Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-07-24

ing advanced, other guests came lntO Uh
pal lor till it was quite full. Lillian, how
ever, did not make her appearance unit
Just as the bell for tea was sounding. Sh'
came in somewhat hurriedly, and wa
presented by Alice to the hero of their at
ternoons discussion. They went into thu
dining-room together, and We're soon laugh
inc and talking like old friends. The lone
bright days of summer flew swiftly by, eacf
day with it's incidents and pleasures was
marked with a white stone i'll the memories
of MANY of that pleasant household. Much
that was happy and sad, bitter and sweet
j was written i'll indelible marks on Times
ineffaceable scroll, which is, the hidden
heart Of us all. One evening las Philip and
Alice We're seated on the long shady veran-
da, sometimes talking, sometimes silent.
as they listed, a pause of longer duration
ensued, and Alice looked up from her own
| distracted reyerie, to find her cousin gaz-
ing absently at the changing lights and
shadows on the distant mountains. His
eyes were dreamy, yet full OF pam MS
mouth was set, Witlla half sneerlng, scorn-
full smile, and his whole ali, though listless-
| was one of unrest, that betokened heart
and mind i'll at ease. Alice gazed long and
earnestly at his manly face, reading the
hieroglvphics, she so well understood, and
which were so legibly expressed in it's I'M
guarded expression. Frequently, with Il
quick, impatient Sigh, he turned and found
her eyes intently fixed upon his face. The
/ blood rushed quickly to his very forehead,
as he exclaimed,
HWell, little cousin, what do you see ~
| You look as if you had seen a ghost
$50 have, cousin Phil, the same [ have
seen before, aud that haunts other men be-
side yourself. [ have seen so much, that
want to know more about it. Suppose
YOU make me your father confessor, and
| tell me, OF shall | tell you all [ have read
| in your tell-tale countenance ? l assure
you can tell your fortune just as plainly
| as if [ were real Fortune Teller" Sac
looked SO earnestly, yet strangely at him,
that his curiosity was aroused, and he
coughed uneasily as hereplied, "All right
! little cousin, what you can't tell me, L
will tell you, SO there's a bargain" She
looked searchingly into his eyes, and her
! fair face grew serious and sad, while she
Hspoke in q slow monotone, as if reading
| from a book. II see the ghost of a past
youth dead, but not forgotten. Can we
ever forget, | wonder ?" she murmured
with infinite pain in her voice, and after a
pause continued Il see u youth, earnest,
ardent, eager, and ambitious, full Of the
bright, hopeful anticipations, and resolves
Of early manhood | see a noble heart,
generous, loving, and tender, overlooking
with the passionate tide of mans deepest
and purest affection in the slender grasp
of Il wBman's hand, which closes with a
relentless grip on the quiverng object,
and she laughs !; cold, cruel, eNIltaut, and
malicious laugh, as she watches its agon
lied writings, while her grasp grows
closer, and get more close. | hear the
wall of strong mans agony over a be-
trayed love, and see his Slow, drop
ping tears-s mans tears OF anger, pain,
and unavailins regret, wrung from tor
tured heart, like drops of it's blood shed
over a broken dream, and a shattered idol
I And I see q mans life shaken, and dark
ened but not wrecked, OF desolate, for
woman's truth and fidelity yet remain to
dissipate the spells and foil the arts of q
siren.' Her voice ceased.
She was startled from her half trance by
the rapid, yet suppressed breathing of her
listener and his agitated exclamation of
my God, Alice, how came you to know
all this" He was pale and deeply stirred,
and looked astounded, when she. replied,
81 don't know it, only see it in your fa3e.
and I know the marks of the beast"
when I see them, as [ have in many faces
| beside yours Good God! !" and she walk
ing rapidly to and fro on the piazza with
q smile of bittereSt scorn and disgust
wreathing her lips with sarcastic meaning
and contempt. ssWhat punishment is
there meet and just enough for such dev-
;astatng fiends, such ghouls as those who
live on mems hearts, and who lure them
through their most sacred affections and
appeal TO their nobest Instincts, only to
betray, desolate and destroy, and who
leave their victims infdels in everything,
but the deceit and falsehood of woman j
Cousin PHIL stopping abruptly before
him, with her form trembling and her face
| flushed with the earnestness Of her feeling.
II feel like a murderess sometimes, when
[ think how the good. true and faithful
women, as there are, must pay the penalty
of being judged by such demons as [ speak
of, for indeed they are that. Women who
make heccatombs of their victims, to their
Unsuitable vanity, and have wasted, ten
to one, infamous lives forever grinning
at them like the skulls of a cannibal feast,
! It CHASTITY reminder Of their perversion OF
womanhood, and utter want Of principle.
| Bah [ get sick and Disguised with my
own sex when [ think how poWerleSs real
women are, to prevent OF remedy a sirens
hideous spells! You ask how know all
this as said before by the marks of the
"Beast, !" which are as patent to me as the
effects of a hurricane. Nobody even
thinks when they see houses blown down,
trees torn up by the roots, fences destroy
ed, d dead animals and birds strewll
amid the wreck, of asking how it happened
They are familiar with the effects of such
storms, and know it's marks. Just so, do
seeing the marks of the storm in your face
know it's cause And to convince you
how truly read the signs, can tell you
almost exactly what kind of woman it was
that has deltlded you, for like the FALSE
Duessa who deceived the Red Gross
Knight, she is without heart, feeling OF
principle, and lives only to deceive for hel
own wicked ends AS told you, don tknoN
her, and never saw her, [ only judge from
the marks she is one Of two kinds, fol
; there are but two" Again that far of