12
WKST SHORE.
Hi one, prayer now deemed to lie fur something reeog
nizul)li', something to bury and weep over iih n part if
tin tli-iir mortal n-nuiitiH. Veedcr li vicll his time
among hid stricken friend, now sharing M ilil rei Ih
watch ly her mother's Hide, now accompanying tlx' be
reaved father in Iuh lonely, piteous, vigils, or again,
n--k t UK melancholy young merchant in his now
dreary counting-room, ami essaying to oiler some word
of cheer. lie had suffered and could sympathize with
the suffering.
An for linogene, olie studiously avoided them all,
hourly growing more pnle and nervous with the dread
that her sin would find her out. True, hoth l'et and
Monsieur had solemnly ami rejieatedly assured her
that they would never In-tray her part in the little
drama, hut who could tell ? Conscience conjured up
no end of wnys that might ruin all by the merest unin
tentional word, ami then what punishment would the
I'mfeiiHor dirin commenHiirate with her crime in letting
them all suffer no when n word from her would have
changed everything ? Such an emergency an thin lire
had created had not Urn in her plans, and how to
meet it idie did not know. Life wu one long lie now,
terrible and unlx arable.
None of the family read the paer now, clue they
miiHt have noticed an account of the suicide of a
Frenchman, calling himself le liar, at a certain
iMiarding house in Kugene Citv, the act huiiiiohi
to In- the result of destHmdcncy indu. ed bv thi
dangerous illness of hi young nud Wautiful wife, v?vi
who, niter nil, was likely to survive him. Some -.
day elapsed before they even thought to wonder t
II Monsieur lia.l lelt the city lllilne.liatelv after
hin eon vernation with the IW.sHor; or if am
then a Hidden suspicion seie.l them could he
have fired the building for revenge? Hut on
piicl rvll.vtion it seemed unlikely, ax the tire
originated alx.ve
Mm. Mamin grew rapidly worse and soon her
children saw that she too must have them. It
was the day after her fun ral that Arthur Drap
er, entering hi cusiii'd counting room, found
liim totting .Icjevtcdly in an olh.v ehair. bin hen.
I.we, on his hand (Quickly he made himself
known, and then the tw, m..m with el.is.ed
hand l.-kiug into each ..thcr'd fu.-es through
Minding team Arthur a itiexprvj,y sh.sk
ed to learn of hi aunt' death. Together they
visited the ruins of the cttage and there i,'t
Vrvder and the IWes..r. The latter had given
over hin fruitless rvh; but Msll H i,t hour
tlierr, n..ruld any .f them, a yet, entertain a
thought of having the debris removed The IV
feiH.r and Arthur met a old friend-; but the
tight of each hcr made their mutual grief the
wow, bringing to mind, as it did, that night, and viv
idly recalling the beautiful girl that, had no charmed
them Itoth. The next morning, when alone with Mil
dred, Arthur told of his love for the missing girl.
At the declaration the former pnled and nnked hur
riedly : " And did she care for you ? "
" I do not know. 1 hoped, and sometimes for a lit
tie while, felt certain that she did; but mother mid
her believe that I wan engaged to some one clue."
"That, then, may have been the secret grief that
wore upon her so," mused Mildred half aloud, mant
things coming to mind to convince her that it was o;
and then she told her cousin how changed the child
had been since her return from the east, and how lit
tic, apparently, she had cared for Monsieur.
"Oh, (!od ! and now it is too late," he cried, despair
ingly, beginning to pace the room as was his wont
when greatly agitated.
A few days later he sat in Lee's office glancing ab
sently over a pile of dailies that lay untouched just a
the ollice-lKiy had thrown them down, when a glaring
head-line: "Suicide of a Frenchman at Kugene City,"
caught his eye, and the word Frenchman, reminding
him of Monsieur, riveted his attention. Twice he read
the highly cmlicllishcd article through, then rose, im
pelled by some indefinable jHiwer. and walked rapidly
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