Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 January 1893 — TRVE AS STEEL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TRVE AS STEEL

BY MRS ALVAM JORDAM GARTH:

CHAPTER XVIII. „ CONCLUSION. ■“Too late!” Just? as Beatrice Mercer hurried toward the house again the words emanated from the shrubbery near the pit, and the speaker stepped into view. It was Raymond Marshall, but not the Raymond Marshall of a few days previous. Hope, joy, excitement illuminated his radiant face; horror, too, shadowed it, as he glanced after the disappearing plotter. Then he drew into the open space another form. . “She meant murder. Oh, cruel! cru 1! How can she be so heartless? And I loved her, trusted her as a sister. ” ■ “Courage, Edna,” spoke Marshall. “The faithfut Bruno led me here in time, it seems, to rescue you. You believe me now —that this woman deceived me into that marriage, a farce that cannot dim our love, though it may part us in this world?" “Oh, Raymond, let me leave this terrible place!” “Yes, I will take you back to the farm-house. Then to leturn and learn the meaning of this woman being here. Wait! Some one else is coming. ”

He had been led to the spot by the clever Bruno not ten minutes previous, had discovered Edna in the pit, had rescued her, and now both shrank into the shrubbery again as two forms crossed ■the garden. The steward and the housekeeper, returned from the village, their words reaching the ears of the listening Raymond Marshall caused him to start violently, for they were discussing Beatrice Mercer. „ Creeping nearer to them, within two minutes a hint, a word revealed to Raymond Marshall’s quick mind a marvelous suggestion. He guessed at the truth now. This ■dark schemer, Beatrice, had assumed Edna Deane’s name and place. Her plots, her sudden wealth, her strange movements all verified the surmise. For a few moments he refieoted. Then, as the two people entered the .house, he took Edna’s arm, and led her towards its open front portals. Through the windows of a brightly lighted apartment he could see an old man reclining in an Invalid’s chair, and near to him sat his pretended daughter, Beatrice Mercer. Without a word of explanation to the shrinking Edna, fired with the zeal of a confident discovery, Raymond Marshall entered the house. A wild cry rang from Beatrice Mercer’s lips, and Mr. Ralston stared wonderingly at the intruders as Marshall and his trembling companion abruptly entered the room. “Alice —Edna!” exclaimed the invalid; “who are these people?” “Alice? Edna?” repeated Marshall, eagerly. “Is that the name she gives herself? Pardon me, sir, but I have intruded here because I deem it a duty to unmask that woman yonder.” “That woman —my daughter!” exclaimed Ralston, indignantly. “She is not your daughter. Beatrice Mercer, your plots are known. Silence! I will tell my story. ” White as marble Beatrice shrank back as in forcible, emphatic words Raymond Marshall, sentence by sentence, revealed his suspicions. He forced her to assent to his surmises; he compelled Edna to relate her story. With a look of anger at the woman who had deceived him, with a loving glance at the timid Edna, when all had bqen explained and made clear, Mr. Ralston opened his arms to his real daughter. “Yes, yes. it is true!” he murmured. “She has her sainted mother’s face. Oh! how could Ibe so deceived? As to you ; ” “Yes, as to me,” cried the baffled Beatrice, scornfully. “I am unmasked! So be it; but I still have the power to rule. I know your secret—you, an escaped convict. You will be glad to silence my lips with half your fortune, or I betray all.” Ralston palted and shuddered. At that moment the door opened, however. An emaciated form crossed the room.

“Rodney!” cried Mr. Ralston, amazed. It was the messenger he had sent for Edna to 'the Hopedale seminary, the man who had seemingly perished at the broken bridge. “Yes, it is I,” replied Rodney. “Miraculously escaped death; just recovered from my illness attending exposure and injury, and in time to refute what that impostor says, for I overheard her words and your own. Ralston, light has come at last! The man for whose crimes you suffered imprisonment is dead; and, dying, he has confessed all and cleared your name from every taint of guilt!” “.Oh, thank heaven!” cried Ralston, fervently. “At last! at last! Alice— Edna, my darling child, at last I can offer you an honored name, a loving home! ’ “May you be happy!” sneered Beatrice, malevolently. “I am baffled, beaten—at every point except 'one, it seems. Raymond Marshall, remember that the law gives me your name! You are my husband. That is more to me than the honor of being an ex-convict’s daughter or a wealthy heiress!” “So be it!” spoke Raymond Marshall solemnly. “In name I am your husband, but Edna Deane or Alice Ralston has my love till death. Fear not; I shall not bring reproach on her fair name by remaining near her until the law annuls a fraudulent marriage. Edna, I must hasten to your friends, the Blakes, and tell them that you are safe. They are very anxious about you. To-morrow I will come to see that you are safe and happy, and then I leave you to battle this woman for my rights. ” He passed from the house as he spoke. His heart was happy, despite the complications that evil plotters had cast about his life. “I say, old fellow!” uttered a maudlin tone, as he neared the road outside the mansion grounds. “Well, what is it?” demanded Marshall, regarding curiously the swaying, shabby form of a half-intoxicated man near the wall.

“Can you direct me? Looking for the way into this place, after a—a friend—a lady friend. You see ” "Mercy! The minister!" With a start, Raymond Marshall surveyed the man before him. Could it be possible? Yes; despite the vivid contrast between those two times, the ragged, intoxicated tramp before him was certainly the well-dressed, sedatelooding clergyman who had performed the marriage ceremony between himsllf and Beatrice at the Hopedale hotel. What did it mean? A wild thrill pervaded hie frame at the man’s next words.

w***r*s jwsMKarr, “You acquainted here? Well, I’» looking for a—a girl I’ve traced here, Beatrioe Mercer. Oh! Pm sharp, I am! A hundred dollars! Humpßt';aman can’t afford to play minister for a measly hundred dollars! She’s rich. I’ve traced her. Bet I get a thousand, to shut my lips, or I tell all I know. * All he knew! Within bait, an hour Raymond Marshall was in possession of his secret, stupidly blurted out in his maudlin wanderings. Dr. Simms, unable to seoure the village clergyman, had hired this adventurer to personate one. The marriage was a fraud. It was no marriage at all, and the last blow was given to Beatrice Mercer’s stately fabric of fraud she had so carefully erected, as the tramp told his story in the draw-ing-room of the mansion a few moments later. ■* “She leaves my roof at once!” cried the excited Mr. Ralston, but Edna, more merciful, insisted that Beatrice be provided with sufficient to begin life over again in some remote place, and - tearfully bade her go and sin no more. They never heard of her again, and when they thought of her it was with a shudder, as they realized how nearly her cruel plottings had ruined all their hopes and happiness. And the stately mansion .and its beautiful grounds became an earthly paradise to the two united hearts, whose loyal devotion had brought them, at the last, love’s brightest, holiest reward. [THE END J