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ISSUED TWICE A WEEK?WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY. l. m. grist & sons, Publishers, j gl Ifamiljr Jleirsgaper: Mr tlit promotion of the jgolitirat, Social, Jtgricultiirat, and Commercial Interests of the ?outh. 1 TER*sin^0copy.e/ivece>t?ance' VOL 44 YORKVILLE, S. C., SATURDAY, JANUARY 1. 1898. ~NO. 1. HiK AWPWCHMONT c o* /ft < cht iey?i PROLOGUE I. ON THE DEVIL'S ROCK. "So you're iu earnest, are you, and really mean it this time?" "Every syllable of every word." The reply was uttered with the crisp, clear ring of determination, and Lola Turrian as she spoke look?d her husband in the face with set decision in tv6ry line of her young, beautiful face. The husband, a slim, fair, good looking man, sneered provokiugly as he returned her gaze. He shrugged his shoulders as he answered readily and rapidly, though with a slight foreign accent: "Upon my word, you really are very beautiful, Lola. I'm not a bit surprised that other men fall in Jove with you. On my soul, I should?if you weren't my wife already, of course." He ended with a laugh that might have marked nhnso nf fpeliiic. but there was a threat veiled in the light toue of the question which followed, "And what then?" "I care not what then," was the answer, spoken with angry emphasis. "I know what you mean, and I care nothing. You mean that yon will add informer to your other characters and tTy to send my father to the galleys. The same chivalry which let you live on me urges you to whip me with a fear for my father's safety. Would to heaven 1 had dared you at the first aud never put this cursed fetter on my life." She was playing nervously with her wedding ring as she spoke. Her husband eyed her curiously without letting any sign of annoyance at her words appear aud replied with the air of one who is merely balancing the pros and cons of a given course: "I wonder if I did make a mistake with you when I stopped you going on the boards. A speech like that to the gods ought to draw many pounds a week to auy bouse. You want a trifle more gesture. If you're going to say it again, either hold up the 'fetter' and flaunt it in my face or dash it on the ground. The gallery likes gesture. Don't forget. But you'd better not rehearse here because the rock is not very wide, and if you chuck much of your jewelry about some of it's pretty sure to roll down into the gorge, and what goes over there won't como up again. But there! What's tho need for mo to doubt your powers of acting? Haven't I seen you lead a dozen men on?ayo, and to the very verge?only for us to use 'em up in the end? You're a born actress, Lola, with limitations and iu a certain line." "I'll act no longer, then," returned the girl, for she was little more. "You go your way. I'll go mine." "Aud your father can go his, eh? Poor old chap. You're very hard on him Lola, very hard indeed. To 6end him to the galleys in that way, and at his age too." His cold, sneering indifference goaded her almost beyond the point of endurance, but she fought dowu her rage. "I have come out here to tell yon that this kind of lifo must end. I"? "Aud a devilish uncomfortable place you've chosen," he said, interrupting her and laughing. "Here we are on a lonely crag, with these villainous fir trees on one side aud a sheer dip right down to the bottom of the ravine on the other and a sky that looks as though nothing short of a miracle could stop it sending down buckets of rain inside five minutes. I wish you'd be a bit thoughtful. If yon want to do an uncomfortable thing, yon might at least choose a comfortable place to do it iu. Look here! Let us go to some hotel and have it all out there quietly over a bottle of wine." "I know what you mean by all this. You think to sneer me out of my present mood I mean to speak here and now. I came here on purpose." "What! Here up on this infernally bleak Devil's rock, stuck right iu the middle of the Schwarzwald? What rubbish, Lola! Do be consistent. Why, when the train started this morning we had not an inkling that we should be brought to a standstill at this roadside station, with threo hours to wait for the next train, so you couldn't havecoiiieon pur pose, as any 1001 can see. "When I knew we had to stop so long, I resolved to bring you here to say what I had to say." "All right," was the answer, and the husband glanced round as if resigning himself to an uncomfortable experience. "Devilish dramatic surroundings and devilish dangerous, too," he muttered, glancing over the side of the rock into the abyss that yawned below, some 200 or 300 feet down. "Might be devilish convenient, too, if you wanted to get rid of an uncomfortable friend. Well, wife, wife, go