St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-04-27

his lOathed possessions, upon soul al
ready enwrapped in the flames of Il
CHASTITY delirium. His strained and
racked imagination vOmited forth those
hOrrid visions which clutch the accursed
and doomed until Avernus itself is con-
centrated within the compass of the
victims perceptions. Men employed
in his fields and vineyards, who caught
an occasional glimpse of the man, will
never forget to their dying hour that
hideOus cOuntenance scanned with the
lines of fear and despair unutterable I;
with eyes starting from their blue sock
cts, in burning agony, strained upon
the phantOms cOnjured up from the
depths of lost soul.
And never once was this man allowed
beyond the glittering, toad-like eye of
his temptress and destroyer. Appoint
ell guardian of his property and person,
she haunted ever the presence of the
quarry, holding at at all times to his
lips the flaming draught of the still with
the patient and merciless resolution of
the pOiSOner.
And at last CAME relief as over the
seething brain and scOrched heart set
tied the calm stiffness of Il kindly death,
drowning out the consuming fires in
the dark waves of Lethe's rolling tide.
Left, by the testament of her husband,
sole mistress of great fortune, this
woman had now achieved the summit
of her evil ambition. But was it an
enjoyable one? Was the serpent per-
mitted to remain in the bloom of Eden
when its work of tempting and ruin
was accomplished When the burn
ing brand flashed at the gates of the
| terrestrial Paradise, was the reptile not
under the curse of Il doom that con-
demned it to constant flight from the
attack of the wrOnged Do not phan-
toms ever rise to pursue the murderer
Does not remOrSe ever gnaw the vitals
of the wrong dOcr? Aye, surely and
inevitably does crime recoil upon the
head of the criminal ,-and burn its ven
geance into sleepleSS memory with
twO-fOld the force that dealt foul wrong.
| No murderer ever yet knew the sweets
of repose. This wOnsn possessed the
talent of Lucretia Borgia, with this
addition, that as talent lies not alone
in doing but i'll escaping unscathed, sc
she, being free from all suspicion OF
crime, was superior to the Italian
poisoner in plan and deed. But could
she bar out the stern, iron punishment
of conscience? Well had she plotted
with untiring vigilance warded off the
inquiries of the curious, and with mas
terly action thrown all suspicion off hel
track, and at the last, grasped the real
ity of the golden fruit, but to find its
heart cankered and dead in the folds OF
the worm of remOrse. Away from the
scenes of her lOathsOme crime, where
cleaned the pale phantoms of.the dead
upon her awakened soul, and where
every blade of grass whispered ''mur.
der :" this woman, carrying her Owl
damnatiOn ever with her, fled to seel
in distant lands distraction from til,
horror of thought.
But she had created spectres that vii
never cease pursuit, and reused Il con
science whose reprOaches will riot owe
her desOlatiOn of soul until her las
hour of slow-burning agony. The vul
ture will ever feed upon her vitals anC
ut the end, when she gazes in super
human agony of fear across the darl
gulf which separate the human from
righteous judgment, her deadliest enc
my would be satisfied with the woe .
that lost soul.