Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-08-24

death, but he had died respected and be-
loved by all, while he-he had found a
mother, it is true, but under what cir
cumstances2 He did not for q moment
believe her guilty Of the terrible charge
brought against her. But unless it could
be positively disproved, how could he ask
Clementineto become his wife while such
a stigma was on his mother shame? Too
many people had heard what had passed
to allow of its remaining a secret.
The poor young mans thoughts were
very sad indeed as he sat holding his
fancee's hand.
Charles had begged so hard of Roger
not to treat his mother with the same
rigor as had been shown to Macaire and
Strop, but to allow her to remain in the
hodse; that the brigadier, who under his
official crust was soft hearted enough,
had consented to this arrangement,
though, as he said, he was exceeding his
duty and might get into trouble by it.
do not fear, sir" said Marie. Il
have no wish to go now that l have
found my son. Besides" she added, Il
am innocent of this crime, and God, who
knows it, will prove it
Her first anxiety when she recovered
consciousness was whether in her sur
prise she had disclosed the fact that
Macaire was her husband and Charles
father, and it was a great relief to her to
perceive that he had not the least sus-
picion of such thing, nor had NJ. Du-
mont, who had no idea that she had
claim to any other name than that of
Beaumont. He had heard the missing
woman whom he supposed to be the
mother of the little wait spoken of by
that name, as among the country folks
married women were as often called by
their maiden names as by their hus-
bands, and he concluded that the
worthless fellow" the ''coquin" he had
heard mentioned, bore the name of Beau
mont.
Macaire had had no time to speak, and
no one would have listened to him had he
attempted to do so. And poor Marie
hoped that she might be able to spare
her son such terrible blow as this
knowledge would be- She determined,
however, to tell all to M. Dumont, who
she considered had right to know, and
who she felt sure would help her to keep
this great disgrace from falling on the
boy he loved and had so long treated as
his son.
Seated in the room where only a few
hours before the joyous party had as
sembled to sign the wedding contract
she told him all-all that we know al
ready of her early history up to the time
when he found the child where she had
placed it, at the foot Of the shrine. She
told him, too, her sad after history, full
of misery and suffering.
She had watched him take the child
and had listened till the last echo of his
horses hoofs had died away Then she
had set out again and with much toll
and suffering had dragged herself back
to the house which She had left. She
had accomplished her object. The child
was saved from the stigma of being born
n a prison, the offspring of felon, and
| her great desire now was that her friend
iy guardian should not suffer on her ac-
count. II would be ruin to him if it
were found that his laxness had led to
| her escape. So, at all costs, she must re-
/ turn. Once there, she cared not how
soon she died Death indeed would be
a welcome deliveranCe from her misery.
But death does not always come to those
who long for it.
Her absence had been discovered, and
men had been sent in different directions
to look for her, though indeed the ser
geant himself was half sorry to see hel
return. His wife did all she could fol
the poor creature, who was in pitiablt
condition, worn out with anguish botf
of soul and body. OF course her hostes:
discovered what had happened, but
Marie refused to give any account OF
what had befallen the infant to whici
she had given birth except that it WA:
in IA place of safety. The worthy couple
decided to keep their own counsel on the
subject. An inquiry into the matter
would only have brought on her the sus
picion of having made away with hel
infant, and things were bad enough fol-
her as it was-and they We're sorry fol
her, poor SOUL
1t was some days before she was in /;
state to be moved. She was the takel
to Grenoble to be tried for steanng he
fathers money.
There fresh horror awaited her.
Her husband, on making his escape
had directed his steps back to Charmont
sur-Pont, in pursuance of plan he ha(
matured while following the wagon.
He knew that the old man had larg
sum of money in the house besides tina
which Marie had been accused of
ing. OF this he determined to get S
session.
He had no fear about returning to
farm-in fact, he thought he woul
safer there than anywhere else,
would be the last place where theyv
think of seeking him, and as the
was all in gold there would be no dan
ger of its leading to his detection.
Under cover of the darkness he mad
his way safely back to the farm and ha,
lurked round until all was quiet. Hi
knowledge of the house had enable,
him to effect an entrance without an