margery Conway received a letter, a poem, rather, +typewritten. There was no name signed to it, but she felt sure that it +came from some one in the establishment of Marsh & Co. More than one +salesman looked at pretty Margery Conway with admiring eyes, but she +never thought of any of these. The truth was, it was sent by one of the +bookkeepers, but the girl jumped at once to the conclusion that it was +from Lester Armstrong. She imagined that from the tender, sentimental +words. She read the beautiful poem over and over again, until she knew +every word by heart. The lines even floated dreamily through her brain +in her sleep. She would awaken with them on her lips. Ah, surely, the +poem was from Lester Armstrong, she fully believed. It read as follows: + + "What have I done that one face holds me so, + And follows me in fancy through the day? + Why do I seek your love? I only know + That fate is resolute, and points the way + To where you stand, bathed in amber light. + Since first you looked on me I've seen no night-- + What have I done? + + "What can be done? As yet no touch, no kiss; + Only a gaze across your eyes' blue lake. + Better it were, sweetheart, to dream like this, + Than afterward to shudder and awake. + Love is so very bitter, and his ways + Tortured with thorns--with wild weeds overgrown. + Must I endure, unloved, these loveless days?-- + What can be done? + + "This I say, 'Marry where your heart goes first, + Dear heart, and then you will be blessed. + Ah, how can others choose for you + What is for your best? + If you're told to wed for gold, + Dear girl, or for rank or show, + Stand by love, and boldly say, + "No, my heart cries no!"'" + +Like most young girls, pretty Margery was sentimental. She slept with +the folded paper beneath her pillow at night, and all day long it was +carefully tucked away over her beating heart. + +It was quite a week after receiving this ere she saw Lester Armstrong +again; then her face turned burning red. Lester saw it, but how was he +to dream that he was the cause of her emotion? + +"Sweet Margery Conway is not strong," he thought, pityingly. "How +frightened her father would be were he to see that sudden rush of blood +to the head." + +He wondered whether or not he should run to her and proffer his +assistance. He had once seen a young woman who was thus affected fall +to the floor in a fit, and it had been many a long day ere the +unfortunate woman could return to her work again. He devoutly hoped this +might not be the case with poor, pretty Margery. + +She saw him start and look at her searchingly. She could not have +stopped and exchanged a word with him if her life had depended upon it. +She hurried past him with desperate haste, praying that he might not +hear the beating of her heart. + +He noticed that she did not stop to speak, but he quite believed that it +was because she was very busy. The next moment he had forgotten all +about it, and about the girl, too, for that matter. + +He scarcely remembered pretty Margery until he happened to see her +again. The girl was fairly stunned by the intelligence that the great +millionaire owner of the establishment had made Lester Armstrong his +heir. + +At first her joy was so great that she could not speak. Then a sudden +fright swept over her heart. He was rich now, and she was poor. Would it +make any difference with him. She tried to put the chilling thought from +her, for it made her heart turn cold as ice. Her gentle eyes did not +close in sleep all the long night through. Her pillow was wet with +tears. The one prayer on her lips was: "I pray to Heaven this may make +no change in him; that he will care for me as much as when he sent me +the poem." + +She had not seen Lester Armstrong since he had taken his new position as +proprietor of the great establishment, and now, when his bell rang for +her, no wonder the girl's heart leaped into her mouth, and involuntarily +she looked into the long pier glass eagerly. Ah, it was a fair face +reflected there. There were few fairer, with its delicate coloring +framed in nut-brown curls, gathered back so carelessly from the white +brow, and there was a light in the brown eyes beautiful to behold. She +had been wondering only the moment before if the hero of her daydreams +had forgotten her, and lo! the summons of his bell had seemed to come in +answer to the thought. + +With trembling, hopeful anticipation, Margery wended her way to her +employer's office, taking the nearer route, not through the main office, +where her father was, but by a more direct narrow passage, which was +seldom used. + +All unmindful of his daughter's presence in the main office, the old +cashier had bent his steps thither for instructions regarding the bill +which had just been presented, but he had scarcely reached out his hand +to knock, ere he heard a blood-curdling, piercing scream, in a woman's +voice, from within, and recognized, in horror too great for words, the +voice of his own daughter, his Margery! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +PRETTY MARGERY'S TERRIBLE DISCOVERY. + + +Pretty Margery Conway had made her way eagerly enough to Mr. Lester +Armstrong's private office, but her light tap on the door brought no +response, and, as it was slightly ajar, she pushed it open and stepped +across the threshold. + +To her great surprise she saw that her employer was deeply engrossed in +the pictures of a comic weekly, and the loud "Ha! ha! ha!" that fell +from his lips struck upon the girl's sensitive nerves most unpleasantly. + +She was wondering how she should make her presence known to him, when +suddenly he turned around, and then he saw her and a quick gleam of +intense admiration leaped into his bold, dark eyes at the vision of the +lovely, blushing, dimpled face of the slender, graceful young girl. + +"I am here in response to your summons, Mr. Armstrong," she said, with +much embarrassment. "Your bell rang so imperatively that--" + +"I didn't ring any bell, my dear," he exclaimed, "but still I am +uncommonly glad to see you. Sit down and we'll have a little chat." + +"There is a customer awaiting my return as soon as you--" + +"Oh, hang the customer," cut in Kendale. "Sit down, pretty one, and +we'll make each other's acquaintance." + +Margery looked at him in helpless bewilderment. + +Had handsome Lester Armstrong, the hero of her dream, gone suddenly mad, +she wondered? + +"Sit down, my dear," he reiterated, "don't look at me in such affright. +I'm not an ogre; I don't intend to eat you, though, upon my honor, those +peachy cheeks and pomegranate lips are most wonderfully tempting." + +Margery was so intensely surprised she was fairly speechless--incapable +of word or action. + +From where she stood the fumes of strong brandy reached her, and she +realized that the man before her was under its influence to an alarming +extent. + +No wonder her pretty face paled; even her lips grew white. + +She stood before him as one mesmerized by the baleful gleam in his +merciless concentrated gaze, as the fluttering, frightened bird does in +the presence of the deadly serpent that means to destroy it. + +"Won't be sociable, eh?" muttered Kendale. "You are not diplomatic; you +don't know your own interests. Sit down here and tell me all about +yourself--how long you have been here, and all about it. I ought to +know, of course, but I forget. Come, brush up my memory a bit, won't +you?" + +"Your memory seems indeed very poor all at once," said Margery, +spiritedly, "considering the fact that you have known me since I was a +little child"--and, in spite of her efforts at self-control, big tears +brimmed over the pretty eyes and rolled down the round cheeks. + +In an instant Kendale was on his feet. + +"There, there, Susie, don't cry," he said, reaching her side quickly and +grasping both of the little clasped hands in one of his. + +"You must have some one else in your mind--that is quite evident. Please +to recollect that I am Margery Conway, not--not Susie--whoever she may +be." + +He laughed a rollicking, maudlin laugh. The brandy was beginning to +diffuse itself through his brain. + +"I'll never call you anything but Margery again," he cried, "beautiful, +peerless Margery, the sweetest, jolliest, most bewitching and lovable +shop girl in all New York." + +The young girl looked at him with dilated eyes. Every impulse in her +terrified heart warned her to turn and fly from the place, but it was +all in vain. She could not have moved hand or foot if her very life had +been the forfeit. + +"So you are toiling away in a place like this for a mere pittance," he +went on; "probably hardly enough to keep soul and body together. That's +a confounded shame for a pretty girl like you. Work isn't for such as +you--you ought to be out in the sunshine, dressed in silks and velvets +and diamonds galore. It's bad enough for the old and ugly--those whose +hair is streaked with gray and around whose eyes the crow's feet have +been planted by the hand of time, to work--ay, toil for their bread. By +Jove, I say you are far too lovely for such a fate!" + +"Sir!" cried Margery, drawing herself up to her fullest height. "I work +for my living, but I want you to understand that I am proud of the fact, +instead of deeming it a disgrace, as you seem to think it. + +"Up to this hour I have always considered you a man of honor--one of +nature's noblemen--a gentleman. Now I know you as you are--a _roue_--ay, +a scoundrel. I would scorn to remain another hour in your employ. Money +earned in this establishment from this moment would burn my fingers." + +"Hoity-toity! Don't get big feelings too suddenly, my pretty dear," he +cried, with a load, hilarious laugh. "Lord! what simpletons some girls +are! You're standing in your own light, pretty one! Can't you see that?" + +"Sir!" cried Margery, struggling to free herself from the grasp of his +strong hand, "it is dastardly, it is cowardly to summon me here to +subject me to--insult." + +"'Pon my honor, I want to be friendly, but you won't have it so--you +seem determined to kick up a row. Come, now, be friendly; sit down here +and we'll talk it over." + +"Unhand me!" cried Margery in terror. "Let me go, or I shall scream for +help!" + +"You won't do any such thing, my little ruffled birdling," he cut in, an +angry light leaping up into his eyes, adding: "I am disposed to treat +you very kindly, but you seem determined to make an enemy of me instead +of a friend, my dear, and your reason ought to tell you how foolish that +is. Come, be sensible and listen to me. I've taken a violent fancy to +that pretty face of yours. We must be friends--excellent friends. That's +a good beginning, you know." + +Margery glanced toward the door, the fright deepening in her eyes. He +had placed himself between her and the door, kicking it to with his +foot. + +He saw that quick glance, and read it aright, and his brow darkened. + +"Don't be a little fool!" he cried. "Don't anger me, girl. You had +better make a friend instead of an enemy of me." + +"Your enmity or friendship is a matter of equal indifference to me now," +gasped Margery, sobbing bitterly. + +"You have slain my respect for you. I--I am sorry--sorry from the bottom +of my heart--that I realize you have fallen from such a noble height in +my estimation." + +"That's all bosh and moonshine," hiccoughed Kendale; "respect and high +pedestal of honor and all that sort of thing. You're among the clouds; +get down to earth. I'm only a man--you mustn't take me for a little god. +Come, now, what in the name of reason is the use of making such a fuss +over this thing, and storming like an angry princess on the stage +because I tell you frankly that I've taken a notion to you. By George, +you ought to be mighty pleased to know that you've captured the fancy of +a man like me, with no end of money at my command. Do you realize that, +little one?" + +The girl's terror was growing intense with each passing moment. + +Her horror and dread of the man before her was a thousand-fold greater +at that moment than her admiration for Lester Armstrong had been in days +gone by. He seemed to her a different being in the same form--one +suddenly transformed from all that was manly and noble to a very fiend +incarnate. + +An awful stillness had fallen over the girl--a full realization of the +meaning of his jocular remarks was just dawning upon her. She was +looking at him with the awful pallor of death on her lovely young face. + +"Come, my pretty Margery," he cried, quite mistaking the reason that her +struggle to free herself from his clasping hand had so suddenly ceased; +"now you are falling into a more complaisant mood. I am glad of that. +Sit down and we'll talk. I must lock that door, or some blundering fool +will be stumbling in without taking the trouble to knock. But first give +me a kiss from those sweet lips, my dear, to assure me you don't quite +dislike me, you know." + +As he spoke he flung his arm about the girl's slender waist, and it was +then that Margery's piercing scream rang out so loudly upon her father's +ears, fairly electrifying him as he stood with his hand upon the knob of +the door of the private office. