The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-01-26

I IT
have Thought it any point of prudence
or necessity to secure the hand of Mar
| garet Liebenheim by a private marriage,
nobody who knew the parties, who
| knew the perfect love which possessed
| Miss Liebenheim, the growing imbecility
| of her grandfather, or the utter CON
| tempt with which MaXimilian regarded
| him, could for moment believe. Al
! together, the matter was one of profound
mystery.
Meantime, it rejOiced me that poor
| Margaret's name had been thus rescued
| from the fangs of the scandal-mOng gers:
| these harpies had their prey torn from
| them at the very moment when they
| were sitting down to the unhallOwed
| banquet. For this | TejOiced, but else
| there was little subject for rejoicing III
| anything which concerned poor Mar
| garet Long she lay in deep insensi-
| bility, taking no notice of anything,
| rarely opening her eyes, and apparently
unconscious of the revolutions, as they
| succeeded of morning and evening, light
or darkness, yesterday or to-day. Great
| was the agitation which cOnyulsed the
| heart of Macmillan during this period;
! he walked up and down the Cathedral
nearly all day long, and the ravages
which anxiety was working in his physi-
cal system might be read in his face.
feOple lelb III III luJIuSlOu upOu bHe
sanctity of his grief to look at him too
narrowly. and the whole town sympa-
thised with his situation.
At length change took place III Mar
garet, but one which the medical men
announced to Macmillan as bOding ill
for her recovery. The wandeTing4 of
her mind did not depart, but they altered
their character. She became more agi-
tated, she would start up suddenly, and
strain her eye-sight after some figure
which she seemed to see; then she would
apOstrOphise some person i'll the most
piteOus terms, beseeching him, with
streaming tears, to spare her old grand
father. Look, look" she would cry out,
look at his grey hairs; oh sir! he Is but
child; he does not know what he says;
and he will soon be out of the way and
in his grave; and very soon, sir, he will
give you no more trouble" Then, again,
she would mutter indistinctly for hours
together; sometimes, she would cry out
frantlcally, and say things which terri
fed the bystanders, and which the ply
sicians would sOlemnly caution them
how they repeated then she would
weep, and invoke Macmillan to come
and aid her. But Seldt IN, indeed, did
that name pass her lips that she did not
again begin to strain her eyeballs, and
start up in bed to watcn some phantom
Oh lltI DOOI ltNtItu ntdTb, as IL IL SttIntu
vanishing into some mighty distance.
After nearly seven weeks passed in
this agitating state, suddenly, on one
morning, the earliest and lOyeliest of
daWning spring, a change was an
nOunced to us all as having taken place
i'll Margaret; but it was change, alas
that usheTed in the last great change of
all. The conflict. which had for so long
a period ragged within her, and over
thrown her reason, was at an end; the
strife was over; and nature was settling
into an everla sting rest. In the course
of the night she had recovered her
senses; when the morning light pene-
trated through her curtain, she TecOg
missed her attendants, made inquiries as
to the month and the day Of the month,
and then, sensible that she could not
Outliye the day, she requested that her
cOnfessOr might be summoned.
About an hour and half the confess
sOr remained alone with her. At the
end of that time he came out and hastily
summoned the attendants, for Margaret,
he said, was sinking into a fainting fit.
The cOnfessOr himself might have passed
through IGJny fit, so much was he
changed bv the results Of ljs interview.
! crossed ulil coming out n the house.
| spoke to Rim--l called 'lim; uut he
heard me n.t-he . ne lot. lie saw
nobody. QLwards he st.Jde to The
Cathedral, rheTe MaXimililn was sure
to be found, pacing about upon the
graves, Him he seized by the arm,
whispered something in his ear, and
then both retired into one of the many
sequ stored Chapels in which lights are
t.nually burning. There they had
some conversation, but not very long,
fer within five minutes MaXimilian
strobe away to the house in VIII ch his
young wife was dying. One step seemed
to carry him up stairs; the attendants
according to the directions they had re-
ceiyed from the physicians, mustered at
the head of the stairs to oppose him. |
But that was idle: before the rights |
which he held as a lover and husband, |
before the still more sacred rights of |
grief, which he carried in his cOunten- |
ance. all opposition fled like dream. |
There was, besides, a fury in his eye. |
A motion of his hand waved them off |
like summer flies; he entered the room,
and once again, for the last time, he was |
in company with his beloved.
What passed, who could pretend to
guess? Something more than two |
garet had been able to talk occasionally, |
which was known, because at times the |
attendants heard ihe sound of Maximil-
ian's voice evidently IN tones of reply |
to something which she had said. At \
the end of that time, little bell, placed |
near the bedside, was rung hastily; a |
fainting fit had seized Margaret, but she |
recovered almost before her women ap- |
piled the usual remedies. They fingered, |
however, little, looking at the youth |
full couple with an interest which no re-
straints aVailed to check. Their hands ,
were locked together, and in Margaret's |
eyes there CLEANED q farewell light of |
love, which settled upon Macmillan, |
and seemed to indicate that she was be- |
coming speechless. Just at this moment |
she made feeble effort to draw Maxi |
milan towards her he bent forward and |
kissed her with an anguish that made |
the most callOus weep, and then he
whispered something into her ear, upon
which the attendants retired, taking
this as proof that their presence was
hindrance to free communication. But
they heard no more talking, and in less
than ten minutes they returned. Maxi
milan and Margaret still retained their
former position. Their hands were fast
locked together; the same parting ray
of affection, the same farewell light of
love, was in the eye of Margaret, and
still it settled upon Macmillan. But
her eyes were beginning to grow dim;
mists were rapidly stealing over them.
Macmillan, who sat stupitied and like
one not in his RIGHT mind now at tha