Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1874-02-21

: face toward me. What face, 1t i
e in my mind s eve while 1 write tins.
= An exquisite oval, the dark brow
= hair drawn tight from the ivory fore
G head, fair as a May blossom; bluisi
: gray eyes, set wide apart like thost
D Of a child, with a tinge OF the violet
: bashful vet wild, full of innocent ioy
= and loving confidence; & delicate nose
4 slightly retrOuSse: short curling uppel
lip, its companion rich, ripe, demure,
and pOuting; teeth of pearl, and O
J charmingly rounded chin. I see that
, face. Would that l had never beheld
it, save in the splendid freshness OF
, its piquant beauty. She seated her
self upon the Jauteui, and from her
. anxious glances IN the direction of the
door, and her changing color, 1t was
evident that she awaited the advent
of some expected person.
a cloud of anxiety would pass
across her fair brow, and her lUstrOus
I e-es close as if from a throb of mental
anguish, whilst her tiny white hands
would continually clasp themselves in
that nervous pressure by which even
strong men with impassiye connie
| nances betray their inward emotions.
/ Quicker than thought the form OF q
man presented itself. He was tall
| and slight, and attired in full even
/ ing dress. He Ieant upon his arms,
/ which he placed against tho chimney
! piece, and gazed-Aown Into the ire;
I his back was turned to the girl, and
/ his face was hidden from me by his
elbows. The girl started to her feet
and tinidly approached him, touch
ing him gently as if to induce him to
turn to her. He repulsed her with a
shrug. She appeared to address him
(no sound reached ne) earnestly, be-
seechingly, with all her heart, with
all her soul, yet he turned not. She
plUcked the bunch Of viOlets from her
bosom and cast then into the fire IN /
frenzy of passion, yet he turned /
not. She threw lerself upon her /
knees, and, with an agonized express /
sion, such as the human cOuntenance |
only assumes in theextremity of woe, /
pleaded to him.
Was it for her life? Was it for that
which should be dearer than life?-
God forbid for there was that in the
shrug of the mans shoulder which
precluded the failtest glimmer Of
hope.
She rose slowly, and, with despair
enveloping every feature, as plainly
discernible as the writing upon the
wall, she turned from him and was
gone. He still retained the same po-
sition, his arms against the chimney
piece. gazing down ntO the fire. He
moved his foot, enased in a patent
leather boot, backward and forward
upon the steel bars If the fender, and
then
Yes, and then he turned, and his
eyes met mine. Ny heart gave one
great throb; my brain was on fire.
The man aOas RihaTa Beatiek, my
dead Jrlend!
There was something yet to come.
Once more L pulled my quivering
nerves together for a supreme effort.
The scene he'd hanged-changed
as silently and Imprceptibly as the
colors in the rainbow. The light was
more subdued; the fauteuil was re-
placed by a table-dpon the table lay
a bundle covered By a sheet.
The same man, or spectre, or de-
mon, stood beside the table. His
hair was disheveled as if he had '
clutched it in paIoxysm of the Wild i,
est passion. His eyes were sunken in |
their sockets, and encircled with !
black rims with inner rings of pur- 1
pie red. His cheeks were livid, and {
MS blue lips, drawn tight, showed his I
white teeth standing out like the I
skeleton ribs of some animal which 8
lad been picked bare by birds of I
lrey l
Thus did-he look when his senses
we're restored a few feeting minutes I
,re the grasp of the angel of death ;
,losed upon him. Z
The man, or spectre, or demon,
.aised a corner of the sheet, and shud- L
leringly cast hurried glance be-
leath 1t.
Slowly, very slowly, and with avert !
d gaze, he removed the entire COW 4
ring, as if compelled to do so by +
.ome invisible power.
Upon that table lay 4 dead body
he body of a voman-the body of
hat fair young girl whom he had re- I
pulsed with an icy shrug. l
Dead-dead-dead. '
Her long brown hair hung il mass t
We tresses over the edge of the table, c
lmost sweeping the floor. Her beau l
ifully formed hands were clenched as 7
f the agony of death had been ex- J.
IuisitelV bitter. Her violet blue '
syes were wide open, staring up
wards, and the white lips, drawn tight /
Y together, seemed as though she had c
to suppress the shrek Z
which bade farewell to earth.
But why did her garments cling so :
loosely to her faultless form? Why !
I'D every limb, every curve and con- !
our of that beautiful frame, reveal 1
tself? Why dld something drip, l
Trip, drip from her hair, her fingers, c
fer ears, her feet, her clothes, like the l
lick, tick, tick of the death-watch? 1t I
wasn't blood-no, it was water. !
The body had been found in the c
black pool at the edge of the wood.
She had committed self-des truction. I
Hurting her soul from her, with l
lne bound she had leaped into the '
7allev of the shadow of death.
Poor lost child, that last look of J
despair was easily translated-thats
of anguish, that climax of I
unfathomable, illimitable
woe.
The man turned and gazed at the ]
BODY of his victim. Remorse was {
gnawing at his heart. '
Heart where was his heart, when 7
that fair young creature had besought {
Of him to restore that TO her which 7
through him and his devilish fascina- I
lion She had forfeited? Where was I
his heart when, in abSect humiliation, !
she flung herself upon her knees at S
his feet in that very chamber, and /
prayed for the miserable, pitiful boon |
Of a single loving word? Where was {
his heart when he allowed her to go /
from him to her doom, and repaid her ,
.ife's love, her lost honor, her blanch-
ed soul, with a gesture Of contempt: I
That heart was now on fire, on tre [
with uames from he'll. 4,
Yes, the man, or spectre, or demon,
flung himself upon the hfeless clay. ]
He chafed the inanimate hands-thOse I
hands once so soft, and tender, and ,
warm. lie glued his ashy lips to !
hers as If to inhale some sigh that yet
might linger near that heart that I
throbbed so lovingly for him, and
him alone. Too late. Awful words,
with tremendous meaning as
is the single vord-eternity
The man severed 4 lock of that dark
brown hair and placed 1t in his
bosom.
Now 1 knew the black secret that
lay like a clOt of CONCEALED blood over
the heart of Richard Bentick. Now
had the clue TO what appeared to me
to be the rawlings of delirium. Now
I could account for the change which
altered a bright. joyous, happy na-
ture into 4 moody, gloomy, reserved I
and brutal one. Now the ''Open
sesame" had been pronounced, the
mist had been cleared away from my
vision, and I saw the goad
which drove Richard Bentick from
sobricty to drunkenness, from the