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +A FATHER'S RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION + + +For an instant the old cashier stood like one suddenly paralyzed before +the door of the private office from which that terrified scream had +issued. + +Great God! was he mad or dreaming, that he should imagine he heard his +daughter Margery's voice calling for help from within? + +But even as he stood there, trembling, irresolute, the piercing cry was +repeated more shrilly, more piteous than before, and it cut through the +frightened father's heart like the thrust of a dagger. + +"I am coming, I am here, Margery!" he answered, twisting the bronze knob +fiercely; But the door did not yield to his touch as usual, and to his +horror he realized that it was locked upon the inside! + +With the fury of a tiger, David Conway threw himself against it with all +his strength; strong as the lock was, it could not withstand the weight +that was brought to bear upon it, and in an instant it was snapped +asunder, the door falling in with a crash. + +With a terrible imprecation Kendale wheeled about, his grasp around the +girl's waist slackening for a single instant. + +And in that instant Margery sprang from him, darting into the arms of +her father, who had leaped over the threshold. + +"How dare you enter here?" shrieked Kendale, fairly beside himself with +baffled rage. + +The old cashier thrust his daughter behind him and walked up to the +foiled villain, gazing him steadily, unflinchingly in the eye. + +"I am here just in time to defend my child," he cried, white to the +lips, "and here to chastise you, you villain, old man as I am"--and with +the rapidity of lightning his clinched fist fell upon the face of the +man before him with stinging blows, that resounded with all the strength +and force of a steel hammer. + +Kendale, who was by this time entirely under the influence of the brandy +he had imbibed, was no match for the enraged cashier, who followed up +his advantage by ringing blows, which fell as thick and fast as driving +hail, until the other, coward as he was, fell down on his knees before +him, shrieking out for mercy. + +The unusual disturbance soon brought a throng of cashiers, bookkeepers +and clerks flocking to the scene. + +The old cashier turned upon them, holding up his hand to stay their +steps as they crowded over the threshold, Mr. Wright, the manager, +calling upon him anxiously to explain at once this unusual scene--this +disgraceful encounter between his employer, who seemed unable to speak +because of his injuries, and himself. + +"It is due you all to know just what has happened," replied the old +cashier, in a high, clear voice, "but I say to you, by the God above me, +if this hound dares arise from his knees ere I have finished, I will +kill him before your very eyes. There is something he has to say before +you all while still on his knees. Let no man speak until I have had my +say, and then you--my companions of years, my fellow-workers, my friends +of a lifetime--shall judge of my action in this matter and deal with me +accordingly." + +The scene was so extraordinary that no man among them seemed capable of +uttering so much as a syllable, so great was their consternation at +beholding their employer on his knees, groveling before the old cashier, +who stood over him like an aroused, avenging spirit. + +In a voice high and clear the old cashier, whom they had known and +revered for years, told his story in a simple, straightforward way, yet +quivering with excitement, drawing his terror-stricken daughter Margery +into the shelter of his strong arms as he spoke. + +"I am Margery's father--her only protector," he said, in conclusion. +"Is there a man among you with a father's heart beating in his bosom who +would not have done as I have done to the villain who dared to thus +insult his child. Ay, there are men among you who would not have +hesitated to have stricken him dead with a single blow--who would have +considered it a crime to have spared him." + +By this time Kendale was recovering from the stunning blows which had +been dealt him--realized that help was at hand; the employees would be +in duty bound to protect him from the enraged man before him. + +He realized, too, that the old cashier meant that he should remain there +on his knees and beg the girl's pardon before all these people. + +Ere Mr. Conway could judge of his design the bogus Lester Armstrong had +bounded to his feet and into the midst of the crowd. + +"You are discharged!" he cried, turning to the old cashier. "I will give +you just ten minutes to get out of this building--you and the girl, both +of you. It was a plan hatched up between you and her to extort money +from me." + +The old cashier attempted to spring at him, but the strong hands of +indignant, pitying friends held him back. + +Suddenly he stopped short, saying, with a dignity wonderful to behold: + +"It is not necessary, I think, to ask any of you, who all know me so +well and know also my little Margery, not to give credence to so heinous +a statement. I am going from this place, friends. I would not stay +another moment in this villain's employ, nor would my Margery, though he +weighed us down with all the wealth the world holds. Come, Margery." + +The crowd slowly parted, making way for them, and together Margery and +her father passed through the line of sympathizing faces, hand in +hand--the old man white, stern and resolute, pretty Margery sobbing as +though her heart would break. + +Mr. Wright, the manager, who had been--like the old cashier--fully five +and twenty years beneath that roof, turned and faced the throng, saying, +huskily: + +"Mr. Armstrong, I herewith tender you my resignation. My friend of a +lifetime is going, and I shall go, too." + +"And I," "And I," "And I," quickly rang out, voice after voice. + +"Confound you all, I discharge the whole lot of you!" shouted Kendale, +now quite sobered by the excitement he was passing through. "Don't think +your going troubles me even a little bit. The set of men don't live who +will ever trouble me or my business!" + +With great rapidity the men fled from the private office, and, without +waiting even to close their ledgers, took down their coats and hats, got +into them quickly and filed downstairs. + +Kendale never could fully comprehend how it happened that in five +minutes' time the five hundred employees of the place heard what had +occurred, and in less time than it takes to recount it the strangest +event that had ever taken place in the annals of a great New York +business house occurred--there was a mighty uproar and by one accord the +great throng of employees quitted their tasks--badly as they needed +work--and dashed out into the street, leaving the vast emporium to the +hundreds of astonished customers with which it was crowded at that hour. + +For an instant Kendale was horror-stricken when he realized what was +occurring. + +"God Almighty!" he gasped, "I am ruined, disgraced! A thousand furies +take that girl; but she shall pay dearly for this. The police will be +here to quell the riot and disperse the crowd outside, and turn out the +people who are still inside!" + +Looking from the window, he saw that the throng of angry employees were +gathered around the old cashier and his daughter in a mighty mob. + +"Good Lord! if Halloran were only here, to advise me this time," he +muttered, turning pale with fear. He could hear their loud, angry voices +hurling imprecations at him, and he knew full well that he would never +be able to pass through that throng of thoroughly aroused and angry men +without their doing him bodily injury, and he told himself in affright +that all the Marsh millions for which he had bartered his soul would not +save him from the hands of that raging mob. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +"I LIKE HER BETTER THAN ANY I HAVE MET--I SHALL MARRY HER." + + +Kendale was clever and quick of resource. He realized that there must be +sudden action on his part. Should he fly headlong from the place and +give up all? Then a remembrance of the yacht and the horses came to him, +and he set his teeth hard together. + +"I will see this game through, come what may," he muttered. + +At that instant a daring thought came to him, and he acted upon it +before he could have time to back down through cowardice. + +Throwing open the window wide, he stepped boldly out upon the ledge in +full view of the angry crowd of five hundred employees. + +"Ladies and gentlemen," he exclaimed, raising his voice to a high key +that all might hear, "I have something to say, and it is only due me +that you should listen and then pass judgment. + +"Please believe me, one and all, I had no thought, no wish to offend Mr. +Conway's pretty daughter Margery. I may as well own the truth. I had +fallen desperately in love with the girl and was telling her so, and was +just on the point of asking her to accept me as a suitor for her hand +when she, mistaking my motives, it appears, called for assistance, and I +was not permitted to speak in order to explain. + +"Assuring her and all of you that my motives were most honorable, I beg +of you to reconsider leaving me in this abrupt fashion. Return to your +posts of duty, and this little difficulty will be adjusted +satisfactorily to you and to Miss Conway." + +Kendale was used to making a hit with an audience--used to throwing his +soul, as it were, into anything he had to say. + +The effect on the crowd below was magical; for a moment they were +stunned. + +The old cashier was almost stunned. The young millionaire was just about +proposing marriage to Margery! Why, what a mistake he had made--what a +terrible mistake! Even Margery had fallen back a step or two and was +clinging to her father's hand in the greatest amazement. + +"I--I think I was mad, friends and fellow-workers," he exclaimed, +huskily. "I believe I was too precipitate in this affair. + +"It is so long since I was young I--I had forgotten that it is the +custom of men now, as in the years long since gone by, to speak to a +maiden of love before he said anything of marriage. + +"It did not occur to me that the great millionaire wanted my little girl +for his wife, as he now says. + +"Hear me, friends, one and all. I most heartily regret causing this +disturbance and I move that we return to our places, as our employer +suggests." + +There was a murmur of assent among the throng; then, all in a body, they +moved forward, entering the building again; and in less than five +minutes' time matters were moving on quite as smoothly once more as +though no sudden upheaval had ever occurred in the great dry goods +establishment. + +Mr. Conway, however, was too upset to attend further to his duties that +afternoon, and accepted the manager's suggestion that he should go to +his home, Margery accompanying him. + +Meanwhile Kendale had thrown himself down into the nearest chair, +breathing hard, feeling like a general who had achieved a most wonderful +victory. + +"A few soft, silvery words saved me this time," he muttered, "but it +throws the girl on my hands. Well, I suppose I will have to propose +marriage to her now--every one expects it; there would be a terrible +rumpus kicked up if I did not. Well, let there be an engagement between +us; that doesn't mean that there will be a marriage, by any means. The +engagement can drag along three or four years, and then we can break +off. By that time I shall be ready to marry