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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf 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..3bab271 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69569 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69569) diff --git a/old/69569-0.txt b/old/69569-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bff1611..0000000 --- a/old/69569-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4285 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The wooing of Leola, by Mrs. Alex. -McVeigh Miller - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The wooing of Leola - -Author: Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller - -Release Date: December 18, 2022 [eBook #69569] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Demian Katz and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy of the Digital - Library@Villanova University.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOOING OF LEOLA *** - - - - - - Price, THE LEISURE HOUR LIBRARY. No. 67 -Five Cents. - -F. M. LUPTON, Publisher, 23-37 City Hall Place, New York. - -Copyright, 1905 and 1906, by F. M. Lupton. - -THE WOOING OF LEOLA. - -BY MRS. ALEX. M’VEIGH MILLER. - -[Illustration: “ALL THE WHILE HE WAS UNCONSCIOUS OF LEOLA, LYING THERE -LIKE A DEAD GIRL ON THE GROUND.”] - - - - -THE WOOING OF LEOLA. - -BY MRS. ALEX. M’VEIGH MILLER. - - - - -TABLE OF CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER I. SOME PRETTY PICTURES. -CHAPTER II. ALL FOR LOVE. -CHAPTER III. ARE YOU AN ANGEL? -CHAPTER IV. BEWARE OF JEALOUSY. -CHAPTER V. A HONEY BEE AND A HONEY FLOWER. -CHAPTER VI. LOVE’S ENTANGLEMENTS. -CHAPTER VII. BOAST NOT THYSELF OF TO-MORROW. -CHAPTER VIII. WINDING A WEB. -CHAPTER IX. WHAT THE ROBINS HEARD. -CHAPTER X. CHESTER OLYPHANT’S CURSE. -CHAPTER XI. A TERRIBLE DEED. -CHAPTER XII. A WAYSIDE FLOWER. -CHAPTER XIII. IN THE SPIDER’S WEB. -CHAPTER XIV. A LITTLE CONSPIRACY. -CHAPTER XV. SURPRISES ALL AROUND. -CHAPTER XVI. WIDOW GRAY AND THE YOUNG CAVE-HUNTERS. -CHAPTER XVII. “TIME DOES NOT STOP FOR TEARS.” -CHAPTER XVIII. “IF HATE COULD KILL.” -CHAPTER XIX. LIKE A STAR IN THE NIGHT OF HER DESPAIR. -CHAPTER XX. “ALL THE WORLD AND WE TWO, AND HEAVEN BE OUR STAY.” - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -SOME PRETTY PICTURES. - - -“Oh, mamma, I have had a lovely time at Mrs. Van Bibber’s! I would not -have missed her reception for the world!” - -The blonde beauty threw herself, with a silken frou-frou of rich -attire, back into a luxurious chair, clasped her white, jeweled hands, -and rolled her large, bluebell eyes heavenward, practising the seraphic -expression she found so effective with the men. - -She repeated, rapturously: - -“I would not have missed it for the world! Everything was on the -grandest scale, and went off beautifully. I felt that it was worth -all our scheming and planning for my lovely gown;” and she smiled, -complacently, at her rich blue silk robe loaded with fine lace -trimmings that set off so well her blue eyes and fluffy flaxen hair. - -“But, mamma,” she continued, “how sober you look. Is your rheumatism -worse, poor dear?” - -The faded, elderly woman, with the careworn face and fretful mouth, -clasped her thin, white hands nervously over her knee and answered, -wearily: - -“My rheumatism is bad enough, but what worries me most is that I made -such a mistake--pawning my diamonds for that splendid gown when you -might have done better remaining at home without it!” - -“Mamma, what can you mean?” and Jessie Stirling frowned, impatiently, -tearing a white rose to pieces with excited fingers. - -“I mean that, after all my sacrifices to get you ready for Mrs. Van -Bibber’s reception, hoping you might meet Chester Olyphant there and -make up your quarrel, he came here to call on you in your absence.” - -“And I missed him like that! Oh, what a shame! But who could have -dreamed he would miss the reception? Still, mamma, you should have kept -him till I returned. Oh, why did you let him get away?” queried the -girl, angrily. - -“How could I help it, my dear? You know very well I would have been -willing to chain him to his chair to keep him here till you came! I -did my best--made talk, and tried to hold him, but after an hour he -pleaded an engagement and hurried away.” - -“But he will come again. Surely he will! Of course you asked--made him -promise?” cried Jessie, wildly. - -“Yes, oh yes, but he did not say he would. He only came, he said, to -return some negatives you loaned him to make pictures from--the ones -you took with your own camera in the mountains last summer.” - -“Oh, yes, I remember--Uncle Hermann’s picturesque old stone mansion, -and some mountains and river views taken from the bridge at Alderson.” - -“Yes, and some pictures, too, of that hoidenish girl, Leola. I wish you -had left those out, Jessie.” - -“Why, really, mamma, I forgot they were in the negative book, for I -didn’t mean to show them to Chester. Not that I could be jealous of a -wild thing like Leola Mead, but because I promised her no one should -see them. There was that one of her wading in the creek, you know, and -another in bloomers sitting astride her white pony Rex, and another in -hunting costume, rifle on her shoulder. Really, she wasn’t pretty in -any of the negatives, except her white evening gown with the lilies on -her shoulder.” - -“Yes, he said that was lovely, and the others, too, and he asked no end -of questions about her, and where she lived. He pretended to be anxious -to see the scenery, but I guess it was Leola more than anything else. -Men are so sly!” - -“And you, mamma, what did you tell him?” Jessie asked, anxiously. - -“Oh, I told him we should be glad to have him visit Wheatlands some -time when we were there with my half brother, but I made up my mind he -should never go there till you were safely his wife.” - -“Good, mamma, though, really, I cannot look upon Leola Mead seriously -as a rival. Why, she is only a simple country girl, with no style or -good clothes at all.” - -“But dangerously pretty, Jessie, don’t forget that!--and as for style, -well, she is graceful and dashing as any girl I ever saw, and there’s -no telling what might happen if they met. Anyhow, he just plied me -with eager questions about the girl, and I could see he was almost -fascinated by her pictures. Of course I did not encourage him any. I -said she was my half brother’s ward, and presumably of low origin, as -he was reticent about her birth, and said she had not a friend in the -world but himself. I enlarged on her rude manners and hoidenish ways, -and said she was not nearly as pretty as the pictures.” - -“When in reality she is ten times prettier,” laughed Jessie. “So -you are right. He must never see Leola Mead until I am his wife. I -shall write him a sweet little note pretending he has lost one of the -negatives, and ask him to call again.” - -“I do not believe he will, for he evaded the question when I urged him -to do so. Indeed, I even hinted how sorry you were over the quarrel, -and he said, quite amiably, that it was all past now and he hoped you -and he might be good friends again.” - -“Friends, bah, he shall be my husband yet! I will win him back again; -his millions shall not slip through my fingers this time, I promise -you, mamma, and woe to any girl that dares try to rival me! But, -really, I am not jealous of anybody, for I think I see his little game. -He wants to make up, or he would not have come. It was easy enough -to return the pictures by mail, now, wasn’t it? But he probably came -because he wanted to see me, and that chat about Leola was only to make -me uneasy and jealous, don’t you see?” - -“I hope so, dear, but really I was quite frightened the way he talked -of the lovely pictures he had made from the negatives.” - -“Lovely nonsense!” Jessie cried, sharply, with an angry gleam of her -blue eyes, and a vicious snap of her white teeth as she added: “I -believe I would try to murder Leola if she came between us, for I -cannot believe his love for me is dead so soon. If it is, I’ll soon -warm over the old coals again. I’ll write him a note right away, saying -how sorry I am that I was out this afternoon, and asking him to come -this evening or to-morrow.” - -“Pray do so,” cried the scheming mother, whose small means were -dwindling away so fast in the effort to keep afloat in fashionable -society till her daughter’s beauty won a rich husband. - -Jessie wrote and dispatched her pleading note before she removed the -dainty hat from her fluffy blonde hair, and when evening came she -was waiting for him, gowned in dainty white, befitting the warm June -weather. - -To her amazement and anger there was no reply, and the next morning -she read, in the society columns of her favorite daily, that Chester -Olyphant had left New York the previous evening on a yachting trip with -several other young men, and would be absent two weeks. - -“Well, thank Heaven, there are only men in the party, so he will not -be exposed to any other girl’s fascinations on the trip, and I’ll be -waiting for him when he comes back,” cried Jessie, swallowing her -chagrin the best she could. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -ALL FOR LOVE. - - -Leola Mead sprang to the back of her mettlesome pony and almost flew -down the mountain road, her great, dark eyes flashing with anger, her -cheeks glowing crimson, her wealth of golden locks streaming like a -ruddy banner on the breeze. Against the tight bodice of her riding -habit her young bosom heaved tumultuously with the angry throbs of -her heart, for Leola had just had a bitter quarrel with her guardian, -and now gave vent to her excitement by giving free rein to Rex in a -breakneck ride. - -It was a lovely June morning in the mountains of West Virginia, all -Nature at her sweetest and fairest, and Leola had been planning such a -happy, happy day; but when she came out from breakfast ready for her -morning canter, there stood her saturnine old guardian asking her to -step into the library for a moment before she rode away. - -Leola obeyed him, pouting, for she hated to lose time indoors this -gladsome, golden day. - -There was no love lost between her and her grim guardian, anyway, for -he was a stern old man, reticent and mysterious, spending most of his -time in a horrid laboratory up in the tower chamber of the rough old -stone house, where the country folk said he was working either to wrest -from Nature the secret of making gold, or the still greater mystery -of distilling a magic elixir of life. About the neighborhood he got -the sobriquet Wizard Hermann, and looked the character with his lean, -stooping form, long black hair floating over his coat collar, strongly -marked features and cunning mouth, while his keen, gray eyes, under -bushy brows, seemed to pierce one through with their questioning gaze. - -His ancestors had been pioneer Indian fighters, and the large house -built of rough stone, just as taken from the quarry, dated back to the -time when the red man roamed the almost unbroken forest. - -In all the years while Leola had lived here with her governess in the -lonely old house, she could not remember a caress from the mysterious, -self-absorbed old man, who seemed to have no human interests or -passions, and to care for no one but the dwarfish servitor who helped -him in his laboratory, the only person he ever admitted within its -precincts. - -It was no wonder, then, that Leola followed Wizard Hermann unwillingly -into the musty-smelling library, with its high walnut wainscot, -dingy, green-stenciled walls, and side shelves lined with old leather -volumes, while the bare oaken floor on which she trod was worn with the -footsteps of successive generations who had passed from earth in the -fullness of time and been gathered to their fathers. - -In the somber room with its closed shutters Leola stood facing her grim -guardian with the impatient air of some beautiful young princess giving -audience to a vassal. - -As he stood hesitating where to begin, with an unwonted diffidence, she -said, coldly: - -“Speak; tell me your wish at once, sir, for I must hurry. I have an -engagement in town with my dressmaker.” - -At those words Wizard Hermann’s gloomy brow cleared as if by magic, -and quickly striking his lean, scarred hands together, he retorted, -maliciously: - -“An engagement with your dressmaker, eh, my proud lady? Very well, -while you are there you may give the woman an order for your wedding -gown.” - -“Sir,” she uttered, in amazement, her cheeks reddening. - -Wizard Hermann retorted, with a hoarse, sardonic laugh: - -“I said give the woman an order for your wedding gown, Leola Mead, for -you are to be married soon.” - -Leola stared, speechlessly, a moment, wondering if the old man was -losing his mind, and, taking advantage of her silence, he continued, -with forced bravado: - -“You look surprised, my haughty young lady, so I will explain. I have -accepted a desirable proposal for your hand, and as you are plenty old -enough to marry--nineteen your last birthday--I have named the wedding -for a month from to-day.” - -Leola, recovering her speech, cried, indignantly: - -“Quite a cool proceeding on your part, sir, I must say, but I wish you -to understand that I am not ready to marry yet.” - -“That makes no difference to me, for you will have to obey me, Leola -Mead, understand that,” he replied, with rising anger. “You are my -ward, and in pursuance of my duty to you, I have accepted a man for -your husband who worships the ground you walk upon and will spend money -on you like water.” - -Leola’s dark eyes blazed with indignation. - -“You must surely be mad,” she cried, passionately. “The man I would -choose for my husband must ask me for my hand, not you, sir. This -is free America, you must remember, not France, where marriages are -arranged by old people who have forgotten love and youth. I refuse the -suitor you have chosen for me without even hearing his name!” - -The old man muttered, sullenly. - -“Marriage is the destiny of all young girls. You would not wish to grow -into a sour old maid?” - -“No, I do not intend to be an old maid, sir, but,” with a proud toss of -her lovely head, “when I marry I shall choose the man myself, and it -shall be for love, not money!” - -“Money is the only thing worth having--money and long life,” he -muttered, but Leola, with a contemptuous laugh, turned to go. - -He sprang between her and the door, putting his back against it. - -“I have not done telling you all about this matter yet,” he exclaimed, -but Leola stamped her little foot in a fury, replying: - -“I will not hear another word, I tell you, and you may as well let me -go, and give up your foolish plans!” - -“By Heaven, miss, you shall marry the man of my choice--I swear it!” -cried the wizard, violently, but she answered, coldly: - -“Pray let me hear no more such nonsense, Uncle Hermann. Granted you -are my guardian, the law does not give you the power of marrying me to -anyone against my will. No, not another word, or I shall think you are -going insane, if not so already. Get away from that door, and let me -out, or I shall scream for assistance or jump out of the window!” - -“You would not dare do either!” he said. - -Leola ran like a flash to the window, pushing back the creaking -shutters, letting in a flood of June sunshine. The next moment she -sprang to the high sill, crying, defiantly: - -“Now, get away from that door or I will jump out!” - -The old man muttered, incredulously: “You would break your neck!” - -Leola answered, recklessly: - -“I shall risk that unless you let me out of the door. Come, now, I -will count ten. If you do not move before then I am gone,” and drawing -her dainty little feet up into the window, and dangling them on the -outside, she began counting in a clear, high voice: - -“One--two--three--four--five--six--seven--eight--nine--ten!” - -Wizard Hermann remained standing with his back toward the door, -regarding her with an incredulous leer, never dreaming she would make -the foolhardy leap, for from the window sill it was twenty feet to the -ground. - -But Leola was as good as her word. - -While she counted she kept her flashing dark eyes full upon his -stubborn face, and seeing that he did not move as the last word left -her lips, she deliberately turned and sprang out upon the ground. - -A cry of alarm shrilled over the old man’s lips, and he stood like one -rooted to the spot, listening for the cry of pain that must announce -the dread result of the perilous leap. Visions of Leola crippled or -dead floated before his mind’s eye, and he muttered, savagely: - -“Little vixen, if you have broken your neck it is your own fault! But -if you live you shall marry the man of my choice one month from to-day, -I swear it!” - -The sound of her voice floated to him indistinctly--was it a laugh or a -groan? - -He hurried to the window, shaking with excitement. - -There was Leola standing upright on the greensward, brushing her blue -skirt, and humming a little song to herself. - -“Are you hurt?” he quavered, anxiously, and she looked up, laughing -maliciously: - -“Hurt? Oh, no, not a bit!” she called back, gayly. “I just let myself -go limply, and I came down like a cat on all fours in the grass and -clover. I have fallen higher than that from trees many a time without -hurting myself. It’s easy enough when you learn to go limp and not -stiffen yourself; ha, ha!” - -As he glared in amazement she waved her hand, audaciously, adding: - -“You ought to try it yourself some time, Uncle Hermann! Well, good-bye, -sir, and mind you don’t let me hear any more of this match-making -business, unless you go and get married yourself!” and with that -parting shot, the merry girl ran across the grass, a vision of youth -and health and beauty, to where her pony was waiting, ready saddled, -beneath a tree. Vaulting lightly to his back, without even waiting to -fasten the loosened tresses of her ruddy hair, the wild young thing -was off and away down the mountain road, her young bosom throbbing -tumultuously, half with anger, half with mirth, at the rencontre with -her guardian. - -“The old silly, to think of marrying me off, without so much as by your -leave! The idea!” she exclaimed aloud, adding, more soberly, “Not that -I’d mind having a rich husband if he was handsome and winning, too, but -how often I have heard it said that good looks and riches seldom go -together, so if that’s the case I’d marry for love and let money go!” - -Her fit of anger dissolving in the sunshine of sweet good nature, she -hummed, as she galloped on, a fragment of a tender little love-song, -sweet as it was sad: - - “Honey flowers for the honey-comb, - And the honey-bees from home. - - “A honey-comb and a honey-flower - And the bee shall have his hour. - - “A honeyed heart for the honey-comb. - And the humming bee flies home. - - “A heavy heart in the honey-flower. - And the bee has had his hour.” - -Suddenly the low song died on her lips, changing to a cry of alarm. - -At a curve in the road she came suddenly upon a startling sight. - -Rex just swerved aside from a runaway horse that was dragging behind -it a shattered little runabout, in which stood upright a white-faced -man, straining desperately upon the reins, trying to stop the maddened -animal’s wild career. - -Even in that terrible moment, with the black horse plunging madly -forward to the imminent peril of the driver’s life, Leola saw, as by a -flash, that the man was young and very, very handsome, and her heart -throbbed with wild pain at his danger, for on one side the road sloped, -precipitously, downward to a dangerous stream of water, and a plunge -over that steep incline meant death in horrible form. - -But what could avert the catastrophe, for it seemed as if nothing could -restrain the plunging brute or turn aside his maddened course toward -the crumbling edge of the yawning precipice that would instantly engulf -both in ruin and death! - -A cry of agony, “Oh, God, save him!” shrilled over her rosy lips. - -Surely the listening angels heard the prayer, for suddenly she saw -that there was one chance in a thousand to avert the threatening -disaster--one chance, though with deadly peril to herself. - -With a high heart of hope, and a courage that defied all the deadly -risk, she dared the consequences, spurring Rex forward in front of the -black horse with a clarion call on her lips that wrought what seemed -like a miracle. - -For at her voice, conjoined with a startled whinny from Rex, the -terrified animal, plunging and rearing but an instant before, with -upraised hoofs nearing the verge of the dangerous precipice, now -stopped as if shot, trembling all over, while Leola, throwing out her -arms, caught his neck and clung, clung, clung, with the energy of -despair. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -ARE YOU AN ANGEL? - - -What subtle influence wrought the miracle, for it could not have been -the strength of Leola’s slender hands? - -But there stood the satanic black animal, its fury abated, its flight -arrested, its huge form trembling, shuddering, while the foamy sweat -dropped in streams to the ground. As for the driver, he had been hurled -violently backward into the road by the impetus of the sudden stop, and -now lay there without sound or motion, like a dead man. - -Leola, waiting only a moment to pat the black horse gently on his -heaving neck, slipped from her saddle and ran to the young man, -leaving, oh, wonder of wonders! the excited creature standing stock -still, and rubbing noses with Rex quite as if they had been old friends. - -“Oh, heaven, he is dead!” the girl moaned in anguish. - -Her heart sank like lead to see him lying there so still, with a little -stream of blood trickling from his temple, where it had struck against -a jagged rock. - -“Oh, if I only had some water,” she sighed, and just then the trickle -of a little spring by the side of the road caught her ears. She ran and -filled her riding cap with the clear fluid, and dashed it in his face. - -Oh, joy! he gasped once or twice, and opened on her anxious face a pair -of the bonniest dark blue eyes she had ever met--eyes that seemed to go -exactly with the glossy curls of thick brown hair. - -When his gaze met hers he smiled, faintly, and sighed: - -“I--I--where am I? Oh, I remember now. I was in an accident; my horse -ran away, and I was thrown out of the runabout. Was I killed? Is this -heaven, and are you an angel?” - -Leola laughed a happy, rippling laugh, sweet as music to his ears. - -“An angel? No, indeed,” she cried; “and this is not heaven, either, -only a rough, rocky road, where you fell when you pitched out of your -trap. Oh! are you hurt very bad? Does your poor head pain you very -much?” - -Their faces were very close together, for she had pillowed his head on -her tender arm, and he could feel the quick throbs of her excited heart -as she waited for his answer. - -“I--I--do not feel very bad,” he began, then suddenly lapsed into -unconsciousness again, and this time it seemed to her that he was -surely gone forever. - -Tears started in her eyes and fell in a burning shower upon his pallid, -handsome face, mingling with the crimson rain that ran down his cheek. - -Again he revived, and, looking up, met that tender, tearful glance of -Leola’s lovely eyes, that made the blood leap through his veins with -rapture. - -He said faintly: - -“Do not say you are not an angel, for I shall always think of you as -one, sweet girl! Ah, I remember all, now! My runaway horse was going -straight over the declivity when you spurred yours between and caught -his neck in your arms. It was a magnificent thing to do, but a perilous -one, too, to risk your life for an utter stranger!” - -Leola smiled brightly, and answered: - -“It certainly looked like taking a terrible risk, and would scarcely -have succeeded so well but for one fact quite unknown to you.” - -“And that?” he queried, eagerly; and she replied: - -“You see, I recognized in your satanic steed a favorite of mine--a -spirited creature that I loved dearly when it belonged to my guardian, -who sold it to the livery stable in town only a week ago. Black Hawk, -as we called him, was an elder brother to my pony Rex, and they were -fond of each other; so, you see, it was really our acquaintance with -Black Hawk that made him so easy to subdue. Just turn your head now, -sir, and you will see the pair biting at each other in the most -affectionate manner.” - -“It is wonderful,” he murmured; “but, all the same, I owe you my life, -for you ran a terrible risk trusting to Black Hawk’s possible obedience -to you. What if, in his fury of fear and rage--for he had taken -desperate fright at a well-digging machine in a field--he had proved -unmanageable? You and I must have gone down to death together, all in -one tragic moment.” - -“It is true, but let us not think of it, since the danger is past,” -said Leola, making light of it, and adding: - -“What troubles me now is how to get assistance for you. I don’t like to -leave you alone, but--Ah! I hear wheels. Some one is coming!” - -Sure enough, an old top buggy, drawn by an old gray mare, came -clattering around the curve of the road, and in it sat the one person -most welcome of any one in the world just now--the village doctor. - -“Oh, Doctor Barnes, how glad I am to see you! You see, there’s been -an accident,” Leola cried, eagerly, as he drew rein and began to jump -nimbly out. - -“Yes, my dear girl; I saw the accident from up on the hill, just as I -was coming out from a patient’s house, and I got to you as fast as old -Dolly would travel. Really, it was a splendid deed of daring!” cried -the middle-aged doctor, patting her bright head in a fatherly way as he -stooped over the young man. - -“Ah, a stranger!” he continued. “Well, how much is he hurt? Cut on the -temple, eh? Needs some stitches. Any bones broken, do you think? Wait -till I stanch and bind the wound, and then we will see.” - -This accomplished, he tendered the use of his arm, and the young -fellow got upon his feet without much difficulty. - -“Ah, you’re all right--unless there’s some internal hurt. Come, I will -put you into my buggy. Your arm on the other side. Leola and I must -take you to the nearest house, which happens to be the Widow Gray’s -cottage, below here. There I can sew up your wound and leave you in -safe hands till we can find out if there’s any internal injuries. All -right. Put your head back against the lap-robe. You will come with us, -Leola; I may need your help.” - -Stranger as the young man was, they could not have taken him to -a better place, for Widow Gray was the dearest old woman in the -neighborhood. She lived quite alone in a tidy cottage back among a -grove of maples, or a “sugar camp,” as the country people called it; -for here in the early spring was always produced that toothsome dainty, -maple sugar, so dear to the hearts of school children. The widow had -a neat spare room that she often let to a summer boarder, and to this -white-hung chamber she quickly led Doctor Barnes with his patient, her -round face beaming with good-nature as she promised to do all she could -for the unfortunate young stranger. - -“He will need your best nursing, I fear,” exclaimed Doctor Barnes; for, -on getting his patient down upon the bed, he immediately fainted again, -and the swoon was so deep that it was difficult to revive him. - -“Oh, he is dead!” sobbed Leola; and the thought carried with it such -agony that it changed and darkened the whole world to her young heart, -so dear had the handsome stranger grown already. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -BEWARE OF JEALOUSY. - - -How glad she was when he opened his eyes again, and faltered: - -“I am quite ashamed of myself, fainting away like a weak woman. I will -promise not to do so again, doctor.” - -Doctor Barnes quickly made him as easy as possible, and left him to the -widow’s care, promising to call again that evening to see how he fared, -and also to send word to the livery stable about the horse and trap. - -Leola felt she had no further excuse for staying, although, somehow, -she could not bear to go. - -She went into the room to say farewell, and he entreated her to stay, -in a weak voice, reinforced by pleading eyes. - -She smiled, and shook her head. - -“It is better I should go now, for the doctor says you must have -absolute rest and quiet to-day, and I am a sad chatterbox, but I will -come to-morrow and bring you some flowers,” she promised. - -She pressed his hand in mute farewell, and the contact thrilled her -with rapturous emotion, for even with his pallor and his bandaged head -he appeared to her a king among men--a veritable Prince Charming. - -A great change had come to her heart since she rode out so blithely -that morning, and the words of her simple song were coming true: - - “A honey-comb and a honey-flower. - And the bee shall have his hour.” - -She forgot all about her errand to town, and, remounting Rex, went for -a long ride, miles away, to a beautiful Blue Sulphur Spring, where she -lingered for hours upon the green lawn, dreaming over and over the -startling event of the day, and gazing anon into the sparkling depths -of the water, as if she might read in its pellucid depths the secret of -her future. - -And she recalled, with a sudden thrill, the gypsy who had told her -fortune last year, saying: - -“You will have a handsome, blue-eyed husband, and you will adore each -other; but beware of jealousy, or it will part you forever.” - -Leola had laughed at the gypsy then, but now she recalled her prophecy -with a prophetic thrill. - -“A handsome, blue-eyed husband! He has blue eyes!” she said--which -showed that her thoughts already reached forward to the unknown future. - - “Our feelings and our thoughts - Tend ever on and rest not in the present.” - -When she returned home she had temporarily forgotten all about her -little tiff with Wizard Hermann that morning, and as she saw him -nowhere about, it did not occur to her mind. She avoided every one, -which was not hard to do, the household consisting of only five -members--her guardian and self, her former governess, who now combined -teaching and housekeeping by way of economy, a fat black cook, and a -man of all work, a misshapen, dwarfish creature of tremendous strength. - -The day and night seemed interminably long to Leola, who lay awake many -hours through pure joy of this blissful something that had come so -suddenly into the placid current of her young life. Heaven forefend her -from ever knowing the wakefulness of sorrow! - -Bright and early the next morning she was out in the old-fashioned -garden, gathering roses, dewy sweet and lovely, and it was not -difficult to coax black Betsy for a bit of early breakfast before the -others appeared. - -Then, because she did not want to seem too anxious, Leola walked the -two miles to Widow Gray’s cottage. - -When Wizard Hermann asked at breakfast after the truant, Betsy, who was -bringing in the toast, answered that “young miss” had gone to carry -some flowers to a sick friend. - -“Humph!” was his careless rejoinder, little dreaming that the sick -friend was a charming young man who had already carried Leola’s heart -by storm. - -Meanwhile the young girl went blithely on her way, glad at heart with -a strange, new emotion, yet not realizing why the world seemed so much -sweeter than yesterday, the flowers fairer, the skies brighter, and all -nature attuned to a diviner melody. Even her own rare beauty had gained -another indefinable charm from the vibrations of love, pulsing joyfully -through all her frame. She knew that she was drawn by invisible cords -to the handsome stranger, but she imputed it to keen interest in one -she had saved from death. - -Widow Gray welcomed her with beaming smiles. - -“Oh, Miss Mead, such a rapid improvement you never saw in your life! -Why, after he had rested all day and night, he was like another man, -and the doctor let him dress this morning and lie on the lounge in his -room. He says he has no internal trouble at all, and need only stay in -a few days till his head gets well. Wasn’t he lucky? for the doctor -says the tumble might have killed him, and that it was a miracle it -didn’t. But, laws, he’s as right as a trivet, and has taken a poached -egg and bit of toast this morning. What sweet, sweet flowers! Come -right in, do, and see him; he’s expecting you.” - -How his blue eyes beamed as she entered with the flowers! Leola would -never forget that look to her dying day. - -“You are come at last!” he cried, happily. “I have been hoping and -watching for you more than an hour! I should have been in a fever of -impatience if you had stayed away much longer!” - -“And yet it is quite early. See, the dew is not yet dry on the roses I -brought you,” smiled Leola, as she drew a chair close to his side. - -“Are you not glad I escaped with so slight injury?” he exclaimed, -joyously. “And only to think that I owe my life to you! How can I repay -you but by devoting it to your service?” - -This was very rapid love-making, indeed. Leola, with her very limited -experience that way, felt it was so, yet somehow she could not chide -him. Her heart beat very fast, her cheeks flamed crimson, and when she -tried to look away from him she could not help his gaze from holding -hers in a long look into her soul that was trying to hide from him -beneath her dark, curling lashes. In that moment of pure rapture Sir -Cupid transfixed both their hearts with his cunning arrow. They were -no more strangers; they seemed to have known each other in some past -incarnation. - -Leola thought, thrillingly: - -“Surely this is love that makes my heart beat so fast and my cheeks -burn under his glance, that holds my own so that I cannot look away! He -is my fate!” - -The young stranger was saying to himself, quite as romantically: - -“Before I saw this exquisite creature I was madly in love with her -shadow, and now that we have met, my heart is in her keeping forever. I -owe her my very life, and I will be her true knight--and swear eternal -fealty to my liege lady!” - -He reached out and caught her hand, saying, deeply and tenderly: - -“Forgive me if I seem too hasty, but something urges me on to confess -my love before some unknown fate comes between us. Leola, am I too -hasty, or may I hope to win your heart?” - -The lashes fell against her blushing cheeks as she murmured: - -“I--I--how strange that you have learned to love me--like that--since -only yesterday!” - -“I loved you weeks before I ever met you,” was his startling reply; and -as she cried out in wonder over that, he continued, fondly: - -“A few weeks ago, in New York, a young lady loaned me some negatives -to copy. She had made them with her camera while out in the mountains -last summer, she said. Among these negatives were such charming views -of a young girl, that I fell in love with the pictures as soon as I -made them. I did not rest until I found out where the girl lived, her -name, and, in short, all there was to learn about her. Then I took the -train for West Virginia, and on arriving at Alderson I started out the -same morning to find you, Leola; for, of course, you have guessed it -was yourself! Directly my horse took fright; and only fancy my feelings -when I saw you coming toward me on your white pony, a perfect vision -of youth and joy and beauty, and realized that a horrible death might -thrust us apart in another fatal moment. You saved my life, and can you -wonder I look upon you as my fate--the fairest fate that ever life gave -to a man?” - -He paused, pressed the hand he held again ardently, and added, musingly: - -“How strangely everything has come about! I thought I should have -to get acquainted with you in a very proper way, and go through a -ceremonious courtship before I proposed, but fate took it all out of my -hands. Now, what have you to say to this, my dear girl? Will you let me -hope to win your love?” - -“It is yours already,” Leola confessed, with exquisite frankness; then, -as he rapturously kissed her trembling hand, she exclaimed, in wonder -at herself: - -“Oh, perhaps you think I am too lightly won when I do not even know -your name!” - -“That can be remedied very soon. Call me Ray Chester, an artist, who -wishes he were richer for your sweet sake.” - -“Then you are poor?” Leola questioned, gravely. - -“Do you regret it?” he asked, sadly. - -“I--I--don’t know. Cousin Jessie always advised me never to marry poor. -It is Jessie Stirling, I mean. She loaned you the negatives, did she -not?” - -“Yes; but I am sorry she put such notions in your pretty head. Perhaps -you will take back your promise, learning I am poor.” - -“Oh, no, no, no! Never! I could not marry any one without love, but -Jessie says she would take a fright if he had a million dollars. -However, she has ‘hooked,’ so she says, a big fish, rich, and young, -and handsome, too, and she wants, when she is married, for me to visit -her so she can make a grand match for me.” - -“I will save her the trouble,” said Ray Chester. “Love in a cottage -will be our portion, my darling, but you are so lovely that I shall -paint a picture of you that will perhaps make my fortune!” - -Suddenly a shadow clouded her lovely eyes. She had remembered for the -first time her guardian’s threat of yesterday. - -“You look sad, Leola. Are you repenting your promise already?” her -lover cried, anxiously. - -“I shall never repent. I believe you are my fate!” the girl exclaimed, -earnestly, and to herself she thought: - -“I will not tell him of my guardian’s foolish plans for wedding me to a -rich man yet, for perhaps he will give it up after my frank refusal to -obey him. No; I will not even think of it again; he cannot coerce me, -for I will tell him I have already chosen my husband.” - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -A HONEY BEE AND A HONEY FLOWER. - - -The Widow Gray had a very romantic turn of mind, and she had not -forgotten her young days yet, so it was easy enough for her to find out -that the two young folks were already deeply in love. - -“And no wonder, either,” she said to herself, sagely, “for the two -beautiful young things seem to be made for each other.” - -Accordingly, she helped out the romance all she could by insisting on -the girl’s coming every day to help while away the invalid’s lonely -hours, saying, cheerfully: - -“For you know that just as soon as Mr. Chester gets well enough to be -going about he will be right up at Wheatlands, paying back your visits -two to one.” - -Thus encouraged, Leola came and went daily, making long visits without -exciting any suspicion at home, for she was used to having her own way, -and no one interfered with her liberty. - -It was quite a week that Ray Chester was detained at the cottage, for -although he made light of his injuries, he was very much bruised, and -felt stiff and sore, and the little gash on his temple was deep enough -to take some time in healing, and even then it would leave a scar under -his thick, brown curls that would always remain to remind him of lovely -Leola’s bravery in saving his life at the risk of her own. - -But that week went away so quickly, so happily, in that golden June -weather, that when it was over they could not realize the lapse of days. - -“It seemed like one exquisite day,” they said to each other. - -The programme of their days had been something like this: - -Leola called every morning on Rex, and remained until the midday meal -at Wheatlands. After appearing at this hour she slipped away again, -returning to the cottage and staying till she had to go home to supper. -Her regularity at these meals warded off any suspicion that she spent -the intervening hours in the company of a very charming young man, -who would render all Wizard Hermann’s schemes to marry her off to her -unknown suitor quite null and void. - -After supper, then, came the lonely time, for Leola had to remain at -home and play to the governess on the piano in the dingy parlor, whose -faded hangings had not been renovated for years. As this had been a -yearly practice, she could not omit it without exciting wonder on the -part of the spinster lady who had acted as her governess and companion -since early childhood, and, now that school days were over, looked -after the housekeeping, staying on indefinitely, not seeming to have -either friends or suitors. - -Yet, although she was over forty now, Miss Tuttle had not given over a -scarcely-concealed hope of marrying. - -As she was very thin and tall, her secret choice had fallen on her -exact opposite, a neighboring widower about fifty, who was rather short -and very stout, and had recently come into a fortune by selling some -valuable coal-lands in Greenbrier county. - -Miss Tuttle having been in love with neighbor Bennett when he was in -moderate circumstances, only loved him the harder when he became so -rich that he did not know how to spend his money. - -Some neighborly kindnesses he had certainly shown her, but not as many -as she wished, and no amount of scheming had sufficed to bring him to -the point of proposing. - -Thus absorbed in her own love-affair, it was no wonder that Miss Tuttle -paid small attention to Leola’s comings and goings, regarding her still -as a pretty child who had heretofore laughed at love and lovers. - -So there were none to molest the lovers and make them afraid, for -Wizard Hermann, though he did not give over his scheme, held his peace -and went his way in cunning silence, giving Leola time to get over her -fright. - -Even Doctor Barnes, who had not found it necessary to pay but three -visits to his patient, did not know of the romance going on at the -cottage, and being very busy with the measles, just then epidemic in -Alderson and the country round about, he had no time to gossip about -the stranger whose life Leola Mead had saved. As there were none who -knew Ray Chester, so there were none to worry over him; and beneath the -matronly chaperonage of kind Widow Gray their secret love bloomed into -a splendid flower whose strong roots only death could tear away. - - “I love you, sweet: how can you ever learn - How much I love you?” “You I love even so, - And so I learn it.” “Sweet, you cannot know - How fair you are.” “If fair enough to earn - Your love, so much is all my hour’s concern.” - “My love grows hourly, sweet!” “Mine, too, doth grow, - Yet love seemed full so many hours ago.” - The lovers speak till kisses claim their turn. - -“It cannot surely be a whole week; was it not only yesterday?” cried -the doting lover. - -But Leola counted off the days to him on her rosy fingers. - -“It was Tuesday when first we met--Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, -Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and now it is Tuesday again! And I -have been to see you twice every day, Ray! But to-morrow I cannot come -at all, for there is a horrid picnic to which Miss Tuttle insists on -taking me, and I cannot refuse lest she find me out.” - -“Why, then, I shall go to the picnic, too. I adore picnics!” cried Ray -Chester. - -“But you are not invited. It’s a Sunday school picnic, you see, Ray, -and you are not acquainted with anybody.” - -“I’ll invite myself, and get acquainted with everybody there in less -than an hour,” he answered, gayly; and calling to Mrs. Gray, who was -watering her geraniums in the yard, he said: - -“Aren’t you going to the picnic to-morrow?” - -“Perhaps so--only I shall have to leave you a cold dinner,” she said, -hesitatingly, coming up to the vine-wreathed porch in whose shadow the -lovers were sitting. - -“I’ll go with you if you let me!” cried Ray; “and you will introduce me -to everybody there as your new boarder.” - -“And to Miss Tuttle in particular; and mind you show her much -attention, Ray, for then she will ask you to Wheatlands,” laughed -Leola, falling into the spirit of the thing, for it came to her -suddenly that by this means she and Ray could go on courting under her -guardian’s very nose without being suspected. - -“Miss Tuttle is so vain she will easily think Ray is in love with her,” -she thought, merrily, and so they all laid their plans for to-morrow. - -The picnic came off in a beautiful grove, and Widow Gray’s new boarder -kept his word, and got acquainted with everybody there inside of an -hour. - -He was specially gracious to the smiling Miss Tuttle, who herself -presented him to Leola, saying: - -“Miss Mead, the little girl to whom I have been governess over ten -years.” - -The little girl bowed demurely, and said she was glad to meet Miss -Tuttle’s friend, and then she turned carelessly away, and was -particular not to interrupt his chat with the spinster until by his -assiduity he got the coveted invitation to call. