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Show THE SALT LAKE TIMES. THURSDAY DECKMBKi? 2.'). IMP. II vt un ianu, j.iuR tuem uetiuue: white than ever, and she dropped her face into her hands as she murmured: "l)h, you here! You to see me!" I didn't understand the emphasis on tho pronoun, but I only answered: 'Do not send mo away before I toll you it ww nrcident brought mo hero and gympafhy me. You seem very miserable." She glanced shyly at mo from under tho swoltwi lids. "I was a little while ago. But I don't feel so now," she whispered. The deuce! Ilcre was an odd return for my sympathetic interference I rather likod it, however, for I seemod to do tho poor child good, and I felt to wretched and alone in tho world. "Cut, ohl what must yon think of tne?" she cried suddenly, and again tho face went into the hands and again tho blushes mounted tip to tho eartips. 'I think I that is I am very, very sorry to see you suffer," I answered, somewhat inconsequently. "Cut, to think you of nil people Cat you will never tell him?" Why I, "of all people," I couldn't con-reiv- e, but it was very safe to promise alxjut "liiui," as I had never set eyes on the grief producing Goldwiu. Therefore I answered honestly: "On my word, never!" "But then you know all! Oh, how forward, how unmnidenly, how hold j Would you be willing to sacrifice every-thin- g, to endure poverty even, for tho sake of your love?"' Tim girl only looked at me for answer, but that strange smile flickered once more around her lips. "And suppose you do another more than justice suppose your loss of fortune should change feelings you now bo-lie- "Never!" she said. "My love is too secure for that." ''And would it override all obstacles? Would it forgive a recent rivalry and tho love that i. even tow scarcely driven from the heart yon would make your own?" Anna Helton, the White Mouse, turned slii 'it upon me. Something in my words tram figured her. .She was a very Py-thoness, and her eyes flashed firo ns sho drew her slender height up before me. Silence, sir!" she cried. "Perhaps I am rightly punished for forget ling i was still a maiden who should not speak. ' Wlvn you spoke o" money, yon merely injured me. To intimate the possibility ' of a rival is insult! After all 1 have said to you, after all you know, it is bitter insult, which I will not listen to." And the young jierson swept out of tint room, utterly ignoring tho hand 1 stretched out to detain her. 1 looked stupidly into the fire. And even as 1 gazed the face that rose mo was not Anna's, but Bcttia Blythe's. j How long I slept I know not, but I was lying only half awakened when I heard a very gontlti tap at the door. The moon had risen, anil her great white disk shone, clear over the trees, throwing n broad light into tho room. Tom heard the tap imd sprang up on the instant. liy the moonlight I fuw that he was dressed as when h first threw himself down, and could not have been to bed. As he opened the door gently: "Sh h, dear Tijin!" said a soft voice in the hall. "Tho moon is up. and I heard Bosley tako tho sleigh over the snow about ten minutes since." "I'm all ready, Bi t dear; won't be a minute." "I couldn't trust the servants, of course, and feariiif: you'd be too late, I thought I'd call you myself," Bettie an-- j swered. Great heavens! what an escape I had made! How had I misunderstood that girl! Hero was a bride elect on the very verge of a runaway waking her lover herself, urging haste in his movements, and generally being as cool as a cucum-ber. "That's right," she added coolly. "Anna's all ready, and the old lady sleeps like William Tell: so hurry, dear." I breathed a fraction more freely. At all events, she was to have another fe-male in the escapade. That would be more respectable, perhaps, when the af-fair came to be talked of. Bur how had "How many, indeed! But I rejoice to tiolieve that some husbands are so well regulated as to havo the will of their head both for their law and their de-light." Here tho old party raised her voice to the confidential pitch, some-where at A above tho line. "My own experience is a proof of my belief, for , next month my nieco will" Miss Belton turned scarlet, only to grow more white and limp than ever. I understood then that her engagement must havo been arranged and affairs hastened since her return; but the al- -' lusion seemed peculiarly painful to her. "Aunty! aunty!" she cried, rising, - "shall we not order coffee in the parlor?" As we rose from the table the old lady took my arm and led me to tho post of honor, tho corner of her special sofa be-si-the great fireplace. Tho others grouped about the room, with the defiant purpose to be agreeable, bnt it was not written that the talk that night was to bo pleasant to them. The aunt would give me. at her highest confidence pitch, the details of hev strategy to surround Goldwin, the enemy, and' of her cam-paign to cruah incipient mutiny in the White Mou.io contingent. That casti-gated branch would wince at each fresh sentence, whilo tho conscious couple from Piketon quietly stole glances at each other and weakly strove to turn the right of our position. But 1 had taken