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Show !- - " 1 . n ! ' - ' I II I ' ' lgvo c:rTVo co:;vi;;aNTs i (CcnUnuei frjm Yesterday.) She often went to Uncle Dahl?ren's and sat In the rardea talking w ith him about SommerfielJ. Uncle Dahljreii hoped be would not be too adventurous, but keep as much aa possible In the "Yes, darlln. and he gives It. lie saw that I was madly In love, and he can understand a man like me; I told him everything. Poor old fellow! he felt It acutely, for his heart Is like a great reservoir, where be thought he had his Uttle girl quite safe. By Jove! Olga, I'm a lucky, fellow! Look up and take off your hat so that I can see you better dear' . . . Olga turned red in the twilight, but her deep gray eyes were blazing, and, encouraged by them, Bommerfield first covered her forehead with kisses, then her lips, smoothing the bright brown hair lovingly back Xrora the temples. ; "Think of it, little girl!" he whispered, "you're to be my wife J can't realise It Do you think I can ever Idolize you enough? If J could eoncelve of myself ever giving you a moment's pain, I believe be-lieve I should think death preferable; or If I should ever bring any disgrace on you, er do anything to make you re pent what you are doing for me, I believe be-lieve my senses would fall me. Love me, Olga," he said, folding his arms closely about her. I shall live henceforth hence-forth only for you, and you may trust me." Oiga's hair was very soft and thick; the fingers of Bommerfleld's strong hand were moving about In It tenderly as If It were a baby's; to touch her was an Intoxication of the senses, to embrace her a wild delirium. They returned together to the library, anxious to soothe the General. His agitation agi-tation 'tfaa not yet over; he questioned Sommerfleld closely as to what he was had been sent on to the General threB wetks after he had left; ehe saw what a great beast It was, and was half afraid of his path being continually crossed by such creatures. Then, too, there was the risk In which he was placed by the Indians, for in certain parts of the Rockies daring massacres are now and then heard of. But it was a lovely autumn. Edge-water Edge-water was In its full beauty. The fields were hedged with broad brown fringes of elder berries, yellow golden rod and red sumach. Olga lived mostly out of doors, for the Interval between Som-merfleld's Som-merfleld's letters had grown longer, and in the beauty and stillness of the coun- try It seemed easier to turn her back upon apprehension. But when the October Oc-tober frosts had come, and the November Novem-ber showers of snow were falling and covering everything", baffled by four silent si-lent weeks she wrote to Lady Reade, who, with Sir Thomas, was in Canada, roaming from one place to another. Lady Reade's interest In Olga was so genuine that her solicitude touched a tender place; Blr Thomas, howeveV, marveled at the whole thing, considering consider-ing the short time of Oiga's intimacy with Sommerfleld, and he 'failed to see any reason for alarm; still, as the days w-ent on, he grew tired of the aimless-ness aimless-ness of his life; a little going to and fro with an object would be a relief, and in consequence of this Oiga's suggestion was worked out rather promptly. But In a new territory It Is easy to search for a man, but difficult to find 1 himj The towns and trading posts are far apart. At last, however, there was an intimation that Sir Thomas had discovered dis-covered a trace of Sommerfleld. and this had encouraged him to make further fur-ther effort, when one day, as he sat reading in the public room in a small inn at Calgary Alta. Lady Reade came to him breathless, i "Tom, what do you think , has happened?" hap-pened?" "What?" asked Sir Thomas, glancing at his wife througiru cloud of smoke. "The landlord of this house knows Sommerfleld." "Then of course he's been here." "He was Mere a whole week. But you'd never think what has happened! He has carried on a deception he has compromised Olga he deserves to be shot he is married; of course, you won't believe it; but the woman whom I believe to be his wife is now In the next room to this." Sir Thomas brushed away the ashes that had fallen from his cigar upon his breast. t "Who says so?" he asked, rising. "The landlord says he was here, and Tve Been his wife. Tom. I have! I'm not dreaming It Is true! Why don't you say something? It's true I've seen her I've spoken with her it will kill Olga!" J IU UU 14 x&v-w, . ... reasonable questions, to which Sommerfleld Som-merfleld gave most satisfactory answers. an-swers. , But it was a sad moment for Olga when evening cdme and the dog-cart at last took him to the station in time to catch the 10 o'clock express. She was to write a letter each morning, morn-ing, a long- one, such as all lovers write, which would duly reach him at various points, and he would strive to send his with regularity, "although her peace of mind was not to be disturbed IX occasionally occa-sionally he lapsed into silence, for at times he might be far away from even a trading post, and Moose Jaw, Jaspen Ho and all other posts on Smoke river had the reputation of not doing things with much precision. When he was gone life seemed almost too negative to be endured, but by de grees Olga found she had plenty to do. She walked, rode and occupied herself with music: but all these things, which had sufficed to make her happy before he knew her, now only caused her thoughts to wander toward Sommerfleld. Sommer-fleld. track of other hunters. A buffalo ox 81r Thomas closed his eyes a moment. "Well," he said, "one thing is very plain; girls shouldn't go mad over men they know nothing about." ' "Isn't it dreadful V said Lady Reade. "Isn't it the most dreadful thing you ever heard? 6he is not much; she was an actress, but she was as ready with her tongue as possible. She told me everything. He. married her she didn't say he loved her, but he. seems to have treated her fairly well until he got her over here. Her following him was unexpected. un-expected. She only saw him for about an hour; he slipped out of the house and left her here to make shift for herself. What a dreadful, vile, miserable fellow he must be, Tom! And I must break It all to Olga. What would you say? I wish you would help me." ; "Where is Sommerfleld?" "I know nothing about him; there Is no way of ascertaining. In fact, I have no wish to know anything; I don't rare if the Sioux scalp him! He has wrecked the life of a dear little girl in the' most cruel of all ways, and he's married a young woman who would have been much better on in the position he found her, earning her own living on the stage. What will be the end, Tom?" Olga was alone in the library at Edge-water Edge-water when Lady Reade's letter arrived; ar-rived; the General had gone into the Village and Mrs. Gilford was out In the garden at the back of the house superintending super-intending the potting of some geraniums. gerani-ums. Lady Reade's letter was long, clear, frank and definite; but the stupefaction of misery caused by it allowed Oiga's eyes to go over line after line, unable to understand. Sommerfleld the husband of another woman married ! Impossible! He could not be so reckless and cruel! She tried to drive away the thought, but suddenly, sudden-ly, at the reflection of what her father would suffer, she sprang from her seat with a cry, and in a moment was unconscious. un-conscious. For some moments she blissfully escaped es-caped the intensity of her sorrow, and when once more the dreadful realization realiza-tion came back to her the General had returned, and she was on the sofa in front of a bright fire closely wrapped in shawls. She had intended to spare him as much as possible, only she did not know which fact to keep secret; he could have torn Sommerfleld limb from limb. He lifted his little girt s brown head from the sofa, and attempted with the old familiar touch to comfort and soothe her. (Continued tomorrow.) |