Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-08-23

Iempf With which, despite my love toF
him, had ever regarded Emile de
Guresson, changed by degrees. aud be-
gan 10 be both fear and hate-tsssrs for
his wife's sake and hate because a con-
remptible person needs only power TO
make. him hatefni; and Betfina, whom
loved us .aal honorable man may love.
was absolutely within his power. At
first he simply avoided her, although at
times his old love seemed to return with
tenfold its old intensity. He could not
bear. TO have her ont of his@sigtG ;foI. q
moment. He wonid SIT at her feet for
hours while she talked or sang to him.
with her hand carressing his hair, and
then, suddenly, ne would start up and
rush to his room as though driven by
madness TO resist mad impulse, and
for days he Woald not be seen.y i irea-
soned with him, bat arguments had
no effect whatever; he could not or
would not see anything but the phan-
toms conjnred np by his disorilered i'm
agination. f-EE.i f.1I3
One day / was hastily summoned to
his wife's room; Emile met me at the
door and said Bettina was dead She
had been taken violently iileduriug the
night; a physician had been summoned,
but in vain. We entered the room and
my love lay pale and still and dead upon
the couch, aud as i looked at her and
then at her husband, 4 knew that by
some OF his deviiish arts he had muir
dered her.
{" Yes,' said he, GO she is dead; have
known for a long time that she would
die. The poor child should meyer have
been my wife. Come with me, De Seide.
let us go down and look upon the sea. ="
We walked down to the rocky shore
/ (fOr the house stood on an eminence
near the channel) and sat there tor
hours, he with his head buried in his
hands and l looking at the waste of
waters epdaessly tapping the base of the
crags.- Flfad that man, if man he could
be called, in my power. Why did not
dash him from the cliff into the sea?
reserved him for a worse fate.
/ Rettina was buried, amt then Emile
hegan Sanee more to- takean apparent
Interest in life he even proposed that we
1.-TWO should live together i'll Paris for
awhile and enjoy the world. | agreed,
and after having laid my plans told DE
Guresson that, having some business to
attend to in Brittany, would go there
and return to hIm i'm about a month. In
the meantime he was TO remain in his
|ipresent quarters, where without me, l
knew that his mind would work upon
Itself in the old morbid way. | went
back to prepare my revenge.
| The private apartments of Emile in
his house were suite of four rooms all
overlooking the British Channel, on the
north. One of them it had been the
maudlin whim of De Guresson to hang
entirely with black, and TO carpet with
cloth Of' the same gloomy hue. 1t con-
tained ne furniture save a large black
fauteuil, but there was a small oval mir
ror set in the wall in such Il height from
the floor that one seated in the fauteuil
could see himself reflected in it. When
/ reached the house / locked myself in
this room, removed the mirror, and be-
hind it made a niche four feet deep and
| four feet wide in the wall, and running
from the top of the glass TO beneath the
level OF The fioor- The house was in re-
.ilily an old castle, built for strength
feet thick. Behind the mirror-fron
which l removed the silver-I placed
| another, hinging the two together at the
top and arranging the inner one in sucf
a way that it might Suddenly be drawn
| mp to an angle Of forty-five degrees, and
| reflect not the face of. one looking di
| rectiy into it, bnt some object placed be-
| low in the niche. When lying tial
| against the first 1t Of course reflected like
| a common mirror; the interior. one
| being greatly broader and longer thar
the exterior it would when placed a
the desired angle seem one within the
other. TO illuminate what was to liz
4 beneath the foor in the niche a power
| full electric battery was used, the con
| nections being such that in variou!
/ parts of the house | could, at any mme
/ eaase the electric fare to glow with it,
brilliant light. All tiiis being arranged
removed the body of the murdered
woman from the tomb, severed the trunl
/ from the lower limbs and laid it par
allel with the floor in the niche, th,
] head pointing to the interior of th'
| room sofJhat its image mighs appear il
an upright position when reflected.
then arranged the pully and wires t.
elevate the false mirror, walled up tn
mouth of the niche. placed the old mir
ror from which the silver had been re
moved in its Iisaaig position, arranged
the black drapery ahoutit, aud removes
/ every trace of my work. All was nov
prepared, and when sitting in the far,
teuil, and working the hldeous machin
cry, l was Appalled, at the wonderotl
effect of my design. Il then returned t.
Paris and persuaded De Guresson to ne
turn to the home of our youth; g I
those scenes, Emile, where with til
loved and lost we have passed so man
happy hours we will read together, ali
J solve the ,imy stery of life. Hitherto
have wronged because i have not under
/ stood you, and HOW in your bereayt
ment l Will be truly your brother. M
J conscience smites me for leaving you S
& long the prey of heavy thoughts, for
) see you have not enjoyed the gay life {
, the capital. Gene, Emile, let Us return
and henceforth five together and, brotf
r ers in soul. fulfil the traditions of ou
race" Thus IepersHaffed him., and w
returned. i hunofed him in everything
, followed his frail form as like a shaI
ow it fitted from room to room.
walked with him on the shore in til
sorry midnight hour and amid the wal
II ing stars of the morning. His mine
g. subtle and acute as ever, had now
e last a. ilaunting memory more terrib
5 than any reality and OH this [ let it fee,
t | | talked continually of Bettina, callin
up before him every little act of tende
e ness and love, every grace and ever
a beauty. dealt with him as subtly as
t conscience the existence of which h
t reason had hithert1 refused to admit
: saw that the leaven was working, but
4 was not yet time to bring him to Il
It chamber of death. Many times L sa
d that he was on the verge of revealing
It me his dreadful secret, but | would n,
e hear it, and at last saw that he bega
II to suspect, for his paroXysms Of sulle
d ness came on at more frequent interval
Y and then he would sas of old lock hil
IF self within his chamber, to contempla
h himself and his unreal world, now
'e last becoming real because of the deed
n had done. delayed no longer, and O.
D. night while he was in his black room
n worked the mirror and listened
E. heard heavy sigh, then cry viii
N rang through the house, and then En-
ID burst through the doors. 1 met him
n the hall and spoke to him. He sprang
as me, grasped my throat, and then reli
E. 9nished his hold, threw his arms abe
IN my neck and burst into passion of tea
ce carried him, as would have carried
in frail child, back into his black room "a
l laid him on couch which wheel
lie from the adjoining chamber. 1t "
's-' hours before he recovered, aud in "A {,
ed BILE voice asked for water. | poured {
nd some cordial and administered it; it
he vived him, and then questioned him
IS regard to his illness. lie told me {
,r, While sitting in his chair he turned
ok head casually towards the mirror, a
his then-hOrrible TO tell he had seen
e. himself but Bettina. told him it v
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