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -LOVE’S ENTANGLEMENTS. - - -“Isn’t he perfectly charming, Leola? As handsome as a picture, and -the prettiest manners I ever saw--so courteous, so kind, altogether -different from some of the country bumpkins about here, who don’t seem -to appreciate ladies as they ought. But really, for the life of me, I -cannot tell which one of us he is courting, for he is so nice to us -both. Sometimes I think it’s you, and then, again, I may be the object -of his affection. I cannot deny there may be a little disparity in our -years, but I do not believe he would mind that, do you, dear?” - -This was two weeks later than the picnic, from which it may be inferred -that Ray Chester’s courtship was progressing finely, without let or -hindrance from Wizard Hermann. - -Fortune had favored our daring hero, for Leola’s guardian had been -absent from home nearly two weeks, and on returning he had resumed his -laboratory work with such zeal that he remained quite in ignorance of -the fact that a handsome young man, a stranger from the city, was a -daily and welcome caller on the ladies of his family. - -His first news of the fact came from Mr. Bennett, his rich and rotund -neighbor, who, perhaps growing jealous over Miss Tuttle, desired to -know if Mr. Hermann had any knowledge of the stranger’s intentions. - -“In a word, sir, is the fellow sparking Miss Tuttle or Leola?” he said, -brusquely. - -Mr. Hermann, startled, denied any knowledge of the young man. - -“I’ve been up to New York for some precious chemicals I required, and I -was nearly ten days absent. Since I returned I’ve been almost too busy -to take time to eat or sleep, and I have not seen or heard of any young -man,” he declared. - -The sleek Bennett soon made him acquainted with the facts as he knew -them himself. - -“The fellow’s from the city, somewhere away off, good-looking and -dandyfied, an artist, he claims to be. He’s boarding down to Widow -Gray’s, and showed himself first at a picnic, where he came with her -and got introduced to the whole country-side. I’m not saying he isn’t -as pleasant a young chap as I ever met, but I don’t like it, seeing him -in and out at Wheatlands all the time without knowing for sure who he’s -after, Hermann,” he concluded, uneasily. - -“I’ll look into the matter this very day and find out what’s in the -wind,” was the reassuring reply. - -Bennett’s little ferret eyes looked sharply at him, and he muttered: - -“I won’t have any fooling over this here bargain. The mortgage falls -due pretty soon now, and if you fail to keep your word, I’ll foreclose -at once, I swear.” - -“I’ll keep it to the letter: don’t you be uneasy,” soothed Wizard -Hermann, adding: - -“Have you done anything to help along your own cause, eh?” - -“I’ve called several times and fetched the geerls presents of fruit and -candy, and took ’em riding in my fine new turnout, but that dad-blame -dandy was always along, and I couldn’t hardly get in a word edgeways -to the geerl, and Miss Tuttle, she done all the talking to me, so’s I -hadn’t any show at all with Leola,” Bennett muttered, morosely. - -“Let’s see; suppose you write a letter and propose formally for her -hand. Tell her how rich you are, and that you’ll give her anything her -heart craves. If she refuses, then I shall have to use my influence,” -Wizard Hermann said, consolingly, wishing he were well out of all this -bother and back in his laboratory at work with his beloved chemicals. - -His house and lands were all mortgaged to his rich neighbor, and he -had not a dollar to pay him to prevent foreclosure. It seemed like a -providence when the rich widower cast his covetous eyes on lovely -Leola, and offered, if Hermann could get her to marry him, to release -the debt. - -It was fifteen thousand dollars, but Wheatlands, with its -wide-spreading acres, was worth twice as much, and it was terrible to -thus sacrifice the home of his forefathers; so Hermann, who had burned -up all that money in his foolish and mysterious experiments, decided -that Leola must be sacrificed to pay the debt, since there was no other -way. - -But how to obtain her consent he did not know, and, since the morning -when she had so angrily repulsed him, the subject had tacitly dropped -between them, Hermann realizing that his end could only be gained by -force and cunning. - -Bennett’s story about a possible rival put a new element of trouble -into the affair, so he set himself to investigate matters by calling -the governess to account. - -When he summoned her to the library she thought he only wanted to go -over some housekeeping accounts with her, or possibly to pay some -arrears of her salary long overdue. - -Visions of a new gown and bonnet floated joyfully before her mind’s -eye, but she was soon undeceived. - -“Who and what of this young dandy who is making so free of my house -these two weeks?” he demanded. - -Miss Tuttle bridled, and tried to blush like an eighteen-year-old girl. - -“Oh, Mr. Hermann, the most charming young man--he’s a boarder at Widow -Gray’s, and is most attentive,” she simpered. - -“So I have heard, but who is he after--Leola?” he demanded. - -“Oh, sir, no, indeed--that is, I cannot really be sure of his -intentions toward either; he’s so very charming to both of us we cannot -decide between us which he prefers yet--but he does not seem like a -flirt!” - -“Amanda Tuttle, don’t be an old fool! How do you suppose any young man -could hesitate between an old woman like you and pretty Leola?” he -replied, brusquely. - -“Sir!” Miss Tuttle bridled, and tears came into her eyes. - -“Well, well, I spoke roughly, but you should not be so silly,” returned -her employer. “Remember you were not very pretty when you first came -here, and fifteen years has changed you into a faded old maid.” - -“I--I--hate you!” she sobbed, pitifully. - -“Hard words break no bones,” he said, carelessly. - -“If you will pay me my salary I’ll leave Wheatlands forever!” she -sobbed, bitterly, in her humiliation; but he went on, coolly: - -“No, I don’t want you to leave; I really need your services, Miss -Tuttle. But as to whether you ever get that money I owe you depends on -your own exertions. I’ve lost everything, and unless Leola makes a rich -marriage I’ve planned for her, I will not have a roof over my head this -day month.” - -Miss Tuttle mopped her wet eyes with a little lace-edged handkerchief, -and straightened up, full of breathless curiosity. - -“Oh, who is he?” she exclaimed; and thereupon he suddenly confided his -difficulties freely to her, hopeful of her ready co-operation, but, -being totally unversed in the intricacies of a woman’s heart, he made -the mistake of his life. - -On learning that the rotund widower, Bennett, whom she secretly -loved, was a suitor for Leola’s hand, the spinster promptly went into -hysterics that she could not have helped to save her life. - -She shrieked furiously: - -“Oh, the fat villain, the vile deceiver! After all his attentions to me -since his poor wife died, to turn around and fall in love with a chit -of a girl like Leola! Oh, I could tear him limb from limb, the wretch! -And as to marrying him, she shall not--never, never!” - -“Oh, really, really!” soothed her employer, but all to no purpose, for, -her heart being touched, she could not restrain her excitable feelings, -but raved on angrily and tearfully for some time, until her emotion -spent itself, the old man having bided his time to this end. - -He now observed, sarcastically: - -“If you have done making a fool of yourself now, Amanda Tuttle, perhaps -you will tell me what you are going to do about it. You cannot marry -Bennett if he will not have you.” - -“No,” she moaned, tearfully; and he continued, coolly: - -“Perhaps you will bring suit for breach of promise.” - -Miss Tuttle fairly tore her hair in her humiliation. - -“Will you, now?” he repeated. - -“No,” she sobbed, suddenly realizing that she really had no grounds to -base a legal action upon. She had built her hopes on a baseless fabric -of neighborly politeness, nothing more, and her house of cards had -tumbled to the ground. - -The revulsion from long hope to sudden despair was so bitter that it -awakened an intense and jealous hatred for Leola, superseding the -devotion of years. - -Hermann realized that he had made a mistake in taking her into his -confidence, and made a masterly retreat, exclaiming: - -“Oh, well, well, don’t take it so hard, Amanda Tuttle; you’re too -old to behave like a love-sick chit! It isn’t likely that Leola will -want to marry him, anyhow, and if she refuses, of course I must let -old Bennett take the house and everything, and we can all go to the -almshouse together!” - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -BOAST NOT THYSELF OF TO-MORROW. - - -It was the bitterest hour of her life to poor Miss Tuttle. - -While she was talking to old Hermann she heard merry voices out of -doors, and knew that Ray Chester had arrived and was sitting out in the -rose arbor laughing and talking with beautiful Leola, who had turned -out to be her rival when she thought her only a merry-hearted young -girl. - -She wondered if it could be true, as her employer said, that no one -would look at her twice when his lovely ward was by, and now she sadly -remembered several little things that made her sure that his words were -true. - -Sometimes, when the three went for long walks together, the younger -pair would quite tire her out, but they would insist on going still -further, leaving her waiting under some shady tree with a novel for an -hour sometimes, while they hunted wild flowers or bird’s nests, and -their happy laughter would come ringing back as if they did not miss -her in the least, as now she suddenly realized they did not; they only -wanted her for an elderly chaperon. - -But somehow this did not hurt her as much as the seeming perfidy of -Widower Bennett, whom she loved with all her warm heart and at whom she -had been making tender eyes ever since his wife died a year or so ago. -She had persuaded herself she would be the most proper wife he could -find anywhere, and to find Leola preferred before herself was like the -bitterness of death. - -She could not help envying and hating the lovely girl with the weakness -of a shallow nature suddenly roused to bitter jealousy, and when she -hurried away from Wizard Hermann’s presence to her own room, she -was half resolved to pack her trunk and go away forever to hide her -humiliation and grief. - -But while she bathed her stained face and smoothed her rather pretty -brown hair, she reflected that she had nowhere to go, for all her -relatives were dead, and she had no friends of any consequence. - -Poor soul, how she longed for a home and husband of her own! But the -realization of her dream seemed further off than ever now, and as she -stood at her window gulping down her piteous sobs, she heard again, -from the rose arbor, the gay laughter of the lovers, and curiosity made -her descend to them, wondering what had caused their mirth. - -Leola, as pretty as a flower in her white gown, had a letter in her -hand, and she and Ray, with their heads very close, were laughing over -it together. - -“Oh, Miss Tuttle, this is so ridiculous I have laughed till I cried,” -said Leola. “Only think, I have a lover, and he has made me a proposal -of marriage.” - -“And,” added Ray, laughingly, “it is such a brilliant and desirable -match that she is almost sorry she had promised to marry me before she -received it!” - -“So you two are engaged?” cried Miss Tuttle, feeling the ground sink -beneath her feet. - -“Oh, yes, Miss Tuttle, and I know you are not surprised. Won’t you -congratulate us?” cried Leola’s handsome lover. - -“But please, please, don’t tell Uncle Hermann, for I think I begin to -see through his plans now, and he will never consent for me to marry -a poor artist when I could marry his rich neighbor, old Mr. Bennett,” -laughed Leola. - -Poor Miss Tuttle gasped for breath, and sank helplessly on a garden -chair, wishing she were dead and buried, so keen was her pain and -humiliation. - -“You may read the old man’s letter if you like,” added the girl, -thrusting it into her hand. - -The sorrowful spinster, who would have given all she possessed for such -a letter, was forced to read the gushing and awkward love letter of -the rich old widower to the merry girl, who laughed over it with her -handsome young lover, and gayly passed around the fine box of bonbons -that accompanied the epistle. - -“The dear old silly! I thought he looked on me still as a little girl,” -she cried. “Now if he had only been sensible and asked you, Miss -Tuttle, it would have been a charming arrangement in point of age and -all that, you know.” - -Miss Tuttle winced at the innocent thrust of the happy girl, but she -was so miserable that her pride fell from her like a garment, and she -frankly assented, saying: - -“Yes, for I always admired Mr. Bennett, and if he had asked me I would -have accepted him.” - -The young people instantly felt very sorry and sympathetic, and Leola -proposed that when she gave him her answer she should give him a hint -that he would be more successful with the governess than with the pupil. - -Miss Tuttle was so moved by this offer that she felt all her anger and -jealousy give way, and took Leola into her heart again. - -“Oh, if you could only manage it I would be grateful forever,” she -exclaimed. “You know I cannot stay on at Wheatlands when you are gone, -Leola, for people would talk, and besides the fact that he is in -arrears for my salary, we have had a bitter quarrel this morning,” and -then, between tears and sobs, she blurted out all Wizard Hermann’s -plans to the astonished lovers. - -Then Leola recalled the morning, three weeks ago, when her guardian had -bidden her prepare to be married in a month to the man of his choice. - -“So this is my rich suitor--old Bennett!” she burst out, laughing, -for she could not regard it seriously at all, not realizing Wizard -Hermann’s grim determination. - -“Why do you call him old? He is only about fifty or so, and a fine, -handsome man!” complained the tearful governess. - -She could hardly understand why the volatile Leola burst into spasms -of the merriest laughter, in which Ray Chester could not help joining. -Alas, they were so gay and happy, they were full of joy and laughter, -little dreaming of the tragic moment near at hand when tears would come -more readily than smiles, and the dull ache at the heart would be like -a piercing thorn. - -“If I were you, Leola, I would not feel so gay, for your guardian -swears he will enforce his authority and have you marry Mr. Bennett, -willy-nilly!” reproved Miss Tuttle, anxiously. - -The girl looked gayly at her lover, and he caught her little hand in -his, saying, tenderly: - -“We aren’t afraid of him, are we, my precious Leola? And if the worst -comes to the worst, we will elope to Washington and get married before -old Bennett knows what we are up to.” - -“If you were only rich there needn’t be any trouble. You could pay off -the mortgage for Mr. Hermann, and then he would be willing enough for -you to have Leola!” suggested Miss Tuttle, inquiringly. - -Ray’s dark blue eyes looked questioningly into those of his bonny -sweetheart. - -“Are you sorry I’m not rich? Would you rather have your old suitor?” he -asked, gently. - -“Nonsense; I’d take you without a coat to your back before I would have -that old Falstaff, with all his money,” she answered, laughingly, and -they dismissed the thought of danger, for how could anyone force a girl -to marry against her will? - -“But perhaps, after all, I had better see your guardian, and ask him -for his consent to our marriage?” questioned Ray. - -The governess shook her head. - -“No, do not anger him now, for he is really in such a rage he might set -the dogs on you, who knows?” - -“Oh, very well, we need not hurry. It will all blow over by-and-by,” -cried Leola, in her happy-go-lucky way, and presently, when Ray had -taken leave, she went up to her room and penned an amiable but decided -refusal of Mr. Bennett’s offer, saying she would prefer to marry a -younger man, and frankly advising him to turn his attention to Miss -Tuttle, who admired him immensely, and would make him the best wife in -the world. - -When she showed this effort to the governess, that lady promptly hugged -and kissed her, and declared she was the dearest girl on earth. - -A special messenger carried the missive over to the Bennett place, and -Leola congratulated herself that the episode was closed. - -But who can tell what a day may bring forth? - -Leola’s whole life had been carelessly happy, for she was blessed with -one of those sweet, sunshiny natures that always look on the bright -side, and find pleasure in the simple joys of even a quiet life. She -made her own sunshine as she went. - -For more than three weeks now she had been blissfully happy--so happy -that in all her future she will look back in wonder that such perfect -happiness could be, for, alas, this was the end of those golden days of -love’s sweet dream. - -That night, at supper, Wizard Hermann said, casually, as if it were a -matter of small moment: - -“Mrs. Stirling and Jessie will arrive on the early train to-morrow.” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -WINDING A WEB. - - -When Miss Tuttle and Leola were alone together they talked over the -news, and neither one was very well pleased, the girl, since their -coming would break up her happy days with Ray, and the governess, -because the Stirlings were always supercilious with her, and naturally -made more work for the household. - -“I do not see why I should put myself out to wait on pretentious fine -ladies this warm weather, especially when my employer has not paid a -dollar of my salary for five months,” she complained, and Leola added: - -“There will be no more good times with Ray, for like as not they will -join hands with Uncle Hermann in persecuting him, and try to have me -marry old Bennett because he is rich. Oh, dear! I’m sorry Ray isn’t -coming back to-night, so I could tell him not to come to-morrow.” - -“You might send word to him in the morning before they come,” suggested -Miss Tuttle, and Leola agreed to the plan, which would have worked -itself out all right had not fate decreed that Leola’s little black -messenger should lose the note and Widower Bennett find it. - -He was riding briskly toward Wheatlands when his fine bay mare shied, -wildly, at a square white envelope blowing about in the dusty road, and -an impulse of curiosity made him dismount and pick it up. - -When he saw Leola’s familiar writing on the sealed envelope, he was -seized with such poignant wrath and jealousy that no scruple of honor -prevailed to prevent his becoming master of the contents. - -“To Ray Chester, the young dandy--wonder if she’s giving him the -mitten as she did me yesterday!” he muttered, wrathfully, and broke the -pretty seal of blue wax with a ruthless hand. - -The blood bounded hotly through his veins as he read: - - “My Own Darling Ray: - - “You must not come in the morning as usual, because the Stirlings are - coming, Uncle Hermann says, and I do not want them to know of our - engagement yet, for they both are very mercenary, and would take sides - against you, and want me to marry old Bennett, because he is rich, - while you are poor! As if I would have that dumpy old fright on any - terms--no, not even if he were President of the United States! Oh, - why didn’t the old silly lose his heart to dear Miss Tuttle instead - of me, when she loves the very ground he walks on, and would make him - such a suitable wife? Fate seems to play at cross purposes with us, my - darling Ray, but we will outwit our enemies and be happy yet. - - “You had better not come to Wheatlands to-day, but if you will stay in - all afternoon, I will try to make an errand to Widow Gray’s, and we - can talk things over and make plans for the future. - - “Oh, isn’t it just hateful the way things seem to work against our - happiness? Just think, if only Jessie Stirling hadn’t got engaged to a - fortune already, we might get my rotund suitor in love with her, and - she could have all the money she craves. - - “Be sure to stay in until I come this afternoon. Your own loving - “Leola.” - -Widower Bennett stamped upon the ground in a fury, hissing out the -epithets she had used in writing of him in the bitterest voice ever -heard: - -“‘Old Bennett!’ ‘Dumpy old fright!’ ‘Old silly!’ ‘My rotund suitor!’ -She would not marry me if I were President of the United States! -Why, now, I swear I will marry the little spitfire if it costs me my -fortune!” - -In this rage he remounted his mare and galloped on to Wheatlands, -between whose master and himself there ensued an excited interview. - -Leola’s letter refusing Bennett’s hand was exhibited in furious anger -by the slighted recipient. - -“She would prefer to marry a younger man than me, and she recommends me -to take Miss Tuttle--that skinny, homely old maid, almost as old as I -am!” he blustered, wrathfully, adding: - -“You promised faithfully she should marry me, Hermann, but instead of -watching her as you ought, you go poking among your old chemicals, -as blind as a bat, and let her get engaged to a pretty-faced young -jackanapes from the city--a pauper without a dollar to support his -wife on, sir, and yet it lacks only a few days of the time set for my -marriage to that saucy girl, and, mind you, if the ceremony is not -pulled off in due time, I’ll lose not a day, I swear, in foreclosing -the mortgage.” - -It was in vain that Wizard Hermann tried to pacify him, saying that he -would certainly keep his promise, and that he was sure that there was -some mistake about Leola’s engagement to young Chester, who was almost -a stranger. - -But at this point Bennett produced his proof in the shape of Leola’s -letter to Ray. - -“This is worse than I thought, but it does not alter the fact that the -girl shall be your wife, Bennett, for I have sworn to keep my promise, -and I will not fail you, by Heaven!” vowed Hermann, continuing: - -“As for neglecting to get matters into shape, that is false, for I -have been quietly working to the promised end all these weeks, but, -having encountered such determined opposition from the girl, I thought -it expedient not to press her too hard, but to depend on force and -cunning, since fair means failed. In fact, one of my objects in going -to New York was to enlist the aid of my clever half-sister, Mrs. -Stirling, in accomplishing the end in view. She will arrive with -her daughter this morning, and although I admit that the case looks -unpromising now, I believe we will soon wind a web around Leola from -which she cannot escape. Go home, Bennett, and rest easy in the thought -that before the end of a week she will be your charming bride.” - -The prospective bridegroom beamed with joy and assured Hermann that he -was ready to co-operate in any plan proposed for Leola’s subjugation. - -“I will go to any length now to punish her for her contempt, and for -advising me to marry a skinny old maid like Amanda Tuttle when I’m rich -enough to buy a lovely young girl for a bride!” he vowed, coarsely, and -took leave with renewed hope. - -In the hall, as he was going out, he encountered Miss Tuttle, and -fancied she might have been eavesdropping from her air of confusion, -but he stalked past her with a curt nod that cut to her tender heart -like a knife. - -“Oh, what has come over him when he used to be so friendly? Can it be -that he is angry at Leola’s suggestion that he should court me?” sighed -the poor thing, deprecatingly. - -It would have been well indeed if she had been listening, as Bennett -suspected, for then she might have been able to inform Leola of the -perils that threatened her in the joining of forces of Wizard Hermann -and his worldly-wise sister, but she had only been loitering about the -hall in hopes of a little interview when he came out, and tears of -disappointment brimmed over in her kind gray eyes, when he passed her -with so indifferent a greeting. - -As she followed to the door and watched him galloping away toward home, -she saw the carriage coming with the Stirlings, and ran to tell Leola -the news. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -WHAT THE ROBINS HEARD. - - -By-and-by, when Jessie removed the dust of travel, and freshened -herself up with a dainty blue gown that just matched her sky-blue eyes, -the two girls strolled out upon the lawn, and presently found seats in -the favorite rose-arbor, where the robins, nesting overhead, made a -mighty twittering in vain protest against their unwelcome intrusion. - -“It is because you are a stranger, Jessie,” laughed Leola. “It is quite -different when Ray and I come here together--they treat us quite as if -we belonged to the Robin family.” - -“Who is Ray?” asked Jessie, curiously. - -Leola could not help blushing furiously, but she said, as carelessly as -she could: - -“Oh, only one of our neighbors!” - -She was inwardly furious with herself at this slip of the tongue that -was destined to lead her into self-betrayal. Ah, how true it is that a -name that is close to the heart must often rise to the lips. - -To distract Jessie’s attention she asked, all in a breath: - -“When are you going to marry your grand, rich lover, Jessie?” - -“My wedding will be in October,” fibbed Miss Stirling, who had no mind -to confess that she had lost the prize, and she continued: - -“Mr. Olyphant has gone on a yachting tour with some friends now, and I -do not know exactly when they will return. It was expected they would -only be gone two weeks, but they extended the trip. I miss him very -much, and I shall be quite frantic if he stays much longer!” - -“Then you love him very much?” queried Leola, with shining eyes. - -“Love him! I should say so!” cried Jessie, eagerly. “Why, Leola, he is -as handsome as a picture, tall, with an elegant figure, fine features, -brown, curly hair, and beautiful, laughing blue eyes!” - -“So has Ray!” cried Leola, then bit her lips in confusion, sighing to -herself: - -“What a lovesick little goose I am, giving away my dangerous secret in -spite of myself!” - -“Ray again!” cried Jessie, suspiciously. “Come, now, tell me all about -him, Leola. A neighbor, you said, but I knew no one of that name about -here last summer. You say he has laughing blue eyes like Chester -Olyphant, so you must be fond of him, this neighbor! Confess now, is he -your lover?” - -“Oh, nonsense, Jessie, we were talking of your lover!” cried Leola. “Go -on, please, tell me more of him, and of your love for each other.” - -“We are perfectly devoted to each other,” declared Jessie, -unblushingly. “How could I help loving him--with all that money!” - -“But, Jessie, if Mr. Olyphant were poor, would you not love him just -the same?” - -Jessie had a red rose in her hand, and she tore it to pieces with -absent-minded fingers as she replied, bluntly: - -“Bah. I wouldn’t permit myself to love a poor man if he were a perfect -Adonis!” - -But artless Leola, with rosy cheeks and glowing eyes, retorted: - -“Then you do not know how to love, Jessie--not even the meaning of that -sacred word, for I would adore Ray Chester if he had not a second coat -to his back!” - -“Ray Chester! There you go again!” cried Miss Stirling, with a violent -start. “Oh, come now, you are madly in love with some man, Leola, and -you have got to tell me all about it this minute!” - -“Oh, you are mistaken!” cried poor Leola, trying to flounder out of her -difficulty. - -“I am not mistaken! Oh, no! I know all the signs of love, and you -cannot even keep his name off your lips!” cried Miss Stirling, -triumphantly: - -It was true: Leola realized it, and felt how impossible it was to keep -hidden the happy secret of her love. Indeed, she fairly ached to tell -it to some sweet, sympathetic girl friend, and why not Jessie, whom -she had known from childhood, and who had always been fairly friendly? -True; the young lady was twenty-three, four years older than herself, -but as each was madly in love with a splendid young man, there was a -bond of sympathy between their hearts that might bring good results if -they fairly understood each other. - -She suddenly made up her artless mind to confide in beautiful, -blue-eyed Jessie, and beg her to intercede with her guardian to consent -to her happiness, but because tears were very close to her own dark -eyes, she put Ray aside for a moment to recover herself, saying, -laughingly: - -“Only think, Jessie, I have a rich lover, too. Our neighbor, Giles -Bennett, who has gotten rich by coal since his wife died, wants to -marry me, the little girl he used to dandle on his knee! Now, what do -you think of that?” - -“A splendid match for you, Leola, and I hope you will accept him,” -declared Jessie, frankly. - -“Oh, no, no, no!” Leola cried out, quickly, and Jessie retorted: - -“More fool you, then, to let such a chance slip through your fingers! -If I weren’t going to marry Chester Olyphant I’d take old Fatty off -your hands myself. But it seems, from what you let slip just now, that -there’s a poor young man in the case--Ray Chester, you said, and if you -do not tell me the whole story instantly I shall die of curiosity!” - -Leola, with her beautiful face glowing like a rose, exclaimed: - -“I don’t want you to die, Jessie, so I am going to ‘’fess,’ as the -children say, and, after all, I think I ought to confide in you, for it -is through you all this happiness has come to me.” - -“Through me,” gasped Jessie, and her lips went white, while a cold hand -seemed to press all the life from her heart with a swift, horrible -suspicion that centered around that name “Chester,” breathed so sweetly -just now from Leola’s lovely lips. - -But Leola did not observe these signs of emotion. She was looking down, -bashfully, and playing with a bunch of red roses in the belt of her -simple white gown. Her beauty was glorified by the love that thrilled -at her heart. - -“I will begin at the beginning first of all, and tell you how I saved -Ray Chester’s life,” she said, softly, and, as before, her voice seemed -to linger over that name like a caress. - -Miss Stirling did not answer a word. She sat still and pale, listening, -with a horrible presentiment of what was coming, and a hatred for -innocent Leola, a jealous hatred that was more bitter than death. - -Leola, still playing with her roses, in bashful confusion, looked down -with the curly lashes sweeping her rosy cheeks, and told her story -briefly, sweetly, and with the simplicity of strong emotion, dwelling -but lightly on her own heroism in saving Ray Chester’s life, and -touching, reservedly, on their love-story, but bringing into prominence -his confession that he had fallen so desperately in love with her -pictures that he had come to seek her and offer his love. - -She concluded, gently: - -“And although Ray has never once mentioned your name, he did not -deny it when I said that I was sure it was you from whom he got the -pictures; and, Jessie, dear, I am so glad you took those little -snap-shots of me, for through them has come the happiness of my life, -and I shall always be glad Ray saw them and loved me!” - -The musical voice ceased speaking, but as Jessie made no answer, Leola -added, ardently: - -“He is only a poor artist, my darling Ray, but I am glad, after all, -that he is poor, for he knows I love him for himself alone, for ‘his -own true worth,’ as the poem says, you know, Jessie.” - -She gave a violent start when Miss Stirling answered, in a hoarse, -concentrated voice of hatred and bitterness: - -“You are a silly little fool, Leola Mead!” - -“Oh, Jessie!” and Leola’s voice trembled with wounded feeling. - -She looked up and saw that her companion was deadly pale and trembling. - -“Oh, what is the matter? Are you ill, Jessie? Have I wearied you with -my story?” - -Miss Stirling was very cunning, or very brave. She had got a heart -wound, but she would not cry out against the hand that struck the blow; -after that one passionate outburst she struggled for calmness. - -With a hollow laugh, she answered: - -“I am very, very tired, after my long journey from New York, and the -sun is very hot, but--I shall be better presently.” - -“Shall I go and bring you a little sip of wine?” urged Leola, and -Jessie assented. - -She was glad to be alone for one moment, to cry out aloud at the fate -that had parted her from the man she loved. - -“Mamma was right, and I was wrong. He was in love with her, after all, -and he came here, instead of going yachting, as he intended--came here -to woo this simple rustic, won by her wondrous beauty, that was more -dangerous than I dreamed! But he shall never marry Leola Mead--never! -Why, I think I would murder her first! And what will he say when he -finds me here? Above all, why is he masquerading under a false name, -and pretending to be a poor artist? Ah, I have it! He means to deceive -the silly girl; his intentions are dishonorable, but I will unmask him, -I will break up the affair, I swear it!” clenching her white hands -desperately. - -Leola came back with the wine and a biscuit, and Jessie accepted, -eagerly. - -“Wine always clears my brain, somehow, and I have got a lot of scheming -and planning to do,” she thought, as she drained the last drop and -munched the sweet biscuit. - -“Ah, you look better now. I am afraid it quite unnerved you, hearing -all about that accident to Ray,” exclaimed Leola, tenderly. - -“Yes, yes, it was dreadful; it made my flesh creep. Besides, I was very -tired, you know, and that made it worse; but I am ever so much better -now, thanks to the wine! Really, Leola, you were quite a heroine, and -I cannot wonder that my artist friend fell in love with you, though I -cannot, for the life of me, remember any man by that name, Ray Chester. -I know I loaned your pictures to my lover, Chester Olyphant, but it -cannot be that he came here to deceive a poor innocent country girl -because of her pretty face--oh no! I cannot believe that of my lover. -It is a good thing I came in time to thwart his evil designs, if he -really is my Chester, but--ah!” She looked up, wildly, for a man’s -step crunched on the ground, and the next moment he stepped into the -arbor--Ray Chester, or Ray Olyphant, cool, handsome, smiling, like the -villain in the play. - -Miss Stirling sprang to her feet with a thrilling cry. The next moment -she flung herself on his broad breast, her arms about his neck, crying -joyously: - -“Chester Olyphant, my own darling, naughty, runaway boy!” - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -CHESTER OLYPHANT’S CURSE. - - -Had an earthquake rent the solid ground beneath Leola’s feet she could -not have been more terribly shocked. - -She had listened in horror, with a wildly palpitating heart, to the -words that slipped from Miss Stirling’s cruel lips--listened, with -the blood leaping like fire through her veins, to the suspicions -suggested so coolly; but at the sudden and startling finale, when her -rival sprang joyously to the breast of her lover--at this shocking -finale, Leola’s blood, from coursing like liquid fire through her -veins, swiftly congealed to ice, her face went white as snow, her heart -stopped its wild pulsations, and she sank upon the ground, limply, like -one dead. - -And overhead the sun shone on in the clear blue sky, and the merry -robins sang among the roses as if love and life had not seemingly come -to an end together for stricken Leola. - -But if that terrible swoon had not overtaken her at that crucial -moment, Leola would have seen her lover recoil in anger from Jessie’s -embrace, and push her gently but decisively away, saying, rebukingly: - -“Miss Stirling, pray remember that our brief engagement ended long ago, -and that this advance on your part is in the worst possible taste.” - -If she had been conscious, instead of lying like a dead girl on the -ground amid the ruins of her happiness, she would have seen Jessie -Stirling sink down and clasp Chester’s knees, and with burning tears -beseech him to love her again because she could not endure life without -him. - -She would have heard these passionate prayers repulsed; she would have -heard Chester Olyphant saying, coldly: - -“Words are useless, Miss Stirling, for, after all, I never really loved -you, and you entrapped me somehow into an engagement that my heart -never sanctioned. The glamour of passion quickly faded, and when your -own folly gave me an excuse to gain an honorable release from fetters -that began to gall, I was glad to retreat with honor. I have to tell -you things thus frankly, because it is the only way out of your efforts -at a reconciliation that can never be effected, since my whole heart is -given to another.” - -All the while he was unconscious of Leola, lying there like a dead girl -on the ground, and he continued, impatiently: - -“Pray get up, Miss Stirling; it is embarrassing to have you kneel to -me. Be seated, I beg you, and calm yourself. This is certainly a very -unexpected rencontre. I did not know you were at Wheatlands. Has not -Leola, then, told you she is my promised wife?” - -Sinking, sullenly, to the arbor bench as he raised her to her feet, she -hissed, furiously: - -“The silly little rustic told me she was in love with a man named Ray -Chester, but how was I to guess that her poor artist lover was the -millionaire society man, Chester Olyphant, masquerading under a false -name and guise, perhaps to deceive a pretty, ignorant country girl, -with more beauty than brains?” - -He recoiled in horror from her bold accusation, his handsome face went -white, his blue eyes flashed lightning. - -“How dare you?” he thundered, clenching his fist; then it fell -helplessly to his side. “You are a woman; I cannot strike you. I can -only reason and explain.” - -“Yes, explain, if you can, for your conduct certainly appears very -suspicious,” Jessie Stirling answered, with a bitter, taunting laugh -that nearly drove him wild. - -And yet, in all his anger, he knew she was right; it did look bad, this -masquerade; and, although he despised the girl, he knew he must explain -for Leola’s sake. - -Still unconscious that his bonny sweetheart lay upon the ground, so -close that if he stepped backward he must stumble over her senseless -form, he glanced out of the arbor to see if she were coming, and then -turned back to Jessie, saying, hoarsely: - -“It looks suspicious, I grant you, but when a man is cursed with -immense wealth, and knows himself constantly the prey of designing -women wanting to marry him for his money, is it not excusable that, by -a little harmless deception, he may win a girl’s heart by love alone, -and thus ensure his future happiness?” - -“Bah! a slim excuse!” she sneered; but, restraining his resentment, he -continued, earnestly: - -“This, I swear to you, Miss Stirling, was my only reason for the little -deception I practised on Leola, and my plan succeeded well. I have -won for my own the sweetest, truest heart that ever beat, and I had -decided last night to come here to-day to confess all to Leola and her -guardian, and to press for an immediate marriage, in order to save her -from the persecutions of a rich old man, who has Mr. Hermann in his -power, by reason of a mortgage on his property. It was my design to -relieve his embarrassment by advancing the amount myself to pay off the -mortgage. I hope you will accept this truthful explanation, and forego -the gratification of your unwise spite by any persecution of my dear -little love, Leola, whom I must now seek.” - -“You will not have far to seek. Look behind you on the ground!” Miss -Stirling answered, with a bitter laugh. - -Then for the first time he became aware of Leola’s presence--Leola -lying like a dead girl on the ground at his feet. - -In the one moment that he stood gazing down like a statue of despair, -Miss Stirling cried, with triumphant malice: - -“Just before you came in Leola and I had had a very satisfactory -explanation, for I recognized you in her description, and I soon made -her understand your villainy. Yes, I told her you were betrothed to me, -and that you were deceiving her. She believed me, and despised you, and -just at the moment of her outcry against you, when you entered and I -sprang to your breast, claiming you for my own, she dropped like one -with a bullet in her heart, and there she has been lying ever since, -and more than likely the poor, deceived girl is really dead of the -shock.” - -“Fiend!” he hurled at her, bitterly, and sank on his knees by Leola, -frantically searching for signs of life, kissing her cold, white face, -calling on her in love’s holy name to waken for his sake, and speak to -him again. - -Jessie Stirling, listening with outward cold indifference, prayed that -Leola would never answer those vows of love, never open her sweet dark -eyes again, prayed that death might indeed claim her for his own. - -And she smiled when all his efforts and all caresses proved vain to -bring life back to the stricken girl--smiled even when he turned to her -with accusing eyes and cried in bitter agony: - -“Your false words have broken my little love’s heart, and slain her as -surely as if you had struck a dagger into her breast! You have murdered -an innocent girl who never wronged you, Jessie Stirling, yet you sit -there and smile like the fiend you are! Do you think you can ever know -any happiness after this? No, for my hate will follow you through life, -and my curse will darken your days and make sleepless your nights till -you pray for death’s release!” - -He ceased and turned back to Leola, kissing her cold face and hands -with burning lips, then lifting the inert form in his arms, he bore -her toward the house, Jessie Stirling following in a sort of awe, -mixed with rage and revolt against the curse he had pronounced against -her, wondering if there could be any fateful occult power to cause its -fulfillment. - -With a heart as heavy as lead, Chester Olyphant bore his burden up the -steps to the hall, where Miss Tuttle met him, shrieking: - -“Oh, Heaven have mercy, what has happened to Leola?” - -She was appalled when he groaned in anguish: - -“Alas, I found her dead in the arbor. Lead the way to her room.” - -“Not dead, oh, no, it cannot be! Surely it is only a faint! Come this -way,” sobbed the governess, and in a few moments Leola was placed on -her little white bed among the dainty pillows, no whiter than her face. - -Miss Tuttle felt for her heart, but there was no faintest throb to give -hope of life. - -“Oh, bring a doctor, do bring a doctor, Mr. Chester! I cannot surely -believe she is dead. Once I saw her lie like this half an hour when she -had fallen from a horse, and she may revive this time, too. Oh, please, -please bring Doctor Barnes at once!” she exclaimed, excitedly, and, as -he flew to do her bidding, she fell to undressing the girl, tenderly, -but swiftly, saying to Jessie, who stood near, looking on, stupidly: - -“Run, run to the kitchen and tell Betsy I must have some warm water for -a bath for Leola. She may be in a sort of spasm.” - -Jessie Stirling ran out of the room, but she did not carry the message -to the kitchen. - -Instead she sought her uncle, to whom she said, with an injured air: - -“Oh, Uncle Hermann. I’m so glad I came this morning, for I have -detected a villain in a plot to ruin poor Leola! You remember how I -told you I was betrothed to Chester Olyphant, a millionaire of New -York, and that he was gone on a yachting tour for a few weeks. Well, -this morning I found that, instead of going yachting, as he pretended, -the unprincipled villain, who knew of Leola from me, had come down here -masquerading as Ray Chester, an artist, making love to poor, innocent -Leola. This morning he came upon us in the arbor, and when I exposed -him to the girl, she fell in a swoon so deep that it looks like death.” - -A bitter oath shrilled over Wizard Hermann’s lips, and he cried: - -“Where is he, the villain? Let me get my hands on his throat!” - -“He is gone to bring Doctor Barnes, uncle, but he will be back with him -presently, and were I you, dear uncle, I should wreak vengeance on the -wretch for his double treachery--to me, his betrothed, and to poor, -innocent Leola, whom he has deceived with his false protestations of -love. You need not fear to anger me, for I will never marry him now; -I hate him for his treachery,” raged the artful girl, and her uncle -responded: - -“I’ll throw him down the steps and break every bone in his body, if he -ventures back here. But Leola is lying unconscious, you say. Have they -brought her into the house?” - -“Yes, she is in her room, and her governess with her. I daresay she -will revive presently, and as I cannot do anything more for her I’ll -go help mamma to unpack our trunks, while you watch for the doctor and -that wretch, Chester Olyphant.” - -And hoping in the bottom of her heart that not a bone would be left -unbroken in the young man’s body, hating him because he knew her for -what she was, and because she could never win him back again, she flew -to her mother to relate all that had occurred. - -“I told you so. I knew that day that Chester Olyphant was struck with -the girl, and wanted to find her out, but you would not listen to me, -and now you have lost him forever,” was her comment. - -“Oh, I knew you’d have to go over all that, but even if I had known it, -how could I have helped it?” was the ungracious reply. - -“Then, what do you want me to do?” asked the querulous mother, and she -quailed when Jessie whispered in her ear: - -“I want you to go and help Miss Tuttle to revive Leola--that is, to -pretend to, but really to see that she stays dead, for it would be joy -to me to see Chester Olyphant bereaved of his love.” - -“Jessie, you are mad, girl! I cannot aid you in such a nefarious -design,” cried the poor, nervous mother, trembling as with a chill. - -“Then I will manage it myself!” Jessie hissed, rushing madly from the -room to Leola’s bedside. - -But Miss Tuttle gently barred her from the door. - -“Doctor Barnes is here, and he will not permit anyone in the room but -myself, not even her betrothed,” she said, curtly, shutting the door -calmly in Jessie’s very face. