The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1875-01-19
your need is not SO grave as I was led
by your steward to believe.''

| lie regarded me, as he laid back in
his chair opposite, with faint, tran
sient smile.
ut is quite as grave, I can assure
you, he answered. "Morrison did not
exaggerate. am dying, as he stated.
In less than two hours [ shall have
ceased to live!''
l stared in amazement, while my
wife's assertion seemed to gain confr
nation. To me Sir Leicester had sell
dom looked better.
1T is scarcely to clergyman that I
should make the confession am about
to- he proceeded. But the name
You bear for all that is good and char.
liable tells me I may trust to your
secrecy. am dying, Mr.. Hartop, be-
cause am poisoned. the poison being
selfadministered. Yes, YOU behold one
who has just taken his own lifc.''
''Sir Leicester!'' 1 cried, leaping up;
''what are you saying? You arc either
hooking me in my calling, or, if true,
medical aid must be obtaied at once
| AS moved toward the door, he
caught my arm gently but firmly, and
forced me back into my chair, while,
with an earnestness almost prayerful,
he exclaimed: cit is no mockery! 1t
is true, and the most skil)ful doctor
could find no antidote for the Eastern
drug I have swallowed, which, in two
hours after it is taken, generally pro.
duces painless death. If you, Mr..
11artop, feel any compassion for me, do
not let these two hours be lost. l have
trusted in you. l beg you will not dis
appoint me. for you see before you the
most wretche3 man on carth!'
81 cannot comprehend-'' began,
sonfusedly.
describe her is impossible. Did I do so
accurately, you would attribute my
words to lovers cxaggeration, there
fore, judge for YOURSELF
Taking miniature from his bosom,
he handed it to me. 1t represented a
young girl of scarcely l8, and with one
of the sweetest. lovcliest countenances
| had ever beheld. Even the eyes of
the picture seemed to thrill the obsery-
er's very soul.
''Seeing her, proceeded Sir Leiccs.
ter, ''you will not wonder when say l
loved Gertrude better than life. She
capable of the purest and truest az
fcction-returncd my passion; and I
being then the presumptive heir Of my
grandfather, my uncle festered my suit.
Gertrude and I were consequently
looking forward to the confirmation Of
our happiness, when my grandfather
died, and it was found that, owing to
personal animosity to my uncle, an
other grandson had been put in my
place.
AT the same period, Lord Worth,
elderly but immensely rich, paid
marked attention to Gertrude. Secure
in the knowledge of our mutual love,
no fear assailed us, until one day, to
our horror, my uncle informed us that
as | was comparatively beggar, our
engagement must be broken, and that
Gertrude must accept the addresses of
Lord Worth. I shall not describe our
agony, our useless supplicaticns. l
was banished from the house-my
cousin was kept prisoner to her room.
Yet by her maids assistance we man.
aged to meet, when we decided to elope.
'.Ah, why did not mistrust that
woman? Why did not the fatality
which attended all my plans put me on
my guard? I thought of nothing but
the joy of soon calling Gertrud mine.
"The night arrived. Gertrude, &C.
companicd by her servant, met me,
and in the postchaise I had provided
we started for the cottage of the
maids mother. where the former as
surcd US a clergyman would be wait
| ing to unite US.
On our meeting in the dwelling stu.
atued in a lonely part Of the country,
we found no minister there. The maid
assured me that the falling rain may
have prevented him, but that certainly
he would be there before morning. We
waited. The nj ght went BY spent
it outside the cottage. I would not
pass it even beneath the same roof that
covered my poor Gertrude. My ankle
ty was all for her; and at daydawn l
| would have started for another clergy
man, when the maid, cntreating me to
forgive her, stated that in the confusion
she must have made mistake in the
date, for the clcrgyman's reply said
the 9th, not the 9Th. She showed me
the letter, and believed her. We yet
waited. The night came, and so did
the clergyman.
"We had already taken our places
before him when the door was burst
open, and my uncle, Lord Wo, tn, and
three serving men rushed in. Instant.
]y I was torn from Gertrude, firmly
held by the servants, and Knocked by
my uncle, while Lord Worth, grinning
and grimacing, took my place opposite
my beloved as her bridegroom. In vain
the poor girl resisted; her father
threatened her with public exposure.
He confessed that the cottage was one
of ill-repute, and that her stay at it in