Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-11-02
"I emit imagine what.

G,ln I lluaHIue MnaV'
sYou love and would possess Tor your
very own Eugene Cleveland.
Flora smiled bitterly, but maue no
reply; -. am ohioct loft in
life"
Revenge on him?" -.
"No. love Flora Cleveland, his vile.
She must be mine.
Il still fail to understand what interest
we have in common.
To accomplish our several endS, We
must separate the two, and that IN way
that will leave no lingering trace OF affec-
ton between them.
I'm becoming interested, smiled the
siren, as she threw herself languldly
upon sofa, and waved her caller TO
cha I.
Then. in hurried tones, Slyme related
how Flora believed her husband guilty OF
her intended murd,r.
"a bold move now" said he, IN con-
clusion, and the tn ng Will be accom-
plished."
Il will join you in the enterprise"
Oscar Slyme noted the chan Led express
sion upon the beautiful womans face,
and inscribed it to the inward promptings
of her insane and guilty love.
With all his shrewdness he was wrong;
indeed he could not have been farther
from the truth.
Love for Eugene Cleveland bad forever
departed from the heart of Cora Elllston,
or rather it had turned to hate, and that
of the kind which the poet placed de-
gree below that engendered IN the IN !,
fernal regions, when he wrote heli
hath no fury like woman scorned.
This change of sentiment on her part
was favorable to Eugene Clever nd' 1or
the love of such woman IS more blight
ing and destroying than her bltterest most
impla cable hate. -,
Il wa;a full hour before Slyme with
drew, and when he did so plan had
been agreed upon.
But 1T us return to Roxbury, toward
which all indie ations point as the scene
of a coming tragedy.
How Eugene Clevel nd passed tn
dreadful night, he never fully realized
The wickedness of his past 1 fe rose be-
fore him Ike a vcritable phantom.
lie realized now that what Re had
thought to bo love for Cora had been
mass on only. Even in his despair and
, black remorse, he could not comprehend
how he had leen so long enslaved, and
had teen led into su h guilty courses.
As he thought of his loving, trusting
wife and innocent child, full sense OF
what he had lost, or rather cast aside,
dawned u Oh him, an he burst into bit
ter tears.
II never loved another, moarol he.
Then, with feeling akin TO guilt, he
thought of his lost Mildred.
on6 nnO6 " said he "0nC
had she lived we might have been happy
together and this frightful nightmare
from which | have just awakened, been
avoided; hut l now know that | neycr en-
lertained for her tho love l do for Flora
lave trfed away my life, my earthly
happiness, and my hope of heaven.
Thus tortured by bitter reflections, h(
had wandered away from the rocky chasn
and q preached the highway, near the
house.
The night had long since passed, anC
the sun was mounting high into th'
heavens.
With a start ho raiGed his eyes ant
realized his position.
A second shock ran through his nerVe
as he saw two persons approaching TIT
house.
One he recognized as Warran Leland
His compan ion, ciose'y veiled lad,
Eugene did not recognize. though h
thought he detected something famllla
in her carriage.
Another moment and they had ente RET
the mansion.
With the privilege of 5tory-telle er, lie
us follow them.
As the reader h no doubt surmised
the veiled lady was Mildred, the wife, the
lawful wife of Eu enc Cleveland.
The sceno which ensued was TOO pam
full a one to dC scribe in detail.
Flora hal been crushed before. Oh
was overwhelmed now
To be widowed without hHying beel
ever legally wife, WIS thought to
terrible for her to hear, and for time he
reason seemed likely to be overthrown.
AS for Mrs. Leland, War; IL, and Mil
dred. their condition was but little bet!o'
Il have regained my memory, cam
. back to my old life, only to encount
misery" mo ned Mildred. Il loved Eu
gene once, but that is now thing of tn
Dast; am bound to him by the Law
while my heart is bestowed upon an
other.
At this juncture the door-bell ran(
. and to clap the climax, to add, if possi
ble, to the anguish that possessed th
l ouartette, Oscar Slyme and Cora Ellis
ton were ushered into the parlor.