Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1890-12-18

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ped in cloud about her pillow, lay lit.
tie Oracle, the innocent victim OF her
fiendish revenge.
Tearing her veil from her face, the
guilty woman stared at the apparition
until her eyes started fr I'M their sock
cts.
"God" she gasped in terror! dead
and l murdered herl"
The desperate thought suggested the
necessity of immediate flight if she
would save herself and escape from jus
tice.
Flinging her cloak off at the door o,
the tomb, she sprang into the interior,
and with frenzied haste began to fill
her hands, her valise even the skirt oil
her dress with her ill-gotten gains. Ir
bright, glittering cataract the jewels
poured from their dark hiding place
behind the moldering collins; in two
minutes more every gem, every roll Of
bank-bills would be in hel possession.
when suddenly she paused, holding
her breath and listening to the wild
humping OF her terrified heart.
What has she heard? A sough Of
the wind or deep-drawn sigh?
Mechanically her haggard eyes
turned to the rigid form behind her
but it lay there like dead Julie,
craven in spotless marble.
Again she returned to her nefarious
work. Her trembling fingers rake6
and stirred the dust of ages that moth
ing, not a jewel nor single note
should escape her eager grasp. She
had them all now--a fortune for the
nest of her life-when bark! Just
Heaven, there was sound behind he,
which froze the blood in her veins
he turned and lo!-the dead had
tA"@e Oracle was standing in the
pallid moonlight, the withered roses
falling about her feet, one by one!
With shrek piercing enough in its
import to rouse the sleeping Cliffords,
Cora Boyden flung out her arms as
though to grasp the phantom and rsnd
it to atoms.
Away" she screamed, "you are
dead, dead, dead! Oh, God! why do
you mock me with those staring eyes
I'll tear them out, and put cleaning
diamond in their bloody sockets
Then you cannot shock me so! Away.
| say, away-away."
She advanced toward the white
draped statue, filling the quiet night
with her maddened voice, but ere she
had taken three steps her heart ceased
it's action and she fell PROSTATE upon
the floor, as dead as the stones which
bruised her convulsed features, while
the jewels burst from their confinement
and fell about her ifeless form in o
glittering, hooking shower!
Half way up the hill Arnim and hi.
companion heard the blood-curdline
thriek, and, with bated breath, sprang
| ap the remainder of the ascent.
The tomb door hung wide open, and
in the lambert moonlight their terrified
eyes rested upon sight the memory
Of which they bore to their graves
| There within the gloomy confines oil
the house of death stood their darling
resurrected, while at her feet lay dark
form speechless, with a stream of life.
blood flowing from her lips, soaking
the masses of her rich black hair and
aimming the luster of the scattered
| Jewels!
1t was the hand of Fate which had
descended at last; it was the long-de-
terred Judgment of heaven!
| May had come, blithesome, gladstone
May, with its flowers and birds, its sun.
shine rich in the promise of summer.
In the stone mansion upon the shores
Of Black Pond there was music and
light and rejoicing again.
| Out OF the jaws Of death the young
ieiress to all the fair domain had re-
mrned miraculously, and was herself
.gain amid a joyous company.
Among the happy faces gathered
lbout the splendid dinner-table one
oalmy evening we recognize the proud
Ind happy mother, still beautiful in her
.enewed youth; little Oracle at her
ide with pink flowers Of the bay in her
golden hair, rivaling in their tint the
lush Of health upon her lovely face;
md there around the festive board
we're old Jean Leonard and little Stella,
rupert Arnim and his mother, honest
Oorothea-a joyous party, indeed.
After the repast, and while the
amous Madame Clarisse" filed the
delighted ears Of the company with
ome of the great arias which had
alarmed the old world into alteration
# her genius, Rupert Arnim wandered
nut upon the star-lit earth, with heart
90 full for utterance, with eyes too
,harged with tears to be presentable.
And little white-robed figure, with
he flowers Of the bay in her hair, fitted
sfter him, and laid her hand upon his
grm.
Rupert"
"Gracie!"
She grew serious, and her bright face
,louded.
Rupert, look me in the eyes!" she
said; "your happiness is only simulated
FOUR gayety is all lie!"
"Gracie, he faltered, you must be
ned"
"No, Rupert; you wish to die! A
weapon. a deadly revolver has been
discovered In your chamber, and will
you deny having written this letter Of
eternal adieu to me?"
She produced the tell-tale missive as
ihe spoke, and held it before him; but
he hung his head.
Oracle" he breathed, "you do not
know"