14
THE WEST SHORE.
Allan Kirko checked him with a motion of his
hand.
" Spare me, Arthur Desmond, if you please, any
recapitulation of the disgraceful story of your past.
Nothing that you, or any human being, can say, can
alter the fact that you basely deserted your young
wife, when she lay, as you thought and hoped, on her
death bed As if that were not enough to brand you
for perdition, you most grossly maligned her when
you thought death's seal upon her lips would prevent
her ever refuting your He. All this you did for what?
- for money 1 Faugh ! hell is teeming with lost souls
that are whito in comparison with yours."
Arthur Desmond's face grew livid, and for an in
'stant his eyes scintillated with a deadly gleam. But
the steady gazo of the man before him seemed to
pierce him through and through like cold steel, and,
coward that he was, he was afraid to utter the angry
words that trembled on his lips. At length he spoke.
" You aro hard upon me, Dr. Kirke; but if you
come to mo as Loonio's friend, I give you leave to
say what you please. Can you tell me where she is? "
"HI could not I should scarcely be here. But
whether I will do so depends upon the nature of your
errand. Look me in the face, Arthur Desmond, and
if tho truth bo in you, tell me what is the feeling or
motivo that actuates you in coming back, thus, almost
from tho antipodes, after six long years, to disturb
tho pence of tho woman whoso life you have com
pletely wrecked?"
" Dr. Kirke," said Desmond, taking a step for
ward and speaking with a strange, impressive earn
estness, " if I answer you truthfully, you will laugh
in my faw; nevertheless, I will so answer. I came
back because I lovo Leouie, the sweet wife I in a mo
ment of madness deserted-because I have never
been able to forget her for a single hour because,
with every dn? that has dawned in all these six long
years, I have cursed myself for my baseness cursed
tho hour of my temptation, and the stern, selfish old
man from whom it emanated. Lastly, I have come
becauso I can not longer live without her. I have
como to win her back, and I will try to clasp her
to my hungry heart, or I will put an eternal end to
tho torment I am suffering. If, as you charge, I de
serted her solely for money, I have, also, relinquished
money - a cool million and a half for her sake, My
uncle, on his deathbed, cut me off with half a million,
becnuso I revealed to him tho fact of my marriage,
and thus frustrated his design of marrying me to his
neic. I have como for my wife, Dr. Kirke, but if
sho receives mo as you have, God help me,"
Thero was no mistaking tho heartfelt earnestness
and magnetic power of tho man, and Allan Kirke, as
ho listened, bravely laid out the corpse of any hope
he had ever had of winning Leonie Desmond to for
get the love of her girlhood. At length he said
" Well, Desmond, if you have really come to your
senses, and mean to do right by her, I can only wish
you God speed. But oh, man, I hope you realize
what you have made her suffer. I hope you know
that half a century of love and truth and tenderness
can not obliterate the scars you have cut upon her
little heart."
" I do realize it all, Dr. Kirke, and so help me
God, the aim of my life henceforth shall be to make
atonement to her."
" Amen," was the solemn response.
An then, with the assurance that he would com
municate to him, in the morning, his wife's wishes in
regard to an interview, Allan Kirke withdrew, and
went slowly homeward; and with each reluctant step
he was picturing to himself what his home, his life,
would be henceforth, without that dear presence.
As he crossed the lawn and neared the house, he
could see her through the meshes of the lace window
draperies, still sitting by the hearth where he had
left her, gazing dreamily into the dying embers.
He stood still and asked himself: " Can I go in
there and tell her now ? Must I stand by and see the
love light leap into her eyes at the glad tidings that
he is near? Surely I may spare myself that."
And instead of going to her, he went to his study
and scrawled a hasty note
The enclosed letter is the one I received to-night. I have
been to the hotel, have seen him and talkedwith him. Can
only eay that he seems truly penitent, and asserts that he has
never ceased to love you, and to regret his desertion of you. It
is a matter in which I can not venture to advise you, Leonie;
you must obey the dictates of your own heart and judgment.
1 have promised to let him know early to-morrow if you are
willing to see him. God help you to decide aright.
Allan Kirke.
Calling his sister, he sent her with the note and
letter, to Leonie; then passed the greater part of the
night pacing the floor of his study.
" She wasn't half so surprised and startled as I
expected she would be," said Hannah, meeting him
as he came down stairs next morning. " When she
had read his letter she just looked at me, with her
sweet eyes all aglow, and said she: 'Aunt Hannah,
I've waited six long years for this moment' Then
she kissed me and ran out of the room, and that was
all of it. Goodness knows I hope he will not take
her far away from us, for she's just growing into my
heart strings;" and Hannah buried her face in an am
ple cambric handkerchief, and gave way to tears.
Her brother, to whom the relief of tears refused
to come, turned quietly away and went to summD
the man who was going to desolate his life.