The workingman's advocate., 1874-05-23
,writSsn Ior the wORKnsnAEs ADvecAsA
UNDER A SPELL
CLOSE PtAYF0R AF0RTU NE!
BY WELDON j. CORB, JR.
CHAPTER XIV.
TIKI STRICKEN HEART.
BY WELDON }. COBB, JR.

tleman | have been q valet-instead oi
being a man have been fiend. Madam,
when found you on yonder mountain. per
ishing in the wild storm, and traced in
your features resemblance to those
borne by one whom | had deeply wronged,
| thanked God that it was in my power to
make full reparation for life Of sin and
iniquity. Look well upon me, madam,
and see if you can trace in the features OF
the resegade priest and scoff Of Rome
multitudes, one single lineament like those
which rendered the face of Pierre Levant
once familiar to you"
Father in heaven Pierre Levant
You =
The man bowed his silvered head silently
for moment.
"Aye, madam, Pierre Levant. The base
and false calumniator Of a man you loved,
the tool of Colonel Delevan."
Sister Agnes closed her eyes with an ex-
preston of pain upon her face at the men
ton of that name.
"YOu have changed woefully, then, "
she finally said. land you have changed,
too, in heart, for none but kind hearted
Christian could have acted as you have 6y
me. Through my l1ng illness, ever since
you found me dying near your mountain
fastness, | have received every delicate
attention from your hands that the heart
Of Christian and gentleman could sug-
gest to perform. You say you have wronged
me. In what manner
Father Dominic bent his gaze upon her
sharply.
"DO you mean to say that neither time
nor rumor have removed the deception
practiced upon you by that man Delevan r.
Deception :" cried the woman, growing
paler. "Oh do not inspire me with false
hope. | had thought my heart and its
frst, only love dead. What do you mean
Speak Unsay those words, or tell me
more ~
Listen, then, madam. Colonel Dele
van, the traducer of the man you loved,
and who loved you truly in return, held a
fatal power over me. You know what he
told you you know, too, how | gave
credence to those stories and aided him in
placing you in position of a wife, desert
ing her husband and dishonoring his name
Madam, those stories were false you were
the victim Of cruel deception, and Colonel
Delevan only sought to gain you for his
own, and revenge some real or fancied
wrong inflicted upon him by the man you
loved, in whose eyes you we're and are to-
day, perhaps, woman who eloped with
her clandestine lover"
"No no Oh my God, do not say
that Y
at is so. You can see clearly now how
base and wicked was my conduct-how
much need to make reparation. Madam,
it is in my power now will you cooperate
with me My head is scarcely worth q
breath in Rome, should he who now con-
trols my actions choose to denounce me,
and therefore must act with circumspec-
ton"
'And what has been your life since
last saw you r. asked Sister Agnes, more
composedly.
"a life of sin, horror, agony and re-
morse-a hell upon earth ~ replied the
man, vehemently. 'sDelevan, when he
found that you would not succumb to his
desires, and that you had entered q con-
vent, set me adrift. became . devOtee
Of the Catholic religion, and, by hypocrisy
and false VOWS, was enabled to enter the
church. Drunkenness and plundering
caused my dismissal, and was hunted by
the infuriated rabble from Rome, my life
sought after by emissaries Of the church,
and, almost dying with fatigue, Colonel
Delevan found me in low hut few miles
from the city, and, taking pity ON me, per-
suaded friend, named Bernard Burdois,
to place me in charge of this cabin. Here
i have lived, twice acting ~ goAler for
Burdois. One woman he brought here,
ruined her, set her adrift, and then laughed
Economically, two days after when her body
was found in . deep ravine. You can
Judge from this that he IN q bad man, n
bad and unprincipled as his agent, Colonel
Richard Delevan. Madam, one word from
BurdOis and my life would be forfeited;
vet am resolved to break the chain he has
riveted about me. Tonight another victim
has appeared at tim cabin. May my
maker blight my future life, and doom me
to endless perdition If | allow him 10 de-
stroy the life and reputation Of thin fair
young creature !"
''But his object i'm thus Abducting themf'
He Ia q man Of the world, and o slave
10 the most degrading passions. had in
telligence from the woman who accom-
panied her, yesterday, that she would
bring Q new victim-this one, however, TO
become the wife Of Bernard Burdois.
Madam, it shall not be. You must aid me
in resisting this man. am pousu1sss
alone"
"And how can ! aid yea-who 10 this
maiden !"
''Clmibel Markham-"
''Oh my God r
Pierre Levant sprung forward and
caught the fainting woman in his srms. 1t
ives nearly an hour before she recovered,
and he was uneasy ut the prolOngation OF
her sWcon. Finally. she opened Ser eyea,
and her mind still upon the subject last
under discussion, shs asked, in feeble
tones
'sYoQ viii let me zee her r.