River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-01-01

won't come. Well can't help it." and Master
: Richard laughed lightly
We had a delightful trip, and am sure moth
!. ing could have been so absurd as any suspicion
b thst the story DR.. Willsey told had any truth
In 1t To be sure, she was lively, but not any
n more SO than any young bride ought to be who
| has young, handsome and rich husband whom
| she loves and who is devoted to her 1t was
not until we had arrived in London and been
| there two weeks, that / saw anything that
| looked wrong, and then it was one day when
Master Richard had gone out to dine with some
American friends, and sent me back-I always
| went everywhere with hin-to get some letters
| that he wanted.
found Mrs Richard, whom he had left an
| hour before perfectly right under an influence
| OF either morphine or wine, that was plainly
| perceptible. Mamie was frightened and began
| TO beg me not to tell Master Richard and TO
| declare that she could not help it / promised
/ 10 say nothing and to detain Master Richard as
| long as | could, and charged her to do all she
| could TO make her mistress sober. But why
| dwell on this terrible episode i'll my life? We
went to Paris, to Madrid to Rome, to Naples,
| to Vienna, to Berlin and then back 10 Paris to
/ stay. Every day and every place made it more
| apparent that DR.. Willsey had been right and
that all Master Richard could do was useless
/ Get the terrible drug or stimulant, she would
| in some way l ventured one day to suggest
| to Master Richard That he shonld place her in
some asylum. but never limited it again, for
his response was dreadful rebuke. Death,
4
| y about Mamie as panderiug to her mistresss
appetite and suggested her discharge, but this
| saw was folly. 1t would be out of the frying
pan into the fire.
saw its terrible effect on NV mistress but
more on Master Richard He gave up all SO
ciety, and watchad her like child He was
haggard and nervous and no longer like him
self. Then came a new phase of the terror.
Denied the deadly poison at home, she, with
the cunning of a maniac, as she was, would
steal away from her watchers and remain away
at first, for hours, then for all day, then all
night and be brought home by the police.
draggled and without reason Then, at last
when Master Richard had almost concluded to
place her in an asylum, with what seemed to
be an instinct of the intention, she disappeared
altogether, and every effort of the police and
detectives failed to obtain any trace of her,
Notwithstanding the large reward
Master Richard was craZed and so was / al
most The police cody declared that she
would never be seen again alive; that the
strongest probability was that the Seine would
eventually give her mp The only theory TO
combat this was that Mrs. Richard had worn a
fortune in diamonds when she went away,
something she had never done before, ard
which seemed 10 show she had prepared her
self to stay away.
A month elasped, and one morning Master
Richard was notified by the police that Tie
body of his wife lay at the morgue We went
there instantly, and in spite of the fact that the
body had been so long IN the water, indent-
fed It, She was dressed IN plain black silk,
trimmed with lace when she went away, but
the lace was all gone; she was shoeless and
bonnetless and had not shred of jewelry; ev-
en- her rings were gone, and her earrings had
been torn from her ears. The police said that
1t was case of robbery, perhaps murder,
and the poor, mutilated, disigured body found
its resting place in Pere la Chaise. Mamie,
with more money thad she had ever possessed
before In her life was sent to her Swiss home,
and Master Richard and bent our steps to-
ward New York.
! have forgotten to say that all the trouble
between Master Richard and his father had
been made up The old man could not bear
tho absence of his son, and was pleading for
master Richard to bring his wife home as
eOOn as he could, not knowing anything about
why Master Richard could not, nor yet, when
lie was notified of the DEATH of the cause of it
The next three years of our lives We're very
q net Mrs. Richard had made will imTne-
diately after her marriage bequeathing all her
property TO Master Richard, but he would have
none of it. He made it all over to her mother,
and, after that was eonsummated, refused to
see Mrs. Sylvester again.
After these three years Master Richards IA
ther began to fret He wanted to his
married again. and he had picked out wife tor
him. The lady was great beauty and had always
been great pet of the old man. as she had
been of Master Richard before he fell in love
with Miss Sylvester and always used to think
she really loved him. To make long story
short, they were married and more quiet,
happy couple never saw. A year elapsed and
an interesting event was about to happen. The
doctor was in the house, not DR.. Willsey, and
Master Richard expected every moment to be-
come father.
Almost at this critical moment there came
violent ring at the street door-bell and 1t
announced to me that woman demanded to
see Master Richard, and though she had
been told she could not, had insisted
on forcing her way in and was then
coming through the hall was in the library,
and went out to meet this woman. The gas
was turned low, but If it had been darkness it
self l would have known her. Good heaven!
it was Mrs. Richard risen from the dead old,
haSgard, bleared and ragged She was almost
at the library door when met her. and heard
her gasp out ''Brown where's your MASTERY"
Hardly had she uttered the words when she
staggered and fell, rolling over on her back l
was so frightened that was not only speech
less, but paralyzed The footman came up,
and the terror of the situation recalled me to
myself. l ordered him to assist me, and be-
tween US we raised the woman and carried her
into the library, laying her upon the sofa Then
| told the footman to go up to the doctor, and
whisper to him TO come down stairs but not to
let Mr. Richard know anything about it, but in
less than five minutes, before the doctor got
got down, [ saw that the woman dead, and
so the doctor pronounced her. In cold pro-
fessional way he asked me if l knew tine wom-
an ] said did not. Did my master? l said
/ thought not
He sat down TO the table, wrote certificate
that the woman had died of heart disease,
turned to the tootman who stood by horror
stricken, gave him the address of an uGderta-
ker not far away and his message, telling the
man to use his name ana went back to his
charge upstairs, following my injunction not
to say anything to Master Richard In half an
hour the undertaker's wagon was at the door,
and few minutes later, the living was ush-
cred into the world upon one floor, the coffined
dead was carried ont from the floor below.
The next morning told Master Richard the
story of the night before, and together we
went to the undertaker's and looked upon the
dead woman. There could be no doubt about
the identification; this time though there was
nothing about her to recognize but single
ring, the wedding ring, and the wreck of her
great beauty. Where she had been in all those
four years, how she had found her way back
and who the woman was that sleeps in Pere 10
Chaise will remain sealed book forever