Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-03-27
his arm, and let the dark tilory of her
ewes fall nnOn his f.,o

questioning eyes I'LL upon his face.
He met the Look with one that WAS
restless, anxious, ;uneasy-thc sort of
glance by Which man says, with all
the distinctness ofspoken words: "Do
not implore mo, or must yield !"
"Consent, Victor-please consent.
I only ask the favor of you. for this sin
gle time. Afterward, L will return the
bracelet to the cabinet, and let it
remain there as long as you choose.
Consider, it will be like sealing our
love with new and beautiful seal I"
She could hardly disguise the smile
of feminine triumph that rose to her
lips, when, after q moment of lesita-
tion, he murmured;:
"You know, Lctitia, that I can re-
fuse you nothing. Get the bracelet,
since you are bent upon wearing it"
Leaving an eagerly given kiss upon
the lips, she hurried UP stairs as fast
as her voluminous draperies would
permit.
8: ::victoryl Victory!" voice was
whispering ia hef. cars. "He loves
you as though Florence had never
been. He is all your own while life
lasts and even in heaven, after this
proof of his devotion, Florence would
hardly dare to claim him!"
Meanwhile Victor passed into his
dressing-room, and began pacing the
door with impatient steps. He was
acting faithlessly, treacherously, to
the dead. He was insulting poor Flor
ence's memory. He had even dealt
his own self respect and almost mortal
blow. And yet
At this point his meditations were
sharply broken by the sound of some
falling body on the floor directly above
his chamber. He paused in tho centre
of the floor, and turned white, as q
strange presentiment of unknown evil
flashed like lightning through his
mind.
An instant he was standing at the
foot OF the staircase, up which his wife
had hurried, and was calling, '.Letitia!
Letitla!" i'll somewhat unsteady tones.
No answer. Rapidly, and impelled by
a now growing sense of alarm, he as
cended the steps.
A quick passage through the bril-
iiantly lighted upper hall brought him
to the room into which he knew that
his wife had recently entered.
A low cry left his lips as he beheld
the form of Letitia, prone in front of
massive old-fashioned cabinet, Que of
whose drawers was vide open.
'Letitia, for Gods sake, what has
happened?" He was kneeling at her
side now, and had placed one of her
hands between both of his own. But
while in the act of doing this, some
thing had dropped with a faint sound
from his wife's effortless fingers. It
was the opal bracelet. A second cry,
far louder than the first, left his white
lips. With trembling hands he raised
the beautiful fallen head, and saw upon
one of its pearly, blue,veined temples
a deep purple mark, as of some heavy
blow. Then he felt for her heart, and
presently knew that it had ceased to
beat.
Had the dead Florence dealt ven
geance from beyond her grave.
Victor Buchanan believes so to this
day, though friend after friend has
tried to persuade him of the folly of SO
believing, and pointed to one of the
sharp oaken abutments at the foot of
the cabinet, saying that his wife in
turning to close the cabinet drawer,
had tripped and struck her head in fall
ing.
He will not believe this explanation.
His friends call him a monomaniac.
Does he deserve the name2