the heiress of the Fairfax +millions. Ah, how much easier it is to scheme for a fortune than to toil +for one, as most poor mortals do." + +The entrance of the manager with the bill for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand put an end to his musings and plans for the +present. Mr. Wright emerged from the office ten minutes later with a +very troubled expression on his face. It was dearly patent to him that +Mr. Lester Armstrong did not care how badly the business was crippled, +so long as he secured the yacht and the fast horses. + +From that first day, so full of awkward and almost fatal mistakes, +Kendale spent as little time as was absolutely necessary in the +establishment of Marsh & Company, as it was still called, preferring to +let all of the business cares fall upon the manager's already weighted +shoulders. + +In less than a week it was noised about social circles that the young +man who had so suddenly dropped into millions of money was something of +a sport--a yachtsman whose magnificent yachting parties were the wonder +of the metropolis; a horseman whose racing stables were second to none +and were worth a handsome fortune; and it was hinted that he seemed no +stranger at cards and gambled sums of gold that would have purchased a +king's ransom at a single game--until those who looked on in speechless +wonder were sure he must have exhaustless wealth. Every one prophesied, +however, that this reckless extravagance must have an ending some time. +Meanwhile society held out its arms to the young millionaire, welcoming +him with its sweetest smiles. + +The date which he had set to dine with the Fairfaxes, of Beechwood, +rolled around at last, and for once in his life Kendale, or rather the +bogus Lester Armstrong, was punctual in his appointment. + +He was ushered into a drawing-room of such magnificence that for a +moment he fairly caught his breath in wonder. + +"So this was the home of Faynie Fairfax, the girl whom I wedded in the +old church and who died so suddenly on her bridal eve," he soliloquized. +"Well, all this could be mine for the fighting for it as Faynie's +husband, who has survived her, but, as Halloran would say, 'It's a deal +easier getting the same fortune by marrying the stepmother's daughter, +who has come into it by Faynie's father cutting her off at the eleventh +hour.' + +"I wonder what the girl Claire is like." + +There was a portrait of a young girl done in water colors over the +mantel. He stepped over to examine it. + +"If this is Claire's portrait she's certainly not bad looking," he +mused, "but she is one I should not care to cross." + +The figure was slight, draped in a gown of some light, airy fabric. The +head was small, crowned in a mass of waving dark hair. The contour of +the face was perfect; a pair of deep gray eyes looked out of it straight +at you; the lips were small, but a little too compressed, showing that +the owner of them had certainly a will of her own, which it was neither +wise nor best to cross. + +He was startled from his contemplation by the sound of silken robes +rustling across the carpet, and, wheeling suddenly about, he was +confronted by a tall, slim, magnificent woman, who welcomed him most +graciously to Fairfax House. + +"My daughter Claire will join us in a very few minutes. Ah, she is here +now," she announced, as a swift step was heard in the corridor outside; +a moment later the portieres parted, and the young girl whose portrait +he had been critically analyzing entered the room. + +"I shall know at once by the first words he utters whether I shall like +him or not," thought the girl, looking straight into his face with her +fearless, keen, gray eyes. "He is handsome, and that generally goes with +great conceit, Faynie always said." + +"I hope we shall be friends, Miss Fairfax," he said, extending his hand +and bowing low over the little brown one that lay for an instant in his +palm. + +"There is a great mistake evident at the outset," said the girl, looking +up into his face. "Mamma said just now: 'This is my daughter Claire.' I +think mamma intended to add, 'Miss Claire Stanhope.' Mr. Fairfax was my +steppapa." + +Kendale smiled amusedly, both at the mother's momentary discomfiture +and the young girl's brusque straightforwardness. + +"I like her better than any one I have ever met. I shall marry her," he +promised himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +CLAIRE'S LOVER. + + +During the dinner that followed Kendale longed to introduce the subject +of "Faynie," but found no opening. His eagerness to know what they +thought and what they had to say concerning her disappearance was +intense, but he had to bide his time to find out. + +Meanwhile he paid the most flattering attention to Claire. + +He had noticed with a keen sense of regret that the girl limped most +painfully in her walk, but, despite this defect, for the first time in +his reckless life, he was thoroughly fascinated with her. + +He took his leave early, promising them that he would certainly avail +himself of their gracious permission to call again, very, very soon. + +Long after his departure the mother and daughter still sat in the +drawing-room discussing him eagerly. + +"It is a good thing for you that Faynie declines to come down to the +drawing-room to see visitors and insists upon having her meals in her +own room. If she had seen this handsome Mr. Armstrong, you would have +stood little chance of winning him, my dear," declared Mrs. Fairfax. + +Claire rose slowly to her feet, turned and faced her mother. + +"You and I do not agree on that point, mamma," she said, quickly, "I +have what you call a Quixotic notion, perhaps, and that is that we are +attracted toward those whom Heaven intended for us, and if this be so he +would not have been attracted toward Faynie if he were intended for me." + +"We will not argue the matter, Claire, for we shall never agree," +declared her mother, adding: "I shall always be opposed to Mr. Armstrong +meeting Faynie or ever hearing one word concerning the existence of such +a person. If he should, mind, I predict harm will come of it." + +Those were the words that rang in Claire's ears long after she retired +to her room. + +"I shall tell Faynie that we had a caller last evening and how handsome +he was; but I shall take good care to follow mamma's advice and never +let her know his name," the girl ruminated. + +She was only a young girl, full of girlish enthusiasm, and it was +certainly beyond human expectation to believe she could refrain from +mentioning that much to Faynie the next morning. + +Faynie laid a little white hand on Claire's nut-brown head. + +"Take care not to fall too deeply in love with this handsome stranger," +she said, "for handsome men are not always good and true as they seem." + +"I am sure this gentleman is," declared impulsive Claire emphatically. +"He has the deepest, richest, mellowest voice I ever heard, and such +eyes--wine dark eyes--those are the only words which seem to express +what they are like--and when he takes your hand and looks down into your +face, the hand he holds so lightly tingles from the finger tips straight +to your heart." + +"I am afraid he has been holding your hand, Claire. Ah, take +care--beware!" warned Faynie. + +During the fortnight that followed Kendale was a constant visitor at the +palatial Fairfax home. + +And those two weeks changed the whole after current of Claire's life, as +Faynie observed with wonder. It was certainly evident the girl was +deeply in love, and Faynie trembled for her, for love would bring to +such natures as hers the greatest peace or the bitterest sorrow. + +She wondered if her stepmother saw how affairs were drifting. + +If it had not been that she and her stepmother were always at +cross-purposes with each other, she would have gone to her and warned +her that it was dangerous to throw this handsome young man so often into +Claire's society, unless she could readily see that he was pleased with +the girl--realizing that poor Claire had a sad drawback in her lameness +and that many would seek her society because she was bright and witty, +who would never dream of asking her hand in marriage because of it. + +Once she attempted to warn Claire of the hidden rocks that lay in love's +ocean, but the girl turned quickly a white, pained face toward her. + +"Say no more, Faynie," she cried; "the mischief, as you call it, has +already been done. My heart has left me and gone to him. If I do not win +him I shall die. You know the words: + + "Some hold that love is a foolish thing, + A thing of little worth; + But little or great, or weak or strong. + 'Tis love that rules the earth. + + "The tale is new, yet ever told; + It has often been breathed ere now--- + 'There was a lad who loved a lass'-- + 'Tis old as the world, I trow! + + "The song I sing has been sung before, + And will often again be sung + While lads and lasses have lips to kiss, + Or bard a tuneful tongue. + + "And this is the burden of my rhyme-- + Though love be of little worth, + Yet from pole to pole and shore to shore, + 'Tis love that rules the earth." + +"And it is love that breaks hearts and wrecks lives," murmured Faynie, +with streaming eyes and quivering lips. "Oh, Claire! again I warn you to +take care--beware!" + +For one brief moment she was tempted to tell Claire her own story. + +Ah, had she but done so, how much misery might have been spared the +hapless girl! But she put the impulse from her with a shudder. + +No, no, she could not breathe to human ears the story of her false lover +and the tragedy that had ended her dream of love. + +She had never permitted her thoughts to dwell upon Lester Armstrong +since that fatal night. + +If there were times when she thought of him as when she knew him first, +seemingly so loving, tender and true, she put the thought quickly from +her, remembering him as she saw him that fatal night--transformed +suddenly into a demon by strong drink, when he struck her down upon +finding that she had just been disinherited--that she was not the +heiress that he had taken her to be. + +He thought his crime buried fathoms deep under the drifting snow heaps. +Ah, how great would be his terror to find that the grave to which he had +consigned her had given her back to the world of the living! No, no, she +could not shock Claire's young ears with that horrible story! + +It would be bad enough for her to learn of it in after years. + +Thus Faynie settled the matter in her own mind, and her lips were +sealed. + +One morning Claire burst eagerly into the room, quite as soon as it was +light. + +"I was here late last night, but you were asleep, Faynie," she said, +"and I came away, though I could scarcely wait to tell you the wonderful +news." + +"I think I can guess what it is," replied Faynie, stroking the girl's +brown curls, "Your lover has declared his love for you and asked you to +be his wife. Is it not so?" + +"You know it could be nothing else which could make me so very, very +happy," laughed Claire, her cheeks reddening. + +"And you have answered--yes?" asked Faynie. + +"Of course I said yes," responded Claire. + +"And when is the wedding to take place?" queried Faynie, hoping with all +her heart that this lover of whom the girl was so desperately fond loved +Claire for herself--not for the wealth she had fallen heir to. + +Claire raised her bright, blushing face shyly, the dimples coming and +going, making her rather plain little face almost beautiful at that +moment. + +"Mamma wanted the marriage put off for a year--I am so young--but Lester +was so impatient that he would consent to no such arrangement. He wants +the ceremony performed with as little delay as is absolutely necessary." + +"Lester!" The name went through Faynie's heart like the thrust of a +knife. + +For an instant every nerve in her body seemed to tremble and throb with +quick, spasmodic pain, then to stand still as though the chill of death +were creeping over her. Her eyes grew dim with an awful darkness, and +Claire's voice seemed far off and indistinct. Then the world faded from +her altogether and she fell at Claire's feet all in a little heap, in a +dead swoon. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE PROPOSAL. + + +With all possible haste Claire summoned the housekeeper and gave Faynie +into her charge. + +It was more than disappointing to her to have Faynie lapse into +unconsciousness just as she had reached the most interesting part of her +story and was about to tell her how very romantically handsome Lester +had proposed. It had been just like a page from a French novel. + +She little dreamed that the art of making love was an old one to him. + +Kendale had gone to the Fairfax mansion with the express purpose of +proposing marriage that evening, for only that day Mr. Conway, the old +cashier, had told him confidentially that the affairs of the great dry +goods concern were in a bad shape--that the check for the hundred and +twenty-five thousand which had just been paid out had crippled them +sorely. + +And, after a moment's pause and with a husky voice, he added slowly: "If +something like three hundred thousand dollars is not raised within the +next sixty days you are a ruined man, Mr. Armstrong." + +This announcement fell with crushing force upon Kendale, who had +imagined that there could be no end to the flow of money that was +pouring in upon him. + +"There's only one way of raking in that much money in a hurry, and that +is by marrying the little lame heiress," he soliloquized. + +It so happened that he had an engagement to call there on this +particular evening, and he resolved that he would not let the +opportunity slip past him--that there was no time like the present. + +Fortune, fate, call it what you will, favored Kendale on this particular +occasion, as it usually did. He found Claire alone in the drawing-room +practising some sheet music which he had sent her a few days before. + +She started up in confusion as the servant ushered him into the room, a +swift blush crimsoning her cheeks. + +"Mamma will be down directly, Mr. Armstrong," she said, looking at him +shyly from beneath her long lashes. + +"Miss Stanhope--Claire!" he exclaimed impulsively, seizing both of her +little hands in his, "may we not have a few words together before my +card is sent up to your mother? Oh, Claire, you would surely say yes if +you knew all I had to say to you. Be kind and consent." + +"Since you seem to desire it so earnestly, I am sure I have no wish to +object," she answered, trembling in spite of her efforts to appear +unconcerned under the fire of his keen, ardent gaze. + +"You are an angel," he cried, seating himself in a chair so near her +that he could still hold the little fluttering hands, which she fain +would have drawn from his clasp, for, although she had never before had +a proposal of marriage, she guessed intuitively what was coming. + +"Since I have but a few minutes alone with you, Claire, what I have to +say must be said quickly," he began. + +For the first time in her life Claire was at a loss for an answer. + +"I am sure you have guessed my secret, sweetest of all sweet girls," he +murmured. "Every glance of my eyes, every touch of my hand, must have +told it to you from the first moment we met. Did it--not?" + +"No," faltered Claire, her eyes drooping like a flower under the sun's +piercing rays. + +"Then my lips shall tell you," he cried. "It is this--I love you, little +Claire--love you with all my heart, all my soul. You are the light of my +life, the sunshine of my existence, my lode-star, my hope--all that a +young girl is to a man who idolizes her as the one supreme being on +earth who can make him happy. Oh, Claire, I worship you as man never +worshiped woman before, and I want you for my wife." + +She opened her lips to speak, but he went on rapidly, hoarsely: + +"Do not refuse me, for it would be my death warrant if you did. I tell +you I cannot brook a refusal from those dear lips of yours. If you do +not consent I shall make away with myself in your presence here and now +with a revolver which lies in my breast pocket." + +A scream of terror broke from Claire's terrified lips. + +"Oh, do not make away with yourself, Mr; Armstrong!" "I--I will +promise--anything you--you want me to! Only don't shoot +yourself--don't!" + +"Then you accept me?" queried Kendale in a very businesslike manner. + +"Ye-es--if mamma does not--object," she answered in a stifling manner. + +"There must be no ifs," he declared. "You must take me, no matter who +objects. If we cannot bring your mamma around to an amicable way of +thinking, we must elope--that is all there is about it." + +"Elope!" gasped Claire in affright. + +"Why, what else would there be left to do?" he asked, with asperity. "I +love you and I must have you, Claire, and if you are willing to take me, +why, we will marry in spite of anything and everything that opposes. + +"Of course, if your mamma sees things as we do, all well and good; but +I say now to you, her objections must make no difference whatever in our +plans." + +"Oh, Mr. Armstrong!" gasped Claire, not knowing what in the world to say +to this ardent lover, who was so impetuous in his wooing. + +Before he could add a word Mrs. Fairfax came down the grand stairway, +her silken gown making a rustling frou-frou upon the velvet carpet. + +She looked much surprised at finding him there, as she had not been +apprised of his coming. + +Kendale arose to greet her in his usual impressive, languid, courteous +fashion, managing to whisper in Claire's ear hastily: + +"Make some excuse to leave the drawing-room for a few minutes, dear, and +while you are gone I will broach the all-important subject to your +mother." + +Mrs. Fairfax greeted the handsome young man cordially, pretending not to +have noticed how near to each other they had been sitting upon her +entrance to the drawing-room, and how suddenly they had sprung apart. + +Her daughter's blushing face and confused manner told her that the +propitious moment had arrived--the handsome heir to the Marsh millions +had proposed. + +And underneath her calm exterior Mrs. Fairfax's heart beat high with +exultation. Her quick ear had also caught that rapidly whispered last +remark to Claire, and, realizing that her daughter was too much +flustered to act upon it, gave the young man the opportunity to be alone +with her which he seemed to desire by remarking: + +"Dear me, I have left my fan in my boudoir, Claire, dear, would you mind +ringing for my maid to fetch it to me?" + +"I will go for it, mamma," returned Claire, shyly, without daring to +look at her lover. + +"As you like, my dear," returned Mrs. Fairfax, with very natural +appearing carelessness. + +Claire was gone quite half an hour in search of the fan. When she +returned to the drawing-room her mother met her with open arms. + +"Mr. Armstrong has told me all, my darling," she murmured, "and I give +my consent. You may marry him if you love him, daughter, and quite as +soon as he wishes." + +Kendale left the mansion two hours later with a self-satisfied smile on +his lips. + +"Marrying heiresses is much easier than most men suppose," he +muttered--and he stopped short in the grounds, standing under a tree +until the lights went out one by one, shrouding the house in gloom. + +Meanwhile, girl like, Claire had flown to Faynie's apartment to tell +her the wonderful news--that her handsome lover had really proposed and +her mother had given her consent, and she was to be married at once. + +Faynie's swoon had put a stop to confiding to her all the wonderful +things Lester had said. "I will tell her in the morning," she promised +herself, little dreaming what was to transpire ere the morrow dawned. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +AN AWFUL APPARITION. + + +When Faynie awoke to consciousness she found the housekeeper bending +over her. Hours had passed and Claire had long since retired to her +room. + +Faynie opened her eyes slowly, in a half-dazed manner, but as she did so +memory returned to her with startling force; but she bravely restrained +the cry that rose to her lips. + +Claire had called her lover "Lester!" She wondered that the sound of +that name had: not stricken her head. + +Could Claire's lover be--Ah! she dared not even imagine such a horrible +possibility. Then she laughed aloud, thinking how foolish she had been +to be so needlessly alarmed. + +The false lover who had wooed and won her so cruelly was not the only +man in the world who bore the fateful name of Lester. + +"Ah, you are better, my dear," exclaimed the old housekeeper in great +relief. "Your swoon lasted so long that I was greatly alarmed; What +caused you to faint, my dear child?" + +Faynie murmured some reply which she could not quite catch, for the +housekeeper was old and very deaf. + +"Take this and go to sleep," she said, holding a soothing, quieting +draught to the girl's white, hot, parched lips. "You will awaken as well +as ever to-morrow." + +Faynie did as she was requested, closing her eyes. She was glad when the +kindly old face was turned away and she was left alone--not to sleep, +but to think. + +Of course it could not be Lester Armstrong who was Claire's suitor, for +he was poor, and her haughty stepmother would never encourage the suit +of a man who did not have wealth at his command. + +If Faynie had but read the papers she would have known what was +transpiring, but, alas! she did not and was utterly unaware of the +strange turn of fortune's wheel which had occurred in the life of the +young assistant cashier to whom she had given the wealth of her love, +when he was poor. + +Lying there, going over every detail of, the past, which seemed now but +the idle vagaries of a fleeting dream, she hardly knew, Heaven help her, +whether she still loved--or hated with all the strength of her +nature--Lester Armstrong. + +Her heart would fill with yearning tenderness almost unbearable when she +looked back at the early days of that brief, sweet courtship. + +How strong, noble, true and brave he had seemed--how kind of heart! + +She had seen him pick up a little birdling that had fallen from its +nest, lying with a bruised wing in the dust of the roadside, and restore +it to the mother bird to be nursed back to health and life, and go out +of his way to rescue a butterfly that had fallen in the millpond. + +It seemed like the distorted imagination of some diseased brain to bring +herself to the realization that this same gentle hand that had rescued +the robin and the butterfly had struck her down to death--that the kind, +earnest voice that had been wont to whisper nothing but words of +devotion and eternal love should fling out the vilest and bitterest of +oaths at her, because she was not the heiress he had taken her to be. + +And without one tear, one bitter regret, he had consigned her to that +lonely grave and gone back to the life which he had declared he could +never live without her. + +Where was he now? she wondered vaguely; then she laughed a low, bitter +laugh, sadder than any tears. + +He had missed the fortune he had hoped for and was back again in the +office of Marsh & Co. + +Then the thought came to her again with crushing, alarming force--would +he not (believing her dead and himself free to woo and wed again) seek +out some other heiress, since that was his design? Many young girls came +to the assistant cashier's window just as she had done; he would select +the richest and marry her. + +The very thought seemed to stab her to the heart with a keen, subtle +pain which she could neither understand nor clearly define, even to +herself. + +"Heaven pity her in the hour when she finds that she has been +deceived--that he married her for gold, not love," she sobbed, covering +her face with her little trembling hands. + +She prayed to Heaven silently that Claire's lover, whoever he might be, +was marrying her for love, and for love alone. + +So restless was she that, despite the quieting draught which the +housekeeper had induced her to swallow, she could not sleep. + +But one thing remained for her to do, and that was to get up and dress +and go down to her father's library and read herself into forgetfulness +until day dawned. + +Faynie acted upon the impulse, noting as she stepped from her room into +the corridor that the clock on her mantel chimed the hour of two. + +She had proceeded scarcely half a dozen steps ere she became aware that +she was not alone in the corridor. + +She stopped short. + +The time was when Faynie would have shrieked aloud or swooned from +terror; but she had gone through so many thrilling scenes during the +last few weeks