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Dreadful Temptation

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<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> Half dead with weariness and sorrow, Mrs. St. John staggered into her mother's presence with the wailing infant in her arms. She sank down upon the floor by the side of the couch and laid the child on her mother's breast, moaning out: "I found him down there, lying on the wet sand all alone, mamma—all alone! Oh! Lora, Lora!" A heart-rending moan broke from Mrs. Carroll's lips. Her face was gray and death-like in the chill morning light. She closed her arms around the babe and strained it fondly to her breast. "Mamma, are you better? Can you speak yet? I have much to tell you," said Xenie, anxiously. Mrs. Carroll made a violent effort at articulation, then shook her head, despairingly. "I will send for the doctor as soon as the maid returns. She cannot be long now—it is almost broad daylight," said Xenie, with a heavy sigh. "And in the meantime I will feed the babe. It is cold and hungry. Mamma, shall I give it a little milk and water, warmed and sweetened?" Mrs. Carroll assented, and Xenie went out into the little kitchen, lighted a fire and prepared the infant's simple nourishment. Returning to Lora's room, she sat down in a low rocker, took the child in her arms, and carefully fed it from a teaspoon, first removing the cold blanket from around it, and wrapping it in warm, dry flannels. Its fretful wails soon ceased under her tender care, and it fell into a gentle slumber on her breast. "Now, mamma," she said, as she rocked the little sleeper gently to and fro, "I will tell you what happened to me while I was searching for my sister." In as few words as possible, she narrated her meeting with Howard Templeton. Mrs. Carroll greeted the information with a groan. She[Pg 52] was both astonished and frightened at his appearance in France, when they had supposed him safe in America. She struggled for speech so violently that the dreadful hysteric constriction in her throat gave way before her mental anguish, and incoherent words burst from her lips. "Oh, Xenie, he will know all now, and Lora's good name and your own scheme of revenge will be equally and forever blasted! All is lost!" "No, no, mamma, that shall never be! He shall not find us out. I swear it!" exclaimed her daughter passionately. "Let him peep and pry as he will, he shall not learn anything that he could prove. We have managed too cleverly for that." And then the next moment she cried out: "But, oh, mamma, you are better—you can speak again!" "Yes, thank Heaven!" breathed Mrs. Carroll, though she articulated with difficulty, and her voice was hoarse and indistinct. "But, Xenie, what could have brought Howard Templeton here? Can he suspect anything? Did he know that we were here?" Xenie was silent for a moment, then she said, thoughtfully: "It may be that he vaguely suspects something wrong. Indeed, from some words he used to me, I believe he did. But what then? It is perfectly impossible that he could prove any charge he might make, so it matters little what he suspects. Oh, mamma, you should have seen how black, how stormy he looked when I showed him the child, and told him it was mine. I should have felt so happy then had it not been for my fear and dread over Lora." "My poor girl—my poor Lora!" wailed the stricken mother. "Oh, Xenie, I am afraid she has cast herself into the sea." "Oh, no, do not believe it. She did not, she could not! You know how she hated the sea. She has but wandered away, following her wild fancy of finding her husband. She was too weak to go far. They will soon find her and bring her back," said Xenie, trying to whisper comfort to the bereaved heart of the mother, though her own lay heavy as lead in her breast. She rose after a moment and went to the window. "It is strange that Ninon does not return to get the breakfast," she said, looking out. "Can her mother be worse, do you think, mamma?" "She may be, but I hardly think it likely. She was better[Pg 53] of the fever the last time Ninon went to see her. It is likely that the foggy, rainy morning has deceived her as to the lateness of the hour. She will be along presently, no doubt," said Mrs. Carroll, carelessly; for her trouble rendered her quite indifferent to her bodily comfort. Xenie sat down again, and rocked the babe silently for a little while. "Oh, mamma, how impatient I grow!" she said, at length. "It seems to me I cannot wait longer. I must put the child down and go out again. I cannot bear this dreadful suspense." "No, no; I will go myself," said Mrs. Carroll, struggling up feebly from the lounge. "You are cold and wet now, my darling. You will get your death out there in the rain. I must not lose both my darlings at once." But Xenie pushed her back again with gentle force. "No, mamma, you shall not go—you are already ill," she said. "Let the child lie in your arms, and I will go to the door and see if anyone is coming." Filled with alternate dread and hope, she went to the door and looked out. No, there was naught to be seen but the rain and the mist—nothing to be heard but the hollow moan of the ocean, or the shrill, piping voice of the sea birds skimming across the waves. "It is strange that the maid does not come," she said again, oppressed with the loneliness and brooding terror around her. She sat down again, and waited impatiently for what seemed a considerable time; then she sprang up restlessly. "Mamma, I will just walk out a very little way," she said. "I must see if anyone is coming yet." "You must not go far, then, Xenie." Mrs. Carroll remonstrated. Xenie dashed out into the rain again, and ran recklessly along the path, looking far ahead of her as if to pierce the mystery that lay beyond her. Presently she saw a young French girl plodding along toward her. It was Ninon, the belated maid. Over her arm she carried a dripping-wet shawl. It was a pretty shawl, of warm woolen, finely woven, and striped with broad bars of white and red. Xenie knew it instantly, and a cry of terror broke from her lips. It belonged to Lora. She had seen it lying around her sister's shoulders when she kissed her good-night; yet here it hung on Ninon's arms, wet and dripping, the thick, rich fringes all matted with seaweed. <hr class="chap" /> [Pg 54] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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