a lesson from the team 1 had driven into the snow bank that day. When tiie awkward conciotisuess tliat I had not acted too handsomely, and Bettie Blythe, with what I considered palpable effront-ery, ottered me her hand. Had I been tho ice fiend, she would have fro-zen at the touch of my fin-gers; but she only united and kissed the Ancient. Finally, tho White Mouse clung about the withered neck of her relative who remained in blissful ignorance of having taken the whole party into her coutidence with what appeared to mo most unnecessary fervor. CHAPTER IV. ODI OO.Nl.'IDENTES. I pressed my forehead close against the diamond pane of the old fashioned chamber allotted to Tom and myself, and tried hard to think. But cold as the glass was my brow grew hotter and hotter; my brain refused to grasp but one idea, that I had been betrayed, that I was miserable! As I hart tnrned at the landing of the brood stairway, bod candle in hand, I had looked back. The White Mouse had passed through the dim lit hall with a rjaiet good night to Tom ; he had lingered; Bettie had returned, whispered two words so gently I could not distinguish their purport; ho took her hand, and, distraction! her bead dropped on his shoulder! j I heard his whisper as though Stentor, the herald, had shontod tho words: "Aud will you sever doubt me, dear. Oh, the cold blooded, heartless co-quette! To deliberately plan a torment for mo thus! And lie, my old school-mate, my bosom friend! If the soft answer that tnnieth away wrath had been a deadly weapon I shovid have used it then. But it wasn't, so I said no word, only strode about tho room, loosen-ing my neckcloth by fierce and sudden tugs. . Tom. lying flat on his bark and puffing little wreaths into the nir, eyed me with some wonderment. At last ho said cheerily: "Well, old boy, don't take on so. It's as sudden for me as it is for you, and a deuced sight more- serious to boot. So I'll count ou you of course in the morn ing." "Count on me! I tell yon I'll have nothing to do with it. Your uncle Blythe would never" "Popcorn! I say. B.'t will make it all right with Uncle Bob. I verily believe he'd have helped us if we had dared to trust our secret." "Helped you! Mr. Blythe not object! And still you are iiihiI enough to risk let-ting the tongue of gossip soil the name of tho woman you love! You plan this mad escapade far away from his roof when he might have consented" "To what?" Tom sat bolt upright on tho bed, resting on his hands, behind him. A strange, fitful contraction swept over his face, followed by a very grin of could I lie so immodest as to-- to" Here she melted into a perfect cataract j ef team. 1 don't like tears. They wa,h all tho manhood out of me; they dissolve me as if I were bovt root sugar. I began at once to regret tho accident that had mado tho young woman care for ,; and, to try and be ,iulf wore pintle, I put myself through a strict cross ex- - amination as to whether I had ever given her any cause to believe 1 cared for her, any encouragement, any reason. Buf hastily impaneled jury of coiiMence, habit and memory acquitted ty nem. con. Then, panoplied in the f riple e, n;.( ions-tiess-right, I turned once more upon the voting' woman before me. "Miss Bolton," I (w(1 with an arctic, frigidity in my tone, "you v ill permit mo to say that I am astonished mid" ; "Astonished! You!" The invariablo recurrence of that pro-noun and tho dreadful ompha-i- s upon it were beginning to wear my patience out. I continued rather hastily; "Astonished, surely; and I my say pained at the a the confession of what 1 cannot but consider a passing --a caprice."' Tho White Mouse flashed round at me. She seemed to expand aud dilate in the flickering light, and hev lips were cm- - pressed till they seemed very white in he reflection. "May I remind you such a mi .piejoi, j injurious to my modesty?" she said, cold- - CHAPTER V. IN THE DEPTHS. j "Shetoki me the. rnultl mtilx it all right vita you." How long I gazed st npidly into the fire I know not, but tho shadow of the past rose out of if, shutting out the present utterly. No sooner was the pressure of her presence taken off than my mind re-- hounded from the White Mouse, I for-- j got her very existence. Blacker and blacker grew the coals, j and with them the gloom of my thoughts j grew deeper and deeper; bnt, bitter as they were, the cold became more bitter she persuaded that little thing to brave her Argus aud the pro-prieties at such an hour and for such a purpose? I actually pinched myself to Ree if I was really awake. The whole tiling seemed like an ugly dream, and I could scarcely realize that a single day could have crowded into it the overturn of all my hop's that had almost grown to cer-tainties; the substitution of so unex-pected a rival: and, more than all, the unheard of fact of Anna Belton stepping so far out of her modesty as to make me a formal declaration of love! No! I was wide awake. The whole scries was only too real, and there was Bettie Blythe standing at our door In the gray dawning. She was really going to run away with her cousin. She had in very fact driven mo to desperation, and she had actually persuaded