OCR Text |
Show loved Bottom, the weaver; but not always. al-ways. I bid you good day, Capt. Philip Overton, and you. Mr. Richard Glyn. And I trust Giles Vernon's life may be saved, if only to keep you, Capt. Overton, Over-ton, as poor as you deserve to be. For myself. I shall shortly marry perhaps, Sir Thomas Vernon then, neither of you will get the estates. Good morning!" morn-ing!" And she was gone, flying along the field, with a white mantle streaming after her, and her flight as rapid as the swallows in spring. CHAPTER XI. At 12 o'clock that night Sir Peter arrived ar-rived at the tavern, and with the pardon. The expectation of his coming, and the greater matter upon which we were engaged, prevented my mind from dwelling longer upon the strange scene I had witnessed between Overton Over-ton and Lady Arabella. Overton did not speak her name to me, and showed much sympathy for us. When Sir Peter's chaise drove up to the door of the Bear and Churn, another chaise with four horses was waiting, and into it we huddled, bidding Overton a hurried hur-ried farewell; and in another moment we were off for York, the horses doing their best. Sir Peter then told me the circumstances circum-stances of his visit to Windsor. The prince, who was always most powerful when the king was on the verge of madness, saw his father and found him comparatively rational. The story being be-ing broached to him, he appeared interested, in-terested, and even grew more collected col-lected as his attention was chained. He recalled at once Sir Peter Hawkshaw and the capture of the Indomptable and Xantippe, and corrected the prince when he spoke of Sir Peter as vice-admiral of the White. It was a very easy matter to get his signature to the pardon, par-don, and the necessary seals and formalities for-malities took some little time but no trouble, and when Sir Peter presented himself at' the castle on Sunday all was prepared for him. We felt now comparatively safe. There was little doubt that we could reach York at least 24 hours in ad- mire made by the snow and rain. In spite of all we could do our progress diminished, although at no time did il seem hopeless, until O, God! 20 miles from York, at midnight on the Thurs- day. Sir Peter himself suddenly gave out; the strain had proved too much for his brave heart and sturdy frame. It came as the horses were wallowing along the road in the darkness, and I, holding my ateh in my hand, was glancing at it every ten minutes, by the feeble light of the traveling lamp. I spoke to Sir Peter as he lay back in the chaise wrapped in boat-cloak, and got no answer. He was unconscious. uncon-scious. Without stopping the chaise I got some brandy, which I tried to pour down his throat, but could not, I grew much alarmed it was not like Sir Peter to refuse good brandy, and as we were passing a farmstead, I stopped the chaise, knocked the people up, and had Sir Peter carried into the house. I met with kindness, and I repaid re-paid it with coin of the realm. Sir Peter soon revived, and his first words were: "Push on, my lad. Don't wait to repair re-pair damages." I found that his seizure was really trifling, and he assured me he would be able to resume the j'ourney by daylight, day-light, the farmer agreeing to furnish him horses; so, in half an hour I had again taken the road. And ten miles from York, the chais? broke down! I had the horses taken out, and, mounting the best beast, made for York at the top of his speed, which was poor the creature was already spent with traveling. It was just daylight, and streaks of golden glory were lighting up the pallid dawn; I urged the poor beast onward. Seven miles he went, then he dropped dead, just as the sun was gilding the spires of York cathedral. Before me, along the road, jogged an itinerant tinker on a rather good-looking horse, the tools of a tinker's trade hanging from a moth-eaten saddle. I was young and strong he was middle-aged and ill-fed and feeble. I ran up to him, holding five guineas in my hand. "Lend me this horse to ride to York!" I cried. The man, astonished at my abrupt address, stopped, but gave me no answer. an-swer. I made my own answer, though, by dragging him off the beast, dashing the five guineas on the ground, and clattering off, throwing away the tools and kettles as I galloped along. tTO BE CONTINUED.) If Wl f I j ?SERIAL J1 STORY gV j of the LADY ARABELLA By MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL (Copyright. 1900, Bobbs-MerrlllOo.) SYNOPSIS. At 14 years of age Admiral Sir Peter Hawkshaw's nephew, Richard Glyn, fell deeply in love at first sight with Lady Arabella Stormont, who spurned his attentions. at-tentions. The lad, an orphan, was given a berth as midshipman on the Ajax by his uncle. Giles Vernon, nephew of Sir Thomas Vernon, became the boy's pal. They attended a theater where Hawkshaw's Hawk-shaw's nephew saw Lady Arabella. Vernon Ver-non met Philip Overton, next in line for Sir Thomas Vernon's estate. They started start-ed a duel which was interrupted. Vernon Overton and Hawkshaw's nephew found themselves attracted by pretty Lady Arabella. Ara-bella. The Ajax in battle defeated French warships in the Mediterranean. Richard Glyn got 2,000 prize money. He was called home by Lady Hawkshaw as he was about to "blow in" his earnings with Vernon. At a Hawkshaw party Glyn discovered dis-covered that Lady Arabella was a poor but persistent gambler. He talked much with her cousin Daphne. Lady Arabella again showed love for gaming. Later she held Glyn and Overton prisoners, thus delaying the duel. In the Overton-Vernon duel, neither was hurt. Lady Arabella Ara-bella humiliated Richard by her pranks. Richard and Giles shipped on a frigate. Giles was captured by the French. Sir Peter arranged for his exchange. Daphne Daph-ne showed a liking for Glyn, who was then 21 years of age. Giles was released. Giles and Richard planned elopements. Sir Peter objected to the plan to wed Daphne. By clever ruses Giles and Richard