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -A TERRIBLE DEED. - - -Wizard Hermann turned about, half-stunned from his interview with -Jessie Stirling, and went back to his laboratory, where he had -been reading a new treatise on one of his favorite hobbies--the -transmutation of the baser metals into gold. The man had no more heart -or conscience than a clam, and his interest in chemistry was greater -than his love for humanity. - -The greatest aim he had in life was to prosecute to a successful issue -the two hobbies that had been the ruling passion of his life, to -invent a magic elixir of life, and to create fabulous riches to sustain -a life so lengthened in luxury. - -He was mad for gold wherewith to purchase the smallest specimen of a -newly discovered mineral called radium, to which was ascribed the most -remarkable properties ever heard of, but the price of this treasure was -fabulous to a man in his situation, impoverished by a lifetime spent in -this costly and vain pursuit of the unattainable. - -His great plan and hope had been to pay off the mortgage on the place, -and to immediately place another upon it, so as to invest a portion -in the new mineral, from which so much was hoped and predicted in the -scientific world. - -His rage at the failure of his plan was deep and bitter. With Leola -dead, all his plans would come to naught. Old Bennett would foreclose -the mortgage and ruin him. In his old age he must go forth a beggar -into the world, friendless, and without a place to lay his head. - -Through this terrible trick of fate all his plans and aspirations must -be wrecked, and science lose, perhaps, the magnificent discoveries to -which he had devoted his life. - -No wonder he was filled with a blind fury against Chester Olyphant, -through whose treachery Leola’s death had come to pass, thus thwarting -all his plans for future gain. - -He shut the treatise, whose reading had been so fatefully interrupted, -and went out to watch for Chester Olyphant with murder in his heart. - -But while he had been talking with Jessie, and putting away his -precious treatise, time had slipped faster than he knew. Olyphant, who -had met the doctor close by in the road, had quickly returned with him, -and he had gone up to Leola’s room. - -The young man, himself a prey to the bitterest anxiety, with hope and -fear commingled, was waiting in the wide, sunny hall for news, when he -came face to face with the grim master of the house, like a ravening -lion seeking for prey. - -He forced a smile upon his pallid lips, and exclaimed, eagerly: - -“Ah. Mr. Hermann, I have been wishing to see you, sir. I”-- - -He got no further, for Wizard Hermann, temporarily mad with baffled -hope and bitter resentment, suddenly raised his hand, in whose clenched -fingers gleamed a heavy iron instrument, and in an access of fury -struck unerringly at the brown, curly head bent courteously before him. - -It was a blow that might have felled an ox. - -Chester Olyphant, taken off guard, ignorant of the fact that he was in -the presence of one temporarily or morally insane, received the blow -full, and went down before it without a struggle, yielding up life in -one short, choking gasp, that was like a thunder-clap in the ears of -his foe. - -For, all in a moment, there came over the frenzied murderer a wild -realization of his deadly crime, and bending down to peer at the still, -white face of the fallen man, he groaned in horror of his sin and its -consequences: - -“Dead! dead! Why, I did not mean to strike so hard! I--I--never thought -one blow could kill! What shall I do? No one must find me here. I must -fly”-- - -At this incoherent moment, while he was rising from the body of his -victim, there came slouching through the wide, sunny hall the figure -of his man of all work, Joslyn, a strange, hideous, taciturn man, yet -devoted to his master’s service through many thankless years. - -Joslyn stopped and stared in bewilderment, glaring at the uncanny scene. - -Wizard Hermann, peering up at him in consternation, whimpered like a -beaten hound: - -“I didn’t mean to hit so hard. He--he--was too easy to kill! If they -find me here they’ll hang me for murder! Save me! save me! Joslyn!” - -The hideous servitor, conscious of but one thing--his master’s -peril--was quick to hear and heed. - -At any moment some one might come in at the open door, and one glance -meant detection of the hideous crime his master had wrought. - -Joslyn looked stupid, but his master knew it was only in looks. His -brain was keen and alert, as he had proved many a time before. - -Just one moment he paused, hesitated; then his dull eyes gleamed -beneath the bushy brows, and he was prepared for action. - -They were just in front of the library door, and, swooping down like -an eagle on his prey, he caught up Chester Olyphant’s limp body in his -long, wiry arms, and dragged him inside the room. Hermann staggered -after him with quaking limbs and a ghastly face; then Joslyn softly -shut and locked the door. - -The two old men, who had grown gray in each other’s confidence and -service--grim old men, who had outgrown pity or interest in youth and -love and all that was sweetest in the world, now stood face to face, -and between them, on the floor, that limp body that, now cold and -senseless, had been but a little while ago a picture of manly strength -and splendor, with a heart throbbing fast with the passion of youth. - -“Who saw you do it?” Joslyn demanded, gruffly. - -“Not a soul!” whimpered the craven wretch. “You see, I did it in a -passion before I thought, because he”-- - -But Joslyn’s coarse, hairy hand, upraised, commanded silence. - -“Don’t waste time now to tell why ’twas done. The thing is that you did -it, and that you must hide it or swing for it,” he said, with rough -emphasis that made his master cower again like a beaten hound. - -The servant knelt down and examined the silent victim. - -“Dead as a door-nail, an’ gittin’ cold a’ready! You hit him a turrible -whack, sir, on his head! Must have fractured his skull, the way it -feels.” - -“I didn’t know I had such strength. I hit harder than I meant. -I--I”--began Hermann, weakly, but the man shut him off. - -“No use cryin’ over spilt milk. What’s done is done, an’ now we got to -hide the corp, an’ let it go as one of the myster’ous disappearances we -read about every week in the newspapers!” - -“Joslyn, how clever you are! Oh, if we can only manage it! But I cannot -think clearly. My brain’s on fire ever since Jessie came with her -terrible story, and tempted me to kill him because of the hearts he -had broken--hers and Leola’s, too, so that she wanted vengeance on him -for their wrongs. So I seized that iron wedge and went to watch for -him, and the minute he spoke to me I struck, and he fell. He’s dead, -and he deserved it. I am not sorry, only I don’t want to be found out,” -Hermann mumbled on, unheeded by the other, who stood with his brows -wrinkled in profound thought. - -He chuckled, suddenly, and Hermann muttered: - -“You have a thought, clever Joslyn; you will save me!” - -“Perhaps so, sir, if I can work out my plan.” - -“Yes, yes?” - -“You know what’s under this floor, sir?” - -“The underground passage where my ancestors used to hide from the -Indians--yes, yes. Can we drop him through?” - -“Sure, if I can get the tools in here to rip up some flooring and put -it back. Will you stay here, locked in, while I push them into the -window, for I daren’t bring them into the hall.” - -“Yes, go, quickly,” and he let him out and closed and locked the door -again, waiting, with a chill of horror at his heart, of that white and -silent thing lying at his feet. - -Presently there was a noise outside the window, and he went and took in -the tools that Joslyn reached up to him. Then he admitted him, and they -went at their grewsome work of hiding the mute witness of that terrible -crime. - -In the midst of their task came a light rap on the door. - -“Uncle Hermann, I want you!” Jessie said, excitedly. - -“I am engaged--excuse me,” he bawled, hoarsely, through the keyhole. - -“All right,” she answered, after a moment’s hesitation; “I only wanted -to tell you about Leola. Doctor Barnes says she is not dead, after all, -and he is bringing her around; do you hear?” - -“Yes, I hear, Jessie. Now go away, like a good girl; I cannot be -disturbed,” he assured her, turning back to Joslyn in time to see him -lift Chester Olyphant’s body and let it fall through the opening in the -floor. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -A WAYSIDE FLOWER. - - - “Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been; - I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell.” - -Leola sat up in bed among the white covers, scarcely whiter than her -face, and smiled wanly into Miss Tuttle’s anxious eyes. - -“I am sorry that I am better. I wish I had died,” she said, bitterly. - -For twenty-four hours she had been threatened with brain fever, but now -the crisis had passed, and she was improving. - -Doctor Barnes, who had been very uneasy all this time, had said just -now she would soon be well--that her youth and fine constitution had -tided her safely over the danger point. - -These two days Miss Tuttle had nursed her most carefully, admitting, by -the doctor’s orders, no one but himself. - -In vain Jessie Stirling pleaded to come in and help nurse the patient; -Miss Tuttle sent her ruthlessly away. - -“Doctor Barnes exacts perfect quiet, and trusts her only to me,” she -said, proudly. - -Jessie retired, baffled and angry, to cogitate over the mystery of -Chester Olyphant’s disappearance. - -For since he had gone to bring the doctor to Leola, no one had seen his -face. - -Jessie had by no means expected him to retreat from the field of -battle. Instead, she had looked for him to march off with victory on -his banners, the battle gained, the prize won. She knew that if Chester -could get an opportunity to tell her uncle that he was rich and would -pay off the mortgage on Wheatlands, he could easily gain his ends and -marry Leola. - -It was in dread of this that she had incited him to anger against -Chester, hoping to prevent their coming to an understanding. - -But Chester’s unexplained disappearance had startled and surprised -everyone, for only this morning Mrs. Gray, the widow at whose cottage -home he boarded, had come to Wheatlands to seek him, saying he had not -been back for two days. - -Diligent inquiry revealed the fact that Doctor Barnes was the last -person who had seen him at all, having left him alone in the hall the -day he had brought him to see Leola. - -Widow Gray was quite alarmed, and did not know what to think. - -“He certainly expected to return, for he did not take his trunk away,” -she said, but Mr. Hermann made light of the matter. - -“Go home, and don’t worry--he has perhaps been called away by a -telegram, and will be back in due time,” he said. - -“Indeed, I hope so, sir. He was a very fine young man, and I hope he -has come to no harm,” she protested. - -And again the wizard laughed: - -“How could he come to harm in broad daylight in my house?” - -“That’s so, sir; I don’t see how he could indeed, but I hope I shall -hear from him soon, for I had bad dreams last night, and my mind -misgives me,” she sighed. - -Then she asked if she might see the sick girl, but was told she was too -ill. Thereupon she went away, sighing, with a very long face, saying to -herself: - -“If I had told that horrid old man he would not have believed me, but -last night I heard spirit voices sobbing in the pine tree outside my -window, and whenever I hear that, it’s a sure sign of trouble.” - -While she went slowly out of the gate Miss Tuttle was watching her -from the window, and she said to the pale girl sitting back among the -pillows: - -“There goes Mrs. Gray. I suppose she has been to inquire about you.” - -Leola’s wistful eyes looked at her with a mute question, and she -answered, gently: - -“You’re thinking of Mr. Chester Olyphant, I know, dearie, and I had -better tell you and get it off your mind. He has gone away.” - -“Gone away!” Leola repeated, trembling, her lips white, her eyes somber -with misery. - -“Yes, gone away, and a good riddance, I say, for how could he face you -again after all that has happened? He has nearly broken Miss Stirling’s -heart as well as yours, and she vows she will never speak to him again -for your sake! Only think of the great monster, engaged to her, and -coming off down here to make love to you, because you were so pretty -and so innocent. There was not a word he could say in his own defence, -nothing but to sneak away like a hound beaten for stealing! Yes, he is -gone, and I hope that is the last of him!” - -Leola’s white, trembling hands hid her face, but presently she spoke -wearily through her fingers: - -“I have just one favor to ask you, dear Miss Tuttle. Never mention his -name to me again, so that I may find it easier to forget.” - -Alas, would she find oblivion of pain so easily? - - “When vain desire at last and vain regret - Go hand in hand to death, and all is vain, - What shall assuage the unforgotten pain - And teach the unforgetful to forget?” - -To her own heart the unhappy girl was saying: - -“Oh, why did I not die when I found that he was false, and my dream of -love over? Why linger on when the charm is gone from life, and I must -live on, shamed, humiliated, by the thought that Jessie Stirling’s -proud, rich lover stooped from the height where he should dwell to -pluck a wayside flower, then trample it beneath his feet? Oh, it is -torture to think he held me so lightly!” - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -IN THE SPIDER’S WEB. - - -She wondered that she did not die of her shame and despair, so keen -was her pain and humiliation, but the day wore to sunset and she was -still alive, although the face of the whole world had changed to her -in twenty-four hours, so that the blue of the sky and the gold of the -sun no longer seemed fair, and the birdsongs in the trees outside had -changed to notes of sadness that fell coldly on her heart. - -There came to her a sharp memory of the little song she had once loved, -the one that had lingered on her lips the day she rode so blithely away -on Rex to meet her fate in the beautiful dark blue eyes that had been -so false and fair: - - “Honey-flowers to the honey-comb, - And the honey-bees from home. - - “A honey-comb and a honey-flower - And the bee shall have his hour. - - “A honeyed heart for the honey-comb - And the honey-bee flies home. - - “A heavy heart in the honey-flower - And the bee has had his hour.” - -“I am going to let you sit in this easy-chair by the window to watch -the beautiful July sunset, and Mr. Hermann wants to come in and see -you,” Miss Tuttle said, placing the chair ready and dressing her -patient in a soft white wrapper. - -But it was Jessie Stirling who pushed open the door and tripped in, -first taking advantage of its being unlocked. - -“Poor dear, how changed you look, how pale, how ill! It was a terrible -shock to you to find out how Chester Olyphant had deceived you, was it -not?” she twittered, loquaciously, coolly taking a chair in front of -Leola, and adding: - -“You may well fancy it was a shock to me, too, to find him down here -flirting with you when I thought him safe on a yacht thousands of -miles away. Did Miss Tuttle tell you he has gone away in a huff at -being found out, and without leaving any word for me? Yes, he has gone, -and at first I vowed I never would forgive him his flirtation with you, -but--well, when I go back to New York perhaps I will relent, after he -has coaxed long enough. We really are very fond of each other, you -know, though Chester cannot help flirting any more than he can help -breathing. I shall never let him know how hard you took it, for that -would flatter his vanity too much!” - -His vanity, dear heaven! and she had believed he loved her, thought -Leola, with silent shame and despair. - -She could not bear to look at Jessie, his jubilant betrothed, sitting -there in her pretty fashionable gown and fluffy flaxen locks in a wavy -aureole over her white brow. She wished secretly that the girl would go -away and leave her alone with her wounded heart. - -But Jessie went on, eagerly: - -“When I consent to forgive him for this I shall scold him roundly, -you may be sure, Leola, and I shall pretend to him that after that -little fainting fit you came around all right, and despised him for his -duplicity, and vowed you would never see him again. He shall not think, -the vain creature, that you wore the willow an hour for his sake. I -will pretend you had other lovers to take his place. That will be true, -for there is Mr. Bennett, who adores you, although you have flouted him -so badly. As for me, if I were in your place I’d marry Bennett out of -hand, to show Chester Olyphant how little I cared about him! That would -take the conceit out of him quicker than anything you could do!” - -So she twittered on artfully until Leola’s lovely face grew crimson -with shame at her own weakness in caring so much for one so unworthy. - -Without saying one word, her somber eyes turned to the setting sun; she -writhed with secret shame that Jessie could think she cared so much -for her frivolous lover. Oh, if she could only tear this pain from -her heart; only smile again as before this cruel blow that had nearly -struck her dead with its agony. - -As Jessie chattered on, she began to feel a passionate contempt for the -man as the pretty blonde depicted him, shallow, vain, unscrupulous. - - “Shall it not be scorn to me to harp on such a mouldering string: - I am shamed through all my nature to have loved so slight a thing!” - -With sudden angry passion, her dark eyes flashing, she turned upon the -artful girl: - -“Please speak no more to me on that subject, Jessie. You weary me. -I despise the man. I wish never to hear his name again!” she cried, -bitterly, and her weakness seemed to fall from her, in passionate -contempt. - -“Poor Leola, I cannot blame you,” cried the triumphant blonde, -cheerfully, just as the door opened again, and Wizard Hermann glided -softly into the room. - -“Ah, Leola, you are better. I am very glad,” he said, in a smooth, oily -voice, taking the chair Jessie vacated, saying she must go to mamma. - -She nodded, wearily, without speaking, wishing they would all leave -her alone, for every human face seemed hateful to her now. - -She would not meet his eyes, or she would have seen that he looked ill -and nervous, too, and that his always furtive, unpleasant manner had -grown more marked and repellent still. - -“Miss Tuttle,” he added, “you may leave the room. I have private -affairs to talk of with my ward.” - -When they were quite alone he turned back to her, saying, earnestly: - -“I have come, Leola, to explain my private affairs to you, and to make -one more appeal to you to help me out of my trouble.” - -She listened without replying, the deep somber eyes fixed on the fading -sunset beyond the distant hills, and Wizard Hermann continued: - -“For years I have been heavily in debt, and had to borrow money from my -rich neighbor, Mr. Bennett, to meet my living expenses and take care -of you, Leola, in proper style for a pretty young girl. You have had -your governess, your horse, your clothing, without a care on your young -mind, but I, in order to meet your expenses, and keep this roof over -your head, have been obliged to place a mortgage of fifteen thousand -dollars on Wheatlands, and to-morrow the mortgage falls due. If Bennett -forecloses, as he swears he will, we shall all be turned out homeless.” - -It was on her lips to say that she did not care, that nothing really -mattered to her now, but she bit her lips and held back the words, -waiting silently to the end. - -“I have no means of paying my debt; I cannot possibly raise the money, -but neighbor Bennett has been very generous; he has offered to forego -his pay, to destroy the mortgage, on one condition. Are you listening, -Leola?” - -She nodded, without turning her gaze from the sunset hills, and he -continued, eagerly: - -“I think you know what is coming, Leola. Bennett has fallen madly in -love with you, and wants you for his wife. If you consent he will -settle a hundred thousand dollars on you, and forego the debt I owe. -As for the rest, when you are once his wife, you can wind the foolish -old man around your fingers like a ribbon, and have your own way in -everything. If you refuse he swears he will turn us all out of doors in -twenty-four hours.” - -He paused and waited, but she did not speak, and realizing how futile -would be the attempted exercise of authority, he fell to pleading: - -“Can you let this terrible calamity befall us, Leola--me in my old age, -you in your youth and beauty? Why, we would not have whereon to lay our -heads if we anger Giles Bennett.” - -The somber dark eyes turned to him, questioningly: - -“I--I--have always supposed that you held money in trust for me, sir. -I did not dream that I was an expense to you, as you say,” exclaimed -Leola. “Have I then no friends who can help us in our need?” - -“Not one, Leola, for I know nothing of your relations. To be plain, I -took you, a pauper child, from the almshouse, for pity’s sake, and have -reared you as well as though you had been my own daughter. The secret -of your birth I kept, and it shall never pass my lips. But in the hour -of my misfortune I appeal to you to pay the debt of gratitude you owe -me--a debt that you can only pay by marrying Giles Bennett to-morrow.” - -An icy shudder shook her weak frame; she felt that death were sweeter -than such a fate. - -But the man who had befriended her young life was waiting with haggard -eyes for her answer--waiting for her to save him from despair. - -And she, the pauper, nameless, homeless, save for Wizard Hermann’s -charity--would it not be monstrous ingratitude to refuse his prayer? - -She faltered, recklessly: - -“I will marry the man!” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -A LITTLE CONSPIRACY. - - -When the rash words had passed Leola’s lips a great trembling seized -upon her, a horror of life she had never felt before, and she longed to -scream out aloud to him that she must take back her promise--that she -could not bind her beautiful, throbbing young life to oily, unctuous -Giles Bennett, the man more than twice her age, and who in no way could -be her fitting mate, not if he paid a million dollars instead of what -he offered. - -But when she saw Wizard Hermann’s radiant face, she dared not utter her -passionate protest against being sold in the market like a beautiful -Circassian slave to the highest bidder. She feared a fit of violence, -or that he might fall down dead at her feet of the revulsion of feeling -from relief to disappointment. - -She restrained the words that ached in her throat, and leaned back, -helplessly, in her chair, her eyes half shut, her face death-white, her -senses reeling, and heard, half-consciously only, the profuse thanks he -was pouring out, and the dazzling picture he was painting of her future -as a rich man’s wife, even adding, consolingly, that the fat old man -might drop off any day from apoplexy, and leave her a rich and happy -young widow. - -“Go, leave me,” she sighed, faintly, and he hurried out, nothing loath, -to spread the good news. - -The next thing Leola knew she was in bed again, and Miss Tuttle was -reviving her with cold water on her face mixed with hot tears that fell -from her own eyes. - -“Oh, Miss Tuttle, what are you crying about?” she sighed, curiously. -“Is it true, then, that he made me--promise to--to”-- - -“To marry Giles Bennett; is that what you mean? Yes, he says you -promised to marry that wretch to-morrow. Oh, oh, oh, this will break my -heart!” and poor Miss Tuttle and Leola, clasped in each other’s arms, -mixed their tears together. - -When they grew a little calmer Leola explained how the promise had been -extorted from her by appeals to her gratitude. - -“Oh, do you think it can be true? Am I only a pauper, taken from the -almshouse, for charity’s sake--perhaps nameless, too?” she sobbed, -bitterly. - -Miss Tuttle could give her no comfort, for although she had been -Leola’s governess from the age of three, she had never fathomed the -mystery about her charge. But she tried to reassure her, saying: - -“Do not brood over it, dear girl, it is possibly one of old Hermann’s -false tales to coerce you into obedience. I should sooner believe that -he has appropriated to his own use money that belonged to you, and -thinks he can make it up to you this way.” - -“To live with Giles Bennett as his wife--that old Falstaff of a man!--I -loathe the prospect!” sobbed Leola. - -“While I envy you with all my heart!” exclaimed the governess. “Oh, -Leola, how strangely fate plays at cross purposes with human beings! -How gladly I would change places with you and become his wife!” - -“Oh, that you could, dear soul!” Leola answered, and neither one slept -that night for the tumult of their thoughts--Leola’s all grief and -repugnance, Miss Tuttle’s all envy and wounded love--and when the -sunshine of the July morning peeped into the windows their faces were -haggard and pain-drawn, and both felt as if the day of execution had -dawned, for Hermann had told the governess to prepare Leola to be -married at sundown that evening, when the carriage would be waiting to -convey her at once to her new home. - -With heavy eyes they looked into each other’s faces, wondering how they -could escape their doom, and Leola cried, desperately: - -“There is one chance left, and I shall take it. When I have paid my -debt of gratitude to my guardian by marrying Giles Bennett, I--I--shall -not be among the living to-morrow!” - -“Do you mean it, Leola?” - -“I swear it,” answered the girl, recklessly, and Miss Tuttle knew, -by the somber gaze of the beautiful dark eyes, that it was true. -Life, that had flowed along like a silvery rippling stream between -flower-fringed banks, had suddenly become a muddy torrent rushing -onward to destruction, and naught could stay its onward course. -Desperate, reckless, she was ready to rush unbidden into the Great -Beyond, daring the unknown future in terror of the awful present. - -“Oh, Leola, you must not! It would be a terrible sin! Promise me you -will not!” cried the poor soul, timorously. - -But Leola’s shut lips kept a deadly silence, and Miss Tuttle continued, -conciliatory: - -“If you could escape this marriage, Leola, would you then be willing to -live?” - -The sudden gleam of hope in the dark eyes assured her that Leola might -yet find something to live for in her shadowed life, and she continued: - -“Dearie, I have a plan that might help you. I’ve been turning it over -and over in my mind, but I never should have broached it had it not -been for your dreadful threat.” - -“Tell it to me,” implored the girl, and glancing cautiously around, -that none might overhear, Miss Tuttle bent and whispered some rapid -words into Leola’s ear. - -A light began to dance in the dark eyes, the pale lips smiled a little, -and Leola cried: - -“It will be a terrible risk to run, but if you can manage it and are -not afraid, I will help all I can, for I long to punish Giles Bennett -for his meanness!” - -“I’ll take all the responsibility for everything,” smiled Miss Tuttle, -glowing with eagerness. “Don’t you worry one bit, Leola; it will all -come right in the end. But, oh, dear, I’ve got to put in a busy day -getting the bride ready.” - -“Make her as pretty as you can, and let the veil be very thick,” -laughed Leola, with renewed good humor. “And, by-the-way, Miss Tuttle, -you are to tell my guardian that before the ceremony begins Giles -Bennett must destroy the mortgage in my presence, or I will not marry -him at all.” - -So the busy day began, for the whole household was in a state of -excitement over the sudden wedding. - -Mrs. Stirling and her daughter entered heartily into the spirit of the -affair, and set the servants to work transforming the dingy parlor into -a floral bower, with wildflowers and evergreens. - -The scheming pair were delighted to think of getting rid of Leola so -easily, hoping that some fortunate turn of fortune’s fickle wheel might -yet bring back Chester Olyphant into Jessie’s power. - -While they worked downstairs on the parlor, Miss Tuttle reported -herself as very busy upstairs, getting ready the simple outfit of the -bride, and packing her trunk for the flitting. Leola would not admit -anybody else inside the door. She said she was too busy and too nervous. - -Inside that locked door there were strange doings, to be sure. - -You would have thought them a pair of amateur actresses, from the way -they went on. - -The governess had dragged down from the garret a little old trunk -containing some stage properties that had once upon a time belonged to -an actress who had died while on a visit to Wizard Hermann’s mother. -Her relatives had never taken away the box, and many a time Leola had -amused herself looking over the queer things on rainy days when she -could not go out. - -She and Miss Tuttle were amusing themselves again, brushing and combing -over the old wigs, Leola trying on the sedate brown front, and Miss -Tuttle the curly golden one, that certainly took fifteen years off her -age, after Leola made up her sallow face with rouge and powder. - -Then Miss Tuttle tried on Leola’s best gown, the dark brown cloth -with the silk waist and loose jacket. The pretty brown toque was not -unbecoming, with the double veil of white dotted malines, and Leola, -who had never expected to smile again, had to giggle like a little -school girl at the tout ensemble. - -“Oh, Miss Tuttle, you will make a lovely bride! I am sorry I shall not -have a handsome gift for you!” she cried. - -“You will have given me the desire of my heart!” cried the governess, -so seriously and gratefully that Leola laughed harder than ever, -thinking she was certainly very easy to please, since portly Giles -Bennett could fill the measure of her happiness. It made her think -of the old adage Betsy, the cook, had repeated to her the other day: -“Ever’buddy to deir taste, missie, as de ole ’oman said when she kissed -de cow.” - -However, it was very lucky for Leola that Miss Tuttle was so infatuated -with the rotund widower that she was willing to win him by hook or -crook, so her laughter grew more and more joyous as she added, merrily: - -“Be sure that you put a little water in all the kerosene lamps about -the house, so that they will flicker and grow dim.” - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -SURPRISES ALL AROUND. - - -Very dimly, indeed, burned the lamps among the floral decorations -as the family at Wheatlands gathered in the parlor for the wedding -ceremony, Jessie and her mother in full evening dress, though Leola had -sent word down that she would be married simply in her traveling dress. - -Outside the gates waited the brand new carriage, with prancing white -horses, that had brought Giles Bennett and the Methodist preacher who -was to perform the ceremony, and in the parlor the bridegroom waited, -spick and span in his new black suit, for his bonny bride. Jessie -Stirling, at the piano, had already begun the first low notes of the -wedding march, and to that sound came Leola slowly down the stairs on -the arm of Miss Tuttle, having peremptorily declined her guardian’s -escort. - -Mrs. Stirling thought it rather ridiculous, as they came in sight, -that that silly old maid, Miss Tuttle, had chosen to wear a hat and -veil like the bride at the ceremony, but she did not give the poor, -drab-faced creature a second look, she was so intent on watching the -proceedings. - -Wizard Hermann met the pair at the door, and taking the golden-haired -girl by the arm, led her to the rotund bridegroom waiting nervously for -his happiness. - -The minister cleared his throat ready to proceed, but the bride stood -still for a moment, facing Giles Bennett, and her low voice said, -distinctly: - -“The mortgage on Wheatlands--the prize for which I am sold, sir--have -you brought it as agreed upon?” - -He produced a folded paper, and she beckoned to her guardian. - -“Examine this paper. Is it bona fide?” - -He answered, huskily: - -“Yes.” - -She looked at Giles Bennett. - -“You are willing that I destroy this paper, on condition that I marry -you immediately afterward?” - -“I agree to your conditions,” he said, and directly the fragments of -the mortgage fluttered, like a miniature snowstorm, from the bride’s -white-gloved hands to the floor. - -Then she took his arm, and they moved across to the waiting minister, -who began to pray. - -In the excitement no one noticed a rapping on the open hall door, nor -that poor Miss Tuttle, instead of attending the bride as maid of honor, -had sunk into a low seat near the door with her handkerchief hiding her -veiled face. - -The music played on softly, like a sigh, the dim lights flickered -forlornly among the fragrant flowers, and the short marriage ceremony -of the Methodist Church in less than ten minutes made Leola Mead the -bride of Giles Bennett, who had bought her for her beauty like a slave -in the Circassian market. - -And just as he pronounced the pair man and wife the man who had been -knocking unheard at the hall door strode impatiently to the parlor and -looked within at the unexpected sight of a wedding party. - -He was a middle-aged man of distinguished appearance, with dark eyes, -grizzled auburn hair and a face bronzed as from travel. No one saw him -as he waited at the door, while the witnesses crowded forward with -eager congratulations to the smirking bridegroom and the veiled bride. - -Last of all came the one who had been sitting yonder sobbing in her -little lace handkerchief, and taking first the hand of Giles Bennett, -she exclaimed, earnestly: - -“I congratulate you, sir, on winning this rare prize. She will make you -very happy, I know.” - -Then, with a soft laugh that startled everyone, she threw her arms -about the bride, half-sobbing: - -“Dear, dear governess, I hate to give you up, even to our kind -neighbor, Mr. Bennett, for you have loved him so well, I know it is for -your best happiness to leave me!” - -With a dexterous movement of her hand she flung off her veil, hat and -wig in one gesture, and stood revealed, beautiful, golden-haired Leola, -masquerading in Miss Tuttle’s worn and threadbare black silk gown, a -skimpy thing, too short and too tight, and likely to burst with the -peal of laughter that shrilled over her rosy lips at their amazed looks. - -They all began talking wildly at once, and staring in wonder at the -veiled bride, who suddenly followed Leola’s example, and threw off hat, -veil and golden wig together, showing Miss Tuttle’s pretty brown waves -of hair, and her pale, rather frightened face that turned piteously to -her new made husband as she faltered, weakly: - -“I planned this deception to save my dear Leola, because she vowed that -rather than live with you, after she had paid her guardian’s debt, she -would kill herself this very night. I couldn’t let her do that, the -poor girl, who hasn’t a friend on earth but me, and whom I love as if -she were my own child, so, to save her, I carried out this trick, and -I am your wife, sir, whether you own me or not. But though I am not as -young and pretty as Leola, I will be a better companion for you, Giles, -than she would ever be, for she fears and hates you, while I have -always respected you highly ever since I knew you, and will try to make -you a good wife if you will overlook the little ruse by which I won -you.” - -They were all so dazed that no one had tried to interrupt her, but now -Giles Bennett, turning furiously on Hermann, cried: - -“You hound, you let me be tricked into this fraud, but it shall avail -you nothing! I repudiate this marriage and the whole transaction. The -destruction of that paper shall not prevent me from getting back my -money from you. The law will protect me in my rights.” - -“I protest I had no hand in this deception. I meant honestly by you, -and to prove my word I will have nothing more to do with those women, -who have united in this effort to make you a laughing stock, and to get -me into trouble. They shall both leave my roof to-night and forever, -Giles, but I beg you will be patient with me and grant me a little -more time before you bring suit to recover your money,” began Hermann, -abjectly, when a ringing voice cried, “Hold!” and the unobserved -stranger at the door strode, uninvited, into the room, adding: - -“Ah, Henry Hermann, you know me. I have come at last for my daughter, -Leola, and it seems I have unearthed some villainy on your part. Will -some one tell me the meaning of all this excitement?” - -Leola flew to him with a cry of joy. - -“My father, oh, my father! You have come at last!” - -The bronzed stranger clasped her to his heart and kissed her beautiful -lips again and again, exclaiming: - -“Sweet image of your lovely mother, now an angel in heaven, we shall -never be parted again! But now tell me the meaning of this strange -scene.” - -Clinging fondly to his arm the girl answered, spiritedly: - -“That old Falstaff there held a mortgage on my guardian’s estate for -fifteen thousand dollars, and offered to cancel it if I would become -his wife. So I was persecuted into giving him my promise, and to save -me from despair and suicide my dear governess planned to deceive them -and put herself in my place.” - -“But it won’t do any good,” blustered the angry Bennett, “I won’t take -the old girl on any terms, and I’ll have my money out of Hermann all -right, and that soon!” - -He recoiled in surprise at the stranger’s contemptuous laugh. - -“Your mortgage is not worth the paper it was written on, for I hold -a prior one that Hermann executed to me over thirty years ago, for -thirty thousand dollars, as much as the full value of his estate. This -money he had from me before my Leola was born, because I admired his -scientific attainment and wished to make him independent, so that he -could prosecute his experiments in chemistry. At my dear wife’s death -I went abroad with an exploring party to drown my grief. As Hermann’s -mother was a kinswoman of mine, I left Leola with him, giving him ten -thousand dollars for taking care of her, but it seems that he has -betrayed his trust, and but for this noble governess here my poor girl -would have been betrayed into a wretched marriage. I have no more use -for so unworthy a guardian, but I shall not take revenge by foreclosing -my mortgage on his home. I shall leave him in peaceable possession the -term of his life; then Wheatlands will revert to my daughter, Leola. -For the rest, as soon as Leola can pack up to leave I shall take my -dear girl away with me to New York, and if Mr. Bennett repudiates his -pretty bride, she may accompany us. I am rich, and for her love and -care of Leola she shall be well repaid.” - -The bride and groom looked at each other, she pitifully humble and -entreating, he angry and resentful, yet on a sudden inclined to make -the best of what seemed to him a bad bargain, so that he muttered, -ungraciously: “You may come home with me, Amanda.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -WIDOW GRAY AND THE YOUNG CAVE-HUNTERS. - - -The tender-hearted Mrs. Gray returned to her cottage after her repulse -at Wheatlands in a very sad state of mind over Chester Olyphant’s -strange disappearance. - -In the month that he had boarded with her she had grown to appreciate -him very highly for his true manliness and noble character, and, on his -part, her esteem had been returned by a frank, out-spoken regard. - -Toward the last he had made her his confidant, telling her his true -name and position, and explaining why he had wooed Leola under a mask -for the sake of romance, wishing to be loved for himself alone. - -“My life has been sad in many ways in spite of great wealth,” he said. -“My parents died in my early childhood, and I was brought up by an -uncle and aunt who are all now dead, so that I have really no near -relatives, having been an only child. But now I shall arrange to marry -Leola very soon, and my beautiful home on the Hudson, Bonnie View, will -have a fitting mistress in my lovely bride. As for you, my dear friend, -in return for all your kindness, I want you to come to us when we are -married and make your home at Bonnie View as Leola’s companion.” - -He was disappointed when she declined, gently but decidedly, to accept -his offer, and when he pressed for a reason the good woman said, simply: - -“I cannot leave the little cottage where I came a bride, for the -sweetest memories of life cluster around this humble spot. Here my -two sweet children, my boy and girl, were born, and here they and my -husband passed away from me to the Better Land. Here they return in -spirit to brood over my lonely life in love and sympathy, and if I -went away perhaps they could not find me easily, or perhaps they would -not be as well pleased as here, where we were all so happy together. -When my earthly life is ended they will come to soothe my last hours -and bear me company to my heavenly home, so I must wait for them here, -where they watch over me daily, and I am happier so than anywhere else.” - -Her words sounded strange to Chester Olyphant in the glow of his love -and youth, loving the world and its gay companionship, but he read on -her placid features a peace and resignation he could not understand, -and ceased to urge her to change her home, only stipulating that he and -Leola should at least have a long visit from her at Bonnie View, to -which she cheerfully assented. - -So now, at his strange absence, her heart sank with dread, for last -night at her window the wind in the pine tree had sobbed like ghastly -voices, and she remembered that it had sounded just so before each -calamity that had darkened her life, vaguely foretelling sorrow. - -“Something bad has surely happened to the poor young man, for he would -never have gone away like this with no explanation,” she sighed, as she -went, restlessly, about her household duties, with a heart as heavy as -lead. - -On the next afternoon she took her knitting out on the front porch -watching, eagerly, up and down the road, for a sight of the absentee, -but all in vain. - -Suddenly she heard childish voices, and saw four little lads coming in -at her front gate--little fair-haired, blue-eyed boys, “stairsteps,” -she called them--their ages ranging from eight to twelve. - -Widow Gray knew all these neighbor boys very well, and had often -entertained them on her front door-step with apples and ginger-bread -cookies, for they were adventurous little fellows, brothers and -cousins, who often stole away from their homes to explore little caves -roundabout, leaving their doting mammas in wild panics over their -absence. - -The good woman knew that another expedition was on foot, for each boy -carried a new tallow candle in hand, and wore his worst clothes, as if -on purpose, while their pretty faces looked up at her, engagingly, as -George, the youngest and boldest, acting as spokesman, asked: - -“Mis’ Gray, please, ma’am, may we explore the cave that opens from the -hill in your back lot?” - -Smiling cheerily at them, she answered, kindly: - -“Bless your little hearts, there ain’t no cave there, children. My -husband always told me ’twas the end of an underground passage from -Wheatlands, where the Hermanns used to hide in Indian raids.” - -“We’d like to see it, all the same, ma’am, please,” said the blue-eyed -boy with the little pug nose, in that sweet coaxing voice that always -won its way with every one. - -At that she frankly gave consent, since she could see no possible -danger in the adventure, but as she handed them out some currant buns -for lunch she shook her head at them slyly, saying: - -“I wonder if your mas know you are out on this raid?” - -“Oh, they don’t care!” fibbed Willie, with a jaunty air, and then they -all went around the house, disappearing presently in the hole under the -hill, with their lighted candles, the four dearest and happiest little -chaps in Christendom. - -“Bless their little hearts,” she sighed, wiping the quick tears from -her eyes as she thought of her own two darlings at rest in the little -green mounds over in the Presbyterian graveyard, under the grass and -flowers, and as she knit and rocked the summer wind seemed like tender -childish fingers playing with the locks of white hair on her wrinkled -brow. - -So time slipped away for an hour or so, as she sat there in the summer -stillness, lulled by the hum of bees and the song of birds, and the low -breeze sighing in the pine trees, and then she started up at the sound -of excited voices coming around the house. - -The four cave-hunters were returning helter-skelter, their faces pale, -their eyes like saucers, all shouting at once: - -“Oh, Mis’ Gray, we have found a dead man!” - -“A dead man!” - -“A dead man!” - -“If you don’t believe us, come on, and we will show you!” - -It was no boyish joke, she could see from their pale, earnest little -faces, so she said: - -“Oh, my, how dreadful! Some Indian bones, perhaps, my dears?” - -The boys, who had got in a close group together, now began to talk in -loud whispers, one saying. “Oh, tell her!” another, “Oh, don’t,” while -the something unexplainable in their faces made her tremble with a -strange dread. - -She said as calmly as she could for the wild beating of her heart: - -“Out with it, boys; tell me all you know at once!” - -Thereupon Georgie shouted, glibly: - -“We went about five miles in the cave with our candles, an’ then we -found”-- - -She held up a remonstrating hand, saying: - -“Not five miles, oh, no; I have often heard that the underground road -isn’t more than a mile.” - -“Well, a mile, then,” continued George, unabashed, “an’ then we thought -we heard an nawful grunt, an’ we all jumped so that our candles most -went out, an’ the skin creeped on our bones, ’cause we thought it might -be an Indian ghost, you see, an’ we might get tommy-hawked, an’ our -mammas wouldn’t never know where we was, ’cause we sneaked away,” he -broke down, with a stifled whimper, and nudged the next boy to go on. - -Alex took up the story, adding: - -“The little boys was scared, but we wasn’t, an’ we marched right on, -an’ d’reckly we come on a dead man--not Indian bones, no, but a white -man with his head all bloody, an’--an’--then we thought we better come -back for you, ’cause you know him.” - -With a groan she cried: - -“You don’t mean my boarder--Mr. Chester!” - -Perhaps the little fellows had already decided to break the news to -her gently, for they nudged each other, and the oldest one said, -sorrowfully: - -“It looked like him, but maybe ’tain’t. Please come with us and see!” - -“I will come,” she said, “but wait; you said he groaned.” - -“Before we got to him it sounded like groans, but when we found him he -was dead.” - -“Dead as a door nail!” sobbed little Laurie, awesomely, while the eyes -of the smallest one brimmed over with tears. - -It needed no more to make the excited woman follow their guidance back -to the cave, as they persisted in calling it, taking with her some -water and a bottle of wine. - -She soon found that the little boys had told her the truth. - -The body of Chester Olyphant lay seemingly lifeless on the ground, the -brown curls matted with blood from a wound on the side of the head. - -“Oh, who has done this awful murder?” she moaned, as she listened at -his heart for a throb of life. - -It seemed to her there was a faint, irregular beat, and she hastened to -apply her restoratives, eliciting a low sound like a gasp or sigh. - -“Oh, boys, we’ll have to carry him out to the air,” she exclaimed, -and by their valiant efforts they got him out of the passage just as -twilight darkened the world. