Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1896-11-30


ear Sweet, let the past vanish from
our lives as a dream. Let happiness date
| from today.
Although Philippa would grace my
! poor cottage for the night only, l had
| thousand preparations to make for her
comfort. Fortunately I had q spare
i room. and, moreover, a furnished one,
Not that | should have troubled, when |
went into my seclusion, about. such
1 superiority as a guest chamber; but, as
it happened, / had bought the house and
! the furniture complete, SO could offer my
welcome guest fair accommodation for
the night.
[ summoned my stolid man. told him
| that my sister was coming on visit to
! me: that she would sleep here tonight,
but that most likely we should go away
tomorrow. He could stay and look after
the house auntil L. returned or sent him
instructions what to do with it. William
manifested no surprise. Had | told him
| to make preparations for. the coming of
my wife and five children. he would have
considered it all a part. of the days work.
and would haye done. his best to meet
| my requirements,
He set to work in his imperturbable;
methodical, but handy way to get Philip
| pas roomajn trim. AS soon as this was
done, and the neglected chamber made
coy and warm-looking, | told him to
borrow horse and cart somewhere, and
fetch the luggage from Mrs. Will
! sons. He was to mention no names;
simply to say that he had come for the
luggage, and to ask if the lady had any
| message to send
Then sat down in the room which
my love would occupy, and unused upon
the strange but unhappy chance which
was bringing her beneath my roof. l
! wished that [ chad an enchanterss wand
! to turn the humble garniture of. the
chamber into surroundings, meet for my
4 queenly PhiHppa.> [ wished that | had,
at least, flowers with which could deck
her resting place; for | remembered how
! passionately she loved flowers. Alas!
/ had not seen a flower for months.
/ Then / drew out Sir Mervyn Fer
rand's letter, read it-again and agani,
and cursed the writer in my heart.
William was away about two hours;
boxes. /. was delighted to see these
| tangible. signs that Philippa% meant to
/ keep her promise. Till that moment
| had been troubled by something. like
the doubt that4after all she might, upon
| calm reflection, rescind the resolution
coming seemed to be a certainty. 4.
/ Nevertheless, William brought no mes
sage; SO there was 5nothing for.s1messto
do but rs until: She: cAoseatp
Across my Thresholds .: l';;..t
T. Although my pleasing 4 lab9rs of rh love
Nel0 6lllGIs I WAS ltOl uSl Z
was another task to be. done today: /
i set. my teeth alld%sat DOWN. thinking
\: Gilietly as to the way. in which it might
+ be Ssbest performed. Tonight Il meant
i to stand face. to face: with that. black
4 hearted sGoandrel klo R,If-i as = Sir err
vy41+ Ferrand! y: ..% mt.
i II consulted the&stihe- ia ble.$sS His let
| ter :snanl&el*:.no particular. hour; but |
f saw that if he carried .out his expressed
+ ,infention of being here. tonight, there
was but .olle train by which. he could
;tscome; s%there was but one.%Wa from
i had BEEN staying. s s: He meant to walk,
/ affaas letter: sad: this might be-. In or,
/ Ger to escape observation,.s' The train
was due at Roding at 7s:o'clock. The
weather was cold; q man would nat
urallY walkafast. (: Mrs Wilson s: house
Let me start from there just before the
train arrives, and [ should probably meet
/ him about half way on his jour1fey. 1t
would be dark, but | should know him.
i should know him among thousand
! There on the open, lonely road Sir Mer-
worldly cynicism, certain of caJoling,
'buying off, or in some other way eilenc-
! ing fhe woman who had in an evil day
trusted to his honor and love. would
1 meet. not her, but the man who from the
| first had sworn that wrong to Philippa
w
He @would meet this man, and be called
to account.
Stern and sinister as were my
ughts-freely and unreservedly as [
record them: as indeed | endeavor in
this tale to record everything do not
wish to be misjudged. 1t is true that in
Emy present mood / was bent upon aveng-
ing Philippa with my own hand true
that l. meant, if possible, toetake at some
time or another this mans life; but at
least no thought of taking any advan-
j tage of an nnarmed or unSuSpecting man
I entered into my scheme Of vengeance.
designed no 1nurderous attack. But it
was my intention to stop the man on his
] path: to confront him, and tell him that
I his villainy was known to me; that Phil
! ippa had fled to me for aid; that she
4 was now in MY custody; and rhat /,
I who stood in the position of her brother,
/ demanded the so-called satisfaction
which. by the old-fashioned code of
/ honor, was due from the man who had
t'ruthlessly betrayed woman. Well I
|aknew that it was probable he would
laugh at me-tell me that the days Of
I dtIpling were over, and refuse to grant
my request. Then I-meant to see if in
suits could warm his noble blood; if my
hand on<his cheek could bring about the
result which / desired. If this failed,
| ! would follow him abroad, cane him
and; spit upon him in public places.
Avid scheme for these prosaic, law
abiding days; yet the. only one that was
feasible. It may be said that should
! have. taken steps to have caused the
lniscreant to be arrested for bigamy.
But what. proof of his crime had we as
yet, save his own confession? Who was
| to move in the Philippa--lny-
seelfa Ne did not even know where this
/ Wife offs whom he had spoken lived, or
where she died. There were a hundred
ways IN which he might escape from
| Justice bat whether he was punished
for his sin or allowed to go scot-free
Philippa's name and wrongs must be
bruited about-her shame made public
] No: there was but one course to take
and bgagf' one person to take it. 1t rested
with mSee,Sfo avenge the wrongs of the
| woman 1 loved. by the good old-fash-
Toned way of a life against a life.
1 Truly. as [ said, / had now plenty to
live for!
" h as, went by, yet Philippa came
not. l grew restless and uneasy as the
dusk began, to make the road, Up which
/ gazed. almost continually, dim and in