The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-10-24

quick observer might haye seen mute
questioning in the glance he turned to
her-or was it merely pity for the for
lorn figure of the so recently bright
young beauty
She looked steadily at him for one
brief instant.
81 have told them all could of the
accident" she said in low voice, as she
passed on, while Jim stepped forward, q
somewhat less anxious expression on his
face.
He glanced quickly round the room,
but saw only pity on the eyes turned on
him.
You were the first, we are told, to
reach the spot where this sad calamity
happened. Will you tell us how you
found deceased 1t was your cousin 3
cry to help, we understand, that drew
you to the spot 2"
Notwithstanding the emotion he man
ifested, and which seemed perfectly in
keeping with the occasion, the witness
had no difficulty in replying to this
question, and verdict of accidental
death" was duly returned, in accordance
with the evidence. Having discharged
their duty, the twelve just men and true
filed out Of the room, shaking hands
with the bereaved
brother, and remarking one to another
of the strange fatality of the son meet
ing his death in almost the same manner
as the father had done in that very place
emily few years before
The human mind has a special enjoy
ment in condolences, and not without
relish did these honest farmers dwell on
the points of resemblance. Many of
them had sat at the former inquest, and
for weeks to come their heavy talk was
seasoned with "reminiscences from each
gloomy occasion, and made still more
palatable by the recollection of the acu-
men they had displayed in findings ver-
dict.
Meanwhile life at the cottage was
strangely altered.
Gladys moved about in her black dress
noiseless as ghost, growing daily paler
and paler, thinner and thinner, She
might, indeed, have been creature Of
another sphere, for any human interest
she ever showed, save, when, with a
wan smile, she ministered to the old
broken-hearted mother, utterly crushed
by the second blow. AS for Jim. the
clustering reckless, genial, devil-may-
care fellow, had grown silent and mo-
rose, wandering over the fell alone, or
watching Gladys with strange intent.
meas as she moved about the desolate
kitchen but she never met his eyes,
never spoke TO him a single word, nor
tasted food at the table where he sat.
A month or two had passed, when, one
evening, when the girl was returning
from one of her many visits to the lone
ly churchyard across the fell, Jim
stopped her in the path and seized her
by the wrists.
"How long do you think l can bear
this 2" he cried fiercely; 'you y you
were the cause of it all with your cursed
beauty and your damned hattering ways.
There, don't look at me like that, l tell
you, or you'll madden me-. Oh, Gladys,
Gladys, it must have been me ye cared
for, after all, or ye'd never have done
what ye did to save me-"
A look OF unutterable contempt passed
over the girls face. With quick, I'M
perious gesture che wrenched her hands
from his grasp and stood apart, her eyes
blazing with passionate indignation, her
whole frame quiverIng. yet erect.
"You cared for You-and do you
think l lied to save your wretched life
because it was somehow dear to me, do
youl Now, before God tell you, il
ever for one moment such thought had
been possible, dare not, dare not have
done the thing did.
"Taunt me, curse me, il you will, you
can aay no harder words than conscience
is ever sounding in my ears. Murderer
though you be, bear my burden, too ;
but listen, and il you have soul at all,
you'll remember it through eternity-I
spared you because the man you killed
loved you, because he died with pray
er for you almost on his lips, and be-
cause be believed in the hell you are fit
for; because the mother who bore you
loved you, and it would have killed her
to know the truth; because there is such
agony in the world that would not add
to the pain of the variest wretch that
breathes; and just recause-because |
hated you, and 1t felt like murder to
send you to your death. Go-go, and
never let me see your face again, but in
life, in death remember the woman who
spared you, opared you most Of all for
the sake of him whose blood is on your
head"
That night Jim left his home.