Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-03-19
Y n w FfoA EI the Year Round.
Z AZ -FATAL FORTUNE.
By w1KIE COLLINS.

months since, you were rldlng Will
your brother, Miss Anstell, in Hyde
Park. 1t was hot day and you had
allowed your horses to fall into a
walking pace. As you passed the
railing on the right hand side, near
the eastern extremity of the lake in
the park, neither you nor your
brother noticed a solitary woman,
lettering on the foot path to look at
the riders as they went by.
The solitary woman was my old
nurse, Nancy Connell. And these
were the words she heard exchanged
between you and your brother, as
you slowly passed her:
Your brother said, 'Is it really
true that Mary Brading and her
husband have gone to America?"
You laughed (as if the question
amused you), and answered. Quite
truebsgSN9falE SsgSagBt
How long will they be away?
your brother next asked.
AS long as theylive, you answered
with another laugh.
By this time you had passed be-
yond Nancy Connell's hearing. She
owns to have followed your horses a
few steps to hear what was said next,
She looked particularly at your
brother. He took your reply seri-
ously; he seemed to be quite aston
ished over it.
Leave England, and settle in
America! he exclaimed. Why should
they do that!
Who can tell why? you answered
Mary Brading's husband is mad
and Mary Brading herself is not
much. better. 80.
Yonl touched your horse with the
whip, and, in a moment more, you
and your brother were out of my old
nurses hearing. She wrote and told
me, what 1 here tell you, by a recent
mail. I have been thinking of those
last words of yours in my leisure
hours, more seriously than you
would suppose. The end of it is
that 1 take up my pen on behalf of
husband and myself, to tell you the
story of my marriage, and the rea-
son for our emigration to the Unit
ed States of America.
1t matters little or nothing, to him
or to me, whether our friends in
England think us both mad or not.
Their opinions, hostile or favorable,
are of no sort of Importance to us.
But you are an exception to the
rule. In by-gone days at school
we were fast and firm friends; and
what weighs with me even more
than this-you were heartily loved
and admired by my dear mother.
She spoke of you tenderly on her
death bed. Events have separated
us of late years. But 1 cannot for
get the old times and 1 cannot feel
Indifferent to your opinion of me
and of my husband-though an
ocean does separate us, and though
we are never likely to look on one
another again. 1t is very foolish
Of me, 1 dare say, to take seriously
to heart what you said in one of
your thoughtless moments. l can
only plead In excuse that 1 have gone
through deal of suffering, and that
/ was always las you may remem-
ber) a person of sensitive tempera-
ment, easily excited and easily de-
pressed.
Enough of this /! Do me the last
favor 1 shall ever ask of you. Read
what follows-and judge for your
self whether your husband and I
are quite so mad as you were dis
posed to think US, when Nancy Con-
nell heard you talking to your
brother in Hyde Park.
II
1t Is now more than year since l
went to Eastbourne, on the coast Of
Sussex, with my father and my
brother James.
My brother had then, as we hoped,
recovered from the effects of a fall
in the hunting field. He complain
ed, however, at times, of pain in hii
head; and the doctors advised us t.
try the sea air. We removed tt
EastbOurne without a suspicion Of
the serious nature of the injury tha
he hadZFeGeiKed. Eor1Rfew days,s al
went well. We liked the place; tn,
air agreed with us; and we determin
ed to prolong our residence for som,
weeks to come.
4 Our sixth day at the seaside
memorial day to me, for reasons
which you have still to hear-my
brother complained again of the ole
pain in his head. = He and / went ou
together to try what exercise would
do towards relieving him. w,
walked through the town tc tn,
fort at one end of it, and then fol
lowed foot path running by tn,
side of the sea, over a dreary vast,
Of shingle, bounded at its inland ex
tremity by the road to Hastings, anC
oy the marshy country beyond.
,tMe: had left the fort atrsome lit
tle distance behind us; ] was walk
ing IN front; and James was follow
ing me. He was talking as quietly
as usual-when he suddenly stopped
in the middle of a sentence
turned round in surprise, and dis
covered my brother PROSTATE on tn,
path, in convulsions terrible to see
It was the first epileptic fit hat
ever witnessed. Ny presence al
mind entirely deserted me. Icoult
only wiring my hands in horror q nC
p .EsA1 ,HO7 wei Q.!O