Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-11-24

! sage, and read as follows:
My father dead leaving great wealth.
They will conceal ME in a cloister to
secure it. l have waited so long for
you. love you. VIII try to escape to-
night and sail for America. On earth
and in heaven I am yours,
Eliza De Vere.''
In this cablegram my intuitive hopes
and fears We're strangely realized. All
the slow years of my blindness and
neglect rushed upon me in a few mo-
ments and overwhelmed me.
The clock upon a neighboring church
tower struck and l shuddered. |
calculated the difference of longitude
and the difference of time and knew
that the clock of the accused tower
in Switzerland was at that moment
striking midnight. Would my love.
could she escape? l knew at that mo-
ment she was either a writing, inno-
cent prisoner. or a fleeing fugitive has
tening, like her own white dove. to
the home and protection of her lover
L
could not reach there till morning. and
would it not fall into the hands of her
villainous captors and hasten the con-
summation of their plot? 1 studied the
words of her message and the varied
possibilities they suggested. I decided
to cable the burgomaster of Vevay as
follows:
Help Eliza de We're. Notify her
am coming"
/ could not get a train to New York
until morning. l did not sleep that
night. AS midnight struck l knew the
unsympathising morning sun was tip
ping with light the hills of Switzerland
Would the twelve hours of my waiting
never wear away.
l sat down and, quietly closing my
eyes, tried to put my thoughts in COM
mrmication with Ella de We're by that
method of mysterious mind-telegraph
the psychologists have written about.
Her soul seemed to answer to mine
that she was in durance and in despair,
yet hoping for my coming. 1t was
maddening.
l arose and swept it away as 4 dis
order of my own imagination. In tram
quill reason and in action by such slow
means as the world afforded was my
only hope.
Ten days at least, without accident,
would be required for me to reach the
little Swiss village. How I hated the
breadth Of the Atlantic; how 1 wished
for wings. l almost wished my soul
was free from it's clay, that it might
speed like a thought to the rescue of
my love. I would have fought, but I
could have only beaten the air. Hope
kept me from despair, and when the
slow morning came l was first at the
station.
Before setting sail from New York
made arrangements for the reception
and comfort Of Eliza de We're, should
she be So fortunate as to escape and
arrive in America before my return
Once on the deep l had time for re-
Fiction How tardily the slow mon
arch seemed TO paw it's way among the
waves. l impOrtuned the captain to as
sure me Of the earliest probable hour
of our arrival at Liverpool. How Gag
erly 1 watched eveEy westbOund sail,
hoping my love might be safely on
board. 1 had left orders in New York
to cable me the moment she arrived,
in which event / would return immedi-
ately.
From Liverpool 1 sped to the con-
the burgOmaster, who handed ME my
own cable message to him. 1t had ar
rived the morning after I sent it. He
stated he had sought the cottage of
Ella de We're, but found it locked and
abandoned. The furniture remained
the same as if the occupants had only
gone away on a temporary absence.
The next morning it was burned to the
ground with all its contents.
[ fastened to the spot and found
nothing but cold, damp ashes. / search
ed for the slightest clew, but in vain.
| found an unlet,ered peasant who re-
membered that after her fathers death
Ella had been taken away at night
by some strange doctors, to restore her
health, which, they stated, had been
greatly affected by her grief. l spent
year in Europe searching for pos
sible clue to her whereabouts. She
never arrived in America.
I returned to Cincinnati and quietly
resumed my business. For several
years l harbored a steadily fading
hope that in some way my love would
some time be able to make herself
known to me.
Fifteen years have passed. l am 40
and still q bachelor. Many of my read
ers may have seen me upon the streets
sometimes in public places, rarely in
ladies' society; quiet business man,
aging rapidly, living sometimes at one
hotel and then at another. I have Of
ten been rallied for remaining bache-
lor, to which I generally make a reply
of some pleasantly. But I have never
before related this a true story of an
incident in my life.
The reader can answer my 1ife's
problem as well as 7. Was / or was I
not robbed of fate's true love by the
duplicity of avaricious men?