The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-12-20

ing on her bosom. Master never mind
me, nor Dinah, nor Miss Penelope. /
bent over his pale young wife, kissing h
tenderly. and calling her by thousar
tender names / liked it, but perha
Miss Penelope did not, for she left Il
room, and found her when went dow
cooking something in little porcelai
! aid -aucepan before the fre-gruel,
onsGo, o. -omething of the sort, 81
c''ied it-,gd aked me for some suga
art Sc gss It, and ean.e back mo-
ho1 shs expected f5r she STAR G
dropped p itIe china DO
80 = ,liic ~ her sal4, upcn u
hes. h
!" hat ,,y jar, Fois. 3. saio
sAa s-rs3 have had ii.
SINCE was o.. Sep py jCctn-
powder in it," am .he ras. i hastily
INTO her pocket, antwent up s.--r5 with
what she had been cSklng.
Mrs. Burlington con,lained good deal
Of PAIN that day, butNn-, next abe was
much worse again, aud thonext day after
that alarmingly ILL., Miss Penelope never
left her, and cooked ally fher food, and
gave her all her mediees. Over and
over again the poor ladyaanked her with
tears in her ewes She rs very weak and
feeble, but at the end Of week all thought
her better, and one esning she sat up
and spoke SO sweetly$ getting up again
j" But am SO thirsty. o", she sald my
throat burns. WouJ It be wrong Tor Inc
to have some curds ma whay, Penelope
| / should like tteuso
Miss Reede wen out OF the room direct
! ~, aud was back little while "ith d
glass of what shs" ated. lhe poor iady J
| drank it ryeeds, and then asked 10 lie
down again nat night the burning 2
pains she complained Of came back, and
| before morniI she was dead. ine last
/ thing she diI5efors she land back in her
| husbands ar.s 10 die, Was 10 kiss Miss
! Penelope.
| do not 4iink the young lady spoke TO
! the ninistr after his wifes death, until
! the dav liter the funeral, when he was
/ living on re sofa moaning and weaping,
! and She at near him with the poor little
1 baby. reither knew / was there, and
heard bm say, Oh, Penelope Penelope
my hest is broken and -Ae answered
in her cold, quiet siiyery voice, -" If you
have sger br pken another heart, Mr.. Bur
liryterl. this may have beeu sent as a ret
ribuhon" then, masm, 1 thought OF
what people had said, and that IL H4ish
be true.
The night OF the funeral she staid there.
and shall rieser forget what ! saw that
night ! went ont on the piazza very late
toward morning. il fact to close shutter
that was bloRirg in tins wind aad there
under the GREAT elm stood Miss Penelope.
She had spade in her hand, and had
been di..iut with II. Is il seemed; uut
when she SAX me, she came towards me.
Same careltss servant ha. left this ou!
all night. she said, and thought il va.
very strange tina. she should think OF
such = thing at such time On, dear,
almost hate to 20 on il makes Iae shud
der
Poor baby was buried mex: day, and the
house was I'd ~ quiet
Miss Penelope never came there ROW
but heard that master went TO her house
often; and Just q ear and day from hI'
first wifes death, he came TO me and
said
ssga.i
- Married. r said, q to whom ?"
ITO Miss Penelope Reede,' he answered
somehow the name gave me such start
that tainted
On that n;ght-tle very night OF the
wedding ma am, a true a. stand here
weGt cut ON the piazza again, and under
the great In tree saw Il woman standing.
Ny blood rsn cold when ] saw that it WAS
my dead and-gone mistress in her shroud.
She looked ct me azd pointed TO the
earth Dig, she said " dig there and
vanished. Shiyering with fright as | was,
| caught up spade, the same had seen
in Miss Peuelopes hands, and oseyed her.
! had not dug five minutes, before ! came
TO a china pot with close fitting cover
1t was Miss Penelopes, and it was half
full of white powder Away went, late
as il was, to the old doctors
Tell rse what this is, | said, pouring 9
the powder on the table, and he answered
" Arsenic" Then / told him all
The next time l saw Penelope Reede
was in a court of Justice. WAS witness
against her, and she looked at me with
her beautiful eyes, as though she could
kill me. NV having seen poor Mrs Bur
lington went for nothing. They said
had been dreaming, and had my suspicious
aroused but the jar told great deal, and
an old he.gar wouaR who she had hired
70 buy the arsenic told more. After a
while, in despair, as II seemed, she confess
ed, not only the murder of the lady, bat
to tina, of the poor baby also. But re-
member she said remember Robert
Burlington. how you once loved ME. You
changed me from good young girl to a
demon. You Will answer for my crmes
before the last tribunal
She was Condemned, ma am, but not
executed somehow she managed to get
some poison, and lay dead upon the floor
Of her cell when they came for her. As
for master, no one ever heard of him
afterwards. He left the place and took
passage in vessel to some foreign coun-
try; and they say his head was white as
snow on the day he crossed the threshold
of the parsonage for the last time.
I've lived in many places since then,
ma am, but I've never forgotten that one.
Sometimes in the night, even now, l star,
up in fright, fearing to see my lady's spirit,
or the white face of Penelope Reede at my
bedside | think it would kill me if |
did But the pudding is mixed, ma am,
and FL put it on the boil.-New York
Sunday Times.