An Ambitious Man

It is harder to bear the suffocating heat of a late September day

which the year sometimes brings, than all the burning June suns.

The Baroness heard the click of Preston's key in the street door, and

she listened to his slow step as he ascended the stairs. She heard

him pause, too, and waited for the sound of the opening of his room

door, which was situated exactly above her own. But she listened in

vain, her ears, brain and heart on the alert with surprise,

curiosity, and at last suspicion. The Baroness was as full of

curiosity as a cat.

It was not until just before dawn that she heard his step in the

hall, and his door open and close.

An hour later a sharp ring came at the street door bell. A message

for Mr Preston, the servant said, in answer to her mistress's

question as she descended from the room above.

"Was Mr Preston awake when you rapped on his door?" asked the

Baroness.

"Yes, madame, awake and dressed."

Mr Preston ran hurriedly through the halls and out to the street a

moment later; and the Baroness, clothed in a dressing-gown and silken

slippers, tiptoed lightly to his room. The bed had not been occupied

the whole night. On the table lay a note which the young man had

begun when interrupted by the message which he had thrown down beside

it.

The Baroness glanced at the note, on which the ink was still moist,

and read, "My dear Miss Lawrence, I want you to release me from the

ties formed only yesterday--I am basely unworthy--" here the note

ended. She now turned her attention to the message which had

prevented the completion of the letter. It was signed by Judge

Lawrence and ran as follows:-

"My Dear Boy,--My wife was taken mortally ill this morning just

before daybreak. She cannot live many hours, our physician says.

Mabel is in a state of complete nervous prostration caused by the

shock of this calamity. I wish you would come to us at once. I fear

for my dear child's reason unless you prove able to calm and quiet

her through this ordeal. Hasten then, my dear son; every moment

before you arrive will seem an age of sorrow and anxiety to me. "S.

LAWRENCE."

A strange smile curved the corners of the Baroness's lips as she

finished reading this note and tiptoed down the stairs to her own

room again.

Meantime the hour for her hot water arrived, and Berene did not

appear. The Baroness drank a quart of hot water every morning as a

tonic for her system, and another quart after breakfast to reduce her

flesh. Her excellent digestive powers and the clear condition of her

blood she attributed largely to this habit.