Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-08-02

| otit iCE Aistotiih ~ ottti
it, and the red glare of the signal ligh
suspended from the roof of the station
fell on her bare left hand, and on hel
wedding ring.
She covered her hand with a shullder
but still the ring sparkled, and glowed
and burned like Il belt OF lire. And
suddenly, as if some Invisible haud had
swept away the mist from before hel
eyes, she saw the abyss, dark and terri
bic, upon which her feet trembled. She
saw the real nature of the sin She was
about to commit, stripped of all its weak
pretences, its spacious reasonings, its
flimsy excuses, and Standing out i'll all
its frightful deformity; a dishonor IL
society, wrong to her husband
(whether he loved her or not), and a
deadly sin to her own soul.
A sudden impulse to riy-to escape
| somewhere, anywhere, away from the
baleful influence that was lnring her to
ruin. The sharp low whistle of the ap-
preaching train came down on the night
wind. and far away tiny spark glowed
| redlv down the dark track. 1t grew
bigger and bigger-this terrible eye of
| fire-and hotter and hotter, as with ter
| ribie thunder, and rumble, and roar, it
came painting up to the little station. IL
seenpd to her acute fancy that it was an
avenging demon, already let loose upon
/ her track, and with only one-escape-
| in her heart. she turned and fled. Les
lie Wolcott, looking out from window
| of the forward car, saw tnat she was no
| longer standing; thought, ''Only little
while, my beloved" and smiled dream
| lily AS they moved away in the darkness.
The third day after the departure of
Luke Viuney, MOllie Sterne received
two telegraphic dispatches; one from
T nh Nha
from Luke was as follows: "He is
| here; have written particulars" Mol
lies heart grew light. 1t was the first
clue that she had obtained, and the fact
| that he had emphasized the ''he," gave
| her faint hope that she was not with
| him. and she was willing to wait an
other week for tidings OF her, If only
| she were not with him. She had almost
forgotten the dispatch from detective
Morris in her interest for the other. But
| she took it up presently, and read what
| puZZled her: ''Are you sure w
H. is dead ?"
| She held the scrap of paper in her
| hand, and looked at it with dilating eyes.
! What could the man mean? To be sure
Walter Hargrave was dead, else he
| Wettlu have come back to Brent. 1t had
been sixteen months since his strange
| disappearance, and if he had been alive
| he would have been back before that
time Probably he had seen some one
| that looked like him, and SO imag-
| ined that he had made discovery. She
didn't think much of detectives, after
| all. Now here was Luke, who had only
been gone three days, and see how much
| me had done; he had found him ut last.
| While Morris had been at work three OF
| four times as long, and all he. had done
| TO, II; cI n
man was dead that had been dead more
| than year. She was quite vexed at his
| stupidity.
| Never were moments So long to her
| before as those which interviewed be-
| tween the reception of that dispatch
| and the letter which it heralded. But
| it came at last, and eager and trembling
with excitement, she sat down to read
it, She had not spoken of the dispatches
she had received, to Doctor Dinsmore,
| though something in her face--a siiad-
oW less of pain-lnade him watch her
eagerly and yet hopelessly; for from the
| first terrible moment, he had given up
| all hope or expectation of ever looking
| in the dear face again. He had buried
| her past all hope of resurrection, and
| sat hopeless and stricken beside the sep
| ulchre,
This was the first letter Luke had ever
| written to Mollie, and the poor fellow
| had hesitated more than an hour low to
| begin it. He wasn't much used to
| epistle-iZing, and he never wrote to
woman. He had seen, Il long time ago,
| Il book entitled, 'sThe Complete Letter.
| Writer" and he tried to the best of his
I ability to remember the most approved
| method according to that most notable
authority. But the more he tried, the
more he couldn't remember, though he
had a vague idea that it was ''honored
madam; - but he. did not exactly like
| that He wrote "Miss MolIie,' and
'.Dear Miss Sterne," and then hap
pened to remember that that wasn't it,
at all, for Mollie was a widow! He
wanted to say ''My Dear" but not be-
ing familiar with letter-writing, was
afraid it looked almost too affectionate,
in writing, though he wouldn't mind
saying it; but if anybody should sec it!
and he blushed scarlet at the thought.
He never dreamed that its very common
| ness had made it mere meaningless
| formality; bat thought, in his happy ig-
norance, that it really meant something
I-and SO it did to him. And SO at last
he had settled down upon simple 'sMol-
lie." And this is the substance of what
followed that beginning:
"MoLL1E-l have found Leslie VOL
cott. He is confined TO his bed from in
iuries received i'll jumping from the
cars while in motion. He is at the
house of Mr.. Carroll, whose daughter
was Il former sweetheart of his. He
solemnly declares that the last time he
ever saw Lena DinsmOre, she stood on
, the platform of the Brent depot. | saw
him alone, and he admitted that she left
the house with him, and he thought she
was in the cars till they had got ten
, miles away from Brent; and that when
he went through the cars and found she
wasn't there, he was so wild and eX-
. cited that he sprang off the cars. which
. fortunately We're going slow at the time
But he was knocked senseless, as it was
and the train backed down and picked
Thin up; and as nobody knew where ht
belonged, they looked 1t his pocket-bool
$ and found he had through tickets fol
+ Baltimore, and SO they brought hin
!, here. He didn't know anything fo
: several days, and he's pretty badly of
e vet; one arm was broken, and his heal
] is cut dreadfully. All his handsome
d curly hair has been cut off and he didn'
s look a bit natural. l tell you, Mollie
it's no use for folks to think they cal
d sin and escape the punishment. The.
!. can excuse it off by pleading nature
It and fate, and temperament, but tina
J., uOn>C { deceive Hin, VI tuIIl itSluc III
Ii sure punishment.
:. 'sHe cried like a child when l toll
j. him that she hadn't ever been heard G
1t since that night. He said he though
she must have gone back home; an
A. since he had been lying there, an
! thinking it all over, he had thanke
- God that she had. He didn't min
10 what he suffered, if only she was safe
q couldn't help plying him, after al
aa' Mollie, for | suppose he did love til
poor child. All well! There are
;. great many things so wrong to OF
u eyes-a great deal of playing at eros
y purposes, it seem to us; but we kno
n it Is all right, somehow, as contradictor
ie and impossible as it seems. Telegrap
~ if am to stay or come home. don
et think there is any use in my stoppin.
~ but just as you think about it.
r. LUKE VARNEY.
;" sP. s. Don't forget that promis
lie Mollie. I'll find her yet"
n Mollie Sterne took the letter and wei
by up and read it, word for word (exce
Int the postscript), to Doctor. She crieo
lie little, softly, when she finished it, b
he Doctor Dinsmore did not mind her;