The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-12-07
BETRAYED;
A DARK MARRIAGE
MORN.
A Romance of LoUe, Intrigue and
Crime.
BY MRS. ALICE P. CARR1STON.
CHAPTER XXXI.-(Conx1nued.)

CHAPTER XXXI.-(Cons1nued)
For an instant his eyes rested on Eu-
gene with stupef1ed surprise and almost
bewilderment; then be raised his arms
over his head, and his two hands struck
together with sharp sound. At this
terrible moment Cora seized the arm OF
Eugene, and threw him look so pro-
found, supplicating and tragic that it
alarmed him.
BE roughly pushed her from him,
crossed his arms, aud waited the result.
The Senator walked slowly toward him.
Ali at once his face became infamed with
. purple color, his lips half opened as If
about to deliver some deadly insult.
He advanced rapidly, his hands raised;
but after a few steps the old man sud
denly stopped, beat the air with both
hands, as il seeking some support, then
staggered and fell forward, striking his
head against the marble mantelpiece,
rolled on the carpet and remained motion
less.
Then there ensued in this chamber q
sinister silence.
A stiaed cry from Eugene broke it. At
the same time he threw himself on his
knees by the side Of the motionless old
man, touched first his hand, then his
heart.
He saw that he was dead.
A thin thread of blood trickied down
his pale forehead where it had struck the
marble; but this WAS only a slight
wound. It WAS not that which killed him.
What had killed him was the tfeachery
Of those two beings whom he had loved.
and who, he believed, loved him. His
heart had been broken by the violence Of
the surprise, the grief and the horror.
One look Of Eugene told Cora Elliston
she was widow.
She threw herself on the divan, buried
her face in the cushions and sobbed aload.
Eugene still stood, his back against the
mantelpiece, his eyes fixed, wrapped in his
own thoughts.
He wished in all sincerity Of heart that
he could have awakened the dead and
restored him to life.
He had sworn to deliver himself up to
him without defense if ever the old man
demanded it of him for forgotten favors,
betrayed friendship and violated honor.
Now he had killed him. If he had not
slain him with his own hands, the crime
was still there in its most hideous form.
He saw it before him, he smelt its odor.
he breathed its blood.
An uu6hby RlbuSo VI SoIo toSoiSo uiAAA
to himself, and he approached her. They
then conversed together in whispers, and
he hastily explained to her the line of con-
duct she should adopt.
She must summon the servants, say
the Senator was taken suddenly i'll, and
that on entering her room he had been
seized by an apoplectic stroke.
It was with some effort she understood
she was to wait long enough before Civ
hg the alarm to give Eugene sufficient
time to escape, and until then she was to
remain in this frightful tete-a-tete alone
with the dead.
. He pitied her, and decided on leaving
the house by passing through his uncle's
rooms.
Cora Immediately rang violently, and
Eugene did not retire till he heard the
sound of Fastening feet on the stairs,
The apartment of the Senator com.
municsted with that of his wife by
short passage. There was suite OF
apartments-frst q study, then sleep
ing-room. Eugene trayersed this room
with feelings We shall not attempt to de-
scribe, and at last game the street.
The surgeon testified that Senator
Sherwood Elliston had died from the
rupture Of vessel in the heart.
Two days after the intermenti in Green
wood took place, at which Eugene Cleve-
land attended.
The same evening he left New York to
join his wife, who had gone to Ro1bury
the preceding week.