Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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~ \T < iCorTKIGHT, liOBEKT CHAPTER XVII. (Continued.) "I learned last night," continued Jolm Wintbrop. steadily, resolutely holding her attention, "of the great Injustice I did your husband. Mrs. Graham?I and my client?unknowing. Had you or your husband made known to us that to your husband Mr. Earle owed bis life, do you think ?even in your unbelief in our hearts ?that we would still have refused your pleading?" The cold, slow smile was upon her lips as she again lifted her face toward his. and the violet eyes were calm with scorn. "My husband was too noble to plead for gratitude when he was refused simple justice," said Mrs. Graham, steadily. "I wonder that Mr. Wintbrop, with his views of life, should entertaiu that thought for one moment! In your rules for mankind in general, surely there is no place for one man's noble claim to the turning one hair's breadth the wheels of your Justice! Why should you?still judging from that standpoint?have yielded the fulfilling of a wish, simply because the on? man had been proved perhaps a trifle the braver than others? Would such conduct not shortly put out of order the machinery of your system?" Still that strong, steady, perfect self-command in the tall figure at her side. "I waive all that," he said. "Have I not told, Mrs. Graham that I will not attempt to argue for myself? With a womau's strong injustice, would she not call me false should I lay claim to any softness of heart after what has passed between us?" Alecia laughed softly, shrugging her 6houlders with a shade of disdain. "With a woman's strange injustice." she retorted, lightly, a slight movement of her hands, "what hope have I with Mr. Winthrop?" Silence again around them. filled by those tender sounds of the surf and the calling of birds. * "I will claim the attention of Mrs. Graham but for a moment,'' said John Winthrop, coldly. "I came here to say that we regret, my client and I, that this fact was not known to us at the time, that we might have given Mr. Graham due acknowledgment of his bravery. As Mr. Earle informed your sister last evening, had we known of this, there would have remained no debts between your husband and himself. For doubt as you will, Palmer Earle is a jpst man, Mrs. Graham." Silence again for a moment. "And you?" she said. "And I." What passion was in his voice for an instant ere he regained his selfcommand. This tone touched her strangely, but she would not even turn her graceful header lift thr curling laches from drooping over the level eyes. CHAPTER XVIII. A SUBTLE WHTSPEB. Winthro? stooped suddenly, his eyes forcing hers to turn to his quivering face. "Alecia!" he exclaimed in repressed outbreak of madness. "Alecia Graham, does it all end in this? Have you come into my life to humiliate me? To defeat me? Have you the power to even cast a%ide my knowledge of what your answer must be? Do you sit here calmly and scorn me. and yet am * * a- 1 * T I puweriCbS IU txl't'p lium JIUU iuai x love you with au intensity that will not be crushed?" For a moment she sat as one stunned, neither moving nor speaking. Then she slowly rose. "Surely. Mr. Wintkrop is mad!" she said, one hand lying upon the back of the bench from which she had risen, as though for strength, the sternness In her musical voice in its low utterance. "Does he dream that a woman's Injustice even could allow her to forget the memory of the man who sent her husband to death?" Then she turned away and walked slowly along the promenade toward the hotel, as though there had nothing rome between them in view of the quiet ocean and the sailing shins. Mrs. Graham was standing before the mirror, shaking out her hair about ber shoulders with the careless pleasure of a child in its beauty. Beatrice was standing at the window watching her. "And after all that you know of these Winthrops, you are still ready to accept the friendship of his mother!" Beatrice said. "Yes," answered Alccia. steadily, turning toward her sister and holding aside the heavy masses of her hail that so the better she might meet the flashing eyes opposite. "It is not only unchristian but absolutely absurd, Bee, to refuse the friendship of such a charming woman because her son was cruel tft me once! As I have told .... ? t NTHROP'S DEFEAT. 