"THEY HAVE CHEATED ME OF THE LOVE THAT SHOULD BE MINE."
"How does a woman love? Once, no more,
Though life forever its loss deplore;
Deep in sorrow, or want, or sin,
One king reigneth her heart within;
One alone by night and day
Moves her spirit to curse or pray."
--ROSE TERRY COOKE.
An hour's frantic search convinced Senator Winans that his daughter
was not in the immense ballroom, and inquiry among the door-keepers
brought to light something very startling.
A young man had left the ballroom an hour before, carrying an
unconscious girl in his arms.
He had told the doorkeeper that she was his sister, that she had
fainted in the crowd, and that he was going to put her in his carriage,
and take her home.
When the man described the beauty of the unconscious girl, the soft
white silk gown, and the long golden curls, the agonized senator could
no longer doubt that his darling had been kidnaped by some villain, and
carried off to some terrible unknown fate.
It was terrible to think that such a thing could be in that gala scene
among those thousands of joyous people, and in that blaze of light and
splendor. It was like a sword in her father's heart.
His face grew ashen, his eyes blazed, and he swore the most terrible
revenge on the fiend who had stolen Precious.
"Oh, my darling, my darling, this news will break her mother's heart!"
he groaned.
"But she has another daughter left to comfort her," ventured the
elegant young Englishman.
"Yes, we have Ethel. She is a good daughter, but Precious was our
favorite, our darling."
"But why? Miss Winans is very charming," cried Lord Chester, a little
jealous for the beautiful girl he admired so much.
"Yes, Ethel is charming, but so was my little Precious. She was
charming and winsome, too, my youngest born, my darling, the idol of my
heart!" groaned the senator, completely overcome by his trouble.
Lord Chester began to feel an eager curiosity over the missing girl.
Was she, indeed, as lovely and winsome as her father declared? She must
be if her charms exceeded Ethel's.
He held out a sympathetic hand to the stricken father.
"General, pray command my services in this sad affair to assist you in
all possible ways," he exclaimed cordially.
"Thank you, Lord Chester, for we must begin to follow up the clews at
once. But my heart bleeds for my wife. I fear this shock will almost
kill her. My lord, if you will order my carriage, I will send her home
with Ethel, telling her that perhaps Precious has somehow found her way
home. Not a word of the truth yet. It must be broken to her later, and
very gently. She must think that I am still searching here, while in
fact I shall be on the track of the kidnaper. Oh, Heavens every moment
is an agony, until I find my child again!"
And later on, when his wife and daughter were gone, and he was rolling
in a cab to the office of a great detective, he confided to the young
Englishman a brief page from his romantic earlier life.
"My only son, Earle, who is at present in Europe, was kidnaped by a
lunatic when he was an infant, and it was over four years before we
recovered him. He was in my care at the time, and I was blamed for his
loss. My wife had brain fever, and almost died, and the pensive shade
on her face now was left there by that early grief. Think what it would
be to her now to lose Precious in the same terrible fashion. She is a
noble Christian woman, but I fear that she would curse me and never
forgive me if our darling daughter should be lost like that while in my
care. Oh, why was I so careless? Why did I not remember that there are
always human wolves watching--for prey?"
Mrs. Winans sobbed bitterly all the way home from the ball, but Ethel
was too angry to offer one word of comfort.
Her father's praise of Precious rankled like a poisoned arrow in her
heart.
"The most beautiful girl he ever saw! How dared he say it? I wonder if
Lord Chester would say so, too, if he saw her? Would he like her blue
eyes better than my dark ones? Would he think her golden curls prettier
than my raven tresses? Woe be to her if he did, for now he is almost my
declared lover, and if she won him from me I should be tempted to take
a terrible revenge on both," she thought bitterly, forgetting that the
deadliest revenge often recoils on the hand that deals the blow.
They passed into the broad hall, where they were met by Mrs. Winans'
privileged attendant, Norah, who had nursed all her children.
"Norah! Norah! has Precious come home?" cried her mistress anxiously.
The woman stared in surprise at the question.
"No, madam, she is not here. I thought she was to come back with you!
Why, what ails you that you look so pale and wild? Oh, she is fainting!
Help! help! we must carry her to her room!"
They bore the limp figure upstairs, and laid it on the bed. Ethel knelt
by her, weeping.
"Mamma, dear mamma, speak to me! Oh, Norah, why does she lie still so
long? Is she dead?"
"No, it's only a swoon. I've brought her safely through many like it,
poor dear. But tell me what has happened, Miss Ethel? Where is your
father and your sister, my little nursling?"
Ethel told her briefly what had happened, adding:
"Papa sent us home and remained, to search for Precious."
"Heaven have mercy!" sobbed nurse Norah, then she busied herself about
her mistress.
Ethel stood idly watching her, with dazed eyes, her head in a whirl.
She was not thinking of her lost sister, nor her stricken mother. Her
restless thoughts had gone back to her handsome English lover.
She was thinking:
"When mamma came upon us so suddenly he was about to make a declaration
of his love. I saw it in his eyes, it was trembling on his lips; but
mamma came between with the name of Precious--that name that always
comes between me and everything! Was it an evil omen, I wonder, or will
he tell me to-morrow that he loves me?"