The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1851-08-18

this money. ] want it very much, but mo-
body will suspect me Of desiring her death
for the sake of having il q little sooner
He laughed at his own poor Jest, and !
made sort Of hyena chorus toit, that sound
ed strange and hysterical, even to my own
ears. He went at last, but stopped again on
the stairs, and detained me there, taking,
for full five minutes longer. felt BY SYM
pathy all the pangs of suffocatioli1 My
throat seemed swollen--my forehead hurst
ing. Great God will he never be gone =
Will he stand here gossipping about the
weather and the genelalities of the law
while his lovely wife who came to sacrifice
her individual interests for his sake, dies
terrible and lingering death! He is gone! |
rush back into my loom. A step behind me
makes me turn round, II is my clerk--cur-
Sses on him Iground my teeth in undvail-
ing rage. could have stabbed him--shot
him-beaten out his brains--hurled him
headlong down the stairs. But any violence
would have compromised her. In al few
minutes my brain was clear again.
'Waison,' cried, Mr.. -- hasjust
left. He is gone up Fleet street, ! think
run after himaand request him TO leave those
papers with. me. Say TO him Iwould like
to examine them more at leisure. Run,
quickly, and you'll overtake him.
Watson disappeared. turned the Ike! Of
the outer door, and sprang towards the clps-
ct. AS unlocked it, ! remembered the look
she had given me when | shut it; and ]
wondered, with a beating heart whether the
same expression would greet my enraptured
gaze when | opened it. There she stood,
! with her eyes firmly fixed on mine.
sYou are safe, dearest Imurmured.
She did not rebuke me for calling her SO !;
| and emboldened by her silence, took her
Lhsnd to lead her from her narrow prison
She moved forwards, and fell into my arms
a corpse!
cannot we'll recall what followed. /
only know that tried every means for her
restoration to life but alas without sue
cess. OF one thing was firmly convinced
she had not died from sufocation. ! had
once seen the pody of q man who was killed
by The falling in Of the mouth Of pit.
recollected his purple and swollen face, and
his lax, warm limbs. She was pale, rigid,
cold. The tumuit of her own emotions
must have killed her the moment the. dooi
was closed upon her. BY some means
kept my secret from the knowledge of Wat
SON and every one else. All that night ] was
trying to recover her. Then formed the
project Of shutting her up in the closet
locking up the chambers, and going abroad
for twenty years. But that idea was re-
ljected as quickly as formed for it would be
hardly possible that the presence of dead
body in the house should not be discovered
before that time. Next, / thought of setting
fire 10 the place, burning all my books and
papers, and making funeral pile of them
and thus running myself to save the secret.
But that thought, too, was dismissed. IL
might cause loss of life and property to
many innocent people, and would be a
Ibungling proceeding after all as, if the fire
was discovered early, policemen. firemen,
mob all would break in, and finding her
body there, all would be lost-for it was
more to save her reputation than my life,
that was striving and plotting.
In the meantime, was prey to the most
painful anxiety. was sure that by that
time she must have been missed and sought
for. Perhaps she had been seen to enter my
chambers. Every step that | heard, feared
might be that Of a policeman. In the morn.
, ing, stranger called on business. This, ol
course, was nothing extraeraInary but
when he left, felt he was detective Off
Ger, and had come as spy. / thrust few
clothes into a caTpet-bag, intending to es-
cape to France. ! caught upa box Of match
es, TO set the place on fire. Igrasped ra-
zor, and looking eagerly on its keen edge as
the surest and swiftest way of ending my
misery. But then, all these would leave her
to the jests of the world, and my own suf-
feriugs were nothing in comparison. At
this distance of time, ] can look back impair
, tally and cody upon that dreadful day and
| can solemnly declare, that l would rather
have been hanged for numbering her, than
| 10 have allowed breath 10 sully her fail
fame.
Ihad Just laid down the razor, when a
, hurried step crossed the ante-room. 1t was
t her husbands.
| Now, l thought, all is lost. She was seer
/ to enter here, and he has come to claim her
| My dear -, he began, in nervous
unsettled way, you remember the business
that came about, yesterday 2
Perfectly
huu uu yOu ICllCInUcI tuC WOIuS i uSeU
, as was going? Imean, in answer to wha
! you said about my not being able to toucl
! this money till after the death of my wife ?
3 yes, remember them distinctly
'My wife has disappea red since yesterday
5 morning. be continued, turning even pale
than before; and ifaEything serious should
, have happened, you know, and you shouic
, repeat those expressions, they might be lai,
| hold of, and don't know what would be
the consequence. might be suspected O
having murdered her,
Poor fellow If / had not known th'
|. truth, hould have suspected it myself, from
his excessive terror AMI anxiety. He wipet
the perspiration from his face, and sank int
chair. The sight of person more fright
ened than myself reassured me. was calm
er than | had been since the preceding
morning.
Where did she go? How was she dress
ed p inquired, anxious to know all that
could on the subject.
Il don't know. She told me she was 60
ing out shopping and visiting but no on
| saw her leave the house, and none OF th,
servants know exactly how she was dressed
| When went home TO dinner, the first thin
, heard was that she had not returned
n what have you done? Have you sen
, to the police and to the hospitals ?'
Yes, and to every friend and tradesmar
, where she was at all likely to CALI
!. Vou NAV denp nd unon IL re nlied Yer,