The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1879-08-29

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art of deceiving a husband! And all
these letters were of time when / was
married and perfectly happy! Shall
tell you what l felt? Imagine the in
toxication caused by deadly poison.
drank deeply Of that poison. / read all
the letters-all. Then refolded them,
retied the ribbon, replaced the packet
and shut the drawer. i,,r. ..,sf.o-.
81 knew that if I did not 60 for her
at 12 o'clock she would come back from
the COunteSs's in the evening. And so
it happened. 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 to he very glad to be with me
again. let nothing he seen on my
face. We talked, we supped together
and then retired to our separate bed
rooms. did not close my eyes. Wide
awake, / counted every hour. When
the clock struck a quarter past midnight
got up and passed into her bedroom.
There was the beautiful blonde head
buried in the white pillows. It is thus
that angels are depicted in the midst of
white clouds. What = frightfnl lie was
this on the part of Nature; vice with n
face of such innOcence! NV resolution
was taken had the stubbOrnness of
the mailman haunted by fixed idea.
The poison had cOrroded my whole soul
81 placed 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
constituent, then closed them and died.
She died without struggling against me,
rs if falling asleep. She was never an
CRY with me, not even when killed her.
One drop of blood fell from her mouth
on the back of my hand. You know
where; did not perceive ii. until the
next day, when it had dried. We buried
her without any one Suspecting the
truth. | lived there in complete soil
tude; who was there to control my az
tons? She had neither relatives nor
prOtectOrssto question me on the subject
and ,lesignedly put off writing to my
friends, SO that none Of them could ar
rive i'm time. s.,r .a.r-.....
s'On coming back from the vault
did not feel the slightest weight on my
cOnscietlce. had been cruel, but she
deserved it. did not hate her: i could
forget her; | hardly thought about it.
less remorse than /. -,r.trs.f-.
"On my return, found in the chateau
the Countess 50 often mentioned. MY
measures had been sd well taken that
she also arrived too late for the funeral
She seemed much agitatetl on seeing me.
Terror, sympathy, grief know not
what-made her speak so cOnfusedly
that could not understand what she
said to console me. I .e.-d---
s'Did | even listen to herp What
need had Of cOnsOlation? was not
sOrrOw-stricken. Finally she took me ia
miliarly by the hand and said in a low
voice that she was obliged to cOnfide to
me Il secret and that she counted on my
honor as a nObleman not to abuse it.
She had given to my wife to keep for her
Il 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 l questioned her on the con-
tents of these letters. At this question
the lady started and replied with indig-
nation: #IH -
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 ut them, and am con-
WINGED that she never even glanced ut
them. Hers was noble soul, and she
would have dis,lained to break in secret
her given word ~
"' 1T is well, replied. 'How shall I
recognize the package?'
50 1t was tied by a pink ribbon with
silver edge
81 will go and search for it,
81 took my wife's keys and began to
search for the packet: although l knew
where il was, pretended to have some
difficulty in finding it.
rs il this?' I said, handing it to the
Countess.
s.s Yes, yes! See, the knot l made is
still there. She never touched it.
II did not dare to lift my eyes to her.
I feared lest she should read in them
that had unlOne it, and that had un-
done something else besides. took
leave Of her hastily; she got into her
carriage and drove off Poor woman,
she had her excuse. Her husband was
brutal and dissipated. II I had been
like him ! should have deserved a. wife
like her Oh! hut my wife! Her heart
was innocent, her soul angelic! She
loved her husband even in the moment
when her husband killed her. do not
know what did during the first hours
that followed. When | came hack to
the consciousness Of the horrible reality,
I was in the vault, beside the coffin.
saw the lid slowly raised and the dead
woman within rose nOiselessly before
me. ] was stretched, stiff and stark,
beside the coffin, one hand on its edge !
and the other beneath her head. The !
lips IF the corpse We're white; one drop
Of blood hung from them. She bent
slowly towards me, opened her eyes As
when murdered her, and kissed my |
right hand. The drop Of blood fell again
on my flesh; her eyes shut once more;
she fell back on her cold pillow and the
coffin closed over her dead body.
"a short time after I was awakened I