The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-09-19

CHAPTER NXNIIL
The sanl- stea mer that bore away my
old arch-enemy brought to me my best
friends, The 1Iotleys, WHO, oddly
enough. were accompanied by DR..
Suydenham aud my kinsmau, Malcolm
Graeme
bad been so busily engaged in
listening to the rawlings of my husband
t1a- had not observed their approach,
and when entered my parlor aud en-
couniered them, I felt that I would not
have been more thoroughly surprised
had some one risen from the dead.
"Can it be possible that this little
wreck Of femininity is my old-time
patient from Melbourne ?n asked Dr..
Suydenham, grand old man, who,
though now on the verge of his nineties,
was better preserved than many a mod
ern-day sample Of forty. A life of
suffering had schooled me in the art Of
self-control. I smiled and answered
afirmatively.
And is this Mrs. Motley, and this
the rector ?'i 7 asked, advancing toward
my friends. with whom time had dealt
far more tenderly than with myself
"The very same, my precious friend, 4"
said Mrs. Motley, "and this is your
kinsman, Malcolm Graeme, who, with
us, has recently returned from England,
where we found your aged father, who
is yet alive, and who has long been the
husband of faithful Nora, whom you no
doubt yet remember. Your brothers
and sisters are all living somewhere in
the United States. lord Bothwick is
dead, and his estate, by his will, has
been distributed among his tenants, Of
whom your father is one, so he is now a
free-holder, and-bless me! 1 haven't
asked you a word about yourself, aud
Gerald, and the children"
In a Few broken words 7 explained
nv chidren's whereabouts, but was
spared the humiliating narration of my
husbands condition by an interruption
as unforeseen as the advent OF my
friends Lad been.
H.H. JOB ~El cam AA0AAA -NAA - -fANfNANl n
was followed by a sudden thud, or blow
aud 7 turned TO see an AK buried in The
capeCJy my side, over which Geral,
feu prostrate, uttering, as be fell a NAL
eaiotion apon me that curdles my blood
even now as I recall it. Nothing bu
the unsleadiness of his aim had savel
my lifa. and yet it was not the first, no
scarcely the hundredth time that he ha,
thus attempted to kill me.
Mr Motley and Mr.. Graeme sprang a
once % the rescue. They seized ny
poor husband by the arms before b,
could recover his feet, aud, witt
streng.h born of desperation, succeede,
ia biaIng him with thongs which
bumied,y improvised from a clothes
line ia ihe adjoining yard
Then they bore him away to hi
upper chamber, where we found that b
bad managed, with the cunning that $
often accompanies insanity, 10 pick tn
lock d bis door with a button that D
bad torn from his trowsers and i'm
bedded in q splintof wood which he ha
wresied from the battered wall.
10 hear the poor man beg that W
would not again doom him TO the con
partnership Of hobgoblins and serpen
was heart-rending. To was horribl
May heaven grant that I may new,
hear The like again. And yet / d
sometimes hear it in my dreams.
After we had made him secure an
had removed ourselves out Of hearin.
TO do which it was necessary for M
friends to follow me to the kitchei
where I had to go to work, Mrs Motle
said to me:
chow long have you aud Gcral
lived like this ?"
"Of and on for quarter Of a cel
tury," I answered, as 1 stopped to fl
the heating range with wood, searce
knowing why 7 did it.
"And how much longer DO you expe
to live so ?n
"God only knows. Ny only hope
that, sooner or later, one Of Us will di
and end the struggle"
"Ethel, you're an idiot"
az can't help that"
"But you can"
CHOW ~
"By sending Gerald to the iusa
asylum"
"They won't accept him."
"How do you know?"
because be isn't a maniac. He
drunkard."
"But they'll be compelled to adj
him, after what we have seen to-nig
My husband has friends connected W
the asylum at Stockton, whom be
address Immediately
"But how can we get Gerald to
I cannot, for my children's sakes, n;
any publicity given to this affair"
Would there be any publicity gi'
10 the matter IL he should kill you ?''
Indeed, had hardly thought of d
before. ] proceeded to wash a gr
basin Of potatoes, and was silent.
"Your husband has lucid interv,