ou," he said, sitting down on a point of the rock and looking round to shrug his shoulders again and smile. "You've brought me lo the dismal depth of a Swiss wood iu 1 order to thrill me with a terrible tale of defiance. Very well; thrill away." He seemed determined to make light of the interview and to mock his companion's indignation and emotion. But he watched her all the time, despite his assumed indifference, with lynx eyed vigilance. "1 repeat, this life shall end," she . cried, after a moment's pause, bursting into quick, vehement, emotional utterance. "Shall end, do you hear? I will be your decoy no more?your slave? your tool. I will no longer lure men infn tho meshes of the net your cruel hands spread for their ruin. You and I shall part. Do you hear, part, now and kay] ZS&S&S&35 j JR OF ? o o o H0ADLEY3 iECiyZf I ERY OffW6TinOPE 5TRANCE >5E HAND'y <=> ? ? ld hill mistcry ' cr ? <? ? <? ? 1 By rue. AUThon. j for always. I will be uo wife of yours ( - - - +-* - *-* ? ? -3 -* r ?. :* . ior uie iuture, una xx x xau uvuxu u, nu help me heaven, I'll never look on your hateful face again." The man listened in silence, and when she ceased waited beforo answering, looking at her with his head a little on one 6ide and his eyes half closed, j "All right. Good by," he said at length, turning away to whistle. "What, not gone yet?" he added after a pause in a tone of surprise. "Pray don't stop on my account. Any show of politeness between us would be such a superfluity of foolish pretense. " And he resumed bis whistling. Presently ho stopped and, getting up, went close to her and spoke in a different tone, seriously and directly: "Look here, Lola! Don't make a fool of yourself. You can't leave me. You know that well enough. My silence is as necessary to you as your beauty i9 to me. There was never any other bend between us and never will be probably, but you can't break it. And you must own that I've done well for you. You live on the best of the laud; you've never staid at any but the best hotels; you spend what you like on dress; you've any amount of lovers. What husband could do more than that?" The wife made no reply in words, but her eyes lighted with anger. "So long as you don't go too far with any of them, I never say a word, and the fact that while they are making love to you I am making money out of them ought to give a zest to the business which you should appreciate. Don't be a tool, ur course you wane your nys- c terics in some form or another?all wo- j men do?but don't let 'em lead you over the Rubicon. This German pig that c we're stalking now may be the last we t need trouble ubout. He's rich enough t to yield any amount of gold, and if I 1 know love in a fat fool's face when I i see it he's mad on you and he'll give c half his wealth if only you give mo the 1 ohance to handle"? i "Stop!" cried the woman hotly, a "Ma./ I rot if ever I movo a finger to a help you again. If you want to rob r men, go and do it like other thieves. B Be at least a man and don't skulk be- e hind my petticoats. I'll never speak to ^ that German again, I swear." t The man turned a shade pale now a and bit his lip. Then he swore under ^ his fair mustache, and bis voice was no j longer steady when he spoke. He began to fear that she was in earnest and this made him angry. r "I will make you do what I wish," fl he said, and he laid his hand on her < wrist. j She 6hook it off with a toss of con- 8 tempt. c "Bah! Do you think I am afraid of e you?" she cried. "Do you think I have j ever done what you wished because I ( feared anything you could do to me? , You poor, conceited fool. I'm no more afraid of you than of a rat!" And she j. laughed derisively. ^ At this all the color left his face with rage. He gripped her wrist firmly and f held it while, with a threatening brow, ( ho said in a voice harsh with anger, , "Unsay that at once or your father j shall rot in jail." v "You coward!" she cried, and, stung { by the words and the gesture into a paroxysm of rage, she raised the light umbrella she was carrying and struck { him with all her force across the face j while wrenching her wrist from his g grasp. He was standing close to the edge of the steep rock, with his back to it, and in his surprise and dismay at the blow he stumbled hastily back, and, losing bis footing, slipped over the edge. As he fell he managed to catch with one hand at the ledge of the rock and remained hanging by one hand over the dark, deadly abyss. For an instant he hung thus, looking up at her, his face salt white and wet with fear and rage, while he made frantic efforts to get a hold with his other hand. Before ho could do this, however, the girl, mad with the rage he had stirred in