the White Mouse to rebellion. It was really remarkable what won-derful sway she could exert over all who came within her influence. And yet then-wa- s no tremor in her voice to show the slightest agitation. By George, she was going to clandestine matrimony aa she would to her breakfast! "He's ready. He's going with us, of course," Miss Blytho definitely said. "You told him I would settle that?" An irrepressible groan of rago anil you must think me!" What, in the deuce the girl meant why I should think her bold for not wanting to marry her grandfather I could not conceive. So I only shook my head sagely. In medio tutissimns ibis. "But then this never has seemed like home," sho went on. "Auntie tries to bo very good, but sho doesn't know how. And then a young girt may have strong feelings, and oh, I do lovo so ut- - terly!" j "Wh-at!- " I gasped, surprised out of propriety. "The devil yon do!" It was very improper; but then to think of her j. being fold to a man of (50, and then "lov-- I ing so utterly!" Wonderful creatures are women. My abruptness made her recoil, but it was only for a momeut. "Then you won't think mo immodest unwomanly? I could not bear it. You, of all people in the world!" There it was again. Why in the denes Cid she care for my opinion so much if sho lined Goldwin "so utterly?" "Unwomanly! never!' I said vaguely. "Oh, thank you! thank you!" .She was beginning to get excited again. "I felt you would understand; you have seen more of me than any one else: yon can make allowance for a young girl's feel- - ings overstepping the bounds of prudish--' ness," I rose and walked to tho rnanW. I began to believe that the stone sphinx ' eld lady's slackening pace gave symp-toms of flagging, not the .gray hiuneJf could have pulled more furiously for-ward than I; when sho gave faint o of a bolt from tho road, uot sorrel Jalap could have pulled laoro sullenly backward I felt vicious in that atmos-- . phere of deception, as tho boasts had iu ike cold air, and rovolinjj ia a rhapsody it epito I felt it dolicioui to launch cat tinging little Bureaus? ap they had their heels. Cofee over, I became what would fcavo been unjndaiablo, only Tom aud Ids lady lovo CDCniod strangely uncon-scious of tl-.- forco of what I said. When I was rather mora spiteful than usual, Diy tono rather thau tho words mado them look ut mo with what I could j;ot but fool a most criminal as-sumption of innocence. Finally tho hypocritical coupb strolled to a port folio of rare engravings; tho Whito Mouse retreated behind tho piano top mid played very well, too somo of Mendelssohn's dreamy, moonlight-ou-the-sno-music. Still the grandaunt droned her monotone about, marriages, gave mo laiaate narratives of all her family's in tho part, and, when my jeal-ous spite was rapidly yielding to sleepi-ness, tame back to her jvi theme of tho White Moi:-je- . I had gone through all the variation;) (if Ihe fact that she. vield- - agony. I was merciless. "To your union with his daughter," I said sternly. My words struck him like a bullet. Ho clenched his teeth until tho cigar drop-je- d in two from them; his face grew crimson, its muscles twitched convul-sively and his chest heaved with a des-perate struggle for breath. Then, with a gasping sob, he buried his faco in tho pillow, while tiis whole framo shook and trembled like an aspen. I was pained, shocked. The sight of "the tears of bearded men" is always touching lieyond expression, and besides I was at a loss to account for tho great violence of his sudden emotion. I became more puzzled as I looked, for he still sobbed and shook with the weak-ness of a child. I walked up and down the room and tried to think more calmly. A ftef all I had no real claim on Miss Bettie. Sho had refused me once and never allowed me to address her again; I could not but confess that. True, she had let me think there was hope, but what woman is strong enough to refuse to sniff the in-cense burnt upon tho altar of her vanity? Then Tom, too, was an old and tried friend. Poor fellow! how ho shook and groaned in his great agony! and if a vici-ous flirt had cruelly played upon my find-ings through him, why should I let that est Bet?" ' Tho eyes she raised to his were full of tears no merriment in theni now but the voice was firm and had a loyal ling that said: "You may trust mo, dear Tom." Sho was gonel But not before his lips were pressed to her brow; not before the sharp edgsd certainty hod severed from mo my last shred of hope, When Tom Jones entered our chamber he was whistling! Great heavens! was she to link herfato wit h such a wretch: a hard unsentimental animal? a thing who could receive a boon the gods might envy, and then whistle? Was sho to confide her future to a felon, who had forged a false key of friends hip, hud entered his uncle's sacred places, stolen his greatest treasure, and then whistled? I turned wrathfVdly. Reproof and tho frost from tho window pane were on my brow. Munh r was in iny soul. "Tom Jones," I said, with that dignity for which I am noted under trial, "Tom Jones, there are times when silence be-comes in fact, whi n silence cannot" "Come in!" cried Tom cheerily ; not