The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-10-15
BY THE RIVER.

the river 1t was the ambition OF Susan
Wycherfy to make her daughter, the only
object upon which the pride and affection
of her selfish heart were placed the wife
of a man Of wealth and influence, and such
a one she pronounced Percy Efing han,
whose visits at the house had commenced
soon after its occupancy by the Wyeherlys.
And Kate Wycherly loved him from the
first not with a constrained affection
wrung from her by the commands Of her
parent, but with a passionate zeal which
melted the heart of the proud beauty to an
unwOnted gentleness-
During the first weeks of his visits at
the house Percy bingham had been al
ways received and entertained by the
daughter. ard so sedulously was the niece
excluded from his society that he hardly
knew Of her existence. He had abandoned
himself to the destinations of the former
with the easy Indifference Of man of the
world and without inquiring Of himself
whether it were possible that he could love
her, and she, for her part, deemed her tri-
umph complete when mere accident served
to destroy the fond hopes concerning him
which mother and daughter had pleased
themselves with fabrieatiDg Happening
to call one day, the young man first saw
Ellen Wycherly and was at once deeply i'm
pressed with the remarkable loneliness of
her mind and person Thenceforth his
visits were made for the sole purpose Of
seeing her and enjoying her society, and
it was with manifest chagrin and anger
that Kate and her scheming mother dis
covered the probable and unexpected de-
feat of their cherished plans
1t was q dusky, twilight hour, upon a
summer evening, when Ellen Wycherly
sat alone in one Of the apartments Of the
house overlooking the river She was seat
ed by the window, absently watching the
eddies in the current as they wbirled and
al
quiet, dreamy smile upon her handsome
face and the word Percy uncOnsciOusly
fell from her lips. The next instant she
started and blushed in unfeigned con
fusion as she looked III and discovered
Efdngham himself standing by her, his
features radiant with a glowing gratifica-
ton which her audible whisper had pro
duced-
The time, the place and the discovery all
favored and encouraged the ardent lover
and his warm avowal, there in solemn
hush Of the night, came sweetly to the cars
of Ellen Wycherly, filing her sweet blue
eyes with tears Of JOY.
The twilight hour had long passed and
the darkness Of a cloudy night drew on
before Percy Ehingham reluctantly tore
himself from the scene of his newly found
happiness. The next day when Percy Eff
dngham called he was informed that Ellen
had mysteriously disappeared.
in mystery, dark and inexplicable. In
sparing efforts were used by her lover as
well as by her relatives to discover and re-
claim her, but each attempt was as vain as
that which had preceded it.
Search was finally abandoned as utterly
useless The warmest sympathies of the
neighborhood were given to Susan Wyoher-
ly and her daughter, whose administrative
grief none could suspect of being any 9th
er than an unfeigned one, as well as to
Percy Ehingham, now a broken hearted,
prematlrely aged man. He seemed, in
truth, dead TO aughs else than reminis-
cences Of his great bereavement, and the
efforts OF Kate Wycherly to secure his at
tections anew were met with Indifference
or passive smile which should have as
sured her that he had no heart to give. Tt
was strange, withaI, that the passionate
beauty could still love him and yearn for
his affections, for the lapse Of 80 years
could not have so Whitened his hair, with
cred his cheek, bowed his form and stolen
the luster from his eye as this one over
towering sorrow. Yet her longings for
him were, if possible, never more intense,
and a year barely passed since the cisap-
pearance Of Ellen when the approaching
nuptials Of Percy Effngham and Kate
Wycherly were announced through the
neighborhood.
The light from the chandeliers Of the
dining room STRAINED out upon the river
on the night appointed for the marriage.
1t was a dreary, heartless wedding-the
cold, apathetic absence OF mind and corpse
like appearance of bingham, contrasting
SO singularly with the eager resslessness
and flush of beauty Of the bride.
But as the last words Of the ceremony
were pronounced and the clergyman was
in the act Of invoking a blessing upon the
bridal pair a deathly whiteness overspread
the face Of Kate Wyoherly. Her mother
trembled with agitation, and, hastily NOV
ing to her side, whispered in her ear.
f'No-no-I cannot be calmp' burst
from the lips Of the fFenzied bride In ac-
cents Of fear and despair 'There-therel
For heavens sake keep her from mel''
Whom do you mean2'' Percy sternly
demanded, as a suspicion Of the truth, with
its CHASTITY light broke upon his mind
"Enen-Ellen Wycherlyl See her, how
she stands there now, by the window. from
which my mother flung herl Her hair is
wet and tangled with the weeds OF the
river, and her eyes-oh, God, how they stare
on mel Can you not see her? And there
she stands, even now, whispering of her
wrong and reckoning mo to follow her
into the cold riveri Nay, Ellen, do not
gaze upon me so coidlyl Do not-do''-
With a prolonged and thrilling scream
the speaker fell insensible to the floor.
Search was made for the body Of Ellen.
and after a time it was recovered from the
bed Of the river And Susan Wycherly,
convicted by the dying words of her daugh-
ter as well as by her own confession, ex-
plated her crime upon the scaffold- For
several years succeeding these events Percy
bingham continued to haunt with his
ghostly presence the old mansion By the
river, like the peculiar spirit Of the scene.
The house itself fell gradually into decay
and ruin, for none wished OF dared to in /
habit it after these events, and the death
o. Percy at length left it dreary, desolate
and lora-. - n M. IL D.. -. Il