part in the martyrdom.
"It is not your fault," he added, turning to Olive and Ela, "that you
failed to destroy her when you followed to the cabin where she lay
unconscious, and fired it like the remorseless fiends that you are. But
for John Franklin, who discovered your crime and saved her sweet life,
she must have perished in those flames. But my wife, like the angel she
is, forgives you everything, and will not let me prosecute you for your
crimes. But you three guilty, shameless ones must leave Ellsworth at
dawn, and it is best never to show your faces here again; for in making
public the proofs of my marriage with Dainty and the strange
interruption of the second ceremony, I shall not hesitate to expose your
treachery."
So at dawn they went away--as far as they could on their scanty
means--and the veil of a merciful oblivion fell over their future fate
as scheming adventuresses to the end of their days.
Love and Dainty did not punish their arch-enemies, but they did not fail
to reward all who had befriended them in their days of adversity. Mamma
Chase lived with them at Ellsworth, Ailsa Scott spent all her summers
there, and Doctor Platt remained the beloved friend of the family to the
last day of his life.
THE END.
Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the
original edition have been corrected.
In Chapter I, a comma was added after "added Olive, eagerly", and
"tete-a-tete journey" was changed to "tete-a-tete journey".
In Chapter III, "tete-a-tete drive" was changed to "tete-a-tete drive".
In Chapter XVI, "frighten his timid bethrothed" was changed to "frighten
his timid betrothed".
In Chapter XX, "eyes flashing with a strang fire" was changed to "eyes
flashing with a strange fire".
In Chapter XXI, "Calm, oh. calm" was changed to "Calm, oh, calm".
In Chapter XXIX, "stay tonight, and tomorrow I must try to go home" was
changed to "stay to-night, and to-morrow I must try to go home".
In Chapter XXXVIII, "for only today Miss White had called" was changed
to "for only to-day Miss White had called".
End of Project Gutenberg's Dainty's Cruel Rivals, by Mrs. Alex McVeigh Miller