Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
- sg
pwd
16
LEONIE, THE TYPEWRITER. “+
that you have so much admired. Eleven
o'clock is not late in New York.”
“Tt is for Lowell,
he is not accustomed to going out; he did not
mention that he should be gone for any
length of time, and furthermore, he knew
that I should need him very particularly to-
‘night. The whole thing in a nutshell is, that
it is not like Lowell, and Iam convinced that
something has happened. If he is not here
within half an hour I shall be sure of it.”
To the,surprise of all, Lynde Pyne arose.
His face was deadly white, his lips quivering
with dumb anxiety,
“You are quite right, Mr. Pryor!” he ex-
claimed. “Something must have occurred
out of the ordinary to keep him out so late.
Have you any idea where he was going?”
‘*No. Had he been gone longer I should
. say notify the police; but they would take
little interest in the case now, as he has been
gone so short a time, particularly as they
know nothing of the regular habits of the
boy. I suppose the only thing is to wait until
to-morrow morning; then, if he has not come
home, we must take every means in our
power to find him.” .
Lynde accepted the invitation that Mr,
Pryor extended to him to remain over night,
and the following morning descended to
breakfast without ever having removed the
clothing that he had worn the night before,
**You have heard nothing yet ?” he inquired
of Mr. Pryor, almost before they had greeted
each other,
** Not a word.” ,
The answer confirmed his fears,
Something had happened, but what, it was
impossible to determine.
He left Mr. Pryor to make what search he
deemed advisable, and going to his own home
long enough to change his clothes, called
upon Miss Chandler, .
He had not the remotest idea what he in-
tended to say to her, and the position in which
he found himself placed was a decidedly un-
pleasant one.
‘‘How pale you look!” exclaimed Miss
Chandler, offering him her lips to kiss.
It was an exceedingly cold caress that fell
upon them, but if she felt it, she made no
sign. .
“T don’t think I am quite well,
sleep last night.”
‘* fas anything happened ?”
‘*Not directly to me; but it concerns some
friends of mine, who were terribly upset; and
as I was with them, naturally I shared their
anxiety.” . .
‘What was it?”
«« A mysterious disappearance of a member
of the family. Itis really a most extraordi-
nary thing! The person I refer to is Miss
Leonie Cuyler!”
. He was looking directly at Miss Chandler
as he spoke, in fact had not removed his eyes
from the handsome face since his entrance.
- She started perceptibly, but recovered her-
self with suspicious promptness,
‘*You surprise me!” she said, coolly, ‘‘I
did not know that Miss Cuyler had been found
- since her other mysterious disappearance. It
seems that she has a penchant for disappear-
ances. One could almost get used to them,
they occur so frequently.”
“This is different from that. She had no
reason for it, none earthly, and I cannot un-
derstand it!” . .
**It seems to me that you are curiously in-
terested in Miss Cuyler!”
‘“‘Tam! Sheseems to bea young woman
who is bearing the burden of the wrong doing
of some one else.”
Miss Chandler's face flushed dully, .
“It is a subject upon which I have given
no thought,” she replied, coldly.
‘“‘ Somehow I hoped that she might have
come to you.” .
A pallor crept about the full Hips that Pyne
was not slow to see, .
He was aware also of the sudden tightening
of the hands abouta paper-cutter that she had
taken up, and of the quick, questioning glitter
that came to her eyes, to fade almost at once
under the restraint that she was putting upon
herself. oe
“To me?” she repeated, frigidly. ‘“T fail
y osee why you should have thought that, I
carcely knew Miss Cuyler.” io
* But you interested yourself in her once.
I did not
£
He has no friends here; |"
She might have thought that you would
again.” , “,
““¥ had really forgotten her, What I did
was not interest, but humanity. She would
never have come to me for anything.”
The very manner of the utterance of the
words convinced Pyne that she had been
there, and that Miss Chandler, his handsome
jiancee, knew more of the disappearance than
she proposed to tell, :
What was the secret that linked those two
together, and what had Miss Chandler done
with the young woman who seemed to pos-
sess some secret that she was determined to
haye concealed? ~ ret
He knew that he could discover nothing
further from her. He knew that inquiry
would bring forth no further information, and
that the only possible hope of ascertaining
was to wait and watch,
He must secure the co-operation of a clever
detective, and with the assistance that he
could lend, he hoped for the best.
His manner to Miss Chandler was affection-
ate, as usual, though there was never an
particular amount of demonstration. “
He felt that whatever the nature of his dis-
coveries might be, they would not release him
from his obligation, so that what he was doing
was because of his love for Leonie and the fact
that humanity demanded it. .
| As soon as consistency with his former
habits would allow, he left the residence of
his fiancee, fully convinced that there was a
deadly secret, and determined that, for the
sake of the innocent woman, he would
fathom it. /
‘You seem in some way to have changed
to me of late, Lynde,” she said to him as he
was leaving. ‘I feel that you are growing
away from me. Iam afraid that I destroyed
my own chances for happiness upon that day
that I forgot the modesty of my sex, and went
to your office to plead with you for what I
could not allow to be wrested from me with-
out a struggle. I loved you, Lynde, and felt
that to lose you would be worse than death.
You do not despise me for my unwomanliness,
do you? You will never forget the promise
that you made to me on that day ?”
‘“‘T will never forget that promise, Evelyn.
You may besureof that. Youmust not think
that your act that day caused you to fall in
my esteem. A woman loses none of the
beauty of her sex because she loves. My
promise is yours, and there is nothing that can
release me from it but death.” :
She kissed him and let him go,
As the door closed upon him, she turned
away with a short laugh.