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -“TIME DOES NOT STOP FOR TEARS.” - - -While the wedding was going on at Wheatlands that evening, Doctor -Barnes, hastily summoned to the cottage, was sewing up a ghastly cut -on Chester Olyphant’s head, and explaining to Widow Gray that it had -barely escaped being a fracture of the skull. Even now he could not -tell what the outcome would be, for, though life still lingered, there -was no return to consciousness. - -He made the four little heroes very proud and happy by telling them -that God himself must have prompted their expedition that day in order -to save the young man’s life, and they scampered off home in great -excitement, to spread the news of their wonderful adventure. - -Meanwhile the doctor sent for the best nurse in town, and installed her -at the cottage to aid Mrs. Gray in caring for the patient. - -But when Leola Mead and her father were driven down to the station -that night, to take the midnight train for New York, no hint of the -truth reached them, and Leola’s heartache over her lover’s falsity was -destined to last long, for from that hour, when she had fallen like -one dead in the arbor, no news of him transpired for many months. Too -proud to confess her heart wound to her father, she never called that -once loved name in his hearing; she only sought refuge from her pain in -change of scene, saying to him eagerly: - -“Papa, darling, I have been buried in the country so long that I am -wild to see the world. If you are able to gratify my desires, I prefer -travel to anything else on earth.” - -“I live only to gratify your wishes now, my precious daughter,” -answered Alston Mead, eager to atone for having neglected her so long -in his passionate grief over the loss of his lovely young wife. - -He had planned to come back and settle down in a quiet home with his -lovely daughter, but he found it no hardship to gratify her desire for -travel, since wandering had become a second nature with him. - -So in their leisurely wanderings through the United States, and -afterward abroad, the past became almost like a dream to Leola, who -told herself, bitterly, that doubtless Jessie Stirling and Olyphant -were married long ago, and that she did not care, for she hated him now -as much as she had once loved him. - -Alston Mead, in all ignorance of the tragic love story of his fair -daughter, wondered a little that she remained so indifferent to the -suitors she attracted wherever she went, for to him it seemed very -natural for a young girl to fall in love; still he rejoiced that she -did not appear to be susceptible, saying to himself that he could keep -her all the longer to himself. - -But all the time Leola was thinking with bitter pique and pain of -Jessie and Chester reconciled and happy, perhaps long ago wedded, his -love affair of that golden summer an almost forgotten episode. - -It was bitter, for Leola knew in her heart that she had given the best -and truest love of her life, and that she could never know again the -bliss of those fleeting days, when she had loved and trusted as she -never could again, because her tenderness had been betrayed, her heart -trampled on like a withered flower thrown into the dust. - - “Like the wild hyacinth flower, which on the hills is found, - Which the passing feet of the triflers forever tear and wound, - Until the purple blossom is trodden in the ground.” - -So strangely and completely had Leola’s life changed that sometimes she -felt as if she had died and come to life again in some new world--a -kaleidoscopic world of change, in which every face and scene was -new--if only, she said to herself, bitterly, she had not brought with -her into this new life the cruel memories of the past, that seemed -always crying aloud to her heart: - - “Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been; - I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell. - Unto thine ear I hold the dead-sea shell. - Cast up thy Life’s foam-fretted feet between; - Unto thine eyes the glass where that is seen - Which had Life’s form and Love, but by my spell - Is now a shaken shadow intolerable.” - -But “time does not stop for tears,” and the days and months rolled -away and brought round golden June again, so that it was a year since -Leola had ridden out so joyfully on Rex to meet her fate in Chester -Olyphant’s dark blue eyes. - -They were in Paris now, and everyone knows how charming Paris is in -June, but somehow Leola’s thoughts turned backward to the West Virginia -hills that she had vowed she never cared to see again--turned back with -a strange homesickness to the wild and picturesque scenes where her -joyous youth had been nurtured, to the old faces, the old pleasures, -and she thought that she should like to get on Rex’s back again for -a breezy canter into the country town, or on to the old Blue Sulphur -Spring for a draught of its cold, clear, sparkling water. - -She could close her eyes and see just how it was looking, after the -long, cold winter, in its new summer gown of green, trimmed with -violets, blue and white--that dear old hillside back of the house; and -the orchard would be decked in pink and white, and the birds would be -singing like mad in the branches, and the sky would be blue and sunny, -and the sweet air seem like an elixir of life. - -She opened her eyes, and she was in Paris again, and she had in her -hand a memorandum for the shopping she was going to do that week--gowns -and laces and jewels, to deck that wonderful beauty, to set off, like -a splendid frame, the peerless form, the flowerlike face, with its -somber dark eyes and thick waves of ruddy golden hair--the Titian shade -artists raved over. - -Her father had had her portrait painted--full length, and all in -white--and all Paris had raved over it when the artist had it on -exhibition those few days before it was boxed to be shipped to America. -She had made many friends, been entertained at the homes of the rich -and great, had refused dazzling offers to the wonder of all, and here -she was, all at once, with a fit of nostalgia for the simple home and -kindly faces that were gone out of her life forever--or so she thought. - -She had often thought of the new Mrs. Bennett, wondering if her simple -devotion had ever won her rotund husband’s heart, but she had never -written her a line in her eagerness to forget the grief over those last -days, and put them behind her forever. - -Now she thought, tenderly, of the good woman, murmuring: - -“How strange it seems I have never heard one word from all I left -behind! Some of them may be dead, some married--Jessie and Chester, -of course, long ago--but there are few I care for save my dear old -governess and Mrs. Gray!” - -Putting all these thoughts behind her with a passing wonder why they -had come like ghosts from a dead past to disturb her present peace, she -rang for her maid and got ready for her shopping tour. - -An hour later she knew why those subtle memories had overwhelmed her -this morning. It was the influence of telepathy. - -Turning over some rare silks at the Arcade, her heart leaped, and her -blood turned cold in her veins at the sound of a familiar voice: - -“Leola Mead, am I dreaming, or is it really you? What a charming -surprise! Why, only this morning I was thinking of you, wondering where -you were; and to find you here so soon, it’s like a dream!” - - “My foe undreamed of by my side - Stood suddenly like fate-- - To those who love, the world is wide, - But not to those who hate!” - -Leola felt a small, gloved hand pressing hers very hard, looked into -bluebell eyes under flaxen waves of hair, and turned cold with dislike -and repulsion, dreading every moment to see over the blonde’s shoulder -her husband’s face, handsome and winning, with the laughing blue eyes -that had smiled her heart away. - -With a strong effort she pulled herself together, calling her -passionate pride to her aid. They should not see her wince; she would -show them she had forgotten him. She said, coldly: - -“So it is you, Jessie Stirling? How long have you been over?” - -“Oh, since early spring shopping for my trousseau, you know,” twittered -Jessie, gayly. - -“Then you are not married yet?” Leola cried, eagerly. - -“No; but I shall be soon--in late July. Chester was ill so long, -you know,” she twittered on; then, at the startled look in Leola’s -dark eyes, “Oh, I forgot you went away so abruptly that night before -everything happened--the explosion and all! Tell me, haven’t you ever -heard from home? from any of them? Not a word, you say? How very -strange! Leola, is your carriage waiting? Yes? Then I will go for a -drive with you, and tell you everything. We can come back for our -shopping later”--dragging her out. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -“IF HATE COULD KILL.” - - -The two fair young girls stepped into the elegant equipage, and as it -rolled down the glittering boulevard in the glorious sunshine, they -were the cynosure of all eyes. - -Jessie Stirling began excitedly: - -“And so you have never heard a word from West Virginia since the night -you left so suddenly! Then I have much to tell you. But first, have you -not heard from Chester Olyphant in all this time?” - -There was an anxious tone in her voice, but Leola did not heed it, she -answered so spiritedly: - -“That is a strange question, Jessie. I have not heard, or ever wished -to hear, from him.” - -Jessie’s little tinkling laugh rang out in shallow ripples on the air, -as she exclaimed: - -“Still angry! But, poor dear, I do not blame you. It was hard for me to -forgive him for trifling with your tender heart. It was his illness and -suffering that melted my heart.” - -Leola listened in blank silence. She would not have asked one word -about Chester Olyphant if Jessie had said that he was dead. - -“You care nothing for him now--that is plain to be seen. I am glad you -have gotten so bravely over it,” said Jessie, smiling at the fair, -proud face, with the somber dark eyes gazing straight ahead, though -seeing nothing of the gay streets with throngs of happy people going up -and down as they drove on behind the liveried coachmen. - -Then she added: - -“You remember, we thought that Chester Olyphant had run away after I -betrayed him? That was wrong.” - -She knew that Leola was listening, though she did not answer a word. - -“To tell the truth, I may have been a little to blame, Leola, for, in -anger at Chester’s duplicity, I ran to Uncle Hermann with my story, -and he was angry--fearfully angry--at the wrong done to me and to -you. At first he swore he would horse-whip him, but mamma begged him -not to create a public sensation, for she said it was best to let it -blow over. Uncle Hermann did not say yea or nay, and we thought he was -pacified.” - -She drew a long breath, and continued: - -“Well, you remember how everything happened that night--the wedding, -your father’s return to take you away, and everything? When the -Bennetts were gone, also you and your father, Uncle Hermann was -desperate. We sat up late talking over matters, holding, as it were, a -council of war; for, though your father had mercifully permitted him a -life-time use of Wheatlands, he was so involved in debt that he could -not see a dollar in sight anywhere.” - -Leola made no comment, and the speaker went on: - -“Uncle Hermann wanted to borrow of mamma, saying he was prosecuting an -experiment that must, if it succeeded, make him fabulously rich, and -revolutionize the whole world. But chemical ingredients were costly, -and he could not go on a week longer without money. He had borrowed, -begged, got all he could, and was desperate for more funds. He said he -could almost steal, if he knew where to lay his hands on the money, for -the sake of his great experiment. He even went on his knees to mamma, -but alas! it was ‘like going to the goat’s house for wool.’ Mamma had -pawned her diamonds long before to keep afloat in society, and was -desperate for means herself. So she could not help him at all, and she -said she would go home next day so as not to bother him any longer in -his trouble. We retired, and at breakfast next morning he said he and -Joslyn would be busy in the laboratory until afternoon; that he had a -few chemicals to work on yet; and that, before we left, we might have -to congratulate him on the success of his experiment.” - -Leola began to look more interested. She could not help being sorry for -Wizard Hermann and the failure of his pet hobbies--the ambitions of a -toilsome lifetime. - -Jessie Stirling continued: - -“Mamma and I went upstairs and packed our trunks, and telephoned to -town for a man to take them down to the station. When they were gone -we walked out to the arbor, waiting for luncheon, and to bid good-bye -to my uncle, when--oh, Leola, with a shock!--suddenly there was the -sound of a terrific explosion from the tower, and we fell back almost -stunned in our seats. It almost seemed as if the world were coming to -an end, for one loud report followed another, and the tower was blown -away, with all of the chimneys. Then suddenly all grew still, and fire -shot out of the windows and doors, caused by an explosion of gasoline -Uncle Hermann had been using in his experiments.” - -“Oh, how terrible!” cried Leola, finding voice at last. - -“Yes, was it not?” cried Jessie, growing excited at the memory, and -adding: “For not only was the house burned to the ground, but Joslyn, -uncle’s servant, was killed; while as for himself, he fought his way -bravely from the burning building, saving his life at the expense of -all that made it worth living--his eyesight destroyed, his arms burned -off to the elbows.” - -“Oh, how horrible! how horrible!” groaned Leola, and her lovely face -went deathly white with the shock of the story. - -“I knew you would be shocked,” exclaimed Jessie. “Oh, wasn’t it -fortunate for us that we had gotten out of the house just before! And -saved our trunks, too! The cook was out in the garden getting peas -for dinner, luckily for her! Joslyn was burned in the house; and as -for Uncle Hermann, we thought he must die, too. Indeed, he thought so -himself, for he was in horrible agony, so he sent for a priest--he was -a Catholic, you know--and confessed his sins.” - -“And he lived, after all? What became of him? Who took care of the poor -man?” cried Leola, with tears in her eyes, forgetting her own wrongs in -exquisite sympathy. - -“Why, the Bennetts took him to their house and cared for him till he -recovered; and he lives there yet, having a man attend to him all the -time. I must say Mrs. Bennett acted beautifully to Uncle Hermann, and -has befriended him all this time in spite of the fact that he hadn’t -been as good as he might to her when she was a lone old maid.” - -“It was just like dear Miss Tuttle to return good for evil! She had -a noble heart!” cried Leola. “Dear soul, she was too good for Giles -Bennett!” - -“Mamma says she has made a better man of him, and he has become really -fond of the kind soul. You see, mamma made a trip there this spring as -Mrs. Bennett’s guest, while I came over to Europe with a friend,” added -Jessie, who would have bitten her tongue off before she would have -owned to Leola that, having exhausted all their means and failed to -catch a rich husband, she had been forced to become the paid companion -of a rich woman, while her mother eked out an existence “visiting -around.” - -She would fool Leola, and keep her and Chester Olyphant apart as long -as she could; but she had an unerring conviction that Fate in the long -run would bring them together. - -After a moment’s hesitation she began again: - -“I told you that Uncle Hermann confessed his sins the day he thought -he was going to die, but you do not seem curious over it, so I’ll tell -you all about it anyway. Uncle Hermann was so furious over Chester -Olyphant’s trifling with you and me that on the day when you lay -unconscious upstairs he met Chester in the hall and struck him on the -head with a blunt iron instrument, so that he fell like one dead.” - -“Dead!” cried Leola, and she shook with emotion. - -“Uncle Hermann did not mean to kill him, but he and Joslyn, who -happened along at the moment, both thought he was dead, and, to hide -the crime, they dragged him into the library, took up the flooring, and -dropped him down into an underground passage the family had used in -Indian times. So on his disappearance we naturally concluded he had run -away to avoid my reproaches, don’t you see?” - -Leola could only gasp, without speaking, so great was her emotion; and -Jessie, enjoying the sensation she was creating, again took up the -thread of her story: - -“So that was what Uncle Hermann had to confess when he thought he was -dying. It was the only really wicked thing he ever did, and he wanted -to get God’s forgiveness before he died; likewise, he wanted Chester -Olyphant to have a Christian burial. Poor Leola, you are faint! All -this has been too much for you.” - -Leola faltered, through stiff, white lips: - -“No, no; go on, if there is any more to tell.” - -Jessie laughed, and resumed: - -“I have kept the best for the last. Just as the men were going to hunt -for Chester’s body in the underground passage, Doctor Barnes came along -and told them that some little boys had found him alive in the cave, as -they called it, and they had taken him to Mrs. Gray’s cottage. Well, -to make a long story short, Chester had an awful wound on his head, -and a piece of the skull pressed on the brain, and he never recovered -health or consciousness till he was taken North for an operation that -made him all right again. Mrs. Gray was like a mother to him through it -all, and, next to mamma and me, I suppose he considers her his dearest -friend. Now, as to our love affair, we made it all up some time ago, -and are to be married in July; but I suppose there’s no use asking you -to be my bridesmaid, dear Leola?” - -“No,” the girl answered, curtly, adding: - -“Jessie, I promised papa to meet him at luncheon, and I shall hardly -get back in time if we do not return now. May I invite you to join us?” - -“Not to-day, thank you, Leola, but I will call on you soon, for I am -anxious to see you again, and also to meet your papa. Now if you will -be so kind as to drive by Lady De Vere’s, where I am staying with my -New York friend, I will be very grateful.” - -Leola assented, and presently Jessie was set down at the place she -wished, and blew Leola a deceitful kiss from her finger tips as she -went in, muttering to herself as she watched her drive away: - -“It was a gratuitous fib I told her about marrying Chester Olyphant, -but I couldn’t resist stabbing her once more to see the light grow dim -in the beautiful eyes that stole his heart from me. All my maneuvering -has failed to win him back, and her turn will soon come, for he is here -in Paris, although she does not know it, and at any minute they may -meet, and everything be explained. Oh, how I wish hate could kill!” - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -LIKE A STAR IN THE NIGHT OF HER DESPAIR. - - -At the luncheon, which was served in their private dining-room, Leola -could scarcely touch a morsel, she was so eager to tell her father all -that she had heard that morning, barring, of course, the facts about -Chester Olyphant, whose name she vowed should never pass her lips. - -But she had scarcely begun her story when he smiled and interrupted: - -“It seems quite a coincidence that we have both met people from the -United States this morning--ghosts, as it were, out of your past life.” - -“Why, papa?” - -“Yes, people from West Virginia, dear--old neighbors of yours--and from -them I have heard already all you were going to tell me.” - -“Neighbors of mine! Why, papa, dear, you cannot mean--the Bennetts?” - -“Why not, my dear?” - -“Why not, indeed? They are rich enough to travel, and I remember now -that my governess used to hanker after foreign travel. So she is here? -You have seen her? Dear soul, I must call at once.” - -“She will be here herself by-and-by, so you have only to wait and rest -till she comes.” - -“I shall be very impatient,” declared Leola, and then she laughed: - -“I suppose Giles Bennett has forgiven me the trick I played him by now?” - -“Oh, yes, he said so with very hearty emphasis, and I believed him. -Indeed, the man appeared proud of his wife, who seems to dote on him. -They have been touring the continent for several months, and I met them -in an art gallery this morning. I confess I should hardly have known -them again, they were both so improved since that night, but Mrs. -Bennett recognized my face, and ran joyfully to me to ask about you. -So we talked for an hour, and I invited them to call at our hotel this -afternoon.” - -“I can hardly wait for them to come, I am so anxious,” declared the -girl, joyfully. “Are you sure that you have told me everything, papa?” - -“Did I mention that Wizard Hermann was dead?” - -“No, papa.” - -“Well, that is one of the things they told me. It happened quite -suddenly, the cause being heart failure, so after that they decided on -this tour. They have with them also some one else that you know--a Mrs. -Gray, who had a present made her of this tour by a gentleman whom she -had nursed through an illness. How strange you look, Leola! You have -grown pale, and you tremble. Are you ill?” - -“Oh, no, papa--perhaps just a little nervous. Go on, papa, have you -anything more to tell?” - -“Not just now, my dear daughter--not till you take your luncheon. No? A -drop of this wine, perhaps, to set you up. There, the color is coming -back to your cheeks. Shall I ring to have the things taken away?” - -She nodded, and they adjourned to their private parlor. - -Then Alston Mead said, gently: - -“My dear daughter, I have been hearing surprising things about you -to-day. While I have been wondering at your indifference to men, it -seems you already had a lover.” - -Her cheeks paled, then flamed. - -“Who has dared betray that unhappy episode of my past? Who has called -his despicable name?” she half-sobbed. - -Alston Mead put his arm about her tenderly, like a woman, with a -soothing caress. - -“Gently, dear; perhaps he does not deserve your scorn,” he said. - -“Then you do not know all the story, papa.” - -“Perhaps I know it better than you do, my darling girl, and, strange -to say, Chester Olyphant has been known to me for years. His father -and mother were dear friends of mine, and I knew their boy when he was -a little curly-headed chap in kilts. Naturally, I lost sight of him -afterward in my exile.” - -Leola cried, bitterly: - -“You lost sight of him, so you did not know he grew up to be an -unworthy scion of a good family--a heartless trifler with women’s -hearts.” - -“Grave charges, my daughter!” - -“You said that you knew all, dear papa.” - -“Yes, I have heard both sides of the story, and you know only one, -Leola.” - -“Papa!” - -“You know only one,” he repeated. - -Leola cried, passionately: - -“That was all there was to know! And I am sorry, I am indignant, that -my friends, in mistaken kindness, have betrayed this to you. I--I--was -forgetting it in this new life with you--only it came back bitterly -this morning when Jessie told me--that--she--will be married to him--in -July!” - -“And you, Leola, did you hear that news without a pang? Has your heart -grown callous?” - -“Spare me, papa!” and the golden head was buried on his breast, while -heaving sobs shook his daughter’s form from head to feet--sobs that -seemed to burst her very heart in twain. - -Had her heart grown callous? Oh, no, the pity of it, that she could not -deny she had given her love, irrevocably, to another woman’s lover--to -one unworthy her lightest thought. - - “A honeyed heart for the honeycomb, - And the humming bee flies home. - - “A heavy heart in the honey-flower, - And the bee has had his hour.” - -Alston Mead let her head rest in his arms until the storm of tears -spent itself naturally; then, as she began to grow calmer, he -exclaimed, angrily: - -“Curses on the woman whose malice has culminated in this past year of -sorrow; whose memory must always darken your life, even when the shadow -shall be removed.” - -“Removed, papa? Alas, alas!” moaned the girl, who could see in the -future no surcease of sorrow. - -She started when her father laughed aloud: - -“My dearest, how little faith you had in your lover, to believe all -that little cat told you out of spite!” - -“Oh, papa, you do not understand. Indeed, he was her lover. Jessie -spoke the truth. He--only--sought--to amuse himself with me. I--I--know -that it is true, for--I--saw--her--in--his arms!” - -He could hardly bear the anguish in the great, dark eyes, the shame, -the self-pity in the quivering voice: he must tell her the truth; he -could not see her suffer any more, poor, proud Leola! - -So he answered, quickly: - -“You saw her spring to his arms, my dear; and if you had not fainted at -the sight, you would have seen her the next moment repulsed with scorn -by the man who despised the shallow little deceiver.” - -A wild cry of incredulous hope shrilled over her lips, and his words -came like a star in the night of her despair. - -He continued, tenderly: - -“You were tricked and deceived, my poor Leola, by two designing women. -Granted that Chester Olyphant had once been engaged to marry Jessie -Stirling, he had found her out and broken with her before he came to -the mountains to seek you. The girl lied to you, deceived you wickedly, -scheming to separate you and win him back herself. You fainted, and -then Fate stepped in and aided Miss Stirling to keep you deceived for -a whole year, but that was all, for he continued to repulse all her -efforts to get him back. His only fault toward you, darling, was his -hiding his name and position, in the natural, romantic desire to be -loved for himself alone!” - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -“ALL THE WORLD AND WE TWO, AND HEAVEN BE OUR STAY.” - - -Alston Mead had never fully recognized before all the rare beauty of -Leola, for until now it had been shadowed by her secret sorrow--the -thorn that was always piercing her heart. - -When the girl looked up at him now her eyes were like stars, sudden -roses had bloomed on her cheeks, and her lips were trembling with -smiles of joy. - -“Oh, it is like some sweet dream!” she cried, half fearfully, her white -hands clasped above her wildly throbbing heart. - -“It is no dream, my darling; it is a blissful reality,” her father -cried. “Your lover has always been true and noble, and worthy of your -deepest devotion. For months he has been seeking for you everywhere, -and our fortunate rencontre this morning has filled his heart with joy.” - -“Oh, papa! you have then seen Ray--Chester, I mean!” she began, in wild -agitation, but he interrupted her, smilingly: - -“Call him Ray if you choose, dear--his name is Raphael Chester -Olyphant, you see. Yes, your true lover is in Paris to-day. He crossed -with your friends to seek for you. He will be here by-and-by to see -you, but I promised to tell you everything first, for he does not know -whether you will forgive him for deceiving you under the guise of the -poor artist.” - -She cried, radiantly: - -“I am glad of it now, for he knows I loved him for himself alone, -and he can never doubt my devotion. Oh, I can scarcely realize my -happiness! It seems like some beautiful dream.” - -They were interrupted by the entrance of the Bennetts with Mrs. Gray, -and such happy greetings were never seen before. - -Mrs. Bennett, grown matronly and stylish, hugged and kissed her dear -pupil until she was quite out of breath. - -Mrs. Gray followed suit when she got a chance, and Giles Bennett -squeezed her little hand until her fingers ached. - -Then every one told Leola she was lovelier than ever, and it was easy -for her to return the compliment, for prosperity and happiness had -worked a vast improvement in all three. - -A great chattering ensued, all trying to talk at once; for, said Mrs. -Bennett, roguishly: - -“We must talk as fast as we can, for some one else is coming presently, -and he warned us that when he appeared he wanted to have the field all -to himself.” - -How Leola’s heart beat! how her cheeks burned! She stole a glance at -herself in the long, gilded mirror, wondering if he would think her as -pretty, in her costly silk gown and fine laces, as in the simple cotton -gown of the rustic maiden. The mirror assured her she was even more -charming now, for it is not to be disputed that “fine feathers make -fine birds.” - -They told her all over again the story Jessie had related that morning, -adding some that she had preferred not to tell. - -The Stirlings had done their best to lure Chester Olyphant back, -but all in vain; and losing their last dollar, the girl had found -employment as companion to a rich old woman going abroad, and the -mother eked out existence visiting around among friends of her better -days. Jessie had sent a last appeal to Chester the day before, and he -had answered it with silent scorn. - -Suddenly their talk was interrupted by the entrance of a servant -carrying a card to Mr. Mead. - -He glanced at it, and then passed it, with a smile, to his daughter. - -The visitors took the hint, and rose precipitately. - -“We must all try to meet again to-morrow,” Mrs. Bennett said, as they -all filed out, escorted by Mr. Mead, leaving a clear field for Leola’s -lover. - -The happy girl sank back in her chair, feeling as if her heart would -burst with its wild throbbing. - -People had died from shock of joy as well as of grief. Could she -survive it? - -Her face went pale for a moment--pale as a snowdrift, and she closed -her lovely eyes with a gasp. - -There was a quick step in the room, a hurried breath, and some one -knelt at her feet, and caught her two hands in a rapturous clasp that -sent the warm blood bounding through her heart again, crimsoning her -cheeks and lighting her eyes like stars as she opened them to meet -those dark-blue orbs that in the long ago had lured the girlish heart -from her breast, and taught her the most exquisite lesson of life, with -its blended joy and pain. - - “And all the wondrous things of love - That sing so sweet in song - Were in the look that met in their eyes, - And the look was deep and long.” - -For a long time that mute yet speaking gaze was enough without words, -but at last Chester rose and drew her to his heart. - -“Sweetheart!” he cried, and their lips met after that long year of -silence and sorrow and pain--Jessie Stirling’s year of revenge for all -she had lost by her own unworthiness. - -“I could die now!” Leola murmured, faintly, as she clung to his breast. - -“No, you must live for me, my bonny bride!” he answered, and presently -they were seated, hand in hand, going over the past. - -When she told him of her meeting with Jessie that morning, and of all -she had said, Chester turned coaxingly to his lovely sweetheart. - -“So she will have me married in July, willy-nilly!” he said. “Well, -then, why disappoint her plans, my darling? We can be married just as -well as not in July, if you will only consent.” - -“Why, July is only two weeks off, Ray!” - -“Well, we can make it the last of July, you know, dear--it is so easy -to get a trousseau here in Paris, don’t you know? Say yes, Leola, do,” -he pleaded. - -“We must ask papa first, you know,” she said. - -“Papa will never stand in the way of our happiness,” he cried, eagerly. - -“But, Ray, he will be so lonely.” - -“No, dear, for he must come to Bonnie View and live with us, so he will -only gain a son instead of losing a daughter.” - -Alston Mead was easily brought to take Chester’s view of the case, the -more easily because he had in his heart a secret he would never confide -to any. - -In the last few years an incurable disease of the heart had fastened -upon him, and the most eminent physicians had told him he had not much -longer to live, even if he settled down to quiet days for the rest of -his life. - -It had pained him to think of leaving beautiful Leola alone in the -world, heiress to his wealth, perhaps to become the prey of designing -fortune-hunters. - -Now all that tangle would be straightened out by her speedy marriage. - -He gave consent gladly to all that Chester Olyphant proposed, and he -said to himself: - -“Now, whether I die in a few months or live long enough to name my -first grandchild, I shall pass away in peace, knowing that Leola’s -heart can rest safely in her husband’s love.” - -So Chester had his way, to the delight of all, and the invitations went -out soon for the wedding at the grand cathedral, for Chester wanted all -the world to see his peerless bride. - -Most especially did he wish Jessie Stirling to be present, so in the -invitation that went to her was a note from the happy groom-to-be: - -“My Dear Miss Stirling: As you saved me the trouble of setting my -wedding day by naming it for July, Leola and I will insure your -reputation as a prophet by accepting the date.” - -When Jessie read that note, with Chester Olyphant’s name signed to -it, she tore it to tatters in her fury, but that did not prevent her -from showing the elegant invitation to her employer, and saying, -hesitatingly: - -“I was once engaged to young Olyphant myself, but his love grew cold -when my fortunes failed, and I willingly released him.” - -Lady De Vere only smiled, for she had heard from one of Jessie’s former -friends the story of Jessie’s engagement, broken through her own fault -long before she was reduced to poverty, so she only thought: “That girl -is the most consummate liar I ever knew.” - -A bitter curiosity carried Jessie to the wedding, but she wore a thick -veil, for she did not want to be recognized. When she wrote to her -mother afterward about it, she confessed that Chester and Leola made -the handsomest bridal couple she ever saw, but that in her humiliation -she had one comfort left--though she could not win him back, she had -succeeded in separating him from his sweetheart for one terrible year, -whose pain and anguish neither could ever forget. - - -[THE END.] - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - - -The Table of Contents was created by the transcriber and placed in the -public domain. - -Punctuation has been made consistent. - -Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have -been corrected. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOOING OF LEOLA *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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M'Veigh Miller.—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> - <style> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.tdr {text-align: right;} -.tdc {text-align: center;} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: small; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-indent: 0; -} /* page numbers */ - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/* Images */ - -img { - max-width: 100%; - height: auto; -} -img.w100 {width: 100%;} - - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - -/* Poetry */ -/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ -/* .poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} */ -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:small; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; -} - -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} -.poetry .indent1 {text-indent: -2.5em;} -.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} -.poetry .indent3 {text-indent: -1.5em;} - -.small { font-size: 75%; } -.large { font-size: 150%; } - -td.padded { padding-left: 50px; padding-right: 50px; } - -/* Illustration classes */ -.illowp53 {width: 53%;} -.x-ebookmaker .illowp53 {width: 100%;} -.illowp64 {width: 64%;} -.x-ebookmaker .illowp64 {width: 100%;} - </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The wooing of Leola, by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The wooing of Leola</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 18, 2022 [eBook #69569]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Demian Katz and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOOING OF LEOLA ***</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp53" id="coverreduced" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <a href="images/cover.jpg"><img class="w100" src="images/coverreduced.jpg" alt="Cover"></a> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<table class="center"><tr><td class="small tdc">Price,<br>Five Cents</td><td class="large padded tdc">THE LEISURE HOUR LIBRARY.</td><td class="large tdr">No. 67</td></tr></table> - -<p class="center">F. M. LUPTON, Publisher, 23-37 City Hall Place, New York.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<p class="center small">Copyright, 1905 and 1906, by <span class="smcap">F. M. Lupton</span>.</p> - -<h1>THE WOOING OF LEOLA.</h1> - -<p class="center">BY MRS. ALEX. M’VEIGH MILLER.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowp64" id="i1reduced" style="max-width: 43.75em;"> - <a href="images/i1.jpg"><img class="w100" src="images/i1reduced.jpg" alt=""></a> - <div class="caption">“ALL THE WHILE HE WAS UNCONSCIOUS OF LEOLA, LYING THERE LIKE A DEAD GIRL ON -THE GROUND.”</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - - -<p class="large center">THE WOOING OF LEOLA.</p> - -<p class="center">BY MRS. ALEX. M’VEIGH MILLER. -</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS">TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - - -<p class="center"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. SOME PRETTY PICTURES.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. ALL FOR LOVE.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. ARE YOU AN ANGEL?</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. BEWARE OF JEALOUSY.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. A HONEY BEE AND A HONEY FLOWER.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. LOVE’S ENTANGLEMENTS.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. BOAST NOT THYSELF OF TO-MORROW.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. WINDING A WEB.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. WHAT THE ROBINS HEARD.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. CHESTER OLYPHANT’S CURSE.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. A TERRIBLE DEED.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. A WAYSIDE FLOWER.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. IN THE SPIDER’S WEB.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. A LITTLE CONSPIRACY.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. SURPRISES ALL AROUND.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. WIDOW GRAY AND THE YOUNG CAVE-HUNTERS.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII. “TIME DOES NOT STOP FOR TEARS.”</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII. “IF HATE COULD KILL.”</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX. LIKE A STAR IN THE NIGHT OF HER DESPAIR.</a><br> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX. “ALL THE WORLD AND WE TWO, AND HEAVEN BE OUR STAY.”</a><br> -<a href="#transnote">Transcriber’s Notes</a> -</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>SOME PRETTY PICTURES.</h3> - - -<p>“Oh, mamma, I have had a lovely time -at Mrs. Van Bibber’s! I would not have -missed her reception for the world!”</p> - -<p>The blonde beauty threw herself, with -a silken frou-frou of rich attire, back -into a luxurious chair, clasped her white, -jeweled hands, and rolled her large, bluebell -eyes heavenward, practising the -seraphic expression she found so effective -with the men.</p> - -<p>She repeated, rapturously:</p> - -<p>“I would not have missed it for the -world! Everything was on the grandest -scale, and went off beautifully. I felt -that it was worth all our scheming and -planning for my lovely gown;” and she -smiled, complacently, at her rich blue -silk robe loaded with fine lace trimmings -that set off so well her blue eyes and -fluffy flaxen hair.</p> - -<p>“But, mamma,” she continued, “how -sober you look. Is your rheumatism -worse, poor dear?”</p> - -<p>The faded, elderly woman, with the -careworn face and fretful mouth, clasped -her thin, white hands nervously over her -knee and answered, wearily:</p> - -<p>“My rheumatism is bad enough, but -what worries me most is that I made -such a mistake—pawning my diamonds -for that splendid gown when you might -have done better remaining at home -without it!”</p> - -<p>“Mamma, what can you mean?” and -Jessie Stirling frowned, impatiently, -tearing a white rose to pieces with excited -fingers.</p> - -<p>“I mean that, after all my sacrifices -to get you ready for Mrs. Van Bibber’s -reception, hoping you might meet Chester -Olyphant there and make up your -quarrel, he came here to call on you in -your absence.”</p> - -<p>“And I missed him like that! Oh, -what a shame! But who could have -dreamed he would miss the reception? -Still, mamma, you should have kept him -till I returned. Oh, why did you let him -get away?” queried the girl, angrily.</p> - -<p>“How could I help it, my dear? You -know very well I would have been willing -to chain him to his chair to keep -him here till you came! I did my best—made -talk, and tried to hold him, but -after an hour he pleaded an engagement -and hurried away.”</p> - -<p>“But he will come again. Surely he -will! Of course you asked—made him -promise?” cried Jessie, wildly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, oh yes, but he did not say he -would. He only came, he said, to return -some negatives you loaned him to make -pictures from—the ones you took with -your own camera in the mountains last -summer.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I remember—Uncle Hermann’s -picturesque old stone mansion, -and some mountains and river views -taken from the bridge at Alderson.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and some pictures, too, of that -hoidenish girl, Leola. I wish you had -left those out, Jessie.”</p> - -<p>“Why, really, mamma, I forgot they -were in the negative book, for I didn’t -mean to show them to Chester. Not that -I could be jealous of a wild thing like -Leola Mead, but because I promised her -no one should see them. There was that -one of her wading in the creek, you -know, and another in bloomers sitting -astride her white pony Rex, and another -in hunting costume, rifle on her shoulder. -Really, she wasn’t pretty in any of the -negatives, except her white evening gown -with the lilies on her shoulder.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, he said that was lovely, and the -others, too, and he asked no end of questions -about her, and where she lived. He -pretended to be anxious to see the scenery, -but I guess it was Leola more than -anything else. Men are so sly!”</p> - -<p>“And you, mamma, what did you tell -him?” Jessie asked, anxiously.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I told him we should be glad to -have him visit Wheatlands some time -when we were there with my half brother, -but I made up my mind he should -never go there till you were safely his -wife.”