of her eventful young life that fear within her breast +had quite died out. + +Was it only her wild, fanciful imagination, or did she hear the sound of +low breathing? Faynie stood quite still, leaning behind a marble Flora, +and listened. + +Yes, the sound was audible enough now. There was somebody in the +corridor creeping toward the spot where she stood, with swift but +noiseless feet. + +Nearer, nearer the footsteps crept, the soft, low-bated breathing +sounding closer with every step. + +With a presence of mind which few young girls possessed, Faynie +suddenly stepped forward and turned on the gas jet from an electric +button, full head. + +The sight which met her gaze fairly rooted her to the spot. + +For one brief instant of time it seemed to Faynie as though her breath +was leaving her body. + +She stood paralyzed, unable to stir hand or foot, if her very life had +depended upon it. + +Outside the wind blew dismally; the shutters creaked to and fro on their +hinges; the leafless branches of the trees tapped their ghostly fingers +against the panes. + +Faynie tried to speak--to cry out--but her tongue seemed to cleave to +the roof of her mouth, powerless. Her hands fell to her side a dead +weight, her eyes fairly bulging from their sockets. + +It almost seemed to the girl that she was passing through the awful +transition of death. + +The blood in her veins was turning to ice, and the heart in her bosom to +marble. + +In an upper room, afar off, she heard one of the servants coughing +protractedly in her sleep. + +Oh, God! if she could but burst the icy bonds that bound her hand and +foot and cry out--bring the household about her. Her lips opened, but no +sound came from them. + +The very breath in her body seemed dying out with each faint gasp that +broke over the white, mute lips. + +Outside the night winds grew wilder and fiercer. A gust of hail battered +against the window panes and rattled down the wide-throated chimneys. +Then suddenly; all was still again! + +Oh, pitiful heavens! how hard Faynie tried to break the awful bonds that +held her there, still, silent, motionless, unable to move or utter any +sound, staring in horror words cannot picture at the sight that met her +strained gaze. + +It had only been an instant of time since the bright blaze of the gas +had illuminated the darkened corridor, yet it seemed to Faynie, standing +there, white and cold as an image carved in marble, that long years had +passed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +"I INTEND TO WATCH YOU DIE, INCH BY INCH, DAY BY DAY!" + + +Before going on further with the thrilling event which we narrated in +our last chapter it will be necessary to devote a few explanatory lines +to the still more thrilling scene which led up to it, returning to the +real Lester Armstrong, whom we left in the isolated cabin in the custody +of Halloran. + +Lester's intense anxiety when Kendale forcibly took the keys from him +and disappeared can better be imagined than described. + +In vain he pleaded with Halloran to release him, offering every kind of +inducement, but the man was inexorable. + +Your Cousin Kendale will pay me twice as much for detaining you here," +he answered with a boisterous laugh, adding: + +"Besides, I have a grudge against you of many years' standing, Lester +Armstrong, which this affair is wiping out pretty effectively." + +"I was not aware that I had ever seen you before," replied Lester. + +"Permit me to refresh your memory," exclaimed the other grimly. "When +you were a boy of about fourteen years you attended the public school on +Canal Street." + +"Yes," said Lester, still mystified. + +"At that time," went on Halloran, "the school was unusually crowded, +owing to the enforcement of the law that the children of the +neighborhood must attend school, thus bringing in all the urchins of +the poor thereabouts; you surely remember that?" + +"It seems to me I have a faint recollection of some such circumstance," +replied Lester, eying the man who stood over him, his dark, scowling +face growing more foreboding with each word he uttered. + +"If you carry your mind back you will also remember that there was a +ragged boy sitting to the right of you, who seemed to have a weakness +for purloining your pencils and other like articles." + +Lester did not answer; his mind was traveling back to the time this man +recalled. + +"You will also recollect the boy who sat in front of you, who was the +envy of all the boys in the school by being the possessor of a fine, new +five-bladed jackknife, with which he used to whittle kites and whistles +during recess. Ah! I see you do remember," said Halloran grimly, "and +you also remember the day the ragged boy, sitting at the right of you, +believing no one was looking, reached over and quietly, deftly, inserted +his hand in the other's pocket and abstracted the coveted jackknife. + +"He meant to as quietly replace it in the other's pocket after he had +whittled out a kite and whistle for himself; but, lo! without giving him +time to carry out his intentions, you, good boy that you were, squealed +and brought all the teachers in the room to the spot. You cried out to +them what had occurred, and the ragged lad was caught red-handed with +the knife in his possession. He was expelled from the school that day, +but the affair did not end there. The father of the boy who owned the +knife was a great judge, and he caused the ragged lad to be sent to a +State reformatory, where the next five years of his life were spent in +rigid discipline--stigmatized as a common thief! And all these years the +bitterness of a terrible hatred rankled in his bosom against you--who +were responsible for all this. + +"And he vowed a bitter vow of vengeance, that he would repay that act of +yours if it took him a lifetime to accomplish it; that he would make you +suffer like one on the rack for thrice five years, and then tell you +why. + +"It will not take much stretch of imagination for you to surmise, Lester +Armstrong, that I am that boy upon whom you peached, and on whom, +through you, such a severe penalty was inflicted. + +"My hatred against you has intensified as the years rolled on, Lester +Armstrong. You are in my power; I hold your life in my hands. Do you +think if you were to pray to me on your bended knees that I would +release you? No, a thousand times no! Every groan that falls from your +lips is music to my ears. + +"Again I repeat, you are at my mercy, and I will give you a dose of +that same mercy which you showed me in those other days. Ha! you turn +pale, as well you may! + +"Listen! Let me tell you what I intend to do. I think you guess it from +all that has gone on before, but I will repeat it. I intend to watch you +die, inch by inch, day by day! + +"They tell of a man who put himself on exhibition in New York, +challenging the people to come and see him fast forty days, during which +time neither food nor drink should pass his lips. + +"But you will not last so long, Lester Armstrong; I think a week's time +will be your limit. You will understand now how perfectly useless it +would be to plead with me." + +"Do not imagine for one moment that I intend to do so. I am a man of +nerve and iron will, and I can die like one. You have shackled me hand +and foot and placed me in this death trap, but your ears shall not be +greeted with any moans or cries of complaint. The vengeance you have +mapped out will fall short in that." + +A sneer broke from Halloran's lips; he could not help but admire the +dauntless courage of the man before him, but he would not have admitted +it for anything the wide world held. With a fiendish laugh that rang in +Lester's ears for long hours afterward, Halloran turned and left him, +sauntering into the outer room and banging and locking the door after +him. + +It was a night never to be forgotten by Lester to the last day of his +life. His mouth was parched with thirst; the blood in his veins seemed +turning to lava, and his eyes were scorched in their sockets. + +Once the door suddenly opened and Halloran thrust in his head, +exclaiming: + +"Let me give you a piece of news to dream over, my dear fellow: Your +Cousin, Kendale, is with the beauteous Faynie just now, probably holding +her in his arms, kissing the lovely rosebud mouth. 'Pon my honor. I envy +the lucky dog; don't you?" + +The door closed quite as quickly again, and Lester was alone with his +bitter thoughts. + +"What have I done that a just God should torture me thus?" he cried out +in an agony so intense that great beads of cold perspiration gathered on +his forehead and rolled unheeded down his white cheeks. "If he tortured +me to the gates of death I could endure it, but the very thought that my +innocent darling, my beautiful, tender little Faynie, is in that +dastardly villain's power, fairly goads me to madness. Oh, Heaven! if I +but had the strength of Samson for but a single hour, to burst these +cruel bonds asunder and fly to my dear one's side!" + +But, struggle as he would, the thongs which bound him, rendering him +powerless to aid the girl he loved, would not give way. + +Thus a fortnight passed, and Halloran was beside himself with wonder to +find each morning that Lester was still alive and that he had not gone +mad. + +But Lester Armstrong's guardian angel had not quite forgotten him; +Heaven had not intended that he should die by thirst and starvation in +that isolated cabin, and served him in a strange, unlooked-for way. + +He soon discovered that a family of squirrels had made a home beneath a +piece of flooring within easy reach of where he lay, and upon forcing up +the piece of rotten plank he found to his intense joy an almost endless +supply of nuts, and close beside their burrow a running stream of clear, +cool, fresh, bubbling spring water. + +In an instant he had slaked his thirst and laved his burning brow. + +From that hour he felt sure that Heaven intended him to escape from his +foes. He took good care, however, to conceal his wonderful discovery +from Halloran's keen, sharp eyes when he looked in each day. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +A FIENDISH ACT. + + + "Like some lone bird + Without a mate, + My lonely heart is desolate; + I look around + And cannot trace, a friendly + smile, a welcome face. + Even in crowds + I'm still alone, because I + cannot love but one." + +Thus a fortnight passed, and under the rigid diet of the strengthening, +nutritious nuts and clear spring water Lester rapidly gained strength. + +He only waited a fitting opportunity to make a dash for liberty. + +Halloran was well armed; he realized that fact, and that he would shoot +him down like a dog ere he would suffer him to escape the fate that had +been laid out for him. + +Therefore his only hope was to get away by strategy. He laid several +plans, but each time they were frustrated by some unexpected act of +Halloran's. + +Meanwhile the latter was pondering over his case, considerably +mystified. + +"Confound the fellow! he does not seem to grow either pale or +emaciated," he muttered. "I could almost say that starving seems to +agree with him. I am quite tempted to give him his quietus and end this +vigil. Remaining in this solitary hut does not quite come up to my +liking. I wonder what Kendale is doing. He promised to let me know how +he got on. + +"I have not heard from him for nearly a week now. Perhaps they made the +discovery that he was not the real Lester Armstrong, and have placed him +in limbo; but it strikes me that in such a predicament he would hasten +to communicate with me, apprising me of the fact. + +"Then, again," he ruminated, "Kendale is thoroughly selfish to the +backbone, and if he has successfully hoodwinked these people and is +living off the fat of the land and rolling in money, as it were, ten +chances to one he has quite forgotten my very existence. + +"He ought to have sent me more provisions to-day, and more tobacco; and +it is nightfall and no sign of any one." + +The next day and the next passed in the same fashion. + +By this time Halloran had become thoroughly exasperated. + +"This settles the bill," he muttered; "I leave this place to-night. I do +not see much need of staying here any longer, anyhow. Armstrong will not +last many hours longer; he couldn't; it's beyond human physical +possibility." + +In the