‘
We Me ee ee - IN 7 ANN -7N
EE ERRORS
The Diatriond Coterie’
By LAWRENCE M. LYNCH ok
AFIS IAI
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“i - “}N AN AN AN ey. @X
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(E. M. Van Deventer) ye
Author of “A Woman’s Crime,” “John Arthur’s Ward,” “The Lost 3 Witness,” “A Slender Clue,” “ Dangerous Ground,” “ Against Odds,” Etc., Etc.
RII IE JORIS IK KS
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YEE EEE EEE EER ERE EA HEE EE KEE
(Ci ntinued )
CHAPTER X.
and the private detective had just completed their work of trans- gering to paper a minute description of the Wardour diamonds, when the door igened quietly, awnd Francis Lamotte, ale, heavy-eyed, but quite composed, : “l before them. Tee you finished your work?’’ he gsked wearily. ‘If so, may I intrude?’’ “Come, by all means,’ replied Con- stance, gently. **Your are not intruding, Pronk.” “Thank you. sank listlessly into a chair. who brought you this
Sybil?” ‘Constance glan: ed toward the detec-
tive, and Francis, interpreting the look, hastened to say :—
“Jt is known to Mr. Belknap, I pre- sme—this shameful business. There is no use of secrecy, where all the world is already agape. My sister, you tell me,
Miss W: i rd mur
He came forward, and ‘*Constance, news about—
has eloped with a low brute. I am numbed with the horror of it. But I must hear it all; every word, every par-
ticular. Who brought you the news, Con- stance?”
“Doctor Heath,
“Ah!”
The interjection came through shut teeth, and just fora moment shadow flitted across his features; be said, with quiet composure :—
“Heath? ah, yes; and he gave you all
the particulars—all that he had gathered ?’’
“Doctor Heath told me all that he had arned,”’ she replied, still coldly.
Frank Lamotte arose slowly, wearily.
“T must see Heath,”’ he said, taking ap his hat. ‘‘It is small wonder that you speak so frostily tothe brother of a girl who has disgraced herself, Constance. However, I realize my fall; henceforth, I know my place.”’
The detective arose and moved uneasily to the window.
“Tam sorry to hear this absurdity, Frank,”’ said Constance, with some _ sev- efity! “You know my position always in these matters; only yourself can injure yourself in my eyes; and I am sorry to hear you speak thus of Sybil. I have yet to be convinced that in some manner, she is not more a victim than disloyal. I have not condemned her; why should you, her brother?’’
A hot flush came over the young man’s face, and his eyes glowed with a strange light. He shifted his position uneasily; then, abruptly, he turned to the detective.
“If under the circumstances, and hav- ing seen my mood, you care to accept my hospitality, it is still extended, sir,’’ he sid, somewhat ewkwardly; ‘will you accompany me to town, and afterwards lunch with me?’’
“L will accompany you to the town,’ replied the detective, coming back from the window; ‘‘but I fear I must decline your hospit::lity for to-day; another time, perhaps.”’
Francis bowed stiffly, Constance.
tance, good lye,’’ he said, mourn- fuk, snd holding out his hand. ‘I will Noi lease you again I will keep at a safe distance.”’
“You will displease me by that,’ she replied, kindly, time exte nding her hand. ‘I mean by faying away; I want you to come often, and to bring me any news that may come imm Sybil. Remember I intend to be her champion, ; snd you must be mine.”’
“Then I may come as a bringer of tews?’’ he asked.
“You may come as usu: ul.’ she retorted, @ trifle sharply, ‘and come especially hen there is news.”’
“Thank you;’’ he bowed over her _ then turned to the private detec-
“God morning, Miss Wardour.’ ae that individual, coming forward; is Probable that I shall not see you wales: 4% I will leave for the city this evening, but you will hear from me as the case find "1 or itis possible that I may hee —. nt to pay this place an-
“In which case, you will of course Present yourself,"’ smiled Constance.
