Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1894-07-26

this dreary house2
Where is your father, your
but ! could not bring myself 10 utter
that other word.
My husband she finished it for
me, while a look OF horror swept over
her face.
Ny father is dead, my husband is
in yonder roomr
What, Silas Gordon the man /
saved from watery grave to-nightT
Sheffield her true pure eyes 10 mine
like trusting child, Yes, she said
simply. 1T is Silas Gordon, and now
will you hear my story7'
1t was long story | listened to
that night, while the good doctor
watched at the bedside of his patient,
and the storm still ragged outside.
A long story, but l will try 10 repeat
it briefly if I can.
Helena johnson had married Silas
Gordon to save her fathers life.
Her mother was the young wife who
hai died in the haunted house sup
osed to be by her own hand. But
in truth she had been shot by her
husband in a ct Of jealous rage.
She was innocent as little child,
and the unhappy man realized it as
soon as the deed was done, but it was
too late. The cause of it all, the false
friend who had come between them,
saw the deed done.
The wretched husband would have
yielded himself up to justice, but Silas
Gordon saw advantage to himself in
the others silence.
He compelled him togo fromthe room
and out into the shrubbery before the
servant who heard the report had enter,
ed the room where the dead woman
lay.
you must be silent for you child's
sake, and for your wlfe's honor had
been the plea by which Silas Gordon
had set seal on the miserable mans
lips.
So the coroner said, accidental
shooting and all the world believed il
save the wretched husband and his
so called friend.
Friend, fend rather, for he fastened
on the remorse of the man who lived
in his shadow, and grew rich by
threats of the others exposure.
And not content with this slow tor
ture he demanded last sacrifice at
the hands of the half crazed father,
the hand of his daughter, and she
only knowing that in this way her
beloved father would be saved from
death and honor, consented.
They had only been married a few
weeks, when the father was taken with
fatal illness, and died, but not before
he had confessed all to his daughter,
and after his death she had fled from
her husband to this deserted house,
thinking he would not seek her there.
She had ready money, and she
brought that with her, and thought to
live in entire concealment, but when
her stock Of provisions ran low, she as
sumed the disguise of the old colored
woman, using for the purpose gar.
ments she had found in the house.
And it was you / saw and heard
in the shrubbery2 I said when the
story was ended.
Yes, it was I, and / was so fright
ened when I saw you standing there
in the moonlight that could not help
screaming
But why should you have been
afraid, Helena?' asked reproachful-
ly, Surely you might have trusted
mel
A faint flush dyed the pure cheek.
What right had ], another mans
wife, to make confident of you, Hor.
ace2 It could only bring more misery
to us both
But how did you vanish SO utter
lyT
That was easy she replied simply,
i ran in and shut the door and locked
it,
And the music that / heard7 I ask.
ed.
WAS my playing an old tune Of my
mothers, on the piano yonder. |
could not keep my fingers off the old
yellow keys, but in the midst of it
| got frightened and stopped, and
then I looked out and saw you, and
never dared touch it again
A silence fell between us then; we
could hear the wild storm raging out
side, but I was happier than for many
weary months, for there was the won.
an | loved, though stern barrier
stood between US. At last | said.
tAnd now Helena2'
She lifted her pallid, wistful face to
mine.
AS God wills, Horace, she said,
but am glad it has been taken out
Of my hands and that you know all at
last
Long after she had left me, I sat
there thinking.
For one mad moment / wished |
had left Sllas Gorden find watery
grave that night, and then the men,
ory Of my pure souled darling, as she
poured the life prolonging fluid be-
tween the lips Of her enemy, swept all
my bitterness away.
So the night passed, and when the
morning dawned the God in whom
Helena trusted had taken our future
into his own hands, for before the
first flush Of DAY had dyed the eastern
sky, the soul Of Silas Gordon had
passed from earth forever.
The doctor was surprised and dis