21 JTODCI. KATE LUDLOM., B >> >.Eli'S EOXS. ley. | yon, too, every time this subject has | been mentioned, I believe that Mr. Winthrop acted upon conscientious convictions, although they were hard and unjust to us. Mrs. Winthrop to me is like a sweet poem in the great striving battle-hymn of life, and I go ... ?? _ii *l.? to lier Wfien 110X11111 ? in an me- ?uim | else can soothe me. 1 feel always like j sitting at Iter feet when she talks. | Her soft language Is the height and j depth an.l breadth of tender feeling! j She affects me like a moonlit ocean, j or as though some one who loved me had said: 'Be still!* " Beatrice's face softened in spite of her anger. "Well, then, how do you like this Jessica Gray, your John Wiuthrop's j ward, Alecia? Surely, you do not catalogue her a soothing poem! I set her down as a cat. a leopard, a snake ?all of them at different times! Look at those opal eyes of hers, that are steel, that are stones, that are living fire when she wills!" Alecia brushed very slowly anil de; liberately the masses of shining hair . about her shoulders before she replied. Then she laughed as she said: "So far the" claws of your cat arc smothered in velvet to me, Bee." Beatrice shrugged her shoulders sugfrstivplr. and lifted her arched brows. O--"-- * --? ? "Well." she said, crossly, "your cat ?pray don't class her as mine?is in love with your John Winthrop with her soft purring and velvet claws, Alecia Graham;" An indescribable expression touched Alec-ia's face, but she pulled the shows ering golden hair recklessly about her. so that her sister could not see. I Again she laughed, a strange laugh, a sudden, unaccountable pang at her ! heart, as though she were losing some [ friend who had been dear and might have been more! Then she frowned, ! meeting her reflection in the mirror, and bit her lip. A slow color was i burning in each cheek. She was in- I tensely angry with herself. Would she allow those words, uttered that morning in the pavilion by her husband's enemy, to so move her? "Hather remarkable, Bee," sne saiu, i lightly, "that the woman whom you ; dislike and call leopard should so un burden herself to you! The circum- | stances must have been extremely in- . teresting. Tray, let me hear them!" Beatrice's answering laugh was full ! . of scorn and bitterness. She crossed ! the room, and, taking Alecia by both arms, turned her toward the light, her eyes keenly set upon her face. "Alecia," she said, very slowly and sternly, "you may call me absurd again if you like. Why should I mind that? But I wish you to answer me one question, and fairly. It may not seem much to you: to me it would be | the uttermost depths of bitterness! | You are kind to every one. even i though you scorn them. You are kind even to John Winthrop! Aleeia." the very earnestness of her voice deepened that strange color in Alecia's face, though her eyes were level meeting her sister's. "Alecla Graham, if ever you should be kind to that mau as you might be kind, should he ask you?you know what I mean?1 should so scorn you that never, never could I call you my sister again. Remember what he was to your husband and scorn him as any loyal woman should!" Alccia hated herself for the mad throbbing of her heart. She despised herself for that tell-tale blood In her face. She would willingly have crushed out every thought of Jolm Winthrop if so she might trample un- \ ' der foot the memory of his eyes and voice and passionate words, and that tall, commanding figure standing beside her as she wounded him with ner scoru: "You are like the beautiful Queen of the East, Bee." she 6aid. laughing, I "for you talk in riddles! One minute . I you tell me that Miss Gray loves Mr. j Winthrop, and the next you warn me . against some absurd catastrophe of the same sort! My dear little sister is over-sensitive in her loyalty, I fear!" She was arguing down her heart. Did she not know it? Did Beatrice not also know it? She released Alecia's arms, and turned away with a sigh. "I never understood you, Alecia," she said, quietly, pausing at the door; "I understand you less now than ever!" Then she passed down the stairs and out upon the promenade, toward the beach, wishing to light this fear , by herself, as she fought the battle of her own heart. For Beatrice Field knew that she had given her heart to Gregory Bensonhurst beyond recall, although he . should not know it, for since the first night of their return to the island he had shunned her ratliT than sought her, #s always before ue had done. , Beatrice Field did not preach pride to [ her sister and fail in practice of it I herself. Cora and Ilarry Dillingham and Gregory Bcnsonhurst