ber, raised her foot and stamped her heel with all her force upon the man's white, strained fingers. He uttered a loud, sharp cry of paiu, and, unable to retain his hold, disappeared over the face of the rock. It happened so suddenly that the yoor.g wife stood gazing at the place where ho had fallen like one dazed with horror. Bat it was only for an instant. Then she drew herself up and raised her head as if with an iustiuct of defiance. She waited some time and listened. Then she bent forward and called to him, "Pierre, Pierre I" and she was pleased when no answer came. Lying down at lUli jeilgCll, sne irieu III joint (until j111u the gorge, but a slightly projecting breast of the cliff prevented her from seeing to the bottom. Finding that, she moved away and went to another spot and tried to get a glimpr-e of the place into which he had fallen. She thought 6he could see liim lying far down below, but the light was thickening with the growing storm, and she was not eerfaiu. Bat she made no effort to get help, and, when she had waited until the time came for her to leave, in order to catch the train at the station she walked away quickly. Sho was glad and her heart was beating with an infinite pleasure that j the man who had gloomed and ruled ami deadened her young life was dead, t He had been too hard a taskmaster ; for her not to be thrilled with a sense j of pleasure at the thought of freedom, j PROLOGUE IL v FREE AT LAST. A fortnight after the incident on the I Devil's rock Lola Turriau and her father sat in close consultation in the old a man's bedroom in a hotel in Neufchatel. e The old man was sitting np on hit t bed, propped by pillows, and his wrin- t kled, parchment colored skin looked o fellow and dingy against the snow e white bedclothes. His voice was qnav- C aring and thin, bnt his black, beady p ayes shone with a light that seemed all s the stronger and stranger by contrast a with the weakness of his withered body, fc "It's good news, Lola?real good j news. I hope the brute is really dead!" 1 rhe hate with which he spoke of the p lead man lent unwonted energy to his c ? * ? ? -1- !? ? Annovo i1 ruiutf, wmio urn icaU| uiuurcu UU^^AO U gripped the bedclothes with a gesture 1 suggestive of his feeling. 1 "I wish I'd been with yon, girl, to o bave made sure. Imps like those can v tumble over cliffs, and yet the devil t finds a soft place somewhere for them fr to fall. If I'd been there," he added grimly, "I'd have had him found by ? those who'd have made sure he was h lead.* "He is dead, father, never fear. I tell I pou I went back and staid at the hotel a slose to the place for ten days, making li sautious inquiries everywhere. If he d bad escaped, I must have heard of it." The old man was silent a moment, a muttering and mumbling and shaking a bis head. t! "But you don't know it, Lola. You o baven't found his carcass." 1; "Well, he is dead to me at any rata Dur paths shall never lie side by side y igain. He never held me at all, as you y mow, save for my fear for you. I am fi sot afraid of such a thing as that" s She tossed her head with a gesture of s contempt. t "Mark my words, we shall never o iear oi him again," she added. t: "I shall not, child," said the old nan. "That's why I sent for you." The girl rose impulsively at this, and ;aking her father's band kissed it and hen kissed his face and smoothed some si - * - i-.i L:.L LJJ -A. J A )I tne WQlie JOCKS which huu aiiiajrcu *= lown from under bis skullcap oyer bis p 'orehead. b He suffered rather than enjoyed the o :aress and sh'^ok his head with a half u jetulant movement of impatience. t "You ought to be glad I'm going to lie at last, Lola," he continued. "I've a >een an unconscionable time over it, u jut that fool of a Dr. Lubin says I can't v ast now more than a week or a fort- h light more, and if I do I can't get out a if bed. Wnat the deuce is the good of b iving, I should like to know, caged up n a hole like this, and in bed, and not o ible to have a scrap of deoent food or i drop of wine, nothing but a oup of e tasty stuff that might be pig swill for p ill I know? If that's the case, the 60on- t< r I go after Pierre the better. I only g vish I could let you know that he's a here safe bound. We shan't be far ji ipart over there, I expect," he added, tJ vith a smile that made his wrinkled eatures inexpressibly ugly. a Lola said nothing. a "I hope you don't think I'm going to g nake a fool of myself about dying," he k aid querulously, noticing her manner. 