Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-08-31

ghost y but he staggered to a chair, and fell,
rather than sat, down on ii, holding his face
between his hands, while the big sobs that
burst from him seemed TO shake him from
head 70 foot, though nota tear fell through
his fingers. / stood by him for some little
time, but he seemed to grow worse instead of
better, and at last laid my hand CO his
shoulder. Come, Ralph, be a man; what is
all this about 9 He turned on me like a
tiger. Leave me alone, curse sou. Do
you too mock at me !: and, with one spring,
he was past me, and out at the door ike
mailman. | followed in haste, greatly alarm
ed as YOU may suppose, but could see nothing
Of him There was mist rising, and any
one would have been invisible at any mod
crate distance and il was with deep fore
| bodings that l went my rounds that night.
When | returned 10 my cottage, | noticed
a small piece of paper lying on the floor.
1t explained all 1t was letter from
Heudon TO Kate, evidently written in a
hurry, and was all crumpled up if it had
been cfenched in the fns ers. No doubt
| II had dropped from Ralph's hand, though
| how he got it do not know. 1t left no room
| for doubt. He urged her to hy from the vii
| lage before her condition became known, and
| promised that he would provide for her. Soon
| after, heard more. That same evening Kate
| PoImarthen had disappeared. That morning
| her bedroom had been found empty, and she
| was gone. What surprised others, though not
me, was, that her father made no search after
| her-for he made none. He knew only too
| well why she had goue. Hendon. was still in
| the village, in order, | suppose, to divert all
| attention from himself, as he was not aware
that the note had been found, Ralph and |
| each keeping our own counsel. What need to
publish the certainty of her shame. We heard
| nothing of Ralph for three days, when he re-
| turned and went about his work Just as usual
but resenting ierceiv any mention of the past
| His manner, too, was quite changed. Oh ! so
| haggard and wild he looked, and with a dog
| ged kind of suIlenness in place of his former
| lght-hearted gaiety. Even to me he never
spoke now, and one or two attempts | made to
draw him out into conversation were met with
such bursts of rage that | was obliged to leave
: him TO himself And now | must come TO the
most painful part OF my tale. You see that
| the bay below is closed in a high-tide and
the sand gets qaite. covered. 1t was high
water about half past eleven on the September
evening when | was on my beat, and bright
night lust like this. | was walking along the
/ top OF the cliff, just where we are now, when
L thought | heard voice down below, on
| the beach, which was nearly under water.
| Surprised at this, | looked over, and | saw
| that there was figure there, and shat he
was rushing about, and shouting up. | could
recognize the voice of Heldon, and called
out" Holloa, there!a Help help - he
cried. i am cut off by the tide. | can't
swim. Send boat. For Gods sake help
me F" SO it was. Sauntering along, he
nad l suppose, waited there, and had found
himself cut off by the rising tide, which
would have been the case hour and half
before | saw him, so that he must have watt
ed at least that time with the water grad
ually rising higher and higher. But what
was 10 be done. True had rope, and in
stiuctively | had taken 1t out, but il was only
a short one, about dozen yards long. | al
ways carry a bit about with me. Ii often
comes in useful but what good was it now
| could not descend the cliff, and if | left my
beat and went for assistance he would be
drowned long before | could return Even
while | hcsitated, heard step behind me,
and Ralph Tregarya stood by my side. Il can
go down that Cliff" said he, in the meas.
urcd, logged tone he had always used since
titan, though there seemed to be an express
sion OF savage exultation IN his tone
that night that made me shudder " l
will 20. Give me that rope" Good
God " l exclaimed, it is certain death -
While | spoke, however, he had suatched
the rope out of my hands, let himself over
the edge of the cliff and was going down,
northumberland clutching at every little bush
and every TUT of grass. Ny head swan
watching him One slip, and he would have
IL
low but he seemed to bear charmed life,
Tor still | could see him going down, further
and further, crawling like lizard, till he
was only some eight or nine yards from the
bottom. There he stopped. There is a fat
ledge or rock there, and he lay down on il.
It was a still night and l could hear him, as
plainly as l could you, sir. Mr.. Hendon!
he called out oh, thank God, you are
come at last | heard Mr.. Hendon answer.
II 7 q.
have rope with me if | throw it to you,
can YOU get up here = Yes, yes be quick,
be quick The tide has risen up to my knees
ami am half dead with cold Just So
was the strange answer OF Tregarva. Quick,
| quick do not tUfc with we | shall drown
| You will not drown for half an hour yet, Mr.
| Hcndon,' replied Trcgarya, with a laugh
| But such IA laugh 1t sounded like the
| laughter of ticud Oh, for mercy's sake
| Such a. YOU have shown shall be shown to
/ you Where is kste Polmarthen?' do
| not know | DO not, indeed. Quick the
| water l. over my knees LIAR returned
| Ralph, needless OF his agonizing entreHties.
| Il have yentured my life TO come here
| Did YOU think it was to save you? No; it
was to secure my revenge. Never shall you
come up here alive. Listen to me. When
heard of her flight, | was among the first to
Il
| from you, telling her where to go, and that
! Won would meet her. She had dropped it in
her hurried departure. But never shall you
| meet her in this world. Liar, seducer
Your last hour is come. / have but to throw
you this rope, ami you are safe. Your life
| Is IN my hands; but had | a thousand lives
| and were each of them cntwiHed in Your one
| | would give up all, ALL To punish you
! Again the scream arose" Mercy mercy ~
| Mercy" again echoed Tregarva. Such
| mercy as the lion shows 10 his prev such
| shall YOU have. You shall die wretch-die
| in YOUR sins and, as the water mounts high
| er and higher, think of her whose body and
soul you have murdered think of me, whose
| peace of mind, YOU, in your wantonness, have
| utterly wrecked, and then ask Cor mercy
| Never, Oh, that | could forget the fearful
| scene that followed The wretched Hendon
As the water mounted higher and higher,
| while each wave almost tore him away from
his frstil hold on the projections of the rock
| clung to the cliff, shrieking out mingled pray
ers and blasphemies in his agony, while the
| RELENTLESS waves came dashing in, rearing up
| with a hoarse boom against the rocks. while
| above all, rose the frantic yelis of Tregarva
| as he exulted in his terrors and suffer
! lngS, like a wild beast over his yictim-