semi-twilight he looked in at his prisoner. + +Lester had fallen into so deep a sleep that he seemed scarcely to +breathe, and the dim, fading light falling in through the chinks of the +boarded window gave his face, which was beginning to grow pale because +of his confinement, an unusually grayish pallor at this twilight hour. + +"Ha! ha!" muttered Halloran, setting his teeth hard together; "it is +perfectly safe to leave him now. He is dying; his hour has come at +last." + +Turning on his heel he strode into the outer apartment, banging the door +to after him, but not taking the trouble to lock it on this occasion. + +"As there seems to be little need of my remaining here longer, now that +he is done for, I'm off for the city," he muttered; "and a pretty tramp +I'll have of it over this barren country road, fully seven miles to the +railway station, and hungry as a bear at that." + +Again he looked at Lester, to assure himself beyond all possibility of a +doubt that he was actually dying. + +And again he was thoroughly deceived. + +"It's all over with him," he muttered, "and Kendale's secret is safe +between him and me, and he'll have to pay me handsomely to keep it; +that's certain." + +On the threshold he halted. + +"Dead men tell no tales," he muttered, "and he would be past all +recognition by the time any one came across him in this isolated spot. +Then, again, some one might happen to wander this way. + +"It's best to be sure; to put it beyond human power to discover his +identity, and the only way to secure that end is to burn this place. Ay! +that is the surest and safest way to effectually conceal the crime." + +He had muttered the words aloud, and they fell distinctly upon the ears +of Lester Armstrong, who had awakened at the sound of his footsteps the +second time, although he had given no sign of having done so. The words +fell with horrible dread upon his ears because of the fact that he was +bound hand and foot by an iron chain, fastened to a heavy ring in the +floor. + +For the last week he had used every endeavor to force the links apart, +but they had frustrated his most strenuous efforts. + +And he said to himself, if the fiend incarnate before him carried out +his intention of firing the place it would be all over with him. The +horrible smoke would assuredly suffocate him ere he could, even by +exerting the most Herculean strength, succeed in liberating himself. + +With bated breath he heard Halloran enter the outer apartment. + +And he heard his impatient, muttered imprecations as he fumbled about +for matches, seemingly without finding any. + +"This is where I put them," exclaimed Halloran, with an oath, "but they +are not here now." + +After a moment's pause his voice broke the awful stillness, exclaiming: + +"Ah! here they are! I imagined they were not far away. One should always +know where to put his hands on such things, even in the dark. A whole +bunch of 'em; I did not remember that I had so many!" + +For the next few moments Lester heard him walking to and fro, apparently +dragging heavy articles over the floor, and he knew that he was piling +pieces of boards together in the middle of the room to start the blaze. + +His blood fairly ran cold in his veins at the thought. + +The moments that followed seemed the length of eternity. + +Each instant he expected to hear the dull scratching of the matches, +quickly followed by the swift, crackling blaze. + +With all his strength he strove to rend asunder the heavy steel chain, +but it resisted his every effort. + +"God in heaven! am I to die here like a rat in a trap?" he groaned, the +veins standing out like knotted whipcord on his forehead, the +perspiration pouring down his face like rain. + +For some moments there was a strange, unaccountable silence in the outer +room. + +Lester paused in his efforts to wrench the iron bands asunder which +bound his wrists, wondering what that ominous silence meant. + +The suspense was terrible, yet each moment meant that much of a respite +from the horrible fate which awaited him. + +What could Halloran be doing? Surely he had not abandoned his intentions +to set fire to the cabin? + +It was almost too good to be true. And yet that awful uncertainty was +almost unbearable. + +In the outer room Halloran sat quietly thinking over his plans, match in +hand, telling himself that he had better perfect them then than wait +until he was journeying toward the railway station. + +He would take the first train bound for New York, seek Kendale at once, +and have an understanding with him before he would disclose to him the +fact that Lester Armstrong was effectually out of his way. + +"Yes, that is the only course to pursue," muttered Halloran, and +springing to his feet, he struck half of the matches in his package at +once, and lighted the pile heaped in the center of the cabin floor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HALLORAN MEETS WITH HIS REWARD. + + +In an instant after the match had been applied a fiery tongue of flame +leaped to the ceiling, lighting the interior of the cabin with a +blinding glare of red light. + +Seizing his hat, Halloran dashed from the place and down the road, never +pausing until he had reached the fork of the roads. Then he stopped for +breath and looked back over his shoulder. + +A high ridge of ground intervened, completely hiding the doomed place +from his view. + +He did not even behold the column of fire and smoke, as he had +anticipated. + +"Those old boards are so damp that it will probably take some time to +ignite them, and there's no use waiting to see that," he muttered. "I +will be well on my way to the railway station by that time." + +He redoubled his speed to get as far away from the scene as possible, +for, villain though he was, this was his first actual crime, and his +conscience troubled him a little. + +Another mile or more he traversed through the heavy snow; then he +suddenly became conscious that there were rapidly approaching footsteps +behind him. + +Great heavens! had Lester Armstrong succeeded in making his escape? No, +it could not be. Even if so, he was too weak to run in that rapid +fashion. Involuntarily he paused and glanced backward over his shoulder. +The next instant a wild, panting cry of mortal terror broke from his +lips. + +In that backward glance he had beheld a huge black bear, making rapidly +toward the spot where he stood, fairly paralyzed with horror. + +It dawned upon him suddenly that only a few days before he had read of +the escape of one of the most ferocious black bears of the zoological +gardens, and, though two days had elapsed and men were scouring all +parts of the adjacent places, no trace of the animal had been found, and +great fears were expressed of the grave damage the bear might do before +he was recaptured. + +This was undoubtedly the animal that had escaped which was making toward +him with great leaps and savage growls, as though it had already marked +him for its prey. + +His teeth chattered like castanets; his eyes fairly bulged from their +sockets; the breath came in hot gasps from his white lips; his brain +reeled, as he took in, in that rapid glance of horror, his awful doom. + +Nearer and nearer sounded the hoarse, awful growls; nearer and nearer +moved the huge black mass over the white, crunching snow. + +The moon was slowly rising over the horizon, rendering all objects +clearly distinct to his frightened gaze. + +He was passing through a narrow belt of woodland, and like an +inspiration it occurred to him that his only hope of escape lay in +climbing one of the trees and thus outwitting the bear. + +He saw with sinking heart that they were scarcely more than saplings, +and whether or not they would bear his weight without snapping in twain +he dared not even pause to consider. + +With a groan of mortal terror he sprang for the nearest tree. Fright +seemed to lend him wonderful strength and agility; he succeeded in +reaching the lowest limb as the animal, with glittering eyes and widely +distended jaws, reached the tree. + +Up, up, crept Halloran, his teeth chattering, his strength almost +leaving him as the animal's roar of baffled rage fell upon his ear. + +To and fro bent the sapling under his weight, threatening to snap +asunder each moment and cast him into the jaws of the enraged beast. + +The hours that followed were of such keen, mortal terror that he vaguely +wondered that he did not lose his reason through fright. + +With fascinated eyes he watched the antics of the thoroughly enraged +animal. The bear made many efforts to climb the tree in pursuit of his +prey, but the swaying sapling was too slender to give him a hold, and +its bark too slippery with its coating of ice to insert the claws, which +had been clipped quite close, rendering them almost powerless in taking +a firm grasp. + +The night had closed in intensely cold, and Halloran could feel his +cramped limbs and hands slowly stiffening, but he dared not lose his +grip. + +The moon rose higher and higher in the night sky, shedding a white, +clear, bright light over the snow-clad earth. + +He knew that the animal was watching his every movement closely, as each +time he shifted his position brought a savage growl from the bear, which +was circling round and round the tree, eying him intently. + +For long hours this lasted, until the half frozen man, hanging on for +dear life to the upper branches of the sapling, thought he should go +mad. + +With the coming of daylight the bear changed his tactics, lying down +directly under the tree, still eying his prey with his small, beady, +expectant eyes, as though measuring the time that his victim could hold +out. + +The daylight grew stronger; slowly in the eastern horizon the red sun +rose, gilding the white, glistening snow with its rosy light. + +Hour by hour it climbed the blue azure height, crossed the zenith, and +then slowly sank behind the western hills, heralding the oncoming of +another night. + +Still the brute, with almost incredible cunning, sat in the same +position under the tree, watching Halloran's every move. + +"God rescue me!" he cried, lifting his white face to the Heaven he had +so offended. + +"If I pass another night here I shall go mad--mad!" + +He was famished with hunger, numb with cold, and his mouth and throat +were dry with unconquerable thirst. + +In those hours of suffering he thought of Lester Armstrong, and of the +awful fate he had doomed him to. He realized by his own experience of a +few hours what he must have endured, and a bitter groan of remorse broke +from his clammy lips. + +"This is Heaven's punishment," he cried. "Oh, Lester Armstrong. God has +surely avenged you! If I could but atone; if it were to be done over +again, I would have no hand in the atrocious crime that has dyed my +hands just as surely as though I had plunged a knife into your heart!" + +In his haste on leaving the cabin he had not taken time to secure his +revolver; he had no weapon; he was doomed to meet the same fate that he +had meted out to Lester Armstrong--starve to death slowly, hour by +hour--knowing that when he was too weak to hold longer to the branch he +would fall. + +Oh, God in heaven! fall into the gaping jaws of the enraged animal that +was waiting to receive him. + +He had led too wicked a life to pray; he did not know a prayer; he could +only raise his agonized eyes to the far-off sky, wondering how long his +awful torture could last-how long he would be able to hold out--how +long. + +He felt his blood slowly turning to ice in his veins, and slowly and +surely the dusk deepened and the darkness of another night fell over the +world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +"SOME TERRIBLE PRESENTIMENT IS WARNING ME THAT MY DARLING IS IN DANGER." + + +There never was a night so long that another day did not dawn--at +last--and when the morrow's light broke, Halloran was slowly but surely +collapsing--giving himself up to the horrible doom that awaited him--for +the bear had not quitted his position under the tree, nor had he taken +his eyes off his intended victim for a single moment. + +As the sun rose, Halloran watched it with dazed, bloodshot eyes, +exclaiming: + +"Good-by, golden sun, I shall never see you set, nor witness you rise +again upon another day. I--" the sentence was never finished, for over +the snowy waste