The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-08-04

that | could not understand wbat sbe
said to console me.
Did | even listen to herr What need
saa | OF consolation? | was not sorrow
stricken Finally she took me familiar
y by the hand and said in low voice
that she was obliged to eonfide to me a
secret, and that she counted on nv hon
or as nobleman not to abuse il. She
had given to my wife to keep for her a
package of letters that she could nor
Keep herself, and she begged of me to
give them back to her. While she was
speaking [ feltseverai times that shiv-
ered from head to foot. With apparent
coidness | questioned her on the con
tents OF these letters. At this question
the lady started and replied with indig-
nation:
/ Sir, your wife WAS more generous
than you. When she took CHARGE of
these letters she did ask me their CON
tents She even gave me her word
never TO look at them, and am con
Vinced that she never even glanced nj
them. Hers was noble soul. and she
would have disdained to break in secret
her given word :"
1t is well, | replied, How shall
recognize the package ?"
: 1t was tied with \ pink ribbon with
"a silver edge
" will 20 and search for it. -
took my wife's KEYS and began 10
search for the packet: although | knew .
where 1t was | pretended to have some F..
difficulty in finding it. -"
+" Is it this = | said, handing it to
the countess"
Yes, YES! See, the knot | made is
still there She never touched it,"
II did not dare to lift my eyes to her.
feared lest she should read in them
that had undone it, and that had un-
done something else besides. | took
leave of her hastily; she got into her
carriage aud drove Oft. Poor womn.
she had her excuse. Her husband was
brutaland dissipated If | had been
like him | should have deserved a wife
like her. Oh but 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 back to !
the consciousness of the horrible reality
| was I'M the vault, beside the coffin. H..
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
)ther beneath her head. The lips Of :
he corpse were white; one drop of :
blood hung from them She bent slow :
y toward me, opened her evs as when | =
her and kissed my right hand. Z
l he drop of blood tell again on my flesh;
Ter eyes shut once more, and she fell =
Jack on her cold pillows, and the coffin =
losed over her dead BODY
\ short time after ! was awakened =
y pain as sharp as that produced by =
scorpions sting. | rushed into the :
pen air. 1t was early morning. No one +
aw me. The drop of blood had disap- :,
'eared there was no outward sign of
he pain, and yet the spot where the Z
lood had fallen burned as though being :.
aten away by a corroding poison. The Z;
ain gave me no respite and increased $
rom hour to hour could sleep some y =
ines but even then never lost con !,
Of my suffering. There was :,
o one to whom | could make complaint, ~
hu tpf Indt matter tnefe was no one .
1ho would have believed my story. :,
Iou have been witness to the intensity
f my suffering and YOU know how much y !.
our operation relieved me. Rutas soon :
5 the wound heals the pain comes back. -
t has now come for the third time, and ~
have no longer the strenth to struggle =
gainst it. In an hour | shall be dead. -
)ne thought that consoles meas she
as avenged herself on me in this world r.
he will, perhaps, forgive in the next :
thank you for your good Offices May I
rod reward you for them =
A few days after the newspapers of :,
r. recorded that one Of our richest :. y
lnded proprietors had blown out his = =
rains. Some attributed his suicide to :
rief at his wife's death others, who 7
ere better informed to an incurable -
-ound. Those who knew best said he -
as monomaniac, and his wound, "
-hich could not be cured, existed only Z
4 his imagination