1 'You wouldn't have me turn white h ivered and send for a pack of priests md pretend to wipe out all the record si if a full life well lived and well enjoy- a id with the cant of half an hour! Pshl u But there! That'll do about myself. I'm d hinking more about you. What will a -ou do?" u "I have made no plans yet, father. I a lave only thought so far that you and I a vould be much happier together now." d "Then it's time you did think, that'B ill. Your face and form are good D' mough to win you half a kingdom if n 'on only use them properly, and your duck?well, it's as stanch as mine, a] ifou'll go far if you choose. Only mind lon't try to go too fast." "I don't want to talk of myself." ? "I don't care what you want," was he testy reply. "I do, and I mean to. h .listen. Drop the name of that infernal at coundrel and act as though that part of 1< 'our life had never been lived. Play u he beautiful ingenue. Be my daughter, h jola Orawshay, once more, and as soon is I'm dead do what those cursed relaives of mine would never let me do? n [0 back to England. They'd have stopped tl ny allowance if I'd gone back, but when h hey see you in the garb of the mourn- al ng orphan?probably dressed for the >art, mind?they'll take you in as sure- o y as you will them. I've written a let- a er for you to the only one among 'cm a vho ever Bhowed she had a heart, old a lira Villyers, and if you play your ^ :ards as my child ought to you'll make r ier home yours and her introductions t: >e the means of starting your cam- b jaign. She's so deadly dull and religious that the world will cash herintro- t. luctions at sight to any amount just as f( janks will Rothschild's checks. I've ^ ;hought all this out, expecting that h rou'd probably run away from that e jrute as soon as I was in my coffin, and I've written down hero a list of all your B sligible relatives, with such hints as t incurred to me of the best means of get \ \ tl The girl witched him till he dropped 8 asleep. v ting round tlieru. I've 110 money to give B you except a few butik notes, but I can give you a family, child, as good as any o In England, and if you don't make your a ?ay with them you're not my ch.'ld." "I'd rather you'd not speak," began jola, when the old man cat her short: "Do hear me to the end, girl. I've 11 bnt done, and you know how ivs tires ae to talk. You'll find everything in hat black box addressed to you to save rouble. Don't waste your little money n any funeral fallals for me. I should lot do it on yon, and I don't want 'em. let away as quickly as you can, bnt tost the letter two days before you tart, only two days, so as not to give ny one a chance of replying. It's just o say I've told you to go straight to our jeople in England, and as they don't ove me overmuch they may want to mt off my child. Don't give 'em the hanoe, but yon go, and when you're here I'll trust you to do the rest. .'bat's the best I can do for you, Lola, fon've had a rough time between an Id scapegrace like me and a young illain like Pierre, and you've been a tanch, brave girl. Now let me lie down o sleep." Lola kissed him again, and this time, oftened by his own words, he kissed her tand in return. "You're a good girl when you like, jola," he said. "I believe you'd do nything on earth for the man you oved?and anything to the man you idn't," he added dryly. The girl watched him till he dropped sleep, and then she eat thinking over 11 he had said. She was really sad at he thought of bis death, for he was the nly thing she had ever loved in her ife. But he was right when he said he ras dying. In less than a fortnight be ras in his grave, and she had started or the new life in England, and depite her regret for the old man's death he was filled with an intense gladness bat the old disgraceful thraldom was ver, as well as with eager anticipaions of what the future held for her. CHAPTER I. MAD FOR THE LOVE OF HER. "It's no use. I've come baek, you oo I rmooaorl mriM ha alnito nntr '' 00. A 5 UVOUVU J M MX/ ?v/ ?? ind Sir Jaffray Walcote laughed as he asBed out through the window of the otel on to the veranda and sat down n a low basket chair, which creaked nder the weight of his tall, powerful rame. Lola Crawshay, who was sitting lone at the end of the veranda, looked p from her book and first greeted bim rith a glance and a smile, which made is pulses beat faster, and then changed d said in a tone which implied reuke: "You said you would go with the there." "I know, and I meant it right nougb. I always do when?when you ack me off. I got nearly as far as the jwn, and upon my word I meant to o right on and find the little woman nd my cousin and stop with them, ast as I said, but?well, I thought of bis cozy veranda, and that?that you" -he glanced at her, checked himself nd changed the finish of the sentence, dding?"that on such an evening one ets such fine views of the scenery, you now, and all that, and so here 1 am. 