The Morning herald., 1877-10-17

1
again, and this time his letters might be
answered. But he waited-waited, won
dered, and hoped, till hope itself became
almost extinct within his breast, and then,
unable longer to endure the torture that
was rending his heart, he had resolved, at
every hazard, to return to England, when,
at Last, aletter came to him--a fearful let
ter-a letter which crushed, almost ami
hilat4u his whole being. The purport Of
that letter, and by whom written, will
presently be explained. ,'"u"..
Mistress Augusta Camelford for long
hours every day shv was alone within
her own apartments, the doors secure
| ly fastened, writing earnestly and Ia
boriously, over and over again, a. few un-
important words which Sir Jonas Rathborne
had, at some time or other, scribbled on
sheet Of paper, then lying before her.
She copied and recopied those words,
day after day, week after week; and many
weeks, until her imitation Of Sir Jonas
Rarhbone's writing was absolutely per-
feet; anu tnen, some time after she had
intercepted the second packet Of letters
which had arrived at the mansion-letters
which Arthur Gresham had written, full
OF hope and joyful anticipations which,
were never to be realized; then, Mistress
Augusta Camelford deemed it her turn to
write, and so she penned an epistle to Rosa
lies husband, which but too soon reached
that unhappy man. -. ...t'
This epistle, which Arthur, with such
fatal confidence believed had been written
by Sir Jonas Rfgthborne, and which, but,
for the nature OF its contents might have
deceived-and easily-even the Baronet
himself, announced to the wretched hus-
band that his wife and child-both Of them
had ceased to live. ,,.' .
Rosaie, the Baronet was credited to say,
weakened by the many and powerful emo
tions she had Of late experienced, had
lacked strength for her time Of sharpest
trial, and had died On the very day Oh wLich
her child was born-although her dttnger
had not been foreseen by her physicians,
and but few hours after Arthur himself
had madehis escape from themansion. But
till thefolloWing nlorning-so continued this
dreadful letter-had the infant survived its
mother, and it WIS now several weeks since
the bereaved, heart-broken father had seen
his daughter, and his daughters little son,
laid together within the same tomb.
The Baronet had been too greatly over
powered by this terrible calamity before to
write to Arthur; had been without the
strength and courage which would enable
him to convey to his daughters husband
the overwhelming tidings that the poor
young wife he iuo-ized was lost to him for
ever.
This horrible epistle concluded by en-
treating that Arthur Gresham would not
yet return to England; for at present it
would too dreadtully afHict the Baronet
again to look upon the man who had been
his daughters husband and stated be-
sides, that if Arthur shoult return, his i'm
mediate arrest would then pe certain; for
Albert Marsden's relatives were eager for
the punishment of his adversary, and had
upbraided the authorities that he had been
suffered to escape; and Arthur would per-
fectly comprehend that Sir Jonas Rath-
borne had been entirely without the ener-
gy necessary for the efforts which he now
soon would make to obtain the pardon OF
his poor daughters husband.
! For this latter part Of the letter, Mistress
Calnelford might have spared herself the
arduous care and toll which had been oc-
casioned her to write it, since many more
weeks were to elapse before Arthur was to
pursue to the end an epistle in the perusal
OF which he had now proceeded not word
beyond those fearful ones which had con-
veyed to him the seeming truth, the horri-
BILE tidings, that, suddenly and for ever, he
had been bereft Of his darling Rosalie, and
that, beside her, in the tomb, was now the
child he had not looked upon, and was
never in this world, to behold. Wife and
child both dead That terrible knowledge
attained, Mistress Camelford's lying letter
dropped from Arthur's hand, and he him.
self, struck to the heart as with a mortal
blow, uttered one loud, despairing cry, and
then fell, prone and senseless, to the floor,
His half-healed wound was, at that mo-
ment, rent again asunder, and to the How
OF blood which then anew ensued, was due
that Arthur died not there and then.
At the end Of many weeks his physicians
pronounced that he was convalescent. lie
sighed heavily as they told him that.
| Now, for, the first time, he read through
all that fatal letter, and with his own suf-
ferings there mingled pity for the unhappy
father by whom that letter had been writ
ten, as Arthur so unsuspectingly believed.
No doubt Of that had come to Arthur's
mind-it was almost impossible that it
should.
Gresham wondered not that he was re-
quested by the Baronet, pardoned, or other
wise, for his share in that duel which had
been the first cause of all the woe, and
misery, and death that had succeeded it,
Gresham wondered not that he was en-
treated by Sir Jonas Rathborne to remain
for some time longer away from England.
The wish was natural and Arthur would
not return thither-at least, not yet. What