OCR Text |
Show "You di n't like Mi-s. Markham, cl, ("aid the old uutn cynically. "1 do not. sir; and further than that, I do nut w if h tier about me," replied the fair rill. "Well, Miss, you will hereafter liear in mind that my wishes are to be consulted hern and not yours. As your guardian, I will have whom I please here, and particularly par-ticularly will I have Mrs. Markham, a lady for whom I have a high respect. I desire you to further iimler stand that I will hear no more complaints. See that my wishes ai-e olieyed." With these curt and insulting words the old tyrant turned awuyaud resumed his conversation with his son, who stood leaning on the mantle quietly smoking a cigar. Tears tilled the eyes of poor Kate as she listeneil to the cruel wimls of her heartless guardian, but she only said : "Things have sadly changed since my dear father died!" and passed from the room. As she opened t lie door she ran full against Mrs. Markham. and she knew sh hdl lieen listening at the ky-hole: that lady flushed hotly, though a smile of triumph tri-umph gleamed in her eyes. Kiite passed her with a look of contempt, awl went immediately im-mediately up to her room. When the door closed behind her, Walter Wal-ter Dillon turned to his father and said : Don't you think my dear father that you are Jieginnimr your game a little too early. To my mind, in order to carry out our purpose, conciliation would lie the better card to play." i'You are wrong there Walter, she is a girl of strong will and sound sense, and rare self-di'iieuilence. and that aiil tniit lie broken. The work would lie much easier were it not for the splendid reputation reputa-tion you have achieved. Here you are scarcely twenty-four, and you are known in society as a fast man good (iod, that is not the win's! a nie and a gambler; even Kate has learned of this, and I can assure yon that she despises you! That is the word! You needn't speak, and she would no more trust you than she would a wolf; I know it, she said so to her maid, Madeline, one day in her room, while they were talking of you when you mine back from Jlaltimore. She thorouirhly understands under-stands you my hoy. and then fore my way is the only way to bring plans to a successful suc-cessful consummation.'' "While his father was .S)ieuking, the handsome face of the young man was distorted dis-torted by a black frown, and he was walking walk-ing hurriedly up and down the room, lie was quite a handsome fellow, this Walter Dillon; his complexion was very dark, he j A UDN'lfiDJEIIESS. ' TALK OK FACTOKY MFK IN SiKU KM. I. AMI. j lly Mir Mai-NAinara. CHAITKK II. lOSTIMKP. Iter heart wrestled mightily with her temptation Love, mighty, omnipotent love steped ill and hurled aside her phantom guardian and she replied sim-ply:- I "ies. Phillip; I love you! I cannot help it." She stopiied. she could say no more, she was frightened at what she hail already said. tlh, darling if you could only feel the i joy you giveuiy heart by those few words; the rapture which tills my soul; you would then understand the delicious depth of the love I U-aryou." The girl seemed strangely quiet but there was a tone of fierce passion in her voice aa she replied in a strange undemonstrative undemon-strative sort of way: "Phillip; but the other day I loved my soul beyond all things this world contains A'uie Phillip I love you better than my own soul my life was dear to me; but you Phillip, are far more precious to me than life without you. Do 1 love you, Phillip!" The man by her side was startled by the awful solemnity of the iassion he had awakened in the breast of the woman at his side. He shivered as he listened to the even voice which told of a love that was almost more than human! The cold tones of Barliara (ilendon but covered a burning passion that consumed every other sentiment of heart and soul with her it was oil or iiothiny it was idolatry! Her inqietuons heart made the man lx?-side lx?