The Osceola times., 1884-12-20
A ROMANTIC TRAGEDY.
40 Related by the Principal Actor
in II,

ceration. His story which is thrillingly dra-
matte, must awaken feeling Of admiration
among hero worsihppers.
my great pride is forever gone" he said,
''or would not now tell candidly and freely |
what am about to. My father died when l
was twenty-three, leaving me the only heir
TO large fortune. was well educated,
had been carefully reared, had plenty of
money, and was considered talented and |
handsome. / travelled ON the Continent UNI |
til was twenty-eight and then l returned
to this country and thought 1t about time to |
settle down and take wife. | spent one
summer few years ago in Philadelphia,
with occasional visits to Long Branch. One
rather cool fall-like Sunday In August de-
cided TO remain in the city, and carelessly
sauntered into one of the down town Meth
odist churches. there saw and fell In love
with the soprano singer in the choir of that
church. Miss Amy Garret, that was her
name at that time-while not strictly speak
ing beautiful girl In the ordinary accept
alton Of that much-abused expression, was
certainly most engaging and attractive
one. Atleast she was In my eyes. She had
q magnificent mexzosoprano voice, which
had been carefully trained. and soon learn
cd that she was considered valuable acqui-
sition to the choir. OF course l haunted that
church, and 1t did not take me long to make
her acquaintance She resided with an old
aunt ON West Moore street, and these consti-
tuted the entire family. There was one
thing could not then understand. While
she readily and kindly accepted my attten-
tions, yet when alone with me she hada pc
culiar distracted air and
A QUEER FRIGHTENED LOOK
In her large, expressive eyes, which seemed
to denote that she was the possessor of some
dread secret which she was momentarily
afraid might be discovered. This rather
singular behavior on her part used to trou-
BILE me some, but love, you know, is blind.
Her aunt was very melancholy old lady
who said very little. One evening when l
called to see Miss Garrett she was temporar-
lily absent and her aunt, much to my sur
prise, invited me to remain in the parlor un-
I'll her return. This left me for little
while alone with this stern, solemn old
woman. For time she maintained an OBJ
stinate silence, although / tried to be as
agreeable as possible, and then suddenly
heard her murmur: 80 like my dear dead
son (! So like my dear dead son! was very
much surprised at this, and was about to say
something when she abruptly said: You
love my nelce, do you notT l frankly said
did. Then to my utter amazement this re-
markable old woman broke out In loud
saol atxa,E h.,sx fnr v,,V
sake not to seek to marry her niece violent
ly stating that was the very image Of a
dear son now dead who was once the idol
Of her heart, and that must not suffer. All
of these mysterious words Of course aston
ished me. tried to get an explanation Of
what they actually meant from the old lady
but could not Standing just before me she
solemnly said 4 cannot tell you all, But
after
ALL THESE YEARS OF SECRET SIN
my heart will not allow one who looks so
much and talks so much like my dead, dar-
ling boy to entail years Of misery on his
head Then she left the room. In a few
minutes Miss Garrett came In and, of course,
/ at once told her of her aunt's remarkable
conduct. And while telling her OF her aunt's
words, l made my proposal OF love and mar
riage to her. She was plainly greatly
alarmed at what her aunt said and eagerly
requested all the particulars. Her agitation
increased when l told her OF her annt's re-
mark about years of secret sim She seem
ed so troubled that passionately caught
her in my arms and said that il did not
make any difference what her aunt said,
that l worshipped her and begged her to be
my wife. She glanced at me with an ex-
preston in her beautiful eyes, which can
never forget, and exclaimed: Paul, l can
never marry YOU. l love - and then
dropped in dead faint at my feet l ran
for the aunt and soon had her in the parlor.
To my earnest request that be allowed to
60 .or physician, she sternly said no, that
Amy would be better In a little while, and
plainly intimated that had better go home,
which did. You can imagine the state Of
mind was In until the next morning, when
the first thing did was to call upon the
young lady. The aunt came TO the door and
said she was entirely too sick to see any one.
Seven long weary days passed before was
again admitted to the house. The old annt
met me at the door and drew me cautiously
into dark entry and mysteriously request
make the least noise. did this. And then
discovered that
SHE, TOO, WAS IN HER STOCKING FEET.
She silently led me through the dark entry
to a pair of narrow steps leading down into
the cellar. l say silently, but could hear her
murmur as we went He must be saved He
must be saved! So like my dead boy. So
like my dead boy OF course was greatly
surprised and somewhat alarmed at these
totally unexpected and irregular proceed
ings. We were walking along the side Of a
very dark cellar when, suddenly, a door,
somewhere partly opened, allowed q bright
light 10 enter, and / heard my darling's
voice saying, is all right Auntie? Is that
youg In second the old lady had pushed
me In an obscure darkened corner out of
sight, and starting boldly forward out in the
belt of light said: of course all is right
Amy, It's only me- Then the girl disap-
peared and quickly returning 70 my side the
old lady hoarsely whispered, Quick. let ms
nightr We silently went up stairs, much.
of course, against my will. had to put on
my shoes and leave the house as quickly as
1 entered IL Another awful day OF anxiety
and care passed over my head, and at nine
O'Clock in the evening / again stood in front
of that fatal door. Again the aunt met me,
and, removing my shoes as had done be
fore, we quietly crep. down stairs into the
cellar. This We noiselessly crossed, and
soon stood before what appeared TO be a
large massive door. BY the CLEANS of light
shining through the cracks 1 at once saw
that II opened into large brilliantly-light
ed room or apartment of some kind. As soon
~ we reached II my mysterious and silent
conductor, after peering through the key
hole, told me 20 do the same. and Great
Godl What did then discover
coUxTERFErrER's DEN
In full blast. There, bending and working |
over a peculiar looking machine. was q VII |
lainous looking man, with face and ngure |
Ill marked by the diSflguTing hand oi dissr |
nn1,on. While within few feet OF him sat
lOyplv 4