The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1889-06-07

@WSNU ish restleSsneSS, q
desire for gayety
a hatred for the solitude which short time
before sh. had so earnestly covoted. Il,
pleased her father to note 1t. looking as he
did merely ut the surface OF the change, not
at the cause. For seventeen years Of her
life he had neglected. and almost deserted
her, then, when he had seen her In her fresh
young beauty. he made her but the tool OF
his safety-ths victim Of his designs.
Long years before, when the mother had
been fair, and young, and innocent, as the
daughter was now. he had welded her In Al
moment Of infatuation which he had never
ceased to regret. He had loved her well for a
time, but then he wearied OF tho ito tina,
bound him. Without feeling OF remorse he
had forsaken her, ms she in her agony and
suffering had only dragged herself back tc
the home Of her childhood and died, knowing
nothing OF his fate. He heard OF her death,
and heard too of the child she had left to the
charity Of strangers, and yet neither sought
her nor took heed OF her welfare till necessity
compelled him. An adventurer, an agitator
IL spy-all these he had been byturns, but to
to his daughter as u martyr for the sake OF
freedom-a hero oppressed and wrongsd by
the haters Of liberty. For time she be.
lieved him-only for time-The mask soon
fell off from his face. and she knew him for
what he was-a traitor to his country, a spy
in the service OF the foe who were filling the
length and breadth OF the land with misery
bloodshed and woel
Bound to him by a tie too close to break
seeing that a word from her would have de.
livered him into her husbands hands to die
a traitors death-she had sworn, as he bade
her, an oath to conceal and aid him rs long
as it lay in her power. He ruled her by two
things-her weakness and her love. He
promised she might live In peace and safety
with Pierre Leroux, SO long Us she betrayed
nothing Of his existence or his treachery. But
when concealment was ut an end, when she
saw the pitfull she had digged for her own
feet, great terror seized her. In tho pas.
sionate scorn with which Pierre had spoken
of the fugitive deserter she seemed to read his
face. Cho thought her husband would in
common honor, and in furious contempt for
tina coward, think nothing OF yielding him up
to justice. She had no choice left but TO shield
him, and thereby she made herself his slave
from that day forward; for to a man skilled
in diplomacy, intrigue, and craft, she was IN
casy prey. Her liio was now fettered by his
Xill, darkened by his falshoods. His own
evil fame alone sufficed to tarnish her repu-
taton, and from the men who were his as.
sociates she received scant courtesy, though
her beauty won for her notoriety with speedy
success.
AS time passed on she grew hardened,
reckless. defiant. She saw herself abandoned
by love-outlawed for no cause-misju
condemned on all sides, and seeing it, shs
laughed with scorn at her own blindness,
and drank the cup Of humiliation to the last
dregs.
OF late she gave no confidence to her
father-betrayed nothing Of tho shame that
consumed and the misery that Eeld her.
She came at his bidding and proilted enough
by his lessons to rule the men who sur
rounded her; to enslave, coqust, allure them.
SO that they might fall re:rdler victims to the
snares ho spread. He deemed her conten,
with her life at last-a passive agent In his
hands. He lavished gifts upon her. H.
would have her robed in costly dresses and
decked with jewels until her lovliness made ali
men wonder and while she smiled, and jestod,
and coqutted with the heedlessnoss that Wa.
only scorn, and the caprice that was onl,
bitterness, he looked on and was we'll con-
tent, and thought her the same.
He did not see her in her hours OF soil.
tuds, whom she took of her rich raimen'
and dashed her jewels on the floor, and
drew forth from their hiding place the
peasant dress and the wooden shoes OF old,
weeping over them as q mother weeps over
the tiny garments or the broken toys OF
her dead child.
He had thought to buy forgetfulness for
her with gold. It Ia mistake men often
make.
1t seemed to her that all love. peace.
content. had died out Of her life forever.
Her heart felt chill and cold to every
emotion OF pain or joy alike. Her one brieI
dream of gladness was over. severed
forever.
Days might come and go, suns would
rise, and nights would fall. and the great
stars would throb in the skies, and gleam
over the peaceful pastures and the flowing
waters Of her old home; but never more
would she stand there and look out at these
things with the thankful heart and tremb-
ling Joy she had once known; never more
would her life be one with the love she had
lost, and the tenderness she had betrayed.
30 she told herself, and there was no voice.
to say her nay. and no living thing to speak
Of consolation.
1t was brilliant day. cold but fne-the
sky without cloud. the sun without shadow
on its brightness. The whole city was alive