in reply to me, however, but to a low tap at the door. There was a mysterious pause, then a narrow chink opened, a shock head was inserted, a lank body followed it and ly; "but I know in my Heart I wul prove to you by my whole future that my o is apart of my being will end only with my life!" Did ever a modest man meet such ins-istence? I could not strike that girl and crush her where sho stood. uh how I longed for a man in her place! forbad he been the Benicia Boy 1 should haw pounded him then and there. Morally certain that the white haired young crea-ture was dying of love for me, half per-suaded that sho was going to marry ine then and there by force, what could I say? I stared blankly at her. while a smile of wonderful sweetness stole round her lips, as she murmured, half to herself: "Let the world say what it will; love liko mine purifies all. We will he very, very liappy." Tender of heart, I began to pity tho young woman. Laboring under a terri-ble hallucination about the future :is she was, there was still something almost sublime in tho faith she held in tho power of her love. Its spell began to work on me. Rapidly I ran over my chances for the future if I fell into her views. I al-most began to waver, though half uncon-sciously, us I said: "You wonld be sacrificing everything. Mr. Goldwin's fortune is immense, and" "Goluwin's fortune! I had rather We still, and I was literally driven by it to seek my own room. As I entered the door I almost ran over the hostler, who was still engaged in his mysterious interview with Tom. "And are you sure you understand perfectly, Bosley?" the latter was saying, "We must have no risk of a mistake this trip." "I got it all yere, pltin as writin,'," re-sponded sagely he of tho stables as he tapied his forehead. "Let 'un zee-m- oon rises at three, starts at four, drives nineteen miles in two hours and a half, and feeds light on cut feed and looks out for Jalap's kickin' of his near foreleg." "Right as a trivet, Bosleyt You're a trump, and this is yours;" and Toia chucked the fellow a bright half eagle as he left the room. Then he jerked off his coat and lighted an Havana. I could stand it no longer. As the grinning groom left the room I turned upon Tom and prepared to charge. "Hold a bit, old boy," ho said. "I have treated you badly, I know." A fierce snort was the only response I deigned to give. "Yes, I know it, but prudence was essential. You're not riled?" "Riled!" I answered, with forced calm-ues- s, "I can't see how you have used me badly, but you must permit me to say you have done yourself great in-justice." Tom seemed a little pnzzled. "And you have done a palpable, a gross injustice" I was grand now, doing the outraged virtuous "to an old per-son who" "Oh, Iwither the old person!" he inter-rupted, carelessly. "But then you have really twigged what I am up to in the morning?" "In the morning." A ray of light be-gan to dawn upon me. " Yes, in the morning. I'm going to now, old boy, don't look scared I'm going to ran away and be married!" To be married! And in the morning! Tho ray of light was a blinding gleam despair burst from me. luey aid not notice it as Tom answered: "Oh, yes. But you must be careful to explain fully as soon as you can." "Leave him tome," was the short an-swer. "Now wake him." "In one minute; he's all dressed," Tom replied, cheerily. "But you ought to know that he thinks" Ho stepped into the hall and drew the door gently behind him. He wns only gone a moment. A sound of wluspering aud a half smothered sob came over the transom: a light step tripped up the ball, and Tom with his hands pressed over his face. Then I knew be had told her how I had spoken. I felt a thrill of triumph that she heard I had borne the news so calmly. "Wake up, old fellow." Tom stixid by my bedside, and I saw ia the moonlight something of the expres-sion on his face it had worn the night be-fore. It died out, however, as I spoke. "I am awake, I have no dressing t do," I said, gloomily. We were soon ready. Walking stealth-ily a.3 burglars. Jones and 1 reached the foot of the broad stairway. The back door stood wide open, and the moon-light, faintly reflected from the dark panels, showed two muffled and veiled figures awaiting us. "You'll tako Bet," Tom whispered hoarsely in my ear. Once more he pressed both hands against his face as if to repress his feelings. Like an animated statue I advanced and offered my arm to tho veiled figure nearest me. For I was resolved I She should never have one ray of trinmph over mo to brighten tho blackness of the wrong she was about to do her doting father. I noticed the littlo hand she rested oa my arm trembled slightly. She had some feeling, then? It was more than I had suspected, but I only grew stonier and stonier. I set my face like a flint. Tom approached her companion very quietlv, drew her arm through his with ing to '.he, ancient's will, had become contracted ia loimal engagement to the man of twenty thousand ft year, but now I heard fur the first timo that Hit! marriage was to lake place tho Week after Christmas! "And there is n serious reason, my dear nir, to outweigh all bentimentai liorsense