Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 March 1908 — A CROWN OF FAITH [ARTICLE]

A CROWN OF FAITH

CHAPTER XXl.—(Continued.) "You are surprised?” asked Dr. Dundas. “Well, you will perhaps be annoyed when you hear of the part I have taken in your life. I received the silver casket from your fathorat Chateau Moreauville; I hold it now. In that casaet are the certificates which pro've your father’s marriage mid your birth. You are the very next be:r to an earldom, my young friend, and, in my opinion, worthy of it.” “Are you mocking me. sir?” “No; your father was my earliest nearest friend. He was a noble, the eldest son of an earl: but he was my greatest friend at Oxford. He fell madly in love with a--beautiful creature who sold flowers in the London streets. She was an innocent lass of sixteen, just come up Jrom the country. Her father was dead, and her old grandfather was turned out of his farm; her mother died of want. This child was barefoot and beautiful, and sold flowers, to support the old man ; and your father, a handsome noble, lost his heart —lost his head —married her, sir —actually married Her! The flower girl became Lady Marlowe. I was present | at the wedding.” I Lionel grasped the hand of the doctor. “Tile ear! beard of it, sent for your I father, abused him, told him to leave his presence. Hfrnever saw Mtn again. Your father took your mother abroad, supported her by his pen, changed his name. You were born, and your sister; and your mother died. Your father nad taken a hatred to his own class; he had become an ardent Republican. He wished his children to grow up in the same notion*, to be guided by the same ideas. 1 was sent for to consult with him; but he would not allow me to see either of you; he feared that in some way the secret would be disclosed. “I used to walk* up and down the long hall with him at Moreauville when all • : tile household were asleep, and then he told me that after his death I was to tell his children who their father had been, lie was very ill at that time, in the last stage of a mingled consumptive and heart disease. Well, he died suddenly; but he had given me the casket some months before. You will ask me why I have kept silent all these months. Because 1 wished to test your virtues and your sister’s jin the school of adversity. You have come out well, both of you, and I see no reason for prolonging your probation.” “Who are we, then?” asked Lionel quickly. “Your father was the Earl of Beryl, he was Lord Marlowe. The present’ old '< Earl of Beryl, who lies dying at OalthoTpe, is your grandfather. The old. earl ! is conscious. It is only right that you 1 should come with me there, that 1 may present you; show him the certificates, and also give written to him by his son, your father, and confided to me.” i Lionel buried his face in bis hands, the Strong young man trembled with emotion: presently, glancing up,’he said T j “But, Mr. Calthorpe?” “Ah! he is only a distant cousin of the earl; he is a generous iad, and, if he had Dot acted like a jackanapes in regard to this Watson woman, there could be no harm in his marrying your sister, for the earl would give him a few thousands, and you would settle anything on your sister to make her happy?” “Anything,” answered Lionel, with a : -Sf gfa. ... —— ; “'Don’t despair!” said the doctor, laying his hand on the young man’s shoulder; “Ella will surely write to you. I have 1 studied that girl, and I know— I “But there is a secret connected yith . the Wycherlys?” said Lionel. I “Ah! a very sad one,” returned Dr. Dundas gloomily. CHAPTER XXII. The Interview has taken place, Dr. Dundas has presented Lionel Leigh to the old earl as his grandson, his son’s letter has been read to him, in the presence of j witnesses he has acknowledged Lionel as i his heir, a new wiU has been made. ( Arthur Calthorpe sits alone, and desperate, in a secluded room in the mansion. : To find himself superseded by another heir was naturally bitter, but to know 1 himself cut off from love and happiness i was still more bitter, i 'Lionel Leigh Marlowe —that was the family name of the Earls of Beryl—was generous, noble-souled, and princely. He wished to have liberal settlements made on the young gentleman whose place and prospects fate had compelled him to usurp, and these settlements were drawn up very quickly. Lionel would fain have gone to the unhappy young mac and have said to him: “You love my sister, she loves you; marry her, and I shall be rejoiced.” But Ellen Watson, with her ponies, her fine toilets, her intangible but most perplexing claims, stood in the way. Arthur sat in a small, dark study, which looked into a secluded portion of the grounds. The French window opened upon a grass plot, surrounded with dark evergreen shrubs. All at once he was conscious of a figure obstructing the red light of the setting sun, which flooded the lawn and the window at that moment. Raising his head suddenly, he perceived Miss Ellen Watson. She wore a light riding habit, exquisitely made, which set off her slight form admirably. Her fair plaits descended from under a stylish riding hat. Her face was slightly flushed; there was a light, defiant and almost triumphant .ight in the blue eyes. Without a moment’s hesitation the young woman entered the room and stood by the side of Arthur. “Have you come to your senses?” she asked calmly. , “I have never lost them.’ he said, folding liis arms and looking at her sternly. “Well, so the news is that you are not to be Knrl of Beryl, bn) will remain Mr. Calthorpe, with about four thousand a year. I am contented to be .vlrs, Caltncrpi* on those terms; or will you settle on me half your income? and shall we live separate?" “Half mv income to you, a stranger —”

