Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-03

forced gayety that more than one turned to
| look after them as they passed merrily
down the road VIII Juliet never be the
mistress of that house? 1 think she will,
my Orrin. That d1mpled smile of hers has
more force in it than that dominating will
| of yours. If she chooses to hold her own
! she will hold it, and neither you nor the
| Colonel can say her nay.
What did Orrin tell me? That she would
never be mistress of that house? Orrin was
| right, she never will; but who could have
thought of a tragedy like this? Not 1, not
|; and if Orrin diG and planned it But
let me tell the whole inst as it happened,
keeping down my horror till the last word
is written and l have plainly before me the
awful occurrences of this fearful day.
They went, the three, to that fatal house
together, and no man, saving myself per-
haps, thought much more about the matter
till we began to see Juliet's father peering
anxiously from over his gate in the direc-
tion Of the wood. Then we realized that the
afternoon had long passed. and that it was
getting dark; and going up to the old man,
[ asked whom he was looking for The
answer was as we expected.
81 am looking for Juliet The Colonel
took her and Orrin up to their new house,
but they do not come back. l had a dreadful
dream last night, and it frightens me- Why
don't they come? 1t must be dark enough
in the wood"
'They will soon come,'' assured him,
and moved off, for l do not like Juliet's
father
But when passed by there again half
hour later and found the old man still stand
ing bareheaded and with craning neck at
his post, became very uneasy myself and
proposed to two or three neighbors whom
| tOnnH oh ho4 cho,
toward the woods and see if all were well.
They agreed, being affected, doubtless, like
myself by the old mans fears, and as we
proceeded down the street, others Joined us
till we amounted in number to a halfdozen
or more. Yet though the occasion seemed
strange one, we were not really alarmed
till we found ourselves at the woods and
realized how dark they were and how still
Then began to feel an oppression at.heart,
and trod with careful and hesitating steps
till we came into the open space in which
the house stands. Here it was lighter, but
oh! how still. I shall never forget how
still; when suddenly shrill cry broke
from one amongst us, and L saw Ralph Ur-
phistone pointing with finger frozen in
horror at something which lay in chastity
outline upon the broad stone which leads
up to the gap of the great front door.
What was it? We dared not approach to
see, yet we dared not linger quiescent One
by one we started forward till finally we all
stood in Mortified circle about the thing
that looked like a shadow, and yet was not
a shadow, but some horrible nightmare that
made us gasp and shudder till the moon
came suddenly out, and we saw that what
we feared and shrank from were the bodies
of Juliet and Orrin, he lying with face up
turned and arms thrown out, and she with
her head pillowed on his breast as if cast
there i'll her last faint moment of conscious
ness. They were both dead, having fallen
through the planks of the scaffolding, as
was shown by the fatal gap open to the
moonlight above our heads Dead, dead,
and though no man there knew how, the
terror of their doom and the retribution it
seemed to bespeak went home to our hearts,
and we bowed our heads with simultane-
Gus crv of terror, which in that first mo-
ment was too overwhelming even for grief.
The Colonel is nowhere to be seen, and
after the first few minutes of benumbing
horror, we tried to call aloud his name. But
the cries died in our throat, and presently |
one amongst us withdrew into the house to |
search, and then another and another till T |
was left alone i'll awful attendance upon the |
dead. Then 1 began to realize my own an
guish, and with some last fragment of secret |
iealousy-or was it from some other less |
definite but equally imperative feeling?-
was about to stoop forward and lift her |
head from pillow that 1 somehow felt de- |
filed it, when quick hand drew me aside.
and looking up, 1 saw Ralph standing at nv |
back He did not speak, and his figure
looked ghostly in the moonlight, but his |
hand was pointing toward the house, and
when I moved to follow him, he led the |
wav into the hollow entrance and up the |
stairway till we came to the upper story
where he stopped, and motioned me to-
ward door opening into one of the rooms.
There were several of our number already |
standing there, so 1 did not hesitate TO an. |
proach, and as went the darkness in which |
had hitherto moved disappeared before
the broad band of moonlight shining into |
the room before us, and L saw, darkIy sill |
houetted againsta shining background, the |
crouching figure of the Colonel staring
with hollow eyes and maddened mien out Of |
the unfinished window through which in all |
probability the devoted couple had stepped |
to their destruction.
+ 70 Be Concluded Nert Saturday.
EURoPE-The Special Cable Letters TO