rang a voice like a bugle blast: + +"Keep quiet, take heart, help is at hand; I am going to shoot the animal +and deliver you," and simultaneously with the voice four shots in rapid +succession rang out upon the early morning air. + +There was a wild howl of pain, a terrible roaring bellow, a sudden dash +toward a dark figure hurriedly approaching, two more shots, and the bear +rolled over dying beyond power to harm, his red blood dyeing the white +snow in great pools. Halloran knew no more. His strength and endurance +seemed suddenly to leave him, darkness closed in about him, his hold +loosened and he fell backward down, down through space. + +He did not know that a pair of strong arms caught him, thus saving him +from a broken neck. When he opened his eyes a few moments later, to his +intense surprise he found Lester Armstrong bending over him, and the +sight rendered him fairly dumb with amazement. + +Before he could ask questions that sprang to his lips, Lester explained +to him that owing to the dampness of the place, the fire Halloran had +kindled had quickly gone out, thus saving the young man from being +burned to death. He told him, too, why death had not come to him through +starvation, as had been intended, and that it had taken him all that +time to force apart the links of the chain, when he found that there was +no one to hear or prevent, no matter how much noise he made in so doing. + +He had seen the revolver, which had been forgotten, and little imagining +it would be of such vital use, had thrust it in his pocket and started +forth to make his way back to New York, when he unexpectedly came upon +the scene of the bear under the tree, and a fellow-being in deadly +peril. + +"You saved me--me," cried Halloran, huskily, "your deadly foe, who +tried to rob you of your life." + +"It was my duty, 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord,'" quoted Lester, +quietly. + +Halloran fell on his knees, covering the other's hands with passionate +kisses, tears falling like rain from his eyes. + +"From this hour the life that you have saved shall be devoted to +you--and God!" he cried brokenly. "Oh, will Heaven ever forgive me for +the past? There are two bullets left in the revolver; you ought to shoot +me dead at your feet, Lester Armstrong. I deserve it." + +Lester shook his head. + +"Do better with your life than you have done in the past," he said. + +Halloran tried to rise to his feet, but fell back exhausted on the snow. + +"I cannot walk," he gasped. "I--I am sure my limbs are frozen." + +With a humane kindness that won him Halloran's gratitude to his dying +day, Lester helped him to the railway station, and to board the incoming +train, taking him to a hospital when they reached New York City. + +Halloran had lapsed into unconsciousness, but Lester was too kind of +heart to desert him in his hour of need. + +The clock was striking five as Lester left the hospital. + +On the pavement he paused, asking himself if he could go to a hotel +presenting that soiled, unkempt appearance. Then like an inspiration it +occurred to him that the best place in the world to go to was Mr. +Conway's; and he put the thought into execution at once, reaching there +nearly an hour later. + +Mr. Conway and Margery were just sitting down to breakfast as he rang +the bell of the humble little cottage. + +Mr. Conway answered the summons. + +The scene which followed can better be imagined than described. + +It was hard to convince father and daughter, at first, that in telling +his story he was not attempting to play some practical joke upon them. + +That he had a cousin who so cleverly resembled him that even those who +had known Lester intimately for long years should be so cleverly +deceived by him seemed almost incredible. Margery hid her face in her +trembling hands while her father gave Lester a full account of what had +transpired, while the latter's emotion was great; and his distress +intense, upon learning that Kendale had dared betroth himself to Margery +in his name, and that the gentle-hearted girl had learned to care for +the scamp, despite her repugnance to him at first. + +Lester thought it best, under the circumstances, to confide in full to +Margery and her father concerning his own love affair, lest they might +expect him to carry out the contract his cousin had made in regard to +marrying his old friend's pretty daughter. + +Margery's next words, however, set his troubled heart at rest in that +respect. + +She looked up at him suddenly through her tears, saying shyly: + +"There is another who cares for me, not knowing of this affair, one whom +I once thought I could love. Yesterday he wrote me a letter, asking for +my heart and hand. + +"Last night I wrote him a reply, saying 'No,' and telling him why. I +shall destroy that letter to-night, thankful enough that I did not have +time to send it. And my answer will then be 'Yes.'" + +"You have my best wishes for your happiness, little Margery," said +Lester, adding smilingly: "And when; the wedding occurs, which I hope +will be soon, you may, expect a very handsome present from me." + +Long after Mr. Conway and his unexpected visitor had finished their +simple breakfast, they talked over the strange situation of affairs, and +what was best to be done to avoid great publicity. + +"The bogus Lester Armstrong went to Beechwood last night," said the old +cashier. "He probably will remain there, as is his custom, until to-day +noon. You had better confront him there; meanwhile I will break the +amazing story to those of the establishment whom it is absolutely +necessary to tell. The rest of the employees and the public at large +need never know of the glaring fraud that was so cleverly practised +under their very eyes." + +Lester had sprung to his feet trembling with excitement, at the +information that Kendale had gone to the home of Faynie, despite the +fact that Mr. Conway had assured him that Kendale was not married. + +"Only yesterday he told me he contemplated marriage with a little +heiress out at Beechwood, and if his wooing went on smoothly he would be +a benedict in a few days' time--those were his exact words!" declared +Mr. Conway. + +"Thank Heaven the mischief has not yet been done," cried Lester, +fervently. + +He would have started for Beechwood at once, had it not been for Mr. +Conway, who induced him to lie down for a few hours and take a little +much-needed rest, explaining that he could not go in that apparel, and +it would take some little time to secure suitable raiment, and renovate +his appearance. + +Lester yielded to his judgment. + +Neither Mr. Conway nor Margery had the heart to awaken him, as hour +after hour rolled by; he seemed so thoroughly exhausted and his deep +sleep was doing him such a world of good, although the complete outfit +which Mr. Conway had sent for had long since arrived. + +It was night when Lester opened his eyes--imagining his surroundings for +the moment but the idle vagaries of a dream. + +Mr. Conway's kindly, solicitous face bending over him soon brought him +to his senses, and a remembrance of all that had occurred. + +"Oh, Mr. Conway! You should not have let me sleep," he cried. "I ought +to have been at Beechwood hours ago; something in my heart--some +terrible presentiment is warning me that my darling is in danger!" + +"You are only fanciful," returned his old friend. "Anxiety makes you +imagine that." + +"I hope it may prove as you say," replied Lester, huskily, and in an +hour's time he was on his way to Beechwood and Faynie. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +"GREAT GOD, IT IS A GHOST--THE GHOST OF FAYNIE!" + + +We must now return to Faynie, and the thrilling position in which we so +reluctantly left her. + +As the bright blaze of light illumined the corridor Faynie beheld the +dark form of a man creeping toward her. + +"Great Scott! Some one must have touched an electric button +somewhere--the wrong button!" he cried, instantly springing behind a +marble Flora--but not before Faynie had distinctly beheld him, being +herself unseen, because she was standing in the dense shadow. + +"It is he! It is Lester Armstrong!" was the cry that sprang from her +terrified heart to her lips, but no sound issued from them as they +parted. + +She leaned back faint and dizzy against the wall, unable to utter even +the faintest sound. "So this is Claire's lover--the Lester she told me +about--whom she is soon to marry! The dastardly wretch who wrecked my +life and left me for dead under the cold, drifting snow heap," was the +thought that flashed through her dazed brain as she watched him, with +bated breath and dilated eyes. + +"It was only a false alarm; nobody would be roaming through the +corridor of this place at this ghostly hour!" he muttered, sallying +forth. "It seems that I was more scared than hurt on this occasion. +Now for the library, to find that sum of money which my foolish +mamma-in-law-that-is-to-be mentioned having placed there. It's a daring +risk, stealing into the house like a thief in the night to search for +it, but there's no other way to get it, and money I must have without +delay. + +"It's mighty dangerous going through this corridor in this bright light. +I wish I knew where to turn it off; the chandelier is too high or I'd do +it in that way. I'm liable to be seen at any moment, if any one should +take it into their head to come down through the house for any reason +whatsoever." + +The next moment he had disappeared within the library, closing the door +neatly to after him. The next moment he had lighted the shaded night +lamp that stood on the table. + +Turning out the gas in the corridor, Faynie glided forward like a +shadow, and, reaching the library, noiselessly pushed open the door, +which he had left slightly ajar. + +"What was he doing here?" she wondered vaguely, her eyes blazing with +fierce indignation as she stood there considering what her next action +should be. He decided, the question by exclaiming: + +"Ha! This is the little iron safe she mentioned: of course the money is +here, and the will is probably here, too, for that matter, which states +that all of the Fairfax fortune goes to the old lady--which means the +pretty Claire ultimately. Well, the more money the better; there is no +one more competent to make it fly at a gay pace than myself. A prince of +the royal blood couldn't go at a faster pace than I have been going +during these last three weeks! Ha, ha, ha!" + +In a moment he was kneeling before the safe. To his intense satisfaction +the knob yielded to his deft touch. + +"I shall have less trouble than I anticipated," he muttered, with a +little chuckle. + +Faynie stood motionless, scarcely three feet behind him, watching him +intently, with horror-stricken eyes and glued tongue. + +She saw him take a roll of bills, and after carefully counting them, +transfer them to his pocket. + +Heirlooms, too, in the way of a costly diamond stud, sleeve links, and +massive watch and chain, which had been her father's, went the same way. + +Faynie seemed incapable of interfering. + +"Now we will soon determine what else there is here of importance--my +time cannot be more profitably spent than by informing myself." + +Paper after paper he carefully unfolded, glancing quickly through their +contents, and as quickly tossing them back into the safe. + +Evidently he had not yet found that for which he was searching so +intently. + +Suddenly he came across a large square envelope, the words on which +seemed to arrest his attention at once. And in a whispered, yet +distinctly audible voice, he read the words: + + "Horace Fairfax, last message to his wife--dated March 22, 18--." + +"Why that is the very date upon which he died," muttered Kendale. "This +must have been written just before he committed suicide. Well, we will +see what he had to say." + +And slowly he read, half aloud, as follows: + + "MY DEAR WIFE: When you read the words here penned I shall be no + more. I know your heart will be most bitter against me for what I + have just done, but, realizing that my end was near, I have done it + for the best. + + "I refer to the making of my will. + + "When a man sees death before him, he naturally wishes to see those + nearest and dearest to him provided for, so far as he is able to do + so. + + "You will remember distinctly