in Anna's case. As you say, sir, so .justly, (hero can bo no happiness without an income none, sir!" The old one laid ln-- r hand upon my arm; she was becoming so confidential she absolutely yelled, "What becomes of love nud sen timent mid nil that trash, I should like - t know, wheu bakers' and butchers' bills begin to coino in':"' "You are right, madam a thor.sond times right!" I grew fervid: I glanced at Jones. The engravings had ceased to turn over now; his eyes were fixed full upon his cousin's, and his lips moved, bet inauililily to mo. Itis gesture, though, was strong and impassioned, and ven aa I looked t hoso faces came very close together. At the moment his was turned from ma, but hers assumed deep earner' a?", the eyes filled and gazed beseechingly into his; then his pressed ,i moment the iom) tipped one that vest d oi; the pictmt's. God forgive me the bitterness that crept into my heart then: but it were hard to suffer mote than I did at that glunce. When I spoke my voice sound-ed, through the dead silence of tho room, harsh and' g: at ing evois to my own ears. "Ye, it is move than madness, it is crime for any man to drag a woman ii ayji !o d'vide toss than one could st;.rvc upon with decency." Tom h.iu not one penny beyond his pay, and t!::it stipend from the fostering , i;ovo:iiuii:!iL ho was permitted to light, bleed and die for nniourted to nearly i sevr iit.y t'.olhim per roont'u. I did not ttop at th moiue.nt to consider that my income from !";a! pin-suit- at the bar of Piketon was mi aver;.geof some sixty-fiv- e dollars 1,'us than his. Put why should Bosley, the groom, entered the room. The man of currycombs woro a loose frock and asouiewitut frightened aspect, but there w:vs also an air of business and a strong odor of the stables about him as he closed the door after a wary backward glance through the hall. "Yer wanted to see me, leftenant?" was his salutation as he fumbled iu the pockets of his frock. I looked from Tom Jones to the hostler in speechless rage. Would he never cease to deteriorate in my eyes? Was it not enough he had whistled after winning th love that would have glorified iny life? But now he must leave that ravishing creature and consort wit h a musty stable boy. to .talk horse per-haps of terriers aud rats. I could trust myself no longer. The spirit of Cain seemed descending upon me, and I rushed from the room aud down the steps. 1 found myself in tho parlor. BM ' li life tippf react upon his head? No! I would be a Roman! a very Pythias! I would crush down my own feelings into my heart; I would brave the mayor's anger; I would die of smothered rage, bnt her feline triumph should be cheated of its prey. Yes, I would do as she had planned for me. I would see her wed another, would give her away at the altar, and not one tif the thousand torments that were rend-ing me should give her the expected pleasure of its evidence. I Twice Tom had raised his head and I moved his lips in a fruitless essay to speak; twice a torrent of mixed passions had swept over him: And then moment o'er bis face A tablet of uauttrablo thought an traced, And then- -he buried it in the pillow again! There was something in his eyes that made mo shudder with a shapeless, undefined dread that his reason might give way. i Now he lay quiet. Ho had ceased to sob, but his face was still buried in the pillow, while ever and again a quick, hysteric shudder ran through him. I laid my hand kindly on his shoulder: "Tom, old fellow, I was hasty," Ho slipped away from my touch liko a hurt child, and again the shudder, long-er and more marked than before, thrilled through him. I respected his feelings too much to look upon his suffering; I blew out the candle. "My dear old boy!" ho muttered hoarse-ly. Tho voice was still much broken, with a hysteric catch in it. I only pressed his hand for answer, but I felt the bed shake under me with tho effort he made to control himself. It was a mighty one. Then he spoke aguiil. "We have been friends for years," he said. "Yon know me for a mau of honor, nd I pledge iu Unit honor my my uncle will be fully and entirely satisfied when when he learns that that I have married his daughter!" ; another with tho coat upon his back un-paid for than that creature in an emiit-r--, or's rolies." j By Venus! she seemod in earnest, There was that in her eye I could not dis- -' believe. But how in the world did she know that my coat was not paid for? That it was a fact did not make it a sub-- ject to dwell on; and then it was so deuc-- ! edly unsentimental! Still the girl's sin- - cerity and evident truth so touched ma that it was very meekly I returned to the (diarge, and then I only set up objection for her to knic! down. "But in throMng ovw Goldwin," I said, more genJ V(m do not reflect how you risk ar oV f(irtun "My own 'ie.' oh, you have never loved as I ' c y0i lb would see that cpuld W s" ie yjfain pf sjtnd. My lortune! C '''-'-: mo selfish, base enough, to Set that ftuh 'for one mo-ment against one siugljoo, oue single word, of love?" j Now that was no doubt very noble, very heroic, but then it was also decid-- i edly indiscreet It might have done on the