The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-10-20

her mother and I. Of course one must
not expect to get over first love at once.
Alas how little, indeed, sometimes,
are our convictions verified. Affairs
were soon completely reversed.
The next morning after my visit a
letter was laid on my table, and saw
it was the widows handwriting. 1t
read
''lfr. Hdu:-Come at once. Edith
has gone away, and 1 know not what
has befallen her. Come, for old friend
ships sake, that we may, if possible, de-
wise speedy way to find her. Captain
Morris obtained admittance last night
in my absence; l fear he has been the
cause of her departure. Z. c."
What should I do? Indeed, there
was but one thing that I could do-fol-
! low the wishes of the widow and find
her child-if possible, to bring to bay
the man whom we both felt would de-
seTt her at last.
! By the aid of the telegraph we learned
/ that two persons answering our fugi-
! tives' descriptions had been seen in New
York entering a covered carriage,
whence they proceeded waterward.
That was the clue that sent me on
LhClA LldChg anu dCEOSS Tue OCedu III Tie
next steamer, arriving in Liverpool
weeks and weeks before information
came that my prey were disem barking
from sailing ship in the river Thames.
On to London as fast as the iron horse
could go, but again TO be eluded. They
had gone to Paris. There, after months
of search, I gained a clue which took
me to house in the Latin QUARTER part
of the city.
1t was tumble-dOwn old affair, with
quaint cut-glass easements, through
which the light of day rarely shone. 1t
was house of refuge, l had learned be-
fore starting upon my errand. At the
door they informed me it was a private
resort for the insane.
"Great Heaven! A mad-house, and
Edith Crofton here ~ I exclaimed.
"What! Edith Crofton? ?" shrieked
the old woman, in my ear. mo such
person here-none but gentlefolks oc-
cupy this houser' And she made a
motion to slam the door in my face.
mot so fast, madam; you may be
mistaken, and so may l. Is there not a
fairhaired lady among your patients ?'
She paused for moment, and seemed
to TecOllect that /, being a foreigner,
might afford something in the way of
remuneration. A few coins elected the
fact that there aOds young American
lady among the patients who had been
placed there by some benevolent people,
She had been deserted by an officer, so
they said, left penniless and destitute to
roam the streets of Paris. Twice she
, had leaped into the Seine, and been re-
suscitated only with the greatest diff
Guilty. The wretch who abandoned her
] loft M nc n frwf h,r
miserable existence. 1t had satisfied him
to see his fatal power working around her
heart, until, tired of the marriage, he
deserted her in a strange city. Imagine
, her misery to find, at last, the whole
bitter fact lying in one word, "deserted," ("
before her! And she had loved him
with such love as could forgive most
minor sins, but now he had left her, left
her to starye or die in the streets. Was
it then a matter of wonder that the
brain, chafed by neglect and sorrow,
should at last go crazed, and she, poor,
wandering Outcast, at last drift to a
mad-house?
Poor Edith Crofton how like her of
old, and yet how changed! Her once
, dark, expressive eyes were dull and
meaningless now, as if the beautiful
light of day had been forever shut out
from them. l fancied she might i'm
prove under skilled treatment, which
proved true; but never did her reason
return to its basis again.
Obeying the wishes of her mother, ]
brought her back. But few recognized
! in the quiet, deeply-vailed lady who sat
on the steamers deck in warm days, q
victim of hard, relentless fate. HeI
mind was Onlya a little o'erbalanced, and
she harmed no one by her soft mutter,
ings of silks and palaces and gaudy
things that he had promised her. How
his promise was fulfilled should be a
, warning to every nOble-minded but i'm
pulsive maiden in the land.
1t was also my painful task to bring
her to her old home and mother. But
could not bear the meeting-the words
of anguish-the entreating prayers to
speak to her as of yore. So my mission
ended, I betook myself back to my
humble lodgings.
Years now have numbered themselves
on the tablets of time, creating a new
generation, who pause and sometimes
I laugh as the mother and daughter wend
their way slowly by. 1t is only the So
Der ones who drop a tear as her story
comes to mind, and sigh that one SC
young and beautiful should have had
such a melancholy fate.
]