Earle Wayne

“ And then she told him frankly all the story of her early regard for Earle Wayne—his misfortune and patient endurance for another’s crime—of his return, and of their mutual though unspoken affection for each other.
“Earle Wayne!” he repeated with a start. “Who is he? Where did he come from?” he demanded, with eager interest, as she spoke his name.
“I do not know. He came to my uncle when seventeen years of age. He was fatherless, motherless, and friendless; but he has proved himself, if not honored among men, to be stamped with Heaven’s nobility.” ”

“ Earle shall have twice that, if you would like. I do not need so much money, for I have papa to take care of me, you know.”
Richard Forrester’s lips curled slightly at her last words. No one knew better than he how Sumner Dalton had been able to provide as handsomely as he had for his family during the past years. But he said, positively:
“No, Editha, just ten thousand and no more; and, if he is the man I think he is, he will double it himself in a little while. Earle Wayne will make a noble man, but—there is some mystery connected with his early life.” ”

“ Above, there were suites of rooms for the family and guests, and all in keeping with the elegance of those below; and if wealth and the good things it brings could possibly gladden the heart of man, Earle Wayne, Marquis of Wycliffe, ought to be a very happy one.
There is an old saying, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,” and we might add, heavy is the heart whose all lies in a weighty purse, for in all England it would not have been possible to find a more wretched being than Earle Wayne. ”

“ She could not have cried out, even if his threat had not intimidated her, so terrible was the fright she sustained.
“I will do you no injury, Editha Dalton; but I must have that paper; and be quick about it, too,” the man repeated, in low tones.
Give up that precious paper voluntarily—that treasure worth more to her than her whole fortune! Give up all 133the evidence there was in the world that Earle Wayne was an innocent, injured, and long-suffering man!
Never!
Her whole soul arose at once to arms to do valiant battle for the noble lover and his honor. ”

“ Earle replied, but looking disappointed nevertheless. It really seemed to him as if something told him he must not leave her behind. “I would rather come to you with my hands full,” he added; “and Editha, if I am successful in my business abroad, I feel that even your father, with all his prejudice against me, will be proud to give you to me.”
“That settles it, then Earle; we shall wait; for it is better to win than to displease him. But I shall miss you; it is hard to let you go,” she said, with a quiver in her voice. ”

“ Editha Dalton should spend her life without a shadow to mar its brightness, as far as it lay within his power to contribute to that result; and Earle Wayne—a true and noble man he believed him to be, and every way worthy of her priceless love—should have his own without contention. ”

“ Mr. Felton answered earnestly.
A dark flush mounted to Mr. Dalton’s brow at these words. Put himself in Earle Wayne’s—her son’s—place! Imagine him to be in the position of the man he had such cause to hate! The thought stirred all the bad blood in his nature.
“He shall never have one penny of my daughter’s fortune. I will never put my name to any paper like what you have brought here to-day!” he cried angrily and smiting the table near which he sat heavily.
“Papa let me plead with you,” Editha said gently beseechingly. ”

“ Earle Wayne’s enemy was utterly routed at last; he had stormed a citadel by a method of warfare hitherto untried, and it lay in ruins at his feet.
“I—I’m afraid I do not quite understand. You will not have me arrested or tried—I am to be a free man?” Tom Drake breathed, in low, suppressed tones.
“No; if you are sentenced to drag out a weary term of years as a convict, you would become discouraged, and be ready for almost any desperate deed if you should live to return; and, Tom, I have come to believe that you would really like to lead a different life from what your past has been.” ”

“ Who, like Earle Wayne, would not like to make his life foursquare? Who, although he may never attain to the worldly greatness which fell to his life, would not seek to attain that better nobility of character, which, when measured by the “golden reed of the angel,” will be found of faultless symmetry, like the city whose “length, and breadth, and height are equal?” ”

