The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-06-16 00:00:00

SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 1888:

BARRIER BETWEEN;

REPENTED UNTO DEATH.

CHAPTER XLIL
"TEE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH!'
OPPOSITE a decaying fire sat Gayoso in his large
chair, stone dead, with an expression of horror and
helplessners stamped ineffaceably upon his features.
His hand was resting upon a sheet of paper, upon
Which the pen it still grasped had been in the act of
writing when the grim conqueror arrested it for ever.
On the bared wrist was a small purple puncture,
which looked as if it had been made by a sudden
blow from some sharp instrument.
His form was cold and rigid, and it was evident
that hours must have elapsed since death surprised
him. Luella was not in the house, and it was sub-
sequently ascertained that a letter purporting to
be written by her aunt had summoned her to London
to join her there. She left the invalid in his usual
health, and went thither to find that Madame
Latude had herself set out on her return to the
cottage.
So soon as she regained sufficient composure,
Madame Latude proceeded to examine the scattered
Papers, with the faint hope of finding among them
the confession which Gayoso had promised her. She
knew that it had been written, for she had seen the
Package which contained it addressed to herself, and
she also knew where it had been deposited. The
secret drawer was rifled, and her intuition told her
by whom. She thrilled with horror at the thought
that a woman's hand could have inflicted the fatal
blow which sent a sinful soul into the shadowy land,
but she felt the conviction that but one could have
committed this crime, and she wrote a few hurried
lines to Harold Danvers, entreating him to come to
her as soon as possible, as she had a revelation of
Importance to make to him.
Madame Latude felt it to be right to communicate
With Danvers before the death of Gayoso became
known, as it was probably of the last importance to
him that the fatal event of that day should never
come before the public in its:true aspect. The health
Of Gayoso was known to be so extremely shattered,
that he might have died any day, and she was unwil-
ling to have her house become the scene of an exami-
nation for a clue to a supposed murder, if it could
Possibly be avoided.
The letter was received by Danvers, but he had
neither time nor heart to reply to it. Mrs. Chard
had been summoned to a scene of suffering and
horror that almost paralysed her. On a couch, half-
crushed, lay the form of Mrs. Danvers, and, from
the disconnected account she was able to gather, she
learned that early in the day Mrs. Danvers had left
home on one of her mysterious expeditions. Four
hours afterwards she was brought from the railway
Station in the condition in which she then lay. A
collision had occurred, in which she had been so
fatally injured as leave no hope that she could sur-
vive many hours.
The best surgical assistance was immediately
summoned, but, after examining her condition, the
physicians declared that nothing could be done to save
her. Narcotics were left to be administered when-
ever her condition demanded them, and the medical
men departed.
Appalled by the suddenness and the awful nature
of the accident, Mrs. Chard sat beside the dying
woman, and ministered to her wants. For several
hours she seemed to be unconscious of what was
passing near her, but suddenly she awoke from a fitful
slumber and looked wildly around her. She lifted
her right hand, which was uninjured, and made an
effort to feel in the pocket of her dress for some thing
she missed.
"What is it, Adelina ?" asked Mrs. Anderson,
who also watched beside her. "What are you
seeking?"
"The package," she muttered. "Where is it?
Give it to me. After risking so much, daring so much
to gain it, I will not lose my reward. What has be-
come of it, I say? Oh, more than life depends on
that paper."
Mrs. Anderson turned to her brother.
"Was there anything in the pocket of the dress she
had on when the accident happened ?"
. "I do not know; I did not examine it. The dress
Is somewhere in the room, I suppose."
Mrs. Chard looked around, saw a black silk robe
torn and soiled, thrown over the back of a chair.
She lifted it, felt something hard beneath its folds,
and from the pocket drew a small square package of
paper, stained with blood.
"This must be what she is in search of, yet it is
addressed to-" She paused, grew very pale, and
looked at Danvers. He was reading a note whichhad
been brought him a few moments before, and the ex-
pressibn of his face, as he glanced toward his wife,
revealed to her that a new phase of suffering had
been added to the burden he already bore. He
mechanically stretched forth his hand, and said:
"Give .it to me, Amy. I will take it to her my-
self."

