The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1890-02-07
TOM
DRYSON'S CRIME.
BY THE MAJOR"
CHAPTER XIV.
WHAT TIE WRITING REVEALED

B' Amont. They are written in the ST.
lense of the night, when 1 am alone
with Him who Judges us all. He
knows that l have no choice; that |
must fly, like thief in the night, from
tho dear woman who has been SO kind
to me, from the noble man whose love
would honor queen, and which /
must now reject, once and forever.
The happiness that he points me to,
cannot take. There is Il barrier in
the way that may not be Gro ossed.
/ Cannot bear the misery of saying a
last farewell to these two; nor can |
bear that they should think iie ,:u-
grateful, or even cold. Nor do dare
to pour out my heart upon this inscn-
safe paper L will in few words tell
them why l must leave them forever.
Iwould implore them that they leave
me to go my sori owful way in peace; !;
that they will not strive to find me.
But the regret is needless. They will
;, not wish Randall Belmont will not
!, w.shwto see me, to hear aught more Of
me, after this writing shall bo fully
--xeads and -aazses&e d.--<.---------.--
it is EsliAhht tiNfndell, TeIkYears ago l
-:hta&Ft, in a city. My reco and
very distinct about it.
The snarling, morose laborer whom
yct knew as Tom Bryson, and who has
gone to SO fearful an account was tho
miserable wreck OF my noble father of
those old days, Newland Wendell BY
name.
Misfortune overlook him in the city.
He fell from his high position in bu'i-
ness and society, he lost his wealth,
he was once tried for crime | never
q,
sorrowful time, but | have often heard
my father bitterly say that he was far
more slnncd against than SHINING, and
that Mason Beimont-your own father,
Randall-wa3 responsible for his ruin.
And L have heard him say that the
elder Eelmont was the merciless cred
itor who stripped him of all his prop
erty, when little forbearance would
have brought him his due, and made a
man again of the poor, distressed
debtor - -
You. Randall, may perhaps know
Shere the truth is in all this. lido
not pretend to. l only know that our
misfortunes killed my dear mother, and
that my father and [ became much as
outcasts.
| have told you that | promised that
mother in her dying hour that | would
always he faithful to my father, and
ever love AMI obey him. That is true.
And you have wondered how that
promise could constrain me to give my
hand to idgar Van Wyck, whom l did
not love ard to reject yourself, whom
IL did love Eyes, | may rs well confess
it,, at the bidding of my father.
You might well wonder. The rea-
son / gave YOU was not tho real one
Not but that | have been true to the
memory OF that saint in Heaven, my
own dear mother! Not but that l
wished to keep the pledge | had will
ingly given her in her dying hourl
But she never forcsaw how brutified
her once noble husband would become
with the years. She never anticipated
that he could become so cruel as to re-
quirc mo to we'd, and not to wed, ac-
cording to his selfish will.
Noi There was mother reason for
what so strangely promised to do
for what | have, with oIual strange
ness, declined to do
10 you remember, Randall, when
YOU met me in the old house last Octo-
beg? How you thought you had met
me somewhere before how | coldlv
told you that yo were mistaken?
In fact, | recognized YOU at once.
When last saw YOU in the city you
were fifteen years old, and | had not
forgotten you.
But dared not tell you so. 1t was
not only that | knew that my fati
wanted to conceal our identity; thero
was another reason!
And now, as the shadow of that
dreadful explanation obscuros The char
acters | am trying to " ;, appeal to
YOU, Randall, to do mo .ustice. 4 havo
done no wrong. Sometimes it has
seemed to ma as if woman never sIf-
fcred as ] have; but my burdens have
been laid upon me hy others; l am
innocent!
On that day, last October, you came
to tn" old house with tho officers Of the
law, to sou II for clvws I" h'lp you
find your father, who ha t.. ..ar ous'v
disappeared.
Your feet trol Oh the very brink of
discovery, and you never suspected it.
The r0bbcr and the murderer con-
ductcd YOU about the house, and YOU
did not know it,
You walked through the sitting,
room; the money for which your father