The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-06-20
CHAPTER XIX.
A PENITENT WOMAN.

The events of that dreadful day fell
with crushing weight on Mrs. Warning
ham.
During the night which followed after
the scene in Singers Hall she had not
found a moments sleep. A thousand diff
ferent emotions struggled with each
other in her breast. Love, perverse
stubbornness, the Establishments OF the
senses battled against fear, conscience,
and womanly virtue. But at last the
latter emotions remained the yictors,
and Lucy issued from that fierce mental
contest better woman than she had
ever been before.
Yes, she would renounce forever that
love which she had no right to feel. She
had done wrong and was willing to sub
nit to the penalty. Wrong she had
done, first, when she gave her hand to
the man she did not love and let herself
be bribed by wealth or station. A life
by the side of an unloved man would
have been punishment enough for her
But she became guilty of a wrong far
worse. What penalty could be too Sc
we're for her?
Then she heard of Count Hohenfels'
sad death. 1t put her new resolution to
q severe test, but she conquered. That
love was dead for her before its object
had come to so miserable an end. 1t
must be dead for her. So she pressed
her hand against her throbbing heart,
and not tear was allowed to glisten in
her eyes. - ~
There was one moment, however,
a.. chn wit
dread. How should she ever appear
again before the husband she had be-
trayed? Should she throw herself at his
feet, as Magdalen did before the Lord,
and crave his. forgiveness? Would he
pardon her? Or would he cast her out
forever?
Then she was told that her husband
had shot himself dead. The blow was
too much for her-she fell senseless on
the floor.
When she regained consciousness she
was cheered by . ray of hope Ralph
was not dead. but he lay in severe
fever, which might make an end of his
life from moment to moment.
Never had man more faithful, q
more devoted nurse in his sickness than
had Ralph Warringham in his faithless
wife. Not for a moment would she
leave his bedside, and when, after nights
and days of watching, nature would de-
mand her rights, she caught a light
sleep in an armchair in the sick-room,
ready to start at the slightest motion OF
the patient.
But he knew not whose hand it was
that smoothed his pillows and admins
tered the cooling potion to his fever.
parched tongue. For more than two
weeks he did not have moment OF con.
sciousneSs. His mind wandered In dis.
connected flights OF diseased fmagina.
ton, but it was not on her whom he had
loved so passionately that he called to
comfort him. He seemed constantly to
think of his cousin, Hattie Beckford
At first Lucy's pride rcjoiced at this,
as IL she hs- ~->ected traces Of infdelity
in his heart also that would justify hers.
But presently she sternly rebuked her
self for the thought What right had
she to be jealous? She would meekly
accept the pangs she felt when Hattie's
name came over his lips as an additional
well-deserved penalty.
In this state of mind she did not suf.
fer as much as she would have other
wise, when one day Hattie Beckford
appeared in person and claimed share
in the nursing Of Ralph Warringham.
The quiet, mild, maidenly beauty OF
Hatties pure mind soon seemed to the
poor, troubled heart of Lucy Warning
ham as that Of one who was as far su.
perior to her as goddess is to women OF
mortal mold. In the intensity of her
pcnitence she delighted in humiliatlng
herself, and soon learned to worship the
young girl with the fervor Of devotee:.
Hattie, on the other hand, was OF too
soft nature to feel the scorn which
female virtue of harSher kind exhibits
against the fallen of her SEX Besides,
the consciousness that in another re-
spect she herself was not without guilt
So she learned to love like sister the
! woman who had once been her rival for
the love Of him she held dearest in all
, the word
Lucy, with the acuteness Of the wom-
an, sharpened by the training and eHpe-
rience of the actress, soon discovered the
unuttered secret of Hattie's heart
Then she gradually, with many fear