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“4g A DREADFUL PHitPT ATION.
Yes, deadly foes, and destined to hate each other more
-and more, for when the old millionaire’s papers were exam-
ined, the beautiful widow found that she was foiled of her
--yers gravely assured
dearly-bought revenge at last. ;
For no will was found, although Xenie protested passion-
ately that her husband had made a will the very last day.
of his life. . .
, he most careful and assiduous search failed to reveal
the existence of any real document like a will, and the law-
only a third of her deceased husband’s wealth, the re-
“mainder falling to the next of kin, Howard Templeton.
‘You see, midam,” said the old lawyer, whom she was -
anxiously questioning, ‘if Mr. St. John had left a child,
you could claim the whole estate as its lawful guardian,
even without the existence of a will. But there being no
nearer kin than Mr. Templeton, it legally falls to him, after
“you receive your widow's portion.” - Se
The young widow brooded over those words night and
ay. . .
- She hated Howard Templeton more than ever. 7
She would have given the whole world, had it been hers,
to wrest that fortune from her enemy's grasp, and leave ~
him poor and friendless to fight his way through the hard
world. , Lo So oe
‘Oh! if I only could find that will,” she thought wildly.
‘Ts it true that Mr. St. John made it, or was he deceiving:
me? He was utterly insane. Could one expect truth from
_a@madman?”
{
_ Gradually, as weary weeks flew by, she began to believe
that Mr. St. John had deceived her.
_ She felt quite sure in her own mind, after a little while,
that he had never made the will,
He had fully meant for Howard’ Templeton to inherit
his wealth. = - . oo,
Yet bitterly as she regretted its loss she could not bring
herself to hate the memory of the old man she had married,
and who had loved her for a little while with so fond and
foolish a passion, . :
her. |
She woke at night from dreadful dreams that recalled that _
lastawful day of her husband’s life, and lay shuddering and
weeping, and praying to forget that fearful face, and blood-
curdling, maniacal laugh that still rung in her shocked
hearing.
‘You are growing thin and pale, Xenie,” Mrs, Egerton
said, when she came to condole with her, more for the loss
.of the fortune than ‘the loss of her husband, ‘ People are
{rs. St. John that she could claim.
The memory of his dreadful death was too strong upon .