'hat's all." And he turned his smiling, andsome face to her. "You had no right to come back," aid Lola gravely and almost coldly, nd she olosed her book and gathered p the fancy work which she had been oing. Then she rose from her chair nd stood just where the sun shone pon her, bathing her in golden light nd making her magnificent beauty seem lmost supernatural in its dazzling raiance. Her companion gazed almost like one switched by the glorious picture she lade. "Will you let me pass, Sir Jaffray?" be asked, purposely avoiding bis eyes. He jumped to his feet and reddened. "Do you mean you are going in? [ave I offended you? Don't go." The last was a whispered appeal, and e looked down at her and seemed to jarch for her eyes with his. After a )ng pause she lifted her face and turned pon him a gaze which thrilled him till e almost trembled with the passion .Li.L ruicii rugeu in liim. Then she made as if to speak, but said otbing, and her eyes fell again, as aough beaten down by the ardent look e bent on her, and instead of speaking tie sighed deeply and tremnlonsly. She moved on as if to pass him withufc speaking, but he barred her path, nd as though unwittingly she brushed gainst him, then stopped, drew back nd started and sank down again into er chair, leaning her arm on the veanda and her face on her hand and siting quite still,' liko the statue of em arrassed and emotional loveliness. Sir Jaffray leaned against the rail of he veranda and made no effort to speak or awhile, content to feast his eyes ipon her lustrous beauty and to yield imself up to the full enjoyment of the motions she had roused. He was mad for the lovo of her, and he knew it well enough and meant to e his wife. But she knew also that thero were ifficulties to be surmounted first and hat she must act warily and cautiously f Bhe was to succeed. It was more than 18 months since hat scene on the Devil's rock, and sho ad already made excellent use of her ime in England. She had found Mrs. rillyers, the widow to whom her father iad sent her, ready at first to give her nly a very cold and formal welcome, rilling to do for a relative what the emandsof duty, sympathetically inter reted, might require, but unwilling, n account of the ill odor of Lola's faher with his family, to take lier into he house on the footing of an intimate nd loving friend. But Lola had amply justified her hrewd old father's judgment, and the winning .tact, the clever usefulness, the upplo adaptability and the patient emper which the girl never failed to how won the old lady's heart, until she pus almost loath to let her out of her ight. As tho old man had predicted, inorever, Mrs. Villyers' introduction opend the doors of every desirable house in the couuty, ami Lola's beauty and shrewdness did the rest. She was the beautifnl Miss Crawshay, uud nobody ever tried to remember that her father had enjoyed and deserved a reputation for such ill conduct as had made his friends pension him off on condition that he never set foot in his native country. Lola was not long idle, moreover, in making her plans. She meant to marry. She had heard nothing of the man who had forced her to marry him, and she believed him dead. If he was still living, it was almost impossible for him to find her, she thought. Anyway she would take the risk. Tiie nomage wmcn tno men an rouna the neighborhood were eager to pay her wherever she went soon convinced her that she could marry almost whom she pleased, and, as she had long couvinced herself that she had no love to give and no reason to fear any yielding to a weakness of the kind, she carried a very cool head indeed behind her very glowing and lire raising beuuty. Her final decision as to the man she would marry came as much by accident as design on her part. Among her distuut connections was a bright, shrewd, gossiping little woman, Mrs. Do Witt, whoso married lifo was in Lola's views a curiosity. Tbo husband and wifo had no tustes in common, except that they were both intensely fond of the comforts which money can give. They went nowhere together. If they met in public, it was generally accidental, and if they staid at the same place it was owing to quite independent causes. Each had a separate circle of friends, male and female, for uucon 4.Z 1 U veuiiULiui uurpuma, luuugu uuiu ujuvcu in tbe same social set for conventional purposes. The "little woman," as most of her friends called her, heard of Lola's beauty and went down to Mosscombe, the village near Walcote where Mrs. Villyers lived, to see for herself what the girl was like and to judge whether she could do herself any credit and serve her own purpose by taking her up and bringing her out in Loudon. She was more than satisfied by her scrutiny, and