The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1894-02-16

light, in the same place from which ]
had seen him carried in on that
eventful day when he was hurt.
My fathers consent to our engage
ment was soon gained, as Johns past
life, so far as he could discover, was
| irreproechable, and his worldly pros
poets were good. Everything went on
| happily for the first few months, and
1T seemed that In our case love was to
| run smooth course. must not for
get to tell you about my engagement
ring. 1t was one which had been
handed down through several genera
tions tc John. He had always worn
it on his little finger. It was a ser
| pent of silver, it's head being formed
of an enormous ruby and the tail of
small diamonds. Inside the ring was
written, ''Time reveals all things"
On the day of our engagement John
| took it from his finger and placed it
| on mine with these words: "Should
aught part us, love, though years roll
between, the sight of this ring will
bring me to protect you"
At last my cup of happiness was
| full, but it was destined to be emptied
to the dregs. i need not go
over those months OF misery,
| when John Graham came to
see me with his brain stupetied by
| liquor, and tell how tried to bring
him hack, and how he would try and
fail again.
At last, it came to my fathers knowl-
edge, and in one Of his fits of fury at
the weakness and loathsomeness Of my
lover, he literally kicked John out of
| the house. 1t is enough for me 10 say
! that things went from bad to worse. /
could love John no longer, after he
had sunk 30 low, and at last-it was
on New Year Eve, like this-our en-
gagement was broken. l returned the
ring, but John sent it back to me,
| praying me to keep 1T, ''as symbol
of love that had once been true"
After this, my health gradually gave
way, and our physician advised my
father to take me to Europe, which he
did. We travelled several years and
everything was done to divert and
amuse me. At first: ] prayed to die,
but l was young, very young, and as
the time passed by, life again became
sweet to me. Another love came to
me, far sweeter and stronger than that
old, wild passion of my girlhood, and
| in your uncle, my dears, | found the
! perfect love oi wohiauiiood.
| had been married number of
wears and was the mother of three
children when your uncle was obliged
to go to California to look after some
mines in which he had n large inter
est. As he expected to be there for n
considerable time, we all went with
him, and decided to rent furnished
house in the suburbs of L.. The
one we fancied most was large, and
only one story high. 1t was hand
somely furnished and had great
many acres of ground around it. At
first, objected to taking it on account
of the lonely location, but the numer-
ous attractions which it possessed soon
! overcame this one fault, and before
long we were comfortably settled in
orr new quarters. We had been liv-
ing there only n year, when one even
ing this also was on New Year Eve
your uncle came home rs usual, and
after he had been in the house few
minutes, he received dispatch which
| necessitated his starting off immeli
ately, to be gone for two or
three days. 1t was the first time
| sine. our marriage that we had been
separated, and that nigh. did feel
| little nervous. | went to the nursery
and looked at my children, sleeping
peacefully. and then, taking a book, ]
read until was so weary that went
| to bed.
| My bedroom was large and had four
windows. Two of them opened on the
piazza, and two on beautiful green
terrace My dressing-table stood be
tween the piazza windows, and on it
was my iewel-casket, containing all my
diamonds and several other valuable
| articles of iewelry. Usually, l kept
| this locked in an iron safe, but that
| evening had taken it out, in order to
! get pin Tor my husband to have
mended in L. and had forgotten
to put it back. After was safely in
bed, remembered my casket, but con.
| cluded that no harm could possibly
| come to it in just that one night, and
thought l would put it away
| in the morning. / do not
| know how long 7 had baen asleep,
when was awakened by hearing q
| slight noise. Dn'n lT my eyes, I saw
| by the licht -. II dark lantern the fig
| urc o. u tall man standing by my
dr. ,,ngtnhle. My first impulse was
| 10 scream, and then came the thought,
'If do that, he will kill me!' Sud
| denly the man turned, and | could see
| that he was masked. Then I shut my
eyes and feigned sleep. Stealthily he
| walked to the bed where | was lying,
| and, bending over, looked Mt me, for
what seemed, in my agony, to be
| hours.
go, God - ] thought, "if he would
| only kill me nowi" But no he
moved softly from my bed, and again
! walked to the dressing table. I could
hear him take my jewels, one by one,
from the casket. and lay them gently
down At last, the box was emptied,
aud yet he did not move, but stood as
il bound by spell ! felt rather than
heard that he was once more coming
toward me. Certainly this time he
would take my lf., and prayed God
it might be dom quickly; but, no!
OF 70 OF IL, IL