Rich-ard eloped with Lady Arabella and Daphne, respectively. The latter pair were married. Daphne was pleased; Arabella Ara-bella raved in anger. When the party par-ty returned, Arabella asked Sir Peter to aid in prosecuting Giles in court on the charge of committing a capital crime. All attended the trial. Upon Arabella's testimony Giles was convicted and sentenced sen-tenced to be hanged. Sir Peter visited the prince of Wales in effort to secure a pardon for Giles. Arabella threw herself at the feet of Overton, whom she had loved for many years. He spurned her. CHAPTER X. Continued. Arabella turned pale, and replied: "I wa,s summoned as a witness. I was obliged to testify." Overton said nothing. Then Sir Thomas, taking snuff with his usual grace., remarked: "I listened with attention to one lawbreaker law-breaker praying for another lawbreaker. lawbreak-er. Of course, you know, this meeting of yours is seditious and many a man has been stood in the pillory for it." "And one man," replied Overton, "Jesus Christ, was crucified for it." He turned, and with me, took the path hack to the tavern. I heard, as we went on, an altercation behind me, and involuntarily, after we had gone some distance, I looked back. Lady Arabella was struggling in the grasp of Sir Thomas Vernon, while Mrs. Whitall looked on, and wrung her hands. Sir Thomas, however, was no match for Arabella's young strength. She broke away from him, and, running run-ning after us, caught up, panting and breathless, with us, as we entered the little grove. And then I saw an almost exact representation of the scene when Giles Vernon had insanely and with unmanly groveling and violence pleaded with Arabella for her love so she pleaded with Philip Overton. She held him by the arms, when he would have thrown her off. "Philip! Philip!" she cried. "I did it for you! I determined to make you rich, great, even if you refused my fortune. Sir Thomas can not live long. Surely, you can not reproach me, if all the world does. The stupid, stupid world thinks- I did it under the influence influ-ence of Sir Thomas Vernon; but no, it was not hate for Giles Vernon, it was my love for you, Philip Overton, that made me appear at the York assizes." as-sizes." "Remember yourself," said Overton to her, sternly. "Others besides yourself your-self see your degradation!" "It is no degradation to love truly, to love as I do. Speak but one word to me, and I will become a Methodist like yourself. I, too, will go among the poor, and serve and love them; and I will even love God for your sake!" The awful grotesqueness of this, the blasphemy of it, was altogether unknown to her. She continued wildly: "Does not my soul need saving as much as those clods you have been praying with?" "You blaspheme!" replied Overton, casting her off. And. to make the resemblance between be-tween her own unwomanly conduct and the unmanly conduct of Giles Vernon the more singular, she recovered herself, her-self, as he had done, in a single moment mo-ment of time. She laid her hand on Overton's arm, and looked keenly into his eyes. Her glance seemed to enchain en-chain him, and to set her free. She breathed a long sigh, and, turning, gazed about her, like a person awaking from a nightmare. Then, with perfect per-fect self-possession, she dropped a curtsey to us both, and said, in her natural, playful manner: "Mr. Overton, I see I have been mistaken. I should have tried to cheat the law by not appearing when I Was I summoned; or, I should have testified falsely. And for my Indiscreet conduct just now, let me tell you, for seven years I have been under a spell. It is now broken forever. Titania once "Mr. Overton, I See I Have Been Mistaken." Mis-taken." vance of the date set for the execution; execu-tion; our letters would precede us, giving positive assurances of hope; and we looked for no accidents, having a new and strong chaise. After Sir Peter had told me his story, I told him mine about Lady Arabella and Overton. He was not much imbued with the kind of religion that Overton preached, although he swore roundly by church and state, and was always a great churchman when he was slightly in liquor, which did not happen often. He therefore condemned Overton's sermon, which I tried to repeat to him, as a damned, beastly low sort of religion, unfit for a gentleman to practice; but he admitted ad-mitted that Overton lacked neither brains nor courage. For Lady Arabella, Ara-bella, though, he had the stern disapproval disap-proval of an honest heart, and in his excitement swore both long and loud because of the short-sightedness of Providence in permitting such women to exist for the undoing of his majesty's maj-esty's officers of both services"; We made good progress that night and the next day, which was Monday, and began to have strong hopes of reaching York Wednesday night. But on Monday, in the afternoon, the weather suddenly changed, a violent snowstorm set in, and our postboys willfully, I think, drove us ten miles out of the way, near a tavern where they hoped, no doubt, we would agree to stop until the storm should be over. But Sir Peter, putting one of his great horse-pistols to the postboy's head, forced him to turn back to the highroad. high-road. We lost three hours by this; and when we got to our next posting stage, our horses, engaged two days ahead, had been taken. We got others, after a frantic effort, but at the end of that day's Journey we saw our mar- gin of time diminished exactly one-half. one-half. I shall not attempt to describe the fierce and gnawing impatience which consumed us, cor the awful and unspoken un-spoken dread which began to overshadow over-shadow us. Sir Peter was a man of stout heart, and had no more notion of giving up at this stage of the affair than he dreamed of surrendering when he saw the Indomptable to windward and the Xantippe to leeward. lee-ward. The weather, however, grew worse instead of better, and even four horses could scarcely irag us through the |