“ THE SEARCH FOR EDITHA Three months later saw Earle Wayne firmly established as the master of Wycliffe, and over all other property belonging to the former Marquis of Wycliffe and Viscount Wayne. His mother’s character was cleared of every imputation of evil, her body removed to the vaults of her ancestors, where it rested as peacefully and quietly as the noblest of all the race of Vance, and the friends of her youth now looked back with sadness and regret upon the sufferings of the beautiful injured girl, which their own sneers and coldness had helped to aggravate. ”

“ Forrester was a bachelor of great wealth, and exceedingly fond of his beautiful and vivacious niece, Editha Dalton, who, report said, was to be his heiress.
She was a slight, sprightly girl of fourteen when Earle Wayne came into her uncle’s employ, and a mutual admiration sprang up between them at once, and steadily increased, until, on the part of the young man, it grew into a deep and abiding love, although he had never presumed to betray it by so much as a look or tone. ”

“ Earle answered, with something of bitterness in his tone.
“I do not understand you,” he returned, a flush rising to his cheek.
“Do you still love Editha Dalton?” Earle asked, setting his teeth to keep back a rebellious groan.
“Do you need to ask me that question?” Paul Tressalia, returned, reproachfully, his face suddenly paling now. “I must always love her.”
“Then go and win her if you can; the way is open; there is nothing to hinder you,” Earle said, wiping the cold sweat from his face. ”

“ My heart is constantly rebelling against the unjustness, as it seems to me, of it all. Why did not some instinct warn me that Earle was my brother before I had learned to love him so well?” she concluded, wildly.
“Hush, dear,” madam said, with gentle reproof, but her fine face was very grave and troubled. “We cannot understand the why of a great many things; we know that they are, and we have no right to question the wisdom of anything that is beyond our comprehension; but I am greatly interested in this sorrow of yours and the young Marquis of Wycliffe. ”

“ Her white shapely hands are busied with some dainty piece of work destined to grace the “small ladyship,” who is her particular pride and comfort, while every now and then she joins in the conversation carried on chiefly by Editha and Paul Tressalia and his wife.
Down the broad drive-way at some distance, and approaching slowly, are two men.
One glance is sufficient to tell us which is Earle—there is no mistaking his grand proportions, his upright form, with its noble head setting square and firm and with manly dignity upon his broad shoulders. ”

“ The twenty-third of December arrived, and Earle Wayne was a free man once more.
Who can portray his feelings as, once more clad in the 58habiliments of a citizen—his prison garb, like the chrysalis of the grub, having dropped from him forever—he came forth into the world and sought the haunts of men? No one can do justice to them ”

“ Dalton, he did not share the faith of either his daughter or his brother-in-law; and, notwithstanding he was vastly astonished upon discovering Earle Wayne in the hands of a policeman at his own door on the night of the robbery, yet he was a man who could easily believe almost anything of one whom he disliked. ”

“ There are others, Earle,” she said, more softly, with glowing cheeks and drooping lids, “who look with longing eyes toward the ‘jasper walls,’ and ‘gates of pearl;’ and can one be ‘true and honorable’ and keep what does not belong to one?”
“How can I convince you, Editha, that I cannot take this money?”
“But what will you do, Earle? How will you begin life again?” ”

“ Had you no secret when you came to Richard Forrester?” demanded Mr. Dalton of Earle, and gnawing his lip savagely.
“Yes, I own that I had,” Earle answered, with a sigh; “but——”
“But a smooth tongue and lying lips will gloss almost anything over,” his enemy interrupted, sneeringly.
“Papa, you are fearfully unjust. Earle is the soul of truth,” Editha cried, indignantly, adding: “What if he had a secret?—he had a right to it, and no one should seek to pry into it. At any rate, I do not believe it is anything that affected his honor or nobility.” ”

“ Earle thought he might as well talk of things just as they were. Tom Drake nodded assent, a look of grim endurance on his ugly face.
“And,” continued Earle, “unless you have good care—the very best care—it is doubtful whether you ever have the use of your leg again.”
“And what should that matter to you?” was the gruff query, accompanied by a suspicious glance.
“It matters this to me: One whom I profess to serve has bidden me to care for the sick and needy,” Earle said, gently. ”

