Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-09-14

hand ard smiled upon her with all the
love and tenderness he felt fol ha' BEAM
ing from his face. 49,.
At this moment Cora hya new re'ction
of ler nervous system, commenced We p
ing and sobbing, and this compit'cu h''
husbands despair. ,,
Out of respect to this poor GeiuGeu
man we shall pass over a scene ne IN
tererest of which otherwise IS not sum
cient to warrant the unpleasant e1iect u
would produce on nil honest reople. we
shall equally pass over without record the
conversation which took place the next
day between Cora Illiston and Eugene
Cleveland.
Eugene had experienced, as we have
observed, a sentiment OF repulsl0h at see
ING the name of Flora Leland appear III
the midst of this foul intrigue. IT
amounted almost 10 horror, and he could
not control the manifestation Of 1t.
There were several reasons for this. In
the first place, he had some acquaintance
with the young lady, and liked her very
much. lie knew her to be girl of 10 e'y
character and sweet disposition; high
minded and refined. But he old not love
her-had never thought Of loving ber.
sell-if. indeed he must mary ag III
his choice undoubtedly would hpve lien
upon Meta Fielding. But tied as @ was
to Cora Elliston, lie wanted no wife, and
the idea of taking one seemed mockery,
as we'll as q terrible injustice Q the woman
selected for the position.
But there was another Ieason-an IN
de6nable a subtle reason, that he him.
! nd
WAS that in the presence Of either of the
IelanGs-brother or sister, feeling camo
over him that was akin to deafh-a SEN
sat;on fearful to experience and that pOr-
tended the blacklist evil. Then too, his
conscience rose up against him and pat
tied for his soul
How could be conquer tins supreme
revolt of his conscience to tho point OF
submitting to the expedicnt which wcuid
make his intrigue a safe one?
Bv what detostable sophistries he
dared persuade himself that he owed ev-
eryth ng to his accomplice- this
We shall not attempt to explain. 10 eX-
nIain would be to extenuate and tn We
wish not to co. We shall only say That
bo resigned himself to this marriage.
On the path which he had entered q
man arrest himself IS little as be can a
flash Of lightning
Asto Cora, one must have formed no
conception OF this depraved though
hau .hty sp rit, if as onshed at her per-
sistence in cold blood and after reHec-
t On, in the rerfd Gus pot which the i'm
minence of her DANCER hai suggested to
her.
She saw that the suspic 'ons of her hus-
band might be reawakened another day
in more dangerous manner. II this mar
riage proved only farce.
She passionately loved Eugene; and
she loved scarcely less the dramatic M s.
terry Of their liaision.
She had also felt frantic terror at the
thought of losing he great fOltune when
sac rcoar OF as her own; for the dlsln-
telestedness of her early youth had long
since vanisEe !, aud the idea of sink ne
miserablv in the social world, where she
had long reignol by her luxury as we'll as
her beauty, was insuppoltable 10 her.
Love, mystery, foltune she wished to
preserve them I'll at any plico; ana TIC
more she ref ectcd the moro the remar-
rage of Cleveland appeared to her the
surest safeguard.
1t is true, it woald give her sort OF
riyal. But she II d too high an Opinion
of herself to fear auythin9 and she
preferred Flora Leland 10 any other, be-
cause she knew her, an regarded her as
an inferior in everything.
And did she give no thought TO bel
Door innocent victim in EoAbury? Ala
| not one.