Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1859-01-28

r dark waters and sank heavily. In an in
slant they We're lost TO sight forever. lef
|, the miniature-whch ! longed but did no
5 dare to keep-upon his person. I CAV
him, as he lay there, one long, triumphan
. gaze, and then quietly walked away home
"But not even yet was my haired salts
|. fed. The dead man lying there, stark arc
, cold, with his face upturned to the Septem
Der sun, was yet, to my thinking, better Of
than I. Gladly, ay, gladly. would ! have
taken his place, and lain there dead, but tc
Z. have once heard her lips call me the he
loved of her soul--to have carried The
memory Of her kisses into the hereafter Of
i spirits. , E.. 81,
For time half expected 10 snffer for
my crime felon's Doom, but suspicion
never seemed to point my way. That af-
tternoon his horse, which had left as he
had tied ii. broke from its fastening, and
rushed, riderless, home. Then they found
his body. The robbery which had been
committed seemed to indicate the money he
had with him as the motive of the deed,
and led to the apprehension of two or three
persons hitherto suspected of theft. But
they were all discharged and after Mrs.
Eastman had died, and the Colonel moved
away, the matter pretty much ceased to be
talked of
"The first pang of remorse I ever suf-
ferrd was when saw Lucia standing at
Mrs. Eastman's grave. j had not seen her
before since that day. She had changed in
those few weeks so that you would hardly
have known her. Her Whole face seemed
frozen. Her cheeks and lips were ashen;
the smiles had all died out forever from her
face; the joyous light from her eyes. l
loved her so that would have died. even
then, to bring back her happiness but ]
would have seen her die before. if the pow
er had been mine, would have restored
her lover to life.
"Three years after that ! went 10 see her
In all this time / had never once seen her
alone. Now could wait no longer. i had
not much hope, yet l longed 10 tell her
again Of my love. She came into the room
where | waited for her, and stood before
me. A mortal terror seized upon NE, aud
seemed to chill the blood in my veins.
read in her cold ey es that she knew my Sc
cret.
"Listen to me, Steven Cranston,' she
said, in her low yet distinct voice. You
have come here to ask my love. Hear
what ! have to say, and consider whether
am likely to give it. ! loved Robert East
man better than my own lite. Every hope
had for all the future centred in him.
saw Heaven itself through his eyes. If
lightning had struck him, if sudden fever
had drunk up bis life, or slow disease wasted
it. | would have been faithful to his memo
ory forever. How much more now YoU, |
you who professed to love me and care for I
my happiness, you murdered him. You |
took away all the hope had in the world. |
| know this from my own sure instinct
the instinct which makes every pulse quiver
with athing at the sight Of your face or
the sound OF your voice. But | could not |
have proved it against you. Even If
could wouldnot. ] had rather yon should
live, that, perehance, in some eleventh hour, |
even your soul may find mercy of God. |
Besides, the time will come when worse |
than any mere physical death will be the |
torture Of your spirit. He viii be avenged /
by the remoIse which shall dog your foot |
steps like fiend.'
''As she said these words her cold gray |
eyes flashed fire upon meas ,on have I
sometimes seen the lightning A ash from the |
cold gray depths of winters cloud. / /
did not answer her a word--contrite con-
fession. bold denial, were alike impossible. |
skunk out of the house like coward. ] 4
have never entered it since.
'-Soon after that | went to sea- and ! I
have followed il for more than twenty years. I
Oh could ever tell you what have suf- /
20 it,ht / Ii l,,,l, ,nto 81,
waters and see, plain as I see it now. this I
Mountain Road, always with Robert East
man lying dead and CHASTITY under the pom
lars-noons. when thu winds going by me |
would shrek with wild, Accusing voices in |
my ears, and ] would wonder that those /
around me did not hear that pursuing cry.
and hang me in their midst as murderer |
Sometimes, where the fignre-head of the
vessel should have been. | seemed TO SIZE I
Lucia stand-that same witherlng fire in |
her cold eyes, and her thin hand pointing |
down, ever down, to the depths below. the I
tortures that waited for me there. Do you |
wonder | fed from such visions came |
here for rest and quiet, but he pursues me
still. Night and day his voice calls for
blood, for blood. l have told you nv Story
because ! could not die with my crime I'M
confessed, and am too tired of life to keep /
my secret any longer. Now You may go
and deliver me up to the Phili>tnes."
He stopped. His voice had risen. in the
latter part of his confession, 10 wild. fierce
shrek. A glare as of madness was in his
eyes. 1t seemed to me that it would be but
a short step from this excitement to utter
frenzy. / strove to sooihe him.
no." / said. II will not be'ray you.
Heaven is infinite, and there may be mercy
yet, even for you. She spared you. aud so
viii I. Cry to God, and He may yet hear
you"
A wild CLEAN shot across his face.
@No," he cried Goods mercy / ask not
for-man's mercy / viii not have. My
hour of doom has come. Fiends wait for
me. Twenty and FIVE years ago this seven
teenth Of September Robert Eastman died