were in the pavilion; she saw them and turned about to reach the beach by some other way. She could not endure to join them at that moment. To cross the sandhills was more difficult, but she would have crossed the Great itesert had her pride prompted her so to do. and the group in the pavilion w-ntf-hpil her crossing the sand, and fate decreed that one of this group should learn of great injustice done the girl. For if Beatrice Field crossed the flaming sandhills to avoid Gregory Bensonhurst she might as well have continued down the promenade and come upon him calmly instead of turning from her way; for Gregory Bensonhurst. seeirg her, left his companions with a few careless word..-', and followed the girl along the beach until he came upon her where she sat upon the sand, the red parasol tilted over the bright face turned to the glittering ocean, one slim hand restlessly digging in the shining fragments heside her, heaping them In a tiny mass and patting them down smoothly and hard as though this were her sole aim in life. She did not hear his approach, and ? ninmniit Innl.-inr. upon her, almost fearful now at the decisive moment, remembering hi* strong love and hate. She started and glanced up as lie uttered her name. "My dearest," he said, reaching out his hands, his eyes pleading with her, his voice stirring her heart. For a moment a smile stirred upon her lips and then died, and dying, swept away all the glow and flush of color in her face. A fine scorn replaced it, touching her eyes and voice. "I think that Mr. Bonsonhurst forgets himself." she said. Not a movement of a muscle betrayed the throbbing of licr heart. That slim, white, womanly hand lying lightly upon the little mound of sand, perfectly steady and untroubled. But he would not so easily he discomfited and stood resolutely beside her. "Beatrice." he said. "Denrest! Listen to me before you condemn me. You know that I love you. I wished to fell you that first evening, but you would not listen?and that night I heard, .and heard so directly that I could scarcely fail to believe, that you were indeed comm.? nome?i nau so patients waited for your coming? but t ere no longer to be won by me. I J.rard that I had even no longer a right to love you. or tell you cf mv love, or even attempt to win you. 1 did not fully realize how much I loved you until that moment when I learned that I had lost you?that you had come with your promise given another. But I was proud, too. I would not wear ray heart upon my sleeve. Beatrice, dearest, I have learned this moment from your sister that I listened to a lie. I have come to ycu at once for your forgiveness and to tell you of my love." He was an intensely proud man, this lover of hers, and he stood erect beside her, only hik eyes and voice pleading wi(h her as he waited her reply. But he did not know the girl to whom he had yielded h:s heart if he xlrcumed tliat sae was i.shtiy to be won. Perfectly self-possessed and very beautiful, she sat upon the saud, the color of her parasol flushing her proud face, the glitter of the sands and the restless sea-lights iu her eyes. She even smiled rather pityingly, looking up to him. "Perhaps you formed your estimate of women from the ore who told you this lie, Mr. Bonsonhurst," she said, unmoved, "ff I loved any one, no whisper in the world could turn me, no matter how subtly uttered, without convincing proof. Itad you spoken of it to me, would I not have told you truly? If one takes up with serpents, one must sometimes be stung. There are antidotes for all poisons, if taken in time; if left too long there is no hope.'' A deep flush was dawning in his face, that was growing steadily more stern under her careless eyes. "Is this my answer?" he questioned, bitterly, "Miss Beatrice is witty to uaj . "Am I?" she said coldly, her eyes turned from him to the broad reach of gleaming water. "There Is sometimes strongest earnest under the guise of jest, Mr. Bensonhurst. I was building a romance about that sail yonder when you interrupted me. I set in on toward some Fortunate Island in the fragrant seas far south, and builded a castle there, and called it Faith in Love, and peopled it with fairies, for " He set aside his pride, and tricu once more to win her kindly answer. "Life is too real and men and women human to bear continued liasliness," he said, gently. "From your castle in the south can you bring 110 more kind words for me, Beatrice? If I erred it was because I love you too intensely to boar with patience the thought