Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-01-18

do this. was mad. l must have been
| mad. Basil, you could tell them | was
mad They would believe YOU, and for
| give me"
| She looked at me. implorjngly.
L could stand up" | said. and state
on oath that you were 1T the time i'll a
| raging dclirium. / could pledge my pro-
| fessionaI reputation that your actions
were the result Of madness. Fear moth
/ ing en- that score, my wife.
| spoke boldly; but as | spoke, a
! thought shot through me-a thought
which blanched my cheek and brought
| the beads of DerspiratiOn TO my brow.
| | knew enough of law to be aware that
! Il husband could not in a criminal case
| give evidence for or against his VIE;
! My marriage with Philippa had deprived
! her Of the benefit of my testimony as to
/ her insanity | trembled like q leaf as
/ | pictured what might happen in the
! event of her being tried for the murder
| Of Sir Meryyn Ferrand. The very
nurses bad but seen her sane. No one
| but myself and perhaps my servant had
! seen her in her madness.
! My dismay was such that | was bound
! to leave the room. in order to recover my
| presence Of mind. Again and again /
| thanked heaven that we were on foreign
| soil. The thought that my unreason-
| ing love might have destroyed her I
| bear. a
| fancy I have fingered long enough
| oyer that terrible time, when my wife
| first learned that the dream which had
| haunted her was reality-that her hand
| bad unknowingly avenged her supposed
and premeditated wrong. Let me but
say that the mental anguish into which
the knowledge plunged her was not I'M
attended by physical evil In fact, for
many days my poor girl was i'll, very Ill.
My mother and / nursed her with every
care, and by and by youth and a splendid
constitution reasserted themselves, and, a
shadow of her former self, she was able
| to leave her bed. MY mother was ten
| derness itself to her daughter. She
| knew nothing of the true cause of her
| illness; indeed, she blamed me roundly
| for not having taken proper care of my
beautiful bride. and vowed laughingly
| that for the future nothing should induce
| her to trust Philippa out of her sight.
Now that Philippa knew all she had
! done, | thought it better to tell her that,
| although he had no intention Of so doing,
| Sir Mervyn Ferrand, in causing a mock
strange chance really made her his wife.
| This gave her little comfort 1T makes
my crime the greater" she said, bitterly.
Il have killed my husband instead of
my seducer! / am not fit to live.,
Weeks went by. Philippa gradually
a cause of JOY to me, calmer and more
| reasonable on a certain subject. With
ali the power / could bring to bear, | had
never ceased to impress upon her that
morally she was innocent, and | believed
my words were bearing. fruit. Her
/ fits of mental anguish and self
reproach grew Of less frequent
occurrence. She did not, whenever we
We're alone, continually harp upon her
crime. Calm seemed to settle upon us
once more, and | ventured to hope that
the great physician, Time, would one
day bring to my Wife's heart something
that might be called sorrowful haDpi-
less; but l knew | must wait years and
| years for this.
She. was changed, greatly changed.
+ Her lips seldom smiled: her eyes never
| frightened, unless when she saw me
/ drawing near. She seemed older and
grayer But / knew, in spite Of all,
| she loved me with a deathless love.
Although at last we had ceased to
discuss the sorrow Of our life, l suspect
| ed it was seldom absent from her mind
| Sometimes as | lay beside her [ heard
her moaning and talking in her troubled
| dreams, and too we'll | knew the cause
| AS my arm stole round her. and as
| sured her of the safety and certainty
of my great love, in my heart 1 cursed
the dead man whose evil deed had
brought such lasting woe on the fair
head pillOWed on my bosom. All me!
! what life might have been for us two,
now that love reigned between us!
Once-it was shortly after Philippa be-
gan to creep, a weak invalid, about the
! fragrant patio-she said to me, with evil
dent meaning in her voice.
Basil, do you see the London pa
pers?"
Sometimes always. I have al
most forgotten England.'
Promise me you will see them every
day"
Il will, if you wish: but why?'
| Her voice sank. Can you not guess?
Basil, listen. l have consented to be
guided by you. am praying that the
| day may come when | shall think as
you think. But what if an innocent
| person were accused of the crime / have
committed? Then there is but one
course; you could urge nothing against
| it. Promise me you will see the paper
every day as soon as it reaches here
shall have no peace unless you do"
| promised fearleSsly. Justice does
sometimes make mistakes, but not such
a mistake as the one limited at by Philip
pa. No; Sir Mervyn Ferrands death
was mystery never to be solved. So
| to set my poor wife at ease on the mat
ter, | wrote and ordered that the Times
should be posted to me every day.
CHAPTER XII.
TEMPTED TO DISHONOR.
[ hate looking back and re-reading
words which / have written while the
impulse was upon me; but | fancy
| have somewhere called this tale a con-
| fession: if not, | should have done So
| 1t claims no more to be ranked as work
| of art than as a work Of ina gina ton
How could it? It holds out two char
acters-a man and a woman. 1t treats
but of their love and of few months of
tleir lives. Nevertheless, in telling it l
have endeavored to conceal nothing.
have tried to describe my thoughts. my
hopes. my fears. my sorrows, and my
joys, as they really We're. l have, / be-
lieve, suppressed nothing which could
| lead any one TO condemn my actions
more strongly than. it may be, they now
condemn them My wish has been to
| show myself as l was then--no doubt
am nova weak, selfish man; yet, for
| the love which he bore a woman, one
willing to risk fortune life. even honor
| If | have failed in my attempt to repre-
| sent myself as Such a one ha1inva If iS