The mountain Democrat., 1865-01-14

Il "A convu1slye 6nuo0er ran thnough neI
limbs, she gasped for breath snd stTove ia
!. speak, but no sound passed her white
lips. Taland reyeiled i6-her agony, and
said persuaSively to ChaflemSgne: why
force the dame to crimiRate herseHr"
The taunt from bin reused HildegardC
from stupor, to almost madness. She
grasped her husbands arm, and lifted heE
right hand to heaven.
"l, Hildegarde," i" she cried, ado call on
God to witness"
Ere she could say another word he dash.
ed her from him. Blasphemous trai.
tress, thou deseryest dsath but still |
cannot slay thee. This day leave my de-
graded home forever, and quit my realm.
Woe betide thee If thou darest ever again
set foot within its bounds"
She gared At him fercely defiant; that
moment she coulh have killed the man
who doubted her the next she thought
on Pilates judgment hall, and what her
Lord had borne. The fury melted from
her heart, and like her master she held
her peace and meekly obeyed. Slowly
she quilted the hall, Taland noisclessly
gliding behind her. She turned round at
the door, thus confronting him by chance.
She shrank back Shuddcring, but master
ing herself, she laid her hand on his arm,
its cv touch thrilled ali his veins "Tal.
and, God will yet judge between U.S.
She spoke in low voice, yet her words
rang in his ears like funeral kncll. One
moment she paused on the threshold for
one last lingering look at her husband -
lie turned away, but still the anguish Of
that white face, the bcseeching, reproach.
ing gaze of those wild eyes, fearless from
agony too great for weeping, haunted him
for many day.
She passed into the outer hall, where
her children were at play. Wildly she
rushed forward to press them to her breast
for the last time. Taland stepped be-
tween. The little creatures stretched out
their little arms and struggled in his
grasp. One Shrek broke from Hidegarde,
more like the death groan Of some strick-
en- wild thing than the cry of woman,
aud she fled from the palace.
The cool air on her bare face recalled
her faculties. She marked the wondering
stare Of the people in the Streets and re.
mcnbercd that she was hurrying on alone
and unvailed. A church door stood open,
and she entered with no thought but to
take refuge from their gaze. She sank on
her knees before the altar, and strovc to
pray, but she could neither think nor
pray Her brain reclcd, her cyeball>
burned, and no blessed tears came to her
aid
Slowly the truth dawned upon her that
she was wanderer on the face Of the
earth, ay, and branded with infamy, ,vler
. more degraded than the wrctchcdest out
cast in the land. She thought of hcl
+ husband and Of the days of their early
s love, she thought of the helpless children
; she had left exposed to Taland's wes, ,anC
she sank down on the altar steps, wiring
ing her hands and moaning piteously. -
: She sat thus for hours, hall Supplied, til
reused by actual bodily discomfort She
was literally choking with thirst. She
tottercd fcebly from the church into n
yard behind, where she saw a clear we'll
STOPPING to drink, she bchcld her image
in the water, and started at the sight
her costly robes, her jewelcl hair, shonc
in ghastly mockery OF face wan and
drawn already, as from whole years OF
woe. Hours had done the work Of years,
yet she gazed unmovcd on the wreck oI
her loneliness. What cared she for the
glorious bloom Of her youth, when he
who had loved that beauty was lost TO her
forever?
To slake her burning thirst she had
filled her two hands at the well; raising
the water to her lips, her eyes fell on two
rings, the wedding ring and the ring OF
bctrothal. At such n moment these
pledges OF severed bond Smotc her to
the heart. Wildly she strove to drag
them oft, but her trembling fingers failed
her. As they tightcned on the golden
circlcts, her thoughts rushed back to her
wedding day, and the VOWS then spoken,
that nothing can cancel but death. al
am his wife, his own true wife till death
do US divide" she murmurcd. This one
ray Of comfort came like blessed sun
beam to the dark night of her anguish,
and she wept. When tears had somewhat
eased her heart, she began to think and
act She pulled off her gems, all but the
two rings, wrapped face and figure in her
mantle, and thus disguised venturcd into
the street. The twilight befriended her,
AMI she gained unnoticed the shelter of d
friendly roof, where she found also means
of changing some Of her gems for money.
In the gray of the morning she started on
her long wanderings. Fly she must from
her husbands realm, and by forced and
toilSome journeys she gained her native
Swabia, the province she had quilted as
happy a woman as ever the sun Shone on.
Her sister Countess Adeline, received the
poor wanderer with open arms, fully be
leving in her purity.
Hildcgarde might have passed the sad
remnant of her days among her own peo-
pie, but somehow their very pity CALLED
her, and the Indignation they expressed
against her husband, i'll though he had
treated her. stung her to the quick. Be.
sides, how could she, with such blight
on her life, dwell in her sisters house,
where the sight of her sad face damped all
mirth Her bleeding heart recoicd
from all earthly solace, and the passionate
love lavshed on him who had Sburncd it,
turrcd to her Maker. Deprived of her
husband and her little children, the poor
lady's tenderness vented itself on the suf
fering and the needy. And when she
found, herself kill.joy in her sisters
lordly home, that same charity pronpted
her to consecrate herself to life of self.
abnegaton and good words. She could
not bear to stay in her fatherland, so re-
plete with memories. Despite the coun-
tess's entreaties she left her, and again set
out on her lonely pilgrimage.
This time Rome, the great homo Of
Christianity, was her goal. She crossed
the snow-clad Alps, the burning plains OF
Italy, and took up her abode in the great