stage, but hardly her. I had not a dollar, as she well knew; and yet this inscrutable yonng female could not only make love to me off hand, but could talk of her fortune whistled down the wind as if it were not ton ceute in stamps. "But there is no danger of that," she added, carelessly, "for my aunt could not be angry with me a week. She would forget her dikappointnient--w- a should both be equally dear to her." Here was balm in (iilead: for the an-cient Griffin, besides the Grove estate, was reputed "very warm." I looked thoughtfully into the fire, and the words fell upon ray shocked modesty and sore wonderment like soothing balsam. Rail-road shares bank shares corners in Erie brown front on the avenue all passed iu rapid panorama between my eyes and the glowing coals. There wns a half relenting in my voice as I said, that upheld it had turned suddenly soft and blonde and crept into the form of the White Mouse. She was surely talk-- l ing in riddles of the deepest. "Tell ine once more," sho said, follow-- i ing mo to tho hearth, "that I lose noth-- j iug in. your eyes by by what yon know." "linder any circumstances," I began, warily, "real, deep lovo" j "Oh, and how I do lovo! ' God knows how deep and pure is the passion that makes me forget all bor.dsand almost all proprieties! What else could excuse my being ablo to speak tif it nowto you? You know I am pledged unwillingly to another" ; "To what!" I almost shrieked. "To Mr. Goldwin, whom I yes,whom I hate!" the girl answer!, with ton time the spirit 1 thought in her. V "And you don't it isn't yon don't mean it's Goldwiu yon care for?" I statn-- I mered in confusion. "Goldwin! Oh, how can you jest with me at such a moment? Yon know whom 1 you have long guessed even before I confessed my love for Again the purpe flood dyed her brow and neck, and thou died quickly out. I felt deuced queer. Here was I alone at midnight with a timid White Mouse, who had suddenly assorted herself, and told me sho did not love the man she was engaged to, and "did so" love somebody rise. There was nobody else except Tom Jones, now talking terrier with the groom up stairs, and myself! Great heavens! conld the girl mean me? No, nonsense! I must be mistaken. I smiled a sickly smile to reassure myself. Then I said, "I don't that is, you know I conld not you would not suspect me of jestiug about a um your sacred feel-ings." She seized my hand impulsively and pressed it. "They are sacred!" she cried "sacred as the first worship of a pure girl's heart must ever be. Oh, you know, you must feel how strong and all absorbing is the passion that can change me into a self Unee more bis reelings overcame mm; once more he crushed his face into the pillow while the gust of passion rent aud shook him. I was more mystified than ever. Was he deceiving me? No, he was a man of honor; he would never stoop to that. But, then, why this terrible emo-tion he could not control? A startling thought leaped into my brain. Great heavens! was Tom drunk: Had ho gotten liquor from Bosley, the hostler? No, that was too absurd. I gave it up; I was dead beat. Still wondering, I threw myself ready dressed upon the bed. Tom lay quiet now, but I intended to watch him by the fitful firelight, lest hir, intense excite-ment should make him really ill. But the narcotic administered by the ancient spinster, added to my unwonted exertions behind those demon horses in the frosty air, were too much for mo. I slept profoundly. CHAPTER VI. THE DAKK HOUR BEFOIIE CAY. I? I cool 1 r.cver have plead to the in-dictment as to any old man's daughter, as he and Othello might. But my shaft fell harmless. He did uot even hear me. and perdition! the fellow h,:?:d to tho cue. pressed came to the frost anil rested ou top of his. Mem-whil- e tho afteleut g-- J by me grew more arid more from my sympathy, and of coarse more and more hopeless in her effort to whisper. "ft is a priceless treasure," sho screamed, "to have a child like mine a lilt le ;:elf willed sometimes, perhaps, but combining affection with prudence iu a remarkable degree. She will be a picture of perf"Ct happiness after her marriage with Mr. Goldwin" the Moon-light Konuta stealing from behind tho piano top was cut short in mid bar "but I fear, I fear" the eyes of the old Argus pi ered over her specs in the directi m from which I could not draw mine--"m- y old friend Blythe is very im-prudent, very, indeed. Those cousins; sir. are too much together." They heard this time. Ilame Eleanor Spearing would have heard. Tom looked up. Hi face wore that expression of mUcd feeling and anxiety his broken conference had left; but yet the eyes that shot a glance at mine were full of nn b nmtnoineiit. Aa I clronned 'i "He whom T love'' and thr iirl fixed her eyes fyll upon mine. Tho lights were out. but the firo still blazed up brightly in the ample grate. By its light I saw the misty outline of a whito figure thrown full length upon tho sofa. From the wavy outlines and the soft fleecy effect of the subdued light it might have been aa Undine, or some un- -' substantial sprite. I looked closely; it was only the White Mouse. Her face was buried iu the cushion she