Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-03-02
n A, MARCH 3, 1859.
: The btoaD had crazed her /!

VI 1naI uarkheQ room, came another, hvld
as the corpse before us, with eyes glittering
and scintillating, like diamonds. 1t was
he whom called husband. He stood a |
moment, his giant proportions cleaned in
the doorway, and then advanced to nv
side, firmly folding me to his bosom.
"'Ha! ha! ha! Martha, nv little |
pigeon, you are mine now. He is dead, |
the STRIPPING who won a part of the love |
would bind to myself 1t was but light |
task to cut the soul loose. I did it that |
you might be free to idolize me. You are
glad, my little one. Your mother reioices. !
See she laughs. Join in the meriment
Tia ha! ha l join the laugh ? I
The truth flashed on each one present
l read it in the despairing eyes of my IA
the confirmation Of my own reafv.-~ .--Ss----
| had become the wife of madnadn !;
who, governed by somo unaccountable
fancy, had murdered my only brother.
At that moment, when my mother was
pressing her lips to the cold brow of her
son, my father striving to win her away
Mr.. Haskin and George standing mute and
motionless-I inclosed in the arms of the
maniac, who was momentarily growing
more furious in gestures and language, the |
sound Of carriage wheels, approaching at a
rapid rate, was heard. They ceased
and tail, finely proportioned, gray-haired
man, followed by two burly servants, came
quick y up the walk. Auber's-arms drop
ped from my waist, and he turned towards
the sitting room, as though he would seek
a hiding-place.
"The aged gentleman seemed to com
prehend, in an instant, the whole melan-
choly facts. lie staggered to seat, after
: motlonlng to his servants, and exclaimed:
Too late, too late feared as much
; His men seized my husband, now vel
r ling and foaming, cursing and threatening
me, and bore him, despite his struggles,
out into the yard, where they securely
: bound him, and placed him in the wagon.
) "' You doubtless surmise,' began the
stranger, in voice hoarse with conflicting
C emotions, that | am the parent Of that un-
[ happy man, yonder. Many years ago, he
: wooed beautiful girl, much resembling
your daughter, sir; but she proved false,
; forsook him, and became the wife of his
= brother, my eldest son. The perfdy Of
e the one who was dearer than life to Ar
( mold, caused insanity, from which he even
4 tually recovered, as we thought. Ny ell
r dest son, after his marriage, went to Italy,
Q where he yet remains. No symptoms of
). madness have appeared since that period,
f except when his brothers name or that of
g his wife, was mentioned. He became ha-
4 bitually moody and detected, until this ac-
= qualntance with your son then he became
s more lively; and it was with pleasure that
!, L sanctioned his design of visiting here
D believed that the cheerful, genial nature
e of poor Virgil was to restore my misgui-
: ded boy to his original self again. Four
:. days ago, a letter reached me from Arnold.
: 1t was written in wild, iucoherent style.
# 1t closed with these words:
|. GO have found my love transformed
S into an angel-the daughter of my host
She will be mine soon-mine, naine. No
a power on earth can snatch her from me
q unless-great God she forsakes me for
' her brother = And then followed strange
k unintellgible sentences, from which | could
q only gather that haunted by his own
J. brothers perfdy, he feared that Virgil
|. would snatch his bride from him. 1 have
, ridden nipht and day tn roach here to
prevent some dreadful catastrophe. Alas
t [ am too late too latep
o A faintness, which had in vain en-
y deavored to shake of, overpowered me !;
r. and for hours / was conscious of nothing,
It only that had been laid upon my bed, in
D. my own room.
{" 1t was far along in the night when
n consciousness fully returned. A fierce
d storm was raging, and the wind howled
" around the house furiously. | started up
h all was still as death. Then, to my cars
came the maniacal laugh of my poor, de-
ID mented mother and trembling in every
o. limb, left the room, passed down the
ID stairs, and steathily pushed open the door
70 leading in my mothers private sitting room
p "A form, stiffened in death, lay upor
r. the SOFIA white sheet falling from thc
- plainly discernible outlines of the icy bodI
mol covered ell tho faee ef the unnrdaree
i boy. By its side sat mother, smoothing
az away from the clammy forehead the gol
be den-brown hair, laughing and talking al
ternately. Opposite, almost as rigid an
ak unbending as the dead-almost as ghastly
,m but with deep lines of agony drawn a
over the usually happy face, sat my father
ad Never did l read in any countenanc
such hopeless misery-such rayless de
rb pair, such utter sorrow. Leaning again'
. the mantlepieee, gazing abstFactedly iii
ov the fire, stood Mr.. Haskins; by the vii
dow, looking out upon the storm, was h
,.v son. Becky knelt before my mother, str
no. wing, more by actions than words, to pr
vail upon her to take the soothing cordi
me she had prepared.
No one noticed me as glided into Il
:. apartment and that picture, that wof
gn' picture of slain victim, a wild lunati
the with voice sometimes raised in hideo
req mirth, then sinking to soul-harrowing We
ers' ings over the beautiful dead-the only sc
) 80 the pride and hopo-the future stay Al
US, support the still, sphynx-likc attitude
OF my father, upright and unbending, Ike
graveyard column, at the head Of the OIL
the stretched corpsc-unyieldiug, even in Il
o. Eheart's greatest calamity : the dark fol
and solemn face Of the elder Haskins t
r dim outlines OF George, revealed by t
my lightning-fashes, shooting from the jagg
q to hrows of the tempest athwart the apa