Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1879-10-03

to fetch her, and after much entreaty sue
ceeded in deciding her to spend the day
with her Our estates were some miles
apart, and promised my wife to go and
join her,"
GAS soon as the carriage had left the
court yard, l gathered together all the
keys of the house and tried them in the
lock of the little drawer. One of them
opened it. felt like man committing
his first crime. was a thief about to
surprise the secrets of feeble woman.
My hands trembled as I drew from the
drawer, prudently, carefully, one by one,
the objects contained therein, SO that no
confusion should betray thata strange hand
had ransacked them. My breast heaved;
I Vas well-nigh suffocated. Behold, sud-
denly, beneath mass of lace, I had placed
my hand on packet of letters! felt as
if flash Of lightning had passed from my
head to my heart. Alas one glance told
me what these letters were They were
love letters
1.-THE packet was tied by pink ribbon
with silver edge"
LAS touched the ribbon the thought
occurred to me: Is this right9 Is this
work worthy Of an honest man2 To steal
the secrets Of a woman! Secrets which
belonged to the time when she was young
grill Can ask her to render an account
Of the thoughts she had before she belong
ed to me? Can be jealous of time when
she did not know me? Who could suspect
her of fault? Whop I was base enough
to do SO, and the devil again whispered in
my ear: Surprising that these letters
were of time when had right to all
her thoughts, right to be jeal0us even of
her dreams when she was already mine?
l united the ribon. No one saw me. There
was not even mirror in the room to make
me blush for myself. opened one letter,
then another, and read them to the end"
s'Oh what fearful hour that was for
me! What did those letters contain? The
vilest betrayal of which man was ever yet
the victim; and they were written by one
Of my most intimate friends! And in what
strain! what passionl what certainty of
his love being sharedl How he spoke of
secrecy What counsels he lavished on
the art of deceiving husbandl and all
these letters were Of time when l was
married and perfectly happyl Shall I tell
you what felt9 Imagine the intoxica-
ton caused by deadly poison. l drank
deeply of that poison. read all the let
ters-all. Then refolded them. retied the |
ribbon, replaced the packet and shut the
drawer"
II knew that if did not go for her at |
IL O'Clock she would come back from the |
Countess in the evening. And SO it hap
pened. She got down hastily from the
carriage and ran towards me as stood
waiting for her on the steps. She kissed |
me with extreme tenderness, and seemed |
very glad to be with me again. L let moth
ing be seen on my face. We talked. we
supped together and then retired to our |
separate bedrooms. I did not close my |
eyes. Wide awake; counted every hour. |
When the clock struck quarter past mid
night got up and passed into her bed |
room. There was beautiful blonde head |
buried in the midst of white pillows. It |
is thus that angels are buried in the midst |
of white clouds. What a frightful lie was
this On the part of nature; vice with a
face of such innocence! My resolution |
was taken. had the stubbOrnness Of the |
madness haunted by fixed idea. The
poison had corroded my whole soul.
II placed my right hand gently under
her throat and hastily strangled her. She
opened for moment her large, dark blue |
eyes, looked at me with establishment,
then closed them and died. She died with
out struggling against me, as it falling
asleep. She was never angry with me,
even when killed her. One drop of blood
fell from her mouth on the back of my
hand. You know where. did not per-
ceive it until the next day, when it had
dried. We buried her without any one
suspecting the truth. I lived there in
complete solitude; who was there to con-
troll my action? She had neither relatives
nor protectors to question me on the SUBJ
ject, and designedly put off writing to
my friends, so that none OF them could ar
rive in time.
ION coming back from the vault did
not feel the slightest weight on my con-
science. had been cruel, but she deserv-
ed it. I did not hate her; hardly thought !
about it. Never did man commit muir.
der with less remorse than I.
Son 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. Ter
ror, sympathy, grief-I know not what
made her speak so confusedly that could
not understand what she said to console |
me.
'sDid ever listen to her? What need |
had of consolation ? was not sorrow
stricken. Finally, she took me famillarly
by the hand, and said in low voice. that |
she was obliged to confide to me secret,
and that she counted on my honor as no.
bleman not to abuse it. She had gwen my |
wife. to keep for her, package Of letters
that she could not keep herself, and she
begged Of me to give them back to her,
While she was speaking I felt several times |
that shivered from head to foot. With |
apparent GOODNESS questioned her on the
contents of these letters, At this question |
the lady started and replied with indigna-
ton:
''Sir, your wife was more generous than
you. When she took charge Of those let
terra she did not ask me their CONTENTS
she even gave me her word never to look
at them, and am convinced that she ney-