Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1857-12-17
XI.-THE PICTURE-DREANr.

They were back again in Nevis
Court, with Martha, Mrs. Parkes and
the footsteps. On the night of their
arrival the mysterious tramp was heard
in the corridor for the first time since
Aides marriage. She listened to it
with trembling, recollecting that Griz-
zie had called it an omen for evil; for
she thought of her own hour of trial
which was approaching with an indefi-
nable fear, while her heart yearned to
Laurence withmore than its old passion
ate love. Was the warning for her or
for both
One Sabbath afternoon all the house
was very hushed; the children were all
away at church or at school; the doors
and windows were all shut, for the air
was cold, like the first day of winter
Laurence Royston was in the work
room, graver in hand, and halffnish-
ed plate before him-he took no note of
time and seasons--as if he intended to
distract his thoughts by toll; but instead,
he sat waiting-O God, how anxiously!
as if his own death sentence hung up
on the message he was expecting to
hear. They had told him Adie might
die; and as the possibility forced itself
into his thoughts, he felt almost mad
dened.
at cannot, it shall not be p he said.
1t was not often in his lifetime that
this man had prayed; but when that fear
came upon him, he besought God slave
ishly to punish him for his misdeeds in
any way but that. So much as he had
periled, so much as he had lost, to pos
sess her, he had right to keep her
Then he almost detied Heaven to take
her from him; she was his by purchase;
he had given for her the utmost price
that man could pay, and he would not
be defrauded of his due. The solitude
of the old room, or perhaps Martha's
furtive eye alone witnessed the rawlings,
which seemed to shadow forth some
hidden deed. Possibly that deed it was
that kimdled his pale eye with lurid fire,
and haunted him with its presence al
ways. There were great drops on his
forehead, which he wiped away with a
trembling hand, while his mouth work
ed violently. This agony of suspense
was insufferable, and what long, long
hours it lasted He dared not 90 to his
darling, lest the blackness of his curse.
oyershadowing, should destroy her; and
yet, when the night fell, no one had
come to tell him whether he was the IA
Their of living child or the husband of
a dead wife. The darkness crept on un-
awares as he waited and listened; at
last, he lighted the lamp and tried to
read, but there was neither sense nor
continuity in the page, aud he soon
threw it aside.
Utterly exhausted in mind and body,
a sort of lethargic trance fell upon him,
and with that fearful dream. At first
he seemed to be driven onward violent
ly over dark, heaving gulf, and then
hurled down the yawning vortex into a
darkness that might be felt Presently
through this darkness moved vivid ,shap-
less lights which seemed to portend the
advent of some nameless horror. He
tried to draw himself away, he struggled
ito cover his face, for he felt what was
coming, but his efforts were as the eff
forts of a prisoner chained iland and
foot and powerless to stir. Then he
nerved himself to look, and the old room
in Nevis Court-where he was sitting
appeared in his dream. 1t was all a
glow, as with the rudy heat of Yule-
tide fire, and old Nicholas Drew was
there. Then was enacted before his
sight the whole scene of the murder,
even to the dropping of the glove. That
startled and awoke him. "Where Is
that glove ? who found it? who has it
now?' he asked himself fearfully. AL
the vision resolved itself into the LOST
glove; he could think of nothing but
that. The other was burnt: ii must
have been destroyed too: I heard nc
mention of a glove having been found
He glanced suspiciously around tn,
room, shrinking down into his chair in