The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-04-06

to write letter for him to q friend In Nj
She remembered the name, the address 1T
was to Henry Epson, he was q Judge OF the
State court: The man would knowl
| 1t was q lie. q hoax: but she must clear IT.
up! She seized pen and paper and wrote:
Henry Epson:
| ibid man named Potts get divorce in your
courts within q week. Keep secret Reply
vt once. vitality important TO know, without
| delay"
She signed her uncles name, and put the
address Of her house; then called Bridget to
get hack, and was soon driving away to the
central telegraph office. She was inside, CIV
ing her dispatch; preparing the answer;
hearing the man say she should have the re-
Spouse that evening, II 1t arrived before mid
night
| She was at home again. She had ordered
the servants to bed. She was alone, waiting
waiting! She forced herself to be- calm. She
held book before her eyes, and insisted On
| reading. She even read aloud, to be certain
that she was fixing her mind on the page, and
actually heard her voice, in the middle OF q
paragraph, saying:
at ia o hoax-a hoax-but | must knew-1
shall die II don't. Know soon-Do, | shall
20 madP
She flung the booko down. frightened
by her own voice. She paced up and down.
She fell on her knees and prayed. More and
more plainly, rs the hours went on, Elvlra
johnson simage rose before her; the woman's
fascjnatiOns; the certainty that, for season,
Gershom had yielded thereto. for o long
while she had denied the fact TO her soul; but
Oh, she wronged him eShe dared to think
III OF him-her love-her husband. And all
on the strength of that silly telegram, which
she knew was q hoaxl
| Hark the clock was striking IL! NO dis
patch till morning now. She must wait.
a ring Mt the bell interrupted her thought.
she rushed into the hall, where Bridget by
her orders, had left the gas burning.
/ She hurried on TO the street dOOr, unlocked
| 1t, flung 1t open.
Telegram, ma am-please to sign this"
said creature, wrapped from head to foot In
| In an oiI-skin coat that gave him sort OF
resemblance to monster fish, standing on
his tail.
book.
Clementine took pencil, attached to her
watch chain, and signed her name where he
| babe her.
might, ma'am," said the man, and shut
She was back In her little boudolr There
was no necessity for further misery or doubt
| She held In her hands the refutation of that
first wicked dispatch
She opensd the envelope and read:
"Pott got divorce yesterday. Married
Widow Johnson to-day. UPsoN.'
| long, low gyroan sounded through the
stiffness Of the room-a groan sOfull OF agony
that had therebeen any human creature near,
to listen, 1t must have sounded sharper than
d shrek, In his ear. Then Clementina tainted
away. From that time until the day broke,
she went from one iDsensible tit TO another,
with terrible hysterical spasms filling up the
intervals OF consciousness.
A weaker woman would have rung for as
sistance, have reused the servants: Not
Tineye She believed that she should die, but
she meant to die alone! They might find her
dead, and when the truth became patent, de-
clare that the trouble killed her. But at
least no human being should know what she
had suffered In dying.
At last the idea 81 death brought back the
recollection Of her child. She had positively
forgotten the poor little creature! No, she
had no right to die II she could live, 1t was
her duty to do SO, for her daughters sake,
the hands of Elytra Johnson-no, Elvira
Pott! Then, II that was her name, who was
she-she Clementina2
So all sorts of grotesluely absurd ideas
mixed themselves up with her miseries, and
took away even from the dignity which de-
81 the CRATE, and burned the. rug; and she
was nauseated by the smell Of smoking wool,
and had to take the tODgS and pick up the
coal ; all the while wondering why she did
not let 1t alone, let the house burn even, and
end her anguish by consuming her in its
flames.
So the night dragged by. When day was
breaking, she got up to her chamber, and
dropped down on the bed, and had to remem-
Der 1t had been tbeir chamber-and nowl
tered out Of her own and into that; fell head
| foremost on the little couch, and then lay
quite still for several hours.
| The morning came. The servants were up.
She could hear the sounds of reviviDg life In
the streets, Pin the house-and she was alive,
and must live! And the hours went on. Noon
came Her uncle returned She found strength
somehow to get down stairs; walked into the
room where he was awaiting her and put the
first telegram In his hands; she offered no
other greeting. He, frightened half out OF
his senses by her face, read the lines, under
stood quicker than many men would have
done, and he cried out:
Its hoax! Have you telegraphed2
Wait-Tll telegraph to my friend, Epson. You
remember-he lives in the town."
She thurst the second dispatch into his
hand. He read that and sat dumb.
Having some one near, now, upon whom
she could lean, Tiney gave way completely.
The afternoon which good Mr.. Groves
most the worst OF anything was to feel SC
helpless; yet what to do he could not tell. TX
add to all, Tiney would not have doctor, nol
let him call anybody, when the hysterica
spasmS seized her.
"If you do" she said 'I'll kill myself!
shall live 1t through, but nobody but yot
must know that suffer-" Then regret would
seize her; ut Is selfish of me to make you
suffer-, WOulu D6 UeE laf1leuG. Anu btleI, u
5 course, he had to assure her that he was
thankful to be with her, that, at least, sh'
| was not alone. %
t He had dozen different plans In his head
t but none of them came TO anything. Indeed
4 the poor, mild. old bachelor used to tn
0 quietest OF lives near whom sensation hat
b never before come, In the whole course Of hi
\ recollection, was quite incapable OF putting
t his chaotic thoughts into execution, even
: Tiney would have permitted him. What US
to telegraph to the aunt, or to anybody
d Gershom was divorced, and married. H
y had new wife. And her child-her child
q 1t was late In the afternoon, when fres
Q agony assailed the wretched woman. II tn
Z child should not arrive. If Gershom had no
= sent her. Ii he did not mean to. II he ha
J only dispatched the telegram to keep be
J, quiet. In case she heard OF his nefarious cor
y duct 50 that he should have to get away be
yond reach beyond finding s With her daugl
: Jonnson-no not Johnson any longer-to E.
J. vira, his wife-his wife.