as Lola was careful to show a somewhat different side of her character to her from that known to Mrs. Villyers ?though not at all moro natural?Mrs. Do Witt carried her off there and then to London, protesting that such a girl must not bo shut up in a country box, but must seek her fortune and her husband in Loudon. At that juncture, howover, Lola proved her clever shrewdness. After staying with Mrs. De Witt for a few days she relinquished what was in fact inexpressibly delightful to her the pleasures of the Loudon season, in order to return to Mosscombe and Mrs. Villyers. By that one act she secured forever the affections of the widow, who would after that go anywhere to please her, while she did not leave London until Mrs. De Witt had seen bow much use tho girl could be in making the house attractive to men. She paid several visits to tbe lively little woman's house, and it was in one of these that she met Sir Jaffray Walcote for the first time. He bad been abroad on a tour half round the world hunting and shooting at the time of Lola's arrival in England, and she had thus only heard of him by repute. She knew, moreover, that he was to marry his cousin, a distant relation of her own, .Beryl Leycester, wnose people lived near Walcote. Mrs. De Witt bad spoken much about hiru, describing him always as one of her chief intimates and suggesting more in her manner than in her words that there was an understanding between them of the closest and most confidential kind. The moment that the baronet's eyes fell on Lola, however, he seemed to yield to the influence which she exercised ov6v men, and he never hnd either strength or inclination to attempt to resist it. Perceiving this and known-; intuitively that any encouragement on her part would tend to estrange Mrs. De Witt from her and being quite unwilling to have so agreeable a house closed against her, Lola held herself in the strongest reserve against him and when other things failed made an excuse am returned to Mosscoinbe. The baronet soon followed her, however, and, going to Walcote manor, much to the delight of his mother, who quite misunderstood the reason of his return, began to stalk Lola with as much persevering patience as he had been wont to show with some rare game. At that timo she was on very friendly terms with Beryl Lrycester, and ber quick woman's wit had shown her how strongly Beryl, who hid her feelings behind a mask of reserve, loved the man whom, by the common desire of both their families, she was to marry. Nor at the time had Lola the least intention or desire to come between them. How that design was first formed she never quite clearly knew. The baronet's persistency was ono great cause, while her determination had beer greutly helped by au incident in w.-.jcii nis mother, who had never liked lit r, had slighted her and insulted the memory of her father and stirred the. fires of that temper which she knew so well how to control. But when once the purpose was formed nothing could stay it, aud she set herself to weave such a web of witchery over the man as ho could not hopo to break. She knew that the climax was fast approaching, when, hearing that Mrs. De Witt and Beryl Leycester were going to stay at Torquay and that Sir Jaffray was to be there at the same time, she persuaded Mrs. Villycrs to go thero before tliem and thus made it appear that tho baronet had followed her. When he found Lola was staying in the plaoo, he did not attempt to conceal his pleasure, and he would have been with her from morning till night if she would have allowed it; but, knowing the strength of her hold over him, she sent him away continually to be with the others, while she herself would avoid liim ostentatiously. This treatment only fed the fever of ' his passion, however, and, absorbed in I his love for her and desire to have her ' for his wife, he was perplexed by the i thousand lover's fears and uncertainties which the coquetry of her manner toward him created. A hundred times in the first few days ! of this visit he had resolved to ask her i to marry him, and he sought to make i an occasion, bnt always they seemed to be interrupted jnst when he had begun I 10 irame rne qumiun, uuu uia wiui i were too dazzled by his love to see that Lola herself contrived many of the in- l terruptions. I But ou the day wheu he found her alone on the veranda he had returned ' determined that he would wait no Ion- I ger. He was hungering for the knowl- ' edge that she loved him. When she was i near, he could think of nothing else. His mother's objection to the marriage, his more than half engagement to mar- 1 ry Beryl?every hindrance and caution i was bnrned like dead grass in the fierce, i hot flame of his passion. Thus he looked at her with the hot i eyes of desperate longing as she sat i with her face resting against her band 1 and her eyes bent down, and it was like i a sweet delirium to believe, as he did, I thut the emotion which had brought the blood to her cheeks and made her bosom rise and fall in loveliest confusion was due to the feelings which he bad roused in her. After a long pause be moved slowly nearer to her and nerved himself to speak. As lio sat down close to her she turned her head and flashed a rapid glance right into his eyes and then as quickly turned away, the hot blood surging over her face in a deep blush. 