Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1896-10-29

best not" sdtd Wtll: "she has borne
enough Already"
TO be made despioable, grotesque. to be
placed in this attitude, in that, q cat on
all fours one moment. q drunkard tho
next. or devotional idiot. He caused
pictures to be taken Of meme, his
child, and brought strange men to look
at me in my degradation. He inflicted
ON me every agony and shame that a
woman can suffer, and for what? For
science, the science that killed my
mother, that would have killed me but
that I would not die. would not, and
as he had killed her inch by inch I re.
solved that some day would slay him,
but moro mercifully, and did"
She drew deep breath. then went on /:
II was rapidly becoming what he
had made my mother when you came,
Antoine. to Chudleigh Salterton. and
Mortified at the change in me, though
you knew all had suffered in Paris
and elsewhere, quarreled with him on
my behalf, but he met you with jeers,
and, maddened, you rushed away. I.
too, was mad at that moment for two
lovers, whom l met constantly in my
walks, had opened my eyes to the posi-
bilities Of life, and when you left and !
saw no help from God or man anywhere
stole in from the kitchen and seized
him as he sat in his chair, and he ohoked
and died before l realized that my wish
had become accomplished fact.
She paused again. and Lady Lirriper
remarked in an aside to her soul that il
she had been in Hagar's position she
would have done exactly the same thing
as Hagar did, only sooner.
II fed from my work, and by some
extraordinary chance-partly because it
was their dinner hour-the neighbors
did not see me leave the house. went
into the wood, thence to the shore, and
sat down, waiting to be arrested. l
heard Lord Straubenzee' valet bring
the news and that you were suspected.
had simply to hold my tongue. and I
could not; the damned up life in me
rushed forth, and shrieked aloud my
joy at being Free They were kind to
me. these rich Samaritans; they took
me to their home; but one man mis-
trusted, disliked me- She turned and
faced Will. "You."
"And l had reason" he said lacon-
ioally.
Hagar shrank visibly beneath his look
and words and for the first time STUN
bled in her narrative.
"I-where was I? They had sheltered
me, but I knew that If they became
aware how intimately acquainted was
with oil the arts Of hypnotism, and the
power was thus able to get over most
people who approached me, they would
shun me, they would see the harm, not
the good. of such knowledge, and pass
me by. And yet this tabooed field Of
physical science will yield revelations
as rich in vital truth as any Of the dis.
coveries that have marked the past cen.
tury, and that, too, without making
tools of wretched women like me. l
was above all things anxious that the
character of my fathers pursuits should
not become known to Lord Straubenzee,
and exacted q promise from the Sal
terton doctor that he would not betray
me, then contrived in the dead Of night
TO destroy all the books, chemicals and
papers belonging to my father, and
though the doctor suspected he never
denounced me, ana was saved. At Sid
mouth later met you. Antoine. who
had only just returned to the neighbor.
hood, there to hear of my fathers mur.
der. being indeed OH your way to me to
learn the truth In the Knowle gardens
you taxed me with the murder, and aft.
OF terrible scene, in which implored
you not to cut me off from my last
chance Of salvation, you consented to
depart without unmasking me, and de-
parted"
"And how have you used my Glenn
ehcy, Hagar?" cried Antoine sadly.
"You have tried to destroy two human
souls, you have separated husband and
wife. Where would your deviltry have
ended had not Lord Trelawny suspected
you and advertised for information?'
II oouh have done no more" said
Hagar in broken tones, and turning to
Will. "You were proof against every.