clasped arms, and the fragile figure was swaying and racked with heavy sobs. The wavy masses of fair hair had fallen loosA upon her shoul-ders, and the sleeve, carelessly drawn back, displayed nn arm that matched Bettie Blythe's for roundness and sym-metry. As the fitful firelight roso and fell, seeming to dilate and contract the con- - tours of the delicate figure, I wondered why I never had noticed before how j graceful and willowy it wan. She did not hear my abrupt entrance. Her sorrow had full possession of her, and she sobbed ns if her heart would break. What the matter was I knew not. It might have Wn a tiff with tho Ancient Griffin, the death of a pet poodle or the trouble about her auriferous asserting woman! tuas can make me defy prejudice and custom, as you see I do, when I say that I will give up home and friends-ith- at I will face all the world and tell them boldly, as I now do you, that from the bottom of my heart I love!" She dropped her face into her hands as she spoke the last word, but all the rest she had said with her eyo fixed un-swervingly upon mino and looking down into my very soul. I am considered by most of my friends to be rather a modest man. On this particular occasion I must confess that I was rather taken aback and became rather misty in tho mind. But there could bo no doubt as to what, the girl meant. ' Driven to desperation by her forced engagement, feeling the unbearable grasp of a hated fate tight-- euing on her, she was yes, there was no room for doubt she was making love to me! For a second tho base idea crept into my mind. Revenge! Bettie Blythe, tho jilt, the shameless flirt, cannot triumph over me if I mam-th- e heiress of "Shady-nook- " instead of the poor lawyer's daugh-ter! For a second I was on tho eve of clasping the Vrhite Mouse in my arms, and blackening my soul with the per-jury that I adored her that I never had loved but her! now. I was literally staggered. I droped into a chair with a big lump in my throat. ' j "Yea, my boy, I'm to be married in the morning. You know I'd have told you before, but Bet and I only fixed it yester-day. Sho arranged it all in the sleigh as wo came along; and, for reasons you ' know so well, we must be quick; I'm done for if the old party suspects. But it's all fixed you're to help me." j "X help you!" I gasped, faintly. j "Certainly. Who else? You must come with us; you must bo best, man; yon must go with us to Uncle Bob and help Bet explain all about the" "Lieut. Jones!" I rose stiffly and stood at attention as Tom's eyes opened very; wide "Lieut. Jones, I have no criticisms ; to make on your cousin's course. If she desires to" "Desires! the devil! Why, man, she planned the whole t hing arranged the Christmas frolic, suggested all the do-- tails of the elopement, and sho specially insisted vou should aid us." "She did?" "Yes; she said you were so fond of us both you'd be glad to do it." i Oh, the cruel girl! the hardened, in- - grained flirt! Tins was why sho had led me ou then. Tom kept on, speaking Are you very sure or tnar-- "Very sure. But what ijf, that? Ho whom I lovo" and the fttl fixed her eyes full upon mine with never a blink nor a tremor "he whom I love would value it all as trash." The deuce he would! Then I littlo knew myself. But the information just given was sufficient, and I began to see daylight. I actually believo for the last ten minutes I had forgotten the very ex-istence of Bettie Blythe. I had not even remembered the little shock to my prido at finding out her duplicity had lost even my ire at Tom Jones perfidy. I was doing a little sum in mental arith-metic, in which the White Mouse was the exponent of an unknown power of farm, manor house and woodland. But I could uot restrain my desire to speak at least part of the truth. She was leaning now upon the mantel, her pale forehead resting upon her right hand and her left hanging carelessly by her side. I took thai left hand in my own. not without a twinge of conscience. "You and I have long been friends," I said. ",We are sympathetic, perhaps, but we hardly know nach other well enough yet to speak surely of certain things." She withdrew her hand very gently, Why not?" sho asked. more deference thau I thought necessary with such a weak, inano little brides-maid, and led the way out of the hall on tiptoe. Silent as the grave we followed. As we stepped out into the moonlight I felt rather than saw the veiled face by me turn up to mine. I shivered from, head to foot, but that perhaps was part-ly owing to tho bitter cold of the dawn, and looked straight ahead. Then once more I heard that bursting but repressed sigh; once more the tremor of her frame was so painfully evident that I almost wavered in my belief of her heartless-ness- . Did sho at last repent? Did she really feel the heavy crime she was com-mitting toward her father? Or, great heaven.