Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-10-26
BETRAYED
Oh
A DARK MARRIAGE
MORN.
A Romance Of LoUe, Intrigue and
Crime.
BY MRS. ALICE P. CARRIST



For an instant his eyes rested on Eu-
gene with a stupefed surprse and almost
bewilderment; then he raised his arms
over his head, and his two hands struck
together with a sharp sound. At this
terrible moment Cora seized the arm OF
Eugene. and threw him a look so pro-
found, supplicating and tragic that 1t
alarmed him.
lie roughly pushed her from him,
crossed his arms, aud waited the result.
The Senator walked slowly toward him.
All at once his face became inhamed with
a purple color, Lis lips half opened as if
about to deliver some deadly insult.
lie advanced rapidly, his hands raised;
but after a few steps the old man sud-
denly stopped, beat the air with both
hands, as ii seeking some support, then
staggered and fell forward, striking his
head against the marble mantelpiece,
rolled on the c rpet and remained motion
less.
Then there ensued in this chamber a
sinister silence.
A stiAed cry from Eugene broke it. At
the same time h9 threw himself on his
knees by the side of the motionless old
man, touched first his hand, then his
heart.
lie saw that nc was Qe IA.
A thin thread Of blood trickied down
his pale forehead where 1t had struck the
marble; but this was only slight
wound. 1t was not that which killed him.
What had killed him was the treachery
Of those two beings whom he had loved
and who. he believed, loved him. His
heart had been broken by the violence of
the surprise, the grief and the horror:
e told fora EllfcfOO
she was widow.
She threw herself on the divan, buried
her face in the cushions and sobbed aloNd.
Eugene st II stood, his back against the
mantelpece, h eyes fixed, wrapped In his
own thoughts
He wished in al sincerity Of heart that
he could have awakened the dead and
restored him 10 life.
He had sworn to deliver himself up to
him without defense if ever the old man
demanded it of him for fOrgotttn favors,
BETRAYED friendship ana violated honor.
Now he had killel him. If he had not
slain him with his own hands, the CrIme
was still there in lis most hideous form.
lie saw it before him, he smelt It's odor
he breathed its blood.
An uneasy glance of Cora recalled him
to himself. and he approached her. Ihey
then conversed together III whispers, and
he hasily explained to berthe line OF con-
duct she should adopt.
She must summon the servants, say
The Senator was taken suddenly Ill, and
that on entering her room he had been
seized by an apoplectic stroke.
It was with some effort she understood
she was 10 wait long enough before Civ
ing the al ,rm to give Eugene sufficient
time to escape, and until then she was to
remain in this frighlful tete- -a-tete alone
with the dead.
He pited her, and decided on leaving
the house by passing through his uncle
rooms.
Cora Immediately rang violently, and
Eugene d not retire TIL he heard the
sound of bas,euing feet on the stairs,
The apartment of the Senator COM
municated with that of his wife by q
short passage. There was suite OF
apartments first study, then sleep
ing-room. Eugene traversed this room
with feelings We shall not attempt to de-
scribe, and at last game the street
The surgeon testified that Senator
Sherwood Elliston had died from the
rupture of vessel in the heart.
Two days after the intermentin Green
wood took place, at which Eugene Cleye-
land attended.
The same evening he left New York to
ioin his wife who had gone to koX0uiy
the preceding week.