The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1856-02-23
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A RUSSIAN HUSBANDS REVENGE.
BY CHARLES LESLIE.
| CoNCLUDED.l

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The window was open to receive the gentle
breezes of the night. and the fair young woman
was sitting in her evening dishabille with hel
beautiful hair flowing down her back, uHcon-
! fined by pin or comb. Her eXausitely mould
! ed chin was resting on her hand, in the pensive
latitude of one in whose mind youthful hope
is struggling against the blighting influence Of
lstern reality.
Presently the cloci, Strtck ore when sig
lnal reached her eaB-but SO cautiously was it
transmitted that it did not even disturb the
nightingale singing en- its spray-it seemed as
If she alone in the whole creation could have
heard it.
Yarinka started to her feet, and ran and
Iopcned cupboard, from whence she drew a
frop6 as long as flthom line for sounding the
ocean. She then proceeded to fasten it solidly
to one Of the marble pillars supporting the man
ltel-piece and after trying its strength, and ana
lsTerin5 tho signal from without in still low
l6r key than it Was given, She rushed towards
the balcony, and lowered the rope over the bal
Iustrlde, still grasping it with her delicate fin
gers. as if to ensure the safety of the beloved
object it was to po:s4 in mid air.
Al now ii III 7. lie pi. lar sc ueak cd.e e tl
the pressure OF the moose, as the anXIouSly e2-
lpected guest had seized the other end Of the
rope from below. Varinka leaned over the bla-
Icony, with a strange mixture Of fear and-anx
Iety, when suddenly she felt hand upon her
shoulder.
She turned ar6nnd--it was her husband!
Varinka remained speechless, motionless and
Iterror r-strcken.
.Fhe prince was silent likewise, but there
flurked diaboical smile upon his rough coun-
ltanance as he drew forth his hunting knife
Yet think not, reader, he was about to plunge
lit into the wiles bosom. No, the old general
twas too refined a gentleman to think of any
Isuch plebeian revenge! He slowly stopped
down, and began deliberately saving the rope
tightly drawn across the chamber.
Varnka could not utter-a syllable. Her
senses seemed petritied by terror
Meanwhile the husband continued saving
away at the fatal rope, with kind of sar-
donlc GOODNESS, until it hung together by a few
threads only.
"Make haste, madam" cried he, "mal<e
haste and seize the rope, or all will be lost for
him who is hanging over the abyssii''
As if galvanized into action by these taunts
ing words the young WIFE larted upon the
rope, and by superhuman effort of strength
on the part Of SO fragile 4 being, she wound it
three or four times round her arm with frantc
haste.
Dragged violently by this one arm towards
| the wnlow, while he rest of her body clung
with desperation to the inside of the echamber,
she fixed her looks on her husband, and once
more became motionless. ~
"Vastly well!' said tie General, coldly-
''You forbear screaming, because you Justly
surmse that at the first hint of the kind you
give him, he will generously relinqush his
hold. This is excellent; its neither he nor |,
but you who will kill him."
FEbo,, cbooth;pc hic b,,pf;rcr 10 -,,+
down quietly opposite his wife, folded his
arms, and enjoyed his horrible revenge, testing
it drop by drop, as it were.
If there be an earthly punishment equal to
the tortures experienced by the jealous, it
must surely be the prolonged agony, endured
| by this unhappy young creature, as she kept
twisting the cord round her bruised and fra
gile wrist beneath the basilisk gaze of her
reyengefut husband faa fano.5
She kept clutching the cord with the fran
tic energy of despair terrified by the faint
ness stealing over her, which forced her to re-
cede inch by inch towards the balcony; while
he without, not understanding her delay, kept
gradually ascending higher and higher still;
and there sat the husband chuckling in dark
corner Of the room! 5fa 84if|
What pen can describe the unhappy crea-
ture's suterings? How mighty were the et-
forts she made to resist few seconds longer,
till her wrists were numbed with intense pain,
and her hands, from which all the blood had
lretreated, felt powerless to retain the cord on
which depended life SO unutterably dear to
her. 5 Easals Iaa csz
And now she is dragged into the balcony
yet one hand still grasps the balustrade with
a convulsive grip! But, oh! the weight from
below still drags her ON and on; her body is
now lifted into ana upright position; aAatit
leans over the abyss--the tips Of her feet
alone rest on the balcony-she loses her equi-
librium--she hoyers over the chasm like
spirit of the air.
Together cries She, in dying voice
''we'll die together, as in my dream" 7
And still clutching the rope she disappears
in the yawning preeipice. -af a ts9.
A cry Of anguish and then another-the
dull, heavy sound ofa body falling on the
rocks below-then again another fall; and all
silent save the roaring, FLASHING torrent that
bore away the two corpses in their foamy
winding sheet! .s1 a-I 30 sla7 sss s
High above, stood the pitiless General on
the balcony from whence his wife was dashed
headlong into the jaws of death, smiling with
an internal smile as he watched the horrible
catastrophe of this fearful domestic tragedy
| Below stood the nephew, who on witness
| ing this agonising scene, understood, too late,
the dreadful import of the part he had so i'm
prudently consented to perform. He covered
| his face with his hands, and remained absorbed
in the most painful reflections:
In an hours time, the youth felt a hand
upon his shoulder, and on raising HIS eyes, he
perceived it was his uncle, bearing torch in !
h,S hand.
"Fonow me,'' said the General, in an au-
thoritative tone.
Tho uncle and the napheU uraeaa5ed u,