He read the address—" To Madame Annie Latude.
for Harold Danvers,"—faltered, and would have fallen,
had he not clung to a chair for support. That same
name was signed to the note he had just read, and he
recoiled before the shock and this sudden confirmation
of his darkest fears.
As his hand was reached forth to grasp the package,
complete consciousness was restored to his wife, and
she uttered a cry so wild, so piercing, as to thrill the
three with sudden terror.
" Not to him ! not to him! never! give it to me!
let me carry it to Hades itself with me. Ha! ha! I
can rule him through that torture yet; he will be
half mine, even in death."
In her eagerness to grasp the papers, she attempted
to lift her mangled form from the couch; and faint
with horror, Danvers motioned to Mrs. Chard to give
them to her. She reluctantly obeyed him, for she
began to comprehend how important they must he to
Harold himself, but she could not withhold them
against his wish.
Mrs. Danvers seized the package, glared wildly
upon the unbroken seal, and pressed it firmly to her
bosom. She muttered:—
"If you loosen my death-grasp from this, it must
be by cutting off my fingers. Yet no—l must do
better even than that. I must destroy this evidence
of no—no--he never shall learn that well-kept
secret. What! have I dared crime to be baffled
thus: to bring to his very hand the knowledge I
risked everything to keep from him ? I—yes, I will
burn them; then all will be safe, and he shall go
down to his grave, tortured with remorse—remorse
that never dies."
Mrs. Chard felt that a dire secret rested between
Danvers and his wife, but she possessed too much
delicacy to endeavour to fathom it at such a crisis as
this, and she gave place to Mrs. Anderson, that the
broken murmurs of the dying woman might not
betray to her what Danvers wished concealed.
He silently beckoned her toward himself, and
placed Madame Latude's note before her. She read
it, shuddered, and covered her face with her hands.
She faintly' whispered:
"Could she have done so ruthless a deed? and
what could the motive be ? "
"I am at a loss for the motive, but she is certainly
guilty of the crime, Amy. She has taken life to serve
some dark purpose of her own, and almost in the
same hour, awful retribution has overtaken her."
"Harold, secure that paper. It deeply, vitally
concerns yourself. It was probably the acquisition
of that which prompted her to commit thi; fearful

crime."
"I will endeavour to do so; but to make any
attempt to take it from her now,would throw her into
the agonies of death."
Mrs. Danver's eyes suddenly flashed upon them. She

hoarsely asked: -
"What are you two plotting against me there? I
know well enough that when I am gone you will seek
each other, love each other, as in those days before I
set my evil eyes upon you, Harold Danvers. But you
shall not entirely escape me; you shall still wear the
livery of death upon your heart. Take your pure
hand away from his blood-stained one, Amy Cun-
ningham, for there is blood-guiltiness upon his con-
science. Look upon him now; see how he shrinks
and grows pale Do you not see the consciousness
of guilt in_ his face? Oh! oh Harold, you do not
rid yourself of me, even if the grave does open its arms
to enfold me."
Mrs. Chard involuntarily glanced toward Danvers,
and beheld upon his face such an expressioh of utter
woe that she fea-ed these wild charges were not
entirely the ravings of delirium. She unconsciously
lifted the hand she had placed upon his arm, and a
triumphant laugh broke from the lips of the dying
woman.
"Ha ! ha! see how quickly the prude shrinks
away at the suspicion of a taint of crime impn vou :
while I clung to you through all—found in your
crime a stronger bond to bind me to you! Yet you
prize her love far—far above mine. Love! no—l
hate you—l wish I could drag you down to the
grave clasped in my arms. Then the same flame
would light us, but not of love—no—no—of deathless.
endless despair I"
Her voice gradually rose to a piercing shriek, and
then died away in a hoarse rattle in her throat. Dan-
vers stood pallid as death, with drops of agony burst-
ing out upon his brow. Mrs. Chard thought his wife
was about to breathe her last, and she glided to her
side, resclute to draw the package from her hand
before it stiffened into the rigidity of death. Mrs.
Danvers seemed to fathom her intention, for she buried
it beneath the bed-clothes, and half raising her
crushed form, she defiantly said—
"It is mine—mine, purchased at the price of my
own life, and that of another, and you dare not dispute
my right to dispose of it as I will. Bring hither a
light; Harold Danvers, draw near to me: hold the
lamp steadily, that I may burn this paper, which
concerns me alone. You hear me? it is my secret,
and I possess the right to make sure that it perishes
with me."
The pallid, ghastly face with its wild eyes and
beseeching expression, appealed to him even more
powerfully than her words. With resolute purpose
Danvers lifted the lamp, and approached her. She
motioned to him to take the seat Mrs. Anderson had
just risen from, and he silently obeyed het 1.1
With trembling fingers she broke the seal—
glanced over the closely-Written pages, and with a
cry of mingled wrath and defiance, crushed the
whole together in a mese, and held them toward the

Excited beyond forbearance, Mrs. Chard said, with
lips white with repressed emotion—
"Oh, Harold! what is it you do? Wrest from her
the mysterious power she wields over you. Let her
not carry with her to the grave that which must so
deeply concern your future welfare."
His deep-toned voice responded—
" It is ker secret, Amy, and I have no right to tear
It from her because she is helpless, and cannot defend
herself."