</p> - -<p>“Good, mamma, though, really, I cannot -look upon Leola Mead seriously as a -rival. Why, she is only a simple country -girl, with no style or good clothes at -all.”</p> - -<p>“But dangerously pretty, Jessie, don’t<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span> -forget that!—and as for style, well, she is -graceful and dashing as any girl I ever -saw, and there’s no telling what might -happen if they met. Anyhow, he just -plied me with eager questions about the -girl, and I could see he was almost -fascinated by her pictures. Of course I -did not encourage him any. I said she -was my half brother’s ward, and presumably -of low origin, as he was reticent -about her birth, and said she had not a -friend in the world but himself. I enlarged -on her rude manners and hoidenish -ways, and said she was not nearly as -pretty as the pictures.”</p> - -<p>“When in reality she is ten times prettier,” -laughed Jessie. “So you are right. -He must never see Leola Mead until I -am his wife. I shall write him a sweet -little note pretending he has lost one of -the negatives, and ask him to call -again.”</p> - -<p>“I do not believe he will, for he evaded -the question when I urged him to do so. -Indeed, I even hinted how sorry you -were over the quarrel, and he said, quite -amiably, that it was all past now and he -hoped you and he might be good friends -again.”</p> - -<p>“Friends, bah, he shall be my husband -yet! I will win him back again; his millions -shall not slip through my fingers -this time, I promise you, mamma, and -woe to any girl that dares try to rival -me! But, really, I am not jealous of -anybody, for I think I see his little -game. He wants to make up, or he -would not have come. It was easy -enough to return the pictures by mail, -now, wasn’t it? But he probably came -because he wanted to see me, and that -chat about Leola was only to make me -uneasy and jealous, don’t you see?”</p> - -<p>“I hope so, dear, but really I was quite -frightened the way he talked of the -lovely pictures he had made from the -negatives.”</p> - -<p>“Lovely nonsense!” Jessie cried, sharply, -with an angry gleam of her blue -eyes, and a vicious snap of her white -teeth as she added: “I believe I would -try to murder Leola if she came between -us, for I cannot believe his love for me -is dead so soon. If it is, I’ll soon warm -over the old coals again. I’ll write him -a note right away, saying how sorry I -am that I was out this afternoon, and -asking him to come this evening or to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“Pray do so,” cried the scheming -mother, whose small means were dwindling -away so fast in the effort to keep -afloat in fashionable society till her -daughter’s beauty won a rich husband.</p> - -<p>Jessie wrote and dispatched her pleading -note before she removed the dainty -hat from her fluffy blonde hair, and -when evening came she was waiting for -him, gowned in dainty white, befitting -the warm June weather.</p> - -<p>To her amazement and anger there -was no reply, and the next morning she -read, in the society columns of her favorite -daily, that Chester Olyphant had -left New York the previous evening on -a yachting trip with several other young -men, and would be absent two weeks.</p> - -<p>“Well, thank Heaven, there are only -men in the party, so he will not be exposed -to any other girl’s fascinations on -the trip, and I’ll be waiting for him -when he comes back,” cried Jessie, -swallowing her chagrin the best she -could.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>ALL FOR LOVE.</h3> - - -<p>Leola Mead sprang to the back of her -mettlesome pony and almost flew down -the mountain road, her great, dark eyes -flashing with anger, her cheeks glowing -crimson, her wealth of golden locks -streaming like a ruddy banner on the -breeze. Against the tight bodice of her -riding habit her young bosom heaved -tumultuously with the angry throbs of -her heart, for Leola had just had a bitter -quarrel with her guardian, and now -gave vent to her excitement by giving -free rein to Rex in a breakneck ride.</p> - -<p>It was a lovely June morning in the -mountains of West Virginia, all Nature -at her sweetest and fairest, and Leola -had been planning such a happy, happy -day; but when she came out from breakfast -ready for her morning canter, there -stood her saturnine old guardian asking -her to step into the library for a moment -before she rode away.</p> - -<p>Leola obeyed him, pouting, for she -hated to lose time indoors this gladsome, -golden day.</p> - -<p>There was no love lost between her -and her grim guardian, anyway, for he -was a stern old man, reticent and mysterious, -spending most of his time in a -horrid laboratory up in the tower chamber -of the rough old stone house, where -the country folk said he was working -either to wrest from Nature the secret of -making gold, or the still greater mystery -of distilling a magic elixir of life. -About the neighborhood he got the sobriquet -Wizard Hermann, and looked the -character with his lean, stooping form, -long black hair floating over his coat collar, -strongly marked features and cunning -mouth, while his keen, gray eyes, -under bushy brows, seemed to pierce -one through with their questioning gaze.</p> - -<p>His ancestors had been pioneer Indian -fighters, and the large house built of -rough stone, just as taken from the quarry, -dated back to the time when the red -man roamed the almost unbroken forest.</p> - -<p>In all the years while Leola had lived -here with her governess in the lonely -old house, she could not remember a -caress from the mysterious, self-absorbed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> -old man, who seemed to have no -human interests or passions, and to care -for no one but the dwarfish servitor who -helped him in his laboratory, the only -person he ever admitted within its precincts.</p> - -<p>It was no wonder, then, that Leola -followed Wizard Hermann unwillingly -into the musty-smelling library, with its -high walnut wainscot, dingy, green-stenciled -walls, and side shelves lined with -old leather volumes, while the bare -oaken floor on which she trod was worn -with the footsteps of successive generations -who had passed from earth in the -fullness of time and been gathered to -their fathers.</p> - -<p>In the somber room with its closed -shutters Leola stood facing her grim -guardian with the impatient air of some -beautiful young princess giving audience -to a vassal.</p> - -<p>As he stood hesitating where to begin, -with an unwonted diffidence, she said, -coldly:</p> - -<p>“Speak; tell me your wish at once, sir, -for I must hurry. I have an engagement -in town with my dressmaker.”</p> - -<p>At those words Wizard Hermann’s -gloomy brow cleared as if by magic, and -quickly striking his lean, scarred hands -together, he retorted, maliciously:</p> - -<p>“An engagement with your dressmaker, -eh, my proud lady? Very well, -while you are there you may give the -woman an order for your wedding -gown.”</p> - -<p>“Sir,” she uttered, in amazement, her -cheeks reddening.</p> - -<p>Wizard Hermann retorted, with a -hoarse, sardonic laugh:</p> - -<p>“I said give the woman an order for -your wedding gown, Leola Mead, for -you are to be married soon.”</p> - -<p>Leola stared, speechlessly, a moment, -wondering if the old man was losing his -mind, and, taking advantage of her silence, -he continued, with forced bravado:</p> - -<p>“You look surprised, my haughty -young lady, so I will explain. I have -accepted a desirable proposal for your -hand, and as you are plenty old enough -to marry—nineteen your last birthday—I -have named the wedding for a month -from to-day.”</p> - -<p>Leola, recovering her speech, cried, indignantly:</p> - -<p>“Quite a cool proceeding on your part, -sir, I must say, but I wish you to understand -that I am not ready to marry -yet.”</p> - -<p>“That makes no difference to me, for -you will have to obey me, Leola Mead, -understand that,” he replied, with rising -anger. “You are my ward, and in -pursuance of my duty to you, I have accepted -a man for your husband who -worships the ground you walk upon and -will spend money on you like water.”</p> - -<p>Leola’s dark eyes blazed with indignation.</p> - -<p>“You must surely be mad,” she cried, -passionately. “The man I would choose -for my husband must ask me for my -hand, not you, sir. This is free America, -you must remember, not France, where -marriages are arranged by old people -who have forgotten love and youth. I -refuse the suitor you have chosen for me -without even hearing his name!”</p> - -<p>The old man muttered, sullenly.</p> - -<p>“Marriage is the destiny of all young -girls. You would not wish to grow into -a sour old maid?”</p> - -<p>“No, I do not intend to be an old maid, -sir, but,” with a proud toss of her lovely -head, “when I marry I shall choose the -man myself, and it shall be for love, not -money!”</p> - -<p>“Money is the only thing worth having—money -and long life,” he muttered, -but Leola, with a contemptuous laugh, -turned to go.</p> - -<p>He sprang between her and the door, -putting his back against it.</p> - -<p>“I have not done telling you all about -this matter yet,” he exclaimed, but Leola -stamped her little foot in a fury, replying:</p> - -<p>“I will not hear another word, I tell -you, and you may as well let me go, and -give up your foolish plans!”</p> - -<p>“By Heaven, miss, you shall marry the -man of my choice—I swear it!” cried the -wizard, violently, but she answered, -coldly:</p> - -<p>“Pray let me hear no more such nonsense, -Uncle Hermann. Granted you are -my guardian, the law does not give you -the power of marrying me to anyone -against my will. No, not another word, -or I shall think you are going insane, if -not so already. Get away from that -door, and let me out, or I shall scream -for assistance or jump out of the window!”</p> - -<p>“You would not dare do either!” he -said.</p> - -<p>Leola ran like a flash to the window, -pushing back the creaking shutters, letting -in a flood of June sunshine. The -next moment she sprang to the high sill, -crying, defiantly:</p> - -<p>“Now, get away from that door or I -will jump out!”</p> - -<p>The old man muttered, incredulously: -“You would break your neck!”</p> - -<p>Leola answered, recklessly:</p> - -<p>“I shall risk that unless you let me -out of the door. Come, now, I will count -ten. If you do not move before then I -am gone,” and drawing her dainty little -feet up into the window, and dangling -them on the outside, she began counting -in a clear, high voice:</p> - -<p>“One—two—three—four—five—six—seven—eight—nine—ten!”</p> - -<p>Wizard Hermann remained standing -with his back toward the door, regarding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span> -her with an incredulous leer, never -dreaming she would make the foolhardy -leap, for from the window sill it was -twenty feet to the ground.</p> - -<p>But Leola was as good as her word.</p> - -<p>While she counted she kept her flashing -dark eyes full upon his stubborn -face, and seeing that he did not move as -the last word left her lips, she deliberately -turned and sprang out upon the -ground.</p> - -<p>A cry of alarm shrilled over the old -man’s lips, and he stood like one rooted -to the spot, listening for the cry of pain -that must announce the dread result of -the perilous leap. Visions of Leola crippled -or dead floated before his mind’s -eye, and he muttered, savagely:</p> - -<p>“Little vixen, if you have broken your -neck it is your own fault! But if you -live you shall marry the man of my -choice one month from to-day, I swear it!”</p> - -<p>The sound of her voice floated to him -indistinctly—was it a laugh or a groan?</p> - -<p>He hurried to the window, shaking -with excitement.</p> - -<p>There was Leola standing upright on -the greensward, brushing her blue skirt, -and humming a little song to herself.</p> - -<p>“Are you hurt?” he quavered, anxiously, -and she looked up, laughing maliciously:</p> - -<p>“Hurt? Oh, no, not a bit!” she called -back, gayly. “I just let myself go limply, -and I came down like a cat on all -fours in the grass and clover. I have -fallen higher than that from trees many -a time without hurting myself. It’s -easy enough when you learn to go limp -and not stiffen yourself; ha, ha!”</p> - -<p>As he glared in amazement she waved -her hand, audaciously, adding:</p> - -<p>“You ought to try it yourself some -time, Uncle Hermann! Well, good-bye, -sir, and mind you don’t let me hear any -more of this match-making business, -unless you go and get married yourself!” -and with that parting shot, the merry -girl ran across the grass, a vision of -youth and health and beauty, to where -her pony was waiting, ready saddled, beneath -a tree. Vaulting lightly to his -back, without even waiting to fasten -the loosened tresses of her ruddy hair, -the wild young thing was off and away -down the mountain road, her young -bosom throbbing tumultuously, half with -anger, half with mirth, at the rencontre -with her guardian.</p> - -<p>“The old silly, to think of marrying -me off, without so much as by your -leave! The idea!” she exclaimed aloud, -adding, more soberly, “Not that I’d mind -having a rich husband if he was handsome -and winning, too, but how often -I have heard it said that good looks and -riches seldom go together, so if that’s -the case I’d marry for love and let -money go!”</p> - -<p>Her fit of anger dissolving in the sunshine -of sweet good nature, she hummed, -as she galloped on, a fragment of a tender -little love-song, sweet as it was sad:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Honey flowers for the honey-comb,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the honey-bees from home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A honey-comb and a honey-flower</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the bee shall have his hour.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A honeyed heart for the honey-comb.</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the humming bee flies home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A heavy heart in the honey-flower.</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the bee has had his hour.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Suddenly the low song died on her lips, -changing to a cry of alarm.</p> - -<p>At a curve in the road she came suddenly -upon a startling sight.</p> - -<p>Rex just swerved aside from a runaway -horse that was dragging behind it -a shattered little runabout, in which -stood upright a white-faced man, straining -desperately upon the reins, trying to -stop the maddened animal’s wild career.</p> - -<p>Even in that terrible moment, with -the black horse plunging madly forward -to the imminent peril of the driver’s life, -Leola saw, as by a flash, that the man -was young and very, very handsome, -and her heart throbbed with wild pain -at his danger, for on one side the road -sloped, precipitously, downward to a -dangerous stream of water, and a plunge -over that steep incline meant death in -horrible form.</p> - -<p>But what could avert the catastrophe, -for it seemed as if nothing could restrain -the plunging brute or turn aside his -maddened course toward the crumbling -edge of the yawning precipice that -would instantly engulf both in ruin and -death!</p> - -<p>A cry of agony, “Oh, God, save him!” -shrilled over her rosy lips.</p> - -<p>Surely the listening angels heard the -prayer, for suddenly she saw that there -was one chance in a thousand to avert -the threatening disaster—one chance, -though with deadly peril to herself.</p> - -<p>With a high heart of hope, and a courage -that defied all the deadly risk, she -dared the consequences, spurring Rex -forward in front of the black horse with -a clarion call on her lips that wrought -what seemed like a miracle.</p> - -<p>For at her voice, conjoined with a -startled whinny from Rex, the terrified -animal, plunging and rearing but an instant -before, with upraised hoofs nearing -the verge of the dangerous precipice, -now stopped as if shot, trembling -all over, while Leola, throwing out her -arms, caught his neck and clung, clung, -clung, with the energy of despair.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>ARE YOU AN ANGEL?</h3> - - -<p>What subtle influence wrought the -miracle, for it could not have been the -strength of Leola’s slender hands?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span></p> - -<p>But there stood the satanic black -animal, its fury abated, its flight arrested, -its huge form trembling, shuddering, -while the foamy sweat dropped -in streams to the ground. As for the -driver, he had been hurled violently -backward into the road by the impetus -of the sudden stop, and now lay there -without sound or motion, like a dead -man.</p> - -<p>Leola, waiting only a moment to pat -the black horse gently on his heaving -neck, slipped from her saddle and ran to -the young man, leaving, oh, wonder of -wonders! the excited creature standing -stock still, and rubbing noses with Rex -quite as if they had been old friends.</p> - -<p>“Oh, heaven, he is dead!” the girl -moaned in anguish.</p> - -<p>Her heart sank like lead to see him -lying there so still, with a little stream -of blood trickling from his temple, where -it had struck against a jagged rock.</p> - -<p>“Oh, if I only had some water,” she -sighed, and just then the trickle of a -little spring by the side of the road -caught her ears. She ran and filled her -riding cap with the clear fluid, and -dashed it in his face.</p> - -<p>Oh, joy! he gasped once or twice, and -opened on her anxious face a pair of the -bonniest dark blue eyes she had ever -met—eyes that seemed to go exactly -with the glossy curls of thick brown -hair.</p> - -<p>When his gaze met hers he smiled, -faintly, and sighed:</p> - -<p>“I—I—where am I? Oh, I remember -now. I was in an accident; my horse -ran away, and I was thrown out of the -runabout. Was I killed? Is this heaven, -and are you an angel?”</p> - -<p>Leola laughed a happy, rippling laugh, -sweet as music to his ears.</p> - -<p>“An angel? No, indeed,” she cried; -“and this is not heaven, either, only a -rough, rocky road, where you fell when -you pitched out of your trap. Oh! are -you hurt very bad? Does your poor -head pain you very much?”</p> - -<p>Their faces were very close together, -for she had pillowed his head on her -tender arm, and he could feel the quick -throbs of her excited heart as she waited -for his answer.</p> - -<p>“I—I—do not feel very bad,” he began, -then suddenly lapsed into unconsciousness -again, and this time it seemed -to her that he was surely gone forever.</p> - -<p>Tears started in her eyes and fell in a -burning shower upon his pallid, handsome -face, mingling with the crimson -rain that ran down his cheek.</p> - -<p>Again he revived, and, looking up, -met that tender, tearful glance of Leola’s -lovely eyes, that made the blood leap -through his veins with rapture.</p> - -<p>He said faintly:</p> - -<p>“Do not say you are not an angel, for -I shall always think of you as one, -sweet girl! Ah, I remember all, now! -My runaway horse was going straight -over the declivity when you spurred -yours between and caught his neck in -your arms. It was a magnificent thing -to do, but a perilous one, too, to risk -your life for an utter stranger!”</p> - -<p>Leola smiled brightly, and answered:</p> - -<p>“It certainly looked like taking a terrible -risk, and would scarcely have succeeded -so well but for one fact quite -unknown to you.”</p> - -<p>“And that?” he queried, eagerly; and -she replied:</p> - -<p>“You see, I recognized in your satanic -steed a favorite of mine—a spirited -creature that I loved dearly when it belonged -to my guardian, who sold it to -the livery stable in town only a week -ago. Black Hawk, as we called him, was -an elder brother to my pony Rex, and -they were fond of each other; so, you -see, it was really our acquaintance with -Black Hawk that made him so easy to -subdue. Just turn your head now, sir, -and you will see the pair biting at each -other in the most affectionate manner.”</p> - -<p>“It is wonderful,” he murmured; “but, -all the same, I owe you my life, for you -ran a terrible risk trusting to Black -Hawk’s possible obedience to you. What -if, in his fury of fear and rage—for he -had taken desperate fright at a well-digging -machine in a field—he had -proved unmanageable? You and I must -have gone down to death together, all -in one tragic moment.”</p> - -<p>“It is true, but let us not think of it, -since the danger is past,” said Leola, -making light of it, and adding:</p> - -<p>“What troubles me now is how to get -assistance for you. I don’t like to leave -you alone, but—Ah! I hear wheels. -Some one is coming!”</p> - -<p>Sure enough, an old top buggy, drawn -by an old gray mare, came clattering -around the curve of the road, and in it -sat the one person most welcome of any -one in the world just now—the village -doctor.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Doctor Barnes, how glad I am -to see you! You see, there’s been an accident,” -Leola cried, eagerly, as he drew -rein and began to jump nimbly out.</p> - -<p>“Yes, my dear girl; I saw the accident -from up on the hill, just as I was coming -out from a patient’s house, and I got -to you as fast as old Dolly would travel. -Really, it was a splendid deed of daring!” -cried the middle-aged doctor, patting -her bright head in a fatherly way -as he stooped over the young man.</p> - -<p>“Ah, a stranger!” he continued. “Well, -how much is he hurt? Cut on the temple, -eh? Needs some stitches. Any -bones broken, do you think? Wait till -I stanch and bind the wound, and then -we will see.”</p> - -<p>This accomplished, he tendered the use<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> -of his arm, and the young fellow got -upon his feet without much difficulty.</p> - -<p>“Ah, you’re all right—unless there’s -some internal hurt. Come, I will put -you into my buggy. Your arm on the -other side. Leola and I must take you -to the nearest house, which happens to -be the Widow Gray’s cottage, below here. -There I can sew up your wound and -leave you in safe hands till we can find -out if there’s any internal injuries. All -right. Put your head back against the -lap-robe. You will come with us, Leola; -I may need your help.”</p> - -<p>Stranger as the young man was, they -could not have taken him to a better -place, for Widow Gray was the dearest -old woman in the neighborhood. She -lived quite alone in a tidy cottage back -among a grove of maples, or a “sugar -camp,” as the country people called it; -for here in the early spring was always -produced that toothsome dainty, maple -sugar, so dear to the hearts of school -children. The widow had a neat spare -room that she often let to a summer -boarder, and to this white-hung chamber -she quickly led Doctor Barnes with -his patient, her round face beaming with -good-nature as she promised to do all -she could for the unfortunate young -stranger.</p> - -<p>“He will need your best nursing, I -fear,” exclaimed Doctor Barnes; for, on -getting his patient down upon the bed, -he immediately fainted again, and the -swoon was so deep that it was difficult -to revive him.</p> - -<p>“Oh, he is dead!” sobbed Leola; and -the thought carried with it such agony -that it changed and darkened the whole -world to her young heart, so dear had -the handsome stranger grown already.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>BEWARE OF JEALOUSY.</h3> - - -<p>How glad she was when he opened -his eyes again, and faltered:</p> - -<p>“I am quite ashamed of myself, fainting -away like a weak woman. I will -promise not to do so again, doctor.”</p> - -<p>Doctor Barnes quickly made him as -easy as possible, and left him to the -widow’s care, promising to call again -that evening to see how he fared, and -also to send word to the livery stable -about the horse and trap.</p> - -<p>Leola felt she had no further excuse -for staying, although, somehow, she -could not bear to go.</p> - -<p>She went into the room to say farewell, -and he entreated her to stay, in a -weak voice, reinforced by pleading eyes.</p> - -<p>She smiled, and shook her head.</p> - -<p>“It is better I should go now, for the -doctor says you must have absolute rest -and quiet to-day, and I am a sad chatterbox, -but I will come to-morrow and -bring you some flowers,” she promised.</p> - -<p>She pressed his hand in mute farewell, -and the contact thrilled her with rapturous -emotion, for even with his pallor -and his bandaged head he appeared to -her a king among men—a veritable -Prince Charming.</p> - -<p>A great change had come to her heart -since she rode out so blithely that morning, -and the words of her simple song -were coming true:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A honey-comb and a honey-flower.</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the bee shall have his hour.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>She forgot all about her errand to -town, and, remounting Rex, went for a -long ride, miles away, to a beautiful -Blue Sulphur Spring, where she lingered -for hours upon the green lawn, dreaming -over and over the startling event of the -day, and gazing anon into the sparkling -depths of the water, as if she might read -in its pellucid depths the secret of her -future.</p> - -<p>And she recalled, with a sudden thrill, -the gypsy who had told her fortune last -year, saying:</p> - -<p>“You will have a handsome, blue-eyed -husband, and you will adore each other; -but beware of jealousy, or it will part -you forever.”</p> - -<p>Leola had laughed at the gypsy then, -but now she recalled her prophecy with -a prophetic thrill.</p> - -<p>“A handsome, blue-eyed husband! He -has blue eyes!” she said—which showed -that her thoughts already reached forward -to the unknown future.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our feelings and our thoughts</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Tend ever on and rest not in the present.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>When she returned home she had temporarily -forgotten all about her little tiff -with Wizard Hermann that morning, -and as she saw him nowhere about, it -did not occur to her mind. She avoided -every one, which was not hard to do, -the household consisting of only five -members—her guardian and self, her -former governess, who now combined -teaching and housekeeping by way of -economy, a fat black cook, and a man -of all work, a misshapen, dwarfish creature -of tremendous strength.</p> - -<p>The day and night seemed interminably -long to Leola, who lay awake many -hours through pure joy of this blissful -something that had come so suddenly -into the placid current of her young life. -Heaven forefend her from ever knowing -the wakefulness of sorrow!</p> - -<p>Bright and early the next morning she -was out in the old-fashioned garden, -gathering roses, dewy sweet and lovely, -and it was not difficult to coax black -Betsy for a bit of early breakfast before -the others appeared.</p> - -<p>Then, because she did not want to seem -too anxious, Leola walked the two miles -to Widow Gray’s cottage.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> - -<p>When Wizard Hermann asked at -breakfast after the truant, Betsy, who -was bringing in the toast, answered that -“young miss” had gone to carry some -flowers to a sick friend.</p> - -<p>“Humph!” was his careless rejoinder, -little dreaming that the sick friend was -a charming young man who had already -carried Leola’s heart by storm.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the young girl went blithely -on her way, glad at heart with a -strange, new emotion, yet not realizing -why the world seemed so much sweeter -than yesterday, the flowers fairer, the -skies brighter, and all nature attuned to -a diviner melody. Even her own rare -beauty had gained another indefinable -charm from the vibrations of love, -pulsing joyfully through all her frame. -She knew that she was drawn by invisible -cords to the handsome stranger, but -she imputed it to keen interest in one -she had saved from death.</p> - -<p>Widow Gray welcomed her with beaming -smiles.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Miss Mead, such a rapid improvement -you never saw in your life! Why, -after he had rested all day and night, he -was like another man, and the doctor let -him dress this morning and lie on the -lounge in his room. He says he has no -internal trouble at all, and need only -stay in a few days till his head gets well. -Wasn’t he lucky? for the doctor says the -tumble might have killed him, and that -it was a miracle it didn’t. But, laws, -he’s as right as a trivet, and has taken -a poached egg and bit of toast this morning. -What sweet, sweet flowers! Come -right in, do, and see him; he’s expecting -you.”</p> - -<p>How his blue eyes beamed as she entered -with the flowers! Leola would -never forget that look to her dying day.</p> - -<p>“You are come at last!” he cried, happily. -“I have been hoping and watching -for you more than an hour! I should -have been in a fever of impatience if -you had stayed away much longer!”</p> - -<p>“And yet it is quite early. See, the -dew is not yet dry on the roses I brought -you,” smiled Leola, as she drew a chair -close to his side.</p> - -<p>“Are you not glad I escaped with so -slight injury?” he exclaimed, joyously. -“And only to think that I owe my life -to you! How can I repay you but by devoting -it to your service?”</p> - -<p>This was very rapid love-making, indeed. -Leola, with her very limited experience -that way, felt it was so, yet -somehow she could not chide him. Her -heart beat very fast, her cheeks flamed -crimson, and when she tried to look -away from him she could not help his -gaze from holding hers in a long look -into her soul that was trying to hide -from him beneath her dark, curling lashes. -In that moment of pure rapture Sir -Cupid transfixed both their hearts with -his cunning arrow. They were no more -strangers; they seemed to have known -each other in some past incarnation.</p> - -<p>Leola thought, thrillingly:</p> - -<p>“Surely this is love that makes my -heart beat so fast and my cheeks burn -under his glance, that holds my own so -that I cannot look away! He is my -fate!”</p> - -<p>The young stranger was saying to himself, -quite as romantically:</p> - -<p>“Before I saw this exquisite creature -I was madly in love with her shadow, -and now that we have met, my heart is -in her keeping forever. I owe her my -very life, and I will be her true knight—and -swear eternal fealty to my liege -lady!”</p> - -<p>He reached out and caught her hand, -saying, deeply and tenderly:</p> - -<p>“Forgive me if I seem too hasty, but -something urges me on to confess my -love before some unknown fate comes -between us. Leola, am I too hasty, or -may I hope to win your heart?”</p> - -<p>The lashes fell against her blushing -cheeks as she murmured:</p> - -<p>“I—I—how strange that you have -learned to love me—like that—since only -yesterday!”</p> - -<p>“I loved you weeks before I ever met -you,” was his startling reply; and as -she cried out in wonder over that, he -continued, fondly:</p> - -<p>“A few weeks ago, in New York, a -young lady loaned me some negatives to -copy. She had made them with her -camera while out in the mountains last -summer, she said. Among these negatives -were such charming views of a -young girl, that I fell in love with the -pictures as soon as I made them. I did -not rest until I found out where the girl -lived, her name, and, in short, all there -was to learn about her. Then I took the -train for West Virginia, and on arriving -at Alderson I started out the same morning -to find you, Leola; for, of course, you -have guessed it was yourself! Directly -my horse took fright; and only fancy -my feelings when I saw you coming -toward me on your white pony, a perfect -vision of youth and joy and beauty, and -realized that a horrible death might -thrust us apart in another fatal moment. -You saved my life, and can you wonder -I look upon you as my fate—the fairest -fate that ever life gave to a man?”</p> - -<p>He paused, pressed the hand he held -again ardently, and added, musingly:</p> - -<p>“How strangely everything has come -about! I thought I should have to get -acquainted with you in a very proper -way, and go through a ceremonious -courtship before I proposed, but fate took -it all out of my hands. Now, what have -you to say to this, my dear girl? Will -you let me hope to win your love?”</p> - -<p>“It is yours already,” Leola confessed, -with exquisite frankness; then, as he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> -rapturously kissed her trembling hand, -she exclaimed, in wonder at herself:</p> - -<p>“Oh, perhaps you think I am too lightly -won when I do not even know your -name!”</p> - -<p>“That can be remedied very soon. Call -me Ray Chester, an artist, who wishes -he were richer for your sweet sake.”</p> - -<p>“Then you are poor?” Leola questioned, -gravely.</p> - -<p>“Do you regret it?” he asked, sadly.</p> - -<p>“I—I—don’t know. Cousin Jessie always -advised me never to marry poor. -It is Jessie Stirling, I mean. She loaned -you the negatives, did she not?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; but I am sorry she put such notions -in your pretty head. Perhaps you -will take back your promise, learning I -am poor.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, no, no! Never! I could not -marry any one without love, but Jessie -says she would take a fright if he had a -million dollars. However, she has -‘hooked,’ so she says, a big fish, rich, -and young, and handsome, too, and she -wants, when she is married, for me to -visit her so she can make a grand match -for me.”</p> - -<p>“I will save her the trouble,” said Ray -Chester. “Love in a cottage will be our -portion, my darling, but you are so lovely -that I shall paint a picture of you -that will perhaps make my fortune!”</p> - -<p>Suddenly a shadow clouded her lovely -eyes. She had remembered for the first -time her guardian’s threat of yesterday.</p> - -<p>“You look sad, Leola. Are you repenting -your promise already?” her lover -cried, anxiously.</p> - -<p>“I shall never repent. I believe you -are my fate!” the girl exclaimed, earnestly, -and to herself she thought:</p> - -<p>“I will not tell him of my guardian’s -foolish plans for wedding me to a rich -man yet, for perhaps he will give it up -after my frank refusal to obey him. No; -I will not even think of it again; he -cannot coerce me, for I will tell him I -have already chosen my husband.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>A HONEY BEE AND A HONEY FLOWER.</h3> - - -<p>The Widow Gray had a very romantic -turn of mind, and she had not forgotten -her young days yet, so it was easy -enough for her to find out that the two -young folks were already deeply in love.</p> - -<p>“And no wonder, either,” she said to -herself, sagely, “for the two beautiful -young things seem to be made for each -other.”</p> - -<p>Accordingly, she helped out the romance -all she could by insisting on the -girl’s coming every day to help while -away the invalid’s lonely hours, saying, -cheerfully:</p> - -<p>“For you know that just as soon as -Mr. Chester gets well enough to be going -about he will be right up at Wheatlands, -paying back your visits two to one.”</p> - -<p>Thus encouraged, Leola came and -went daily, making long visits without -exciting any suspicion at home, for she -was used to having her own way, and -no one interfered with her liberty.</p> - -<p>It was quite a week that Ray Chester -was detained at the cottage, for although -he made light of his injuries, he -was very much bruised, and felt stiff -and sore, and the little gash on his temple -was deep enough to take some time -in healing, and even then it would leave -a scar under his thick, brown curls that -would always remain to remind him of -lovely Leola’s bravery in saving his life -at the risk of her own.</p> - -<p>But that week went away so quickly, -so happily, in that golden June weather, -that when it was over they could not -realize the lapse of days.</p> - -<p>“It seemed like one exquisite day,” -they said to each other.</p> - -<p>The programme of their days had been -something like this:</p> - -<p>Leola called every morning on Rex, -and remained until the midday meal at -Wheatlands. After appearing at this -hour she slipped away again, returning -to the cottage and staying till she had to -go home to supper. Her regularity at -these meals warded off any suspicion -that she spent the intervening hours in -the company of a very charming young -man, who would render all Wizard Hermann’s -schemes to marry her off to her -unknown suitor quite null and void.</p> - -<p>After supper, then, came the lonely -time, for Leola had to remain at home -and play to the governess on the piano -in the dingy parlor, whose faded hangings -had not been renovated for years. -As this had been a yearly practice, she -could not omit it without exciting wonder -on the part of the spinster lady who -had acted as her governess and companion -since early childhood, and, now -that school days were over, looked after -the housekeeping, staying on indefinitely, -not seeming to have either friends or -suitors.</p> - -<p>Yet, although she was over forty now, -Miss Tuttle had not given over a scarcely-concealed -hope of marrying.</p> - -<p>As she was very thin and tall, her -secret choice had fallen on her exact -opposite, a neighboring widower about -fifty, who was rather short and very -stout, and had recently come into a fortune -by selling some valuable coal-lands -in Greenbrier county.</p> - -<p>Miss Tuttle having been in love with -neighbor Bennett when he was in moderate -circumstances, only loved him the -harder when he became so rich that he -did not know how to spend his money.</p> - -<p>Some neighborly kindnesses he had -certainly shown her, but not as many -as she wished, and no amount of scheming<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> -had sufficed to bring him to the -point of proposing.</p> - -<p>Thus absorbed in her own love-affair, -it was no wonder that Miss Tuttle paid -small attention to Leola’s comings and -goings, regarding her still as a pretty -child who had heretofore laughed at love -and lovers.</p> - -<p>So there were none to molest the lovers -and make them afraid, for Wizard Hermann, -though he did not give over his -scheme, held his peace and went his way -in cunning silence, giving Leola time to -get over her fright.</p> - -<p>Even Doctor Barnes, who had not -found it necessary to pay but three visits -to his patient, did not know of the -romance going on at the cottage, and -being very busy with the measles, just -then epidemic in Alderson and the country -round about, he had no time to gossip -about the stranger whose life Leola -Mead had saved. As there were none -who knew Ray Chester, so there were -none to worry over him; and beneath -the matronly chaperonage of kind Widow -Gray their secret love bloomed into a -splendid flower whose strong roots only -death could tear away.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“I love you, sweet: how can you ever learn</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How much I love you?” “You I love even so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so I learn it.” “Sweet, you cannot know</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How fair you are.” “If fair enough to earn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your love, so much is all my hour’s concern.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“My love grows hourly, sweet!” “Mine, too, doth grow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet love seemed full so many hours ago.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lovers speak till kisses claim their turn.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“It cannot surely be a whole week; -was it not only yesterday?” cried the -doting lover.</p> - -<p>But Leola counted off the days to him -on her rosy fingers.</p> - -<p>“It was Tuesday when first we met—Tuesday, -Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, -Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and now it -is Tuesday again! And I have been to -see you twice every day, Ray! But to-morrow -I cannot come at all, for there -is a horrid picnic to which Miss Tuttle -insists on taking me, and I cannot refuse -lest she find me out.”</p> - -<p>“Why, then, I shall go to the picnic, -too. I adore picnics!” cried Ray Chester.</p> - -<p>“But you are not invited. It’s a Sunday -school picnic, you see, Ray, and you -are not acquainted with anybody.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll invite myself, and get acquainted -with everybody there in less than an -hour,” he answered, gayly; and calling -to Mrs. Gray, who was watering her -geraniums in the yard, he said:</p> - -<p>“Aren’t you going to the picnic to-morrow?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps so—only I shall have to leave -you a cold dinner,” she said, hesitatingly, -coming up to the vine-wreathed -porch in whose shadow the lovers were -sitting.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go with you if you let me!” cried -Ray; “and you will introduce me to -everybody there as your new boarder.”</p> - -<p>“And to Miss Tuttle in particular; and -mind you show her much attention, Ray, -for then she will ask you to Wheatlands,” -laughed Leola, falling into the -spirit of the thing, for it came to her -suddenly that by this means she and -Ray could go on courting under her -guardian’s very nose without being suspected.</p> - -<p>“Miss Tuttle is so vain she will easily -think Ray is in love with her,” she -thought, merrily, and so they all laid -their plans for to-morrow.</p> - -<p>The picnic came off in a beautiful -grove, and Widow Gray’s new boarder -kept his word, and got acquainted with -everybody there inside of an hour.</p> - -<p>He was specially gracious to the smiling -Miss Tuttle, who herself presented -him to Leola, saying:</p> - -<p>“Miss Mead, the little girl to whom I -have been governess over ten years.”</p> - -<p>The little girl bowed demurely, and -said she was glad to meet Miss Tuttle’s -friend, and then she turned carelessly -away, and was particular not to interrupt -his chat with the spinster until by -his assiduity he got the coveted invitation -to call.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>LOVE’S ENTANGLEMENTS.</h3> - - -<p>“Isn’t he perfectly charming, Leola? -As handsome as a picture, and the prettiest -manners I ever saw—so courteous, -so kind, altogether different from some -of the country bumpkins about here, -who don’t seem to appreciate ladies as -they ought. But really, for the life of -me, I cannot tell which one of us he is -courting, for he is so nice to us both. -Sometimes I think it’s you, and then, -again, I may be the object of his affection. -I cannot deny there may be a -little disparity in our years, but I do -not believe he would mind that, do you, -dear?”</p> - -<p>This was two weeks later than the picnic, -from which it may be inferred that -Ray Chester’s courtship was progressing -finely, without let or hindrance from -Wizard Hermann.</p> - -<p>Fortune had favored our daring hero, -for Leola’s guardian had been absent -from home nearly two weeks, and on returning -he had resumed his laboratory -work with such zeal that he remained -quite in ignorance of the fact that a -handsome young man, a stranger from -the city, was a daily and welcome caller -on the ladies of his family.</p> - -<p>His first news of the fact came from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> -Mr. Bennett, his rich and rotund neighbor, -who, perhaps growing jealous over -Miss Tuttle, desired to know if Mr. Hermann -had any knowledge of the -stranger’s intentions.</p> - -<p>“In a word, sir, is the fellow sparking -Miss Tuttle or Leola?” he said, brusquely.</p> - -<p>Mr. Hermann, startled, denied any -knowledge of the young man.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been up to New York for some -precious chemicals I required, and I -was nearly ten days absent. Since I returned -I’ve been almost too busy to take -time to eat or sleep, and I have not seen -or heard of any young man,” he declared.</p> - -<p>The sleek Bennett soon made him acquainted -with the facts as he knew them -himself.</p> - -<p>“The fellow’s from the city, somewhere -away off, good-looking and dandyfied, an -artist, he claims to be. He’s boarding -down to Widow Gray’s, and showed -himself first at a picnic, where he came -with her and got introduced to the whole -country-side. I’m not saying he isn’t as -pleasant a young chap as I ever met, but -I don’t like it, seeing him in and out at -Wheatlands all the time without knowing -for sure who he’s after, Hermann,” -he concluded, uneasily.</p> - -<p>“I’ll look into the matter this very -day and find out what’s in the wind,” -was the reassuring reply.</p> - -<p>Bennett’s little ferret eyes looked -sharply at him, and he muttered:</p> - -<p>“I won’t have any fooling over this -here bargain. The mortgage falls due -pretty soon now, and if you fail to keep -your word, I’ll foreclose at once, I -swear.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll keep it to the letter: don’t you be -uneasy,” soothed Wizard Hermann, adding:</p> - -<p>“Have you done anything to help along -your own cause, eh?