The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-02-19

al lulcuSlly VI pdSSiou lilat Sldi licu
me. "Oh, child, have mercy on me!
Think again-give me time. | am rich
er than you think; if you are ambitious
I interrupted him.
81 am not; Ihave wealth enough. and
covet only happiness. 1 shall marry
Robert Dene. the man / love-"
His face was white as death.
You shall not marry him" he said
with deep and bitter oath. Never,
while l live! l swear it!''
And he rushed out of my presence
like madman, leaving me shocked,
frightened, perplexed, and with a
strange sad cloud upon my happiness.
l said nothing about it to Robert,
however. His relations with his en-
ployer continued pleasant, as usual;
and l did not feel justified in disturb
ing them. | felt surprised when he
told me that Mr.. Redfern had himself
congratulated him, and made some
slight but graceful allusion to the dis
to himself; but | conclud-
ed to keep silence still. What was the
use of creating ill-will between them?
probably" thought, ''Mr. Redfern
regrets his Incorporate warmth and
foolish words, and takes this method to
let me know of it.
And thought it very good method
too-infnitely pleasanter than per-
sonal apology.
So the time flew swiftly by, and Ihad
begun the preparations for our mar
riage, and our engagement was under
stood everywhere, when the storm
which instinct had warned me of from
the moment in which | had heard that
bitter threatening oath, burst suddenly.
1t was evening, and Robert and /
were sitting together, talking such
sweet nonsense as lovers will. We
were alone, save for an aunt who re-
sided with me, and who had fallen
asleep in her easy-chair, when sudden
ly and unceremoniously the door was
flung open wide, and three men en-
tered.
Two of them were officers. The in
dignation which their rude entrance
caused, gave place to sickening fear
when | saw the third-George Red
fern!
He fixed his hollow, burning eyes up
on me. Even in that moment of ex-
citement | was sensible of shocked
surprise at the strange change in him
since last we met.
Men, do your duty" he said briefly.
Next minute Robert was under ar
rest.
don't know what / said or did in the
first horror of it. remember clinging
around Roberts neck, and being pulled
away-by auntie, / think-and some
one asking, whats the charge against
himP" Then came the stern answer
from George Redferns lips: "Rob-
bery!'
With that word my senses came back
to me. | tore myself from auntie's
arms and flew to my lovers side.
Its lier' | cried, looking straight
into Redfern's face ''He is Innocent"
Robert turned grateful troubled eyes
upon me.
"God bless you, my true loven' he
sadly.
And then Redfern's stern low voice
broke in again:
Men, search him.
i saw it done | saw them draw
forth roll of notes-ten-of twenty
five pounds each, and forming a larger
sum than Robert could have come by
rightly. l heard Redfern identify them
as his own, and declare that none but
Robert had access to the safe or vault.
And then | heard Robert say, with a
moan of agony:
''Oh, God! My mother!"
l understood it all. l stepped up to
George Redfern, and looked into his
face.
Come with me into another room,"
1 said. II will make a bargain with
you. Let your men remain with their
prisoner here And he obeyed me.
When we were alone, l said passion
ately:
Mr.. Redfern, you are villain! You
have plotted to separate me from the
man | love, and blast his reputation.
You shall fail in both. You know that
he is innocent.
He answered quietly:
Il am not his Judge, Miss Craven.
He himself will tell you that l placed
those notes in the safe in his presence,
and that no one has since had access to
it but himself. An hour ago l missed
them. You saw where they We're
found. Let the law decide the rest
wrung my hands in agony.
The law' | cried. Man, do you
not know he has a mother whom such a
charge will kill? VIII you be a mur-
derer?n
He caught my hand
NO" he said hoarSely. ''It is you
not |. You murder two of us, his
mother--when she learns the story of
his guilt, from which you could save
her-and me-you murder me!-for the
hour that sees you marry him sees me
a corpse.
| snatched my hand away.
Il will marry him." l cried. eff the
whole world calls him guiltyn'
He answered quietly:
And kill his mother?"
What could | do? Turn as l would,
he brought me back to that at last.
The son 5 Imprisonment on shame
full charge, and probable condemna-
tion-for the plot was carefully laid
would kill his mother.
So l accepted the alternative he Of
fered. l promised not to marry the
man | loved during the lifetime of the
man | hated.
Never while l live," he said.
That was my oath, and have kept it.
We went back together. George
Redfern formally withdrew the charge
be made, and gave one of the notes to
each oi,icer as bribe for silence.
So RobeI'. and were parted, and his
mothers life was saved.
And the world wondered, and called
me a coauette. and "hard to please"
and a year went by and found ME twen-
v-two-unmarried still-Robert' true
love still-and miserable.
How many times had | seen George
Redfern during that year? More than
a hundred times He had come TO me
praying. pleading for love-oh, how
vainly! Often as saw him, though,
l noted how he changed-so terribly
so rapidly! Worn almost to shadow
Pale, with all the life in him seeming to
be centered in his burning eyes. They
c Soopood LIT with tho fraS of m a1ppSS