The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1878-01-04

head, and held there by diamond
hilted dagger. Her skin was colorles,
and satiny; her eyes, like burning let
were veiled with lashes of lovely length
her lips were like cleft cherry; hel
every feature was perfection. She wor,
somo queenly dress Of purple velvet
mingled with satin, that had the glin
Of mothef-of- pearl, and diamonds ane
pearls blazed on her bosom and on hel
delicate fingers and wrists.
Many niau had knelt at the feet d
thc naughty and peerless Leonie CHS
holn, bat none had stirred her heart a.
did Leo Seserne ia this hour as she saw
him there, bowed low in his suddea
misery.
= nave come to comfort you if you
will listen to what have to say said
the fair woman, tenderly touching his
bowed head with her jeweled hands.
He lifted his head and booked ut her.
His blue eyes darkened with resent
nient.
'NYhat do you know Of my trouble,
that you eau help msF' he asked, al
most sterilly.
Ihe woman could not command the
skill of her eoquetry just then. His
steady look confused her, aud she for.
got the prelude Of the pretty speech she
had eoinel for the OCCASION. and ike
Viv.ea, she ussl her hints in 5pportune-
y, and faltered forth quotation:
-''of some one who priced him more
Than who should prize him most"
Aud, like King Arthur, the gentle
man gazed upon her blankly.
81 would never have run away from
you in such secret and eowartlly way,
Lee" she continued, in nervous frenzy
of ardor and embarrassment.
PLEASE speak plain, Mrs. Chisholm,
and tell ms exactly what yon mean, =
said Severne, with shadow of vexation
and disgust creeping over his face.
'0h, Leo, / thought you knew" an
swered the woman, in the random of
utter confusion. 'sI have been led to
suppose that you only faneied tha. crea-
ture, Rossie Lynde. and that You really
loved me. Oh, 1 did believe it-indesl
I did,"
Her hard, black eyes grew soft with
weak, pitifal tears, that another man
might not have resisted at such u time.
Bat Mrs Lsonie Caishol.,, As shs
looked upon him, knew i-ee data.
And Mira Ssverne, coming ii, hur-
riedly, saw that ons q ler desress
hopes was wholly frustrated.
"Come away, ny dear Leoilis," she
said, you have visitors
III Who17
"Ah, that stupid servautl They
have been brought here returned aIrs.
Severne, stepping back, politely, as a
grey-haire1, sad-looking man entered,
followed By a slim, shrinking girl, Glove
ly veiled-
Mrs. Chisholm looked, and with a
shrill cry of horror and alarm, fell for
ward upon couch and hid her white.l-
ing face.
''She knows me, it seems" said the
visitor, in tones that rung sardonicallv
through the beautiful room. You may
have heard something Of her husband
and child who were lost at sea years
ago You may have heard how she
appropriated the worldly goods belong
ing to them, and left her native place,
leaving no trace behind her. | shall
say nothing of that part of her history,
that made her life hateful to her in her
old home, for ] am that husband, and
this is her child and mine."
He lifted the veil frosa the face of the
reluctant girl, and Leo Severne looked
upon the beloved face of Rosie LYnds..
Mrs. Chisholm uttered one startled
shrek.
Look at your wronsed daughter,
madame" said her husband, sternly.
Look at the child whom, but for my
timely discoveries, you would have
slandered into her grave, for what pur-
poe only your own guilty soul can
know. After all these years of search
l. was willed should ind you to save
you from sin greater than all. What
have you to sayi'
She tried to speak, but her few words
were faint and broken.
God forgive me. How could Iknowl"
she gaspel, and 6len was silent.
Aud that silence was the silence of
death.
The living could not have judged her
theu, if they would, seeing the bitter
agony Of the man she hal wronged.
Il loved her once fondly and wholly,
Rossie, he said, ''and you and viii
forget her faults.
So the evil she hal done was '.interr-
ed with her bones and her name was
rarely mentioned, and never by Rossie
LynJIe Chisholm, who hal never known
che care nor love of the mother whom
she had found but to lose.
In all his wanderings, fortunes and
failures, after that disastrous shipwreck
from which they had been saved, VII.
lard Lynde Chisholm had neN er told his
laughter anything of her maternal
pGentage, until these late ana romantic
developments forced him to do SO.
10 Vas then, for the first time, that
she llnss that her father had right to
the distit aished coJasoaae,s by which he
had refused. be known so long.
But Rossie hislrolm was just as dear
to Leo Severne Rossie Lynde had.
been, and at an earl day he told her 50.
A grand and joyous eddie followea
after becoming time, ad none con-
graduated her more lovipay than Leos
mother.
And Rossie never spoke o the cruel
letter that had caused her fight, for she
well knew who had instig" ted the aston.
And % rrell lnvnd did Mrs Rnssia