The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1876-04-13

cd how anxious Rosalie had been to obtain
possession of that casket; how terror
stricken she had looked when Hartley mad
secured it to hims. II.
''Yesp % exclaimed Rosalie; "for should
| Clarence Hartley read that letter, while |
! am vet near hi:a, l should die, Arthur
| should die p
Night'had again arrived.
! A single light giimmered in the cham
! Der where Mistress CameEord had so lately
/ died, and where now her corpse lay cold
/ and stark.
| A woman -watcher-wen accustomed to
| such employment and which, for her, had
I long since lost all terror-was seated COM
| fortaby in an easy chair, and fast asleep.
/ A window, which looked on the gardens,
was slowly and no;selessly opened by some
| one who stepped into the room.
| The sudden gust Of Wind which entered
as the window was thrown open, extln-
| guished the light which had been on table
near it and instantly there was fatal dark
ness within that chamber Of death.
Soon the sleeping woman was aroused
by some one jostling against her: and,
starting suddenly to her feet, clutched, III
the darkness, this midnight intruder.
Scream after scream was pealed forth
penesra6ing to the ears OF, every inmate OF
the mansion, and ca~slng every heart to
ithrob with tsrror.
Eotone, Of all the household, who i.a net
hurry towards the chamber whence those
shrieks had summoned them.
Almost the first to arrive was Hartley,
! who came in time to arrest young Arthur
as, having at length succeeded in brealasng
| from the woman who had tenaciously clung
to him. he was huITying from the mortuary
| chamber.
GA thief !" exclaimed Hartley, snatch
ing from Arthur's hand the ebony easket
which he had been striving 10 conceal.
| Arthur mad seen where, in Mistress Cam
elford's chamber, Hartley had deposited
! the casket, which was to be, he said, OPEN
! ed on the morrow, and before witnesses.
He had beheld his mothers grief, had
| heard her say of what vast Importance to
| her was the letter within that casket.
| Carefully concealing his intention from
Rosaie, he resolved to obtain that letter
| and save her from that something, he knew
not what, which she SO dreaded, and at
| the mere thought of which he beheld her
so intensely wretched.
| He had succeeded in reaching, even in
the darkness, the object of which he had
resolved to obtain possession, SO well had
| he marked the spot where the castet had
been placed by Hartley; but his escape
with it had been rendered impossible by
the means which we have just described
"Wioked, ungratefud boy Hartley con-
tinued, surprised and hurt, "you believed,
did you not, that there We're jewels within
| this casketf p
Arthur stirred not, gave no sign but
his features were tranquil, he was firm and
seif-possasseI.
Il Will have pity on your youth added
Hartley, "but go instantly from this house."
"Eo, no, not yet, cried bosllle, mot
thus banished, for he is no thief, merits not
that infamy should rest upon his head"
And then, looking towards Arthur, whom
she could not reach-"Bless you darling
she exclaimed, for that which you have
6triven to accomplish
Hartley was dumb with amazement, and
strange wonder was in the eyes OF all who
now hal listened to Rosahe,
"He sought that casket to obtain for me
d Letter which he knew was there enclos-
ed Rosalie added, and in a moment Hart
| ley had fol cci open the casket
And then, Rosalie, clatching Hartley's
h,,lnpry:1 - HIM inpiorin2lY and very
I'm the name of Heaven, read not that
letter till We shall be alone
All who there, until this moment, had
looked and listened now silently and Won
deringly withdrew.
On a sign from his mother. Arthur too
had quilted the apartment. and RosaAe anu
Hartley alone were left within it.
Hesitatingly, trenbhpgly, his thoughts
presaging some strange calamity, some
heavy woe, Hartley drew the letter from
the casket
He saw that it was addressed to himself,
and in RosaGe' hand.
But why thus strangely delivered to
him
He feared to break the seal
Read, read" Rosaie family said, sink
! ing to her knee, "and Heaven knows that l
h,.ye not been guilty, and that she alone
was culpable who now lies yonder, still and
cold, bereit Of further power for good or
| evil here on earth.
| The letter was at last opened Hartley
| saw that it was dated more than twelve
wears back, some weeks before Rosalie had
! become his wife; and the ink with which
| it had been written had faded and grown
pale-but not so pale as was now the face OF
| him who read those soul-crushing lines to
the last word, and was stunned to immobiI-
! ity-petritied, aghust with horror.
He had been made to wed the wife Of
Gying man. the wife Of his frieud-his Ro-
sale had never rightly belonged to him.
Oh al was horror-inlamy
Three wretched victims, and Mistress
Camelford alone had been guilty, not Tor
one moment had he a doubt Of that.
And he knew not, and it mattered not 10
him now to know wherefore Mistress CAM
elford had wrought such terrible evil,
But now was Rosalies constant sadness
all accounted for; no wonder She had so sell
dom smiled upon him, that his most deyot-
ed love had failed to make her happy, Tor
she had been tricked and forced into his
arms, had been increasingly mourning the
husband and the son she had believed were
mouldering in the tomb.
Clarence Hartley fixed a lengthened gaze,
it was to be his last look on Rosahe, who
still was on her knee before him, AMI sigh
ing heavily, faltered forth:
Farewell, Rosale; not long snail l re-
main barrier to happiness which soon
for you VIII be renewed!
Rosahe now raised her fearful eyes to-
wards Hartley, and was about to speak, but
he waved a despairing farewell to her, ana
was gone from her sight.
Within the next hour he had quilted the
house.
Soon tidings came that he had purchased
a commission in the army-a continental
war was then raging, and in the very hrsU
battle wherein he had been engaged ne
persisted. Life had become utterly hateiu,
to him, and he had sought the battle ned
as the easiest and the noblest way 10 be rld
of it.
But few words more are needed to con-
clude our story.
Master Adam Burford received not his
most fitting doom, for he escaped the scat
fold; but he was sent to leer far away from
his own country for the term OF hls nat
ural life, having been concerned In poach-
ing affray, in which a gamekeeper had been
shot.
Immensely wealthy became Rosahe, and
: well and nobly did she employ her riches;
Rightly she inherited the fortune lett by
Mistress Calnelford; and which that httle-
scrupulous Ltdy, had as we know, usurped
And Clarence Hartley left to her, whom
he had so long believed his true and lawful
wife. the vast sums and large estates OF
which he had died possessed, with the ex
: nressed hope that when he no longer hv'