The National tribune., 1882-04-29


death if they please, and the sooner the |
better, for they dontsupposei can ever forget
these weeks Of agony, and what they have
left me of life is not worth the keeping
with such recOllections."
q You shall not only live, but your inno-
cence shall he proved spotless as snow!"
exclaimed Nitali, whose voice was unsteady,
and whose whole frame shook. 9 Will
come to see you every day, Madame Des-
plans-I am your friend and will get
you acquitted"
"Thank you for saying so but why
should you be my friend?" sighed Cloti]de
incredulously; you don't know me- You
must have the same opinion Of me as the
rest"
Before God. believe that no purer
woman than you ever trod this EARTH"
cried Vital.
"Oh!" murmured Clotilde, and burying
her face in her hands she leaned forward
over the table and sobbed in a couvulsion OF
grief that seemed as if it would send the
soul from the frail body.
A gendarme was pacing to md fro in the
tagged passage ouside. His yellow baldrle
flashed before the gate and his sword
clanlled. The sunbeams that streamed
through the grated window of the parlor
touched the golden hair of the weeping
sufferer with trembling rays as if caressing
them, and Justin Vitali leaned against the
wall with his arms folded, his face awry with
anguish, and his lips murmuring silent
PRAYERS which God in Heaven heard.
With an abrupt effort shaking off the
! emotion which paralyzed him, he applied
himself to the urgent task Of restoring hope
! in his client. She had sunk into the apathy
when death appears as blessed relief, and
the idea of degradation attaching to capi-
! tai sentence had lost all significance in her
eyes after the humiliation which she had al
ready undergone. Vital talked TO her Of the
future without being able to provoke spark
Of interest. He returned to the charge, and
| declared that almost all her countrymen
| believed in her innocence, and that she
must show herself strong for the day when
her justification should be made manifest.
! But all this failed to move her. At last,
however, by q display Of the strong interest
which he himself took in her, and by bid
ding her answer TO the best of her ability
a series of questions he would put, he sue
ceeded in making her dry her eyes and
exert her memory, which sufficed momen-
tarily to put despair aside.
"The Iaudanum which you bought,
Madame Desplans, was, l need not ask, to
procure the patient rest ?"
eyes; he ordered me to buy it. He used
to take several drops at a time to make him
sleep. l cannot conjecture whether he took
an overdose by intention or accident; tor
never suspected he had died by poison until
l heard it said here"
"And those letters he wrote?"
ooh, those letters they have done nothing
else but reproach me with not having posted
them" sighed Clotilde, ,wretchedly.. "But
it was by Captain Lacroix's orders, given m'
in moments when he was lucid, that posted
nothing that he wrote while the fits o
mania were on him. If single one o
those letters had reached his relations, they
would have come and shut him up in :
, madhouse, to get possession of his property
This he knew, and he used to implore nj
not to let~his deranged state become known
I was not aware Of what was in the letters
5 ! never opened them, but laid them aside
7 hoping always that the captain would re
l cover his reason, and would then destro.
5 them himself If l had burned his letters
( he might have fancied, after his cure, tha
c I had read them that is, profted by HI
!. helpless condition to pry into his secrets"
. "And you continued for months nursin
I Captain Lacroix, and bearing with all hi
4 paroxysms? You knew that he accused yo
' of wishing to poison him?"
1; ooh, yes! When his hallucination
a came, he used to call me murderess an
C thief; and sometimes he threw things 6
a me. But these attacks never lasted Ion.
: and in his lucid intervals he would beseec
It me not to let him be shut up, that l ha
d not the heart to hand him over to h
/, friends 1 continued hoping to the last"
: zone question more" said Vital, wit
c moist eyes. "Those servants of Captai
Lacroix whom you discharged had, pr
o sumo, misbehaved themselves?"
d "Yes; there was valet and housemai
d who found were robbing him of his plat
d clothes. wine, and Of everything else the
1t could smuggle out of the house. 1t WI
d the captain himself who told me to ser
d them away, and to take possession OF all b
i; keys for him."
rt "Well, everything is exactly as I though
1t Madame Desplans," exclaimed Vital, in
y sudden and buoyant tone of confdenc
le "Rely on me-promise me 10 be trustll
T. and hopeful"
y Clotilde shook her head.
Is a VOW that you shall be acquitted" crit
n Vitali, adiuringly. 81 swear to heap co
4. fusion on the enemies who have foully tr
e, duced you, and to make you leave the cou
I'd with the respect and pity of all honest M
and women showering upon your swe
ne sanity footsteps like flowers"
ne "Ah! if could believe you!" ejaculat
I'd ClotiIde, stirred by the Corsican's vehement
and looking at him with eyes in whi
1g began to gleam faint ray of hope.
er "Do believe me!" implored Vitali TAXI
1u one of her small pale hands and pressi
il between both his. " Is there nobody
he earth whom you would care to live for
,,,o,,Id bava inU in Vour acpnittal