-side her an idol nothing more or less! He spoke: "Yes. Barbara, I know yon love me. but not molt; deeply than I love you. Soon, darling, we shall lie all in all to each other, in the meantime we must arrange our meetings, and in a little time, ihu ling, we will leave this place for my own home, where we shall reign alone! It was. surprising that the keen mind of Barbara did not weigh the maudlin love-won love-won Is of this man; they weighed like feathers to gold in comparison to the profound pro-found utterances coined in her own heart but they were love-words, and the voice that spoke them was as sweet music to her passionate soul. Suddenly the liell struck nine Barbara started Heavens, Phillip, 1 must return no one knows that 1 am out, nor do I w ish the mountain scenery for which the prc i is famous. The reception of this letter filled tha foul of Miss Kate with emotions of keen delight; and she determined to accept tha) alluring invitation of her young friend, the more joyously, as it would relieve, fo a time, the unbearable) monotony of th retired life she was then le,vl::ig. : It is not too much to ray that at this time Kate's existence at Windcn.ere, asher iieautifnl home was called, wan irksome almost lieyond endurance. She won completely under the fundi' Itnrr. of the woman Mai kham. who actedl in the double capacity of housekeejier for Mr. Dillon, and maid to herself; though her duties in the latter respect, were purely pure-ly a sinecure, as Kate had long ago declined de-clined any personal assistanca from her, preferring indeed, to do her own work, and keep in order her own wardrohe.with-out wardrohe.with-out the prying aid of the woman she so much detested. From the first. Kate had known that Mrs. Markham was merely a spy in the interest of her uncle Peter, though, for some time, she could hardly comprehend the reason of this course of action on hia part, and it was only by accident that she came into possession of the facts in th case, when she chanced to overhear a conversation con-versation ta-tween her uncle and Walter, and learned for the first time, to her horror hor-ror and consternation, of the plot to inveigle in-veigle her into a marriage with hep riousin! i From that moment her life at Winde-mere Winde-mere had become a constant terror. She feared to move about the house fearing to encounter her cousin, feared to ramble in the grounds which had once lieen to her a source of exquisite pleasure. l-Vareit to ride in the dread of young Dillon ol.'rr-ing ol.'rr-ing to drive her out, feared to walk down the pleasant sunny roads to the village, a walk in which she took great delight, and which always ended in a visit to the little circulating library kept by little Miss Pinkleton, the pretty old maid, who was full of pleasant gossip, and at whose table, many a time Miss Kate had eaten her cake and drank her tea, to the vast delight de-light of the little woman who loved tha handsome Kate as if she were, her own child. Poor Miss Pinkleton had a romance in her life; and many of the old neighbors used to say that when she was young, many, many years ago, she was the prettiest pret-tiest girl in the country for miles around. They used to tell of handsome John Stanley Stan-ley who courted little Miss Pinkleton and indeed was engaged to lie married to her a brave manly fellow as tall again as the pretty girl he loved with blue eyes and yellow hair, which, little Miss Pinkleton Pinkle-ton used to say when she did s)ieak of her romance "would be called golden' if it were on a young lady's head;" but John had gone to sea, as mate of the bark "Albatross," "Al-batross," and John had never been heard of since; and ttrtt. said the patient little circulating library woman "was nigh on thirty years ago!" i But these little tete-a-tete were over for poor Kate now. and she pined at home, ' fervently praying that her cousin would soon take his departure ; and she was , greatly astonished one morning to learn from Mrs. Markham. that Walter Diljon had taken up his residence altogether at the mansion, aiA thereafter Kate was almost al-most entirely confined to her room. This kind of life began to tell on the fair girl the roses fled from her cheeks,, and her step grew gradually listless she lived among her piano and her books, she was an excellent musician and a painter of more than ordinary talent in either department Madam Devenent used to say ' that she could make a fine living if the riches of her father took unto themselves - , , . . wings and flew away. But was this seclusion tho only cause of Kate Dillon's pallid cheeks, or listless weary steps? Was there not something more potent at work to create the strange languor and lassitude that was gradually taking jxissession of hert Indeed there was. Something totally unsuspected by the environed girl, but thoroughly understood by twojof the inmates of Windemere. i ' Mrs. Markham knew the cause of the gradual change in the physical appear- atice of the poor girl, and she was patiently patient-ly expecting another