Show mysto law IT RUCE d by E phillips oppenheim copyright ill by little brown A co CHAPTER VI continued there are moments when revelation Is self this aliis was ans one of them myrtile gazing almost in terror into the face ot of tier lier benefactress knew that site she wits was listed hated and with an extraordinary insight she knew why she saw the lie crumpled up telegraph form she guessed at everything which had lain unspoken between them she closed the door firmly behind tier rame came across to lady marys chair full fell on her knees and struggled with tier her hubs 1 I know I 1 know she cried 1 I 1 am very miserable mary 1 ary looked at her coldly and critically all the natural impulses of her heart seemed dried up even tier her pride refused to come to I 1 her er aid the truth lay naked between the two 1 I was a fool not to realize what bringing you on here meant she said it Is too late now here is the telegram christopher is elected myrtile brushed brus lied it away it was a thing af pf of no account 1 I care nothing for christopher cairl mollier and you know it site she declared passionately 1 I do not care whether lie he Is elected or not nothing about I 1 him 1 aln nukes makes any difference to tile me or e ler eer will t III myrtile myrelle was speaking tile the truth to 2 mary it seemed amazing but she knew that it was the truth it is only a fancy which christopher has for me myrtile went on it will pass oh I 1 am sure that it wi will pass deep down in his heart I 1 know that there Is another feeling feell ns her angul anguish sh was apparent there was something almost unearthly in the sorrow which shone out of tier her fles 3 es marys heart began to fall fail her her fingers rested ou oil the top of the other girls head r A g gleam team of coming kindness shone mistily in tier her ees it your fault she said it Is my fault that I 1 am alive myrttle moaned but listen please I 1 have my my plans I 1 am going away 1 what good would that do mary asked doubtfully it iati would fuld do great good myrtile declared 1 I shall remove myself altogether fancy will pass and besides I 1 must go my ily fattier father would never spare you mary said ashamed of the joy with which the thought filled billed tier her 1 I have thought of of everything myrthle insisted lord has been very kind to 10 me but lie he will forget it if lie chooses clio oses to see me sometimes it will be possible let me tell you please I 1 have a plan only yesterday I 1 heard from the cure ue ile la Is back again in the valley ue lie 13 at the church there now lie ile says it if I 1 need ned eer to go back I 1 can teach at tile he school all my people have bare gone away many many miles my stepfather has a larger farm I 1 shall go back I 1 should never have bave come away aray mary looked at her seare searchingly all the suffering in the world seemed to be quivering in Myr tiles sensitive face ace she leaned a little forward towards the kneel ln girl myrtile she whispered there Is pain la in your heart too oh god knows it myrtile sobbed there will be for ever and ever it la Is for my sake that must leave I 1 thought that love was a toy and I 1 laughed to find it in my heart and now I 1 know that it is a torment I 1 want wait to go back along the road I 1 have come and little hide I 1 we have both been a little foolish mary said kindly you looked out into life expecting to find happiness just as asI children go into the meadows to to pick flowers and 1 I too forgot that happiness only comes when it Is earned now let us as try and be sensible I 1 think that thai yours Is a very cry goop bood idea we shall i miss 1 sis you I 1 very much here but bilt perhaps perli aps it will be best for you to go away for a little time 1 I must lust go M lc insisted fervently put but teaching there Is no need for me to tearh p arb myrelle de declared dared this letter that I 1 have front from tile the cure it was wi written it en to tell fell nie me that my mothers brother illo went to geneva many years ago lias has died and left me some money an arcag avocat at toulon has it for me it is it quite a great deal I 1 thought that I 1 would out buy a small farm farin and work in the fields there work and work until I 1 got brown broin and lord hard and grew like those other peasant gills there lumps of tile the earth to which they stoop all the time in a way I 1 used to love loe tile the farm she went on 1 when I 1 was alone those first few when the fields began to dibov purple with tile the budding illets lo Io lets and the still eye eve bangs when the cypress trees looked