The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1879-05-30

natural voice. "Be quick and choose :
have no time TO waste"
She sat down and wrote . letter h
her husband. inclosed the torn page
she had found. and poured out the ma.
jealousy Of the past weeks that had thi
day eliminated.
(" have done now" she wrote
+" People were right: Jon loved her. ans
not me; and now that she Is rich and
am poor. ! am too proud to wait till
am cast OF. So 20, and you need mo-
follow; you could not find me even /
You wished. Remember that hence
forth your life Is free from me. Thinl
Of me - dead. II you like In YOU
hands IL the only proof OF our marriags
destroy IL; nothing will then stand
between you and peace. l have only e
beg You to forgive me for allowing You
10 link your fate with . miserable and
impoverished wife instead Of with m
heiress, IS you hoped"
The letter ended as abruptly as il be-
gan and was sealed and placed on
Draks's writing-table. Dorcas came
softly into the room, crying . little in q
quiet way. Every thing was ready
they could 60
Late that evening Leonard Drake re.
turned to be horrified by the news that
his wife was not there, though the do
mestic had supposed, from what Dorcas
said, that she and her mistress had gone
TO Dover to meet Mr.. Drake Leonard
took light and hurried 10 his room
where the first object that met his eyes
was the letter Lydia had written.
Five years had elapsed since Lydia's
disappearance. But she looked Older
even than that. The agony of that day !;
the horrid flight afterwards; the con
slant fear of discovery. and lastly the
struggle for bread, combined with her
never-ending heartache, had begun to
cut wrinkles in her still fair face.
In all of this time she had never
heard Of her husband, nor of her early
home. She was too proud to return to
her father.
~ will starve frst,r she often said,
clenching her hands.
Whether Leonard was alive or dead
she did not know, nor did she wish to
know. Sometimes she said TO herself,
moaning on her pillow at night, He
Is with Mrs. Dorchester and the
thought went through her heart with
actual physical pain, like the stab Of
knife.
She and her faithful Dorcas were
settled in Boston now. in an obscure
corner, as the least likely place TO be
discovered. She earned scanty liv-
ing, and it was Of the scantiest, by color
ing photographs. Into the more fash
onable streets she never venfured, ex-
cept when she had to 90 10 sell her
sketches, or to get orders. On one Of
.hese occasions she came suddenly face
10 face with Mrs. Dorchester. She
turned and ded Immediately, regardless
Of her errand-ded down side streets
and close alleys-and only stopped 70
breathe when she had reached her
humble lodging in one Of the most
secluded parts Of the city. But hardly
had she closed the door, hardly had she
'egun to tell Dorcas that they must fiy.
when Mrs Dorchester, unannounced,
orced herself into the room
~ have followed you,r said the lat.
er, unceremoniously, as Lydia rose
'ngrlly. will speak, Mrs Drake
Have the goodness to leave INV
'oom," answered Lydia, totiering TO
Ter feet ~ do not know you nor the
lame BY which you have addressed NE. =
You have been mad long enough
ternly exclaimed her visitor, sitting
Town. "Try TO come back to your
enses. ! shall not 60 till I have ex-
'lained. A few words y i'll do il. Your
husband and /, instead Of being what
'ou thought, were trying to keep a
'reat misfortune from You, or, il that
ould not be done, to break it to You
arefully.''
There was an air Of truth about the
peaker that staggered Lydia She sank
lerveless into chair.
/" must tell the whole story in order
Q exculpate ourselves = said Mrs. Dor
hester. "Your father got into Diff
uities, forged INV husbands name to q
arge amount, and was on the point Of
xposure when Mr.. Dorchester died. \
he affairs then came into my hands to
ettle.r
Lydia sat leaning both elbows on the
able before her, her face supported on
er hands, listening and looking IS il At
Ter doomster.
! could have prosecuted your father,
ut II would have sent him to die in
rison," continued Mrs. Dorchester,
and would have publicly disgraced ali \
Is family You knew, BY name, As
be wife of NV cousin- With whom
nd been brought up in the country as
child, and whom loved As Z brother
AS brother, nothing more,n she add
d, emphaticaily. "Besides, 1 was q
'oman, and hope not cruel one. So
refused TO prosecute, suffered the loss
the money, and hushed the matter
p"