“ Fool!” she muttered. | ‘‘ He will keep his
word, and under any circumstances I am
safe.”
CHAPTER XX.
“Lizt Liz!’:
The call had to be repeated many times be-
fore it met with an answer, and even then it
came faintly and broken by sobs.
““ What do you want?
“‘ Has Ben gone out?”
«Yes, curse him!”
“ Won't you come in awhile? It is terrible
in this horrible darkness alone. Don’t cry,
Liz. . Come and tell me what he has done to
you.
“It ain’t tome. God knows I would bear
it and say nothing if it was only me; but it is
Dick, poor little Dick, and Iam afraid he has
killed him.”
‘Open the door, Liz. Let me help you in
some way. I swear to youthat I will not try
to escape.” . .
The woman arose and threw it open, allow-
ing the girl in the rags of a boy to come from
that pit of darkness into the light.
“‘T would not care much if you did escape!”
she exclaimed dully. ‘‘He would kill me
then, and I think I would be happier if he
did. Look there.”
She pointed to the child who lay upon a pile
of straw on the floor, the miserable little
hunchback who had unconsciously prevented
Leonie from leaving there upon the night of
her imprisonment. ‘
“He has killed him,” continued the woman,
her voice rising passionately. ‘ Last night
when the poor child came in he was sick, so
d, - ce
body after“him, Fem told
thing, and Dick did not ger
Ben thought he socht, sad fi
terrible beating. “This mornin® the pod:
bed. I begged Ben to let him alone, but the:
came. Dick got up, and as he did 80, stag-=?
gered against the wall and fell; then Ben,
who swore it was nothing but laziness, got +
the cowhide, and the poor body is black and:
blue from the marks upon it. fe
would but strike him dead, how much, good.
it would do us all!” . yo
you not run away ? .
“Why? she asked bitterly.
| 3
“Where.
would find me and he would kill'‘me} You
don’t know Ben asId6, He is not the only
wife and yet forces her to live with him, be-
is a good way to torture her. I don’t jro be-,
cause I am afraid, like a thousand other poor
women who inhabit the world. Some day 1.
know that I shall kill him. If he would con-
fine his beatings to me, I might endure'it, but
when he treats Dick in the way that he does,
there will come a. time when the worm will
turn, and I, who have been trampled‘ upon,
will become a fiend of his own creating.”
Leonie had turned away from ‘the woman's
passionate agony, and had lifted the little
form that lay upon its rude bed in her arms.
The child groaned and shrunk back as
though expecting a blow, and a hot tear fell
upon his flushed cheeks as he saw the com-
passionate face bent above him. |
brow, and in a soothing voice said: i
“ What pains you, Dick? Tell me, dear,
and perhaps there may be something that I
can do for you! Don’t be afraid, There is
nothing to hurt you now.” — ; ae
He lifted his scorching hand and laid it
upon her face. His lips trembled so that articu-
lation was almost impossible, but he man-
aged to make her understand the words:
“* My throat!” *.
For one moment she shrunk from
in the next he was lifted in her arms.
sat in a chair rocking him to and fro. {
‘“*Liz,” she cried, excitedly, ‘‘ you must go
for a doctor at once—at once, do you hear ¢—~
or the child will die! He has scarlet-fever or
diphtheria, one of the two—I am not)doctor
enough to know which!” '
A wild terror leaped to tne woman’ face,
but she did not move. * i
““Tean’tl” she gasped.
}
him, but
She
| .
* Ben would kill
kill Dick because I loved him enough to risk
it. Oh, my God, whatamIto do?” |
“Go for the doctor, quick! commanded
Leonie, ‘‘ Bencan think that I was. jocked
up, for I swear to you that I will make no at-.
tempt to escape. If he undertakes to hurt
dying ?” i
‘“‘ Dying! dying!” repeated the unhappy
woman, in an awe-stricken voice, * Mev,
God hear my vow!, If he dies I will Kill the
man that has caused it, I swear it! (Je bas
wrecked my life, he has made me what [ 2,
and I will end itall ina fitting manne. Oh,
Dick! Dick!” . t
She snatched: up a scarf and wravn7
about her head, dashing down the stéj«
out the door with the speed of the winil,
She did not pause even to secure the: «):
behind her, but. seemed almost to fly 4
until she had reached the officefof a deetsr.
“Quick!” she gasped. “It is Dick, and |e
is dying!” .
The medical man knew nothing of
Dick was, butthe manner of the wom.
impressive to the last degree.
“Wait!” he cried. ‘What is the i:
with him? I must know, in order to !
what I may need.” '
“God knows what!” replied.Liz, her «xj1
sion indicating insanity. “I think Ben has
killed him!” .
The doctor waited for nothing further.
Tit
aud
that he could scarcely drag his misshapen
He snatched his hat, and without @ werd
es - . w
would Igo? What would I do? . Besides, he’ ’
man in the world that cares nothing for his
was so sick that he could ‘not get out*st his! ,
more I begged the more determined he be-: |.
Oh, if God:
““Why do you live with him, Liz? Why do’: a
2
cause the devil in his nature tells him thatit ~.
Leonie laid her cool hand upon. his burning a
me for leaving you here alone, and he ‘vould ©
Dick when he comes home I will find: a way,
to prevent him if I get killed myself for it!
Oh, Liz, go! _Isit possible that you can stop ¢ -
to think of anything when this poor chili is
gto oS
t
ees mma en leet atic age a
a RES sence pee cane
hoe