Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-04-08
that my father lay at the point of death
Tho looforc bod riynp him I'M

lngS. For they were StrlcCly enlalleu.
I went back again, perfectly ambition
less, for every hope of my life had fled with
Arelie's falseness-went back to what?
1t seems foolish, after all, to open old
sores, but the memory of that home-com-
ing is back with me now, even stronger
than the memory of the horrors which fol-
lowed. Therefore I must tell it.
Invent first to see my father. He was
propped up with pillows in the bed, his face
CHASTITY. All, yes; death had most surely
placed his hand upon him. He looked at
me with eyes in which a strange luster
cleaned. a cry broke from my lips. That
glare, that strange twitching of the muscles,
I had seen once before in India. My father
had been poisoned by one of the most subtle
drugs known science-its effect, indeed, al
most unknown save by some one who had
seen another die with it.
My heart grew cold with horror-horror
unspeakable! But why was it my thoughts
reverted to the beautiful wife ofmy brother?
"My God !" l cried, "am I too late to save
him."
l knew the antidote; but was it too late
to use it? Scarcely needing the questions
asked, I went and got the antidote, which
if he were not too far gone, would save him.
AS / came up the avenue again, my
thoughts full of my father, a lady came
along the shady path below; a tall graceful
woman, I saw at a glance, with some
thing strangely familiar about her carriage.
She came out from the dense shadow, and
as she did so my brother overlook me, and
his eyes fell on the lady as we'll, who at that
moment stepped into the sunshine.
"That is my wife, Guy" he said. "1s
she not beautiful enough to make pardona-
BILE my mesalliance, as they call it,"
Beautiful enough! All, heavens! Yes,
for that moment I saw the perfect features,
the crown of wavy hair, the crimson curv-
ing lips of the woman I had loved. The
dark eyes of my false wife were looking
into mine.
A sharp cry left my lips. My eyes did
not deceive me. Clad in silken robes and
costly lace, Arelie stood before me. Stood
before me only for a moment, and then |
saw her lips grow white, her face grow pal
lid, heard the low, frightened cry, saw
the passionate, pleading look; the next
moment she had fallen at our our feet.
My brother looked at me.
"You have frightened her, Guy, by the
way you looked at her. I think you must
be crazy. You did not seem to know what
you were doing"
He lifted Arelie in his arms and carried
her to the house, while 1 followed, almost
doubling the whole occurrence. First l
went to my fathers room and gave him
the drops l had gone for, then went down
to the library to seek Vernon and tell him
Arelie's story and I entered by the side
door, and came face to face with Arelie,
who held an open letter in her hand.
"What do you intend to do" she said,
the paper dropping from her fingers, which
I saw at a glance was my fathers's will, for
he owned other wealth besides the entailed
estate.
At this instant a servant entered, and
Arelie stole away without hearing my
answer. left the library then as we'll, and
went out into the grounds, walking up and
down in deep thought, when the sweep OF
a dress told me ONE one was near, and l
turned to meet her again.
"You will spare me, Guy? You will not
betray me ?" she cried, clasping my arm.
/ shook her off.
"Do you think I would be a party to your
crime ?" I asked. But still shrank from
telling Vernon, for he was a perfect devil
when his temper was reused. "Meet me
here tomorrow night" I said, 'and I will
give you my decision; but Arelie, dare to
attempt my fathers life again, and as sure
as there is a God above me, I will hand you
over to the law! Oh woman! could you not
wait for wealth and position a few short
years."
l did not dream that at this moment a
pair of eyes-Vernon's eyes, dark with
sudden-born jealous rage-were fixed upon
us but Arelie must have seen them. She
pushed me back.
"You must not tempt me to leave my
husband, Guy Howard" she cried. eyer
non, where are you, to save me from this
man 2"
"You would steal my wife from me, you
scoundrel!" 1 heard Vernon's voice cry,
as he leaped forward beside us "but I will
send a bullet through your cowardly heart"
I saw a pistol CLEAN in the air. I felt a
sharp, sudden pain in my side, then as I fell
I thought I heard q woman's scream, and
the second report of a pistol, and l remem-
bered no more.
When I a awoke to consciousness l was
what 1 am now-the lonely master of this
vast estate, for l had been too late to save
my fathers life, and as Vernon had raised
the revolver the trigger had caught in an
~overhanging Dough, and the other bullet
had entered his own heart.
1 never married again. People call me
a misanthrope, but never, thank God, a
cynic, and wonder why it is SO; but none
ever dream of what Nernon's wife had
been to me.
never married, though l was at liberty
to do SO, for after my recovery Arelie went
away, and four years afterward l looked
upon her dead face, all its beauty marred,
all its delicate perfection gone, by the life
she had led.
This is the story Of Fleming Hall, and
the reason why /, its master, have new
err been charmed again by the light of wo-
mans eyes, nor won by a smile on her lips.
How Is THIS "A member of the Con-
fedcrate Congress said the other day that
there was a chapter in the history of the
late war that had never yet been written.
He was hoping that some of the members
of the Confederate Congress would take up
the topic and put it in the form of a book.
He referred to the story of the secret ses-
| Sionc of the Confederate C0nprpSS no record