Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-10-10

aLry OF d0tlng lover. No word O.
) this had he betrayed to the object O.
: his intense devotion. But now. whel
= she met him among strangers, afte
: an interval most sad and interesting
| she had grown wiser in the knowl
edge Of the heart, and the truti
flashed, though doubtfully, upon her
Albert was in no haste to confirm hel
: suspicious. So long as he remained
avowedly but a simple acquaintance
and a frieLG of her childhood, she
could not deny him her presence with
out implying all that, were it true
ceal. And thus he tuttered Oh in the
gloom Of fast deepening twilight
TO find it's only cOnsummatiOn in Il
night Of blacklist despair.
And Bertha, too, even she had
learned in her Utmost soul to fear. if
not to dread the great event of her
life, now with rapid strides approach
ing The intimate communion Of
months had taught her to respect still
more the lofty character of Adolph.
and to esteem his many virtues. Yet
her spirit was aWed rather than az
tracted by the greatness of lis intel
lect. and the majesty of his contem-
platlons. AS brother, she would
have gladly soothed his hours of de-
preston and cheered him on to la
| bors, Of which she would know and
| seek to know only that their aim was
worthy of him. AS a lover she was
chilled by a sense of his superiority,
and sat mute and constrained in his
presence. How strange, how painful
was the contrast between an evening
! shared with her lover, and one en-
| joyed with the admiring, simple
! hearted friend of her childhood.
Bertha had instinctively concealed
from Albert the day of her nuptiaIs
indeed, she had not trusted herself
nor allowed him to speak of the mat
ter at all-and when the thunderbo4t
fell, it announced that all was over.
The marriage had been privately con-
summated, and the parties had imme-
diately set off to visit the widowed
mother Of Adolph, living at a consid-
cradle distance from Gottingen. Al
bert heard this. and sought to hear no
farther. A raging fever and delirium
oyercame him, and when his con-
seriousness and health were restored
Bertha. in happy ignorance of his
misfortunes, and wondering at his
sudden disappearance, had been for
some time quietly settled in the dis
charge of her ma tronly duties, as the
head of her husbands humble house
hold.
In the union of AdeIph with Bertha
each had blfndly looked to marriage
to re ;oncile differences which it's init
mate relationship could only serve to
display more prominently, and to sup
ply DEFICIENCIES which it could but rem
der more painful. The very devotion
of Adolph to his engrossinG pursuits.
which in q lover she haG regarded
with pride, Bertha found in a husband
to require an abstra elton from and a
neglect of the petty but still needful
cares of daily life, and a habitual
taciturnity. Her most urgent question
often remained unanswered because
Inheeded his thoughts were wander
ing afar. Often did she desist from
endeavors to fix his attention on
some topic in which she also could
feel and express an interest, and re-
tire to her chamber to weep the tears
Of bitterness and despair. Her Sky
had now no gleam-her future no
hope. She had doomed herself to bear
the heavy curse Of a life devoid of
sympathy, and must reap as she had
sown.
.Adolph felt-at time acutely-that he
had indeed committed "a grave mis-
take" and that it was now truly too
late to repent it,
One evening Adolph was absent
from his home, as was not unfre-
quently the case, when a rap at the
door apprised Bertha Of his supposed
return. She opened, and Albert stood
before her! ''Do not spurn me, Ber-
thar he implored, as with a shrek
Of surprise she had motioned to close
the door; II am very i'll and wretched."
In hurried, broken accents, but with
a firmness of purpose, he unfolded TO
her the dark picture Of his blighted
hopes, his crushed affections, his SUI
fering, and his intense despair. Ber-
tina could not summon words to COM
mand him to desist and leave her
presence, for it seemed at that mo-
ment a needless cruelty to- torture a
heartbroken and frenzied man.
Another knock! what clouds of
sophistry and self deceit did it not
serve to dispel! Bertha felt how
criminal how insane had been that
interview, and how deep had been her
guilt in listening passively to avowals
Of love from another beside her hus-
hand. Gladly would she have well
coined the bolt of death-she would
even have met Adolph's cold gaze, and
revealed all the truth. But Albert, en-
| feebled by severe Illness as we'll as
shattered in intellect by his great de-
spair, had less fortitude or q deeper
| consciousness Of wrong. II cannot
will not meet him. he exclaimed in
! agony; 'let me fy!' She pointed to
the door which led into the little gar
j den in the rear of their little cottage,
and in a moment he had rushed
| through it. Sick at heart and tremb-
! ling in every fibre Bertha unfastened
! the door at which her husband waited
she had neither strength nor coura ge
! to open it; and Adolph, who had fallen
| into one of his habitual reveries. re-
! manned for some minutes without