Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1894-07-27

HWe will wait just five minutes, re-
Joined Eugene, "Ond if they are not here
then, not minu Q longer.
"Very well" and the minister turned to
answer remark of the brides aunt.
The FIVE minutes passed; still no Kay
no Meta. They must give them up.
Eugene, who had been to the door for the
twentieth tine, close1 it once more and
went up stairs TO fetch the bride.
The ceremony was quickly over; the
clergyman. as in duty bound, kissed the
bride, and the happy couple received the
wermest congratulations OF tLeir filends.
And now other guests began to pour in,
and the hou>e filled up rapidly.
Presently, while Eugene aud his wife
were sur ounded by AMI were converslng
with a number of their guests, the foot
man who had been engaged for the oc,a-
on made his way to him ind placed
sealed note in his hand.
urgent, the bearer requested me to
say, 81, he said, with bow, and then
discreetly withdrew.
Excuse me, said Eugene, and Won
deringly he opened the note.
His wife, who vas watching his face
with eager interest, saw a strange look OF
fear, remorse or alarm settle there, and
was about to speak, when he hastily ex-
aimed:
Il must leave you for q little while,
dear; l am very sorry, but 1t can't lie
helped. / shall be back in ample time 10
take the train. Don't let 1t be generally
known that I am gone" And with o
hasty glance at those about him, he left
the room.
strange sense Of impending evil
weighel upon poor Mildred's heart, and
she even thought that those aroand her,
who had seen her hus stands hasty with
drawal, paltook of the feeling.
Fifteen-twenty minutes passed. She
thought she would find her aunt, and ask
her what it could possibly be that had
called her husband from her side at such
q t me.
She had jrst reached the hall when
some one pulled The bell.
A sense of d cad seized her, and, clasp
NJ Ter hand to her side, she leaned
against the wall for support.
The footman opened the door. A mes
senger stood without; he handed in a
letter, and Immediately dep red.
The solemn menial glanced at the ad-
dress.
"For YOU, ma am, he said, and placed
the missi,e in Mildreds outstretched
hand.
A sudden impulse took possession of
hos; and gathering up her skirts she
fairly flew up the stairs and closeted her.
self in her own loom.
To fear open the letter was but the
work of an instant, and it hardly took
longer to deyour its contents.
This i what she read:
Poor innc cent and betrayed one, where
do you think the husband you are
waiting for is at this momentf Would
YOU know tho truth? Then 60 to the
home of her whom he loves but too we'll
the sister of his friend.
do you doubt? Think for moment:
For whom did he disgrace himself and
lose his situation in the bank2 Her
brother. Who procured him another and
better place? This girl herself.
Il tell you agnin you are betrayed. She
has summoned him to her, and he has
gone-even before you are the bride OF
an hourl
This warning comes from
"A FRIEND"
With a groan Mildred crushed the
cowardly letter in her hand, and abstract
edly thrust it in her bosom. AS she did
so, something white on the .rpet at
tracted her attention.
She picked it up and saw that it was
rote. Quickly she remembered that
Eugene had left his h and overcoat in
that room, and that he must have come
there for them when he went out This
must have bten the very note he had re-
ceived and he must have dropped it then.
She orened it with trembling hands.
One glance was enough. She uttered
sharp cry of pain.
"Oh. motherl oh, my poor mother" she
moaned; and, seizipg hat and shawl,
threw them on any way, and stealthily
leaving the house, fed in The darkness of
the night.