Sharp County record., 1879-09-04

GLANCE fold me what these letters were.
They were love-lettersl The pa.c,keI
was tied by a pink ribbon with SILVER %
EDGE. As 7 touched the ribbon tne te
th0uobt occurred to me: Is this rght I?
Is this work worthy of an honest mani
To steal the secrets of woman He-
crets which belong to the time when She
was Young girl! Can | ask her to
render an account of the thoughts she
had before she,belonged to me? Can |
be Jealous of time when she did not
know me? Who could suspect her OF a
fault? Who? | was base enough to 90
so. and the devil again whispered III my
ear: Supposing that these letters were
of a time whenI had already a right to
all her thoughts, a right to be Jealous
even of her dreams, when she was al
ready mine? Iuntied the ribbon. No
one saw me. There was not even a
mirror in the room to make me blush
for myself. | opened one letter, then
another. and read them to the end,
ooh! what fearful hour that was
for me! What did those letters con-
tainp The vilest betrayal of which a
man was ever vet the victim; and they
were written by one of my most init
mate friends! @And in what a strain!
what passion! what certainty Of his love
being shared! How he spoke of secre-
cv! What counsels he lavished on the
aTt of dpceiyino a husband! And all
these letters were of a time when | was
married and perfectly happy! Shall l
tell YOU what | felt? Imagine the in
toxication caused by a deadly poison: |
drank deeply of that poison; | read all
thp lettersLall. Then | refolded them,
retied the ribbon, replaced the packet
and shut the drawer.
81 knew that if | did not 90 Tor her
at y O'Clock she would come back from
the Countess's in the evening. And so
if happened. She got down hastily from
the carriage and ran towards me as l
stood waiting for her on the steps. She
kissed me with extreme tenderness and
seemed to be very glad to be. with me
again. | let nothing be seen on my
face. We talked, we supped together
and then retired to our separate bed
rooms. did not close my eyes. Wide
awake, I counted every hour. When
the clock struck quarter past midnight
I cot up and passed into her bedroom.
There was the beautiful blonde head
buried in the white pillows. 1t is thus
that angels are depicted in the midst of
white clouds. What frightful lie was
this on the part Of Nature; vice with a
face of such innocence! My resolution
was taken. I had the stubbOrnness Of
the madman haunted by a fixed idea.
The poison had corroded my whole soul.
"Iplaced my right hand gently under
her throat and hastily strangled her,
She opened for one moment her large,
bark blue eyes, looked at me with as
tonishment, then closed them and died.
She died without struggling against me,
as if falling assF,. She Was. .nevsr an
ory with ne, ne nys even whe1f Killed her.
One drop of blood fell from her mouth
on the back of my hand. You know
where; | did not perceive it until the
next day, when it had dried. We buried
her without any one suspectlng the
truth. | lived there in complete soli-
tude; who was there to control my ac-
tions? She had neither relatives nor
protectors to question me on the subject
and | designedIy put off writing to my
friends, so that none of them could az
rive in time.
"On coming back from the vault |
did not feel the slightest weight on my
consciedce. I had been cruel, but she
deserved it. did not hate her; | could
forget her; / hardly thought about it.
Never did man commit a murder with
less remOrSe than |.
"On my return, | found in the chateau
the Countess so often mentioned. My
measures had been so well taken that
she also arrived too late for the funeral.
She seemed much agitated on seeing me.
Terror, sympathy, grief know not
what-made her speak 50 contusedly
that | could not understand what she
said to console me.
"Did | even listen to her? What
need had | of consolation? | was not
sorrow-stricken. Finally she took me fa-
miliarly by the hand and said in a low
voice that she was obliged to contide to
me a secret and that she counted on my
honor as nobleman not to abuse it.
She had given to my wife to keep for her
a package of letters that she could not
keep herself, and she begged Of me to
give them back to her. While She was
speaking | felt several times that | shiv-
cred from head to foot. With apparent
GOODNESS I questioned her on the con-
tents of these letters. At this question
the lady started and replied with indig-
nation:
"'Sir, your wife was more generous
than YOU When she took charge OF
these letters she did not ask me their
contents. She even gave me her word
never TO look at them, and | am con-