Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1852-05-20
know all that I dou Id on the subject.

II don know. She told me Sh
was going out 81 topping and visiting
but no one saw bet leave the house
and none of the servants know ex
/ actly how she was dressed. Whel
went hoI ne to dinner, the first thin;
III heard was that she had not re
i turned" T
/ aWhat have you done? Ha "
you sent to the police and to th'
hospitals2P
/ %Yes, and to every friend ant
tradesman where she was at all likely
to call. p"
@You may depend upon it, I re
piled, very impressively, ''that 1 will
not repeat what you said yesterday
You are right in supposing that il
might tell against you very much il
| she should be found dead under sus-
picious circumstances"
/ He talk4 ed little longer, and then
went to rel hew the search for his wife.
How | pre- served my selfpossession
during this interview l do not know:
so far from being really calm, l could
have gnaw ed the flesh off my bones
in my agony.
That nj ight, when the doors were
fastened, hnd | was alone-except
for the com pany Of the dead-I shut
myself up in the closet for two
hours, to a scertain whether she had
died from want of air, for | distrust-
ed my own knowledge of the appear
ance Of 81 saffocatea persons. The
place was y veil supplied with air from
several larg e crevices. Ny first idea
was correct-she had died from some
other cause 3.
. When / emerged from the closet,
l found that the candle hadburnt out,
and that the night was intensely
dark. 1t was raj ming in torrents,
and the thunder and wind roared
terrific chorus, ba k$ed by the sullen
booming of the river, then at high
tide, and already swollen by the rain.
| sat there in Il lle dark upon the
ground, holding the cold, stiff hand
of the de I'D within my own I
thought dr. eamily ho woften it had vel
coined me by its soft pressure, while
the sweet ayes had sbeametl brightly
into mine, and the full, pouting lips
had wreathed into dimples oi delight.
Now, that hand, that used to be so
plump, so full Of warmth and life,
was rigid a nd coldl those eyes we're
glazed and ghastly.-those lips we're
clalnmy and hardl' Tears came to
my relief | wept as grown men sell
dom weep, and with that heart-easing
gush came a new idea of escape for
her and me. | was ready to believe
at that moment that her spirit rested /
upon mine, and inspired the thought
for it burst upon me suddenly i
with conviction that if executed ath
the instant it would be crowned with
How could l ! otherwise
have had the temerity to Snatch her
up in my rms, carry her down stairs
1t the risk of being encountered byIi
som Of the other inhabitants cf the|
hous Sc; bear her through the courts
md, by a way that l knew, into the
garden? The river was running
strong and deep against the wall. III
pressed or E kiss upon her cold fore
head, and threw her into the stream
Gladly, ghdly would | have gone
With her, and held her to my heart
n death; but the impulse was still
IN me, and without delay, | fastened
oack. No one saw me, and the
oeating rain efaced my footprints.
A few days after ! saw by the pa
,ers that her body had been found
ar down the river. The medical ev-
dence, after a post norton exami1
lation, was that she died from rup1
ure Of the heart, and at death
ook place before immersion in tho
he water. So they conjectured
hat she had been standing by the
iyer when the fatal attaok seized
lei, and had fallen in unperceivedE
nd they returned a verdict of acci-
Iental death, and she was buried ih
pretty country church-yard neaF
1here they found her. I
Two years later her husband mar
led again. He is stout and ruddy, /
nd laughs as heartily as ever. +
I shall die bachelor. ! am lean I
nd pale, and bowed and gray-haired,
nd the sound of my own laugh is
TRANCE to me. Al. A. B. I