Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-03-08

| travelled night and day-he the criminal
Philippa, my peerless Pliiipps! my wife.
| my Lowell Innocent! Innocent! Ths-t;.is
| revulSion of feeling is more than human ma
ture can bear!
''0gder in the court! Order in the courlr'
What is it? Who is it? Only woman in a
dead faint! She is borne out tenderly, low
ingly, proudly, by man who clasps his
precious burden to his heart full of such
rapture as few of his fellow-creatures can
ever have known.
But let it also be hoped that few have ever
endured such grief and anguish!
CHAPTER XVI.
WHERE ARE THE SHOWS THAT FELL LAST
YEAR%'
Although, while engaged in the labor of
writing this story, have many times re-
gretted that am nothing more than a plain
narrator of facts and incidents, not a master
of fiction. think have not yet felt the re-
gret so strongly as at the moment when /
begin this chapter. The somber acts of the
life drama in which Philippa and played
parts so painful, so full of grief, and ev~n
if frightened by ray of Joy, of joy falla-
ciouS and of uncertain tenure-theSe acts
have found little difficulty in describing; |
had simply to throw my mind back to the
pictures of the past and reproduce them in
words. The task. whether well or i'll done,
was not hard one.
But now, when in one moment and as if
by magic, everything changed; when sor-
row seemed to be simply swept out of our
lives; when that poor abject wretch's con-
fession of guilt, forced from him in some
laff rh.Nta rI-
ture brigh: and cloudless, but consigned to
rest all the ghosts Of the past, whose shad-
owy forms had hitherto dOgged our steps
and denied us the happiness rightly due to
those who love as We loved; now It's that l
feel my shortcomings acutely, and wish my
pen was more powerful than it is.
And yet word will describe the state Of
my own mind as, when the last solemn
words were spoken by the judge-spoken in
a voice which showed emotion and distress
at being compelled to condemn a fellow
creature to DEATH carried my fainting
wife from the crowded, reeking court. The
momentary sense of rapture passed away;
bewilderment sheer bewlderment, is the
word for what was left. l could not think
All my reasoning faculties had left ME. In
fact, l believe that had Philippa not swOon-
ed, and so needed my mechanically given
care, L myself should have fallen senseless
on that threshold which an hour before
we crossed, thinking we were going to end
less misery.
remember this much. As laid Philip
pa on one of the hard wooden benches in
the stone corridor kept repeating TO my
self, Innocent, my love is innocent; that
man is guilty." l suppose this continual
reiteratiOn was an endeavor to impress the
tremendous fact upon NV brain, which for
time was increduous, and refused to EN-
tertain it.
threw up my wife's veil and bathed her
face with water, which was brought me by
kindly policeman. Presently her eyes
opened, and Consciousness returned; she
stroye to speak.
dearest" whispered, ''as you love me,
will leave it.''
wild look Of Joy in her eyes that obedience
tasked her to the utmost. She was soon
able to rise, and then we walked from the
court pushed our way through the crowd
who waited in the street, busily discussing
the sudden termination to the trial, threw
ourselves into cab, and in another moment
were alternately weeping and laughing in
each others arms.
1t was, however, but for moment The
inn to which we drove was close at hand.
There we We're shownintO room, and were
at last free to give the fullest vent TO our
pent-up feelings.
1t would be absurd for me to attempt to
reproduce our words, our 0isiOinted excla-
nations. 1t would be sacrilege for me to
describe the tears that we shed, the en-
braces, the loving caresses we lavished on
each other. Think of us an hour, one short
hour ago! Think of US now! The curse
laid upon us by that awful night removed
forever! Our secret kept, or secrecy, if still
advisable, no longer absolutely needfuL
Philippa, in spite Of all / had seen, in spite
Of all she had told me on that night when
found her, wild, distracted woman, in a
Storm the widest that years have known
guiltiess Of her husbands deathl Innocent,
not only vas she had in my eyes always been,
but also, what was far more, innocent in
her own eyes!
Small wonder that for nearly an hour we
sat with our arms twined around each other,
and used few words which We're more than
rapturouS exclamations of love and JOY.
There! l cannot, will not describe the
scene more fully. l will say no more. ex-
crpt this; when at last we grew caimer,
Philippa turned to me, and once more saw
terror gathering in her eyes.
BASIL" she said, lit is true-it must be
truce"
True! of course it is.''
That man, the prisoner, could not have |
pleaded guilty when he was innocent"
why should he? 1t meant death to him,
poor wretch"
But why did he confess?'
who can tell? Remorse may have urged |
him to do So"
Philippa rose, and her next words were |
spoken quickly and with excitement
No, l did not do it. The thought. the |
dream haunted me, but l did not believe it |
until heard those men talk Of the way he |
died. Then it all came back to me. The
mad storm, the dead man over whom |
stood; even then don't think Iactually be-
lieved it. 1t was when you told me hsw
you found me, that lost all hope"
Dearest, forgive me. / should have be-
ieved in the impossibility of the act eyen
IN yOUr delirium even if had Saan it dana |