1 "I want to end this suspense," he said in a tone little louder than a whis- 1 per. "I can't bear it any longer. It's not fair to either of us. I came back on purpose." There was a pause of embarrassment between each sentence. ' Lola made no reply, but she was | thinking fast what was the best course for her to take. Sir Jaffray gathered himself for an effort and a resolute look came into his i face, knitting his brows and setting his lips for a moment before he spoke again. Then, forcing himself to be calm, he went right to the point. "I love you, Lola, and I want you for my wife." There was no mistaking the ring of intense sincerity or of concentrated feeling in the calm, strong tone, and the girl felt a flush of triumph as she recognized it.*lt promised her a certain victory. But she knew that it was not to be won yet, and she played her part with consummate skill. At first she turned toward him with a look of infinite sweetness on her face and with the light of love beaming in her eyes, but she checked herself as suddenly, drew back and then rose. "That is an insult, Sir Jaffray, and a wrong which you at least might have spared me," she cried. The words struck him like a slap in the face. 'An insult? A wrong? To ask you to be my wife?" His tone was still calm enough, but it rang with the note of angered pride. { Twice she turned to him impetuously, as if to speak, locking her fingers tightly together as if fighting with her feelings and unable to utter the words which rose to her lips. Then she clutched the rail of the veranda tightly with both hands, and, leaning back, as though at bay, she appeared to compel herself to break the silence, whioh once broken was followed by a flood of words poured out with rapid, vehement rushes. She was like one wrung by the deepest passion. "Why do you say this to me? Why do you torment me? Why tempt me in ' this cruel, heartless way? Yes, heartless. You know this thing can never be. Yon know?who better??that between ns stands the bar of yonr unfilled promise to yonr cousin, Beryl Leycester. You know that all the world looks on that as settled. You have known this all through. You must have known, and yet yon come to me and press me to be your wife. You, half pledged to another woman, can ask me to help you break that pledge by winning from me another, because you think you can do with me as you will. "You hold me for a child, a toy, a plaything, to be used for a season aud tossed aside. You know your strength with me. You think because yo.u have made me love you?what do I say? Made me hate yon, maybe, for, heaven nelp me, I know not what I think or feel, say or do, where you are. But this I will not do?I will not help you ; to play that girl false. Go to her. She will make you happier than I ever can. It is not love that makes happiness. 1 That comes far more readily from the easy content of even flowing, placid ; "1 love you, Lola, and I want you for my j wife." 1 friendship. Yon and I are best apart. 1 You think yon love rue now. Yon will 1 come to love her in time. You will be J happier with her. Yon and I are two < tempest clonds, better apart. With us life can only be a full heaven or a raging hell. Iam afraid of you." And she seemed to cower before him. "Your ' words scorch me. Go away, or let mo go. Let us never meet again. If yon ' have any pity iu you. think of what it is to burn as I burn with this love < which yon have kindled and to know that I can never?wait I I am mad. Oh, why, why did I ever see yon?" She stopped suddenly and stood pressing her hands to her face. Sir Jaffray stood by her, immovable, but Infinitely moved, conscious of nothing save the wild thumping of his heart against bis ribs and of the mad, bewildering thought that she loved him. "Let me go in, Sir Jaffray, please," said Lola, her whole manner changed, save for the light in her eyes. A _ mLa a. u-.i?J L:? ? J\0 BUU paeotu BUtJ tUUUIICU U1IU uguiu, and he drew back as if afraid of losing all self control "One moment," he said, keeping his roice as steady as he coul<L "I understand now. You are right. I