Yilask where you intend to pass a until you leave for the city,
** replied the girl, icily.
then
then turned to
doing at the same
“T can hardly say; about the town, as may happen. ”
eae Pardon the question; I was King of the business in hand; you
fan hardly hope to find anything new in the Village. ta “One can nev. r tell, Miss Wardour. If do learn anything new, you shall hear me. Present my adieus to Mrs. Aliston, and once more good day.’’ Constance watched the two as they Walked away, together, the handsome form of the younger man in such e ed contrast with the shambling gait the detective. Only for a momegt, the “ver, then she went swiftly through halls, out at a rear entrance, and the path toward the rear gardens. A ‘tre she found the tramp detective with’ or pretending to busy himself et Small pruning knife. you want to follow him, you must is ee ata * she said, bre athlessly ; **he te ing townward with Mr. Lamotte: nds to loiter anout the town and take uw evening train.”’ nid “we — t appear so much excited,”’ Prunin, . aie detective, dropping his With a. ed ®, and picking it up again deliberation.
€ wming up from the river. be must be
the dark '
‘*There is a man |
getting pretty near us. No, aon’t 160k now.”’
‘*Dear me!’’ began Constance.
‘*Listen,’’ he went on, without vegard- ing her ejaculation. ‘‘I am going to leave here in two minutes you can say that you have discharged me. I may not see you again for months. I may return at any time. I may as well warn you here, not to confide anything to Mr. Belknap at another time you will learn why. Another thing, it is just possible that you may need my services at some future time. I was about to give you an address that will reach me at any time, but we may be observed by that fellow who is com- ing. I will send you by mail a card con- taining the address. Pray call upon me if you need my aid. I hope Belknap will find your robbers, but you were wise not to tell him that you had saved your diamonds. Keep your counsel on that subject always, Miss Wardour, it will save you trouble. And now you had better move on. I intend to follow and overtake your two departing guests.”’
He turned carelessly away as he spoke, and Constance, after a pretense of exam- ining the shrubbery, faced about and walked a few paces down the path, then lifting her eyes carelessly, they fell upon the intruder. Uttering a low ejaculation of surprise, she hastened toward him.
“Evan! why Evan!’ she cried, anxi- ously. ‘‘ You look ghostly, and you must be in tronble.”’
‘Or I would not be here,’’ said Evan Lamotte, bitterly. ‘‘Evan, the ne’er-do- well, does not seek his friends when the sun shines. Eh, Conny? Don’t go in,’’ laying one hand upon her arm, «s she was about to turn toward the house, ‘‘I —I came to talk with you.”’
‘**But you will come in, Evan?’
‘*No, I should fall out with your old cat—I beg pardon, Con., I mean your old aunt, directly.’’
‘‘Aunt Honor shut herself in her own room an hour ago, child; she has been worn out witn too much excitement. We have had a detective here all the morn- ing, not to mention Fraak, who has made a wonderful discovery.’’
‘‘I dare say,’’ muttered .the young fellow, dryly, ‘‘ Frank will make another wonderful discovery soon. Conny,’’ clutch- ing at her arm again, ‘‘have you heard?’
‘*Have I heard what, Evan?’’
**About Sybil—my sister,’’ broke, ending in a sob. ._
‘* Yes, Evan,’’ she replied, very gently. “I have heard.’’ :
It was noticeable, the difference be- tween her treatment of this younger brother of Sybil Lamotte and the one who had just gone.
With Francis she had preserved, even while her heart was full of sympathy and pity for his trouble, a certain dignity even in her kindness, an arm’s length repellant stateliness, that galled and tor- mented the ardent, impulsi.e, and tgo eager young man. With Evan she was all pity, all sympathy, full of familiar sisterly kindness and patience.
Women are strange creatures; we may be as handsome as the Apollo, and they will steel their hearts against us. If we would have the confidence, the caresses, the tenderest love of a pitying woman, we must be mentally, or morally, or physically maimed, or halt, or blind.
