The Argosy — page 262: what you’re looking at

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

The Mystery of Allan Grale. 243 George Vivian having walked quickly on with Lettice, paused to say good night at the top of their little lane leading to Dr. Palmer’s house. ‘The Doctor did not invite him in. On the contrary, he bade him hasten home, for a heavy dew was threatening. Charles Carr and Mark Acland were waiting supper for them. The young men had spent a pleasant evening together. ‘They had wandered out into the woods and remained there long after sunset ; and their faces and their minds were still fresh with the sweet breezes and the “ hearty counsel” held with one another. Charles was eager for news of the party at Moorland House, and the two girls related it. The young chemist and embryo doctor were much amused. ‘Tf the spirits could have given a hint who that man was who came to our shop, if he was not Allan Grale, it would have been some satis- faction to me,” said Mark. ‘As for dragging the Black Pool, of course it should be done. Don’t you think so, sir ?” Dr. Palmer did not answer. Charles spoke. ‘“‘Only—I suppose—if they don’t find anything in it, they will be almost more uneasy now than if they do.” ‘“ But,” dissented Mark Acland, ‘it is one thing to be uneasy over the truth, and it’s another to be pestered by a fancy. ‘Truth can always be endured.” Mark was somewhat of a philosopher in his way. And it seemed to Agnes that if she had wanted an oracle, she would far sooner have accepted the chance opinions of the two young men, bright and healthy from their woodland ramble, than the “inspirations” of hysterical Miss Bessie Tempest, with her flabby furbelows, and her faint perfumes. And yet, for all Agnes Palmer’s scepticism and con- tempt, the words spoken by Bessie ‘Tempest haunted her and kept her wakeful half through the night. | The next day was Sunday, a sweet summer Sunday. In those lovely Dering lanes, with the sunbeams glancing through the over-arch- ing trees, and the cleanly cheerful groups of villagers wending their way from snug mossed cottages to the white church gleaming on the ereen hill-side, it seemed hard to believe in the existence of sin and suffering, deception and crookedness. ‘There was strength in the sweet solemnity of the worship, there was soothing in the simple melody of the hymn. Agnes, like all people of healthy nature, yielded herself to healthy influences the moment they touched her ; and the pain in her spirit settled into a mere blank, a want of something which ought to have been there—an emptiness like that of the Court pew in Dering Church, for not one of the Vivians appeared at Divine service to-day. On Monday morning Mark Acland was to return to Sladford. He had made arrangements with his master, the doctor, not to be expected before noon. ‘This would give him time to walk over to Carstow, after breakfast at Dr. Palmer’s. Charles was to accompany him so far, that they might both see Charles’s new invention safely off by the © COME OOO (CO)