will do what you wish, and till then I will not say a word more." He stood back and let her pass without another word, watching her with burning eyes till the last hem of her dress disappeared and the soft fron frou of the silk was lost in the room. Then he turned his face to the light, and a smile of proud triumph lighted it as he stood and gazed at the sea, and the woods, and the landscape, though seeing nothing, lost in the thought that be had won her, a queen among women. TO BR CONTINUED NEXT WEDNESDAY. ptettUantouis trading. THE YORKVILLE URADED SCHOOL. A Surprised Patron Is Delighted With the Efficiency of the Distltnte. Editor of The Enquirer. One day last week, I received a neatly written invitation to be present at an entertainment to be given by the pupils of the graded school on Tuesday morniDg, December 21, begining at 10.15 o'clock. Now, I will say in the outset, that I have always been a friend of the Bchool, having worked for it in every legitimate way before it was established, and have always stood by it since, when any voting was to be done or taxes paid; but bad never been in the school building when the school was in session, or when the teachers and pupils were there, and have only been mere oareiy once ai any omer urne, and that was when I was invited by several friends to go round with them on a tour of inspection. After receiving the invitation above referred to, and thinking the matter over, I decided to be ou baud on Tuesday. I went and am glad I did, and every other citizen in the town who will do likewise, will be pleased with what be sees and bears if be will go to the school when the teachers and pupils are at work whether or not he has a son or daughter, grandson or grandaughter, nephew or neice, or other relatives receiving its benefits, provided, of course, he has a heart that goes out to his fellows and does not measure everything by dollars and cents, and realize that there is a future ahead of us as well as a past behind us. I shall not attempt to make an elaborate and minute report of everything that was said and done. Suffice it to say that the entertaiment consisted of songs, recitations and dialogues appropriate to the Christmas season, by the pupils in the grades presided over by Misses Florrie Allison, Maggie Gist and Jennie Hart. The manner in which each pupil carried out its part, was conclusive evidence that the teachers are competent, faithful and efficient, and are doing a work that will be felt in this community long after the friends and enemies (?) of the school who took sides for and against it at the time of its establishment, have joined the silent majority. There is no doubt of the fact that this is an age of improvement, r.nd it is equally true that as much, or more, progress has been made in the school books and methods of teaching during the past twenty years, than in any other. I heard and saw things on Tuesday that would have been considered marvelous less than twenty years ago. Boys and girls, less than ai.rhr voura nlil recited nieces and en v'6"v J " ) r gaged in dialogues with a calmness and composure that would have marked tbem as precocious in the days when Webster's blue back spelling book, Pike's arithmetic and Smith's grammar were the favorite text books tor all pupils from 6 to 16. The teachers stated that in preparing for the entertainment, not one minute had been lost from the regular work of the school, and that all preparations bad been made during the past two weeks, during the recess hour, and after school had closed in the afternoon. In conclusion, I desire to return thanks, for the entertainment, to the teachers and pupils, and to say to the former, that while the outside world does not fully realize or appreciate the importance of the work, still they have a great responsibility on tbem, and the Yorkville of the future will, in a large measure, be what they make it. I must say something about the discipline of the school as it impressed me. It seems to be perfect. "The worst boys iu town" are, of course, pupils in the school; but I defy a stranger to pick them out while in school. If the parents of the town could see their boys and girls as these ;eachers do, and control tbem as they lo, they would grow to be better men tud women than the signs indicate at present from their neighbor's standpoint. The whole trouble, however, s due to the fact that we can see the faults in other people's children but not in our own. The teachers in the graded school see them all as they are, ind govern themselves accordingly.. x. x. x. Two Phases.?"What're you doing aow, Billy?" "I'm selling baking powder to get a aicycle." "That's queer. I had to sell my bi;ycle to get buking powder."