Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1872-01-31

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what I expected to hear, and yet felt
sure that before I slept should hear
something.
I And now ] must tell the story Us st
was told me.
DR.. Spencer returned the morning af-
ter my visit to the Clifton House. He
: looked wretebe-ily the nurse ssid-ap-
/ pared gloomy aud depressed. Miss Mel
! rose came with him, and was decorously
sad over the death Of her sister. NO.
men Of her stamp always mourn to per-
/ feetion. They neither overdo or un-
derdO the thing, as women Of feeling are
likely to do.
DR. Spencer came home once to his
wife's chamber. He thought she look
/ ed i'll and prescribed q cordial at once,
saying that he would go and fetch it,
You are always ordering cOrdials for
her, said Mrs. Hurd, musingly. Why
not take something yourself. You look
like a ghost.
He eyed her keeniy, but replied COM
posedly:
think I will take some Of the cor
dial myself for do not feel quite well
Alicia, dear, shall I bring it here and
drink your health2
Mrs Spencer smiled 10 assent, she
never disputed her husband, and he
went out, Presently he returned with
two glasses. Both contained liquid, col
orless and inodorous. Mrs Hurd was
watching him with her heart in her
throat, for, as she told me, she felt that
the decisive moment had come There
was something in the gray pallor In the
Doctors rigid face that told her of des-
perate purpose in the mans soul.
he lifted the glass on the right Of the
tray and gave it to his wife.
Drink it, dear; he said; it is a panacea
for all ills also am going to take
glass Of It! aud he pointed to glass
still on the tray.
Mrs Spencer accepted it, and was put
ting it TO her lips, when Mrs Hurd in
terrupted.
If you will bring her d tumbler of
water, doctor; Mrs Spencer complains
that the cordial leaves bad taste in
her mouth, and my bones are 80 full of
rheumatism that it nearly kills me to go
down stairs.
The doctor turned and bent on her Il
look as If he would read her through
But she kept her face impassive. Ifthey
had any suspicion, her manners quieted
them, and putting down the glass, he
left the room Then Mrs Hurd chang
ed the position Of the glasses.
When he came back-and he was
gone but d moment-the nurse stood
just exactly where he had left her, and
Mrs. Spencer was lying back in the
chair with her eyes closed.
Again he lifted the glass-this time it
was the one intended for himself-and
placed it to his wife lips. She drank the
contents, swallowed little of the wa
ter he had brought her and thanken
him in her sad, sweet way.
Now for my own cordial said he
with affected gayety. ~ indulge my
selfin something little stronger" and
as he spoke he tossed OF the mixture.
It made me stone cold to my fingers,
end to see him do it, said Mrs Hurd re-
lating the circumstance to me; but
Heaven is my witness, I felt not single
twinge of conscience. I argued like this:
If it was q simple cordial, as he had said,
it would do him no harm; if it was
poison, his blood would be on his own
head.
He went to bed, half an hour after
ward, complaining Of fatigue. In the
morning they found him dead.
Twas called to the post mortem ex-
animation, and we discovered III the
stomach Of the decdased poison known
to modern science to kill half a dozen
men.
My brother physicians agreed that the
man was insane, and had probably TAX
en- the dose In one of his unsettled fits
Of mind. did not dispute them, but
even before Mrs. Hurd told her store |
I had my own theory in regard to his
death. There was no public exposure |
however. Mrs. Hurd and 1 agreed !
that it would not be public, and so we
kept our own counsel.
Miss Melrose, in spite of my oonvic.
ton that she had been an active party /
in the conspiracy against Mrs. Spen-
GERS life. could not help plying. Such |
a miserable, worn and haggard face as
hers I have never seen: and when they
buried DR., Spencer, she was confined to
her chamber with brain fever.
attended her in her illness, but al.
though she recovered her health she new
er was herself again. She was a harm
less maniac, whose delight was in gath
ering flowers, and decorating the Doc
ter's grave with them.
She is living still, and she still gathers
flowers and lays them on that grave,
singing to herself meanwhile a sort Of
low incantaton which no one ever pre-
tends to understand.
Not till Mrs. Spencer had been many
years my wife, and the faithful Mrs.
Hurd slept under the violets, did Alrcia
ever know the perfidy of her former hus
band.
And when told her, after the first
shock was over, she crept into my arms
and whispered;