The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-07-24

onel Do you hear? You shall notln
The fierce italian blood blazed in her
great burning eyes and her
thin small fingers closed over
his arm like a vice. aYou
shall not hurt me sol You have nc.
heart, no pity, no mercy-oh" her[
hands relaxed their hold suddenly
and she threw them oyer her face.
What have you made me say, " she
moaned; ooh, forget it, forget it, For
the merciful heavens sake-I am not
Welt don't know what l said"
DR.. Irving had stood motionless all
through the scene. He looked down at
the covering figure of the girl one mo
ment Gnd came to a decision.
Firmly, almost sternly, ne took her
by the arm, and leading her to a chair,
made her sit down. He waited one in
slant, standing erect in front of her,
then he said:
"Once-years ago-I loveda woman.
Are You listening to me? / have not
spoken of her for twelve years. would
not nov but that / want vou to under
stand. She,was the wife OF another MAJ
and she had o child. She was beau
tiful. / loved her the first time my eyes
rested On her. Flowed her till she died
only one short year after-as l new
er loved before, never have loved since
and never shall love as long as there is
breath in my mortal body. / told You
she was married. Well. she loved me.
She left her husband. She fled in the
dead of night. She expiated her sin.
In a few weeks, or months, she began
to sicken. Remorse killed her at the
last. 1t was all wrong. l have expiat.
ed, too. Ny life has been lonely, ever
will be. The skeleton in my closet
peers at me day after day, night after
night. thrust il bach, bat it is there.
He stopped; his face was very pale.
swell, shortly after her death her hus-
band died, too-died of a broken heart.
The child was left alone in the world.
/ took it. / swore to myself that ]
would be father and mother to it. The
woman was your mother, Mia.
There was adead silence in the room
for the space of several seconds. Then
DR.. Irving moved, and took up his
hat.
aNow you understand, he said, "You
understand why you can never be any
thing to me but q daughter, Nita, al.
though as a daughter dearly loved
He hesitatsd a moment, and came over
to her. The girl stood up and put her
hand in his.
"Yes, ] understand" she said, in a
voice that sounded unlike her own. She
bent over his hand and kissed it softly.
Her lips were cold.
DR.. irving went out. Nita watched
at the window, hidden behind the cur
tain till the carriage door closed upon
him and the sound of wheels had died
away. Then she crept up slowly, as
one who walks in his sleep, to her own
room, and closed and locked the door.
The next morning Nita was not at her
accustomed place at the breakfast table.
After waiting a few moments the doctor
sent to her room to know if she were
not well. The servant came down with
a white, scared face. The door was fast
locked, she said. And thefs had been
no answer, and no sound, when she
knocked.
DR.. Irving stood at the bedroom door
the next moment. With q mighty
strain of his powerful shoulders he
burst the door open. There lay the
| girl on her bed, stark and rigid, with
her tangled, black hair falling over
The small, weird face. On the table
beside the bed was a bottle, labeled
~chloroform. 1t was empty.
And this closed the last chapter OF
DR.. Irving's story.