change, and one more terrible still. , What was it! TO BE CONTISt'ED. wore a heavy black moustache across his forehead was a long red scar which he had managed to capture in one of his frequent fre-quent brawls for he was of a hot and fiery temper he w as well built and very muscular, and (tarried alxiut him the very air of what his father called him "a fast man." One saw it in the big diamond on his shirt front, the rings on his fingers, the long gold chain which hung from , his neck over his dark velvet vest, in the marks of dissipation which, though they could be hardly minted out, still seemed apparent in all aUiut him. Suddenly he paused in hia walk "I tell you what, it is father, something must be done, and that soon to get on this marriage. mar-riage. From what you tell me, we have no means of our own, and I may as well be plain with y I mut have five thousand thous-and dollars, there is no need to argue tluit point," for his father seemed aliout to interrupt in-terrupt him. "if I don't get it immediately immediate-ly then I must do the next best thing, and you know what that is. Come! I'll go a little farther and be plainer still! Thim marriaffs must take plaeA,and ilaii mil ft- . in three months. It is for your interest as well as mine. If she were to fall in love she might marry at any time. Where would you he then eh? Thrown over entirely! en-tirely! Whereas, should we succeed in this matter, you as well as myself, are fixed for life, and this mansion, or palace rather for I have seen worse ones in Europe Eu-rope these grounds and this multitude of beauties, and near a million liesides, are our own all ourown!" The young man's eyes sparkled, his face flushed, and he gazed down uiKin the old man with a look of triumph his whole being aglow with enthusiasm. His father was no less excited than himself, and he rubbed his bony hands together, and gave forth a prolonged j Ah-h-h-h!" j His cold, good sense however, soon came to the surface. 'That's all very well my son, all very well, but we must have a little patience. Let me work on that girl's will. I'll bring it down! I'll bring it down!" and the bony hands were again twisted and rubbed together ? and in the meantime you must be with her as much aa possible. Markham Mark-ham is keeping an eye upon her, so I have no fear of lovers coming in to ujiset our plans. How easily all this might have been arranged if you had only guarded your name and reputation. She might have loved you, and you might have married mar-ried out of iiand without resort to trails or plans." "Yes, there you go again, still harping on reputation drop that right there and let us work with the material we have, and if you do your part I havn't any doubt of final success. In the meantime I must have money." "You say you want money ?" "Yes, I must have five thousand dollars them to good night! , T will accompany you, Barlmra!" j 'No, indeed! 1 would much rather lie alone good night, dear dear Phillip," . and Barbara broke away from her lover and moved rapidly in the direction of her boarding-house. Phillip Blake looked after her retreating retreat-ing form for a moment, whistled lowly to himself; ceased his whistling, and ejaculated ejacu-lated "What a furnace of Love!" and moved on into the lights of the town. ClIArTER III. A RSTROGRADB MOVBMKXT IN WHICH WB I.KABlf 80MKTHING OK Ot'B HKR01NK. We go back a few months anterior to the events already recorded, and to a lovely and enterprising town a few miles from the city of Boston, and about fifty miles distant from the community of spindles spin-dles where the Corporation Boarding-house Boarding-house of the buxoin Mrs. Moriarty is located. lo-cated. We had determined in tha original plan of this story, to conceal the names of certain cer-tain toraltt, as many of our incidents have foundation in real life, and as a few of our characters are moving and "living facts ;" but the lieautiful suburb of Brookline, just outside the city, is too enchanting a place for literary disguise, and it is there the present exigencies of our story calls us. Snuggled among the trees, and far back from the wide and shady lanes leading from the highway, is a stone mansion of great architectural beauty, a magnificent lawn of velvet green, divided at the farther far-ther end by a splendid gravel driveway, rolls smoothly down to a low stone wall which runs along the front of the grounds for more than two hundred yards. Beautiful Beau-tiful elms line the walks, and in the rear of