Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-12-18

She carried herself proudly like q queen.
ayes and the curve of the red lips; never be-
fore had Gabrielle seemed to mo 60 superbly
beautiful. She reminded mo of Rachel; but
[ saw that there was no acting here.
Her steadfast gaze held me captive; it was
first inquiring, then accusing. l had follower
my eyes.
"You, tool" was all she said.
"My child" said Nine. Dumaine, ''you are
unjust to M. Marsal, as you have been to
meI'
"Mother, I shall hate you If you say It'll
What9 believe that of my Raouls Believe
hat he-no, I shall speak to nc M who
thinks it'll Be false to him if you will, but /
shal be truel Desert him il you will, but I
shall go to him, and stand at his side when
hey try him, if they will let me-and tell
them he is innocent as l am myself I know
what you t~hink-both Of you-though you
lare not say it'll Shame upon you both-M.
Marsal, you ere not his friendl Mother, you
are not-you aronotmy motherl Oh, mother,
forgive mel Ny heart is breaking-forgivep
The proud voice passed into a sob, and she
threw herself at her mothers feet and buried
her face in her lap, weeping.
''She has not wept before" Nine. Dumaine
said to nee simply. turned my back upon
mother and daughter, with the feeling that
20 look upon such grief was to profane it. I
heard their broken e-xclamaticns:
"My child My own abriellep
"Oh, mother, you that loved him-called
him your sonl'
"My childi I will believe what you believed
Yes, he is my sonl he is innocont!'
lido not say that my eyes were dry ct this
moment. know that l felt myself more Of
a guilty wretch than the worst criminal that
ever stood at thu bar of justice. Certainly,
Raoul was not guilty, this angel had said SO,
and therefore it must be true. Let the evil
dence be what it might, or the police say what
they would, Gabrielle had given her verdict;
it should be mine. Was wcmanIs love to
stand tho test and mans friendship to fail2-
l cast my doubts to the wind. Iswore to atone
for my cowardly suspicious.
"Forgive me, NJ. Marsal, " Iheard Gabrielle
say; "look round, and say you forgive me!'
looked round and saw her kneeling by her
mothers side. One hand was held in Nine.
Dumaine's, the other she stretched forth to
me. Itook it and kissed it, and murmured
something about the forgiveness coming from
her.
'No, no." she said; II know that all the
appearances are against him-I know that
men reason, where women only feel. But
there are times when you may trust o woman
who reasons with her heart. Believe me,
Raoul never did this-cannot have done itr'
81 believe it," I cried; II swear to you
never to doubt again"
"Only think, how could he have done it?
On that Monday night he came here; no
tapped at the door; l knew it was he-I ran
to open. Only word, dear, he said; lust
to see you and hear your voice, and then
goodnight, for it is late.' Won't you come
in, Raoulp I said to him; mother and 1 are
sewing; come in and talk to us for an hour
Not tonight, dearest he said; I have work
to do, and friend Paul is sitting up for me.
Good night-don't forget New Years Day
and our walk round the Boulevardsp Then
1 said good night to him, and-and he kissed
me. Oh, motherl M. Marsall can you think
that he went from me-straight from me.
with that kiss upon his lps-to murder tho
old man for his money! Oh God, what evil
will people not believe?"
"My darling, we do not believe it9 We
think as you dos it not so, NJ. Marsalg'
could see that Nine. Dumaine's belief was
not SO firm as she would have liked it to
appear. But for my part, after such advo-
cacy as Gabrielle's, the court of assizes could
not have altered my opinion.