The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-02-17

4 i =
/ sat watching her white robes fit
ting through the long shady walk OPP
posite my window, and knew that the
child brooded over some dark sorrow,
for her eyes were filled with tears.
Why was it, l questioned myself,
that painful thoughts took possession
of me as / sat there? 1t seemed as if
were sojourning in an enchanted spot,
and that some horror was suddenly to
break upon me.
At my side, nearly covering beau
tiful table of letter-wood, were several
costly gift-books. l took them up
carefully, for 1 have a reverence for
books-and turning to the fly leaf of
a splendidly bound copy of Shakespeare,
read
"To Mary Francis F., from her
devoted husband, Henry E. F."
A thrill of surprise and anguish ran
from vein to vein. My thoughts seemed
paralyzed. The truth had burst upon
me with such suddenness that the blood
rushed with shock to my heart.
l knew Henry E. F., had known
him intimately for years. He was a
friend, towards whom all my sympa-
thies had been drawn, for he had seen
such sorrow as makes the heart grow
old before it's time.
His wife, whom he loved, had de-
serted him.. She had taken with her
his only child. She had desolated a
household; and forgetting honor,
shame, everything that pertains to vir-
tue and to God, had fled from the coun-
try with the man whose arts had won
her wanton love.
How could l remain under this roof
that now seemed accursed? How
meet the destroyer of yirtue-the fiend
who had revelled in such conquest?
/ could only think of the evil they
had done-not what they might suffer
through the tortures of remorse. 1t
was some time before the seducer came
into the room where / still sat with the
child, determined to meet him once
more before l left the house.
O! how guilty! how heart-stricken
his appearance! Remorse sat on his
forehead-looked out from his eyes
spoke when he was silent
"Will you come to dinner?" he asked.
/ hesitated. Should | partake of his
hospitality-the hospitality of one of
those fiends in human shape whose
steps take hold on hell? / knew his
guilt-why delay to declare it :? Why
not at once, in burning words, upbraid
him for his villainy, and flee as from a
pestilence his n-cursed house /? The
man noticed my hesitation. He could
not, of course, interpret its cause. AS
he repeated his request, the look OF
distress upon his face excited feeling
of pity, which, for the moment, slightly
disarmed my resentment, and, under
the influence of this feeling, almost
unconsciously passed into the dining
room.
:" am sorry little Nelly's mamma
! q was glad he did not use the sacred
name of wife)-is not able to sit down
with u.s." he said. at is many months
since we have had her presence at our
meals. She is suffering from the effects
of slow fever, induced by the climate y
he added, gravely, as he motioned me
seat before him.
The table glittered with silver-plate.
Obedient servants brought on the most
costly servers, delicacies such as / had
never seen before.
But the skeleton sat at the feast.
/ could not talk, save in monosyla.
{ bles. My host ate hastily = almost
carelessly-waiting upon me with many
} abrupt starts and apologies.
Wine came. He drank freely. Soon
he sent the little girl and the servants
from the room, and seemed striving to
nerve himself to conversation.
You are from - city, l believe
he said nervously.
: / answered an affirmative.
/ "Did you ever know a gentleman
, there by the name of H. E. F-?"
, 81 knew him, sir" l said sternly
looking the man steadily in the face
, g and l know him also ruined, heart
broken man,
With an ejaculation of anguish ht
, put his handkerchief to his eyes. /
: would have seemed hypocritical, bu
| the suffering on his face was unmista
kable
"Perhaps you have suspected then
-he began in a quivering voice.
Not calmly, but with the words O
an accuser, told him what had seen
: and thought, and felt.
: Sir" said he, in tones which / shal
} never forget, "if / have sinned, God il
) Heaven knows have suffered and i
in FPS bereavement he has cursed me
that curse is fearfully fulfilled! Poo
! Mary is dying-has been dying fo
7 months and l have known it. 1t ha
: been for me to see the failing step-th,
: dimming eye; it is for me, now, to Sc,
! the terribles struggles of her nearl,
worn-out frame; it is for me to lister
to her language of remorse, that some
: times almost drives me mad. Yes
: mad-nad-mad," he said, in frenzy
rising and crossing the floor with long
} hasty strides. Then burying his fac
r in his hands, he exclaimed, "too late
too late-I have repented." Their
3 was a long pause, and he continued
more calmly, "no human means Cal
now restore my poor companion. He
(, moral sensibilities become more an,
4 more acute as she fails in strength, S,
that she reproaches herself constantly
II A ,voor~, ,,~,rr,f,,1 lso1r, Tr>,,