The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-07-28

"
BY THE BEDSIDE OF A CORPSE.
fell upon me he passed his hand over his
temples, as II to recollect and account for
my presence. Thon, to my surprise, as he
remembered, he ncrvously clutched me by
the arm, hurried me from the room, and
without Offering any explanation he OK
citedly said: Il have heard enough. have
heard all Iwant to hear.i Go, sir, for God S
sake, and leave mel Some day perhaps l
will send for you and tell you all"
Eight months passed. l neither saw nor
heard anything Of tho strange episode un-
til one evening a cab drove up to the door
and was requested by the driver to go
with him to private hotel near Charing
Cross On reaching the hotel l was shown
into private sitting room and found a
man lying on u couch waiting to receive
me. He held out his hand, apologizing for
not rising His voice was familiar. ne
memberod him at once as the companion
of my strange adventure. He had changed
SO terribly 1t would indeed be hard to rec
ognize him except for his voice. Instead
of the smart, military carriage that l had
noticed about him at first, he had u shrunk-
en-, broken down appearance, as of man
who had lived lifetime in these short
months. His hair had grown white and
thin, and his drawn face, that spoke Of re-
morse and pain, was torrible to see.
'Ah, you remember me-" he said. 81
am glad you have come. / want to tell
you all now. feel must unburden my
heart before it has ceased to beat, Sit
close, will you notS My voice is not very
strong"
AS soon as q hacking fit Of coughing
had subsidized he said, You remember
that night last August when l took you to
house outside London and you read fol
meS" nodded assent, and he went on:
"Well, that woman had been my wife. A
few years before that, when returning
from active service in India, had met on
the steamer coming home very beautiful
woman, who was returning to England
with no other companion than her maid.
We became close friends on the voyage,
and before we reached England 1 found
for the first time in my life that l was
madly in love. was 40 years of age, n
man who had seen active military service
She was scarce 90, beautiful young crea.
ture, and yet from the first felt certain
there was some mystery about her life that
she was anxious to conceal.
lone evening in the Mediterranean we
were pacing the dock together when
CHANGED to mention this. She started, but
quickly recovering herself said lightly,
'Ah, colonel, women are children Of mys-
terry, and if we are to keep friends remem-
Der | am to keep, my secrets Later in
the evening, as I turned that sentence
over and over in my mind, I became con-
vinoed,that her words were more serious
than at first thought. 1t became at last
struggle between my love and my pride.
1 reasoned that, after all, man had no
right to demand to know everything about
woman before he met her, or she of him,
and determined to go to her that, very
night and tell her how madly loved her
and ask her then and there to share my
fate.
"A fitting opportunity arrived. found
her alone at the stern of the ship, looking
away to where the wake of the vessel lay
like a white road behind US. / stole up to
her softly, and slipping my hand in hers
drew her toward me. As she turned / saw
her eyes were filled with tears. She had
been crying, Agnes said, I love you
so. Conhde in me. Why are you crying?
+ What Is this mystoryY ".
Taking my hands in hers, she kissed
them, and with hot tears falling like rain
she said; I cannot dare not, tell you
If you do love mo, meyer ask me to tell my
secret Let that be the sign of your re-
gard
Agnes l said, there is only one
question that will and must ask Once
you answer that you may keep whatever
secrets you like. Do you love another
man, and if not, can you, will you, love
me?" With her head bent down, she said
softly; i do not love any other man. l
have never loved, but love now. love
you with my heart and soul.
"When we reached England, we were
married We lived an ideal life together
for nearly three years. never asked any
questions Of her past life nor she of NINE
One day the post brought letter from
India addressed to her. took it to her.
saying: Why, whom do youknow in IndiaS
/ did NOT Imagine you had friends there.
She started; her eyes filled with tears she
uttered few disconnected words, burst
out crying and left the room.
Had l followed her, had tried by
Kindness to earn her confidence, all might
have been well. Alas, as it was, my ma
ture seemed to undergo IN one instant
some terrible change. Jealousy took
charge Of my heart stamped out my love,
ragged like q hot fire through my veins,
and rushing in on my brain maddonod me
like the sting Of ascoFpion kept away
from my wife for days, 4Jrsing my jeal-
ousy and brooding 6verslny misfortunes,
until at last Idecided Nhla plan Of notion
and afterward of revenge. l could see now
why she dissuaded me from leaving the
army. She knew i should be sent back to
India again, and she would go too. But I
would watch her, / would gain proofs OF
what wanted, / would lay those proofs be
fore her, and would have the satisfaction
of making her confess tho truth Ireturned
to my homo. met my wife with a smile,
but with d glance, she saw it was false,
and watched her shrink into herself, as
somo flowers do at the approach of night.
Few people eau realize what real jeal
ousy means. Few people sympathize with
this form of madness, and yet how torri-
BILE, how absorbing, how awful 1t Isl The
woman had loved became in my eyes my
greatest enemy. could feel her shrink
from mo ne I annronhhedH I smiled on