- - could there be the barest possi-bility that she had awakened? Could she feel that even now it was not too late that she had not ntterly thrown away a heart she could never replace? There was such delirium in the bare idea I al-most framed the wild hope into words; but pride as much us honor came to my rescue. I was pledged to Tom, aud I was silent. Softly and swiftly we followed the other couple over tho crisp, crackling surface of the snow; dowu the broad lane, under arching trees that sifted the mixmlight throuh them in sil-ver spangles; through snowclad htylge- - s' my gaze and crimsoned to my ear tips they again sought his cousin's. That oval .face was demure even to primness. Its expression never changed as Tom muttered something of which I only caught "deaf as a beetle," and "expect her to be blind as a bat!" The expres-sion never changed, but the black eyes glittered and danced in that madness of merriment I had never seen in those of any one else. "Anna, dear," sho said, moving quiet-ly to the piano, "it is very late, and wo are keeping aunty up." j Then, as it were, she extracted the blonde from behind the iustrunr'iit and moved toward us as we stood around tho fire. We all said good night, bnt in, very different mood, and certainly in very different mancr. Tom was peculiarly demure, but there was an odd twinkle iu his o'9 us he wished tUe vinMr pleiwjut dreams. I felt an affianced. At ull events, she had my perfect sym-- j pathy. She was miserable, and was not I likewise? Poor child! Every sob wont straight to my heart; I really never be- - fore believed I could feel so kindly dis- - posed toward her. But I felt my presence was an intrusion, I thought she did not pe me, and I started out. Just then a h avier sob than ever seoiued to rend the poor child, and a shiver rau through her from head to foot. It was too much; the softness of my heart conquered. I could not go with-out one word to tell her haw I pitied her grief. In the fiid:srest wanner I took her hand: in the geutleht toue I s;iid: "Do not bo unh.-.ppy- ; do not weep so." She starti d up with a stifled cry. Ou j seeing mo a vivid flush passed over her brow and neck, and she quickly with- - j drtw her hand. Then tho color fali out j Thank heaven! it was only for a sec- - end, when the unnatural, the frightful want of modesty stood naked in my sight. Much as I had despised the girl before, I actually loathed her now. But to tell her so? There was the rub. I appeal to any young lawyer who has had an heiress make love to him at mid-night if it isn't a little awkward to re- - fuse her? "Miss Belton," I said at last, looking into tho fire, "I make every allowance for your trials for your uuiutual excite-ment that has driven you to say things to tueyou may wish unsaid I shall glory in them even more than now!" yon may regret," I con-tinued, heedless of the interruption, "that you said them to me." ; "You are the 6ole man on earth to rrhom I wonld ever dream of speaking so!" she broke ia hastily "to no one else rapidly, but with no sense to me m the sound till I caught: ' "So you see, my dear boy, it was she ' originated tho affair; she planned every detail, not I." "Stop sir!" I cried, hoarsely iny face j must have been purple; it felt black i "you have a right to run away, perhaps to stoop to anything you please the lady is to be your wife. But, by heaven! you havo no right to compromise your ; cousin by saying these things." j "Th.re's something iu that," Tommut- - tered, thoughtfully; "I musn't let Bet's j name get out, of course. I only told you, i you know." I gave a grunt that was j meant for scalding sarcasm. "Bet will tell you all about it herself." "Oh. she will," I panted. "To be sure. She told me she could make it all right with you. That's what we wero talking about when you drove over tho cad today." ' ', "Because it may be that is" (it was horribly embarrassing to explain) "are you very sure that you love atfcat you know your own mini!?" "As sure as that I live!" She spoke earnestly and absently, but looked straight into the fire and not nt me. "And you do you think that is yon havt! iu your own mind you have reason to trust that" "H;td I not a certainty beyond trust beyond reason," sho broke in "I had been false to my sex to speak to you." Wonderful power of love! Wonderful confidence of passion! But where in the deuce had I ever given her one reason to believe I cared for her? Once more the triple jury held a hasty session over me; once mora I was tri-umphantly acquitted. "Anna," I said very gently now ."perhaps your auut would not fortriv rows standing like an. army of spoctera at present arms. Here we found tho sleigh, th impa-tient horses blowing out great clouds of mist, and tho mora impatient groom blowing out greater clouds of stnok from his black pipe. "Well, leftenant, we's pretty nigh was his salutation. "Ail ready, sir, and un'3 iu fust rate trim: do the nineteen miles in two hours sure!" Tom answered nevor a word. He almost lifted tho light form ef his brides-maid into the back seat, and as he tucked the buffalo around her with most un-necessary care I saw she had pressed her handkerchief to her eyes and was sob-bing bitterly. Poor fragile child! I thought To feel thus for the folly of another, and that other 1 cast one glance, my first, at the still figure on my arm. Not a sign was there of any emo tion, cot single rav of feeling, not "You'll tstkc net." Tom Kvir Jji ia tv ur. |