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Newspaper Page Text
Impetuous, innocent girl, thoroughly ignorant of the ways of the" world. She had met a summer boarder at the lake resort hotel, and he Had daz zled har. To Nellie, for the time be ing at least, Burlingame was the pink of perfection among men. He flattered her and paid her expensive attention. John began looking him up. He did not tell Nellie all he had ' Learned. He hoped to be able to ban- isu. JDUiiiufcuuie wiuiuui uiaiuug uia- clOBures that would humiliate 'her. It had been of no avail. Her father - was old, had always let his children grow up in their own way. She had no mother, and her married sister was engrossed in bringing up her own family. 'John felt called upon to act He had done so. A covert threat of exposure had sent the per- sistent Burlingame adrift, but he had aroused a perverse and stubborn spirit in Nellie that caused him anxiety. y Burlingame aid not venture near the Otley home during the next , week. Nellie pouted and moped like a peevish, spoiled child. She did not speak to-John w,hen he appeared about the place, although he sat at the same table at dinner time, being engaged 4n some work for Mr. Otley. Every evening John watched the Ot ley home. Nellie apparently saw no visitors, and did not go any. place "where she was likely to meet Bur lingame. One afternoon, however, an inci dent transpired that aroused the at tention of John. He saw Nellie meet the postman at the gate, receive- a letter, thrust it hastily into her pocket and hurry to a part of the house lot where the shrubbery was thickest. John was resting beyond b , the hedge where he could view her plainly. Nellie read the letter eager ly. Her face brightened and then, as if bent on answering it at once, she ' hurried toward the house to go to her room. A white object flitted from her pocket as-She brushed by some I bushes, j John was at the spot as I soon as Nellie reached the house. He I, rapidly read the missive and then, aa weme reappearea irom xne nouses dropped the letter and hastened to covert. , Nellie recovered the letter with a glad smile and once more disap peared. Pacing up and down beyondi the hedge, John wore a grave, per4 plexed look upon his face. The letter, as he had suspected? was from Burlingame. Others ,had passed between that individual and Nellie and this orie was the result off the secret correspondence. Bur-f Ungame wrote that the only course; open was an elopement. At a certain? hour, near a certain place, an auto-; mobile would be waiting for Nellier the next evening. It would speed with her to the city and land her at a hotel, where Burlingame would be awaiting her. A hasty marriage, a brief honeymoon and they would re turn home "to be forgiven." "The scoundrel!" commented John' hotly. "What had I better do?" It was in his power through com plete exposure of Burlingame to pre vent the elopement; but he feared a woman's willful temper. No,v he would unmask the villain in a way that would drive, Nellie forever from the man whose false pretensions, had dazzled her. Nellie arrived atthe rendezvous, in a lonely country lane, and the muf-fled-up chauffeur simply nodded as if to indicate that he had explicit or ders. There was a rapid spin. An hour later the machine entered a dark street in the great city. The chauffeur hurried Nellie into a dimly Jit building, up a flight of stairs, pushed open a door and she stood, puzzled and trembling, in' the pres ence of a poorly dressed woman. The apartment bore signs of abject pov erty, a little babe slept in a broken down cradle. The woman fixed wear ied, almost indifferent eyes upon her. "Where is I donf understand " began Nellie, shrinking back. "That you meet Mrs. Burlingame