Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-10-20


ana AFRAID, she heard stepnehind her.
ana turning, I'm face TO face with Mr..
Eyre. VINO had seen her enter, and fol-
lowed.
She neither moved nor spoke, but
stO0 petritied image OF Diet actPd guilt,
feeling that WHAT size had periled her
soul, and her VOW 10 NadCap to win.
had escaped her.
WHAT is your Prrand hora?" he said,
his cd suspicious returning in full force
as he marked each sign OF guilty terror
written on her face. YOU are looking
for nv wife, he sad. quietly.
4 sudden CLEAN shot across her feat
Ures-he had suggested To her an idea,
and she boldly seized upon it as q bl!
wark behind which to shelter her real
intention.
why n0t?" she said, sullenIv. "She
was kind to me. ! have q mind to see
hcr-She wants to see me. Tines and
times [ have got out OF her way; but
now l would ike 20 have q word with
her before it IS too late: for she is i'll,
they say, and she might be beyond my
reach tomorrow. Sle ism t dead!" she
added, struck by tie curious change
that had passed over Mr.. Evre's face.
Dead" he repeated. the hatred Of
his glance, the ScOra OF his yOicA, keen
as the stab OF knife to her heart; 'and
you living? But YOU tempt fate" he
added abruptly. Il rave you your
warning once befOr.: | eve it to YOU
now again. Make one more effort to
see her, and the consequences be on
your own head. -
You told me that BEFORE" she said.
slowly, land | might have listened TO
Won then. I'd only got a taste OF hap
pnaSS; and soul that's tlint with
starving III sometimes lay the bit of food
down. feeling chat she's got beyond it.
ami It's easier to die JIdn TO worry on.
p when you've got to love your life.
and morning, n0na, and night your
hear cries out to be led. it isn't in hu-
MAJ nature to 90 away 10 O5lige some
tu " who's been cruel 10 you from the
bt~ 'T2!Ug.'
Warped and stultfed as was the wO-
mans instinct Of right. even now it vet
moved her toward the father OF her
dead child. Sac could have forgiven
HIM, she thou hit. If il IN I lived in his
image, representing til GOOD he mirht
have brUlllt 10 Esr If. AMI not the
evil; but impaca5Ia and stern, Mr..
Eyre STOOD. the jHdre, not the sharar in
l.at o4!t. anu LilC lI4O llDlIb VI IFitIUllI8
ScoTcAei up in her breast as suddenly
rs it bad been born.
'You can D. raa,np1 through her"
she sail, with one o. those impulses Of
Reckless unLruth that sometimes Will
sweep a GOOD rs we'll as Il bad woman
away: IF she cama in here now, this
minute, III tell her before your eyes. Ii
would not take very long to say, Your
husband is the father OF NV dead child.
Lor;t Lowell told you lien''
she c me close to him, possessed by q
T1ge that tempted violence; but Mr..
Eyre returned her glance with calm
ness that still further maddanad her.
perhaps you'll keep us apart after
ALL she said. out deeds can speak as
well as words; and when you see her
heart Wrung, and her cheek white with
misery. perhaps you will understand q
lEIa OF what felt when | los my
baby
Sla ceased abruptly, terrified lest she
ShOu;t have given him ClGW; but as
She moved a step away. her foot struck
AGAINST something that lay on the
ground.
II 7 lips quivered, her eyes sGftened
as She stopped and lifted the little shoe
and put it to her lips, crying ont below
Aer ur'Gth, "Ol. my little love! my lit
tie ANGEL | am good when You are in
nv ar.nS-3n [ don't nate her then
I'm not naiouS Of her them
Ii Il WoNla hal BEEN by. she must
have and r5toDj what WIS in this poor
Wr>tnh'S heart; but Mr.. Eyre saw moth
inc in the OutDurSC bus one fren-ied wO-
Iu,tn $ 'alOuSy of another. SaVed over
IN h-r own eyes by a sentimental fond
ness for child.
.'Go!" he said, and held the door
open.
sail I?' she said. pushing back the
masses of black hair from her wild
You 81 mt turn me from my purpose;
/ II carry it out to the end"
"UnleSS you die first" he said.
"Die." she repeated; land may not
she die, as well as other people? Have
you ever thought OF that-how some
day you may lose her. and so get your
punishment at last? Even now she is
ill"
"Who said SOP" cried Mr.. Eyre, start
ing.
80 that touches you" she said bit
terly; but when your child SutferS-iS
not that his vOice?n she added abruptly,
| and went to the window and looked out.
MadCap was passing with the children,
| her straw bonnet pushed back, her face
glowing with health and happy smiles
as the boys ran beside her.
n look of bitter jealousy clOuded
Testers face as she gazed; perhaps she
| had never before been so struck by the
| difference in their two lots than at that
moment; and Mr.. Eyre, catching that
look, was to be excused if afterward it
came back to him with significance
at once fatal and sinister.
AS the three disappeared, Hester
| moved to the door, but paused on the
| threshold and looked at Mr.. Eyre.
III come back, she said. you
may think to save her from me, but you
won't; perhaps after all there WON'T be
a word spoken between us; but I'm 60
inr to reach her heart for all that-and
| if she dies. mind it's not [ that killed
her, but yOu-yOer sin and yOur punish
| ment." Then, wrapping herself more
| clos Aly in her cloak, hurried down the
steps and was gone.
| CHAPTER XII.