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4. F. HILL & CO.
Editers and Propr'!
~The Mystery of Sevel Gales.
BY FLORENCE BIRNEY,
~ Author of “Saints and Sinners,” ‘A Waifs
“ortune,” etc.y etc. *
Vol. XIV,
vee CHAPTER I. j
There, could: not. be found a more pict-
uresque old, English . house in all the
Southern. coun-. - :
ietors.
noose about his neck.” His mother kept
house for him, and he had a little sister—
a half-sister — whom - he idolized. ‘The
other members of his household were his
cousin Jt ulius, to whom the estates would
‘descend in ease he died without issue, and
little Ruth’s governess, Violet Arden.
t was of this governess—the most beau-
tiful girl he had ever seen—that Roger
West was thinking as he stood. by one of
the windows of the: picture -gallery in the
ENTERED AT THE FOST-OFFICE AT AUGUSTA FOR TRANSMISSION AT SECOND-CLASS RATES.
4 - Augusta, Maine, August 15, 1892.
asked Roger, advancing, and lifting in‘a
warm clasp one delicate white hand. “It
was Ruth you expected to see, perhaps, or
—or—my cousin Julius.” ,
“Julius!. Oh, no, no ” She drew away
from him, and he felt.a shudder run
through her.
“Who, then?”
She was silent, her face averted, ‘her
eyes downea:
“Violet, ” he said, his voice trembling a
Whole No. 219.
No. 8.
1I- MONTHLY,
One Dollar Ver Year,
a governess, and Jam ‘a rich man that you
refuse: my loye?..Do you fear what “the
world would say? Or. that my mother
object? My dearest, those objections
& mn weigh nothing beside’ the greatness of
my love. My mother thinks you a gentle,
loyely woman—as who could help doing?
—and she will accept you without com-
mentor one unkind word. Only let’ me
1 i é
iope that I can win your love in time:
- Violet, and [ will be content.” ©. .>',
*gds *“* No!—oh—
ties than Seven
x -~ Gables. It was
a venerable pile »
: “of gray . stone
a that, the hand
‘of time and the
, Wagaries of cli-
‘mate had. mel-
» lowed into that
“yo warm and har-
% monious: hue
_ whichpoetsand
tastically, carv-
ed and twisted
into quaint, de-
a vices above.
the 4
whole length of
the front of the
house there ran
a triple row of
shallow. strips,
surmounted
with a broad,
flat: terrace,
while at. the
32 back the lower
: windows had
been... modern-
ized and opened
down °.to . the
ground, soas to
admit .of . an
easy access to
the gardens
and pleasure
grounds, which
were considera-
bles in» extent,
and were. well,
Naa
UN
, “ts 4 ee
tl oo tet] “als
iN
we
Coe
Naa
tit, }
a“
fia
aon
&
$
ah
$
e
&
B
®
~ coming.
. There was ab-
solute terror in
her i
voice, and Rog-
just as fhe door
of thé gallery
, Somer man than
. his, cousin, and
his junior. But
“there was upon
_ his face a look
of habitual dis-
content, A dark
scowl came up-
on his brow as
standing by the
deep | old win-
dow, and mark-
edthe agitation
in their faces.
ut, angry
though he
ight be, he
held himself in
, check,for many
and great were’
his obligations
to his cousin.
“T am -inter-
. rupting a pleas-
’ ant interview, [
fear,” he said,
struggling to,
speak - calmly,
bitterness of his
park, and there were great clumps of fine
t old oaks and elms that came up in some
i), places so close to the house as to. impart a
i dreary and melancholy aspect to it.
Within the house, the rooms were large
but somewhat gloomy; the furniture was
old-fashioned,’ handsome and. valuable.
There .were , whole’ galleries , full “of old
family portraits that looked forth in an
em ominous fashion, with pale faces and ever-
fixed eyes from their dark backgrounds of
ages -blackened canvas.
Roger West was proud of his ancestral
Byes ,home, proud of. the broad’ acres which
“stretched far and wide almost as far as the
eye could reach, and it was one of the
dearest dreams of his life that a son should
come after him to inherit them.
But he was not married, and until within
afew months he had seen no woman he
had cared to make his wife.’ There were
: many sweet and lovely girls in the county,
te and he ‘was considered a most eligible parti
, and was paid great attention by. both the
damsels themselves’ and their, mothers;
it he had not yet pat the matrimonial
Ser
“as HE REACHED THE SHORE HE HELD THE WEAPON OUT TO SELINA.”
dusk one evening in the month of April.
How lovely she was!, How dear she had
become to him during the two months she
ad been an inmate of. the house! But
she seemed to avoid him; her dark, helio-
jrope eyes fell benéath his gaze whenever
ked at her, and a soft, swift blush
Santled her cheek whenever he spoke to
her. Was. it only girlish» modesty’ and
timidity ? he questioned, or did she know in-
stinctively that she had roused in his breast
the deepest passion he had ever known? +)
As he stood there, gazing out on the
dusky; garden below, the door opened
softly, and, closed. more softly. still, and
turning, he saw her coming toward him—
the darling of his heart. She was coming
with an eagerness in her manner he had
never, seen “before, and as she drew near
she said, with hurried breath:
“TI did not think to find you here already.
Am _— then she started back with a
little faint ery of surprise and alarm and
the blood all left her face, while a strange
expression of terror came wu
* “Did you take me for some one else?”
little as he uttered for the first time the
sweet. Christian name he had’ said over
and ‘over to himself. many a time when
alone; “I wish you would trust me.
Iso harsh and stern that’ you must fly
from me-whenever I. appear?. Are you
afraid of ‘me, child? My poor little girl,
if you only knew how dear you have
grown. to. me, how much I long to win a
little love in return, and how it pains me
to see you avoid me.”
, don’t, please don’t; I must’ go
away!” she faltered, turning from him.
“No, you shall not leave me so,” cried
Roger, with sudden passion, as he made a
step forward and threw both arms about
her. “his is, my orportunity, and I will
not lose it... For. weeks Lhave been. long-
ing for a chance to’ tell you how I love
‘ou, to beg you to be my wife—my dar-
ting, my darling!”
h, les me go, please; please let me
gor she half sobbed, struggling in his
embrace. . “I can’t listen to you—I must
not, indeed.”
‘And why? Is it because you are only
‘voice, \“ You
« spe I pardon
me. I came to look for you, Roger. Edith
Merle and Selina Esby are here, and my
aunt desired, you: to come as soon as possi-
Am | ble.
“Certainty. Will you excuse me Miss
Arden?” and Roger West turned to look at
the down-cast face of the governess.” “I
will trast Julius to escort you down stairs,
unless”—and he hesitated, a longing tone
in his voice, | “unless you would rather go!
with me.”
She shook her head slightly, but did not
speak; and with a fierce rage in his heart <
towards his handsome young cousin, ,Sir
Roger went out, ana left them alone. to- :
gether in the galler
Tle was searcel in the mood to play the
agreeable host; but Edith Merle had been |,
away from her "home for several years; he
had not seen her since she was a girl of
fourteen, and her father. was one of: his
best friends. It was his duty to pay her
some attention. ‘Miss Selina Esby was an
old acquaintance, for she had frequently. »,
visited at Merle Manor, staying months at
a’time. She was a ‘eunite, practical,
hear some one).
shaking’ . °
er released | her i
nearly tenyears |.
Se Gahan Se oie ey nt
