The record-union., 1891-05-03

ny llItlo, ne drew closer ana closer 10 the
thin, wan face, which thrilled at his touch.
One of the nurses stood by holding can
die, while the doctor thoughtfully with
drew to the farther corner of the room.
Then, in feeble, painting voice, the
unfortunate woman said: Jacques, mon
che11, am dying; promise me to stay till
it is over! Oh, do not leave me now! do
not leave me in nay last momenti"
Kissing her tenderly on the forehead,
he murmured in voice broken with
sobs: Fear not, will not leave you"
ltwas several moments before she could
gather strength to continue. Then, with
supreme effort, she resumed: 1.-The little
one is yours. l swear it before God! l
swear it by my soul! swear it with my
dying breath! l never loved but you!
Promise me not to abandon hint ~
jacques tried to clasp the poor, enact
ated body once more in his arms, and
wild with remorse and sorrow, he faltered:
81 prOmise-I will rear him and l viii
love him! He shall never be separated
from me "
AS the dying woman heard this solemn
promise she tried to embrace Jacques, but
powerless to raise her head from the
pillow, she mutely offered him her white
lips III one last kiss. He bent his head to
receive that sorrowful, suppliant caress.
Somewhat soothed by his tenderness,
she murmured in a hardly audible voice:
you love him."
He took the child, laid it gently upon
the bed and Immediately it ceased crying.
With sigh of satisfat tion the mother
murmured: ''Do not strip So Jacques
sat motionless beside her, holding in his
burning fingers her hand which grasped
his in quivers of agony, as a short while
before he had held another hand which
clasped his in thrills Of love. From time
to time he looked at the clock with a
furtive glance, watching the hands which
passed midnight, then one o'clock-then
two.
The doctor had gone and the two
nurses, after having wandered back and
forth for time through the room with
noiseless step, were now doing in their
chairs. The child was sleeping, and the
mother lay with closed eyes as if she too
were slumbering.
Suddenly, as the pale light of dawn
glimmered through the drawn curtains of
the silent chamber, she stretched out her
arms with movement so abrupt and SO
violent that she nearly threw the babe
from the bed. The death-rattle gurgled
in her throat; then she fell back rigid and
motionless. She was dead.
The nurses rushed forward, and after a
hasty glance at the lifeless form, cried,
''It is Overr'
Jacques, rising, looked for the last time
upon the face of the woman he had loved,
and then, as the clock struck four, he
seized the child in his arms and fed; for
getting in his haste the overcoat which he
had worn thither to conceal his wedding
garments.
When Bertha found herself alone after
her husbands sudden and ineXplicable
departure. the bride of an hour had
waited calmly enough at first in the little
Japanese boudoir; then, seeing that he
did not return, she had repaired to the
drawing-room, apparently cool and in
different, but in reality tortured with
anxiety. Upon perceiving her unat-
tended, her mother asked: "Where is
your husband?" And she answered,
carelessly, I'm his room; he will be here
presently"
An hour later, when one after another
of the guests began to question her, she
related the circumstance of the mySteri-
Gus letter, Jacques great emotion, and
her own fears of some terrible catas-
trophe.
And still they awaited his coming. The
guests had departed, and only the near
relatives Of the bride remained. At mid
night they undressed and put her, weep
ing piteously, to bed. Her mother and
aunts sat silent and grIeved near the bed
listening to her heart-broken sobs. The
father had gone to the headquarters of
the police to obtain any possible Informal
ion of his son-in-law.
At o'clock light step sounded in the
hall; door opened and closed softly,
then suddenly faint cry, like kittens
mewing, broke on the silence of the sor-
rowing household.
All the women were on their feet in an
instant, and Berthe, wrapped in her
dressing gown, sprang forward with one
bound, despite the efforts of her mother
and aunts to restrain her.
She found Jacques, pale and breathless,
standing in the middle of his room, and
holding an infant in his arms!
The four women looked at him bewil-
dered; but Berthe, suddenly becoming
courageous, rushed towards him, her
heart wrung with anguish, crying:
What does it mean? Tell me, what
does it all mean?"
he appeared dazed, but answered in
broken, spasmodic voice: at means
that-that I have child, and that the
mother has just died." and he held to-
ward her the wailing babe.
Without word Berthe took the child
kissed it and pressed it to her breast:
then, raising to her husband her eyes
swimming in tears, she said: "And the
mother is dead, you say?" EYES," he
replied, "A while ago-in my arms [
had broken with her since last summer
knew nothing of it. 1t was the doctor
who sent for me-"
Well, them" murmured the wife, with
heroism almost sublime, ''You and I
Will rear this little one nv husband =,