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve called several times and fetched -the geerls presents of fruit and candy, -and took ’em riding in my fine new -turnout, but that dad-blame dandy was -always along, and I couldn’t hardly get -in a word edgeways to the geerl, and -Miss Tuttle, she done all the talking to -me, so’s I hadn’t any show at all with -Leola,” Bennett muttered, morosely.</p> - -<p>“Let’s see; suppose you write a letter -and propose formally for her hand. Tell -her how rich you are, and that you’ll -give her anything her heart craves. If -she refuses, then I shall have to use my -influence,” Wizard Hermann said, consolingly, -wishing he were well out of all -this bother and back in his laboratory -at work with his beloved chemicals.</p> - -<p>His house and lands were all mortgaged -to his rich neighbor, and he had -not a dollar to pay him to prevent foreclosure. -It seemed like a providence -when the rich widower cast his covetous -eyes on lovely Leola, and offered, if Hermann -could get her to marry him, to release -the debt.</p> - -<p>It was fifteen thousand dollars, but -Wheatlands, with its wide-spreading -acres, was worth twice as much, and it -was terrible to thus sacrifice the home -of his forefathers; so Hermann, who -had burned up all that money in his -foolish and mysterious experiments, decided -that Leola must be sacrificed to -pay the debt, since there was no other -way.</p> - -<p>But how to obtain her consent he did -not know, and, since the morning when -she had so angrily repulsed him, the -subject had tacitly dropped between -them, Hermann realizing that his end -could only be gained by force and cunning.</p> - -<p>Bennett’s story about a possible rival -put a new element of trouble into the affair, -so he set himself to investigate -matters by calling the governess to account.</p> - -<p>When he summoned her to the library -she thought he only wanted to go over -some housekeeping accounts with her, -or possibly to pay some arrears of her -salary long overdue.</p> - -<p>Visions of a new gown and bonnet -floated joyfully before her mind’s eye, -but she was soon undeceived.</p> - -<p>“Who and what of this young dandy -who is making so free of my house these -two weeks?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>Miss Tuttle bridled, and tried to blush -like an eighteen-year-old girl.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Mr. Hermann, the most charming -young man—he’s a boarder at Widow -Gray’s, and is most attentive,” she simpered.</p> - -<p>“So I have heard, but who is he after—Leola?” -he demanded.</p> - -<p>“Oh, sir, no, indeed—that is, I cannot -really be sure of his intentions toward -either; he’s so very charming to both of -us we cannot decide between us which -he prefers yet—but he does not seem like -a flirt!”</p> - -<p>“Amanda Tuttle, don’t be an old fool! -How do you suppose any young man -could hesitate between an old woman -like you and pretty Leola?” he replied, -brusquely.</p> - -<p>“Sir!” Miss Tuttle bridled, and tears -came into her eyes.</p> - -<p>“Well, well, I spoke roughly, but you -should not be so silly,” returned her employer. -“Remember you were not very -pretty when you first came here, and -fifteen years has changed you into a -faded old maid.”</p> - -<p>“I—I—hate you!” she sobbed, pitifully.</p> - -<p>“Hard words break no bones,” he said, -carelessly.</p> - -<p>“If you will pay me my salary I’ll -leave Wheatlands forever!” she sobbed, -bitterly, in her humiliation; but he went -on, coolly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span></p> - -<p>“No, I don’t want you to leave; I really -need your services, Miss Tuttle. But as -to whether you ever get that money I -owe you depends on your own exertions. -I’ve lost everything, and unless Leola -makes a rich marriage I’ve planned for -her, I will not have a roof over my head -this day month.”</p> - -<p>Miss Tuttle mopped her wet eyes with -a little lace-edged handkerchief, and -straightened up, full of breathless curiosity.</p> - -<p>“Oh, who is he?” she exclaimed; and -thereupon he suddenly confided his difficulties -freely to her, hopeful of her -ready co-operation, but, being totally -unversed in the intricacies of a woman’s -heart, he made the mistake of his life.</p> - -<p>On learning that the rotund widower, -Bennett, whom she secretly loved, was -a suitor for Leola’s hand, the spinster -promptly went into hysterics that she -could not have helped to save her life.</p> - -<p>She shrieked furiously:</p> - -<p>“Oh, the fat villain, the vile deceiver! -After all his attentions to me since his -poor wife died, to turn around and fall -in love with a chit of a girl like Leola! -Oh, I could tear him limb from limb, the -wretch! And as to marrying him, she -shall not—never, never!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, really, really!” soothed her employer, -but all to no purpose, for, her -heart being touched, she could not restrain -her excitable feelings, but raved -on angrily and tearfully for some time, -until her emotion spent itself, the old -man having bided his time to this end.</p> - -<p>He now observed, sarcastically:</p> - -<p>“If you have done making a fool of -yourself now, Amanda Tuttle, perhaps -you will tell me what you are going to -do about it. You cannot marry Bennett -if he will not have you.”</p> - -<p>“No,” she moaned, tearfully; and he -continued, coolly:</p> - -<p>“Perhaps you will bring suit for breach -of promise.”</p> - -<p>Miss Tuttle fairly tore her hair in her -humiliation.</p> - -<p>“Will you, now?” he repeated.</p> - -<p>“No,” she sobbed, suddenly realizing -that she really had no grounds to base a -legal action upon. She had built her -hopes on a baseless fabric of neighborly -politeness, nothing more, and her -house of cards had tumbled to the -ground.</p> - -<p>The revulsion from long hope to sudden -despair was so bitter that it awakened -an intense and jealous hatred for -Leola, superseding the devotion of years.</p> - -<p>Hermann realized that he had made a -mistake in taking her into his confidence, -and made a masterly retreat, exclaiming:</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, well, don’t take it so hard, -Amanda Tuttle; you’re too old to behave -like a love-sick chit! It isn’t likely that -Leola will want to marry him, anyhow, -and if she refuses, of course I must let -old Bennett take the house and everything, -and we can all go to the almshouse -together!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>BOAST NOT THYSELF OF TO-MORROW.</h3> - - -<p>It was the bitterest hour of her life to -poor Miss Tuttle.</p> - -<p>While she was talking to old Hermann -she heard merry voices out of doors, and -knew that Ray Chester had arrived and -was sitting out in the rose arbor laughing -and talking with beautiful Leola, -who had turned out to be her rival when -she thought her only a merry-hearted -young girl.</p> - -<p>She wondered if it could be true, as -her employer said, that no one would -look at her twice when his lovely ward -was by, and now she sadly remembered -several little things that made her sure -that his words were true.</p> - -<p>Sometimes, when the three went for -long walks together, the younger pair -would quite tire her out, but they would -insist on going still further, leaving her -waiting under some shady tree with a -novel for an hour sometimes, while they -hunted wild flowers or bird’s nests, and -their happy laughter would come ringing -back as if they did not miss her in the -least, as now she suddenly realized -they did not; they only wanted her for -an elderly chaperon.</p> - -<p>But somehow this did not hurt her as -much as the seeming perfidy of Widower -Bennett, whom she loved with all her -warm heart and at whom she had been -making tender eyes ever since his wife -died a year or so ago. She had persuaded -herself she would be the most proper -wife he could find anywhere, and to find -Leola preferred before herself was like -the bitterness of death.</p> - -<p>She could not help envying and hating -the lovely girl with the weakness of a -shallow nature suddenly roused to bitter -jealousy, and when she hurried away -from Wizard Hermann’s presence to her -own room, she was half resolved to pack -her trunk and go away forever to hide -her humiliation and grief.</p> - -<p>But while she bathed her stained face -and smoothed her rather pretty brown -hair, she reflected that she had nowhere -to go, for all her relatives were dead, and -she had no friends of any consequence.</p> - -<p>Poor soul, how she longed for a home -and husband of her own! But the realization -of her dream seemed further off -than ever now, and as she stood at her -window gulping down her piteous sobs, -she heard again, from the rose arbor, -the gay laughter of the lovers, and curiosity -made her descend to them, wondering -what had caused their mirth.</p> - -<p>Leola, as pretty as a flower in her -white gown, had a letter in her hand,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> -and she and Ray, with their heads very -close, were laughing over it together.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Miss Tuttle, this is so ridiculous -I have laughed till I cried,” said Leola. -“Only think, I have a lover, and he has -made me a proposal of marriage.”</p> - -<p>“And,” added Ray, laughingly, “it is -such a brilliant and desirable match that -she is almost sorry she had promised to -marry me before she received it!”</p> - -<p>“So you two are engaged?” cried Miss -Tuttle, feeling the ground sink beneath -her feet.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, Miss Tuttle, and I know you -are not surprised. Won’t you congratulate -us?” cried Leola’s handsome lover.</p> - -<p>“But please, please, don’t tell Uncle -Hermann, for I think I begin to see -through his plans now, and he will never -consent for me to marry a poor artist -when I could marry his rich neighbor, -old Mr. Bennett,” laughed Leola.</p> - -<p>Poor Miss Tuttle gasped for breath, -and sank helplessly on a garden chair, -wishing she were dead and buried, so -keen was her pain and humiliation.</p> - -<p>“You may read the old man’s letter if -you like,” added the girl, thrusting it -into her hand.</p> - -<p>The sorrowful spinster, who would -have given all she possessed for such a -letter, was forced to read the gushing -and awkward love letter of the rich old -widower to the merry girl, who laughed -over it with her handsome young lover, -and gayly passed around the fine box of -bonbons that accompanied the epistle.</p> - -<p>“The dear old silly! I thought he -looked on me still as a little girl,” she -cried. “Now if he had only been sensible -and asked you, Miss Tuttle, it would -have been a charming arrangement in -point of age and all that, you know.”</p> - -<p>Miss Tuttle winced at the innocent -thrust of the happy girl, but she was so -miserable that her pride fell from her -like a garment, and she frankly assented, -saying:</p> - -<p>“Yes, for I always admired Mr. Bennett, -and if he had asked me I would -have accepted him.”</p> - -<p>The young people instantly felt very -sorry and sympathetic, and Leola proposed -that when she gave him her answer -she should give him a hint that he -would be more successful with the governess -than with the pupil.</p> - -<p>Miss Tuttle was so moved by this offer -that she felt all her anger and jealousy -give way, and took Leola into her heart -again.</p> - -<p>“Oh, if you could only manage it I -would be grateful forever,” she exclaimed. -“You know I cannot stay on -at Wheatlands when you are gone, -Leola, for people would talk, and besides -the fact that he is in arrears for my -salary, we have had a bitter quarrel this -morning,” and then, between tears and -sobs, she blurted out all Wizard Hermann’s -plans to the astonished lovers.</p> - -<p>Then Leola recalled the morning, three -weeks ago, when her guardian had bidden -her prepare to be married in a -month to the man of his choice.</p> - -<p>“So this is my rich suitor—old Bennett!” -she burst out, laughing, for she -could not regard it seriously at all, not -realizing Wizard Hermann’s grim determination.</p> - -<p>“Why do you call him old? He is only -about fifty or so, and a fine, handsome -man!” complained the tearful governess.</p> - -<p>She could hardly understand why the -volatile Leola burst into spasms of the -merriest laughter, in which Ray Chester -could not help joining. Alas, they were -so gay and happy, they were full of joy -and laughter, little dreaming of the -tragic moment near at hand when tears -would come more readily than smiles, -and the dull ache at the heart would be -like a piercing thorn.</p> - -<p>“If I were you, Leola, I would not feel -so gay, for your guardian swears he -will enforce his authority and have you -marry Mr. Bennett, willy-nilly!” reproved -Miss Tuttle, anxiously.</p> - -<p>The girl looked gayly at her lover, and -he caught her little hand in his, saying, -tenderly:</p> - -<p>“We aren’t afraid of him, are we, my -precious Leola? And if the worst comes -to the worst, we will elope to Washington -and get married before old Bennett -knows what we are up to.”</p> - -<p>“If you were only rich there needn’t be -any trouble. You could pay off the mortgage -for Mr. Hermann, and then he -would be willing enough for you to have -Leola!” suggested Miss Tuttle, inquiringly.</p> - -<p>Ray’s dark blue eyes looked questioningly -into those of his bonny sweetheart.</p> - -<p>“Are you sorry I’m not rich? Would -you rather have your old suitor?” he -asked, gently.</p> - -<p>“Nonsense; I’d take you without a -coat to your back before I would have -that old Falstaff, with all his money,” -she answered, laughingly, and they dismissed -the thought of danger, for how -could anyone force a girl to marry -against her will?</p> - -<p>“But perhaps, after all, I had better -see your guardian, and ask him for his -consent to our marriage?” questioned -Ray.</p> - -<p>The governess shook her head.</p> - -<p>“No, do not anger him now, for he is -really in such a rage he might set the -dogs on you, who knows?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, very well, we need not hurry. It -will all blow over by-and-by,” cried -Leola, in her happy-go-lucky way, and -presently, when Ray had taken leave, -she went up to her room and penned an -amiable but decided refusal of Mr. Bennett’s -offer, saying she would prefer to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> -marry a younger man, and frankly advising -him to turn his attention to Miss -Tuttle, who admired him immensely, and -would make him the best wife in the -world.</p> - -<p>When she showed this effort to the -governess, that lady promptly hugged -and kissed her, and declared she was the -dearest girl on earth.</p> - -<p>A special messenger carried the missive -over to the Bennett place, and Leola -congratulated herself that the episode -was closed.</p> - -<p>But who can tell what a day may -bring forth?</p> - -<p>Leola’s whole life had been carelessly -happy, for she was blessed with one of -those sweet, sunshiny natures that always -look on the bright side, and find -pleasure in the simple joys of even a -quiet life. She made her own sunshine -as she went.</p> - -<p>For more than three weeks now she -had been blissfully happy—so happy that -in all her future she will look back in -wonder that such perfect happiness could -be, for, alas, this was the end of those -golden days of love’s sweet dream.</p> - -<p>That night, at supper, Wizard Hermann -said, casually, as if it were a matter -of small moment:</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Stirling and Jessie will arrive -on the early train to-morrow.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>WINDING A WEB.</h3> - - -<p>When Miss Tuttle and Leola were alone -together they talked over the news, and -neither one was very well pleased, the girl, -since their coming would break up her -happy days with Ray, and the governess, -because the Stirlings were always supercilious -with her, and naturally made more -work for the household.</p> - -<p>“I do not see why I should put myself -out to wait on pretentious fine ladies this -warm weather, especially when my employer -has not paid a dollar of my salary -for five months,” she complained, and Leola -added:</p> - -<p>“There will be no more good times with -Ray, for like as not they will join hands -with Uncle Hermann in persecuting him, -and try to have me marry old Bennett because -he is rich. Oh, dear! I’m sorry Ray -isn’t coming back to-night, so I could tell -him not to come to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“You might send word to him in the -morning before they come,” suggested -Miss Tuttle, and Leola agreed to the plan, -which would have worked itself out all -right had not fate decreed that Leola’s -little black messenger should lose the note -and Widower Bennett find it.</p> - -<p>He was riding briskly toward Wheatlands -when his fine bay mare shied, wildly, -at a square white envelope blowing about -in the dusty road, and an impulse of curiosity -made him dismount and pick it up.</p> - -<p>When he saw Leola’s familiar writing on -the sealed envelope, he was seized with -such poignant wrath and jealousy that no -scruple of honor prevailed to prevent his -becoming master of the contents.</p> - -<p>“To Ray Chester, the young dandy—wonder -if she’s giving him the mitten as she -did me yesterday!” he muttered, wrathfully, -and broke the pretty seal of blue -wax with a ruthless hand.</p> - -<p>The blood bounded hotly through his -veins as he read:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p> -“My Own Darling Ray:<br> -</p> - -<p>“You must not come in the morning as -usual, because the Stirlings are coming, -Uncle Hermann says, and I do not want -them to know of our engagement yet, for -they both are very mercenary, and would -take sides against you, and want me to -marry old Bennett, because he is rich, -while you are poor! As if I would have -that dumpy old fright on any terms—no, -not even if he were President of the United -States! Oh, why didn’t the old silly lose -his heart to dear Miss Tuttle instead of -me, when she loves the very ground he -walks on, and would make him such a -suitable wife? Fate seems to play at cross -purposes with us, my darling Ray, but -we will outwit our enemies and be happy -yet.</p> - -<p>“You had better not come to Wheatlands -to-day, but if you will stay in all afternoon, -I will try to make an errand to -Widow Gray’s, and we can talk things over -and make plans for the future.</p> - -<p>“Oh, isn’t it just hateful the way things -seem to work against our happiness? Just -think, if only Jessie Stirling hadn’t got -engaged to a fortune already, we might -get my rotund suitor in love with her, and -she could have all the money she craves.</p> - -<p>“Be sure to stay in until I come this -afternoon.</p> - -<p class="right"> -<span style="margin-right: 5em;">Your own loving</span><br> -“Leola.”<br> -</p> -</div> - -<p>Widower Bennett stamped upon the -ground in a fury, hissing out the epithets -she had used in writing of him in the -bitterest voice ever heard:</p> - -<p>“‘Old Bennett!’ ‘Dumpy old fright!’ ‘Old -silly!’ ‘My rotund suitor!’ She would not -marry me if I were President of the United -States! Why, now, I swear I will marry -the little spitfire if it costs me my fortune!”</p> - -<p>In this rage he remounted his mare and -galloped on to Wheatlands, between whose -master and himself there ensued an excited -interview.</p> - -<p>Leola’s letter refusing Bennett’s hand -was exhibited in furious anger by the -slighted recipient.</p> - -<p>“She would prefer to marry a younger -man than me, and she recommends me to -take Miss Tuttle—that skinny, homely old -maid, almost as old as I am!” he blustered, -wrathfully, adding:</p> - -<p>“You promised faithfully she should marry -me, Hermann, but instead of watching -her as you ought, you go poking among -your old chemicals, as blind as a bat, and -let her get engaged to a pretty-faced young -jackanapes from the city—a pauper without -a dollar to support his wife on, sir, -and yet it lacks only a few days of the -time set for my marriage to that saucy -girl, and, mind you, if the ceremony is not -pulled off in due time, I’ll lose not a day, -I swear, in foreclosing the mortgage.”</p> - -<p>It was in vain that Wizard Hermann -tried to pacify him, saying that he would -certainly keep his promise, and that he -was sure that there was some mistake -about Leola’s engagement to young Chester, -who was almost a stranger.</p> - -<p>But at this point Bennett produced his -proof in the shape of Leola’s letter to Ray.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span></p> - -<p>“This is worse than I thought, but it -does not alter the fact that the girl shall -be your wife, Bennett, for I have sworn to -keep my promise, and I will not fail you, -by Heaven!” vowed Hermann, continuing:</p> - -<p>“As for neglecting to get matters into -shape, that is false, for I have been quietly -working to the promised end all these -weeks, but, having encountered such determined -opposition from the girl, I -thought it expedient not to press her too -hard, but to depend on force and cunning, -since fair means failed. In fact, one of -my objects in going to New York was to -enlist the aid of my clever half-sister, Mrs. -Stirling, in accomplishing the end in view. -She will arrive with her daughter this -morning, and although I admit that the -case looks unpromising now, I believe we -will soon wind a web around Leola from -which she cannot escape. Go home, Bennett, -and rest easy in the thought that -before the end of a week she will be your -charming bride.”</p> - -<p>The prospective bridegroom beamed with -joy and assured Hermann that he was -ready to co-operate in any plan proposed -for Leola’s subjugation.</p> - -<p>“I will go to any length now to punish -her for her contempt, and for advising me -to marry a skinny old maid like Amanda -Tuttle when I’m rich enough to buy a -lovely young girl for a bride!” he vowed, -coarsely, and took leave with renewed -hope.</p> - -<p>In the hall, as he was going out, he encountered -Miss Tuttle, and fancied she -might have been eavesdropping from her -air of confusion, but he stalked past her -with a curt nod that cut to her tender -heart like a knife.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what has come over him when he -used to be so friendly? Can it be that he -is angry at Leola’s suggestion that he -should court me?” sighed the poor thing, -deprecatingly.</p> - -<p>It would have been well indeed if she -had been listening, as Bennett suspected, -for then she might have been able to inform -Leola of the perils that threatened -her in the joining of forces of Wizard -Hermann and his worldly-wise sister, but -she had only been loitering about the hall -in hopes of a little interview when he -came out, and tears of disappointment -brimmed over in her kind gray eyes, when -he passed her with so indifferent a greeting.</p> - -<p>As she followed to the door and watched -him galloping away toward home, she saw -the carriage coming with the Stirlings, and -ran to tell Leola the news.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>WHAT THE ROBINS HEARD.</h3> - - -<p>By-and-by, when Jessie removed the dust -of travel, and freshened herself up with -a dainty blue gown that just matched her -sky-blue eyes, the two girls strolled out -upon the lawn, and presently found seats -in the favorite rose-arbor, where the robins, -nesting overhead, made a mighty -twittering in vain protest against their -unwelcome intrusion.</p> - -<p>“It is because you are a stranger, Jessie,” -laughed Leola. “It is quite different -when Ray and I come here together—they -treat us quite as if we belonged to the -Robin family.”</p> - -<p>“Who is Ray?” asked Jessie, curiously.</p> - -<p>Leola could not help blushing furiously, -but she said, as carelessly as she could:</p> - -<p>“Oh, only one of our neighbors!”</p> - -<p>She was inwardly furious with herself at -this slip of the tongue that was destined -to lead her into self-betrayal. Ah, how -true it is that a name that is close to the -heart must often rise to the lips.</p> - -<p>To distract Jessie’s attention she asked, -all in a breath:</p> - -<p>“When are you going to marry your -grand, rich lover, Jessie?”</p> - -<p>“My wedding will be in October,” fibbed -Miss Stirling, who had no mind to confess -that she had lost the prize, and she continued:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Olyphant has gone on a yachting -tour with some friends now, and I do not -know exactly when they will return. It -was expected they would only be gone two -weeks, but they extended the trip. I miss -him very much, and I shall be quite frantic -if he stays much longer!”</p> - -<p>“Then you love him very much?” queried -Leola, with shining eyes.</p> - -<p>“Love him! I should say so!” cried -Jessie, eagerly. “Why, Leola, he is as -handsome as a picture, tall, with an elegant -figure, fine features, brown, curly -hair, and beautiful, laughing blue eyes!”</p> - -<p>“So has Ray!” cried Leola, then bit her -lips in confusion, sighing to herself:</p> - -<p>“What a lovesick little goose I am, giving -away my dangerous secret in spite of -myself!”</p> - -<p>“Ray again!” cried Jessie, suspiciously. -“Come, now, tell me all about him, Leola. -A neighbor, you said, but I knew no one -of that name about here last summer. You -say he has laughing blue eyes like Chester -Olyphant, so you must be fond of him, this -neighbor! Confess now, is he your lover?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, nonsense, Jessie, we were talking of -your lover!” cried Leola. “Go on, please, -tell me more of him, and of your love for -each other.”</p> - -<p>“We are perfectly devoted to each other,” -declared Jessie, unblushingly. “How could -I help loving him—with all that money!”</p> - -<p>“But, Jessie, if Mr. Olyphant were poor, -would you not love him just the same?”</p> - -<p>Jessie had a red rose in her hand, and -she tore it to pieces with absent-minded -fingers as she replied, bluntly:</p> - -<p>“Bah. I wouldn’t permit myself to love a -poor man if he were a perfect Adonis!”</p> - -<p>But artless Leola, with rosy cheeks and -glowing eyes, retorted:</p> - -<p>“Then you do not know how to love, -Jessie—not even the meaning of that sacred -word, for I would adore Ray Chester if he -had not a second coat to his back!”</p> - -<p>“Ray Chester! There you go again!” -cried Miss Stirling, with a violent start. -“Oh, come now, you are madly in love -with some man, Leola, and you have got -to tell me all about it this minute!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you are mistaken!” cried poor Leola, -trying to flounder out of her difficulty.</p> - -<p>“I am not mistaken! Oh, no! I know -all the signs of love, and you cannot even -keep his name off your lips!” cried Miss -Stirling, triumphantly:</p> - -<p>It was true: Leola realized it, and felt -how impossible it was to keep hidden the -happy secret of her love. Indeed, she -fairly ached to tell it to some sweet, sympathetic -girl friend, and why not Jessie, -whom she had known from childhood, and -who had always been fairly friendly? True; -the young lady was twenty-three, four -years older than herself, but as each was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> -madly in love with a splendid young man, -there was a bond of sympathy between -their hearts that might bring good results -if they fairly understood each other.</p> - -<p>She suddenly made up her artless mind -to confide in beautiful, blue-eyed Jessie, -and beg her to intercede with her guardian -to consent to her happiness, but because -tears were very close to her own dark eyes, -she put Ray aside for a moment to recover -herself, saying, laughingly:</p> - -<p>“Only think, Jessie, I have a rich lover, -too. Our neighbor, Giles Bennett, who has -gotten rich by coal since his wife died, -wants to marry me, the little girl he used -to dandle on his knee! Now, what do you -think of that?”</p> - -<p>“A splendid match for you, Leola, and I -hope you will accept him,” declared Jessie, -frankly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, no, no!” Leola cried out, quickly, -and Jessie retorted:</p> - -<p>“More fool you, then, to let such a -chance slip through your fingers! If I -weren’t going to marry Chester Olyphant -I’d take old Fatty off your hands myself. -But it seems, from what you let slip just -now, that there’s a poor young man in the -case—Ray Chester, you said, and if you do -not tell me the whole story instantly I -shall die of curiosity!”</p> - -<p>Leola, with her beautiful face glowing -like a rose, exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“I don’t want you to die, Jessie, so I am -going to ‘’fess,’ as the children say, and, -after all, I think I ought to confide in you, -for it is through you all this happiness has -come to me.”</p> - -<p>“Through me,” gasped Jessie, and her -lips went white, while a cold hand seemed -to press all the life from her heart with -a swift, horrible suspicion that centered -around that name “Chester,” breathed so -sweetly just now from Leola’s lovely lips.</p> - -<p>But Leola did not observe these signs of -emotion. She was looking down, bashfully, -and playing with a bunch of red roses in -the belt of her simple white gown. Her -beauty was glorified by the love that -thrilled at her heart.</p> - -<p>“I will begin at the beginning first of all, -and tell you how I saved Ray Chester’s -life,” she said, softly, and, as before, her -voice seemed to linger over that name like -a caress.</p> - -<p>Miss Stirling did not answer a word. She -sat still and pale, listening, with a horrible -presentiment of what was coming, and a -hatred for innocent Leola, a jealous hatred -that was more bitter than death.</p> - -<p>Leola, still playing with her roses, in -bashful confusion, looked down with the -curly lashes sweeping her rosy cheeks, and -told her story briefly, sweetly, and with the -simplicity of strong emotion, dwelling but -lightly on her own heroism in saving Ray -Chester’s life, and touching, reservedly, on -their love-story, but bringing into prominence -his confession that he had fallen -so desperately in love with her pictures -that he had come to seek her and offer -his love.</p> - -<p>She concluded, gently:</p> - -<p>“And although Ray has never once mentioned -your name, he did not deny it when -I said that I was sure it was you from -whom he got the pictures; and, Jessie, -dear, I am so glad you took those little -snap-shots of me, for through them has -come the happiness of my life, and I shall -always be glad Ray saw them and loved -me!”</p> - -<p>The musical voice ceased speaking, but -as Jessie made no answer, Leola added, -ardently:</p> - -<p>“He is only a poor artist, my darling -Ray, but I am glad, after all, that he is -poor, for he knows I love him for himself -alone, for ‘his own true worth,’ as the -poem says, you know, Jessie.”</p> - -<p>She gave a violent start when Miss Stirling -answered, in a hoarse, concentrated -voice of hatred and bitterness:</p> - -<p>“You are a silly little fool, Leola Mead!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Jessie!” and Leola’s voice trembled -with wounded feeling.</p> - -<p>She looked up and saw that her companion -was deadly pale and trembling.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what is the matter? Are you ill, -Jessie? Have I wearied you with my -story?”</p> - -<p>Miss Stirling was very cunning, or very -brave. She had got a heart wound, but -she would not cry out against the hand -that struck the blow; after that one passionate -outburst she struggled for calmness.</p> - -<p>With a hollow laugh, she answered:</p> - -<p>“I am very, very tired, after my long -journey from New York, and the sun is -very hot, but—I shall be better presently.”</p> - -<p>“Shall I go and bring you a little sip of -wine?” urged Leola, and Jessie assented.</p> - -<p>She was glad to be alone for one moment, -to cry out aloud at the fate that had -parted her from the man she loved.</p> - -<p>“Mamma was right, and I was wrong. -He was in love with her, after all, and he -came here, instead of going yachting, as he -intended—came here to woo this simple -rustic, won by her wondrous beauty, that -was more dangerous than I dreamed! But -he shall never marry Leola Mead—never! -Why, I think I would murder her first! -And what will he say when he finds me -here? Above all, why is he masquerading -under a false name, and pretending to be -a poor artist? Ah, I have it! He means to -deceive the silly girl; his intentions are dishonorable, -but I will unmask him, I will -break up the affair, I swear it!” clenching -her white hands desperately.</p> - -<p>Leola came back with the wine and a -biscuit, and Jessie accepted, eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Wine always clears my brain, somehow, -and I have got a lot of scheming and -planning to do,” she thought, as she -drained the last drop and munched the -sweet biscuit.</p> - -<p>“Ah, you look better now. I am afraid -it quite unnerved you, hearing all about -that accident to Ray,” exclaimed Leola, -tenderly.</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes, it was dreadful; it made my -flesh creep. Besides, I was very tired, -you know, and that made it worse; but I -am ever so much better now, thanks to the -wine! Really, Leola, you were quite a -heroine, and I cannot wonder that my -artist friend fell in love with you, though -I cannot, for the life of me, remember any -man by that name, Ray Chester. I know -I loaned your pictures to my lover, Chester -Olyphant, but it cannot be that he came -here to deceive a poor innocent country -girl because of her pretty face—oh no! I -cannot believe that of my lover. It is a -good thing I came in time to thwart his -evil designs, if he really is my Chester, -but—ah!” She looked up, wildly, for a -man’s step crunched on the ground, and -the next moment he stepped into the arbor—Ray -Chester, or Ray Olyphant, cool,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> -handsome, smiling, like the villain in the -play.</p> - -<p>Miss Stirling sprang to her feet with a -thrilling cry. The next moment she flung -herself on his broad breast, her arms about -his neck, crying joyously:</p> - -<p>“Chester Olyphant, my own darling, -naughty, runaway boy!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>CHESTER OLYPHANT’S CURSE.</h3> - - -<p>Had an earthquake rent the solid ground -beneath Leola’s feet she could not have -been more terribly shocked.</p> - -<p>She had listened in horror, with a wildly -palpitating heart, to the words that slipped -from Miss Stirling’s cruel lips—listened, -with the blood leaping like fire through her -veins, to the suspicions suggested so coolly; -but at the sudden and startling finale, -when her rival sprang joyously to the -breast of her lover—at this shocking finale, -Leola’s blood, from coursing like liquid fire -through her veins, swiftly congealed to ice, -her face went white as snow, her heart -stopped its wild pulsations, and she sank -upon the ground, limply, like one dead.</p> - -<p>And overhead the sun shone on in the -clear blue sky, and the merry robins sang -among the roses as if love and life had not -seemingly come to an end together for -stricken Leola.</p> - -<p>But if that terrible swoon had not overtaken -her at that crucial moment, Leola -would have seen her lover recoil in anger -from Jessie’s embrace, and push her gently -but decisively away, saying, rebukingly:</p> - -<p>“Miss Stirling, pray remember that our -brief engagement ended long ago, and that -this advance on your part is in the worst -possible taste.”</p> - -<p>If she had been conscious, instead of -lying like a dead girl on the ground amid -the ruins of her happiness, she would have -seen Jessie Stirling sink down and clasp -Chester’s knees, and with burning tears -beseech him to love her again because she -could not endure life without him.</p> - -<p>She would have heard these passionate -prayers repulsed; she would have heard -Chester Olyphant saying, coldly:</p> - -<p>“Words are useless, Miss Stirling, for, -after all, I never really loved you, and you -entrapped me somehow into an engagement -that my heart never sanctioned. The -glamour of passion quickly faded, and -when your own folly gave me an excuse -to gain an honorable release from fetters -that began to gall, I was glad to retreat -with honor. I have to tell you things thus -frankly, because it is the only way out of -your efforts at a reconciliation that can -never be effected, since my whole heart is -given to another.”</p> - -<p>All the while he was unconscious of -Leola, lying there like a dead girl on the -ground, and he continued, impatiently:</p> - -<p>“Pray get up, Miss Stirling; it is embarrassing -to have you kneel to me. Be -seated, I beg you, and calm yourself. This -is certainly a very unexpected rencontre. I -did not know you were at Wheatlands. Has -not Leola, then, told you she is my promised -wife?”</p> - -<p>Sinking, sullenly, to the arbor bench as -he raised her to her feet, she hissed, -furiously:</p> - -<p>“The silly little rustic told me she was -in love with a man named Ray Chester, -but how was I to guess that her poor -artist lover was the millionaire society -man, Chester Olyphant, masquerading under -a false name and guise, perhaps to -deceive a pretty, ignorant country girl, -with more beauty than brains?”</p> - -<p>He recoiled in horror from her bold accusation, -his handsome face went white, -his blue eyes flashed lightning.</p> - -<p>“How dare you?” he thundered, clenching -his fist; then it fell helplessly to his -side. “You are a woman; I cannot strike -you. I can only reason and explain.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, explain, if you can, for your conduct -certainly appears very suspicious,” -Jessie Stirling answered, with a bitter, -taunting laugh that nearly drove him wild.</p> - -<p>And yet, in all his anger, he knew she -was right; it did look bad, this masquerade; -and, although he despised the girl, -he knew he must explain for Leola’s sake.</p> - -<p>Still unconscious that his bonny sweetheart -lay upon the ground, so close that -if he stepped backward he must stumble -over her senseless form, he glanced out of -the arbor to see if she were coming, and -then turned back to Jessie, saying, hoarsely:</p> - -<p>“It looks suspicious, I grant you, but -when a man is cursed with immense wealth, -and knows himself constantly the prey -of designing women wanting to marry him -for his money, is it not excusable that, -by a little harmless deception, he may win -a girl’s heart by love alone, and thus ensure -his future happiness?”</p> - -<p>“Bah! a slim excuse!” she sneered; but, -restraining his resentment, he continued, -earnestly:</p> - -<p>“This, I swear to you, Miss Stirling, was -my only reason for the little deception I -practised on Leola, and my plan succeeded -well. I have won for my own the sweetest, -truest heart that ever beat, and I had -decided last night to come here to-day to -confess all to Leola and her guardian, and -to press for an immediate marriage, in -order to save her from the persecutions of -a rich old man, who has Mr. Hermann in -his power, by reason of a mortgage on his -property. It was my design to relieve his -embarrassment by advancing the amount -myself to pay off the mortgage. I hope -you will accept this truthful explanation, -and forego the gratification of your unwise -spite by any persecution of my dear little -love, Leola, whom I must now seek.”</p> - -<p>“You will not have far to seek. Look behind -you on the ground!” Miss Stirling -answered, with a bitter laugh.</p> - -<p>Then for the first time he became aware -of Leola’s presence—Leola lying like a -dead girl on the ground at his feet.</p> - -<p>In the one moment that he stood gazing -down like a statue of despair, Miss Stirling -cried, with triumphant malice:</p> - -<p>“Just before you came in Leola and I -had had a very satisfactory explanation, -for I recognized you in her description, -and I soon made her understand your villainy. -Yes, I told her you were betrothed -to me, and that you were deceiving her. -She believed me, and despised you, and -just at the moment of her outcry against -you, when you entered and I sprang to -your breast, claiming you for my own, -she dropped like one with a bullet in her -heart, and there she has been lying ever -since, and more than likely the poor, deceived -girl is really dead of the shock.”</p> - -<p>“Fiend!” he hurled at her, bitterly, and -sank on his knees by Leola, frantically -searching for signs of life, kissing her -cold, white face, calling on her in love’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> -holy name to waken for his sake, and -speak to him again.</p> - -<p>Jessie Stirling, listening with outward -cold indifference, prayed that Leola would -never answer those vows of love, never -open her sweet dark eyes again, prayed -that death might indeed claim her for his -own.</p> - -<p>And she smiled when all his efforts and -all caresses proved vain to bring life back -to the stricken girl—smiled even when he -turned to her with accusing eyes and cried -in bitter agony:</p> - -<p>“Your false words have broken my little -love’s heart, and slain her as surely as if -you had struck a dagger into her breast! -You have murdered an innocent girl who -never wronged you, Jessie Stirling, yet you -sit there and smile like the fiend you are! -Do you think you can ever know any happiness -after this? No, for my hate will -follow you through life, and my curse will -darken your days and make sleepless your -nights till you pray for death’s release!”</p> - -<p>He ceased and turned back to Leola, -kissing her cold face and hands with burning -lips, then lifting the inert form in his -arms, he bore her toward the house, Jessie -Stirling following in a sort of awe, mixed -with rage and revolt against the curse he -had pronounced against her, wondering -if there could be any fateful occult power -to cause its fulfillment.</p> - -<p>With a heart as heavy as lead, Chester -Olyphant bore his burden up the steps to -the hall, where Miss Tuttle met him, -shrieking:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Heaven have mercy, what has happened -to Leola?”</p> - -<p>She was appalled when he groaned in anguish:</p> - -<p>“Alas, I found her dead in the arbor. -Lead the way to her room.”</p> - -<p>“Not dead, oh, no, it cannot be! Surely -it is only a faint! Come this way,” sobbed -the governess, and in a few moments Leola -was placed on her little white bed among -the dainty pillows, no whiter than her -face.</p> - -<p>Miss Tuttle felt for her heart, but there -was no faintest throb to give hope of life.</p> - -<p>“Oh, bring a doctor, do bring a doctor, -Mr. Chester! I cannot surely believe she -is dead. Once I saw her lie like this half -an hour when she had fallen from a horse, -and she may revive this time, too. Oh, -please, please bring Doctor Barnes at -once!” she exclaimed, excitedly, and, as -he flew to do her bidding, she fell to undressing -the girl, tenderly, but swiftly, -saying to Jessie, who stood near, looking -on, stupidly:</p> - -<p>“Run, run to the kitchen and tell Betsy -I must have some warm water for a bath -for Leola. She may be in a sort of spasm.”</p> - -<p>Jessie Stirling ran out of the room, but -she did not carry the message to the -kitchen.</p> - -<p>Instead she sought her uncle, to whom -she said, with an injured air:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Uncle Hermann. I’m so glad I -came this morning, for I have detected a -villain in a plot to ruin poor Leola! You -remember how I told you I was betrothed -to Chester Olyphant, a millionaire of New -York, and that he was gone on a yachting -tour for a few weeks. Well, this morning I -found that, instead of going yachting, as -he pretended, the unprincipled villain, who -knew of Leola from me, had come down -here masquerading as Ray Chester, an -artist, making love to poor, innocent Leola. -This morning he came upon us in the -arbor, and when I exposed him to the -girl, she fell in a swoon so deep that it -looks like death.”</p> - -<p>A bitter oath shrilled over Wizard Hermann’s -lips, and he cried:</p> - -<p>“Where is he, the villain? Let me get -my hands on his throat!”</p> - -<p>“He is gone to bring Doctor Barnes, -uncle, but he will be back with him presently, -and were I you, dear uncle, I should -wreak vengeance on the wretch for his -double treachery—to me, his betrothed, and -to poor, innocent Leola, whom he has deceived -with his false protestations of love. -You need not fear to anger me, for I will -never marry him now; I hate him for -his treachery,” raged the artful girl, and -her uncle responded:</p> - -<p>“I’ll throw him down the steps and -break every bone in his body, if he ventures -back here. But Leola is lying unconscious, -you say. Have they brought -her into the house?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, she is in her room, and her governess -with her. I daresay she will revive -presently, and as I cannot do anything -more for her I’ll go help mamma to unpack -our trunks, while you watch for the doctor -and that wretch, Chester Olyphant.”</p> - -<p>And hoping in the bottom of her heart -that not a bone would be left unbroken -in the young man’s body, hating him because -he knew her for what she was, and -because she could never win him back -again, she flew to her mother to relate all -that had occurred.