Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-09-01
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XII.
| 1t was as eXecuCIomer rather than
| criminal That lie took her taco III his
hands, and lifted it TO his own.
And so-Madcap," he said; land
| So
She clasnpd both hands about that
| iron one. and looked mp in his face as
| he had told himself she would look when
they were face to face, and said
But you'll forgive me?"
lie lOosed her suddenly. 1t must al
ways be Wry moment for the muir
| dprer when his victim asks his forgive
| ness; to M&dcap it was a frightfui one
| When she stood alone, feeling like
| child that, having dreamed itself lost,
| and Weakened SObbing to the clasp Of its
| mothers arms is all at once thrust out
| TO the ice-cOld. desOlate wild.
Il have been very wicked" she said,
| feeling That he was a hundred miles
away as he stood with fixed gaze bent
| upon her: u have dishOnOred you in
| my thoughts; | was going away from
| You; but it was his fault-a word would
| have saved me, and he would not speak
| il; but at last, at last he told me the
| truth"
And what was the truth, Madcap?"
said MIR. Eyre. calmly.
He had loved her once" said Mad
| cap, trembling, land perhaps-perhap
| for love of me, he did not love her any
more, and so-and so left her; and her
little baby was born on what she
thought to be our wedding-dav.
And was it nOt?" he said almost
harshly.
On my wedding-day with you, not
with him." she said; land it died, and
it was like DOdy: and she said the faith
CT of one, must be the father of both;
and it was strange, was it not, that
Franks child should be so like yours?"
"Frdnk'S?" said Mr.. Eyre, reeoiling.
He says that she is mad on that
! point" said Madcap, wistfulIy. "And
| am glad now that was able to be
kind to her-that l kissed her; did you
not think him honest and brave and
| true?"-she went on, with sudden
| catch in her breath-''I could not have
| believed it of him, if he had not told me
with his own lips; and he was so young
| tOo-sOmehOw never thought of the
man she loved as being like frankfurt
like yOu; and you will never love him
passiOnately. when he stood before
me and said he would not marry her.
would not retrieve the awful, irrepara-
able wrong he had done her, | hated
| hlm-l compared him with you-yOur
| honor with his diShOnOr, and | tainted
him with being what he was, liar and
coward; and yet he could tell me an
other lie after that, that [ must not 90
to Hester, for that she would not see
meme to whom she had told the whole
story; and we had cried together, ard [
had so hated, SO loathed the man who
had brought her to such misery"
And If it had been |, not Frank,
what then, Madcap?" said Mr.. Eyre;
could you not have loved me still, been
faithful to me-never changed?"
Yes"
And stu clasp me in your arms as
you did just now?n
And so we were to live together, we
| two, like that; or you said something
| just now of leaving me-"
Yes"
"And you could have left me?" he said
| abruptly.
She did not stir or speak. as she stood
| apart from him; then something very
| like a groan burst from his lips. that
seemed to shape itself to the CRY of
Frank as with hasty steps he paced the
room, Madcap almost forgotten in the
deadly struggle going forward in his
breast. As his figure passed, and re-
passed her in the gloom. she seemed to
herself to be standing in the midst of a
/ reality of which all that had gone before
| was but as the portent.
The time seemed long before she felt
his arms about her, and then not with
! the Old m2stertul grasp but more as the
! Tying SOidler VINO. with relaxing nOIu,
| chn@S to the sacred colorS that have
! cost him all save honor; for Mr.. Eyre
| knew that Madcap had beggared him
+ even to that. when he felt her heart
| beating against his own.
Poor, pretty Majcap." he said. ''and
! so you can love nothing but good man.
Did ever tell you | was that?f And
| you must hate the sinner even worse
than the sin: and you can't make allow
| anceS-Women never can. And Think
| there is little jealousy at the bottom
OF 1t. too--nore If It had been |. but a
| little for Frank as il is. And man
sins through thoughtlessness, or be-
! cause he wants Woman's pure eyes to
| see the thing in its proper Iight-with
| eyes like yours. Madcap-ifw women onlv
/ knew how much Is IN their hands. how
| they may confirm man in his i'll opin-
| ion of them. or make them reflections
!, of what he remembers his own mother
| to have been. And so you can't forgive
Frank? Poor lad! poor boy.''
He is not sorry said Madcap, her
heart still heavy, knowing that forgive
ness was yet denied. Il could be sor-
~ for him if he were-it is the thought
Of her misery that makes me bitter
against him. She has lost all-even her
little baby-and he will not be kind to
! her; and he would not even let me go
to see her: but will gonow. with you"
Her child died-did she tell you
how" said Mr.. Eyre.
No hut I think that Soma one bod