The Ottawa free trader., 1885-08-15


magistrates on charge Of forgery, and
committed for II aaI. She found means to
send him mess age, asking II he had money
to pay for his eaense. He sent back word
that he should uplead guilty He really did
30, and as tn a forgery was a crafty, premedi-
tated, crue'. affair, the judge very properly
sent him ca pral servitudc for five years
His wife. as site read the sentence gave a
groan of relief
N ,yr the weakest part Of her nature, part
n .sa,bt inherited from Sir Maingay, showed
Asslf She let things drift. To girl just
y.st Is five years seems as inexhaustible as
5iye hundred sovereigns would seem to a
s,boolboy. The remembrance of her secret
marriage haunted her like the remnants of
CHASTITY dream. Five years. Five long years!
Surely something must happen before they
we're spent. Something did happen!
What were her feelings when the truth
first came home to heri When she knew she
could cheat herself no longerl When no imag-
mary ailment would account for her condi-
tionl When in plain words the fact that she
was to bear the burden common to woman
hood was forced upon her! Then Beatrice
prayed that she might de
Even then she would not go to her friends
tain years stretched out before her Ii she
could only conceal this new trouble as she
mad concealed her marriage, there was peaco
peace for years. Sarah was told what she
already guessed, and upon hearing her mis-
tress' wishes simply set about executing
them.
The child was born, and none save the
mother and her maid knew the truth. Hard
81, b,, 4, ot,i,
than to others who, without the aid and
faithful service at her command, have
concealed what if revealed meant ruin.
The elder woman arranged all She left
her mistress as a servant leaves; she
prepared place, and when the time came
Beatrice found her grief lightened by all a
loving woman can do for another in such
plight. OF course there was deceit-deceit
seemed to have forced itself into the girls
life! There was long visit to pay some
where, visit from which Beatrice returned
a shadow of her former self. But none
knew, none even guessed the cause.
Until the child was born Beatrices prayer
was that both she and it might die Can
sadder, more pitiful prayer be framed by a
woman! The truth could then be told to all.
The early death would be the full expiation
of her folly. The few who loved her would
forgive and pity her, But her prayer was
unanswered-death never even threatened
mother or babe.
The child was born, the tiny head nestled
on the mothers breast, and a strange new
feeling awone within her-the overpowering
instinct of maternal love. Her thoughts
which had once been, in case the child lived,
to hate it for the fathers sake, turned to pure,
sweet affection for the innocent, helpless
little being. So far from wishing it dead,
she would not now have wished it unborn.
When she returned to her home she left it
with many tears in Sarah's charge.
For years she saw it by stealth saw it
grow more and more the picture of perfect
childhood; loved it and worshiped it more
each time she saw it, and at last, when she
returned to her fathers house, and felt that
her visits to her treasure would now per-
force be less and less frequent, wild crav-
ing to have it with her always, to see it
every day, every hour, awoke in her passion
ate heart.
Then came the second quarrel, and the
new home. And even as she settled to go
down to her uncles' the nucleus OF the daring
scheme for regaining her boy framed itself
in her brain, and was eventually shaped into
form and acted upon with perfect success.
But the five years were passing passing.
At the end of them stood what Beatrice
shrank from picturing, convict who would
come and claim his wife. Beatrice had, in
deed, expected that when first arrested he
would find some way of proclaiming his
marriage, if only in fulfilment of his threat
of dragging her name into the dirt.
Yet he made no sign. He was crafty and
calculating. The term of the sentence was
not to him an eternity. When it ended be
knew that by keeping the secret he should be
in more advantageous position to turn
matters to his own benefit Beatrice would
be well past twenty-one, and IN command of
q large income. He meant to be thoroughly
revenged for the obstinacy she had displayed
in refusing to perjure herself, and SO find
him means to buy up the forged bills, but he
meant to have money also.
This is the story of the life of the last five
years upon which Beatrice looked back that
afternoon. These are the pictures of the
man and the woman-the husband and wife
who were to meet on the morrow like foes in
q deadly duel
And over and above all this, there was
another matter ever present In the girls
name which came to her lips,
not in accents of hate, but love. She had at
tempted to deceive him, but not herself. In
fact it seemed part of her punishment-the
hardest part of all-that she loved Frank
Carruthers. She had sobbei out the secret
on the faithful Sarah's breast. She had wept
through the weary hours of many night as
she thought of the utter hopelessnsss of love
between them. His coming to Oak bury had
doubled her grief. She had not only to
lament "what has been" but to regret what
might have been"
Blame her if you must! Forgive her if you
can! At least pity her!
ITO be C0ntinued.