Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-08-09

then-we wfA go back to Brent and be so
| happy that we shall utterly forget all
the sorrow and darkness of Our lives"
. You are willing to take me back,
Basil 70 .sle. asked eagerly
Is My dear wife! am not willing to
ike anywhere, on earth OF IN heaven,
where you are not"
She put up her hand-the hand WiGh
the wedding ring on it:
s'That saved me-" she said. 81 re-
| membered before it was too late!'
She lay back on the pillow, and closed
her eyes. She lay so still that he thought
she was asleep, when she suddenly open
ed her eyes.
May-lr,ay / kiss you, Basil?'' she
asked, wfstfnlly. 1t is so long since |
have. have forgotten-'
He bent over her, and their lips met in
warmer, fonder. and more passionate
kiss than that which, one. year ago,
sealed their betrothal. And in that mo-
ment all doubts, and wrongs, and mis-
understandings were swept out of their
hearts, and all was forgiven, and, as far
as possible, forgotten.
CHAPTER XII.
A strange rumor had reached Brent.
Men stopped each other i'll the street to
talk il over ;gsome We're skeptieal, and
atR declared that they never did hear
tlfc beat, never. Old wives remember
ed signs and dreams, aud related how ON
tie night of Walter Hargrave's dfsap-
pearance the light at BarrY,s Bluff had
burned red as blood for two hours,
when ever, ,pody knew it was white
light. And there were enough marvel
lous dreams told to fill small volume,
if a publisher could have been found
willing to undertake the enterprise. But
Hugh and Mollie kept their own counsel,
only fsaying soiemnly TO themselves,
1--WE saw,sand we KNOW - a.
And as the rumor grew, it came one
day to the ears of Celia Hargraye. She
had been very ill for six weeks, but she
got up that night after Susan Brlstow
had gone to bed, and dressed hastily,
and went up stairs to little oark closeC
i'm the front hall, and took out q large
package of papers. They were yellow
and creased. and on some of them the
writing was almost illegible. There
were deeds of meadow-land, and valua-
BILE tracts of timber, and mortgages on
houses, all going to prove the legality of
the great Hargrave property One
after another she slipped them off the
pile, until she came to one folded and
tied with pink tape. She took 1t up
with fingers that trembled so that it was
not until after she had made several
efforts that she managed to loosen the
knot. She unfolded it, and another pa
per fell out of it-a new, white paper,
folded and sealed, and directed to Walter
Hargraye. She took it up and ran her
finger under the edge of the paper, and
and then with sudden shiver and a.
quick look over her shoulder, she put it
between the other and refOlded it, after
first glancing over the one that was
stained and yellow, and tied the tape
about it and put it into her bosom.
She arranged the others with scrupu-.
lous exactness, and returned them to the
closet, and then returned TO the sitting.
room. She was very white, and her:
eyes were so large, and had sucli a look
OF sorrow and penitence in them as
would make ones heart ache to see. But
no one saw, as, through the silent hours
of smidni gut, she set at the table writing
writing as if her very life depended
on it. She had to pause every now and
then, and lay back in her chair and rest.
At such times she would put her hand
her thin white hand, through WHICH
the veins and cords showed with painful
distinctness-up over her eyes, as if the
| light hurt them, and strangely enough
they were always wet when she took
them away, though you would have
sworn she did not weep, her eyes looked
4 so hot and dry.
AZ last her task was finished, what
| ever it was, and carefully folded-she
4 fingered little over this, as though
/ lOath to leave it-and taking the pack
| age from her bosom, she laid them all
/ together, and folded a sheet of white
i paper about them, and wrote name OH
4 it. When she had done this, she leaned
back in her chair a long while, much
longer than she had before, and some
thing warm and wet, something that
4 glistened in the light like pearls, ran
\ down her hin-f1ngers and dropped in
4 her lap. think these must have been
tears for the hot, fevered look was gone
out of her eyes, and something very
like smile lowered about her pale lips.
And while the people in Brent were
4 wondering and specializing upon the
4 possibility of man who had been dead
a year and half coming back to life,
Lena Dinsmore, under the devoted care
of the new doctor who had so suddenly
intruded himself into the hospital, COM
pletely crowding the others out, had SO
far recovered as to be thought able to
bear the shock of a great joy that had
been awaiting her for several days.
She was still very weak, and Doctor
Dinsmore would rather have deferred il
little longer, but he had hard work te
keep the secret so long with the eager
| yearning face haunting him continually
and begging to know g when he could
see his little girl.'' -i'a'.s-
! Doctor Dinsmore was always a very
attentive physician, but all the Interest
and attention, and devotion OF his whole
: professional life eliminated in this one
: little patient. Never, in the first day
of his wooing. had he ever loved hel
f one half so tenderly as now, since ht
2 had known what "A terrible, dreary b1anl
I life was without her. He had told he
about Leslie Wolcott, and she i'll turn
, had told him all she could remember O
that terrible night, when she had turned
/, and fed from the terrible temptation
s which had held her for time. How
e when she saw the train in which sh
d was to 60, coming up, and the suddei
revelation of her sin came to her, sh
II had but one impulse, that was to fly
l., She was sick and dizzy, and there wa
a such d terrible, terrible feeling in he
e head, she thought she should go distract
ed. She was sensible of only one feel
!. ing, the.desire to getaway from him. !
II dreadful fear haunted her, that if. h
Y touched her, that if he touched her, o
she looked in his face, she could not re
,t sist, but should go with him to destrut
lr rtion. ~ r rFs EE
g In her excited state she had not n6
% ticed the Special which had come up o
4, the other track; but as she turned to II
away from the other, she saw that
It which had passed-moying rapidly ava
lie She did not know how she did it, bl
t, when she was fairly sensible of any
4; thing, she found herself being led int
~ the rear Car by brakeman, who tol
e. the conductor-she remembered tn
ne distinctly-that there was woma
'u who had come flying down the trat
'u like a whirlwind, and had climbt
OF aboard the Car before he had had time
III think" And then she remembers
their asking her where she wanted to e
so and she tried to speak, but couldI
TIL move herlips, and then that terrrib
numb, deadly feeling came over her,
on like that which she felt that evening
eef Rose Cottage last summer, and she d
lid not know any more until she opened h
eyes and saw him bending over he
ed She had not the slightest remembran
how she came at New York only,
ng she supposed, they brought her right
an in the train, unconscious of her con.
he tion-or who had taken her to the hi
pital. This she had told him from til