Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-16

Awe-struck ~ her late passion, the
child went gently out of the room, and
MS mother following him, l was left
heart to see the panied, drawn look on
his face; but the scene had at all events
put one thing beyond a doubt; Mrs.
Crawford was not merely failing in
brain-power-shc was mad.
A couple Of days went by, and l be-
came fairly puzzled. All the ordinary
verbal tests when applied to my patient
proved complete failures. Her memory
was excellent, and indeed in this re-
spect she was far better than her hus-
band, who was constantly forgetting
things. As to her judgment, it struck
me as above the average, for she was a
WILDLY read woman, and we had y stiff
argument one night as to the merits|o of
favorite authors. She managed Her
own housekeeping, and capitally. ste
did it too; and, in fact-not to exhaust
the readers patience by entering inp
details-the only visible outcome Of nd.
mental alteration was this extreme ten
ror in which she lived, and for which !
could find no reason. q NAV remark
parenthetically that the mad undoubt-
eddy have rules of their own by which
they, are influenced. Experience thus
teaching me that Mrs. Crawford had
some reason for this, to us. inexplicable
dread-even though it might be but
fear of her w shadow-it became my
business to solve this reason.) What
batt1ed me most was the fact that while
it was Crawford himself Who primarily
excited this terror, she was undeniably
fond of him. Indeed, the word ''foidS
is hardly suitable, for she simply ad,red
him. l never heard him expressSthe
slightest wish as to the Household ar
engagements butt was instantly fulhled;
while every whim-and he was
the most whimsical of hen
was implicitly obeyed. In fact,
at the end of a week was
precisely in the same state as when 1
first entered the house. But that my
amour propre was piqued, and L felt
angry at my non-success, | should have
been paying a very enjoyable visit. Ar
thur Crawford made q capital host; and
although, as | have already said, he was
q very whimsical man, and was subject
to unaccountable fits of depression, he
and | got on excellently together.
AT the end of the week something
happened which had the double effect OF
lowering ME several inches in my own
estimation, and Of placing matters in a
totally different light. It was an ex-
ceedinggly hot night; and after we had
all gone to bed, / was tempted to leave
my room, and seating myself by TIE
open window in the corridor, to indulge
in an extra cigar. The fact that it was
a fine moonlight night. and that while
the corridor window boasted q lovely
view, that of my own room looked into
the stables, amply justified my choice
of q seat. / had been there for perhaps
an hour, when 1 heard the Crawfords
talking in their room, which was on a
level with my own. The tones were
excited and eager; and fearing that Mrs.
Crawford might be lashing herself into
a fury, and that her husband might be
ignorantly increasing it, l stole down
to their door and stood listening.
"Arthur, dear, give it to me. You
don't want it tonight. Why not wal
until the morning?" 7
These were the first words that
caught spoken in Mrs. Crawford's usual
ly gentle tones.
"Give it to you?-No; not 1! 1 know
a trick worth two of that. All, 70,
think l don't know that you and tina
COMPOUNDED mealy-mouthed doctor ar,
in league against me-"
Crawford's voice, shrill and hooking
but undoubtedly his. Good heavens
was the man drunk? There was a mo.
ment's pause, and then he began again
this time more gently.
"Come, come. Beatrice. Drop this
stupid joking. l only want to have ;
little cut at BERTHE, just a little cut; and
look! the knife is so bright and sharp, il
can not hurt him much.'
The wall seemed to reel around ME AZ
l leaned against it for support. In 8
flash of revelation that nearly blinded
me, as I realized the full horror of the
situation, / understood for the first time
how matters actually stood. Crawford
himself was the mailman, and the de.
voted wife, whom 1 had been taught tc
look upon as insane, had known the
truth all this time; and knowing it, fol
some inscrutable woman's reason, had
shielded him, perhaps at the cost of her
very life In a moment the meaning OF
his many whims, his loss of memory, his
fits of depression, were made clear tc
me; and as l thought of the martyrdom
through which his girl-wife had passed,
I cursed myself for the readiness with
which I had been duped.
While these thoughts were rushing
through my brain, l had %noiselessly
opened the outer door, and now stood
in the dressing-room, peering into the
bedroom beyond. The door between
the two was standing open; but a heavy
curtain hung in the aperture, and by
making a little slit in it by means Of
my penknife, I was enabled to command
a view of the interior, At the farther
end of the apartment lay BERTHE asleep
in his cot. Standing before him, clad
in a long white wrapper, and with her
auburn hair flowing owe her shoulder,
was the young mother herself; while at
some PAGES from her stood Crawford,
still in evening dress, and balancing in
his fingers a long, glittering dagger,
that l recognized as one that usually
hung in the library below. BY this time
he had dropped his angry tones, and
was speaking in hisaccustomed pleasant