“ Human nature will assert itself, you know, and I am conscious that I am not above its weaknesses. But, Earle, I mean to fight them down until, with the last one under my heel, I shall be able at length to cheerfully contemplate God’s richest blessings abiding on you and—yours.”
The last word was spoken in a hoarse whisper, and his companion realized that all the force of a mighty will had been employed to let him know how entirely he relinquished everything and acknowledged his superior claim, even to Editha Dalton’s love. ”

“ Felton to intercede for me—it is such a little sum compared with the whole, and the money would do Earle so much good; it will help him to hold up his head until he gets nicely started in business for himself. I wonder if he is changed much?” she went on, with heightened color and a quickly beating heart, as she remembered the strong, proud face, with its dark, handsome eyes, the tender yet manly mouth, which used to part into such a luminous smile whenever he looked up to her. ”

“ Earle was deeply moved by his kinsman’s manliness, and touched by his confession of his hopeless love for Editha. Still clasping the hand that had been extended so frankly to him, he said, in a voice that was not quite steady:
“With such a spirit as that, you should be master here 180at Wycliffe, and not I. It seems to me unjust that your whole life should be destroyed thus, and mine built up out of its ruins. If it were possible for me to share my inheritance with you equally, I would gladly do it; but I suppose the entail forbids that.” ”

“ I will not be crushed. I will rise above the disgrace. I will live it down, and men shall yet be proud to call me friend.”
So mused our hero as, for the first day in —— prison, he was doomed, according to the rules of that institution, to solitary confinement.
Earle Wayne’s was no weak nature, to yield himself up to useless repining and vain regrets.
The die was cast, and for the next three years he was to be like any other criminal, and dead to all the world, except that portion of it contained within those four dreary walls, and the one or two outside who should continue faithful to him. ”

“ Papa, we know Earle would not be guilty of any thing of the kind, and I believe every word he has said about the encounter with those men,” Miss Dalton asserted, confidently.
“Did you see or hear any one else, Editha?” asked her father.
“No; I heard a heavy fall, and after listening a minute I came to the window, where I saw Earle just getting up from the ground; and see! as the light shines upon him he looks as if he had been having an encounter with some one;” and she pointed at the young man’s disarranged and soiled clothing.
But Mr. Dalton shook his head, while the policeman sneered. ”

“ With a fearful look of rage and hate convulsing his features, he leaned toward Earle and hissed:
“I would crush you this instant if I could; there is nothing of all the world’s ills too horrible for me to wish upon you, and I will yet be revenged upon you for what I have suffered this day. I will yet make you feel the power of my hate!” and he glanced darkly toward Editha as he said this.
Earle’s eyes involuntarily followed his look, and the bitterness of death seemed upon him as he realized that they two would have a life-long sorrow to bear. ”

“ Earle smiled slightly at his evident perplexity, and the invalid continued:
“First, you hit a fellow a swinger on the back of the head that knocks the life out of him, and makes one think that the fury of seven Jupiters is concentrated in you; next, you shoot him with a revolver, and then turn around and nurse him as tender as a woman—I can’t make it out.” ”

“ He did dislike Earle, simply because Editha showed him so much favor; and he was rather glad than otherwise now, if the truth were known, that this very fascinating young hero was to be removed from his path, even though he was to become a prisoner. He began to fear that she had already grown to admire him more than was either wise or proper, considering the vast difference in their relative social positions; and it would never do for the aristocratic Miss Dalton, heiress-expectant, to fall in love with an office boy. ”

“ When Editha awoke, after two hours of undisturbed refreshing sleep, she found Earle still sitting beside her, and her former attendant, with her face buried in her hands, sitting in sullen silence upon the lounge opposite.
“I did not dream it, then?” she said, looking up into her lover’s face with a long-drawn, trembling sigh.
“No, my darling; you have slept too soundly to dream of anything. Are you rested?” he asked, bending down to kiss the sweet quivering lips. ”