Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-11-30


and the recluse bore to his mansion tht
young bride of his affections. Oh, sir
the house assumed a new appearance
within and without.
Roses bloomed in the garden; jassa
mines peeped through the lattices, anC
the fields about it smiled with the effects
of more careful cultivation. Lights
were seen in the parlor in the evening
and many time would the passer-by
pause at the garden gate to listen t.
strains of the sweetest music, breathed
coral voices from the cottage. If the
mysterious student and his wife had
been neglected by the neighbors, what
cared they? Their enduring mutual
affection made their home little Para
disc. But death came to Eden. Mary
suddenly fell sick, and after few hours
illness died in the arms of her husband
and her sister Madeline. This was the
students second heavy affection.
Days, months rolled on, and the So
lace of the beresved was to sit with the
sister of the deceased and talk of the
lost one. To Adelaide he offered his
widowed heart. The bridal was not
one of revelry and mirth. Yet they
lived happily, and the rose again bios
somed in the garden. But it seemed as
if fatality pursued this singular man.
When the rose withered, and the leai
fell, in the mellow autumn of the year,
Adelaide too sickened and died like her
sister, in the arms of her husband and
Madeline.
Perhaps you will think it strange,
young man, that after all, the wretched
survivor, stood again at the altar
Madeline! l well remember her. She
was beauty in the true sense of the
word-she might have sat on throne,
and the most loyal subject, the proudest
peer would have sworn the blood in her
veins descended from hundred kings.
She loved the widowed for his power
and his fame, and she welded him.
They were married in that church
it was summer afternoon-I recollect
it well. During the ceremony. the
blacklist cloud l ever saw overspread
the heavens, and the moment this bride
pronounced her vow, clap of thunder
shook the building to its centre. All
the females shrieked, but the bride her.
self made the response with a steady
voice, and her eye glistened with wild
fire as she gazed upon her bridegroom
When arrived at the house, she sank
upon the Threshold; but this was the
timldity of the maiden.
When they were alone he clasped
her hand, and it was as cold as icel-
Madeline, said he, what means this?
Your cheek is as pale as your wedding
gown The bride uttered frantic
shrek. My wedding gownP ex-
claimed she, mo, no; this is my sisters
shroudl The hour of confession has
arrived. 1t is God that impels me to
speak. To win you lost my own soul.
Yes, yes-I am a murderess! She
smiled on me in the joyous affection of
her young heart-but l gave her the
fatal drug! Adelaide twined her white
arms around my neck, but admins
tered the poisonl Take me to your
arms-I have lost my soul for you, and
mine you must be!'
And then,' continued he in hollow
voice, 'at that moment came the thunder,
and the guilty woman fell dead on the
floorp
The countenanSe of the narrator ex-
pressed as he felt.
and the bridegroom asked I, the
husband of the destroyer and the vic
Tins; what became of him?'
He stands before youP was the thrill
ing answer.