Evan Lamotte was one of the world’s unfortunates, and the pitying heart of the fair heiress had no scorn for such as he. A black sheep, so they called Evan Lamotte, not yet of age, with a slender physique, a pale, handsome face, hand- some in spite of his dissipations. He seemed possessed of an evil spirit, that cried incessantly, ‘‘drink, drink, drink.’’
his voice
Every means had been tried to win him |
from his dissipation; tears, entreaties, threats, bribes, were alike unavailing. In spite of himself, against himself, Evan Lamotte seemed driven downward by a relentless, umseen enemy.
‘*Reckless, worthless, hopeless.’’ These were the adjectives commonly coupled with his name, and yet his sister had deemed him worth her loving; his mother had deemed him worth her tears, and Constance Wardour had deemed him werth her pitying kindness.
**Constance,’’ he choked back the sobs that arose in his throat; ‘‘don’t think that I have been drinking; when a fellow like me is grieved almost to madness, you call him maudlin, but I never cry in my cups, Con. And I have been per.ectly sober since Saturdday night, orif you like, yesterday morning. I drank hard all that day after they told me, Con., but not one drop since; not one. Con., tell me what have you heard?’’
‘*About all that is known, I think, Evan. Oh! Evan, do you know, can you guess why she has done this—this terri- ble thing? Come down this walk, Evan; let us sit under that tree, on that bench.’’
She moved toward the spot indicated, he following mechanically, and seating himself beside her, in obedience to her
| gesture.
‘‘Do I know the reason?’’ he repeated. ‘*Do I guess it? Oh, if I could guess it; it has haunted me every moment; that strong desire to know what drove my sister to this fate? It is the questian I came here to ask. Con., help me to think; she must have said something; must have given you some hint.”’
‘‘Alas. But she never did.’’
“‘And you can not guess; you have no clue to help us unravel this mystery?”’
Constance shook her head.
““Con., oh, Con., you don’t think—you on think that she loved that—that
east ?’’
‘No, Evan, I can’t think that.”’
-
| I must know | this;
DAILY EXAMI‘ ER, CHARLOTTETOWN MAY 10, 1897.
“amen,” excitediy; ‘‘you must think as I do; that there is a mystery; that there has been foul play. Con., I don’t
care for anything on earth, except Sybil;
what has driven her to I must help her; 1 can help her; I ean take her from that brute.”’
His face was livid, and his «yes glowed with the flerce light that we have seen in the eyes of his elder brother. Con-
stance saw the growing excitement, ant sought to soothe it.
“Evan, let us not anticipate,’ she said, gently. ‘‘All that we can do for
Sybil shall b» done, but it must be with | ber comsen. When does jour father come?”’
“I don’t know,’’ sullenly ‘‘I_ tele-
graphed him Saturlay; he day, no cout. But he late.’’
‘Alas, yes; I regret so much that it was for my sake he was absent from home at such a time, and Frank, too.”
‘Frank? bah! What could he do? What could iny one do?’’
She turned, and scanned his leenly.
‘Evan, you suspect, or you know some- thing. o
“I hive a thought,’’ he replied. ‘‘I hardly dare call it a suspicion. If I could know it to be the truth,’’ he hissed, be- tween set, white teeth, “I should know w hat to do, then.’
Don't look like that, Evan; you look wicked.’
‘I feel wicked,’’ he cried, fiercely. ‘“You can never guess how wicked. When I think of that brute, that beast, that viper; of the power he must hold over her, I am mad, crazed. But he will come back, and then—then I will murder him and set her free.’’