At that moment a dark shadow flitted across the brightness of the window, and Ellen Watson felt a momentary chill—a presentiment—a something intangible—she knew not what. Arthur Calthorpe also saw the shadow. Looking across the lawn to where the evergreens grew thick, he was certain that he perceived the figure of a man moving stealrh’ily among them, but the fact made little impression at the time. “I shall go on with the lawsuit, then,” said the lady loftily. “1 am sure the fact of yOur having called me Mrs. Calthorpe before witnesses, in Scotland, constitutes you my husband: otherwise I would consent to live as your wife, separate from you but on an income of two thousand per annum; that would suffice for my expenses, or nearly so,” “And now, perhaps, if you have said ail you have to say, you will have the kindness to leave the house,” said Arthur Calthorpe. With a light, ringing laugh, Miss Watson passed out of the French window, slashing off with her riding whip the head of a tall, golden lily which grew close to the window. “I have, left my pony at the little side gate Below the plantation,” she said ; “so I wish you good evening, my affectionate spoused “ Arthur Calthorpe ground his teeth with rage. This woman, whose hand he had scarcely clasped in courtesy, to claim him as her husband ! It was monstrous ! He stood and watched her cross the lawn. Scarcely had she disappeared among the bushes, when a loud shriek rent, the still air. and he at once rushed out and reached the thicket of bushes in time to find Ellen Watson stretched senseless and bleeding from a wound in the temple, while two men fought with the savage fury of wild beasts a tew feet farther off. One of these men was a sailor, a sort of Hercules in strength and build. His blue shirt-front, half open,--disclosed a hairy chest; his dress was travel soiled, his face brown as a gipsy’s, his great beard descended to his chest. And who was he struggling with? Whose hands rained down savage blows upon his head -—hands nerved with what seemed a supernatural strength. It was Colonel Wycherly, the nonentity, the proud, pompous nobody who owned all the wide manors of Wycherly. And he fought like a demon; he seemed to aim at the sailor’s life. At a little distance lay a terrible club, which he was making frantic efforts to clutch.

“Help, help!” roared the sailor, “if ye be a man ! This is a Send. I’m thinking. See how he served my poor lass there.” In a moment he joined forces with the sailor; but it seemed that the strength of the colonnl i-edonli|i»d"~u , lth opposiTTom 1-Ie hit and clawed Lite a wildcat. Arthur Calthorpe began to shout for help, and presently the hushes were torn aside, and there appeared Dr. Dundas. With one bo:. r J the doctor reached the colonel, kneeled on his chest, and then dashed some fluid from a flask into the convulsed face. The effect was instantaneous. There was another convulsive twitch, and then the whole face became still. It was like the fac<- of one dead. The hands lay motionless, tTe teeth were clenched. Another ruStie amid the 'rushes, and Mrs. Colonel Wycherly stood amid the alarmed and excited group. The lady wore a long train of lavender colored silk; on her head was a simple fichu of white lace; her face was ghastly suite. "Look* there," said Dr. Dundas, pointing to the form of Ellen Watson. "I have been an idibt, Mrs. Wycherly, to conceal this dreadful secret so long. I will tell all now, and I will no longer act as keeper. Mr. Cathorpe, I owe the whole county—and you, more especially—an account of this wretched secret of Wycherly; it shall be made in writing. But now let me see to this victim of Colonel Wycherly.” Mrs. Wycherly wrung her hands. The anguish upon the woman’s face was terrible. The doctor, areanwhile, put his hand upon the hrart of Ellen Watson.

