Iron County news. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1890-189?, 1891-02-14

know not-she returns just between
midnight and dawn. How comes IL
you have not found II out yourself,
friend Pierrep"
ut is false" he gasped. "Come
with me straight into her presence.
and there repeat this lie II you darep"
'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; II 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 n 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 word OF her in my
ears.n
you are hard to convince" she
sneered maliciously. You believe
everything she may choose to tell you
All. well, you are not the first-per-
haps you will not be the last"
You called yourself her friend
once" he said, flashing contemptu-
Gus glance on the woman's dark and
vindictive face. The rebuke touched
her. A flush Of shame rose to her
brow--then she laughed.
''Her friend, yes; that was before
knew her as she is. Besides, pity
you. You have cast all your heart on
her. You love-therefore you are
blind. l said so before. OF course.
you are bitter against me because 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
bllndly, darkly, on the deep
brown waters at his feet, on the radi-
ant, azure-winged 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.
A few moments before he had looked
on 1t with eyes so glad, and heart so
thankful, and now--now u 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 to be passed over
lightly. This matter ends not here.
But for the present will prove your
words Or
COR whatp" 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--lhe home OF his
infancy and manhood, the home where
honor and integrity and virtue had
alone reigned for generations past,
| with no stain 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 hold him yet, could not shake his
fidelity or weaken his love, but
deadly fear crept into his aching heart
and ran like an ice-current through
his veins The poison of doubt
had breathed upon his senses, and the
plague-spot burned yet deeper and
deeper with its 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 love!" he cried,
unconsciously, ''let all the world per-
ish, only let me know you truel"
II was the yearning, the idolatry OF
an intense engrossing passion that
| spoke in the words. To think that
the loneliness he held in reverence so
deep, the heart that had beat as his
own, the lips that had breathed their
kisses on his-that these were shamed
and vile, and dlshonored, was worse
than death. Ii there was treachery
or in6delity in her past or present,
| she WIS enuallY lost 10 him She