With his gleaming eyes, his hands, his white, uplifted face, he looked like a beautiful evil demon. Constance shuddered as she gazed, ani then her hand ciosed firmly upon his arm, as she said :—
‘*Evan, listen: Do you think it would lighten Sybil’s burden to hear you rave thus? Do you want to make her lot still harder to bear? Sybil loves you. Would it make her heart lighter to have you embroil yourself for her sake? You know your faults. If you let this hideous idea take place in your mind now, it will break out some day when the demon por- sesses you. If Sybil Lamotte returns, and
will come to- will come too
face
hears you utter such threats, she will have an added torture to bear; she will have two curses instead of one. You can
not help Sybil by commitzing an act that would cut you off from her forever. You have caused her heart-aches enough already. See, now, if you can not lighten her burden in some different, better way. But all this is superfluous, perhaps. I wonder if Sybil will come back, at all?’’
Lower and lower sank his head, as_ he listened, and then something that she had said seemed to chain and hold his thoughts.
Slowly the evil light faded from his eyes, and into his face crept a strange, fixed look. Forgetful of time, or of his companion’s presence, his thoughts fol- lowed this new course, his hands clench- ing and unclenching themselves, his tecth burying themselves from time te time in his thin under lip. So long he sat thus, that Constance herself, from watching and wondering at his stramge mood, wandered off into a sad reverie, the subject of which she could hardly have told it was such a vague mixture of Sybil’s sorrows and her own unrest.
After a time he st?rred as if arousing himself with difficulty from a nightmare; and Constance, recalled to herself, in turn looked up to encounter his gaze, end to be astonished at the new, pur- poseful self-restraint upon his face, and the inscrutable intentness of his eye. ~
‘*Con.,*’ he said slowly, even his voice seeming to have gained a new strange undertone, ‘‘Con., you are an angel. You have set me on my feet.”’
"On your feet, Evan?’’
**¥es, on my feet, mentally at least. I don’t suppose any one could set me per- manently on my physical, corporeal pins. Beg pardon for the slang, Conny, I don’t forget how you and Sybil used to lecture me for that, and my other vices. Pcor sis, she had given up the drink talks latterly, given.ine over as hopeless, and so I am. Con., I haye made a new re- solve.’’
Constance smiled faintly.
**Oh, you smile. You think I am go- ing to swear off again. No, Con., that’s of no use, I should know myself for a liar all the time. I shall never quit li- quor; I can’t and I tell you,’’ he whis- pered this fiercely, ‘‘they know that I can’t, and they know why I can’t. Oh! you need not recoil; we are not the first farsily that has inherited a taint; and I am the one unfortunate in whom that taint has broken forth. Let me tell you a secret; since my first potation, my mother has never once remonstrated with me; never once upbraided; my proud, high tempered mother. She knows the folly of trying to reclaim the irreclaim- able. But,’’ lowering his voice, sadly, ‘‘my mother never loved me.’’
She shuddered at the tone, knowing that this last statement, at least, was all too true, and, to direct his thoughts from so painful and delicate a subject, said :—
‘*‘And your resolve then, Evan?’’
‘‘ Mw pesolve.’’ his month setting inte
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| that any good exists in me.’’
|
hard 1ines once more. ““Un, that! wea, it is a resolye vou pxt into my head, Con. ;although 111 swear the thought was never in your 1ini. ! have resolved to act upon your acvice; to curb my hea- thenish temper, and to help Sybil, when the right time comes, in the right way.”
She looked at him fixedly.
‘‘Evan, are you sure this last state of mind is not worse than the first?’
He laughed, ironically.
‘‘How hard it is to make you believe
‘Oh, not that, Evan, but you look so strange; not so wild as before, but—’’
‘Just as wicked.”’
‘Well, yes; ’’
‘Well, Con., you can’t expect a fellow to feel pious all in an instant; mine is a pious resolve, and the proper feeling must follow. Isn’t that about how they preach it?’’
‘‘That’s about how they preach it, sir. Now listen, I don’t intend to stir one step, or allow you to stir, until you have
explained some of your dark sayings; .
rou are going to tell me what this new resolve is.’’
(To be Continued. )
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