The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1879-09-02


He went directly home and found those
he had defended sitting together in the par
| lor. Diana before the piano, and Brandon
bending over her in the dark.
"What has happened" cried Diana,
growing white as the silken dress she wore.
SWhy Is there blood on your hands, Carl"
III means that have punished the
scamp who dared to think evil of my most
innoce!It wife" he answered, kissing her
upturndd forehead.
| Wright Brandon WINGED, and an mex
plicable expression passed over his flushed
| face.
20, Carl, my pear, my DEAR" murmured
the wife, rising from her seat and leading
her husband to sofa with the utmost so
llcitude.
And then she bathed his bruised hands
and kissed them and cried over him softly
and all the while Brandon watched her
silent as death, the scarlet color all gone
from countenance upon which had come
a strange, dazed look of wonder and pain.
By-and.by her husband went away and
they were left alone together again.
II am going now, DIANA" said Brandon
in a faint voice; will you come as far as
the gate with me2 have something to
say to you"
She wrapped scarf Of crimson silk about
her shoulders, and walked down the path
by his side. In the shadow of a great
weeping willow tree he stopped her.
Have you ever loved me, Diana" he de-
manded, in broken voice, but withsuch pas
sionate pain in his eyes that she rembled.
Have you only amused yourself with me!
Have you only smiled on me to begwle me ;
Have your caresses meant nothing but de-
ceitl"
She stood motionless and silent, her eyes
on the ground.
This has been the first passion of my
life,' he went on bitterly; you persuaded
me to believe that you did not love your
husband-that you had never loved him
that your life was deSolate until ! came.
What | have seen tonight has convinced
me of your falsehood and coquetry. Good
God, woman, do you know what you have
done.n
Il thought you understood it was all
only Irritation" she faltered, her guilty
face averted.
a Irritation 20 he repeated in tones she
never might forget to her dying day.
You have stung me to the soul; and yet,
weak. dishonored wretch that | am, love
you so well that cannot live TO bear my
misery
He caught her in his arms and held her
for a moment, struggling and pleading,
| against his bosom, and then suddenly let
her 90.
What happened was TO her then like a
| nightmare vision. She saw him place a
crystal vial to his white, shivering lips;
she knew he drained the poisonous con-
tents at q draught, and then she turned and
fed up the path AID into the house with
wild terror.
Something has happened to Wright"
she gaSped to her husband, who was COM
Ing in an opposite door, Il think he is
| ILL.,"
en-" echoed St, John, amazed and
startled by that shocked, butmost beautcous
face.
"Oh, go quickly" she entreated; do 90
to him quickly, Carl"
They found him lying face downward in
the dcwy grass, and perhaps he was think
ing of the day when he first met the woman
who had so fatally beguiled him, for he
murmured with convulsed lips, upon which
the foam had gathered;
Il die where ! attach myself
AS he saw st. John he shuddered, and
turned away his eyes, already growing dim.
They will say hard things of me when ]
am gone, he murmured, very feebly, and
then added brokenly, 'l-took-lt-by
mistake"
The last desire of the unhappy, passing
soul was to shield from cersure her whom
he had so bllndly and recklessly loved.
If Carl st. John had any suspicion Of the
truth, he generously saved his wife re-
proaches.
But all the olden sweet confidence had
gone forever, between them walked the
spectre of dead mantle victim Of a wo-
mans thoughtlessness and vanity.