as though they had come out of a box bos ot of childrens toya tors and tile the colors the th sunset used aed to draw out molln the bagentas magentas ma gentas and purples and anc th the pink glow corning coming in such uner pecked places why youre positively home homesick mary exclaimed no I 1 am not homesick myrtile assured her gravely er avely but I 1 am like an ai animal that has been hurt and wants want tt to limp back to its lt home A little time ago it was different every fiber ibe of me longed for escape to be where life was now I 1 would like to gi gi where I 1 can forget IC it mary sighed fortunately be bald you are ar twy young you ton will learn soon goon that th air aro r many mn men of geralds gerald type an and d that they fire are not to be ta taken ke n too seriously riou sly they have the trick of making you believe alint they hey want you to believe and they use it be because aue they roust must atly ar are never quite honest bonest st they are rivier neier quite bad I 1 they ber certainly are not worth a broken heart now we ire must take tills this message down to my fattier father and send a reply afterward I 1 will talk tail to him about you I 1 shall haie to be very if eloquent for I 1 know lie he will hate bate your going coins if it could be before gerald comes back myrtile pleaded mary had even more trouble with I 1 her er fattier father than site she had expected at ai I 1 the I 1 e first mention of geralds name in connection with Myr tiles desire to return to france he be stiffened mary ilary lie he insisted 1 I shall require you to tell me die the exact truth in tills this matter how much blame is to be attached to gerald and precisely what are his relations with myrtile MyrtI lel gerald Is to blame only for thoughtlessness site she assured him lie he Is a born philanderer J just as myrtile was nias born to be a ready v victim ic myrtile loves him and I 1 am alli afraid she will never core care for any one else other women have to bear their wail hurts though and I 1 dare say she will ge get over it t 11 gerald Is a fool his fattier father declared CIO reaf marrying in ties ones own class Is s well enough in fin an ordinary way but well ell there another woman like myrcile in the world gerrild is in an ass not to rea realize lize it instead of goinz to russia risking his life and liberty for the sake of this 11 kussian ahl I 1 dont like russians never liever did ill you ou are a person of common lepse mary if you say martile mi tile must go go she must but id much I 1 rather ather gerald came caine to his senses and married her men are arc rather difficult in that wa way 7 mary rejoined a little bitterly chapter VII the butler made its his announcement to ills his mistress a little doubtfully there is a person here your ladyship who desires to see you what sort of a person lady mary inquired the butler coughed A woman lour 3 ur ladish lp she struck me as being some sort of a foreigner site she assured me that her 11 it your fault she said business was urgent I 1 have shown her into the morning room tarr mary rose to her feet at once A forel foreigner grier she repeated with suddenly aroused interest perhaps slie she lias has news from lord dombey Dorn bey nevertheless when lien slie she entered the little room where eisa francks was waiting it scarcely seel seemed fied likely that news of so fastidious a 1 person as her ber brother could come flout such lucli it a source tier her doubts ho however eer were soon set at lest are you lord domneys Dom hoys beys sister the woman oman asked bluntly Aill without bout offerle offer Lg g to move from lier ter chair 1 I am lady mary at once have 5 lou ou brought news of illa him 1 1 I have brought bim hanle was ras the unexpected reply you ludy nary mary exclaimed tile woman lau laughed ailed coarsely yes niel mel she declared 1 I hove bove saved ills his life a dozen times over as I 1 dare say lie he hlll ill tell you some day even now I 1 do not know why 11 nut but where bere Is hp he lady mary demanded ni ile he Is safe in the charing cruis croft tile the woman oman replied and if 1 you want to know all about abou t him ou will 1111 give me ma some wine quickly 2 mary hf arcely conscious con of what nhat slie she df did rang he bell this nils woman was certainly the isler who ilo had even penetrated the portals of slie site seemed larger and coarser than ever tier her I 1 clo dollies flies were ere showy but and crumpled no as though she lad slept in them for nights night her halt hair was lei ael low but untidy tile the rouge and powder were