</p> - -<p>“I told you so. I knew that day that -Chester Olyphant was struck with the -girl, and wanted to find her out, but you -would not listen to me, and now you have -lost him forever,” was her comment.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I knew you’d have to go over all -that, but even if I had known it, how -could I have helped it?” was the ungracious -reply.</p> - -<p>“Then, what do you want me to do?” -asked the querulous mother, and she -quailed when Jessie whispered in her ear:</p> - -<p>“I want you to go and help Miss Tuttle -to revive Leola—that is, to pretend to, but -really to see that she stays dead, for it -would be joy to me to see Chester Olyphant -bereaved of his love.”</p> - -<p>“Jessie, you are mad, girl! I cannot aid -you in such a nefarious design,” cried the -poor, nervous mother, trembling as with -a chill.</p> - -<p>“Then I will manage it myself!” Jessie -hissed, rushing madly from the room to -Leola’s bedside.</p> - -<p>But Miss Tuttle gently barred her from -the door.</p> - -<p>“Doctor Barnes is here, and he will not -permit anyone in the room but myself, not -even her betrothed,” she said, curtly, shutting -the door calmly in Jessie’s very face.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>A TERRIBLE DEED.</h3> - - -<p>Wizard Hermann turned about, half-stunned -from his interview with Jessie -Stirling, and went back to his laboratory, -where he had been reading a new treatise -on one of his favorite hobbies—the transmutation -of the baser metals into gold. -The man had no more heart or conscience -than a clam, and his interest in chemistry -was greater than his love for humanity.</p> - -<p>The greatest aim he had in life was to -prosecute to a successful issue the two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> -hobbies that had been the ruling passion -of his life, to invent a magic elixir of life, -and to create fabulous riches to sustain a -life so lengthened in luxury.</p> - -<p>He was mad for gold wherewith to purchase -the smallest specimen of a newly -discovered mineral called radium, to which -was ascribed the most remarkable properties -ever heard of, but the price of this -treasure was fabulous to a man in his -situation, impoverished by a lifetime spent -in this costly and vain pursuit of the unattainable.</p> - -<p>His great plan and hope had been to pay -off the mortgage on the place, and to immediately -place another upon it, so as to -invest a portion in the new mineral, from -which so much was hoped and predicted in -the scientific world.</p> - -<p>His rage at the failure of his plan was -deep and bitter. With Leola dead, all his -plans would come to naught. Old Bennett -would foreclose the mortgage and ruin him. -In his old age he must go forth a beggar -into the world, friendless, and without a -place to lay his head.</p> - -<p>Through this terrible trick of fate all his -plans and aspirations must be wrecked, -and science lose, perhaps, the magnificent -discoveries to which he had devoted his -life.</p> - -<p>No wonder he was filled with a blind -fury against Chester Olyphant, through -whose treachery Leola’s death had come -to pass, thus thwarting all his plans for -future gain.</p> - -<p>He shut the treatise, whose reading had -been so fatefully interrupted, and went out -to watch for Chester Olyphant with murder -in his heart.</p> - -<p>But while he had been talking with -Jessie, and putting away his precious -treatise, time had slipped faster than he -knew. Olyphant, who had met the doctor -close by in the road, had quickly returned -with him, and he had gone up to Leola’s -room.</p> - -<p>The young man, himself a prey to the -bitterest anxiety, with hope and fear commingled, -was waiting in the wide, sunny -hall for news, when he came face to face -with the grim master of the house, like a -ravening lion seeking for prey.</p> - -<p>He forced a smile upon his pallid lips, -and exclaimed, eagerly:</p> - -<p>“Ah. Mr. Hermann, I have been wishing -to see you, sir. I”—</p> - -<p>He got no further, for Wizard Hermann, -temporarily mad with baffled hope and -bitter resentment, suddenly raised his -hand, in whose clenched fingers gleamed a -heavy iron instrument, and in an access of -fury struck unerringly at the brown, curly -head bent courteously before him.</p> - -<p>It was a blow that might have felled an -ox.</p> - -<p>Chester Olyphant, taken off guard, ignorant -of the fact that he was in the presence -of one temporarily or morally insane, -received the blow full, and went down before -it without a struggle, yielding up life -in one short, choking gasp, that was like -a thunder-clap in the ears of his foe.</p> - -<p>For, all in a moment, there came over -the frenzied murderer a wild realization -of his deadly crime, and bending down to -peer at the still, white face of the fallen -man, he groaned in horror of his sin and -its consequences:</p> - -<p>“Dead! dead! Why, I did not mean to -strike so hard! I—I—never thought one -blow could kill! What shall I do? No one -must find me here. I must fly”—</p> - -<p>At this incoherent moment, while he was -rising from the body of his victim, there -came slouching through the wide, sunny -hall the figure of his man of all work, -Joslyn, a strange, hideous, taciturn man, -yet devoted to his master’s service through -many thankless years.</p> - -<p>Joslyn stopped and stared in bewilderment, -glaring at the uncanny scene.</p> - -<p>Wizard Hermann, peering up at him in -consternation, whimpered like a beaten -hound:</p> - -<p>“I didn’t mean to hit so hard. He—he—was -too easy to kill! If they find me here -they’ll hang me for murder! Save me! -save me! Joslyn!”</p> - -<p>The hideous servitor, conscious of but -one thing—his master’s peril—was quick to -hear and heed.</p> - -<p>At any moment some one might come in -at the open door, and one glance meant -detection of the hideous crime his master -had wrought.</p> - -<p>Joslyn looked stupid, but his master knew -it was only in looks. His brain was keen -and alert, as he had proved many a time -before.</p> - -<p>Just one moment he paused, hesitated; -then his dull eyes gleamed beneath the -bushy brows, and he was prepared for -action.</p> - -<p>They were just in front of the library -door, and, swooping down like an eagle on -his prey, he caught up Chester Olyphant’s -limp body in his long, wiry arms, and -dragged him inside the room. Hermann -staggered after him with quaking limbs -and a ghastly face; then Joslyn softly shut -and locked the door.</p> - -<p>The two old men, who had grown gray -in each other’s confidence and service—grim -old men, who had outgrown pity or -interest in youth and love and all that was -sweetest in the world, now stood face to -face, and between them, on the floor, that -limp body that, now cold and senseless, had -been but a little while ago a picture of -manly strength and splendor, with a heart -throbbing fast with the passion of youth.</p> - -<p>“Who saw you do it?” Joslyn demanded, -gruffly.</p> - -<p>“Not a soul!” whimpered the craven -wretch. “You see, I did it in a passion -before I thought, because he”—</p> - -<p>But Joslyn’s coarse, hairy hand, upraised, -commanded silence.</p> - -<p>“Don’t waste time now to tell why ’twas -done. The thing is that you did it, and -that you must hide it or swing for it,” he -said, with rough emphasis that made his -master cower again like a beaten hound.</p> - -<p>The servant knelt down and examined -the silent victim.</p> - -<p>“Dead as a door-nail, an’ gittin’ cold -a’ready! You hit him a turrible whack, -sir, on his head! Must have fractured his -skull, the way it feels.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know I had such strength. I -hit harder than I meant. I—I”—began -Hermann, weakly, but the man shut him -off.</p> - -<p>“No use cryin’ over spilt milk. What’s -done is done, an’ now we got to hide the -corp, an’ let it go as one of the myster’ous -disappearances we read about every week -in the newspapers!”</p> - -<p>“Joslyn, how clever you are! Oh, if we -can only manage it! But I cannot think -clearly. My brain’s on fire ever since -Jessie came with her terrible story, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> -tempted me to kill him because of the -hearts he had broken—hers and Leola’s, -too, so that she wanted vengeance on him -for their wrongs. So I seized that iron -wedge and went to watch for him, and -the minute he spoke to me I struck, and -he fell. He’s dead, and he deserved it. I -am not sorry, only I don’t want to be found -out,” Hermann mumbled on, unheeded by -the other, who stood with his brows -wrinkled in profound thought.</p> - -<p>He chuckled, suddenly, and Hermann -muttered:</p> - -<p>“You have a thought, clever Joslyn; you -will save me!”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps so, sir, if I can work out my -plan.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes?”</p> - -<p>“You know what’s under this floor, sir?”</p> - -<p>“The underground passage where my ancestors -used to hide from the Indians—yes, -yes. Can we drop him through?”</p> - -<p>“Sure, if I can get the tools in here to -rip up some flooring and put it back. Will -you stay here, locked in, while I push them -into the window, for I daren’t bring them -into the hall.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, go, quickly,” and he let him out -and closed and locked the door again, waiting, -with a chill of horror at his heart, of -that white and silent thing lying at his -feet.</p> - -<p>Presently there was a noise outside the -window, and he went and took in the tools -that Joslyn reached up to him. Then he -admitted him, and they went at their -grewsome work of hiding the mute witness -of that terrible crime.</p> - -<p>In the midst of their task came a light -rap on the door.</p> - -<p>“Uncle Hermann, I want you!” Jessie -said, excitedly.</p> - -<p>“I am engaged—excuse me,” he bawled, -hoarsely, through the keyhole.</p> - -<p>“All right,” she answered, after a moment’s -hesitation; “I only wanted to tell -you about Leola. Doctor Barnes says she -is not dead, after all, and he is bringing -her around; do you hear?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I hear, Jessie. Now go away, like -a good girl; I cannot be disturbed,” he -assured her, turning back to Joslyn in -time to see him lift Chester Olyphant’s -body and let it fall through the opening in -the floor.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>A WAYSIDE FLOWER.</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been;</div> - <div class="verse indent1">I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Leola sat up in bed among the white -covers, scarcely whiter than her face, and -smiled wanly into Miss Tuttle’s anxious -eyes.</p> - -<p>“I am sorry that I am better. I wish I -had died,” she said, bitterly.</p> - -<p>For twenty-four hours she had been -threatened with brain fever, but now the -crisis had passed, and she was improving.</p> - -<p>Doctor Barnes, who had been very uneasy -all this time, had said just now she -would soon be well—that her youth and -fine constitution had tided her safely over -the danger point.</p> - -<p>These two days Miss Tuttle had nursed -her most carefully, admitting, by the doctor’s -orders, no one but himself.</p> - -<p>In vain Jessie Stirling pleaded to come -in and help nurse the patient; Miss Tuttle -sent her ruthlessly away.</p> - -<p>“Doctor Barnes exacts perfect quiet, and -trusts her only to me,” she said, proudly.</p> - -<p>Jessie retired, baffled and angry, to cogitate -over the mystery of Chester Olyphant’s -disappearance.</p> - -<p>For since he had gone to bring the doctor -to Leola, no one had seen his face.</p> - -<p>Jessie had by no means expected him to -retreat from the field of battle. Instead, -she had looked for him to march off with -victory on his banners, the battle gained, -the prize won. She knew that if Chester -could get an opportunity to tell her uncle -that he was rich and would pay off the -mortgage on Wheatlands, he could easily -gain his ends and marry Leola.</p> - -<p>It was in dread of this that she had incited -him to anger against Chester, hoping -to prevent their coming to an understanding.</p> - -<p>But Chester’s unexplained disappearance -had startled and surprised everyone, for -only this morning Mrs. Gray, the widow at -whose cottage home he boarded, had come -to Wheatlands to seek him, saying he had -not been back for two days.</p> - -<p>Diligent inquiry revealed the fact that -Doctor Barnes was the last person who -had seen him at all, having left him alone -in the hall the day he had brought him -to see Leola.</p> - -<p>Widow Gray was quite alarmed, and did -not know what to think.</p> - -<p>“He certainly expected to return, for he -did not take his trunk away,” she said, -but Mr. Hermann made light of the matter.</p> - -<p>“Go home, and don’t worry—he has perhaps -been called away by a telegram, and -will be back in due time,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Indeed, I hope so, sir. He was a very -fine young man, and I hope he has come to -no harm,” she protested.</p> - -<p>And again the wizard laughed:</p> - -<p>“How could he come to harm in broad -daylight in my house?”</p> - -<p>“That’s so, sir; I don’t see how he could -indeed, but I hope I shall hear from him -soon, for I had bad dreams last night, and -my mind misgives me,” she sighed.</p> - -<p>Then she asked if she might see the -sick girl, but was told she was too ill. -Thereupon she went away, sighing, with -a very long face, saying to herself:</p> - -<p>“If I had told that horrid old man he -would not have believed me, but last night -I heard spirit voices sobbing in the pine -tree outside my window, and whenever I -hear that, it’s a sure sign of trouble.”</p> - -<p>While she went slowly out of the gate -Miss Tuttle was watching her from the -window, and she said to the pale girl sitting -back among the pillows:</p> - -<p>“There goes Mrs. Gray. I suppose she -has been to inquire about you.”</p> - -<p>Leola’s wistful eyes looked at her with -a mute question, and she answered, gently:</p> - -<p>“You’re thinking of Mr. Chester Olyphant, -I know, dearie, and I had better tell -you and get it off your mind. He has gone -away.”</p> - -<p>“Gone away!” Leola repeated, trembling, -her lips white, her eyes somber with misery.</p> - -<p>“Yes, gone away, and a good riddance, -I say, for how could he face you again -after all that has happened? He has nearly -broken Miss Stirling’s heart as well as -yours, and she vows she will never speak -to him again for your sake! Only think -of the great monster, engaged to her, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> -coming off down here to make love to you, -because you were so pretty and so innocent. -There was not a word he could say -in his own defence, nothing but to sneak -away like a hound beaten for stealing! -Yes, he is gone, and I hope that is the -last of him!”</p> - -<p>Leola’s white, trembling hands hid her -face, but presently she spoke wearily -through her fingers:</p> - -<p>“I have just one favor to ask you, dear -Miss Tuttle. Never mention his name to -me again, so that I may find it easier to -forget.”</p> - -<p>Alas, would she find oblivion of pain so -easily?</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“When vain desire at last and vain regret</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Go hand in hand to death, and all is vain,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">What shall assuage the unforgotten pain</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And teach the unforgetful to forget?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>To her own heart the unhappy girl was -saying:</p> - -<p>“Oh, why did I not die when I found that -he was false, and my dream of love over? -Why linger on when the charm is gone -from life, and I must live on, shamed, -humiliated, by the thought that Jessie -Stirling’s proud, rich lover stooped from -the height where he should dwell to pluck -a wayside flower, then trample it beneath -his feet? Oh, it is torture to think he held -me so lightly!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>IN THE SPIDER’S WEB.</h3> - - -<p>She wondered that she did not die of her -shame and despair, so keen was her pain -and humiliation, but the day wore to sunset -and she was still alive, although the -face of the whole world had changed to -her in twenty-four hours, so that the blue -of the sky and the gold of the sun no -longer seemed fair, and the birdsongs in -the trees outside had changed to notes of -sadness that fell coldly on her heart.</p> - -<p>There came to her a sharp memory of -the little song she had once loved, the one -that had lingered on her lips the day she -rode so blithely away on Rex to meet her -fate in the beautiful dark blue eyes that -had been so false and fair:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Honey-flowers to the honey-comb,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the honey-bees from home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A honey-comb and a honey-flower</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the bee shall have his hour.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A honeyed heart for the honey-comb</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the honey-bee flies home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A heavy heart in the honey-flower</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the bee has had his hour.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“I am going to let you sit in this easy-chair -by the window to watch the beautiful -July sunset, and Mr. Hermann wants -to come in and see you,” Miss Tuttle said, -placing the chair ready and dressing her -patient in a soft white wrapper.</p> - -<p>But it was Jessie Stirling who pushed -open the door and tripped in, first taking -advantage of its being unlocked.</p> - -<p>“Poor dear, how changed you look, how -pale, how ill! It was a terrible shock to -you to find out how Chester Olyphant had -deceived you, was it not?” she twittered, -loquaciously, coolly taking a chair in front -of Leola, and adding:</p> - -<p>“You may well fancy it was a shock to -me, too, to find him down here flirting -with you when I thought him safe on a -yacht thousands of miles away. Did Miss -Tuttle tell you he has gone away in a -huff at being found out, and without leaving -any word for me? Yes, he has gone, -and at first I vowed I never would forgive -him his flirtation with you, but—well, when -I go back to New York perhaps I will relent, -after he has coaxed long enough. -We really are very fond of each other, you -know, though Chester cannot help flirting -any more than he can help breathing. I -shall never let him know how hard you -took it, for that would flatter his vanity -too much!”</p> - -<p>His vanity, dear heaven! and she had -believed he loved her, thought Leola, with -silent shame and despair.</p> - -<p>She could not bear to look at Jessie, his -jubilant betrothed, sitting there in her -pretty fashionable gown and fluffy flaxen -locks in a wavy aureole over her white -brow. She wished secretly that the girl -would go away and leave her alone with -her wounded heart.</p> - -<p>But Jessie went on, eagerly:</p> - -<p>“When I consent to forgive him for this -I shall scold him roundly, you may be sure, -Leola, and I shall pretend to him that -after that little fainting fit you came -around all right, and despised him for his -duplicity, and vowed you would never see -him again. He shall not think, the vain -creature, that you wore the willow an hour -for his sake. I will pretend you had other -lovers to take his place. That will be true, -for there is Mr. Bennett, who adores you, -although you have flouted him so badly. -As for me, if I were in your place I’d -marry Bennett out of hand, to show -Chester Olyphant how little I cared about -him! That would take the conceit out of -him quicker than anything you could do!”</p> - -<p>So she twittered on artfully until Leola’s -lovely face grew crimson with shame at -her own weakness in caring so much for -one so unworthy.</p> - -<p>Without saying one word, her somber -eyes turned to the setting sun; she writhed -with secret shame that Jessie could think -she cared so much for her frivolous lover. -Oh, if she could only tear this pain from -her heart; only smile again as before this -cruel blow that had nearly struck her -dead with its agony.</p> - -<p>As Jessie chattered on, she began to feel -a passionate contempt for the man as the -pretty blonde depicted him, shallow, vain, -unscrupulous.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Shall it not be scorn to me to harp on such a mouldering string:</div> - <div class="verse indent1">I am shamed through all my nature to have loved so slight a thing!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>With sudden angry passion, her dark -eyes flashing, she turned upon the artful -girl:</p> - -<p>“Please speak no more to me on that -subject, Jessie. You weary me. I despise -the man. I wish never to hear his name -again!” she cried, bitterly, and her weakness -seemed to fall from her, in passionate -contempt.</p> - -<p>“Poor Leola, I cannot blame you,” cried -the triumphant blonde, cheerfully, just as -the door opened again, and Wizard Hermann -glided softly into the room.</p> - -<p>“Ah, Leola, you are better. I am very -glad,” he said, in a smooth, oily voice, -taking the chair Jessie vacated, saying she -must go to mamma.</p> - -<p>She nodded, wearily, without speaking,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> -wishing they would all leave her alone, -for every human face seemed hateful to -her now.</p> - -<p>She would not meet his eyes, or she -would have seen that he looked ill and -nervous, too, and that his always furtive, -unpleasant manner had grown more -marked and repellent still.</p> - -<p>“Miss Tuttle,” he added, “you may leave -the room. I have private affairs to talk of -with my ward.”</p> - -<p>When they were quite alone he turned -back to her, saying, earnestly:</p> - -<p>“I have come, Leola, to explain my private -affairs to you, and to make one more -appeal to you to help me out of my -trouble.”</p> - -<p>She listened without replying, the deep -somber eyes fixed on the fading sunset -beyond the distant hills, and Wizard Hermann -continued:</p> - -<p>“For years I have been heavily in debt, -and had to borrow money from my rich -neighbor, Mr. Bennett, to meet my living -expenses and take care of you, Leola, in -proper style for a pretty young girl. You -have had your governess, your horse, your -clothing, without a care on your young -mind, but I, in order to meet your expenses, -and keep this roof over your head, -have been obliged to place a mortgage of -fifteen thousand dollars on Wheatlands, -and to-morrow the mortgage falls due. If -Bennett forecloses, as he swears he will, -we shall all be turned out homeless.”</p> - -<p>It was on her lips to say that she did -not care, that nothing really mattered to -her now, but she bit her lips and held back -the words, waiting silently to the end.</p> - -<p>“I have no means of paying my debt; I -cannot possibly raise the money, but neighbor -Bennett has been very generous; he -has offered to forego his pay, to destroy -the mortgage, on one condition. Are you -listening, Leola?”</p> - -<p>She nodded, without turning her gaze -from the sunset hills, and he continued, -eagerly:</p> - -<p>“I think you know what is coming, Leola. -Bennett has fallen madly in love with you, -and wants you for his wife. If you consent -he will settle a hundred thousand dollars -on you, and forego the debt I owe. -As for the rest, when you are once his -wife, you can wind the foolish old man -around your fingers like a ribbon, and -have your own way in everything. If you -refuse he swears he will turn us all out -of doors in twenty-four hours.”</p> - -<p>He paused and waited, but she did not -speak, and realizing how futile would be -the attempted exercise of authority, he fell -to pleading:</p> - -<p>“Can you let this terrible calamity befall -us, Leola—me in my old age, you in your -youth and beauty? Why, we would not -have whereon to lay our heads if we anger -Giles Bennett.”</p> - -<p>The somber dark eyes turned to him, -questioningly:</p> - -<p>“I—I—have always supposed that you -held money in trust for me, sir. I did not -dream that I was an expense to you, as -you say,” exclaimed Leola. “Have I then -no friends who can help us in our need?”</p> - -<p>“Not one, Leola, for I know nothing of -your relations. To be plain, I took you, a -pauper child, from the almshouse, for pity’s -sake, and have reared you as well as -though you had been my own daughter. -The secret of your birth I kept, and it -shall never pass my lips. But in the hour -of my misfortune I appeal to you to pay -the debt of gratitude you owe me—a debt -that you can only pay by marrying Giles -Bennett to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>An icy shudder shook her weak frame; -she felt that death were sweeter than such -a fate.</p> - -<p>But the man who had befriended her -young life was waiting with haggard -eyes for her answer—waiting for her to -save him from despair.</p> - -<p>And she, the pauper, nameless, homeless, -save for Wizard Hermann’s charity—would -it not be monstrous ingratitude to refuse -his prayer?</p> - -<p>She faltered, recklessly:</p> - -<p>“I will marry the man!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>A LITTLE CONSPIRACY.</h3> - - -<p>When the rash words had passed Leola’s -lips a great trembling seized upon her, a -horror of life she had never felt before, -and she longed to scream out aloud to -him that she must take back her promise—that -she could not bind her beautiful, -throbbing young life to oily, unctuous Giles -Bennett, the man more than twice her age, -and who in no way could be her fitting -mate, not if he paid a million dollars instead -of what he offered.</p> - -<p>But when she saw Wizard Hermann’s -radiant face, she dared not utter her passionate -protest against being sold in the -market like a beautiful Circassian slave -to the highest bidder. She feared a fit of -violence, or that he might fall down dead -at her feet of the revulsion of feeling from -relief to disappointment.</p> - -<p>She restrained the words that ached in -her throat, and leaned back, helplessly, in -her chair, her eyes half shut, her face -death-white, her senses reeling, and heard, -half-consciously only, the profuse thanks -he was pouring out, and the dazzling picture -he was painting of her future as a -rich man’s wife, even adding, consolingly, -that the fat old man might drop off any -day from apoplexy, and leave her a rich -and happy young widow.</p> - -<p>“Go, leave me,” she sighed, faintly, and -he hurried out, nothing loath, to spread the -good news.</p> - -<p>The next thing Leola knew she was in -bed again, and Miss Tuttle was reviving -her with cold water on her face mixed -with hot tears that fell from her own eyes.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Miss Tuttle, what are you crying -about?” she sighed, curiously. “Is it true, -then, that he made me—promise to—to”—</p> - -<p>“To marry Giles Bennett; is that what -you mean? Yes, he says you promised to -marry that wretch to-morrow. Oh, oh, oh, -this will break my heart!” and poor Miss -Tuttle and Leola, clasped in each other’s -arms, mixed their tears together.</p> - -<p>When they grew a little calmer Leola -explained how the promise had been extorted -from her by appeals to her gratitude.</p> - -<p>“Oh, do you think it can be true? Am I -only a pauper, taken from the almshouse, -for charity’s sake—perhaps nameless, too?” -she sobbed, bitterly.</p> - -<p>Miss Tuttle could give her no comfort, -for although she had been Leola’s governess -from the age of three, she had never -fathomed the mystery about her charge. -But she tried to reassure her, saying:</p> - -<p>“Do not brood over it, dear girl, it is -possibly one of old Hermann’s false tales to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> -coerce you into obedience. I should sooner -believe that he has appropriated to his -own use money that belonged to you, and -thinks he can make it up to you this way.”</p> - -<p>“To live with Giles Bennett as his wife—that -old Falstaff of a man!—I loathe the -prospect!” sobbed Leola.</p> - -<p>“While I envy you with all my heart!” -exclaimed the governess. “Oh, Leola, how -strangely fate plays at cross purposes with -human beings! How gladly I would change -places with you and become his wife!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that you could, dear soul!” Leola -answered, and neither one slept that night -for the tumult of their thoughts—Leola’s -all grief and repugnance, Miss Tuttle’s all -envy and wounded love—and when the sunshine -of the July morning peeped into the -windows their faces were haggard and -pain-drawn, and both felt as if the day -of execution had dawned, for Hermann had -told the governess to prepare Leola to be -married at sundown that evening, when -the carriage would be waiting to convey -her at once to her new home.</p> - -<p>With heavy eyes they looked into each -other’s faces, wondering how they could -escape their doom, and Leola cried, desperately:</p> - -<p>“There is one chance left, and I shall -take it. When I have paid my debt of -gratitude to my guardian by marrying -Giles Bennett, I—I—shall not be among the -living to-morrow!”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean it, Leola?”</p> - -<p>“I swear it,” answered the girl, recklessly, -and Miss Tuttle knew, by the somber -gaze of the beautiful dark eyes, that it -was true. Life, that had flowed along like -a silvery rippling stream between flower-fringed -banks, had suddenly become a -muddy torrent rushing onward to destruction, -and naught could stay its onward -course. Desperate, reckless, she was ready -to rush unbidden into the Great Beyond, -daring the unknown future in terror of the -awful present.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Leola, you must not! It would be a -terrible sin! Promise me you will not!” -cried the poor soul, timorously.</p> - -<p>But Leola’s shut lips kept a deadly silence, -and Miss Tuttle continued, conciliatory:</p> - -<p>“If you could escape this marriage, Leola, -would you then be willing to live?”</p> - -<p>The sudden gleam of hope in the dark -eyes assured her that Leola might yet find -something to live for in her shadowed life, -and she continued:</p> - -<p>“Dearie, I have a plan that might help -you. I’ve been turning it over and over in -my mind, but I never should have broached -it had it not been for your dreadful -threat.”</p> - -<p>“Tell it to me,” implored the girl, and -glancing cautiously around, that none -might overhear, Miss Tuttle bent and whispered -some rapid words into Leola’s ear.</p> - -<p>A light began to dance in the dark eyes, -the pale lips smiled a little, and Leola -cried:</p> - -<p>“It will be a terrible risk to run, but if -you can manage it and are not afraid, I -will help all I can, for I long to punish -Giles Bennett for his meanness!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll take all the responsibility for everything,” -smiled Miss Tuttle, glowing with -eagerness. “Don’t you worry one bit, Leola; -it will all come right in the end. But, -oh, dear, I’ve got to put in a busy day -getting the bride ready.”</p> - -<p>“Make her as pretty as you can, and let -the veil be very thick,” laughed Leola, -with renewed good humor. “And, by-the-way, -Miss Tuttle, you are to tell my -guardian that before the ceremony begins -Giles Bennett must destroy the mortgage -in my presence, or I will not marry him -at all.”</p> - -<p>So the busy day began, for the whole -household was in a state of excitement -over the sudden wedding.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Stirling and her daughter entered -heartily into the spirit of the affair, and -set the servants to work transforming the -dingy parlor into a floral bower, with wildflowers -and evergreens.</p> - -<p>The scheming pair were delighted to think -of getting rid of Leola so easily, hoping -that some fortunate turn of fortune’s fickle -wheel might yet bring back Chester Olyphant -into Jessie’s power.</p> - -<p>While they worked downstairs on the -parlor, Miss Tuttle reported herself as very -busy upstairs, getting ready the simple -outfit of the bride, and packing her trunk -for the flitting. Leola would not admit -anybody else inside the door. She said -she was too busy and too nervous.</p> - -<p>Inside that locked door there were strange -doings, to be sure.</p> - -<p>You would have thought them a pair of -amateur actresses, from the way they went -on.</p> - -<p>The governess had dragged down from -the garret a little old trunk containing -some stage properties that had once upon -a time belonged to an actress who had died -while on a visit to Wizard Hermann’s -mother. Her relatives had never taken -away the box, and many a time Leola had -amused herself looking over the queer -things on rainy days when she could not -go out.</p> - -<p>She and Miss Tuttle were amusing themselves -again, brushing and combing over -the old wigs, Leola trying on the sedate -brown front, and Miss Tuttle the curly -golden one, that certainly took fifteen years -off her age, after Leola made up her sallow -face with rouge and powder.</p> - -<p>Then Miss Tuttle tried on Leola’s best -gown, the dark brown cloth with the silk -waist and loose jacket. The pretty brown -toque was not unbecoming, with the double -veil of white dotted malines, and Leola, -who had never expected to smile again, had -to giggle like a little school girl at the -tout ensemble.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Miss Tuttle, you will make a lovely -bride! I am sorry I shall not have a -handsome gift for you!” she cried.</p> - -<p>“You will have given me the desire of my -heart!” cried the governess, so seriously -and gratefully that Leola laughed harder -than ever, thinking she was certainly very -easy to please, since portly Giles Bennett -could fill the measure of her happiness. It -made her think of the old adage Betsy, -the cook, had repeated to her the other -day: “Ever’buddy to deir taste, missie, as -de ole ’oman said when she kissed de -cow.”</p> - -<p>However, it was very lucky for Leola that -Miss Tuttle was so infatuated with the rotund -widower that she was willing to win -him by hook or crook, so her laughter -grew more and more joyous as she added, -merrily:</p> - -<p>“Be sure that you put a little water in all -the kerosene lamps about the house, so -that they will flicker and grow dim.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>SURPRISES ALL AROUND.</h3> - - -<p>Very dimly, indeed, burned the lamps -among the floral decorations as the family -at Wheatlands gathered in the parlor for -the wedding ceremony, Jessie and her -mother in full evening dress, though Leola -had sent word down that she would be -married simply in her traveling dress.</p> - -<p>Outside the gates waited the brand new -carriage, with prancing white horses, that -had brought Giles Bennett and the Methodist -preacher who was to perform the ceremony, -and in the parlor the bridegroom -waited, spick and span in his new black -suit, for his bonny bride. Jessie Stirling, -at the piano, had already begun the first -low notes of the wedding march, and to -that sound came Leola slowly down the -stairs on the arm of Miss Tuttle, having -peremptorily declined her guardian’s escort.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Stirling thought it rather ridiculous, -as they came in sight, that that silly old -maid, Miss Tuttle, had chosen to wear a -hat and veil like the bride at the ceremony, -but she did not give the poor, drab-faced -creature a second look, she was so intent -on watching the proceedings.</p> - -<p>Wizard Hermann met the pair at the -door, and taking the golden-haired girl by -the arm, led her to the rotund bridegroom -waiting nervously for his happiness.</p> - -<p>The minister cleared his throat ready to -proceed, but the bride stood still for a -moment, facing Giles Bennett, and her low -voice said, distinctly:</p> - -<p>“The mortgage on Wheatlands—the prize -for which I am sold, sir—have you brought -it as agreed upon?”</p> - -<p>He produced a folded paper, and she -beckoned to her guardian.</p> - -<p>“Examine this paper. Is it bona fide?”</p> - -<p>He answered, huskily:</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>She looked at Giles Bennett.</p> - -<p>“You are willing that I destroy this paper, -on condition that I marry you immediately -afterward?”</p> - -<p>“I agree to your conditions,” he said, and -directly the fragments of the mortgage -fluttered, like a miniature snowstorm, from -the bride’s white-gloved hands to the floor.</p> - -<p>Then she took his arm, and they moved -across to the waiting minister, who began -to pray.</p> - -<p>In the excitement no one noticed a rapping -on the open hall door, nor that poor -Miss Tuttle, instead of attending the bride -as maid of honor, had sunk into a low seat -near the door with her handkerchief hiding -her veiled face.</p> - -<p>The music played on softly, like a sigh, -the dim lights flickered forlornly among -the fragrant flowers, and the short marriage -ceremony of the Methodist Church -in less than ten minutes made Leola Mead -the bride of Giles Bennett, who had bought -her for her beauty like a slave in the -Circassian market.</p> - -<p>And just as he pronounced the pair man -and wife the man who had been knocking -unheard at the hall door strode impatiently -to the parlor and looked within at the unexpected -sight of a wedding party.</p> - -<p>He was a middle-aged man of distinguished -appearance, with dark eyes, grizzled -auburn hair and a face bronzed as -from travel. No one saw him as he waited -at the door, while the witnesses crowded -forward with eager congratulations to the -smirking bridegroom and the veiled bride.</p> - -<p>Last of all came the one who had been -sitting yonder sobbing in her little lace -handkerchief, and taking first the hand of -Giles Bennett, she exclaimed, earnestly:</p> - -<p>“I congratulate you, sir, on winning this -rare prize. She will make you very happy, -I know.”</p> - -<p>Then, with a soft laugh that startled -everyone, she threw her arms about the -bride, half-sobbing:</p> - -<p>“Dear, dear governess, I hate to give -you up, even to our kind neighbor, Mr. -Bennett, for you have loved him so well, I -know it is for your best happiness to leave -me!”</p> - -<p>With a dexterous movement of her hand -she flung off her veil, hat and wig in one -gesture, and stood revealed, beautiful, -golden-haired Leola, masquerading in Miss -Tuttle’s worn and threadbare black silk -gown, a skimpy thing, too short and too -tight, and likely to burst with the peal of -laughter that shrilled over her rosy lips -at their amazed looks.</p> - -<p>They all began talking wildly at once, -and staring in wonder at the veiled bride, -who suddenly followed Leola’s example, -and threw off hat, veil and golden wig together, -showing Miss Tuttle’s pretty brown -waves of hair, and her pale, rather frightened -face that turned piteously to her new -made husband as she faltered, weakly:</p> - -<p>“I planned this deception to save my dear -Leola, because she vowed that rather than -live with you, after she had paid her -guardian’s debt, she would kill herself this -very night. I couldn’t let her do that, -the poor girl, who hasn’t a friend on earth -but me, and whom I love as if she were -my own child, so, to save her, I carried -out this trick, and I am your wife, sir, -whether you own me or not. But though -I am not as young and pretty as Leola, I -will be a better companion for you, Giles, -than she would ever be, for she fears and -hates you, while I have always respected -you highly ever since I knew you, and will -try to make you a good wife if you will -overlook the little ruse by which I won -you.”</p> - -<p>They were all so dazed that no one had -tried to interrupt her, but now Giles Bennett, -turning furiously on Hermann, cried:</p> - -<p>“You hound, you let me be tricked into -this fraud, but it shall avail you nothing! -I repudiate this marriage and the whole -transaction. The destruction of that paper -shall not prevent me from getting back my -money from you. The law will protect me -in my rights.”</p> - -<p>“I protest I had no hand in this deception. -I meant honestly by you, and to -prove my word I will have nothing more -to do with those women, who have united -in this effort to make you a laughing stock, -and to get me into trouble. They shall -both leave my roof to-night and forever, -Giles, but I beg you will be patient with -me and grant me a little more time before -you bring suit to recover your money,” -began Hermann, abjectly, when a ringing -voice cried, “Hold!” and the unobserved -stranger at the door strode, uninvited, into -the room, adding:</p> - -<p>“Ah, Henry Hermann, you know me. I -have come at last for my daughter, Leola, -and it seems I have unearthed some villainy -on your part. Will some one tell me -the meaning of all this excitement?”</p> - -<p>Leola flew to him with a cry of joy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span></p> - -<p>“My father, oh, my father! You have -come at last!”</p> - -<p>The bronzed stranger clasped her to his -heart and kissed her beautiful lips again -and again, exclaiming:</p> - -<p>“Sweet image of your lovely mother, -now an angel in heaven, we shall never -be parted again! But now tell me the -meaning of this strange scene.”</p> - -<p>Clinging fondly to his arm the girl answered, -spiritedly:</p> - -<p>“That old Falstaff there held a mortgage -on my guardian’s estate for fifteen thousand -dollars, and offered to cancel it if I -would become his wife. So I was persecuted -into giving him my promise, and to -save me from despair and suicide my dear -governess planned to deceive them and put -herself in my place.”</p> - -<p>“But it won’t do any good,” blustered -the angry Bennett, “I won’t take the old -girl on any terms, and I’ll have my money -out of Hermann all right, and that soon!”</p> - -<p>He recoiled in surprise at the stranger’s -contemptuous laugh.</p> - -<p>“Your mortgage is not worth the paper -it was written on, for I hold a prior one -that Hermann executed to me over thirty -years ago, for thirty thousand dollars, as -much as the full value of his estate. This -money he had from me before my Leola -was born, because I admired his scientific -attainment and wished to make him independent, -so that he could prosecute his -experiments in chemistry. At my dear -wife’s death I went abroad with an exploring -party to drown my grief. As Hermann’s -mother was a kinswoman of mine, -I left Leola with him, giving him ten thousand -dollars for taking care of her, but it -seems that he has betrayed his trust, and -but for this noble governess here my poor -girl would have been betrayed into a -wretched marriage. I have no more use -for so unworthy a guardian, but I shall -not take revenge by foreclosing my mortgage -on his home. I shall leave him in -peaceable possession the term of his life; -then Wheatlands will revert to my daughter, -Leola. For the rest, as soon as Leola -can pack up to leave I shall take my dear -girl away with me to New York, and if -Mr. Bennett repudiates his pretty bride, -she may accompany us. I am rich, and for -her love and care of Leola she shall be -well repaid.”</p> - -<p>The bride and groom looked at each -other, she pitifully humble and entreating, -he angry and resentful, yet on a sudden -inclined to make the best of what seemed -to him a bad bargain, so that he muttered, -ungraciously: “You may come home with -me, Amanda.”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>WIDOW GRAY AND THE YOUNG CAVE-HUNTERS.</h3> - - -<p>The tender-hearted Mrs. Gray returned -to her cottage after her repulse at Wheatlands -in a very sad state of mind over -Chester Olyphant’s strange disappearance.</p> - -<p>In the month that he had boarded with -her she had grown to appreciate him very -highly for his true manliness and noble -character, and, on his part, her esteem -had been returned by a frank, out-spoken -regard.</p> - -<p>Toward the last he had made her his -confidant, telling her his true name and -position, and explaining why he had wooed -Leola under a mask for the sake of romance, -wishing to be loved for himself -alone.</p> - -<p>“My life has been sad in many ways in -spite of great wealth,” he said. “My parents -died in my early childhood, and I was -brought up by an uncle and aunt who are -all now dead, so that I have really no near -relatives, having been an only child. But -now I shall arrange to marry Leola very -soon, and my beautiful home on the Hudson, -Bonnie View, will have a fitting mistress -in my lovely bride. As for you, my -dear friend, in return for all your kindness, -I want you to come to us when we are -married and make your home at Bonnie -View as Leola’s companion.”