Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-06-27

"And you have had good night?"
| GA wonderful night; | feel quite re-
| freshed; and were it not for what is before
me, should feel perfectly happy"
| Now, it is a singular fact that my mind
was also blank as to the danger which
| threatened u.s. had no recollection not
| only of what had passed between me and
my uncle on the previous day. but even of
| bis being in the house.
"Of what is before your" said. "What
do you mean?"
"SureIy you have not forgotten the task
have set myself with your uncle? shall
| succeed, love-I shall succeed The first
| sound heard this morning was the sing
| ing of the birds That is nearly always so:
but this morning their sweet notes had q
peculiarly joyful significance. Hope, hope
| hopper they sang. All will be we'll Eu-
nice will be happy. Your home is saved
| The cloud has passed awayl My heart
| sang the words in unison, and have given
thanks to the Giver of all good"
AS she spoke it all rushed back upon
me, and my face grew dark.
"And of all evil" muttered.
MY love, my dear love-" said my wife,
sitting by my side, and taking my hand,
''banish your gloomy thoughts. and hope
as do. l shall soften his heart; I feel, /
know | shall. In few hours we shall be
as we have ever been, and this little trou,
BILE will be dispelled. We have magnified
it unreasonably because of our fears 1t
is not the way to meet trouble; it was
foolish of US. Look at me, Richard''
My eyes rested upon her face and form.
The loveliness Of youth seemed to have 70
turned to her. Her eyes were radiant,
there was smile upon her lips, a bright
and natural color in her face. There was
change also in her attire; she had taken
unusual pains with it. There were roses
at her breast, and some loose roses, the
| choicest in our garden, were in glass up
on the table.
''They are for your uncle,n she said soft
| ly. 81 am going to win his heart as 1 won
| yours"
| Even these tender words did not miti-
| gate the terrible oppression which weighed
| me down. The effect which her sw eetness
and newborn beauty had upon me was to
make the near future all the more unbear-
able. She failed to convince me that,
within few short hours, we should not
be thrown upon the world, without a
home.
''Mammap' 1t was Eunice's voice out
side
"Come in, dear child" called my wife.
''She is happy and hopeful, Richard I
have been talking to her quite wisely"
IF love be WISDOM / thought, as Eu-
nice entered the room, +'it would count for
much. But love must work a miracle in
| stony heart before happiness can be re-
stored to me and mine.''
kiss the clouds away from your fathers
face, my child" said nay wife, "and make
him smile again.
LET be, let be-" said, receiving and re-
turning Eunice's caress with GOODNESS.
Don't be disheartened, darling" said
my wife, drawing Euniee to her. "Your
father is not himself this morning"
There is nothing new, mammal" asked
Eunice anXiously.
"No, dear child, !" replied my wife. "Rely
upon
81 will, mammal will, ;" murmured Flu.
nice, her face upon her mothers breast.
eve will go down now, Richard,'' said
my wife; you will join us presently?"
eyes, presently" replied.
They left the room together, taking the
loose roses with them, and proceeded to
make my toilet. 1t was soon completed,
and took my watch from my pocket to
ascertain the time. AS put it back my
fingers encountered ring. took it out,
and gazed at it in dumb establishment; it
was the diamond ring my uncle had placed
upon his finger on the first night of his ar
rival. By what strange means had it come
unconsciously into my possession?
l shook my head angrily and impatient
ly, and tried to think. My uncle had not
given me the ring, and I could scarcely
have taken it without his knowledge But
with or without his knowledge, | must
have taken it, for it lay in my trembling
hand. How did it come into my pocket
Was thief? 1t needed but question
like this to make my despair complete.
Little did / suspect what was yet to be re-
vealed to me and all of us. The stone in
the ring was, as | have already stated. not
large, and could, at the utmost, have been
worth not more than twenty pounds That
[ should have been guilty of theft, and
of theft so paltry. shocked and over
whelmed me. Yes, that was partly my
thought-not only of a theft, but of
theft so paltry. / will make no attempt
at disguise. In the workings of a mans
heart mean and sordid motives take their
place-even in the hearts of the noblest of
men: and in my state of despair | shud-
dered to think that it was possible, in the
light of the threatened future before me,
that 1 might be tempted to commit
crime if it would save my wife and daugh-
ter from wreck and ruin. This horrible
reflection brought wildly to my mind the
guilty hope which had stirred within me
but few hours ago. that my uncle would
die in the night.
What should do with the ring? dared
not show it to my wife; the thoughts which
it must inevitably have inspired in her
gentle breast would, as it were, have re-
vealed to her base depths in my nature of
which she did not believe me capable.
Nor had l myself ever believed that I
could fall into degradation SO deep, so
complete But my soul being now brought
to the bar. carelessness or inaction would
invite an exposure SC CANNING ...s.U .
never hope to recover from it. / must be
careful, wary, cunning. The circumstance
must not be mentioned to living soul.
The secret was mine, and mine alone, and
must be iealously preserved. The respect
of those loved so dearly, and in whose
sunshine / may be said to have lived, must
not be jeoparded. / had to see my uncle
on this morning, and would take the OPP
portunity of slipping the ring somewhere
in his room, or of dropping it upon the
floor, and thus avoid suspicion. So re-
solving, 1 went down to my wife and
daughter with my guilty secret in my
pocket, ready to my right hand.
Mr.. Mortlock was with them, at break
fast, and Mdlle. Rosalie. Mr.. Mortlock
gave me "Good-morning," and with a
hatred in my heart which, had 1 not held
myself in moral and physical control,
| wou1d have i'm nelled me tO strike him in