of losing you. Have you r:o other answer?" She smiled still coldly, but she dared not turn her . eyes from tne distant sail lest she yield to his tenderness. "You mistake me utterly," she said, 1 "Mr. Bensonhurst. I have no other answer?noT* He ground his heel into the sand and walked away. CHAPTER XIX. ON TEE "BANJO." Alecia was sitting at her window in a cool, loose gown when, glancing along the sand-hills, she saw the erect figure of Gregory Bensonhurst as he left Beatrice in his anger. As he drew nearer she saw the cloud upon his face, and guessed whose pride had wounded him. This knowledge, too, * 1- s? o o fliAiiarh clift srrucs m uuuu uui lic.ui .10 ^..v. saw some work of her own set indelibly there. Then with a sudden impulse unusual with her, she left her room anil went down to meet the man as he approached across the sand$. "You are brave," he said, quietly, although the pallor of his face was touched with intense color, meeting any one so unexpectedly, for it was mid-day, and few were out. "I have dared the sand-hills, Mrs. Graham, 'and tiud them unbearable." She smiled at the fierceness of his voice, and laid one hand gently upon his arm as he paused beside her. There was something in her eyes that held his attention. (To be continued.) I'nacswcrctl. Why Is it that some men named William are known as Bill, while others of the same name are known as Will?? Atchison Globe. "Isn't your new nouso tailing longer to build than you expected?" "Ob, no. I've only spent twice as much on it, so far, as I anticipated."?Detroit Free Press. Wrecked by Storm. Binghamton. New York. Special.?A cloudburst Sunday night at Coventry, this county, scut Lump Creek over its banks, wrecking several mills and buildings at Afton. The family of Jas. Cook, consisting of three persons, were drowned and their bodies not found till today. Three separate cloudbursts are reported in the county and much minor damage has been done. Ordered to Porto Rico. Wilmington, Special.?The United States revenue cutter Algonquin, for the past two and a half years on this station, has received orders transferring it to Porto Rico. The vessel sailed at once for Baltimore to have an ice plant Installed and a new ventilating system put in preparatory to departing for Uncle Sam's new possession. Just before the Algonquin sailed this afternoon a few of her sailors deserted on account of not caring to go to Porto P.ico. It is understood that one of the new revenue cutters now building will be sent to this station when completed nnv* fall Osborne Photographed. Norfolk, Va., Special.?By order of Chief of Police Vellins three prisoners over whom han? grave charges were photographed. They were Charles F. Hiatt, alias Ocborne, charged with murdering one wife and a man in Oklahoma and another wife ! in this city; Frank B. Massey, held 1 for embezzlement, and John Nelson, ; alias C. B. Lev/is, under a 3-year sen! tence for abducting Myrtle Joyner and who is yet to face a charge of 1 ftfld ! /-? + ir\r\ o nH oronH loreonv 1 Q^UUVUUM auu Qtuuu vv-j . Fatal Street Duel. Metropolis, 111., Special.?In a duel on the street Ben Faughn, of Metropolis, was shot and killed by Jas. P. Abbott. Abbott made several remarks to ladies in a hotel against which Faughn remonstrated.Abbott is now in jail. Intense excitement prevails and'a lynching is momentarily expected. Faughn was a Knight of Pythias and a semi-professional baseball player. Ordered to Porto Rico. Wilmington, Special.?The United States revenue cutter Algonquin, for the past two and a half years on this station, has received orders transferring it to Porto Rico. The vessel sailed at once for Baltimore to have an ice plant installed and a new ventilating system put in preparatory to departing Sam'a npw nnsS?!Sion. JuSt IV/l VJIitJO WMU4 W ? > .. . before the Algonquin sailed this afternoon a few of her sailors deserted on account of not caring to go to Porto Rico. It is understood that one of the new revenue cutters now building will be sent to this station when completed next fall. The Fire at ColqoBt. Macon. Ga.. Special.?Fire Sunda.morning, at Colquitt. Gr... destroys' eleven stores along the public square Among the buildings burned wore liv postoffice and the Masonic Temple. The more important stores were general merchandise establishment. The estimated loss is over Jt'^.OOO with only partial .insurance. Private detectives say they have ; clue to the man who murdered Albert C. Latimer in Brooklyn. N. Y. It is expected that the largest and most