An expression of exultation swept over the rapidly.
changing face of Mrs. Danvers, and she said in fail-
ing tones, though there was still bitter mockery in
them—

"You were always an honourable man, Harold;
and you do not waver even in this crisis, which binds
you to me through all the years of remorse yet
granted you on earth. Hold the light nearer; it
flickers and fades before me. There—there—that
will do."

She held the papers in the flame, which curled
around them as if eager to devour them; but the
hand that held them suddenly relaxed its grasp, and
they fell to the floor. ,
Quick as lightning, Amy sprang forward, placed
her foot upon them, and when the hand of the dying
woman was again lifted, and thq shrill voice shrieked
—" Give them to me! give them to me! I can feel,
If I can no longer see them ! " with the intuitive
quickness of her sex, she hastily snatched a sheet of
wrapping paper which had been folded around a
bottle of medicine, crushed it together, and placed it
in the outstretched hand that nervously clutched at
the empty air. Sight was nearly gone; conscious-
ness was rapidly failing, and her grasp closed at
once upon the spurious paper. With a last effort,
she lighted it at the lamp, saw the flame spread
upward, and sank back with an expression of tri-
umph upon her features. With her last breath, she
muttered—
"It is finished! He will never know it now.
Harold, beloved I—detested !—injured! adored! this
last act makes you mine—mine for ever ! "
A few moments they stood in breathless awe around
this awful death-bed—then Mrs. Anderson took the
lamp from the hand of her brother, and Amy lifted
the papers she had so opportunely saved. She
silently held them toward Danvers, but he rejected
them.

"No—not now, Amy. You have purchased the
right to know all. Read them, and condemn or ex-
onerate me as you may think I deserve."
"They may contain more than you are aware of. I
have no wish to pry into your affairs, Harold. You
had better take these papers with you to your own
apartment, and when you are calm enough, examine
them at your leisure.'
"No—no—take them from my sight. I know to
what they relate. I cannot bear to look upon them.
She is dead, and it can now be no injury to her to let
you see why I was induced to marry her."
Thus commanded to read their contents, Amy put
the papers in her pocket, and gave such assistance
to Mrs. Anderson as was needed, before she retired to
her own room.

CHAPTER
THE CONFESSION.
Wrra a beating' heart, she at length sat down,
smoothed the scorched leaves, and commenced reading
the confession of Gaycvo. He seemed to have found
some interest in relating the ivhole history of Adelina,
for he went into such detail as explained all that was
mysterious in her position and history. It began—
"l, Albert Trevor, known as Fernando Gayoso, here
make a formal statement of my connection with
Adelina Seraphine, now known OA the wife of Harold
Danvers.

