Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1889-06-21
alt IL false.n he gAsped.

'.For what purposep That she
might frame some pretty tale to hood
wink you still further? No, Pierre
Leroux, can do better than that.
You may prove the truth OF my words
yourself lou have but to watch and
wait. The third night from this she
will again go on her midnight errand.
You must take heed you slumber not
so soundly as OF late; follow her TO the
waterside where the boat is kept; IL my
words are not true, then proclaim me
through all the town as the foul-tongued
slanderer you have called me-"
The face before her grew dark with
rising passion.
III you were but mani" he NUT
tered, in the lower fierce tones of
anger and indignation too deep for
expression.
"You would kill me, / suppose, for
daring to show you that the girl you
deem so perfect is no better than
many of her sex-perchance worse. "
"Silence!" he Numbered. 'Dare
not breathe such a word of her in my
ears.
You are hard to convince" she
sneered maliciously. "You believe
everything she may choose to tell you.
All, well, you are not the tirst-..per
haps you will not be the last"
You called yourself her friend
once he said, flashing "a conteInptu-
Gus glance on the womans dark and
vindictive face. The rebuke touched
her. A flush OF shame rose 10 her
brow-then she laughed.
"Her friend, yes; taat was before
knew her as she is. BE sides. l pity
you. You have cast all yonr heart on
her. You love-therefore you are
blind. | said so before. OF course.
you are bitter against me be 'ause into
your darkness | bring The light
of truth Men are ever so-where
they love"
He shivered in the bright
warm sunshine. His eyes turned
blindly, darkly. on the deep
brown waters at his feet, on the radi-
ant, azure-wiNCcd butterflies poised on
the lily stems, ON the scarlet-throated
birds that darted in and out of the
feathery blossoms OF the lines. 1t
was all so fair, so peaceful, so still.
few moments before he had looked
on it with eyes so glad, and he; rt so
thankful, and now--now hideous
darkness covered all. a terrible bur-
den lay on his life which his strength
could hardly bear. Yet, even through
the misery that crushed and the pain
that maddened him, his first thought
was to defend her-to hurl back the
foul aspersion he had heard. He loved
her SO utterly, so trustingly, doubt
could not find an easy resting-place
within his loyal soul.
Have you said ALP" he asked
"All! Is it not enough"
1T is too much 10 be passed over
lightly. This matter ends not here.
But for the present l will prove your
words Or"
COR what?" she asked hesitatingly.
"Revenge them"
As the words fell from his lips. he
turned, and went. with the stagge ring
uncertain step of drunken man.
through the orchard paths and up to
the old gray house-the home of his
infancy and manhood, the home where
honor and integrity and virtue had
alone reigned for generations past,
with no s,ain Of evil or breath of
shame TO mar its spotless fame. Was
she-the woman he deemed too pure
and fair almost for mortal
love to touch-was she to be the first
TO darken those stainless records? Be-
lief in the story he had heard could
not hol9 him yet, could not shake his
fidelity or weaken his love, but a
deadly fear crcpt into his aching heart
and ran like an ice-current through
his veins. The poison Of doubt
had brea,hed upon his senses. and the
plague-spot burned yet deeper and
deeper with It's torturing whispers
Once, in the agony that consumed
him, he gazed upat the home he loved
and stretched his arms out to the va
cant air.
"Oh, my wife, my lovei" he cried,
unconsciously. "let all the world per-
ish, only let me know you true!"
1t was the yearning, the idolatry OF
an Intense engrosslng passion that
spoke in the words. To think that
the loneliness he he.d in reverence so
deep, the hear that had beat as his
own. the lips that had breathed their
kisses on his-that these were shamed
and vile, and dishonored, was worse
than death. If there was treachery
or iniidelity in her past or presen.
she was equally lost to him. She
could no more be the spotless ideal of
his life. that he knew, Then he passed.
through the rose-covered porch and
stood in her presence.
TO BE CONTINUED.
The Country Boy.
country how ia mt IN cirh for tba