</p> - -<p>He was disappointed when she declined, -gently but decidedly, to accept his offer, -and when he pressed for a reason the good -woman said, simply:</p> - -<p>“I cannot leave the little cottage where I -came a bride, for the sweetest memories -of life cluster around this humble spot. -Here my two sweet children, my boy and -girl, were born, and here they and my -husband passed away from me to the Better -Land. Here they return in spirit to -brood over my lonely life in love and -sympathy, and if I went away perhaps -they could not find me easily, or perhaps -they would not be as well pleased as here, -where we were all so happy together. -When my earthly life is ended they will -come to soothe my last hours and bear me -company to my heavenly home, so I must -wait for them here, where they watch over -me daily, and I am happier so than anywhere -else.”</p> - -<p>Her words sounded strange to Chester -Olyphant in the glow of his love and -youth, loving the world and its gay companionship, -but he read on her placid -features a peace and resignation he could -not understand, and ceased to urge her to -change her home, only stipulating that he -and Leola should at least have a long -visit from her at Bonnie View, to which -she cheerfully assented.</p> - -<p>So now, at his strange absence, her heart -sank with dread, for last night at her -window the wind in the pine tree had -sobbed like ghastly voices, and she remembered -that it had sounded just so before -each calamity that had darkened her -life, vaguely foretelling sorrow.</p> - -<p>“Something bad has surely happened to -the poor young man, for he would never -have gone away like this with no explanation,” -she sighed, as she went, restlessly, -about her household duties, with a heart -as heavy as lead.</p> - -<p>On the next afternoon she took her knitting -out on the front porch watching, -eagerly, up and down the road, for a sight -of the absentee, but all in vain.</p> - -<p>Suddenly she heard childish voices, and -saw four little lads coming in at her front -gate—little fair-haired, blue-eyed boys, -“stairsteps,” she called them—their ages -ranging from eight to twelve.</p> - -<p>Widow Gray knew all these neighbor -boys very well, and had often entertained -them on her front door-step with apples -and ginger-bread cookies, for they were -adventurous little fellows, brothers and -cousins, who often stole away from their -homes to explore little caves roundabout, -leaving their doting mammas in wild -panics over their absence.</p> - -<p>The good woman knew that another expedition -was on foot, for each boy carried -a new tallow candle in hand, and wore his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> -worst clothes, as if on purpose, while their -pretty faces looked up at her, engagingly, -as George, the youngest and boldest, acting -as spokesman, asked:</p> - -<p>“Mis’ Gray, please, ma’am, may we explore -the cave that opens from the hill in -your back lot?”</p> - -<p>Smiling cheerily at them, she answered, -kindly:</p> - -<p>“Bless your little hearts, there ain’t no -cave there, children. My husband always -told me ’twas the end of an underground -passage from Wheatlands, where the Hermanns -used to hide in Indian raids.”</p> - -<p>“We’d like to see it, all the same, ma’am, -please,” said the blue-eyed boy with the -little pug nose, in that sweet coaxing voice -that always won its way with every one.</p> - -<p>At that she frankly gave consent, since -she could see no possible danger in the -adventure, but as she handed them out -some currant buns for lunch she shook her -head at them slyly, saying:</p> - -<p>“I wonder if your mas know you are -out on this raid?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, they don’t care!” fibbed Willie, with -a jaunty air, and then they all went around -the house, disappearing presently in the -hole under the hill, with their lighted -candles, the four dearest and happiest little -chaps in Christendom.</p> - -<p>“Bless their little hearts,” she sighed, -wiping the quick tears from her eyes as -she thought of her own two darlings at -rest in the little green mounds over in -the Presbyterian graveyard, under the -grass and flowers, and as she knit and -rocked the summer wind seemed like tender -childish fingers playing with the locks of -white hair on her wrinkled brow.</p> - -<p>So time slipped away for an hour or so, -as she sat there in the summer stillness, -lulled by the hum of bees and the song -of birds, and the low breeze sighing in -the pine trees, and then she started up at -the sound of excited voices coming around -the house.</p> - -<p>The four cave-hunters were returning -helter-skelter, their faces pale, their eyes -like saucers, all shouting at once:</p> - -<p>“Oh, Mis’ Gray, we have found a dead -man!”</p> - -<p>“A dead man!”</p> - -<p>“A dead man!”</p> - -<p>“If you don’t believe us, come on, and -we will show you!”</p> - -<p>It was no boyish joke, she could see -from their pale, earnest little faces, so she -said:</p> - -<p>“Oh, my, how dreadful! Some Indian -bones, perhaps, my dears?”</p> - -<p>The boys, who had got in a close group -together, now began to talk in loud whispers, -one saying. “Oh, tell her!” another, -“Oh, don’t,” while the something unexplainable -in their faces made her tremble -with a strange dread.</p> - -<p>She said as calmly as she could for the -wild beating of her heart:</p> - -<p>“Out with it, boys; tell me all you know -at once!”</p> - -<p>Thereupon Georgie shouted, glibly:</p> - -<p>“We went about five miles in the cave -with our candles, an’ then we found”—</p> - -<p>She held up a remonstrating hand, saying:</p> - -<p>“Not five miles, oh, no; I have often -heard that the underground road isn’t more -than a mile.”</p> - -<p>“Well, a mile, then,” continued George, -unabashed, “an’ then we thought we heard -an nawful grunt, an’ we all jumped so -that our candles most went out, an’ the -skin creeped on our bones, ’cause we -thought it might be an Indian ghost, you -see, an’ we might get tommy-hawked, an’ -our mammas wouldn’t never know where -we was, ’cause we sneaked away,” he broke -down, with a stifled whimper, and nudged -the next boy to go on.</p> - -<p>Alex took up the story, adding:</p> - -<p>“The little boys was scared, but we -wasn’t, an’ we marched right on, an’ -d’reckly we come on a dead man—not Indian -bones, no, but a white man with his -head all bloody, an’—an’—then we thought -we better come back for you, ’cause you -know him.”</p> - -<p>With a groan she cried:</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean my boarder—Mr. Chester!”</p> - -<p>Perhaps the little fellows had already -decided to break the news to her gently, -for they nudged each other, and the oldest -one said, sorrowfully:</p> - -<p>“It looked like him, but maybe ’tain’t. -Please come with us and see!”</p> - -<p>“I will come,” she said, “but wait; you -said he groaned.”</p> - -<p>“Before we got to him it sounded like -groans, but when we found him he was dead.”</p> - -<p>“Dead as a door nail!” sobbed little -Laurie, awesomely, while the eyes of the -smallest one brimmed over with tears.</p> - -<p>It needed no more to make the excited -woman follow their guidance back to the -cave, as they persisted in calling it, taking -with her some water and a bottle of wine.</p> - -<p>She soon found that the little boys had -told her the truth.</p> - -<p>The body of Chester Olyphant lay seemingly -lifeless on the ground, the brown -curls matted with blood from a wound on -the side of the head.</p> - -<p>“Oh, who has done this awful murder?” -she moaned, as she listened at his heart -for a throb of life.</p> - -<p>It seemed to her there was a faint, irregular -beat, and she hastened to apply -her restoratives, eliciting a low sound like -a gasp or sigh.</p> - -<p>“Oh, boys, we’ll have to carry him out -to the air,” she exclaimed, and by their -valiant efforts they got him out of the passage -just as twilight darkened the world.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>“TIME DOES NOT STOP FOR TEARS.”</h3> - - -<p>While the wedding was going on at Wheatlands -that evening, Doctor Barnes, hastily summoned to -the cottage, was sewing up a ghastly cut on Chester -Olyphant’s head, and explaining to Widow Gray -that it had barely escaped being a fracture of the -skull. Even now he could not tell what the outcome -would be, for, though life still lingered, there -was no return to consciousness.</p> - -<p>He made the four little heroes very proud and -happy by telling them that God himself must have -prompted their expedition that day in order to save -the young man’s life, and they scampered off home -in great excitement, to spread the news of their -wonderful adventure.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the doctor sent for the best nurse in -town, and installed her at the cottage to aid Mrs. -Gray in caring for the patient.</p> - -<p>But when Leola Mead and her father were driven -down to the station that night, to take the midnight -train for New York, no hint of the truth -reached them, and Leola’s heartache over her lover’s -falsity was destined to last long, for from -that hour, when she had fallen like one dead in -the arbor, no news of him transpired for many -months. Too proud to confess her heart wound -to her father, she never called that once loved -name in his hearing; she only sought refuge from -her pain in change of scene, saying to him eagerly:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p> - -<p>“Papa, darling, I have been buried in the country -so long that I am wild to see the world. If -you are able to gratify my desires, I prefer travel -to anything else on earth.”</p> - -<p>“I live only to gratify your wishes now, my -precious daughter,” answered Alston Mead, eager -to atone for having neglected her so long in his -passionate grief over the loss of his lovely young -wife.</p> - -<p>He had planned to come back and settle down in -a quiet home with his lovely daughter, but he -found it no hardship to gratify her desire for -travel, since wandering had become a second nature -with him.</p> - -<p>So in their leisurely wanderings through the -United States, and afterward abroad, the past -became almost like a dream to Leola, who told -herself, bitterly, that doubtless Jessie Stirling and -Olyphant were married long ago, and that she did -not care, for she hated him now as much as she -had once loved him.</p> - -<p>Alston Mead, in all ignorance of the tragic love -story of his fair daughter, wondered a little that -she remained so indifferent to the suitors she attracted -wherever she went, for to him it seemed -very natural for a young girl to fall in love; still -he rejoiced that she did not appear to be susceptible, -saying to himself that he could keep her all -the longer to himself.</p> - -<p>But all the time Leola was thinking with bitter -pique and pain of Jessie and Chester reconciled -and happy, perhaps long ago wedded, his love affair -of that golden summer an almost forgotten -episode.</p> - -<p>It was bitter, for Leola knew in her heart that -she had given the best and truest love of her life, -and that she could never know again the bliss of -those fleeting days, when she had loved and trusted -as she never could again, because her tenderness -had been betrayed, her heart trampled on like a -withered flower thrown into the dust.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Like the wild hyacinth flower, which on the hills is found,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Which the passing feet of the triflers forever tear and wound,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Until the purple blossom is trodden in the ground.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>So strangely and completely had Leola’s life -changed that sometimes she felt as if she had died -and come to life again in some new world—a -kaleidoscopic world of change, in which every face -and scene was new—if only, she said to herself, -bitterly, she had not brought with her into this -new life the cruel memories of the past, that -seemed always crying aloud to her heart:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Look in my face; my name is Might-have-been;</div> - <div class="verse indent1">I am also called No-more, Too-late, Farewell.</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Unto thine ear I hold the dead-sea shell.</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Cast up thy Life’s foam-fretted feet between;</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Unto thine eyes the glass where that is seen</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Which had Life’s form and Love, but by my spell</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Is now a shaken shadow intolerable.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But “time does not stop for tears,” and the days -and months rolled away and brought round golden -June again, so that it was a year since Leola had -ridden out so joyfully on Rex to meet her fate in -Chester Olyphant’s dark blue eyes.</p> - -<p>They were in Paris now, and everyone knows -how charming Paris is in June, but somehow -Leola’s thoughts turned backward to the West Virginia -hills that she had vowed she never cared to -see again—turned back with a strange homesickness -to the wild and picturesque scenes where her -joyous youth had been nurtured, to the old faces, -the old pleasures, and she thought that she should -like to get on Rex’s back again for a breezy canter -into the country town, or on to the old Blue Sulphur -Spring for a draught of its cold, clear, sparkling -water.</p> - -<p>She could close her eyes and see just how it was -looking, after the long, cold winter, in its new -summer gown of green, trimmed with violets, blue -and white—that dear old hillside back of the house; -and the orchard would be decked in pink and -white, and the birds would be singing like mad in -the branches, and the sky would be blue and -sunny, and the sweet air seem like an elixir of -life.</p> - -<p>She opened her eyes, and she was in Paris again, -and she had in her hand a memorandum for the -shopping she was going to do that week—gowns -and laces and jewels, to deck that wonderful beauty, -to set off, like a splendid frame, the peerless -form, the flowerlike face, with its somber dark -eyes and thick waves of ruddy golden hair—the -Titian shade artists raved over.</p> - -<p>Her father had had her portrait painted—full -length, and all in white—and all Paris had raved -over it when the artist had it on exhibition those -few days before it was boxed to be shipped to -America. She had made many friends, been entertained -at the homes of the rich and great, had -refused dazzling offers to the wonder of all, and -here she was, all at once, with a fit of nostalgia -for the simple home and kindly faces that were -gone out of her life forever—or so she thought.</p> - -<p>She had often thought of the new Mrs. Bennett, -wondering if her simple devotion had ever won -her rotund husband’s heart, but she had never -written her a line in her eagerness to forget the -grief over those last days, and put them behind her -forever.</p> - -<p>Now she thought, tenderly, of the good woman, -murmuring:</p> - -<p>“How strange it seems I have never heard one -word from all I left behind! Some of them may -be dead, some married—Jessie and Chester, of -course, long ago—but there are few I care for save -my dear old governess and Mrs. Gray!”</p> - -<p>Putting all these thoughts behind her with a -passing wonder why they had come like ghosts from -a dead past to disturb her present peace, she rang -for her maid and got ready for her shopping tour.</p> - -<p>An hour later she knew why those subtle memories -had overwhelmed her this morning. It was -the influence of telepathy.</p> - -<p>Turning over some rare silks at the Arcade, her -heart leaped, and her blood turned cold in her -veins at the sound of a familiar voice:</p> - -<p>“Leola Mead, am I dreaming, or is it really -you? What a charming surprise! Why, only this -morning I was thinking of you, wondering where -you were; and to find you here so soon, it’s like a -dream!”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My foe undreamed of by my side</div> - <div class="verse indent3">Stood suddenly like fate—</div> - <div class="verse indent1">To those who love, the world is wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent3">But not to those who hate!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Leola felt a small, gloved hand pressing hers -very hard, looked into bluebell eyes under flaxen -waves of hair, and turned cold with dislike and -repulsion, dreading every moment to see over the -blonde’s shoulder her husband’s face, handsome and -winning, with the laughing blue eyes that had -smiled her heart away.</p> - -<p>With a strong effort she pulled herself together, -calling her passionate pride to her aid. They -should not see her wince; she would show them -she had forgotten him. She said, coldly:</p> - -<p>“So it is you, Jessie Stirling? How long have -you been over?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, since early spring shopping for my trousseau, -you know,” twittered Jessie, gayly.</p> - -<p>“Then you are not married yet?” Leola cried, -eagerly.</p> - -<p>“No; but I shall be soon—in late July. Chester -was ill so long, you know,” she twittered on; then, -at the startled look in Leola’s dark eyes, “Oh, I -forgot you went away so abruptly that night before -everything happened—the explosion and all! -Tell me, haven’t you ever heard from home? from -any of them? Not a word, you say? How very -strange! Leola, is your carriage waiting? Yes? -Then I will go for a drive with you, and tell you -everything. We can come back for our shopping -later”—dragging her out.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>“IF HATE COULD KILL.”</h3> - - -<p>The two fair young girls stepped into the elegant -equipage, and as it rolled down the glittering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> -boulevard in the glorious sunshine, they were the -cynosure of all eyes.</p> - -<p>Jessie Stirling began excitedly:</p> - -<p>“And so you have never heard a word from -West Virginia since the night you left so suddenly! -Then I have much to tell you. But first, have you -not heard from Chester Olyphant in all this time?”</p> - -<p>There was an anxious tone in her voice, but -Leola did not heed it, she answered so spiritedly:</p> - -<p>“That is a strange question, Jessie. I have not -heard, or ever wished to hear, from him.”</p> - -<p>Jessie’s little tinkling laugh rang out in shallow -ripples on the air, as she exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Still angry! But, poor dear, I do not blame -you. It was hard for me to forgive him for trifling -with your tender heart. It was his illness and suffering -that melted my heart.”</p> - -<p>Leola listened in blank silence. She would not -have asked one word about Chester Olyphant if -Jessie had said that he was dead.</p> - -<p>“You care nothing for him now—that is plain -to be seen. I am glad you have gotten so bravely -over it,” said Jessie, smiling at the fair, proud -face, with the somber dark eyes gazing straight -ahead, though seeing nothing of the gay streets -with throngs of happy people going up and down -as they drove on behind the liveried coachmen.</p> - -<p>Then she added:</p> - -<p>“You remember, we thought that Chester Olyphant -had run away after I betrayed him? That -was wrong.”</p> - -<p>She knew that Leola was listening, though she -did not answer a word.</p> - -<p>“To tell the truth, I may have been a little to -blame, Leola, for, in anger at Chester’s duplicity, -I ran to Uncle Hermann with my story, and he -was angry—fearfully angry—at the wrong done to -me and to you. At first he swore he would horse-whip -him, but mamma begged him not to create a -public sensation, for she said it was best to let -it blow over. Uncle Hermann did not say yea or -nay, and we thought he was pacified.”</p> - -<p>She drew a long breath, and continued:</p> - -<p>“Well, you remember how everything happened -that night—the wedding, your father’s return to -take you away, and everything? When the Bennetts -were gone, also you and your father, Uncle -Hermann was desperate. We sat up late talking -over matters, holding, as it were, a council of war; -for, though your father had mercifully permitted -him a life-time use of Wheatlands, he was so involved -in debt that he could not see a dollar in -sight anywhere.”</p> - -<p>Leola made no comment, and the speaker went -on:</p> - -<p>“Uncle Hermann wanted to borrow of mamma, -saying he was prosecuting an experiment that -must, if it succeeded, make him fabulously rich, -and revolutionize the whole world. But chemical -ingredients were costly, and he could not go on a -week longer without money. He had borrowed, -begged, got all he could, and was desperate for -more funds. He said he could almost steal, if he -knew where to lay his hands on the money, for -the sake of his great experiment. He even went -on his knees to mamma, but alas! it was ‘like -going to the goat’s house for wool.’ Mamma had -pawned her diamonds long before to keep afloat in -society, and was desperate for means herself. So -she could not help him at all, and she said she -would go home next day so as not to bother him -any longer in his trouble. We retired, and at -breakfast next morning he said he and Joslyn would -be busy in the laboratory until afternoon; that he -had a few chemicals to work on yet; and that, before -we left, we might have to congratulate him -on the success of his experiment.”</p> - -<p>Leola began to look more interested. She could -not help being sorry for Wizard Hermann and the -failure of his pet hobbies—the ambitions of a toilsome -lifetime.</p> - -<p>Jessie Stirling continued:</p> - -<p>“Mamma and I went upstairs and packed our -trunks, and telephoned to town for a man to take -them down to the station. When they were gone -we walked out to the arbor, waiting for luncheon, -and to bid good-bye to my uncle, when—oh, Leola, -with a shock!—suddenly there was the sound of a -terrific explosion from the tower, and we fell back -almost stunned in our seats. It almost seemed as -if the world were coming to an end, for one loud -report followed another, and the tower was blown -away, with all of the chimneys. Then suddenly all -grew still, and fire shot out of the windows and -doors, caused by an explosion of gasoline Uncle -Hermann had been using in his experiments.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, how terrible!” cried Leola, finding voice at -last.</p> - -<p>“Yes, was it not?” cried Jessie, growing excited -at the memory, and adding: “For not only was -the house burned to the ground, but Joslyn, uncle’s -servant, was killed; while as for himself, he fought -his way bravely from the burning building, saving -his life at the expense of all that made it worth -living—his eyesight destroyed, his arms burned off -to the elbows.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, how horrible! how horrible!” groaned -Leola, and her lovely face went deathly white with -the shock of the story.</p> - -<p>“I knew you would be shocked,” exclaimed Jessie. -“Oh, wasn’t it fortunate for us that we had -gotten out of the house just before! And saved -our trunks, too! The cook was out in the garden -getting peas for dinner, luckily for her! Joslyn -was burned in the house; and as for Uncle Hermann, -we thought he must die, too. Indeed, he -thought so himself, for he was in horrible agony, -so he sent for a priest—he was a Catholic, you -know—and confessed his sins.”</p> - -<p>“And he lived, after all? What became of -him? Who took care of the poor man?” cried -Leola, with tears in her eyes, forgetting her own -wrongs in exquisite sympathy.</p> - -<p>“Why, the Bennetts took him to their house and -cared for him till he recovered; and he lives there -yet, having a man attend to him all the time. I -must say Mrs. Bennett acted beautifully to Uncle -Hermann, and has befriended him all this time in -spite of the fact that he hadn’t been as good as -he might to her when she was a lone old maid.”</p> - -<p>“It was just like dear Miss Tuttle to return -good for evil! She had a noble heart!” cried -Leola. “Dear soul, she was too good for Giles -Bennett!”</p> - -<p>“Mamma says she has made a better man of -him, and he has become really fond of the kind -soul. You see, mamma made a trip there this -spring as Mrs. Bennett’s guest, while I came over -to Europe with a friend,” added Jessie, who would -have bitten her tongue off before she would have -owned to Leola that, having exhausted all their -means and failed to catch a rich husband, she had -been forced to become the paid companion of a -rich woman, while her mother eked out an existence -“visiting around.”</p> - -<p>She would fool Leola, and keep her and Chester -Olyphant apart as long as she could; but she had -an unerring conviction that Fate in the long run -would bring them together.</p> - -<p>After a moment’s hesitation she began again:</p> - -<p>“I told you that Uncle Hermann confessed his -sins the day he thought he was going to die, but -you do not seem curious over it, so I’ll tell you -all about it anyway. Uncle Hermann was so furious -over Chester Olyphant’s trifling with you and -me that on the day when you lay unconscious upstairs -he met Chester in the hall and struck him -on the head with a blunt iron instrument, so that -he fell like one dead.”</p> - -<p>“Dead!” cried Leola, and she shook with emotion.</p> - -<p>“Uncle Hermann did not mean to kill him, but -he and Joslyn, who happened along at the moment, -both thought he was dead, and, to hide the -crime, they dragged him into the library, took up -the flooring, and dropped him down into an underground -passage the family had used in Indian -times. So on his disappearance we naturally concluded -he had run away to avoid my reproaches, -don’t you see?”</p> - -<p>Leola could only gasp, without speaking, so -great was her emotion; and Jessie, enjoying the -sensation she was creating, again took up the thread -of her story:</p> - -<p>“So that was what Uncle Hermann had to confess -when he thought he was dying. It was the -only really wicked thing he ever did, and he -wanted to get God’s forgiveness before he died;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> -likewise, he wanted Chester Olyphant to have a -Christian burial. Poor Leola, you are faint! All -this has been too much for you.”</p> - -<p>Leola faltered, through stiff, white lips:</p> - -<p>“No, no; go on, if there is any more to tell.”</p> - -<p>Jessie laughed, and resumed:</p> - -<p>“I have kept the best for the last. Just as the -men were going to hunt for Chester’s body in the -underground passage, Doctor Barnes came along -and told them that some little boys had found him -alive in the cave, as they called it, and they had -taken him to Mrs. Gray’s cottage. Well, to make -a long story short, Chester had an awful wound -on his head, and a piece of the skull pressed on -the brain, and he never recovered health or consciousness -till he was taken North for an operation -that made him all right again. Mrs. Gray -was like a mother to him through it all, and, next -to mamma and me, I suppose he considers her his -dearest friend. Now, as to our love affair, we -made it all up some time ago, and are to be married -in July; but I suppose there’s no use asking -you to be my bridesmaid, dear Leola?”</p> - -<p>“No,” the girl answered, curtly, adding:</p> - -<p>“Jessie, I promised papa to meet him at luncheon, -and I shall hardly get back in time if we do not -return now. May I invite you to join us?”</p> - -<p>“Not to-day, thank you, Leola, but I will call -on you soon, for I am anxious to see you again, -and also to meet your papa. Now if you will be -so kind as to drive by Lady De Vere’s, where I -am staying with my New York friend, I will be -very grateful.”</p> - -<p>Leola assented, and presently Jessie was set -down at the place she wished, and blew Leola a -deceitful kiss from her finger tips as she went in, -muttering to herself as she watched her drive -away:</p> - -<p>“It was a gratuitous fib I told her about marrying -Chester Olyphant, but I couldn’t resist stabbing -her once more to see the light grow dim in -the beautiful eyes that stole his heart from me. -All my maneuvering has failed to win him back, -and her turn will soon come, for he is here in -Paris, although she does not know it, and at any -minute they may meet, and everything be explained. -Oh, how I wish hate could kill!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>LIKE A STAR IN THE NIGHT OF HER -DESPAIR.</h3> - - -<p>At the luncheon, which was served in their private -dining-room, Leola could scarcely touch a -morsel, she was so eager to tell her father all that -she had heard that morning, barring, of course, the -facts about Chester Olyphant, whose name she -vowed should never pass her lips.</p> - -<p>But she had scarcely begun her story when he -smiled and interrupted:</p> - -<p>“It seems quite a coincidence that we have both -met people from the United States this morning—ghosts, -as it were, out of your past life.”</p> - -<p>“Why, papa?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, people from West Virginia, dear—old -neighbors of yours—and from them I have heard -already all you were going to tell me.”</p> - -<p>“Neighbors of mine! Why, papa, dear, you -cannot mean—the Bennetts?”</p> - -<p>“Why not, my dear?”</p> - -<p>“Why not, indeed? They are rich enough to -travel, and I remember now that my governess -used to hanker after foreign travel. So she is -here? You have seen her? Dear soul, I must call -at once.”</p> - -<p>“She will be here herself by-and-by, so you have -only to wait and rest till she comes.”</p> - -<p>“I shall be very impatient,” declared Leola, and -then she laughed:</p> - -<p>“I suppose Giles Bennett has forgiven me the -trick I played him by now?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, he said so with very hearty emphasis, -and I believed him. Indeed, the man appeared -proud of his wife, who seems to dote on him. They -have been touring the continent for several months, -and I met them in an art gallery this morning. I -confess I should hardly have known them again, -they were both so improved since that night, but -Mrs. Bennett recognized my face, and ran joyfully -to me to ask about you. So we talked for an hour, -and I invited them to call at our hotel this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“I can hardly wait for them to come, I am so -anxious,” declared the girl, joyfully. “Are you -sure that you have told me everything, papa?”</p> - -<p>“Did I mention that Wizard Hermann was dead?”</p> - -<p>“No, papa.”</p> - -<p>“Well, that is one of the things they told me. -It happened quite suddenly, the cause being heart -failure, so after that they decided on this tour. -They have with them also some one else that you -know—a Mrs. Gray, who had a present made her -of this tour by a gentleman whom she had nursed -through an illness. How strange you look, Leola! -You have grown pale, and you tremble. Are you -ill?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no, papa—perhaps just a little nervous. -Go on, papa, have you anything more to tell?”</p> - -<p>“Not just now, my dear daughter—not till you -take your luncheon. No? A drop of this wine, -perhaps, to set you up. There, the color is coming -back to your cheeks. Shall I ring to have the -things taken away?”</p> - -<p>She nodded, and they adjourned to their private -parlor.</p> - -<p>Then Alston Mead said, gently:</p> - -<p>“My dear daughter, I have been hearing surprising -things about you to-day. While I have been -wondering at your indifference to men, it seems -you already had a lover.”</p> - -<p>Her cheeks paled, then flamed.</p> - -<p>“Who has dared betray that unhappy episode of -my past? Who has called his despicable name?” -she half-sobbed.</p> - -<p>Alston Mead put his arm about her tenderly, like -a woman, with a soothing caress.</p> - -<p>“Gently, dear; perhaps he does not deserve your -scorn,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Then you do not know all the story, papa.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I know it better than you do, my darling -girl, and, strange to say, Chester Olyphant -has been known to me for years. His father and -mother were dear friends of mine, and I knew -their boy when he was a little curly-headed chap -in kilts. Naturally, I lost sight of him afterward -in my exile.”</p> - -<p>Leola cried, bitterly:</p> - -<p>“You lost sight of him, so you did not know he -grew up to be an unworthy scion of a good family—a -heartless trifler with women’s hearts.”</p> - -<p>“Grave charges, my daughter!”</p> - -<p>“You said that you knew all, dear papa.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I have heard both sides of the story, and -you know only one, Leola.”</p> - -<p>“Papa!”</p> - -<p>“You know only one,” he repeated.</p> - -<p>Leola cried, passionately:</p> - -<p>“That was all there was to know! And I am -sorry, I am indignant, that my friends, in mistaken -kindness, have betrayed this to you. I—I—was -forgetting it in this new life with you—only it -came back bitterly this morning when Jessie told -me—that—she—will be married to him—in July!”</p> - -<p>“And you, Leola, did you hear that news without -a pang? Has your heart grown callous?”</p> - -<p>“Spare me, papa!” and the golden head was -buried on his breast, while heaving sobs shook his -daughter’s form from head to feet—sobs that seemed -to burst her very heart in twain.</p> - -<p>Had her heart grown callous? Oh, no, the pity -of it, that she could not deny she had given her -love, irrevocably, to another woman’s lover—to one -unworthy her lightest thought.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A honeyed heart for the honeycomb,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the humming bee flies home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A heavy heart in the honey-flower,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the bee has had his hour.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Alston Mead let her head rest in his arms until -the storm of tears spent itself naturally; then, as -she began to grow calmer, he exclaimed, angrily:</p> - -<p>“Curses on the woman whose malice has culminated -in this past year of sorrow; whose memory -must always darken your life, even when the -shadow shall be removed.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span></p> - -<p>“Removed, papa? Alas, alas!” moaned the girl, -who could see in the future no surcease of sorrow.</p> - -<p>She started when her father laughed aloud:</p> - -<p>“My dearest, how little faith you had in your -lover, to believe all that little cat told you out of -spite!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, papa, you do not understand. Indeed, he -was her lover. Jessie spoke the truth. He—only—sought—to -amuse himself with me. I—I—know -that it is true, for—I—saw—her—in—his arms!”</p> - -<p>He could hardly bear the anguish in the great, -dark eyes, the shame, the self-pity in the quivering -voice: he must tell her the truth; he could not see -her suffer any more, poor, proud Leola!</p> - -<p>So he answered, quickly:</p> - -<p>“You saw her spring to his arms, my dear; and -if you had not fainted at the sight, you would -have seen her the next moment repulsed with scorn -by the man who despised the shallow little deceiver.”</p> - -<p>A wild cry of incredulous hope shrilled over her -lips, and his words came like a star in the night -of her despair.</p> - -<p>He continued, tenderly:</p> - -<p>“You were tricked and deceived, my poor Leola, -by two designing women. Granted that Chester -Olyphant had once been engaged to marry Jessie -Stirling, he had found her out and broken with -her before he came to the mountains to seek you. -The girl lied to you, deceived you wickedly, scheming -to separate you and win him back herself. You -fainted, and then Fate stepped in and aided Miss -Stirling to keep you deceived for a whole year, but -that was all, for he continued to repulse all her -efforts to get him back. His only fault toward -you, darling, was his hiding his name and position, -in the natural, romantic desire to be loved for himself -alone!”</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</h2> -</div> - -<h3>“ALL THE WORLD AND WE TWO, AND -HEAVEN BE OUR STAY.”</h3> - - -<p>Alston Mead had never fully recognized before all -the rare beauty of Leola, for until now it had -been shadowed by her secret sorrow—the thorn that -was always piercing her heart.</p> - -<p>When the girl looked up at him now her eyes -were like stars, sudden roses had bloomed on her -cheeks, and her lips were trembling with smiles of -joy.</p> - -<p>“Oh, it is like some sweet dream!” she cried, -half fearfully, her white hands clasped above her -wildly throbbing heart.</p> - -<p>“It is no dream, my darling; it is a blissful reality,” -her father cried. “Your lover has always -been true and noble, and worthy of your deepest -devotion. For months he has been seeking for you -everywhere, and our fortunate rencontre this morning -has filled his heart with joy.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, papa! you have then seen Ray—Chester, I -mean!” she began, in wild agitation, but he interrupted -her, smilingly:</p> - -<p>“Call him Ray if you choose, dear—his name is -Raphael Chester Olyphant, you see. Yes, your true -lover is in Paris to-day. He crossed with your -friends to seek for you. He will be here by-and-by -to see you, but I promised to tell you everything -first, for he does not know whether you will forgive -him for deceiving you under the guise of the -poor artist.”</p> - -<p>She cried, radiantly:</p> - -<p>“I am glad of it now, for he knows I loved him -for himself alone, and he can never doubt my devotion. -Oh, I can scarcely realize my happiness! -It seems like some beautiful dream.”</p> - -<p>They were interrupted by the entrance of the -Bennetts with Mrs. Gray, and such happy greetings -were never seen before.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Bennett, grown matronly and stylish, -hugged and kissed her dear pupil until she was -quite out of breath.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Gray followed suit when she got a chance, -and Giles Bennett squeezed her little hand until her -fingers ached.</p> - -<p>Then every one told Leola she was lovelier than -ever, and it was easy for her to return the compliment, -for prosperity and happiness had worked a -vast improvement in all three.</p> - -<p>A great chattering ensued, all trying to talk at -once; for, said Mrs. Bennett, roguishly:</p> - -<p>“We must talk as fast as we can, for some one -else is coming presently, and he warned us that -when he appeared he wanted to have the field all -to himself.”</p> - -<p>How Leola’s heart beat! how her cheeks burned! -She stole a glance at herself in the long, gilded -mirror, wondering if he would think her as pretty, -in her costly silk gown and fine laces, as in the -simple cotton gown of the rustic maiden. The -mirror assured her she was even more charming -now, for it is not to be disputed that “fine feathers -make fine birds.”</p> - -<p>They told her all over again the story Jessie had -related that morning, adding some that she had -preferred not to tell.</p> - -<p>The Stirlings had done their best to lure Chester -Olyphant back, but all in vain; and losing their -last dollar, the girl had found employment as companion -to a rich old woman going abroad, and the -mother eked out existence visiting around among -friends of her better days. Jessie had sent a last -appeal to Chester the day before, and he had answered -it with silent scorn.</p> - -<p>Suddenly their talk was interrupted by the entrance -of a servant carrying a card to Mr. Mead.</p> - -<p>He glanced at it, and then passed it, with a -smile, to his daughter.</p> - -<p>The visitors took the hint, and rose precipitately.</p> - -<p>“We must all try to meet again to-morrow,” -Mrs. Bennett said, as they all filed out, escorted by -Mr. Mead, leaving a clear field for Leola’s lover.</p> - -<p>The happy girl sank back in her chair, feeling -as if her heart would burst with its wild throbbing.</p> - -<p>People had died from shock of joy as well as of -grief. Could she survive it?</p> - -<p>Her face went pale for a moment—pale as a -snowdrift, and she closed her lovely eyes with a -gasp.</p> - -<p>There was a quick step in the room, a hurried -breath, and some one knelt at her feet, and caught -her two hands in a rapturous clasp that sent the -warm blood bounding through her heart again, -crimsoning her cheeks and lighting her eyes like -stars as she opened them to meet those dark-blue -orbs that in the long ago had lured the girlish -heart from her breast, and taught her the most exquisite -lesson of life, with its blended joy and pain.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And all the wondrous things of love</div> - <div class="verse indent1">That sing so sweet in song</div> - <div class="verse indent1">Were in the look that met in their eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent1">And the look was deep and long.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>For a long time that mute yet speaking gaze was -enough without words, but at last Chester rose and -drew her to his heart.</p> - -<p>“Sweetheart!” he cried, and their lips met after -that long year of silence and sorrow and pain—Jessie -Stirling’s year of revenge for all she had lost -by her own unworthiness.</p> - -<p>“I could die now!” Leola murmured, faintly, as -she clung to his breast.</p> - -<p>“No, you must live for me, my bonny bride!” he -answered, and presently they were seated, hand in -hand, going over the past.</p> - -<p>When she told him of her meeting with Jessie -that morning, and of all she had said, Chester -turned coaxingly to his lovely sweetheart.</p> - -<p>“So she will have me married in July, willy-nilly!” -he said. “Well, then, why disappoint her -plans, my darling? We can be married just as well -as not in July, if you will only consent.”</p> - -<p>“Why, July is only two weeks off, Ray!”</p> - -<p>“Well, we can make it the last of July, you -know, dear—it is so easy to get a trousseau here -in Paris, don’t you know? Say yes, Leola, do,” -he pleaded.</p> - -<p>“We must ask papa first, you know,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Papa will never stand in the way of our happiness,” -he cried, eagerly.</p> - -<p>“But, Ray, he will be so lonely.”</p> - -<p>“No, dear, for he must come to Bonnie View -and live with us, so he will only gain a son instead -of losing a daughter.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> - -<p>Alston Mead was easily brought to take Chester’s -view of the case, the more easily because he had -in his heart a secret he would never confide to any.</p> - -<p>In the last few years an incurable disease of the -heart had fastened upon him, and the most eminent -physicians had told him he had not much -longer to live, even if he settled down to quiet -days for the rest of his life.</p> - -<p>It had pained him to think of leaving beautiful -Leola alone in the world, heiress to his wealth, -perhaps to become the prey of designing fortune-hunters.</p> - -<p>Now all that tangle would be straightened out -by her speedy marriage.</p> - -<p>He gave consent gladly to all that Chester Olyphant -proposed, and he said to himself:</p> - -<p>“Now, whether I die in a few months or live -long enough to name my first grandchild, I shall -pass away in peace, knowing that Leola’s heart can -rest safely in her husband’s love.”</p> - -<p>So Chester had his way, to the delight of all, -and the invitations went out soon for the wedding -at the grand cathedral, for Chester wanted all the -world to see his peerless bride.</p> - -<p>Most especially did he wish Jessie Stirling to be -present, so in the invitation that went to her was -a note from the happy groom-to-be:</p> - -<p>“My Dear Miss Stirling: As you saved me the -trouble of setting my wedding day by naming it for -July, Leola and I will insure your reputation as a -prophet by accepting the date.”</p> - -<p>When Jessie read that note, with Chester Olyphant’s -name signed to it, she tore it to tatters -in her fury, but that did not prevent her from -showing the elegant invitation to her employer, and -saying, hesitatingly:</p> - -<p>“I was once engaged to young Olyphant myself, -but his love grew cold when my fortunes failed, -and I willingly released him.”</p> - -<p>Lady De Vere only smiled, for she had heard -from one of Jessie’s former friends the story of -Jessie’s engagement, broken through her own fault -long before she was reduced to poverty, so she only -thought: “That girl is the most consummate liar I -ever knew.”</p> - -<p>A bitter curiosity carried Jessie to the wedding, -but she wore a thick veil, for she did not want to -be recognized. When she wrote to her mother -afterward about it, she confessed that Chester and -Leola made the handsomest bridal couple she ever -saw, but that in her humiliation she had one comfort -left—though she could not win him back, she -had succeeded in separating him from his sweetheart -for one terrible year, whose pain and anguish -neither could ever forget.</p> - - -<p class="center">[THE END.]</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div id="transnote" class="transnote"> -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> -</div> - - -<p>The Table of Contents was created by the transcriber and placed in the public domain.</p> - -<p>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOOING OF LEOLA ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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