The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1875-05-26
"But you looked and spoke so strangely"
Violet persisted. "You must have meant

"But you looked and spoke so strangely"
Violet persisted. "You must have meant
more than you will acknowledge"
Promise to hear me calmly, and Will
tell you all that was IN my thoughts when ]
made the remark that has disturbed you,"
he replied. "Mr. Walters impetuous tenn.
,per-so Sybl has told me-drew him into
% serious quarrel that night. You, toe,
knew this"
eyes," said Violet, flushing, and then
paling. ri remember the quarrel with Yer.
non-with Mr.. Aubrey
"a quarrel" her guarlian COZ & \ IS
which words were said and tauntS uttefs9
which were not to be easily forgotten or 90 M
given. Wna it not so2' $
az cannot tell did not hear stammers
ed,violet. "Ne:ther'do ]. know how the dis
agreement arose" E
,"And can you not guess" !" he inquired, scs
: meaningly that she. Redeemed, and then
burst into tears-for that her attempt tc
avoid Walters had been the primary caug
of the violence he had displayed, she could
not doubt. sr
Dear Violet, I viii not have you distress
yourself in this way said Mr.. Derwent,
soothingly. sfW Whntever may have occurred,
you: are entirely blameless. II Vernon
Aubrey, in the bitternessof his wrath against
the man who so cruelty ,insulted him, yield.
ed to an overwhelming temptation, and.
But here cry of horror from the white
lips of Violet silenced him, and he hastened
to sustain her trembling form. p ~,
vernon Aubrey murderer the mur-
der of Mr.. Walters ?" she exclaimed, start
ing to her feet, and clinging to Mr.. Der.
vents arm for support Vernon Aubrey P's;
"Hushp my love-hush! Recollect that
have no proofs that this is so, beyond Mr..
.Aubrey's smothered threats that he would I
yet be avenged, and his very strange be-.
havior ever since that night. But he may
have other reasons for looking so depressed,
and for avoiding US. Far be it from me to
condemn him unless we were assured OF his
guilt" '..
Violet put her hands to her head.
"My brain is confused. hear, yet do
not comprehend you. Tell me again, and
more clearly, what you have been saying. !.
"For what purpose, my love? That you
may harass yourself with what, as ! have
before observed, is simply conjecturea
Walters has died neutrality-suspicious., ,so the
doctors aver. If not by his own hand, asi
believe, then by another's. Then people
will naturally demand by whose3 He re-, .,
tired to rest in this house, at alnity with
every one who slept beneath our roof, save
one and that one was Vernon Aubrey. But
it does not follow that Mr.. Aubrey is actual.
ly guilty, because appearances are so great
ly against him. Neither will you and /, my
dear Violet, be too hasty in condemning
him."
She did not reply, but stdred at him,
vacantly, as if still scarcely capable Of taking
in the sense of his words. Yet were they
deeply impressed upon her throbbing brain.
She knew that Vernon Aubrey had passion
ately loved her from his boyhood; that he
had chafed at the coldness with which, in
her girlish wifullness, she had treated him;
and that he had watched her Irritation with
Robert Walters with jealous anger Nay,
not many days before the ball, he had exer-
cised the privilege their old friendship gave
him, and demonstrated with her upon it, till
. her proud refusal to be dictated TO- by him
had sent him away moreangry than ever. On
that fatal night she had SCARCELY deigned to !
accept the gift which signifed his anxiety
for a reconciliation, and had passed nearly
the whole Ct the evening dancing with, or
hanging on the arm Of his hated rival. :
If Vernon Aubrey was, indeed, o murder
er, as Mr.. Derwent had suggested If, goad-
ed to madness by her caprice, and the un-
bearable inso)ence Of the man for whom she
neglected him, he had mixed the fatal
draught-why, she was the cause Of it On
her head lay the sin Of his conduct; and, in I
paroxysm Of despair, she suddenly broke
from her guardian, and fed to her own
chamber. There Sybil found her, some hours
afterwards, extended on the foori and 80
exhausted with the tears she had shed, that
che lly in a kind of stupor, from which it :
was difficult to arouse her.
To be continued. -