The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-11-25
THE AVEl;]N|lGE;;Rl1li. AVEl;]N|l !; I
CONCLUDED FROM LAST WEEK.;

took up his two test4mentary doc
uments both were: addressed in the
shape Of Letters to myself' The tipsi
was a rapid though distinct appropri'
atom Of; his enormous property
General rules Nere laid Adown,' upon
which the property was to sbe disthbi
uted, but the details were left to my
discretion, and to the guidance Of
circumstances as they should happen
to emerge from the, various inquiries
which it would become necessary to
set on foot. This first document
soon laid aside, both because I found
that its provisions were dependent for
their meaning upon the, second, and
because to this second document I
looked with confidence for solution
of many mysteries;-of the profound
sadness which had, from the first of
my acquaintance with him, possessed
a man so gorgeously endowed as the
favorite of nature and fortune; of
his motives for huddling up, in. q
clandestine manner, that connection
which formed the glory of his life !:
and possibly (but then I hesitatedD
Of the late uninte eligible. murders,
which still lay under as. profound a,
cloud as ever. " Much Of this .poxld
he unveiled, all might: D. and
there and then with the corpse lying
beside me Of the gifted and m'yyssteri1
ous writer, l seated myself and read
the following statement: '>'
"MARcH 26, 1917.
my trial is finished; my con-
science, my duty, my honor, are lib
Grated; my warfare is accomplished.
Margaret, my innocent young wife,
l have seen for the last time. Her,
the crown that might have been my
earthly felicity, her, the one temp
tation to put aside the bitter cup
which awaited me,-her, sole seduc-
tress 60, innocent seductress y from
the stern duties which nv fate had
imposed upon me,-her, even her,, I
have sacrificed.
Before go, partly lest the inno-
cent should be brought into question
for acts almost exclusively mine, but
still more lest the lesson and the
warning which God, by my hand, has
written in blood upon your guilty
walls, should perish for want Of its
authentic exposition, hear my last
dying avowal, that the murders
which have desolated so many fami-
lies within your wa lis, and made the
household hearth no sanctuary, age
no, charter Of protection, are all due
originally to my head, if not always
to my hand. as the minister: Of a
dreadful retribution. :: :"
THAT account Of my history and
my prospects, which you received
from the Russian diplomatist,' among
some errors Of little impor tance ia
essentially correct. My father was not
50 Immediately connected with Eng
tlish blood as is there represented.
However, it is true that he claimed
descent from an English family" OF
even higher distinction than that
which is assigned in the Russian
statement. He was proud of this
English descent, and the more so as
the war with revolutionary France
brought out more prominently than
ever. the moral and civil gran
deur Of England. This pride was
generous, but it was imprudent in
his situation. His immediate pro.
genitors had been settled in Italy,
at Rome first, but latterly at Milan
and his whole property, large and
scattered, came, by the progress Of
the revolution, to stand under French
dominion. Many spoilations he suf:
fered but still :hewas too rich to be
seriously injured. But he fores.w,
in the progress Of events, still greater
perils meuacing his most capital IL:
sources. Many of the" states 61
princes in Italy were deeply in lii
debt; and, in the great commissions
which threatened his country, he saw
that both the contending parties
would find Il colorado excuse 70,
absolving themselves from engage
ments which pressed unpleasant,
upon their finances. In this embar
rassment he formed an intimacy will
French officer Of high rank anc