“She will live,” he said coolly; “but she wTO want caTe and long nursing.” “Aye, my poor lass,” said the rough kailor, looking at her fondly; “she were a hit skittish, and fond of finery, and a clever lass; hut she thought I were dead, I will say that for her. She is my wife, sir,” he added, looking earnestly at Arthur Calthorpe—“my wife, whom I married four years ago at St. Ann’s church, in Penwaggan, a village of the Orkneys. I can prove my marriage and bring forward parson and clerk, if she feels inclined to dispute it, which she won't, I take it; for she thought me dead, drowned off Cape Horn, when the Mermaid went down there three years ago, and only five hands saved, of which I am one." From that night forth the young gentleman was forevpr rid of the preposterous claims of Ellen Watson. ' She, a vain, ambitious girt bad. in truth, married John King, four years back, in the Orkneys. She had lived'with him comfortably for a year., News came of the loss of the Mermaid and she believed herself a widow. Shq went ,to>. live with her father, who was postmaster in a Highland village, and there made the acquaiatance of Arthur Galthotpe, out on a trip for the autumn. The scheme entered into her ambitious soul of making him call her Mrs. Calthorpe before witnesses, and she was clever and daring euough to enlist sympathy, borrow money,, and bad not her husband returned, and been directed where to find her, there is no knowing what would have been the result of a lawsuit. As it was, she recovered. , Arthur Calthorpe and Lionel paid off her borrowed money for her, and she returned to the Orkneys with John King, repenting of her cruel and ambitious schemes.

In India Colonel Wycherly, then a dashing officer, fell in love with the haughty, beautiful daughter of hi* commanding officer. Min* Fitzgerald wa» engaged to another gentleman, bat zhe transferred her affections to the coldnel; they closed, and were married The diaappointed lover followed a dis-

taut station, struck the colonel in tbs face; a meeting was arranged, and the colonel shot his rival through the heart. This was the crime of which Ella spoke, and which Mrs. Wycherly always said needed expiation. Vengeance pursued the colonel. He fell asleep in the jungle* and awoke through sunstroke his intellectual power quenched. Dr. Dundas, staff surgeon of the regiment, had been his personal friend; and, being humane and’forui of science, devoted himself to work his cure. The colonel recovered consciousness, and enoijgh sense to appear as a rather stupid country gem tleman, of which Dr. Dundas said cynically there were a few specimens ih the hunting shires: and the, cokmef returned to his fine estates, with his wife, his doctor and a few confidential servants. The colonel was subject -to violent and sudden outbreaks: but his wife wouldnot consent to being sent to an asylum. She begged Dr. Dundas again and again to keep the secret, feeling confident of cure in the end. Ella only suspected her father’s condition. She had been more than once on the point of telling all to Lionel. It was the colonel who nearly killed Arthur Calthorpe at the ball —it was the colonel who, in a sudden fit of madness, struck his wife, aud then fled away shrieking on the night when Leila Leigh met the Lady of Wycherly sitting bonnetless by the wayside. The young cousin was named as heir to part of the estate, and Mrs. Wycherly, broken ih spirit, gave her consent to Lionel —now Lord Marlowe —when he asked to be allowed to pay ais addresses to Ella. And Ella wrote to him, as the doctor had predicted that she would. Afterward —when she heard that he was a lord, and would one day be an earl —that theirs was, after all, to be love in a castle, and not in a cottage —she was, perhaps, not disappointed; and, in short, there were two gay weddings oefore long at Wycherly. Arthur -Calthorpe and Leila live at Wycherly, which Mrs. Wycherly has let to them. There is only one thing to explain. On the night when the story opened, at the “Black Wolf,” it was Dr. Dundas who disturbed Lionel Leigh. Tlyre was a secret recess in the cupboard. in which he had the night before hidden the silver casket; and be was in the cupboard searching for it when Lionel was in bed. He afterward escaped unseen. —

(The End.)