The Argosy — page 102: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Mrs. Ravens Temptation. 87 ‘¢Some relatives of mine who had an interview with you the other day parted from you in your debt,” he said, coldly. ‘‘I presume I also owe you something for our conversation to-day. Do youconsider that I ought to pay for the advertisement you inserted in the newspaper, urging that your message to me should be delivered? Please to name what sum will satisfy you.” ‘“‘T will not take one farthing,” she said, in a tone as chilly as his own. ‘Neither from them nor from you. Rely upon that.” ‘Pardon me if I do not thank you,” answered Frank. ‘I would prefer to pay you.” She turned her face full upon him. Her eyes glittered under the heavy black veil. ‘‘And I prefer the account between us to stand open,” she said, smiting her hand on the back of a chair as she spoke. “That is what I feel your conduct means,” said Frank, with as much composure as he couldcommand. ‘‘And I prefer not to keep open accounts. I think we have no more to sayto each other. But it must be discovered who you are and where you come from, and I shall try my best at it. Good morning, madam.” “Stop,” she cried. ‘‘ Go back to the house you came from, Frank Raven, that of Mr. Connell, and go alone into the drawing-room. Against the wall, between the windows, stands a little table. Onit are two china jars, or vases, containing pots with flowers growing in them. The flowers are, I think, geraniums, and the vases are alike, only one has a green rim and the other a blue one. ‘Take up the blue one, remove the flower, and under the earth you will find a sealed envelope. It and its contents are for you.” ‘What are the contents P” “That you will soon see. If they do not convince you that they come from a friend, from one to whom your welfare 1s worth some- thing, and whose advice is not cheaply given, then nothing else will, and you must go to your doom. Beware! I say it to you for the second time. You stand to-day where two roads branch off, roads that are not likely to meet again. ‘Take heed which you choose, if you care that the future should be well with you. And now go, for I can do no more.” Frank slightly bowed his head, cast back a parting glance at the strange figure standing motionless in the gloom, and obeyed. Halting on the doorstep, he considered what he should do next. The woman would no doubt understand that he meant to institute an inquiry. Perhaps his declaration had been over-candid—but Frank liked to be open in all he did. Not even an enemy would be taken an unfair advantage of. Did he expect to find anything in the china pot in Mrs. Connell’s drawing-room? He did not know. After that incident of the ring, he was prepared for any marvel. That ring—that ring! He had placed it on his finger unhindered by the woman. But for that ring, he should already, in the open sunshine and fresh air, have begun GOnlGaooks (GO