, 1880-05-31

"Let me have this picture" said,
impulsively, since you do not value
it. It will serve me not only as fami-
ly relic, but as Laura's portrait"
"Certainly-though it is little more
than rag. Only the face has escaped. ("
I took the picture down stairs to my
room. Carefully sewing up the rents
in the canvas, 1 commenced cleaning
away the accumulated dust and mold.
was still thus engaged when the bell
rang for our early tea, and I answered
the summons 1t was almost dark as I
descended to the supper-room.
"Whero is Laura 2" inquired our
hostess.
"I don't know. I thought her with
you."
81 have not seen her since she went
out two hours ago. I fancied she had
returned and had gone up to your
room"
every imprudent in Lanra," re-
marked the judge. She is little
wayward at times; but you must excuse
her, Mrs. Whiting. = Her health has al
ways been delicates and she has. in
consequence, been much indulged; but
she Is a good girl in the main"
A servant was dispatched in search
of Laura, but returned, saying she was
nowhere near the bridge whittier she
had been seen to 60. Mrs. Whiting then
went mp stairs, white with sudden
and strange fear-a feeling which sent
a chill to my heart and q choking, suf
locating sensation into my throat. I
stole out and went to the bridge.
The waters were swollen by the re-
cent rains-bubbling against the bridge.
and whirling away in rapid eddies into
the black pools beneath the dropping
willows. l noticed at the first glance
that the wooden railing on the lower
part of the bridge had given way.
I came quite close to the edge and
looked down-looked far over under
the bridge. And then, with q cry of
such horror and agony as I had never
before and have never since uttered, I
rushed back to the house.
Let me hurry away from this painful
part of my story.
Ten years passed, when the Black
water estate, by will of the late Mr.. Whit
ing, came into possession of my father,
his nearest relative then living-the
young man mentioned by Mrs. Whiting
having been shot in a duel in Califor-
mia. I went down with my father to
visit the estate, and it was decided that
we should all spend the summer there.
My great delight was to rummage
among the family relics of which Mrs.
Whiting had spoken, and from the cha
otic mass of which brought to light a
rare or curious article, designed to or
nament or enrich my private cabinet.
One day was looking over the yellow
and crumbling papers contained in an
old chest preserving here and there an
autograph or fragment, and laying
aside the rest for committal to the
flames. Suddenly my eye was arrested
by the name of Honorio Rhett."
1 read on. The paper was brittle
with age. broken in parts, and it crum-
bled at the edges as [ folded it. Yet I
could, with difficulty, make out some
words and sentences:
"And insemuch as that crime of said
Honoria was, by her own deathbed con-
fession, the wlllfal and premeditated
act of callous woman, and by no
means to be attributed las we surmised)
to accident or And as, fur
thermore, the said willful and malicious
drowning Of said Flora Hastings, at the
willow bridge crossing, therefore
not escape the just punishment of
Heaven rest upon the de-
scendants of the said Honoria Whiting
Rhett till such time X expia
ton"
And here the manuscript became il
legible, having been apparently oblit-
Grated by damp; only the signature
was plainly visible-"Rufus Hastings" !"
What could it mean? Was it some
law indictment of tho crime of Homo
ria Whiting or was it a curse of some
one of the family of the victim, Flora
Hastings, against "the descendants of
the said Honoria Whlting?"
And the crime itself, and this myste-
rious ancestress of ours, and the willful
drowning, and Laura-poor Laura!
Was this expiation ?"
And then came the thought of Laura's
strange resemblance to the picture, and
her mysterious foreknowledge of the
bridge and the willows, and of the door
in the wall, of which no trace had then
existed. What was the meaning of it =?
Lately, was reading an article in
foreign magazine-a criticism on a Sc
ries of lectures delivered by German
professor on the subject of the vital
principle" when came upon the fol-
lowing passage:
"For this immortal principle does
not ascend in one direct line, but takes
its course in concentric circles, revolv-
ing round its great source in one great
circle, by means of series of lesser
circles. And all research and discov-
cries of science and philosophy teach
us that such is the law of all systems
in nature, and that in all great circles