Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-06-10

play lSDlldtIOll SuOlilO itll lCI NlidU
| to do. "Oh, God, how can give that wo-
man back the happiness of which have rob
bed her?"
The composing influence OF prayer on
troubled mind was something that she ex-
perienced now. An overpowering inpa-
thence to make the speediest and conpletest
| atonement possessed her. Must she wait till
Herbert Linley no longer concealed that he
was weary Of her, and cast her off? No. 1t
should be her own act that parted them, and
that did it at once. She threw open the door
and hurried half way down the stairs before
she remembered the one terrible obstacle in
! her way-the divorce.
Slowly and sadly she submitted and went
| back to her room.
There was no Disgusting it: the two who
| had once been husband and wife were part
ed irrevocably-by the wife's own act. Let
| him repent ever SO sincerely, let him be ever
| so ready to return, would the woman whose
faith Herbert Linley had betrayed take him
| back? The divorce, the TercileSS divorce,
answered No!
She paused, thinking of the marriage that
was now marriage no more. The toilet
| table was close to her; she looked absently
| at her haggard face in the glass. What a
| lost wretch she saw! The generous impulses
which other women were free to feel were
| forbidden luXurieS to her, She was ashamed
! of her wicllednesS; she was eager to sacrifice
| herself for the GOOD of the once-dear friend
whom she bad wronged. Useless longings
| Too late! too late!
She regretted it bitterly. Why?
Comparing Mrs. Lnley's prospects with
hers, was there anything to justify regret for
ho ha ,oI bo,
| child to make her happy; she had fortune
| of her own to lift her above sordid cares; size
| was still handsome-stilI woman to be ad-
mired. While she held her place in the world
as high as ever what was the prospect before
| Sydney Westerfield? TIE miserable sinner
| would end as she had deserved to end Alb
| sOlutely dependent on q man who was at
| that moment perhaps lamenting the wife
whom he had deserted and lost how long
would it be before she found herself an out
cast, without a friend to help her-With
reputation hOpelesSly lOSt-face TO face with
the temptation to drown herself or poison
herself, as other women had drowned them
selves or poisoned themselves when the
brightest future before them was rest in
death?
II she had been few years older Herbert
Linley might never again have seen her
living creature. But she was too young to
follow any train of repellant thought per-
sistently to its end. The man she had guilt
ly (and yet how naturally loved was lord
and master in her heart-dOubt him as she
might Even in his absence he pleaded with
her to have some faith in him still.
She reviewed his language and his conduct
toward her when she had returned that
morning from her walk. He had been kind
and cOnsiderate; he had listened to her little
story Of the relics of her father. found in the
garnet, as if her interests were his interests.
There had been nothing to diSappoint her,
nothing to complain of, until she had raShly
attempted to discover whether he was free
to make her his wife. She had only herself
to blame if he was cold and distant when she
had alluded to that delicate subject on the
day when he first knew that the divorce had
been granted and his child had been taken
from him. And yet he might have found a
kinder way of reproving sensitive woman
| than LOOKING into the street, as if he had for
| gotten her in the interest Of watching the
| strangers passing by. Perhaps he was not
thinking OF the strangers; perhaps his mind
was dwelling fondly and regretfully on his
wife?
| InStinctively she felt that her thoughts
were leading her back again to state of
| doubt from which her youthful hopefulnesS
recOiled. Was there nothing she could find
| to do which would offer some other subject
| to occupy her mind than herself ard her fut-
ure?
Looking absently round the room she no
ticed the packet Of her fathers letters placed
on the table by her bedside.
The first three letters that she examined,
after untying the packet, were briefly writ
her. They ali related to race-horses, and to
cunningiy devised bets which were certain
to make the fortunes Of the clever gamblers
on the turf who laid them. Absolute indif-
ference on the part of the winners to the
ruin of the losers, who were not in the secret,
was the one feeling in common which her
fathers correspondence presented. In mercy
| to his memory she threw the letters into the
empty fireplace and destroyed them by burn
| ing.
The next letter which she picked out from
| the little heap was OF some length, and was
written in a clear and steady hand. By COM
parisOn with the blotted ScraWls which she
| had just burned, it looked like the letter of
gentleman. She turned to the signature
| The strange surname struck her; it was
| ''Bennydec1."
Not common name, and not name which
| seemed to be altogether unknown to her
| Had she heard her father mention it at home
| in the time Of her early childhood? There
| We're no associations with it thai she could
now call TO mind
She read the letter. Itaddressed her faith
er Familiarity as My dear Roderick," and it
! proceeded in these words:
1.-THE delay in the sailing Of your ship Of
fers me an opportunity of writing to you
again. My last letter told you Of my fathers
| death. l was then quite unprepared for an
event which has happened since that atfic-
ton i"'Gell me. Prepare yourself to be sur
prised. Our old Moated house at Sandyseal,
III which we have spent 50 many happy holt
days when we were SchOolfellows, is sold.
You VIII be almost as sorry az l was to
| hear this: and you WI be quite as surprised
as / was when l tell you that Sandyseal
| Place has become q priory of English nuns
Of the order Of st. Benedict
Il think l see you look up from ray letter
with your big, black eyes staring straight be-
| fore YOU. and say and swear that this nust