complete exhibit of motor vehicles ever installed at any exposition will be made at the St. Louis Fair in 1204. WILL NOT ACCEPT. M / I oii^in Vn* CooHnii n Frul^rfll An_ Hi I Lei LI III MUI wLLHIii? u vuiiui "f ? pointinent DECLINES PROFFERED JUDGESHIP Palmetto Senator Expresses a Determination Not to Occupy Vacancy In Court of Claims. Oyster Bay. N. Y., Special.?President Roosevelt is in receipt of a letter frc:n Senator John L. Mcl.aurin. of South Carolina, declining the preferred appointment to the vacancy on the bench cf the United States Court of Claims. The President, it can be said, much regrets Senator MeLacrin's decision, as he believes that McLaurin's senatorial experience and his career as Attorney General of South Carolina would have rendered him a particular- . ly good addition to the Court of Claims. The President is not certain what he will do. It is understood that he is anxj ions to appoint him to some.position in I recognition of what the President re gards as his service to the country and his demonstrated ability in public life. Senator MeLaurin's letter is couched in the most positive terms and evidently was based in particular upon a newspaper article which accompanied the letter. The article stated that the Senator had sold himself for the prospect of getting such an office as that offered him. It can be said, however, that the President regarded such a type of accusation beneath notice and sincerely regrets that Senator MeLaurin should have deemed it necessary to pay attention to it Senator MeLaurin evidently has changed his mind about accepting the proferred appointment since he was in Oyster Say on July 11. At that time he indicated his readiness to accept the vacancy on the Court of Claims and the only question then was whan he should resign from the Senate. Fifty People Drowned. Hamburg. By Cable.?The steam! .VU D.i'mnp nf T-TainhMrp' wifh 1 S!> passengers on board, was cut in two and sunk by the tug Hanza on the river Elbe at 12:30 o'clock Monday morning. So far as i3 accertainable, about 50 persons were drowned. Thirteen bodies already have been recovered. The Primus was an excursion steamer from Buxtehude, province of Hanover, Prussia. The disaster occurred between Blankenese and Nienstedten. Among the passengers were the members of the Eilbeck Male Choral Society. At the time of the accident the Primus was crossing the river channel near Blankenese, from the southern into the northern fairway. According to ! witnesses aboard the Hanza the movement was made too precipitately The : Primus struck the engine room of the I Hanza and endeavored to push her j ashore, but the tug grounded and the | ships parted. The Primus then sank. , In the interval, however, about 50 of her passengers were able to reach the ; Hanza by means of ropes and ladders, j Seventy more were picked up by the 'j tug boats, while others swam ashore. ; The disaster caused deep gloom here. ! Many children lost both their parents. The Choral Society, which was oa | board the excursion steamer, consisted mainly of workmen. There were no foreign passengers. Captain Peterson, of the Primus, swam ashore and gave himself up to the police. Captain Sachs, of the Hanza, also surrendered. The terrible panic that occurred on the Primus when the Hanza struck her rendered the efforts to save her passengers almost useless. Fortunately, the steamer Deiphin came up immediately and succeeded in .saving sixty of these on Jjoard the sinking steamer while other boats assisted in the work of rescue. 530,000 For Strikers. Indianapolis. Special. ? The first financial assistance was sent the striking anthracite miners Monday night when Secretay Wilson forwarded to the secretary-treasurers of the anthracite districts checks for their respective sha:cs of the 923.G&0 appropriated by the recent con\ention to ee applied immediately to relieving the wants of the I miners and their iaininea in muse uiatricts. Tornado in Paltfmore. Baltimore, Special.?A fierce tornado. characterized by a windstorm of extraordinary velocity, thunder, vivid lightning and a heavy rain, suddenly burst upon Baltimore at 1:30 p. m. Sunday, coming from the southwest, with the net result that eleven persons lost their lives, hundreds of houses were unroofed, trees in the public parks and streets were torn up by the roots, many buildings damaged and several people injured. The storm exhausted its fury in less than 15 minutes. The damage done in the business portion of the city was comparatively slight. *