The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1883-01-05
procured TO watch for Won y

Il
spoke in loving and tender accents.
| "Believe me-" she answered, II pre-.
ferred staying alone, and did not mind
it until just before you came, and then
fancied / saw some one lurking IN
the little grape arbor."
"You must have been mistaken"
He went to the window that looked
out upon the garden, she still clinging
to his hand, and continued: at was
but the shadow of some swaying
bough, Rosa. Nothing can harm you
here. So rest contented and go to bed.
You can trust me--can you not, my
little girl 7"
He still held closely the two little
hands that seemed so helpless aud
trembling. The poor child had borne
up bravely for the sake Of others but,
at his kind words, all the magnitude of
her loss arose before her. Raising her
pale face toward the kind, sympathiz-
ing one bending over her. the food
gates Of her sorrow opened wide, and
with burst of uncomfortable grief she
bemoaned her loss.
"Oh why could my dear father not
have been spared to me? loved him
50 well, and he was all / had in the
wide world to love or care for me J.
The pallid face, the raining tears
and dropping attitude, all appealed to
the most tenders sentiments of her COM
panion's heart. Forgotten were his
often-registered VOWS. All of the
past, with its hideous fetters, seemed
to glide into oblivion as he endeavored
to comfort the orphaned girl. Tender
ly he clasped her to his heart tender
ly he breathed into the little ear, that
lay upon his breast, words that should
have blistered his tongue Again and
again he told how he loved her-how
he had grown to live only in her pres
ence--while away from her his life
was blank. Again and again, in the
rapture of emotion, he kissed the gold
en- head that reposed so trustingly
above his heart. Then he stopped to
the lips; and in that loving kiss he
promised that his affection should be
deathless-that his care of her should
be lifelong and all absorbing.
AT that moment strange sound,
like low, gurgling, hideous laughter,
broke the silence of the room, and
echoed through the little passage and
above the cold form of the dead. Then,
as if some horrible vision, from re.
gions of the lost, had broken in upon
the happy scene, to curse and call the
perjured soul of the lover to account,
came the fearful sound again.
The lovers started from each others
arms to be confronted by the face of a
woman, who stood in the garden be-
meath the window, her arms resting
upon the sill, her bloated face lighted
up by the wax tapers upon the man.
tel
Edmund staggered back at the
sight of that face-the girl clinging to
him in terror. The black eyes flashed
upon them from above the puffy
cheeks-out of which all traces Of
beauty, or even comeliness, had been
washed by dissipation-and again the
mocking laughter prefaced words that
were as the blasting hiss of some poi
sonous serpent.
$50! 1t is as l thought, Edmund
Latimer! Thus do l find you comfort
ing and loving that girl Ha! ha ha
1t leaked out of your letters to your
mother, that you were tramping the
world over In the company of limo.
cence and virtue, bound in gold r and
the hiGeous laugh rung out once more
and an ugly sneer curled the lips.
"What does, what can, this mean p
questioned Rosa, still clinging in af
fright to the arm of Latimer"
"Meani" hissed the purple lips of
the woman "mean" just this Yon.
der perjured craven is my husband !"
| "Husband 7" gasped Rosa.
"Yes and not content with desert
ing me, at his instigation my relatives
were induced to believe his lies and
shut me up in an asylum But l brib
ed the keepers with his gold, got my
release, have followed the miscreant
and now intend to have my revenge"
"Silence, woman y commanded Ed
mund. "Know that l defy you!
have long since ceased to even respec
you. Your own conduct caused you
own family TO place you where yo
could no longer openly disgrace them
l have long contemplated legal sep
aration; until when / had resolve,
not to speak of love to any one an
this, dearest, was the skeleton tina
clanked its chains after me through a
our wanderings!" he concluded, turn
ing from the anger flushed face in tn
window to the terrified and questionin
, one by his side.
Then the passion of the woma
| broke through all bounds. She shoe
her fists at them, and launched oath
and imprecations that pierced tn
, white soul of Rosa as with knife
she poured out abuse and threats br
, in the very midst of her towerin
: anger she reeled and fell, clutching {
y the air with her nerveless hands.
g The servants were aroused by th
0 unusual voice and came rushing il
e They raised the face of Mary Latime
+ and found death written in the glass
eyes, and upon the purple, flee
9 ed lips. But all they knew was tn
y a strange woman had broken into IL
i grounds, and died raving in fit
e In a lonely graveyard, among Il
Swiss mountains, rests old Mart
p Dinsmore and a white marble sha
\. tells of his name and hopes of immo
6 tality. In an obscure corner of Il
,s same cemetery is mound, and on Il
simple stone at its head is carved Il
!. name of "Mary,"
r Old Jeptha Podham fingered a fe
e years, loved and tended by his chill
q ren, as he called Edmund and Ros
q and then calmly went to slumber O.
{ evening, to awaken in the land
i spirits and be welcomed by his o
- friend. All of his wealth was Civ
o to those who had rendered bright
o last days, and long they kept his mar
A green in their memories.