Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-08-06

- 4 NA u AaNNNAA GNEal ~
implicitly, because you yourself were
An ass y rOared Urquehart. "Auu
now listen"
-, as the night fell, aud ''the case
ment slowly grew aglimmering square
"a the hlackness, Urquehart's tale was
old.
Fourteen months ago, was lodg-
ng Tor the summer in a farmhouse III
village, no matter where. The only
house there belOi gng TO gentlefolkS.
except the wretched OLD parsonage, WAS
Nqulre RlngwoOd's. Ii was big, stl-
iid looking mansion, ON a hill, staring
iDWn OYerbearingly at the poor little
-enements huddled together below and
lie burly squire himself was for all the
! world like his house, as he sat on his
tall horse, and looked down pompously
over his vast waistcOat at a frightened
crew of village children. The squire
nad an ugly, sickiy wife and daughter.
and they had an humble companion
that was an angel of beauty. / fell in
love with her at church. Oh, the little
church IN the west country, hid in the
OOwery orchard hollow Oh. the sudden
delicious gust that Uttered the graves
with blossoms your mothers grave.
Charley has the dear woman the viO
lets planted there or did they die
ike the faith and hope she set in me !.
fell in love with Fanny Vale before
knew her name l learned that from
The farmhouse folks with whom
lodged. They told me, moreover, that
she was a young widow, and still in
weeds when she came TO lodge very
humbly in the village six months before;
that the squire's wife and daughter had
taken fancy to her, and had adopted
her into their family, as a kind OF
reader and companion of all work.
made her acquaintance by note which
| threw at her feet over a hedge the
first time l spied her walking alone.
| need not swear to you that l never
mad an evil wish or thought about her
To me a woman was holy thing, des-
ecrsted by no lowneSs of condition,
deserving of any gentleman's love and
reverence, if endowed with certain quail
ities. These qualities l now took on
trust, and, being enchanted by her
beauty, saw also the perfection of moral
loneliness in her face. Such an angelic
face, Charley There she sat in the
squire's pew, beside her ugly patroneSs-
es, with such intelligence in her melan-
choly blue eye and fair half-moon OF
brow, such breathing sensibility III
her silence; and when | came to know
her, what sympathy in her smile, what
silken manners, SO soft, graceful, ca
reSsing, yet modest and full of suaye
dignity She did not answer my note ;
but when l went to the copse behind
RingwoOd house, where / had implored
her to meet me, she was there. She
came, she said, only to beg me to come,
and write. no more. She was a poor
dependent, and the least suspicion fall
ing on her would cast her homeless and
friendlesS on the world. | will not dwell
Oh this stale love story it was perfectly
commonplace of its kind, except that the
dupe was not. for once, the humble beau
ty, but the gentleman from London. She
consented to be my wife; and at the
summers end, without asking her a
single question as TO her past, without
knowing more of 1t than the farm folk
had volunteered to tell me the first day
saw her, | brought this girl 10 Lon
don, and married her. That's what
came of being too good for this world,
incapable of evil, or the comprehension
of il. / had written to tell my father
of my intended marriage to IL frankly
cOnfessed) a perfectly obscure and pen
niles5 young woman, that had OF course
everything 6m position and wealth t.
recommend her. / wrote a respectful
letter which l received back in blank
cover. Yet my heart yearned to the
cross grained old man, and from the
glory and Joy of my FOOLS paradise /
emerged voluntarily, before the honey
moon was over, to seek a reconciliation
with my father.
"When L got to his door, he drove
me away like a beggar, like a strange
dog, with his lifted stick, with his
mouth full of curses. That Is the last
ever saw of him. He died, six months
after, implacable.
Il hurried back to town, to be COM
forted by the angel in my house. L re-
turned sooner than was looked for. /
opened the door by latch key, ana
went softly up stairs TO surprise my
wife. 1t was about two In the after
noon. Our little drawing-room had
folding doors, which were now ajar.
No one was In the front room, but L
heard-I heard my wife's voice IN the
other. | heard Der voice and mans.
had but to step forward, and L saw"
1t was quite dark by this time, and
here the noice that had come out of
Urquehart's black corner suddenly
broke into an awful sob.
''Dont 60 on" said l, much dis
tressed.
LET me alone" gasped Urquehart,
savagely.
In less than a minute he resumed,
steadily:
~ saw my wife with her arms round
a mans neck. She was passlonately
entreating him not to leave her he
was trying TO release himself. Tie
next moment they saw me, and started
apart Then, instantly. my wife, that
tender angel, flung hsrself at me like
wild cat. She did not scream, but
through her shut teeth she said, III
kill you, I'll kill you, if you touch hlm!'
Her blue eyes glared much like yonler
blue lightning that keeps flashing out
there, and something glittered close to
NV face. She had snatched up her
scissors, and l verify believe would have
dug them into my temple if the man,
her lover, had not come and pulled
down her hand. She was going to tall
into his arms again, but he put heI
from him, not very gently, and told
her to sit down. She obeyed him In
stantly. cannot in the least descrlEs
INV state of mind all this time, which
was only a minute or two, suppose.
Nv impression is that L had ceased TO
feel that il my brain and heart had
been scooped out, could not have
been emptier of emotion and thought ;
hat was not conscious of any vlnd!c'
tive rage, or any transport OF despair.
Some people may think | ought to have
kicked that man down stairs. L neither
did SO. nor felt any desire to hurt him;
II was he who took the initiative, ana
made me a sign to go into the front
room with him which L did. linen,
when stood there face to face with
him, said suddenly, and, as 1t were,
involuntarily-
"'Who are you p
caii hp in a