, 1884-12-27

- AJ HFo"tthutioh n Inquiries KMNu me
Immense relief. and my heart was all bus
gay as, armed with the proofs of the first
Lady Ferrand's death. / hurried back to
Seville, Phuippa, and tho happiness which |
vowed should be mine.
We were married. Philippe and / were
married. Married; and a few months ago ]
sat lonely, miserable aud heart-broken,
deeming that the one / loved was lost to mo
f%oreveri What matters tho things which
have hiled those months. and made them
the most painful Of my ife1 To-day we arc
man and wife, Joined together till death us
do parti
Isaid no word as 70 the result Of my in
quiries in Liverpool had no difficulty IN
persunding Philippa. who In some things
was as simple and trusting as a child, that
II was necessary. or at least advisable. she
should DO married under the name which
her first certihcats Of marriage affected to
bestow upon her. She signod her name for
the last It may, for aught l know, have also
been the first time. as Philippe Ferrand;
and l noticed that sho shuddered as she
formed the letters.
Although my bride was by birth half a
Spaniard, and although l had by now In
many ways conformsd to the Spanish mods
OF life, we were still English enough to look
upon going away somewhere for a honey.
moon as Indispensable Il would DO but .
snort trip; and as my mother In our absence
would be left at Seville alone. or with the
servants only. We did not care to 20 very
far away. 1t so happened that, although
so close to Cadiz. we had not yet paid thai
town a visit. and thought the present a cap
ital opportunity for so doing.
To Cadiz we won't and stayed several
days at the Hotel dc Paris We liked the
white walled town, rising and shining abovs
the dark blu sea, like, rs l have somewhere
seon Il described.a white pearl In n crown Of
sapphires; or, as the Gaditanos call It,
tasifd dc plata. n silver cup. We liked tho
row OF tall terrace topped houses We
liked tho movement and hustle on the quay
and in the port We liked the walks on thu
broad granite ramparts, and the lovely
view OF tho busy bay and country beyond
II; but all the samsAwe agreed that Cadis
pore no comparison TO our beautiful Seville,
ana the sooner we returned to that gay city
inc better.
NOW that had gained my desire, was ]
nappyt After all that had passed, could ]
nave beer happy during those carly days OF
our wooded hfei AS ! look back upon them
1 at and muse, trying in vain TO answer the
question TO my own satisfaction- Philippe
loved me-she was my wife; come good, come
EVIL sne was mine forever. In so much ]
was happy, thrice happy. Could ! have
nVed nut Tor the present my bliss would
nave known no alloy.
but there was tho pastl could not alto
getner forget the path which had led to such
happiness as now was mine. l could be
thankful that 1 alone knew all the horrors
and dangers with which that path was
studded. alone knew the secret Of that
one night Although l could keep 1t for
ever would Il be always a seereti
Yes, and there was tho future. Behind
tho happiness which was mine at present
lurkod n dread as to what the future had In
store for me--for Us. 1t was a dread which
day by day grew stronger. The creator my
happiness the moro dreadful tho thought OF
Us being wrecked. The feeling that my
mouse OF JOY was built upon sand was Away
optrudlng on my most blissful hours. and
not ! know, without good reasons.
Philippd's very avoidance of speaking Of
her past life lent some justification to nv
gloomy fo~rebodingA Not once did Sir Nor
vyn Ferrand's name pass between my wife
and me. Not once did she ask mo for any
further particulars concerning the events Of
that night upon which, In the height OF her
short lived mania, she reached my cottage.
True that upon becoming my wife, and be-
ginning n new and happier stage Of life, IL
might be but natural for her TO wish to con-
sign TO oblivion the wrong, the shame, this
suffering wrought by a Villains craft; yet !
was so mixed up in the catastrophe that
silence on tho subject seemed strange. Her
reticenoe alarmed me. fancisd 1t must be
caused by some vagua uneaslpss4 connected
with that night-somo doubt which aho dared
not seek to set at rest. Ith, I know, not un-
usual for women, after their recovery from
hat mysterious disease which had for awhile
driven my poor girl distraQght, 10 DO able to
recall and accurately describe the dslusions
which had afflicted them during those wan
dering hours ! myself had in one or two
casos noticed this popularity, and the author
tiles which l had studied during P~hilippa's
illness mention ID as an i~ndisputable fact.
MY great dread was that at some moment,
perhaps whom our happiness was a. perfect