the conversation we had at the time I + proposed marriage to you. I reminded you that I was a widower, + with a daughter whom I loved far better than the apple of my eye. + + "I told you that this daughter would succeed to all my wealth, if + she lived, when time was no more with me; that no being on earth + could ever change my views in this regard--ay, in fulfilling my + duty. + + "I asked you to marry me, knowing fully my intention in this + matter, stating at the time that I would give you in cash an ample + sum of money, which, if used frugally and judiciously, should last + you the remainder of your natural life, providing you outlived me. + + "You accepted me under those conditions; you married me, and I, as + agreed, gave to you in a lump sum the money stipulated. + + "It is needless to recall to you the fact that our wedded life has + been a failure. You have made my life miserable--ay, and that of my + sweet, motherless, tender little Faynie, until, in sheer + desperation, she has fled from her home on the night I write this, + and my grief is more poignant than I can well endure. + + "You must feign neither surprise nor indignation when it is learned + that my will gives all my fortune to Faynie, save the amount set + aside for you. + + "HORACE FAIRFAX." + +"Well! By all that's wonderful, if this isn't a pretty how-do-you-do. +Mrs. Fairfax and her girl are penniless, and I came so near marrying +Claire. I have found this thing out quite in the nick of time. The girl +is clever enough, but it takes money, and plenty of it, to make me put +my head into the yoke of matrimony. + +"I must find this will he speaks of. It will be here unless the woman +has been shrewd enough to destroy it, and women never are clever enough +to burn their telltale bridges which lie behind them, and that's how +they get found out--at last. + +"I see through the whole thing now. Mrs. Fairfax trumped up a will in +favor of herself, a brilliant scheme. I admire her grit immensely. Ah, +yes, here is the real will, in the same handwriting as the letter. Yes, +it gives all to his daughter Faynie. And here is the spurious one, a +good imitation, I admit, still an expert could easily detect the +handwriting of Mrs. Fairfax from beginning to end--signature and all. + +"I think I will take charge of this one giving all the Fairfax wealth to +Faynie." + +But he did not succeed in transferring it to his pocket, for like a +flash it was snatched from his hand. + +With a horrible oath, Kendale wheeled about. + +One glance, and his eyes fairly bulged from their sockets, his face grew +ashen white, his teeth chattered, and the blood in his veins seemed +suddenly to turn to ice. + +"Great Heaven! It is a ghost!" he yelled at the top of his voice; "the +ghost of Faynie!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +AT THE LAST. + + +The sound of that hoarse, piercing, awful cry echoed and re-echoed to +every portion of the house, and in less time than it takes to relate it, +the servants in a body, headed by Mrs. Fairfax and Claire, were rushing +toward the library, from whence the sound proceeded. + +One glance as they reached the open doorways, and a cry of consternation +broke from Mrs. Fairfax's lips, which was faintly echoed by her daughter +Claire. + +The servants were too astounded at the sight that met their gaze to +believe the evidence of their own eyes. + +Mrs. Fairfax was the first to recover herself. + +"What is the meaning of this!" she exclaimed, striding forward and +facing Faynie and the horror-stricken man who stood facing her, his +teeth chattering, as he muttered: + +"It is her ghost!--her ghost!" + +"Faynie Fairfax, why do I find you here, in the library, in the dead of +the night, in the company of the man who is to wed my daughter Claire, +and who parted from her scarcely two hours since, supposedly to leave +the house? Why are you two here together! Explain this most +extraordinary and most atrocious scene at once. I command you!" she +cried, her voice rising to a shrill scream in her rising anger. + +Faynie turned a face toward her white as a marble statue, but no word +broke from her lips. + +The presence of the others seemed to bring Kendale back to his senses. + +"It means," spoke Faynie, after a full moment's pause, "that the hour +has come in which I must confess to all gathered here the pitiful story +I have to tell, and which will explain what has long been an unsolved +mystery to you--where, how and with whom I spent the time from the hour +in which I left this roof until I returned to it. + +"You say that this is the man who is your daughter's lover, Mrs. +Fairfax--the man who is soon to marry Claire. + +"I declare that this marriage can never be, because this man has a +living wife," she cried, in a high, clear voice. + +"It is false!" shrieked Kendale. "The girl I married in the old church +is dead--dead, I tell you. I--I saw her buried with my own eyes!" + +"She is not dead, for I am that unfortunate girl," answered Faynie, in a +voice that trembled with agonized emotion. + +"Listen all, while I tell my story," she sobbed. "Surely the saddest, +most pitiful story a young girl ever had to tell." + +Then, in a panting voice, she told her horrified listeners all, from the +beginning to the very end, omitting not the slightest detail, dwelling +with a pathos that brought tears to every eye, of how she had loved him +up to the very hour he had come for her to elope with him; her horror +and fear of him growing more intense because of the marriage he forced +her into, with the concealed revolver pressed so close to her heart she +dared not disobey his slightest command. + +And how the conviction grew upon her that he was marrying her for wealth +only, and the inspiration that came to her to test his so-called love by +telling him that she had been disinherited, though she was confident +that her father had made his will in her favor, leaving her his entire +fortune. + +Dwelling with piteous sobs on how he had then and there struck her down +to death, as he supposed, and that he had made all haste to make away +with her; and that she would at that moment have been lying in an +unmarked grave, under the snowdrifts, if Heaven had not most +miraculously interfered and saved her. + +Faynie ended her thrilling recital by adding that she had not known, +until that hour, that this man was Claire's lover, because they had +refrained from mentioning the name of the man in her presence. How she +had come to the library in search of a book and had encountered him +stealing through the halls, a veritable thief in the dead of the night, +bent upon securing a sum of money which he had learned in some way was +in the safe, and that he now had it in his pocket, and that she had +prevented him from securing her father's will by snatching it from his +grasp. + +Mrs. Fairfax had fallen back, trembling like an aspen leaf. She +recognized her husband's will in Faynie's hands, and that, although the +girl did not say so before the servants, she knew her treachery. + +"Come, Claire, my child," she said, turning to her daughter, "this is no +place for you." + +But Claire did not stir; she stood quite still, looking from the one to +the other, as though she could not fully comprehend all that she saw and +heard. + +By this time Kendale had recovered from his shock, and as he listened to +Faynie's recital, realized that she was not indeed a ghost, but the +heiress of the Fairfax millions, and his own wife at that. And when he +found his voice he cried out: + +"The girl tells the truth! She is mine, and as her husband I am lord and +master of this house, and of her." + +As he uttered the words he strode toward Faynie with a diabolical +chuckle, and seized her slender wrists in his grasp. + +"Unhand me!" shrieked Faynie, struggling frantically in his grasp, +almost fainting with terror. + +"No one dares interfere between man and wife," replied Kendale, +mockingly. + +He did not see three dark forms spring over the threshold, thrusting the +servants hastily aside. + +But in less time than it takes to tell it, a strong arm thrust him +aside, and a tall form sprang between him and Faynie, while a voice that +struck terror to his very soul cried out: + +"You have come to the end of your rope, Clinton Kendale. You have lost +the game, while it was almost in your grasp!" + +"Great Heaven, is it you, Lester Armstrong!" cried the guilty villain, +fairly quivering with terror. "Oh, Lester, have pity--have mercy--I--" + +"You shall have the same quality of mercy dealt out to you that you have +meted out to others!" replied Lester, sternly. + +Suddenly Kendale wrenched himself free from his grasp, crying out, +hoarsely and triumphantly: + +"I am game yet. I have married the girl you love. She is my lawfully +wedded wife. I have lost the Marsh millions, but you are checkmated, +Lester Armstrong. I have the Fairfax fortune, and your Faynie!" + +"Don't delude yourself into believing so prettily an arranged scheme," +exclaimed a voice from the doorway, and a woman whom Kendale had not +noticed among the crowd before glided hastily forward, threw back her +veil, confronting the villain. + +"Gertrude!" he cried aghast, staggering back. + +"Yes, Gertrude, your wife," she replied. "Your wife, though you tried +hard to induce me to go to Dakota and secure a divorce from you. I had +instituted it and would soon have obtained it had I not read in the +papers of the great fortune you had fallen into, for you had told me +your cousin Lester Armstrong was dead, and you were to take his name and +place as assistant cashier--no one knowing of his death, and you could +easily pass yourself off for him owing to your wonderful resemblance to +each other. + +"For my sake," she added, "Mr. Armstrong has promised to let you go +free, providing you go with me." + +"It is false!" shouted Kendale. "All you say is a lie, woman!" + +"The man who accompanied us to the altar a year ago is here," he said. +"He has with him my marriage certificate," pointing toward some one on +the threshold, adding, "come forward, please." + +And Halloran, who had left a sickbed to accompany her, came slowly +forward. + +"So you are against me, too!" cried Kendale. "Then all is up, indeed. I +acknowledge that all that has been said is true. I had a few weeks of a +gay, merry life, and I'm not sorry, either. Come, Gertrude!" + +And without a backward glance they slowly left the Fairfax mansion. + +The reuniting of Faynie and her lover was extremely affecting, and +within an hour a minister was called in who made them one forevermore. + +Mrs. Fairfax and her daughter were offered a home for life, but they +chose to leave the following day. Faynie and Lester had gone through +many thrilling experiences, but were happily reunited--at last. + +THE END. + + + + +No. 1113 of THE NEW EAGLE SERIES, entitled "In Love's Name," by Emma +Garrison Jones, is a story that tells of a romance that, after many +sufferings, ends in a happy marriage feast. + + + + + HAVE YOU READ + + Love Story + + MAGAZINE + + ? + +If not, you have a treat in store for you. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is devoted to the publication of clean, wholesome +romances. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is developing a staff of writers each of which is +destined to become famous. + +LOVE STORY MAGAZINE is really so good that it deserves your immediate +investigation--that is, if you like a _good_ love story. + + * * * * * + +PRICE 15 CENTS + +Published Semimonthly + + * * * * * + +A Street & Smith Publication + + + + +GARVICE + +The Love-Story King + + * * * * * + +Look up the books by Charles Garvice, in the New Eagle Series. 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She relied mainly +upon her knowledge of human nature--that things clean always attract. In +the case of her books she was right; millions of them have been sold. + +Ask your dealer to get some of The Duchess' works in the Select library +for you. Then prepare for the best reading treat you ever enjoyed. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MISCHIEVOUS MAID FAYNIE*** + + +******* This file should be named 13740.txt or 13740.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/4/13740 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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