"The father of this woman was a broken-down
Italian gambler, who kept an ecarte saloon at a
fashionable German spa. He was a man of good
family, had been a general in the army of his native
land, but was disowned by his relations on account of
his disreputable habits. His daughter was not hand-
some, but she pleased me; she was the chief attraction
to his saloon; for a spirit of frolic possessed her, and
she was equal to the best actress of her day in
mimicry and comic power.
"I had been a bad man, and my acquaintance with
Adelina Seraphine did not improve me. I did not
love her; such men as I am do not love anything
but their own coarse pleasures; but she amused me,
she interested me, and I was filled with fury at the
thought that she preferred another before me. I
became a partner in the establishment, and lavished
on her the ill-gotten gains I derived from that source.
She led me to believe that she would bestow her hand
on me, and I felt quite secure of the position I occu-
pied in her regard, till a young countryman of my
own, holding a good position in Paris, came to stay at
the Spa.
, Harold Danvers was handsome, accomplished, and
eminently fascinating to women. Enticed by the high
play, for which he seemed to have a passion, and at-
tracted by the gay badinage of Adelina, he came
again and again to lose his money at the ecarte tables,
and enjoy her imitations of the most distinguished
celebrities of the day. She became infatuated by
him, and flattered him by a preference as openly ex-
pressed as it was offensive to me. She even induced
her father to offer him a large dower, if he would
nsse,Dt her hand. Danvers declined the honour, but
anemia was reouiLux uut, W uu I.ktlueU,auu ,uaut.A.-
afforded her an opportunity to fix her fangs upon her
victim.
"I hated Danvers because he had supplanted me,
and I formed a diabolical plot for his ruin. He lost
largely at play, and frequently gave cheques upon his
banker. For one of these a forged bill was substi-
tuted, to which the signature of the firm was cleverly
imitated, together with the name of Danvers upon its
back. I hired a man, who was an habitual hanger-on
at the saloon, to present this at the counter of the
banking-house, and cause a warrant to be got out
for Danvers' arrest. This was left in my possession,
for the police were in our pay, and such transactions
were often arranged to suit our own interests. My
object was nct to ruin him, but to fleece him of still
larger sums than he had lost at our tables. We knew
very well that the bankers would not willingly prose-
cute a foreigner of good position on such a charge as
this, so we were safe so far as they were concerned.
Danvers was enticed into an unfair game, swindled
of his property, and then the warrant for his arrest
produced by the bully I had hired for the service.
His fury was terrible at the insult thus offered him;
he struck blindly at the aggressor, and I—resqlute to
have him entirely at my mercy—plunged my knife to,
the hilt in the side of the wretch who had sold him-
self to my service. I struck again and again, resolute
that the double crimes of forgery and murder should
be fixed upon my victim.
"We were in a private room, and when the melee
began, I managed to extinguish the lights—l had
provided myself with a long-bladed knife similar to
one I knew Danvers habitually wore, and when my
purpose was accomplished, I threw it from me into
the farthest corner of the room.
"Before I could summon assistance, the infuriated
Danvers rushed upon me, mistaking me in the dark-
ness for his antagonist, and struck a blow on any
head, from the effects of which I have never recovered.
I fell apparently dead, and when Seraphine and his
daughter rushed in at the sound of the struggle, they
found Danvers standing over two men, one dead and
the other sc to all appearance.
"The fight had taken place without witnesses, and
if the case came before the tribunals, the punishment
must be death. At the instigation of his daughter,
Seraphine offered Danvers the alternative of an im-
mediate union with her, or arrest for the crime he
had committed.
"Bewildered—madded, with no time for thought
allowed him—wishing to save his family from dis-
grace through his means, the unhappy young man
gave his hand to Adelina Seraphine before day
dawned.
"The supposed dead bodies were removed to a
cellar beneath the house, and consigned to the care of
an old crone, until they could be disposed of without
suspicion. My victim was buried in a hole dug in the
floor for that purpose; but the old woman found
signs of life about me, which induced her to use
every effort to restore me to consciousness. I had
reasons of my own for suspecting that Seraphine
would gladly rid himself of me, if he could do so
without suspicion ; and I caused my old nurse to
have me removed to a neighbouring lodging, where
I could be properly attended to until my wound was

healed.
"On my recovery I found that the saloon was sold
out, the establishment dispersed, and I did not know
where to find any of those who had inhabited it. I
was weary of life on shore, and I again commenced
my wanderings by sea. Years after the occurrence
of these events I came back to London. Danvers
was there with his wife. Her services were neces-
sary to me, and I demanded them as my right.
"To her consternation Mrs. Danvers learned that I
lived; that I could release her husband from the
thrall she held over him by the threat of betraying
the murders he believed he had committed. To
retain Danvers in this slavery was her resolution; for
she rendered his life so miserable that she knew this
to be the only tie she held upon him.
"My enmity to Danvers is now dead; his odious
and unprincipled wife is disgusting to me; and at the
solicitation of a woman who has proved herself a true
Christian and a good Samaritan, I write this state-
ment of facts. I cannot live much longer, and the
bequest I make to Harold Danvers is my entire for-
giveness, with freedom from remorse for crimes he
never committed.
..FERNANDO GAYOSO-4é5 ALBERT TREVOR."
Many tears were wept over this revelation before
the reader could gain sufficient calmness to seek
Harold. She knew that he was in the library with
his father, and, with a light tread, Amy once more
stood outside the door. She had once entered that
room to find despair; she now came to it as the
messenger of hope and release to a heart which had
si'lned, suffered, and repented, with an earnestness
and truth in keeping with a nature originally noble,
though, for a season, fallen from its high estate.
Mr. Danvers raised his venerable head 'as she
entered, caught the expression of her face, and

asked:
What is it, Amy? You look as if a rainbow was
actually spanning the cloud in which we have so long
lived."
"You are right, sir. .tsA The cloud has lifted itself,
and the sun shines through at last. Read this con-
fessionl, Harold; confide the whole story of your life
to your father, and once more walk in the light of a
clear conscience."
ocarcelv comprehending her wprds of hope, Danvers

ran his eyes over the piper, his breast heaved, his
face glowed with excitement as he exclaimed:
"And this is what Adelina would have taken to the
tomb with her! Oh, life! hope! ye come to me once
more in the guise of innocence! lam not a Cain!
The blood of 'my fellow-man, shed by my hand, does
not cry to Heaven for atonement! Lord, I thank
thee; Oh, Amy! I bless thee, as the messenger of
peace to my heart ! "
Mrs. Chard glided from the apartment, and we
draw a veil over the scene that ensued between the
father and son.