Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-01-25

iloAhiuS IlAett ipr my wedding with an
other young lady. The discovery came
rather awfardlv; for there was my
bride, Mrs Eiuphenia Garlick, getting
ready Tor the ceremony; and there, at
her fathers house, was the wedding
breakfast al prepared.
The discovery happened in this wise:
had been very nervous over the opera
tion of dressing. In the first place, I
had never been married before, and,
secondly, | did not profoundly care for
my bride. She was my senior by seven
years, and tall and bony for her age.
She could not he well deseri'
yout sp, :.
about her-except in her associations
with the Mint For Miss Euphemia
was rich, and / was poor and over
helmed with debts; wherefore, / had
pressed my suit with this heiress, and
found both herself and her father, an
infatuated old noodle with an amateur
taste for chemistry, propitiated by the
sacrific
On the morning of the wedding, /
had, out of sheer nervousness, rumpled
most of my clean shirts, and ruined
most of my clean collars, in agitated
attempts to dress myself As crown
ing piece of ill-luck, I burst the neck
button hole of my last shirt. There
was no time TO send out for new one :
the marriage hour was close at hand
I bethought myself of Cousin Edie,
then arraying herself in the house
Cousin Edie, with whom [ had grown
up, and whom ] regarded as Il gentle
sister ldle would of course repair
the slit button hole Accordingly,
Edle came with workbox. and needle.
and thread and | knelt before her as
she sat; aud Edie's fingers were busy
about my throat and a curious specu-
latlve discovery came upon me that
Ed1e was young and pretty; and plump,
and gentle, and In all respects dissimi-
lar to Miss Euphemia Garlick.
. Have you ever done this sort of
thine before, Edie?n I asked
Edie confessed she had-for her
father. [ began to put silly questions
to Edie-about lovers, and so forth.
She answered me laughingly, but re-
pudiated all soft charges And then.
/. I ventured to kiss Edie-also as a
cousin. And then, as Edie ran out of
the room to get a pair of scissors, /
began 60 think she was really plump,
and had yelvety skin, and was as
gulleless III the worlds ways as chub-
by cherub by Rubens.
In this mood [ lighted on the work
box she had left, and began to turn
over its contents. White bits of cotton,
spotless as Edie's conscience! Black
bits of cotton, sombre as my future (.
Thimb!e, hollow and empty as nv
head when [ overlooked Edie as a DOS
sible wife ! But then Edie was as poor
as myself, whereas, Miss Garlick-
Halo! what was this
| came upon a letter in that work
box = an open letter, commencing,
"Star of my hopeless destiny !" A
letter III a mans handwriting, and full
of bad spelling! And this shameless
document went on to speak of love
passages IN the past; of designations
''under the conscious stars, as the
writer phrased it; of kisses given and
exchanged. This innocent seeming
cousin of mine was not so guileless as
she appeared She had been guilty of
philandering, and that with fellow.
as | saw by the ignature-known to
my brides family For this Augustus
Maunders, whose name it was, / knew
as incoming BOBBY in the army-a
romantic milksop, with colorless hair,
SO intimate with the Garliclzs as even to
be invited to the wedding.
| was horribly indignant at Edie's du-
plcity, aud at her choosing lover for
her clapdestine hirtations. When she
came back with the scissors, I taxed
her roundly with her fault, and showed
her the letter She started, and seem
ed inclined to deny the charge, but ult-
imately took refuge in silence. [ set
off for church in very bad humor, cor
vinced that [ felt a rather perilous in
terest in Edie, and resolved to accom-
modate my conscience by " taking il
out" of Mr. Maunders, even if, by
forcing him to declare his intentions. [
precepitated his marriage with my too
pretty cousin.
The party had not arrived at church.
but Garhck' S house was within q stones
throw of it. In my vexation would
not wait [ made for the house, and
met them IN the lobby, the carriages at
the door. There was the perfdious
Augustus Maunders with them.
[ greeted not my stately bride. [
stalked up TO Lieutenant Maunders.
f'Sir! thundered, "I know all. .
The lieutenant gazed feebly at me; Miss
Garlick clasped her hands her father,
an habitual dotard, simply blinked his
eyes, as he did under all circumstances
which passed his comprehension, and
as most worldly circumstances did pass
his comprehension, always excepting
b0 hi of 7 l.
attention to him.
ssDnn,t attempt to deny it, Mr..
MaJnders," / added sternIy. I
have discovered one of your letters in a
work-box
To my amazement, Miss Garlick gave
n shrek, and fell into a hall-chair, ap-
parently lifeless. No sooner did her
idiotic parent behold the spectacle than
he, too, uttereda prolonged howl, and
fell on the mat
'SOh, my pa my pa !" cried Eupemia
reviving suddenly. q" He cannot bear
excitement; it flies TO his head Help
help save him from extinction
Rushing to the old mans head q had
demoniacal temptation to sit on it,
as they do to horses called for water.
A servant brought tumblerfull.
Meanwhile, / had found in his waist
coat pocket, phial of colorless liquid.
GA tonic or stimulant, / thought, and
hurriedly emptying it into the glass of
water, poured the whole down his
throat. 1t had an awesome effect. The
old man nearly started to his feet,
struggled, kicked out spluttered, foam
ed, and fell back stiff and insensible.
" What have I done" l gasped.
They tore the bottle from my grasp,
and Maunders looked at the label.
g lou have poisoned the old man,
sir, he remarked. "The label says,
Prussic Acid. :"
A cloudy horror seemed to close upon
me. Everybody set up shrieking.
Miss Garhck went out Of one lit of hys
terics into another. A vision of Cousin
Edie among the fitting phantoms
around me; vision of Maunders sup
porting my bride, and-as it seemed to
my dlsorlered fancy-kissing her; and
L remember nothing more til 7 found