distributed upon tier her face in ungainly daubs she breathed an atmosphere of stale scent notwithstanding all these things she had news ot of gerald gerald who for seven months had been lost lady mary waited eagerly tor for the butler who entered the room full of tile confident anticipation that he would be b asked io i ermone abla ua visitor this lady would like some gome wine lady a dy mary announced do tell me what you would prefer she added turning toward her guest champagne if oa lauie ili e it w wag the hie prompt reply bring champagne richards big bitress mI tress directed perhaps you had better tell ills his lordship tills lady has brought us news of 0 lord lon dombey bey the noann held out her hand dont bring any lordships lord ships here elie lie begged 1 I will tell my story to io aou ou ni aarn I 1 am iery I ery near hysterics myself to reach here from sokar has taken us a 11 nion month ill we tried at seven places on the frontier before we could get into poland poland exclaimed ent E liere here Is the vine line do please help yourself tile woman was served with champagne and try dry biscuits which latter tile the scornfully rejected she drank three glasses classes of champagne I 1 hoech hoe lovene cr r then she filled a fourth glass for herself and began to talk well here is my story rima elsa francks said training draining the contents of tier her glass and refilling it Rc remember meal it for I 1 shall neer tell it again it Is a story I 1 would like to forget 1 I will certainly remember it mary promised promise TN onelie elie mouths months ligo ago I 1 went to live at so sokar kar began it Is 18 a miserable place but I 1 went there to be near my friend ivan iann Kross the governor of the fortress in that fortress was confined a man whom your brother went to russia to resene rescue lie came caine to me to ask asic me die to help him bribe the goNer governor nor that w ans as in the month of if october last year ile he was a very different person then and I 1 thought that I 1 liked hin him very mile ill the e woman sipped tier her champa champagne tie the warmth of the room and the wine had moistened her ber face A little streak of gouged rouged rouge had spread upon her left cheek check there were black lines under tinder tier her eyes ifer her voice however hoever was stronger ile he offered a great deal of money and I 1 agreed to help I 1 sent for ivan and although he made difficulties lie he was easy to persuade it was all arranged tile prisoner no 29 19 we called him walked out of the fortress in your brothers clothes and with his american passport your tour brother was to take ills his place tor for twenty four hours then lie he was to leave the prison in the funeral aach poach of another prisoner who had died this was beien months ago mary faltered the woman wiped her lips shivered at the sight of the color upon her handkerchief closed tier her eyes for a moment and recovered herself lier that seven months site she said deliberately libera tely has seemed like seven years nad and each year like a lifetime in hell bell listen I 1 go on with my story your brother brot lier entered the fortress as arranged changed lits his clothes with no 29 who walked out 0 of tie place and clinic came without douht doubt to london your brother brot lier was to spend that night in the fortress Kross neiS came loan down to in gewere we were both boll excited it was a great sum ot of money which we nye had been paid and life in russia Is a horrible burden we drank a arci rear deal of ml wine li e the more we drank ibe more quarrelsome isome ivan became lie resented having to part with so larr a share of the money to me we quarreled once or 0 twice ie e fiade made it up lip then ivans anger flared out again in tile end he h declared that lie he would take away a part of my share we had a gle somehow or other ills his re ryohei went off on liewert lie went backward with a groan lie ile was dead the woman dabbed at tier her face mary could find no do word of any sort iler her visitors eyes fixed in 13 a rigid stare it was as she elie wore were living through the scene again tile police came slie site went on 1 I 1 was ai al rested arrested I 1 told my story there were no witnesses after four days they had to let tile me go the moment I 1 was free I 1 went to the fortress ivans deputy was taking ills his place ile he was a man of a different type a politician chin a from conviction every time lie mentioned no 29 lie spat aliat I 1 had much trouble with him go flo on mury mary begged glancing at I 1 tile lie clock TO BE CONTINUED |