The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-03-18

dark, began to tell of midnight, q
Woman's face was suddenly thrust
out into the snow. For a moment
eager eyes glanced in all directions,
then the face drew back, and was
lost in gloom from which it had
emerged. A sweet, haunting face,
beautiful, but sad It's beauty that
of youth; its sadness as from the
accumulated sorrows of long years.
It bore also the stamp Of race, Of
aristoeratic refinement, which in it
self is q kind of loneliness.
The wheezy chimes had barely
got through their asthmatie burden,
the echoes of which fingered in
the dense air before faint tramp OF
footsteps in the snow was audible,
and the cloaked figure ola man sud
denly entered the church-court,
Snow-hakes lay thick upon his head
and shoulders. Without hesitation
he made direct for the porch.
An exclamation of surprise or de-
light escaped the lips of the conceal
ed woman, and she at once stepped
forward and held out her hand. The
newcomer bowed low, and pressed
her fingers with his lips.
"Not a minute late, ArmandY'
said a gracious voice out of the dark
ness.
That would have been impossible,
was the obsequious reply.
"Yet you were in Moscow? You
must have travelled day and nighty'
Day and night, was the quiet res
.sponse.
There was q momentary pause.
In spite Of apparent ealmness and
studied courtesy, it was clear that
both speakers were animated by
earnestness Of purpose, and not a
little agitated in this strange meet
ing 1t was Armand who resumed.
''You are on the track?" he ask
ed.
"Yes. After five years of wander
ing in cavern darkness, ray flight
steals in. Olympia is in England.
''Good; though our country is
not so small but that one may hide
in it,
''True-in ones gravel
The words dropped from the lips
of the speakers, slowly one by one.
Thus uttered, their effect was startl-
ing. There was little in them; but
analyzed, the venom of the corbra
and of la DANA blanca yields only a
little albumen. Armand listened
with a shudder-but the night was
cold.
"And now, as ever, you do not
despair of finding her." he asked.
despair There was a scornful
.ferceness in her voice. "Think
what / have suffered, and that I live!
Look back. Recall the past, and
ask yourself, if a just heaven can
deny me justice. It dare not, Armand
trust me, it dare notr
Excitement lent ferceness to her
utterance. Waving aside with an
impetuous gesture what the young
man was about to say in return, she
continued
'You recall the old, the happy
days? Surely it was always sun
shine then! Wewere so happy, you
and l. Love crowded sorrow out OF
life; there was no gloom, no sadness
and the future stretched before us
like a sea of light. And then Oily
mpia came between our hearts; she,
with her 'hideous loveliness and her
sleek, seductive ways. 1 hated her
and feared her from the first. You
felt her fascination, and saw it.
The splendor of he tropic beauty
overpowered you. Her insidious
accents poisoned your soul. She
fiattered you with a fattery that had
its slanderous side. In praising you
she disparaged me;in raising herself
in your regard, it was my heart on
which she mounted-my heart she
trampled under foot"
"But she did not succeed, the lis
tener urged.
Sand if she failed,' the woman
returned, in bitter accents, lit was
because her entire arts defeated
themselves. You saw too much. To
admiration succeeded revulsion.
Then she changed her tactics.
Where she could not fascinate, she
sought to bribe; if she could not
win your love, she would buy it."
"Her vanity was piqued." Armand
Iinterposed.
"Or, like enough-God knows!-
she suffered. She had passions; she
was a woman. Put it at the best :
and then? She had wormed out the
secret of your life. She knew that,
poor as you then were, you might
be rich. You were heir to an estate
of half a county. None doubted tbs
Justice of your claims, but one man,
and one alone could prove it. You1
father had wandered in his yonth
half the world over. In mature life
he returned, bringing you with him,
He found an inheritance awaiting
him and you. All that was needed
was proof of his identity. Was he
the Armand Gleichen who had left
home a boy aud had come back a
Igray-haired man? That was the sole
point; was it nor SOP
ut was"
''If he could prove this, prove his
identity. those holding his estates
were Wiling to relinquish it,"
"Yes."
"And this proof was not wanting
He had attached himself to the for
tunes of a nobleman, the Baron
Rheinart, who had not lost sight of
him from first to last. They had
been together in England when you
were born. Infirm as the Baron was
he no sooner heard the nature of the
case than he resolved to set out for
Germany. The weather was bad,
he could not cross the water; delay
was thus occasioned, and that delay
ruined all. 1t gave this woman time
to propose an Infamous bargain to
you
Let us be just. She made no bar
gain"
"What! Did she not say, 1 love
YOU a million times better than this
milk faced English girl-this Eva
lime, Forget her, and your father
Lshnn nnfn1. ON his nStatns. rcr shall