The northern tribune. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1847-1855, 1848-03-13
From Holden's Dollar Magazine.
THE BROTHER'S REVENGE;
A LEGEND OF FORT LEE.

WIN d cOlQneSS CnaC WOulu shame a uenQ,
he folded his arms and replied,
Circumstances have changed since then,
and am now different man. My boyish
imagination painted all things bright for the
future, and did not dream that misfortune
would cross my path SO soon. My prospects
then were fair, but now the meanest look on
ne and call me beggar -
q do not ask for wealth, Walter. I ask
for nothing but your love. Do not leave me
to a lone sad pilgrimage, to travel, unlighted
by CLEAN of hope. Make me but your wife,
and all will be forgotten, all forgiven -
II have told you before tonight, that that
cannot be. My friends, and what hope to
get, will prevent it. You"
Have you dones" she exclaimed fiercely,
interrupting him. "Have you done:'
"Yes," was the cold reply. She heard it,
but as it reached her ears, her very being
seemed changed. There was painful con-
preston of the brow and a quivering of the
lip, but she stood erect, and her eyes shone
with an intense brightness. Her woman's
soul had been rung with anguish, but his last
words were like sparks to the fire of her wo-
mans nature, and she no longer thought Of
degradation, but of her injuries and he who
had made her what she was. Her whole mind
had been reused into action by the contempt
uous treatment she had received from him,
who alone, above all others, should have COM
forted her-he who had led her from her quiet
home, from parents, and all so lovely and true
--he who, like crouching fiend, had reused
her animal nature into action and worked
eternal ruin on her woman's honor-but she
was calm, quite calm, and looked at him with
triumphant smile.
His soul quailed in him, and with the dread
sickening sensation of conscious guilt, he
bowed his head upon his breast. ....
s"You have blighted my young fresh life,
Walter; you have left me no hope, no aim, no
object. Yet forgive, I love, and will pray
for YOU" ......t
"Captain Marshall says that he will" he
half muttered between his teeth, unable to
muster courage sufficient to speak aloud.
"Mention not that name again." she indig-
nantly exclaimed, "if you do not wish my
curse -
Her last words were uttered with such an
air of majesty, that he covered before her like
a whipped cur. ....,LT tt.9-a.J 4
AZ see that am not wanted tonight" he
replied, buttoning his threadless coat with his
trembling fingers, and pulling his hat still far
Their over his eyes, as if afraid to gaze upon
the woman he had SO basely wronged and be-
trayed.
Exhausted and quite overcome by her feel
ings, Grace Darrell resumed her chair, and
buried her face in her hands and wept.
Goaded by the stin9s of conscience he rush
ed from her presence, and left the house with
a curse upon his lips. No greater punishment
was he receiving than the canker already gnaw-
ing at his heart strings, and he went forth to
seek that reward which all who trfie with the
holy love of woman will sooner or later get.
Who is there possessing the feelings OF a
man, but does not loath and detest a wretch
like Walter Arlington? Yet, even in these
days, when learned philosophers and philan-
thropists pirate OF the improved condition of
society, there are thousands of such loathsome
worms among us.
Short inarticulate sounds came struggling
from her lips as she sat before che broad hearth,
with her head buried in her palms and the
burning tears rolling down her cheeks. She
had heard the word-she knew her fate. and
no longer felt that fearful anxiety which had
for weeks been preying on her mind. Though
observation-disclosures, and
scorned and trampled on, she bore it all with
patience, and there was meekness in her sor-
row which could not but affect the deepest
villain that ever walked the earth. Wronged,
Sne lOVeQ the mOre-ScOrneu an "a SllSnteu, Sne
was still more faithful for hers was
e A love vehement. strong, so pure,
That neither age could change art could cure."
Rising from the chair, she walked to the
bedside, and seeing that her babe had fallen
into gentle slumber, she quietly placed the
clothes more securely about its little form, and
then imprinting warm kiss on its rosy lips
a kiss such only as mother can give; she
turned for her bonnet and shawl which were
hanging near. But for moment she paused,
as if happy thought was at her heart, and
cast another look upon the face of the slum-
bering child. She STOOD silent and notion
less, with her arms folded across her breast,
while her dark hair hung clustering over the
fair bosom, now rising into light by the gentle
impulse of her breathing. But the eyes OF
the mother droop as she beholds the infant
L. ~ i laact eaxaaQ