the mansion is a spacious and lieautiful conservatory, the grounds about which are laid out with rare taste and excellence the fragrance of almost every species of flowers, verbenas, heliotropes, pansies, geraniums, and blushing carnations nod a i welcome to the morning winds, and give a simple beauty to the place, impossible almost al-most for our prosaic pen to describe. Further back is a beautiful sheet of wa-j wa-j ter with a boat-house on either bank.while ; a couple of gaily-painted boats float lightly light-ly at their moorings. Opulence and exquisite ex-quisite taste is indicated on every hand. The very stables on the grounds, beautiful beauti-ful enough for a private residence, speaks of great wealth and lavish exjienditure. In this luxurious home resided Mr. Peter Pe-ter Dillon, together with his son Walter, and his neice, Kate Dillon, a young lady of great beauty and mistress of all the accomplishments ac-complishments taught at the famous seminary sem-inary of Madam Devenant, many of whose pupils were among the leading belles and most accomplished ladies of the land; for Madam had been a teacher of the eoriid . fine arts at Hazeldeanfor nearly aquarter , of a century it is enough then to say "Well, if you must, I suppose you must but, it's hard Walter." "Pshaw! What is there hard about it it dosn't come from your pock " "'Sh lie careful of your tongue, Wal-, Wal-, ter isn'Uhere someone at the door look 1 and seef" Walter Dillon opened the dnnr and found himself face to face with Mrs. Markham, she looked slightly disturbed, but she i was a very ready female, she only made a i low bow, and handed a letter to Walter j saving, "for Mr. Dillon," and departed. I The young man took the letter without ' the slightest suspicion that Mrs. Mark-! Mark-! ham had been standing at the door for ; some time during the foregoing conversation. conver-sation. j In the meantime Mr. Dillon had opened ! his check-book and filled out a draft for the amount his son had requested; this he gave to the young man saying: "that must last you some time Walter, for these continual pulls will soon complicate uf-! uf-! fairs!" Walter took the check ; carefully folded j It and put it away in his pocket book. Kr.d 1 left his honorable sire to the perusal of his letter. Chaptkr IV. KORB OF WIXDKMKHB. TUB CONSPIRATORS IS COUNCIL. AND THB plOTTISUg OF THB j HorSBKBEPER. Several days after the events related in the last chapter transpired, Kate Dillon received a long letter from a young companion com-panion who hail graduated with her from the seminary of Madam Devenant, containing con-taining an invitation to her home among the .green hills of New Hampshire, and promising all sorts of pleasures in the way of parties, pic-nics and drives amid that Kate Dillon graduated at her Acade-' Acade-' my, to appreciate to the full, her accumu- J lated graces and accomplishments. I The elder Dillon was aliout Bixty years ' of age, and the legal appointed guardian , of his neice Kate; and had taken up hia 1 residence at Windemere aliout four years prior to the opening of our story; about which time the father of Miss Kate, a very excellent man, and charitable withal, died leaving his daughter whom he loved with the fondest affection, underthe guardianship guar-dianship of his brother Peter, a man who at the time of assuming his rolo of guardian, guar-dian, was engaged in 6ome kind of brokerage broker-age business. It was not known in the community whether or not he was a man of means but one thing was soon found out. and that was that he was a mean and selfish man evinced in the fact that upon the accession to the control of Simon Dillon's Dil-lon's estate, he cut off all the charities in which the latter delighted in assisting (discharged (dis-charged all the old servants, many of whom had lieen on the place for years, and even sent away Kate's maid, Madeline, Made-line, who had grown up in her service. He supplied the place of the latter with a peraon of his own selection, and with whom he seemed to be thoroughly acquainted. ac-quainted. J She was about forty years of age, ur out oliseqnious, and constantly wate'led over the outgoings and incomings of her beautiful Mistress; and, in fact, kept t ver her such stringent guard, that Kate finally applied Jto her guardian for the woman's discharge. She was frightened at the answer she received. Dillon was sitting with his son, Walter, in the library, when she entered to make her complaints and pressed her requost. |