Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-05-15
gu original Storg.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
RACHEL RAYS SECRET
CHAPTER v.

CdAf len v.
Ask me no more; the moon may draw the sea
The cloud may stoop from heaven, and take tine
With fold % to fold, of mountain or of cape;
But. O. too fond, when have answered thee?
Ask me no more.-TENNYsoN.
Rachels disappearance annoyed and per-
picked Harry Wade. He waited long tor
her to return, but finally giving up the hope
of seeing her again that evening. bade Mrs
Stanton reluctant goodnight That lady
was not sorry when he took his departure, for
she had found the latter part Of his visit de-
cidedly dull.
aYou look sleepy, my dear" remarked her
husband, as she passed through the room
where he sat reading.
ayes, the minister bored me, rather. What
has become of Miss Ray, I wonder' Have
you seen her since she came inf"'
Mr. Stanton could give her no satisfaction
on the point, and being good natured little
body, in her way, she went up to Rachels '
room, to ascertain if anything was the matter.
There was no light visible, however, and
though she knocked twice, she received no an
swer. So she concluded that Rachel was
asleep, and went off to bed without thinking
any more about it.
All! could her careless vision have pene-
trated the darkness and the locked door, how
thoroughly she would have been undeceived
Rachel was not even lying down. Seated BY
an open window, with her hands tightly
clenched, her eyes turned toward the garden,
yet seeing nothing Of its moving shadows its
faint CLEANS of fading moonshine, and flower
beds dimly outlined, but rather fixed with
woful intensity upon the phantoms conjured
up b. her own imagination, as they fitted
past her, the set lines and death-like pallor OF
her face telling plainly of an inward anguish
too profound to find relief in tears, she leaned
against the embrasure as motionless as carved
stone, and almost as pulseless andco Thus
it ever was with her, when the memories,
locked within her breast, were stirred into
sudden life, as now, by chance word, an ig-
norant allusion. that revived all the old keen
pain Of the wounds, whose aching had been
temporarily lulled. =. .
What iaee, What figure was it that haunted
her, returning with persistercy that would
not be bafaed, when she tried vainly to shut
it away from her sight? A noble head, classic
in outline features rarely moulded, in ex-
preston at once dignifed and benign; eyes
dark, deeply set, penetrating, yet mild a
mouth firm, but sweet, womanly tender in its
smile. This was the vision that one moment
shaped itself before her, only to give place in
the next, to one of horror, that curdled her
blood. The eyes no longer soft, but glitter
ing with vindictive FIRE the noble and beau
tifal face distorted with maniacal rage; the
hands, whose clasp she thrilled yet to feel in
memory upon her own, murderously upraised
against her. No wonder she turned cold and
sick, as she lived over:i in memory, those awful
moments, in which had been condensed the
terror and misery of a life time .,.--
How she had loved Murrell Vivian! With
what intense, blind, adoring trust had she
yielded herself to the ecstasy Of loving him,
of knowing herself beloved! She recalled so
vividly now the hour of their first meeting.
She, lonely orphan in the house of a distant
relative, where he visited as distinguished
guest, fattered and courted by its inmates,
who would fain have won him for the eldest
daughter, fashionable beauty who deemed
her own charms irresistible, but exercised
them all in vain to fascinate kim. Rachel
had entered the parlor, not knowing that any
one was there, to find him in company with
the naughty Isabel, who resented her intru-
sion with seornful look. How we'll she re-
membered the gentleness of his smile and
tone, the graceful courtesy with which he &C.
knowledged the reluctantly-made introduc-
tion, placing seat for. her so pointedly that,
half pleased, half confused, she felt compel.
ed to remain during the rest of his visit.
Then the interviews which followed, in which
by degrees she had awakened to the wonder
full knowledge of his love, as ardent as it had
been sudden; the dreamy, blissful time when
she had walked as on air, absorbed in all the
thrilling joy Of this new, mysterious con-
sciousness, a joy so perfect as to render her in
different to the unconcealed sneers, the en-.
venomed shafts of envy, and bathed ambition.
and wounded selfesteem, to which she found
herself exposed. Not long had she been suf:
fered to remain in an atmosphere SO unkind.
Murrell Vivian had urged upon her the ne
cessity of short engagement, and having no
will to consult but his aHd her own, she had
yielded gladly enough to his persuasions, and
left the uncongenial home which had been hers
since her orphanage for one beauti6ed and
hallowed by all thetenderestsympathies which
love could bring to its shrine. And for twelve
Aeeting months this home had been an Eden
to her. No proof of her husbands devotion
was wanting to render her happiness com
plete. Responsive to her slightest wish, even
to her thoughts, which he seemed intuitively
to read, he lavished upon her such tokens Of
affection as could but deepen the intensity Of
her own, and knit more and closely the bond
between them. Her senior by more than fif
teen years, (she was but sixteen at the time o1
their marriage), he won from her the unques
tioning confidence of child. He was hel
guide, her stay, her tower of strength in which
her inexperience and weakness found ref
uge, as safe as it was dear to her soul. But
this tower was to crumble in ruins about hel
head, invulnerable as it seemed to any shock
An earthquake was to swallow up her dearest
hopes, leaving her desolate and despairing