Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-09-08

| he needed her Us muCl rs now.
CHAPTER XIV.
Ye haze dropped g'd2wu your head.
And it seems as if "" tire d
On your IL trts in tn" path
IG are called TO in His wrath.
Justice in the case Of janet Stork was
not leaien-IoOted, bus swift. 50 that
hardly d week elapsed between the re-
spite from the capital punishment, aad
| her removal to The first stage OF h It
| journey on her way 10 a convict settle
meut.
1t was on the eve Of JaHet's depart
| IRE, that Hester, torn III two between
| her fancled duty to accompany ner ser
| want, her longing to remain, set out to
| play her part in the interview with Mr..
Eyre arranged by Franz iii a secluded
spot on his own estate. Yesternight
she might have met him. and Welded to
his bidding: but that very day, as she
had stumbled forth from the prison cell,
Madcap,s children had crossed Der path,
aud Dolly had run to and kissed her.
and then duty had grown chill, and self
denial hard, and a desperate longing 10
snatch at the love offered to her Inns.
strOve in her with that VOW which She
had mentally registered to Madcap.
She had hardly thought OF Mr.. Eyre
in the confusion and horror of the last
week; he might have been dead for any
prompting of love or memory that i'm
PEELED her toward him; but now as She
hurried along the way to meet him, a
sudden sense OF his near presence
checked her steps, and she went lag
gingly, with ghosts of long dead memo
rIes tnrOHgng i'll her heart
Frank, approaching from an opposite
direction, was thinking sadly of many
things, stopping Short once with the
sudden conviction that he hal been Il
fool.
But in the same moment he thought
OF her and Wavered-truly, as Pascal has
said, the heart has reasons OF which
judgment, 50 called, knows nothing.
And perhaps in ODeylng the dictates o.
the heart, at the expense of SalI-intnr-
est, he had unc0nsciously contributed
his little quota to the greatness Of the
World-perchance. however humbly a
hero, his life had b2comeSa piece Of the
everlasting heart OF Nature ITSELF" and
no WorSened i'll soul, if in bodily estate
was Frank LOvel that NIGHT as he pur-
sued his way to the Spot win re he was
to meet Hester, and conduct her to NJ.
Eyre.
He hardly noted outward things
how nightingale'S Soar was s; tier. |
like a necklace OF pearls by the hidao Is
rOC banana of the scrae,h-oWi; how
strange creatures crossed his path. AMI
strange scents were given ont on The
breeze for the night hath its Sp,andOrS,
OF which the day knows nothing each
moment ne expected one OF these trrhi
that stood 50 still, yet seemed to move
like one of Il giant army at his aD-
1a}1 ~ l,0cNl yTA ~
OF woman; and SO, at Cna near st POINT
of approach to the vil.ara. did an OAK
tree so resolve itself, ami I3SCer'S pale
face sought his own.
Frank felt her hand tighten on his. as
ne lGd her to the cleared space in which
Mr.. Eyre was Stanj.n,. his tana =
figure fitfully revealed by the uncertain
moonlight, and knew how in that mo-
mant she had forgotten her dead child.
and its living likeness; how NJ dcdp'S
KISS was to her faint AMI far away. as
she saw before her the man who had
been TO her the all In all Of her lite, and
that thrill Of tenderness which moves a
true woman to what has cost her much.
spoke in her gesture as, reIinquiShing
FRANKS support, she ran forward, ut
tering his name.
1t was one that Madcap never called
him by-it had been used by others, and
therefore was not fit for her lips-5ut
one other than the man for whom it
| was intended heard it, as While Frank
had retreated. Job advanced, and at d
| distance of half dozen PAGES was both
| spectator and nearer of the scene.
| Master" she said as one who. recall
| mo the dead nv a name tat he has for
| gotten, seeks to remind MN OF ner by
one more familiar still, Its Hester:
and I've done you no harm yet, and |
wouldn harm her"
He did not stir beneath her voice.
| but shook off her timid touch with a
Silent contempt that for the NOM mt
coWed her. then reused in her breast
| that spirit which loneliness am suffer
ing never quite quench in woman S
| heart.
You could not'harm her if Won wish
ed" he sad cOldly. The sin was YOURS
and mine; the punishment be ours, MOI
| hers"
"Oms?" she said, with both hands
| pressed against her bosom. And do
| we share ANYTHING? Do You talk vonr
| half of it all? Does your heart cry out
for our little dead child? Does it "a
| with Janet TO her living tomb? If it
does, I'll forgive you. But you've 20,
! her and your own children; it can't be
equal. It never is between man and
| woman"
She was struggling hard to rapress
1.-THE rising passion in her, she had n IN.
Ito be so humble, to ask from her Gn rs
the one poor favor that she covete |: It
the consciousness Of real power wouI
not be kep5 down; only whatever hap
| pened, Madcap should not sutfar.
Mi share of it is to remain. he said
''yOurs%to go; mine to guard her rt.nS,
| ever discovering the truth. yours 10 Z
form no deed that could reyealit toh r