The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-01-18
MARA;
OR,
The Girl without References.
M AR A:
From COrnhill Magazinc.l

band and |. The rest OF the world
felt at most pity sand there was proba-
bly, joy in Sandbeach that the suspicious
of all the respectable folk concerning
Mara should have at length been veri-
fed. As for Justice, she took her usual
The ring g-rObbery assumed new COM
plexiOn the moment Mara had under
gone previous conviction for felony.
She was committed for trial, and found
guilty. The judge, an equitable man,
learned and phlegmatic, pointed out
to her how gIleVOuS was her crime IN
forcing access to an honest gentleman's
affections and hOmesnnder an assumed
name, andby stories which he presumed
had been false. He was very much
afraid she had abused her fraudulently-
obtained position, to carry on an Or
ganized system Of rObberies i'll partner
ship with her former associates, and
that this ring theft, which had been
prOvidentially brought home to her,
was but one of many such undetected.
He ended by sentencing her to ten years
penal serYitude, and an "habitual Grim
inal."
Arthur Halsey was not present at his
Wifc's trial. He had broken down a
few days previously under brain fever.
1t was | who defended Mara; and, when
sentence had been pronounced, held out
my hand to her over the dOck-spilles
and said, "I know You are innocent,
and so does Arthur. God bless you
We shall devote our lives to discovering
the truth and righting you"
She answered, pressing my hand be-
tween both of hers, I" comfort Arthur,
and kiss Mara for me. But do not try
| to discover my secret, dearest friend.
You will all learn it when we meet in
| heaven"
Her calm resignation since her COM
mitment for trial, and during the trial
itself, had surprised me, It seemed as
| though, now that Arthur knew who she
| was, q load had been removed from her
| conscience almost too heavy to bear.
| She was no longer the same woman.
She betrayed fOrtitnde that was amaZ-
| ing in a creature so frail; and as I
walked sadly home to Halsey's sick bed
| after the trial which had widowed him,
| I asked myself, "What terrible secret
can there be buried in this afflicted wO-
mans soul 2"
We had both of us repeated the ques-
ton until our brains reeled, and our
hearts were crushed; and it was from
Diteous inability to unravel it, from
| inability to seize the justification which
| he knew must be somewhere within
| his reach, if he could only discover
the veil which cloaked it, that Halsey
| had succ1Imbed. In the deliriUrm of
| his fever he cried, addressing me by
name "Have you got the clew? 1t
must be among those papers. Read
them all again, and more carefully
this timer
The papers he meant We're the news
paper reports of Mara's first trial, ten
years before, which we had procured.
! We had pOred over them together, and
had learned that Mara's account OF
herself, given to Halsey before their mar
riage, was all true so far as Invent. She
had invented nothing, though she had
held back some Of the truth. Thus the
name Of Child, under which she had
been married, was the only one she had
right to bear; the name of Hort, the
name under which she had been CON
| victed, being her natural fathers, which
| her mother had adopted. 1t was true
that her mother had been heartlessly
deceived by her father, and that, after
that, Mrs. Hort, being destitute, had
resumed her first trade of seamstress
It was again true, that, after her moth
ers's death, Mara had met with benevo,
lent friends, under whose roof she haC
kremained until the master of the house
had fallen in love with her. when, tt
save him against himself, she had fed
Only, instead of meeting with these
friends Immediately upon her mother!
death, she had only been taken in han(
by them after her release from the peni
tentiary on the ticket t-0f-leave. They
had been put in the way of helping heI
. by discharged prisoners aid society
and, being attracted by her sweet tenn
per, her beauty, and the good reports tht
} prison matrOns all gave of her, they hat
; soon offered her q homeunder their roof
, suspecting that she had not been so en-
; tirely guilty as appearances showed, ant
that she was perhaps more sinned agains
: than SHINING. learned these particu
lars from the peoples own lips; bn
! Mara's flight had, of course, in grea
measure, revoked the good opinion whic1
had been formed of her-at least, so he
benefactress said. This lady's HUSBAND
we saw in private land he confessed wit
} shame that Mara's grace, goodness AM
/, gent1eness had indeed turned his head
: and he had easily guessed why she ha,
= deserted his house. He considered tina
there was some mystery about the girl
himself he could believe no wrong Ofh hel
: With respect to the crime for whic
6 Mara had been convicted, the eircum
stances were these. On her mother
death Mara had gone to live with fel
= low -seamstress, named Jesse Mill. Thi
Girl had been well-behaved at first: bT
: lhaying become the mistress of card
sharper, welsher, and cracksman, name
r. ,Jem Raft, she had taken to receiving an
cOncealing property stolen by him.
:. great jewel-robbeTy having been trace
;, to Jeln, the detectives had at length SIT
d ceeded in discovering his cOnnectiO
9 with Jesse Mill; and. having been il
+ formed Of his usual hours for yisItin
d her, they had lain in wait for him on
re evening; and whilst he, Jesse and MAJ
:, Hort (Who had a room next Jesse's) WEI
:. at tea in the latter's room, a pOlicema
n had burst the door open. Jem. had e.
I'd caped out Of the window, which was
;, top one on the roof. Thepoliceman ha
or tried to dart in pursuit; but Mara HO
III had struck him from behind on the hea
with a poker, as he was half through Il
le window and this had caused him to lo
his balance and fall over the roofs par
net into the street, where he had bet
= killed by the fall. Nobody had set
Id Mara strike the blow but when Il
as second policeman {Who should have be-
* bv the side of the first when the latt
broke the door open, but who had 1agg'
behind) entered the room, the crime hi
been committed. Mara, however, char
2 ed herself with the murder, and col
nletely exonerated her friend. On b
:. 5ox being searched, iewelry stolen
Jeln Raft was found in it; and she "
arraigned on the double charge of wilt
81. o. murder and complicated in a robhel
nd Jesse Mill being only indicted on t
IN lesser count of receiving stolen goo'
by The grand jury found q true bill agar