Beadle's New York Dime Library, Vol. XVIII, No. 232 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

et a a el la i - — > a ee e-em + ee we a we a ° 17 -— tS = ee ee ° ‘> ee ee eee + ere regs ene ee er ee eres we - —s FO RP Te RES 6 ET OE ~—e-+ re ee ee we Ne ———-— - ew. » You ~“heary here; am bou lives. delphia than we are in this eut-of-the-way region?” ‘‘T have been told that there is no ‘iding- so secure as in a great city.” _ ‘(Then we should bave gone there.” ‘We wil, sbortly, You can understand why it is you and I are in much greater dan- ger of being discovered than father.” ‘* Possibly so; but it isa very strange situa- tion in which I flod myself—biding from the eye of the officers of the law, which I never have viclated in the slightest respect.” Cora made no answer to this protest, for it would have been rather hard to do so, She understood Eva much better than the latter suspected. At such times it was better to keep silent, and act as though her feelings had been wounded. Withont a werd, therefore, Cora, after rocking back and forth several minutes, sprung up, donned her hat and went down-stairs, as if she intended take a short walk alone. Eva sat by the window, sorely troub'ed. ‘*T hardly know what to make of this,’’ she thought. happy in doing all I could for them; but this business is wrong, and I cannot consent to be -a@ party to it much longer. ‘If it is unsafe for us to stay in New York unsafe for him, the one who has broken the law, to show himself there in the broad day- light, ‘‘It may be that he bas friends,” sbe added, after a moment’s thought, ‘‘who will take **] love Cora and uncle; I would be | ‘ ! or Philadelphia, it is certainly tenfold more | | view, Eva had risen to her feet in her excitement, | but she sbook ber head. ‘*No, I will not play the spy on any one; I will not go to watch my cousin.” ‘You needn’t go out the house; just come to the front room.” With her senses swimming, Eva Hildreth followed the bustling woman, who conceived | it her duty to make berself as thoroughly ac- quainted as possible with the private affairs of _her guests, Arrived at the front window, they stood back somewhat, 20 as not to be seen. ‘“‘ There she is/”’ The lady of the house pointed in the di- rection of the highway, perhaps two bundred yards distant. The pine trees were on both sides the lane as well as along the main road. | About half-way between the hovs- and the _main road stood a woman in conversation with @ man. They were nigh enough for it to be seen that both were gesticulating as thcugh very earnest over something. ‘ My stars and garters!” snddenly exclaimed Mrs. Calkins, ‘‘if there sin’t another man.” Such was the fuct indeed; a second person was standing a short distanca to the right aud further in the wood, He was whittling a stick and evidently waiting for the other two to finish their ioter- Eva watched from a distance for a minnte /or two, and then went back to ber room, | thanking Mre. Calkins and begging her to give good care of bim, and it may be that ifthe | no hint to Cora of what had been said and officers are anxious to secure him, they will bunt us up, in the natural belief that we are in communication with him; but it all seems very improbable—” _ Just then a foot was heard on the stairs, which the fair Eva identified. It was too heavy for Cora, _. “I was hanging up Mart’s coat,” said the _strong-minded woman, “ when this ’ere enwol- jop fell out of the pocket. I cau’t read very well without my spee’s; but it’s for you, I believe.” Eva saw that it wasa telegram, and, witha beating beart, and witsout any suspicion that she was doing wrong, she opened the envelope to read its contents. Bhe observed, while doing so, that the yel- low wrapper was stuck together so hastily that it parted without tearing the paper. This was tbe dispatch which the astounded _ Eva read: “ PrriapgetpHia, August 1 —_.. “Miss Cora Hitpreta:—Keep her out ef aleht for can easily do it. The 6 is nd to win, if you play your hand right. You and I will be fixed for the rest of our Much depends on you. ws.” Eva Hildreth read every word of this amaz- ing message, and a suspicion of the truth flashed upon ber with the vivid suddenness of the ligbtning-stroke. ‘ She carefuliy placed the single-folded sheet back in the envelope, and, observing that some _ gum remained, resealed it, bolding it in her _ hand until it was dry. ‘‘ Mrs, Calkina, that message was not intend- ed for me; will you please hand it to Miss Cora when she returns?” “Of course I will.” ‘‘ And will you do me the favor not to let her know that I bave seen it?” — “Of course, for I don’t like her.” Eva was not the lady to encourage gossip by one who was her inferior, but the new light which had broken in upon her, was s0 ex- traordinary and so dazzling, that she unhesitat- ingly asked her: “Why don’t you like ber?” ‘* Because I don’t.” “'That’s no reason; have you any causef’’ **T bave plenty.” “What are they?’ ‘| don’t like her goings on.” “Fler goings on!” repeated the astonished Eva, ‘‘ what can you mean?’ The woman looked at her significantly: ‘¢ And don’t you know, Migs Eva?’ ‘¢ Don’t 1 know? Most certainly I .baven’t the remotest idea of what you refer to.” ‘¢ Why, she is with a strange man now,” Eva Hildreth’s eyes dilated with horror. “ Are you telling the truth?” “Te you will come with me I will show you.” “ wwhere is shef” ‘Come with me and I will show you.” what had been seen. The whole nature of the girl was aroused, for, within the last few minutes the entire trath had burst upon her, coming with the overwhelming force of an avalanche. ‘It is a most wicked plot,” she said, com- pressing ber lips and clinching her hands. ‘‘It isa deep-laid plan to get all my inheritance away from me; uncle Ward is a bad man and Cora is no better; they have formed the scheme between them; tbey bave got up some story so as to keep me bere with her until he is able to secure what money there is of mine in Philadelphia.” It will be seen that in the main the girl had bit the truth. She could not be expected to understand the precise means by which the villainy was to be © nsummated, but her womanly impulse told herits nature. : ‘“They have played upon my affection to secure my consent to this most disagreeable proceeding on my part. Cora, with all her cunning, cannot answer my questions nor give me a valid reason for what we have done, ‘‘ But she is determined I shall stay here un- til her father can. get the money that does not belong to him, ‘¢ These men whom she has met secretly are conspirators in the same plot, ‘‘They have met to talk over their plans and to langh at tbe foolish fly that has been caught by the spider. ‘* But the fly has bad its eyes opened—” She stopped with a gasp and a flash of the @) eR. ‘*T see it all; my uncle never sent that tele- gram to Donald when we reached New York; he has not forwarded my letters aud more than likely he bas kept some of those which Donald bas sent me. He is a bad, very bad man.” There were several matters which gave the aroused Eva Hildreth considerable bope. She was in the United States of America and in a law-abiding State. She was her own mis- tress and could leave this house, whenever she chose to walk forth. Convinced that it was her duty to do so, she would depart. as soon as she could make her preparations, She had scarcely reached this conclusion when Cora came tripping up-stairs, her face flushed with excitement, while she seemed runving over with good spirits, “T have a telegram from father,” said the imitator of Jake Calkins; ‘‘and he tells me that everything is promising; the man whom he punished so severely is not dead, but there is hope of his getting weil, If he does pick up, then father will be ou! of danger.” | ‘“How long before uncle Ward will know the truth?” ‘‘ Within two or three days.” ‘“ Well, Cora, I have concluded to start for Philadelphia this day.” ee g of ha poor “fully?” | ui | After the lapse of the proper time, the cun- . Eva spoke calmly, but the fire came into the eyes of the evil woman on the instant. Drawing ber breath in quickly, she de manded: ‘“*WHAT!” “T have made up my mind to go out this house to-day and—” Cora sprung up like a tigress. ppalled Eva saw her fumble excitedly at the bosom of her dress for a moment, aud then, to ber hor- ror, sbe drew forth a small, glittering dagger. Raising this aloft, while ber whole figure flamed with passion, she exclaimed: ‘Tf you attempt to leave before me, I will kill you—yes I ut / kill you!” The a CHAPTER XXVI. ; FACE TO FACE. At last Cora Hildreth threw off the mask which had concealed so long ber true nature. When the beauteous and attractive Eva announced her purpose of starting for her home in Philadelphia on that very day, end Cora saw the danger of losing the great prize which was almost within her grasp, ber passion overwhelmed ber. For the moment she was a flaming fury. Tre baleful light which glowed trom her eyes was the fire of lunacy, y Hclding the small, needle-like dagger over , Eva, she repeated between her c'oved teeth: ‘Yes, I will kill you—do you hear ?—I will kill you |” She was debating hotly in her ewn mind whether she ought not to slay Eva on the spot and at once. She was in that raging fury thet the dagger was clinched, the hand poised for the blow, and only a breath was needed to fan the raging fire into consuming, murderous bate, And Eva Hildreth knew it all. No one could have ccmprehended the situa- tion more vividly than did she, Aud what did sbe do? She leaned back in her chair, and looked . quietly up in the face of the tigress, | Their eyes met, the one blazip 6 with fary, the otber tremujous, gentle, reproachful Never was more sublime courage shown than by Eva Hildreth, who saw herselt threatened by a lupatic with a drawn weapon. Had she also flamed up, had she screamed and started to flee, had she ret urned reproaches; bad she told what she knew; bad she done any- thing except precisely what she did do, she would have been slain almost with the sudden- ness of the lightning-stroke. : For a few seconds the two confronted each ether, each as motionless as a rtatue, . It was Eva who first spoke: | ‘‘Caim yourself, dear Cora; what. 6 ee ae 2 ome ae ee —— s ha pened to shatter your nerves in that f bion?” The evil woman held ber posture a moment longer. Then she trembled violently, wavered and dropped back in ber chair, as if in a dead faint. Eva caught her in her arms, and snatching up a fan, began using it with great vigor. C ra turned her head aside, closed her eyes, muttered scmething unintelligible, and then ajpeared tu swoon dead away, : Laying ber head gently back, Eva snatched up some water and sprinkled it over her face. “Come, dear Cora, rouse yourself; po girl! what could have agitated ber so dread- — a Ee Sean ee The cagacious Eva Hildreth bad had her eyes opeved fully by the astounding knowledge which eame to her while Cora was absent from the rocm, and she was not deceived by this — preten ed faint. She saw that the young woman was no more unconscious than herself. Her bright color remained in ber face, so the swoon could not be imitated perfectly. But having measured the hight and depth of her cousin’s treacberous nature, Eva felt it r: necessary to use deception in dealing with ber. She therefore accepted the swoon as genuine. By and by Cora began bresthing short and fast. She cpened her eyes and looked about her with a faint wildness, ' ‘‘Eva—where—am—I?” she muttered in a weak, bewildered way. cathe o} eutey “ You are all right, Cora; you are with me, Eva; don’t be alarmed,” ning woman revived, and made some further __ inquiries as to ber precise location, and as to — how she came to be tliere. Eva answered all these inquiries with the simplicity of a cid. After a while tlic <S7Gom Eomichoo