Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-05-23

ent at this marriage ceremony you speak of. and that it was performed by you with my consent7"
 Most deoidly," said the judge, "and you see there were two other witnesses also. There Is no question about tir validity of this marriage. You are Is surely the wife of Clarence Carson ss l am Judge Ransom"
 "Then, may Heaven pity mel" ex. claimed Edith. "I have no recollection whatever of any such marriage, and there is no other living man 1 hate so much as the man whose name is mention ed in that certificate. Oh, Godl what shall do?"
 Judge Ransom, who now began to see the situation in new light was deeply moved by the agitation and distress of the lovely girl, and he was at loss to account for her strange conduct. He thought it possible she might be insane but she did not look, talk, or act like a demented perso,,, and the more he con- sidered the case, the greater became his perplexity. He tried to argue Edith out of her intense aversion for Clarence Carson but found this m impossible task
 "It seems 10 me-" he reasoned, "that instead of denying this marriage you ought to be pleased and proud to ac. Knowledge it. It is not every day that n poor girl marries a millionaire.s
 "It matters not" said Edith. "Were he the richest man in the world, would not marry him, and know there is some terrible mistake about this marriage you speak of."
 "There is no mistake about it, young woman. You are Clarence Carson's wife, and nothing but divorce can now le- gally separate you from the husband to whom you were united in marriage by me in the presence of witnesses"
 Hal Judge Ransom pronounced Ediths death-sentence he could not have infiict- ed deeper pain upon her. It seemed to her as if the world had suddenly con. spired..to deprive her of all happiness and peace of mind. She looked pityingly in the face of Judge Ransom, but could find no trace of sympathy in the severe ex. pression by which it was masked.
 The judge was silent. Edith knew that further words on her part would be in vain, and she rose to go. She found it necessary to steady herself against the desk lest she might fall, so dizzy did her brain become.
 She was determined, however, that Judge Ransom should not see how com. pletely crushed and hopeless his words had left her, and she made a superhuman effort to maintain her composure until she should leave his presence.
 In the excitement of the moment she forgot the marriage certificate, and find ing it among his papers when she was gone, Judge Ransom placed it carefully in his desk.
 It was some relief to Edith Edwards to get into the cool air without. Her fe. vered brain was almost bursting with a pain no medicine could allay, and she felt that q shadow had fallen across hel life, from which it would be impossible for her to emerge into the sunlight of happiness evermore.
 All along the street she kept thinking of Judge Ransom's words, "You are Car. ence Ca,so,.s ,cife," and they made her heart sore.
 On turning the corner, from the thronged thoroughfare to the quiet side street which led to her home, Edith was greeted by a pleasant voice, and looking up, she was pleased to see the cheerful. manly face of her hero and her friend, Ned Newcomb.
 The sight of this brave, unselfish braw. ny young man, toward whom her heart had been turning since first they met, made Edith for the moment forget hel fears.
 "How happy I nm to see you!" she said, and the lovelight in her eyes told Ned that she spoke the truth.
 "I was afraid you would never speak to me again, Edith, after having so stu pidly lost you when I carried you from the river to that wretched hut where Newcomb, in a voice that was rife with the musical tenderness of love.
 Edith's answer startled him.
 "Ah, wish you had lost me ill the riv. CT; then should never awake to the misery that surrounds me-"
 But, Edith, there is hope ahead"
 "Not for me, she replied. Hope and are strangers"
 During the remainder of the journey home Ned Newcomb tried hard to make the wearisome girl take leave of her de spondency, but Edith's replies to all his cheerful remarks to.,, him plainly that she was under some cloud which all his ightness of heart could not dispel, and he longed to learn the secret of her sor row, ill the hope that he might share it. An ! little did he know. i'll that hour oi tender sympathy and solicitude for the woman he lOyad that the calISe O1 Edith's grief was something that would yet embitter his own life.
 NuApTEP YIIT