Middletown transcript., 1891-02-05

for one day when in the full tide OF
his happiness he was walking among
the willows near the gardens, where
be overheard q conversation between
some basketmakers who were cutting
the osiers for their use. In this fatal
dialogue the suspicious Of the neigh
boring townsfolk were revealed to
him for the first time. On his return |
home he seemed TO have aged years.
But he said nothing indeed, it was
thing impossible. And from that
hour an estrangement began. She
could not understand it, and simply
waited. One day he said, however,
/" must 60 abroad"
But why Z" said she. /" William,
have | offended yon ?"
No" he said "but / must go.
She could coax little more out Of
him, and in itself there was nothing
unnatural in his departure, for he
had been wanderer from his youth.
In few days he started of, apparent
ly quite another man than he who
had rushed to her side so deyotedly
few months before.
1t is not known when, or how, the
rumors, which were thick in the att
mosphere around her, actually reach
ed the Lady Pene1ope's ears, but that
they did reach her there is no doubt.
Then reason for her husbands de-
parture occurred to her appalled,
mind, and a loss Of health became
quickly apparent. She dwindled
thin in the face, and the veins in her
temples could all be distinctly traced.
An inner fire seemed to be whitening
her away. Her rings fell off her
fingers and her arms hung like the
fails of the, thrashers, though they
had till lately been SO round and
beautiful. She wrote to her husband
repeatedly, begging him to return to
her but he, being 10 extreme and
wretched doubt-moreover knowing
nothing of her i'll health, and never
suspecting that the rumors had reach
ed her also-deemed absence best,
and postponed his return awhile,
giving various good reasons for his
delay.
At length. however, when the Lady
Penelope had given birth to a still
born child, her mother. the Countess,
addressed q letter to Sir William, re-
questipg him to come back to her if
be wished to see her alive, since she
was wasting away of some mysterious
disease, which seemed to be rather
mental than physical. It was evident
that his mother-in-law knew nothing
of the secret, for she lived at a dis
tance; but Sir William promptly
hastened home, and stood beside the
bed of his now dying wife.
!" Believe me, William" ," she said,
when they were alone, ! am inno-
cent-innocept."
i"Of whativ said he. Heaven
forbid that l should accuse you Of
anything
But you do accuse me- silentlyT
she gasped. " I could not write there.
on--and ask you to hear me. It was
too much. too degrading. But would
that I had been less proud They sus-
pect me Of poisoning him, William
But am innocent of that wicked
crime. He died naturally. / loved
you-but too soon that was all |"
Nothing availed to save her. The
worm had gnawed too far into her
heart before Sir Williams return for
anything to be remedial now, and in
few weeks she breathed her last.
After her death the people spoke loud.
er and her conduct became 9 subject
Of public discussion. A little later
on the physician who had attended
| the late Cir John heard the rumor
and came down from the place near
London to which he latterly had re-
tired with the express purpose of call
ing upon Sir William Hervy, now
| staying in Casterbridge.
He stated that at the request of
relative ofsSir Johns who wished to
be assured on the matter by reason of
its suddenness, he had, with the as
sistance of surgeon, made private
examination of Sir Johns body inn
| mediately after his decease, and
found that it had resulted from pure
ly natural causes. Nobody at this
| time had breathed suspicion Of foul
play, and therefore nothing was said
which might since have established
her innocence.
1t being thus placed beyond doubt
that this beautiful and noble lady
had been done to death by q wicked
scandal that was wholly unfounded,
her husband was stung with dread
ful remorse at the share he had taken
in her misfortunes and left the coun-
try anew, never to return alive.
He survived her but a few years, and
hisbody was brought home and buried
beside his wife's, under the tomb
which is still visible in the parish
church. Until lately there was q
good portrait of her, in weeds for her
first husband, with a cross in her
] hand, at the ancestral seat Of her
family, where she was much pitied,
\ as she deserved to be. Yet there
were some severe enough to say
and these net unjust persons in other
respects-that though unquestionably
innocent of the crime imputed to her,
she had shown an unseemly wanton-
ness in contracting three marriages
in such rapid succession, and that the
i untrue suspicion might have been
ordered by Providence (Who often
works Indirectly as punishment for
her selfindulgence. Upon that point
| have no opinion to offer Long
mans Magazine.
/ A Modest, Sensitive Woman
often shrinks from sonsulting
4 nhvsieian about functional derange.