The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-07-12

came again and again, at first invcnting
all sorts of excuses, finally without any
excuse at all.
1t required, indeed. small persuasion
to obtain the deans full permission to
WOO his daughter. Then stormy scenes
ensucd; uncle and nephew came to bit
tcrcst strife, while Mary's defense of
Bernard only brought on her such an
ger from her father us filled her with
grief and fear.
Poor Bernard! The end his heart
had prophesied came soon enough. In
the presence of the dean there was
cruel, formal parting; under the silent
stars, amid the thick shubbery of the
garden, there was another parting.
Mary would have promised constan-
cy, but Bernard would not let her do it.
You shall mover have to reproach
yourself with broken promises for my
sake, DARING" he sad. "What could
you, you poor timM little dove, do be-
tween your father and that lordly carl?
But whatever they make you do, re-
member, Mary, shall never blame you,
and will love you until my last con-
scious breath"
Then he kissed her pale face over
and over, tcnderly, clingingly, us we
kiss the dead, and left her And Mary,
almost hcart-brolsen with grief, and
faint with terror lest sho should be
discovered. could only wave her hands
in mute farewell, for she knew now
that love and she must walk apart for
ever.
Bernard went to Oxford and Mary
became Countess Grey, and went With
crsocvcr it plcaecd her husband to
take her. She WINS naturally affection
ate, and would doubtless have become
loving and gentle wife if she had re-
ccivcd any cncourag emcnt. But she
soon outlivcd the carl's short liking,
and then he only seemed to find pleas
urc in those petty crueltics which un-
loving husbands above all others under.
stand.
One of these was to affect tho most
unboundcd chagrin ut the sex of her
first child, to sneer ut alldaughters, and
to send it from its mothers breast to
the caro- of u strange nurse. Another
was To pretend she needed exercise
and change of mir, and remove her
from London to tho continent before
she was ablc to bear the fatigue lie
gave her no rest until she reached
Rome, and ere she became so seriously
i'll that oven her servants demonstrated
against the cruelty of moving her
further.
In Rome she remained six months,
nearly alone The carl travelled hithcr
and thithcr as his fancy led him, MAX
ing his wife only occasional short visits
of cruelty oerc1nonious character. His
life Of cxtravagant dissipation was
shameful contrast TO the loneliness and
absolute seclusion which her Italian
physician ordered. while her separa-
ton from all who Loved or cared for
her and her longing for her native land
and home told fearfully upon her fail
ing health.
But ono day q far moro cruel sorrow
faced her. a letter without signature
was placed i'll her hands, not onhy nccus-
ing her husband of tho most fragrant
disregard for her. bat also intimating
that her physician was in the employ
of her enemies, and not q safe person
to be intrusted with her life.
Sho had long felt sure that sho was
dying, but tho dread Of dying away
from her child. her father and her home
o@ercamo oil other fears. This terror
made her prudent. She arranged for
an immediate return home. and took
advantage of her husbands first absence
to commence it
For him she left most noble and
pathetic letter, cntrcating him not to
follow her, forgiving all his positive and
negative crucltics, and asking only To
bc permitted to die beside her father
and their child.
Her requests so completely agreed
with tho earl's desires that for once he
did not thwart her; and so, two years
after this ill-starred marriage, Earl
Grcys travelling carriage again broke
the silence of the peaceful cathedral
court The doans daughter had come
back to INN wearing something higher
than countess cOrOnet; she had re-
ccived the signet of immortality, and
been anointed for heavenly corona
ton.
After Mary's marriage, tho dean had
gone to see his nephew. and easily in
duccd him TO come back with him; 40
it was Bernard that lifted Mary from
her carriage and carried her in his
strong orIns To the room she never left
again; and it was Bernard that rode
day and night, SO that he might bring
few hours earlier the child which was
to comfort Mary's dying hours
In order To excuse the step she had
taken. and procure her fathers promise
to keep her little daughter, She had
been compelled to divulge all the cruel
martyrdom Of her married. life. After
this revelation it was not hard to un-
dcrstand the deans wrctched look, and
his passionate, pleading prayers, and
the music which was an articulatc