Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-01-11


tails. | groaned inwardiy. The mo-
ment | had so long dreaded had come. If
| jagged her away by fOrce-lf l inter
rupted the speakers-What good could IT
doI She had heard enough. She would
force me to tell her the rest. | could only
pray that she would not in any way as
socate herself with the mans death.
Murdered. Poor fellow! Who MUIR
dered hing | heard the first speaker say.
NO one knows. He was shot dead on
a country roadside. Just as that fearful
snoWstorm Of last winter began. 1t seems
almost incredible, but the SHOW drifted
over him. and until it melted the crime
was not discovered. In the interval the
murderer had, of course, got clean
away
poor devil! / never heard any good
of him: but what an end.
| was not looking at the speakers. |
was noting every change in my wife
face | saw the color fly from her cheek
| saw her lips and throat working conVul-
sively. as though she was trying to ar
ticulate. saw her dark Drows con l5ra,;
in anguish | knew that she was clasp
ING her hands together, as was her way
when agitated. Suddenly she turned her
eyes to mine. and in her eyes was look
of horror which told me that the very
worst had come to pass-that the dread
which had haunted me was reallZeu.
Then with Il low moan she sank, Whlle
and senseless, on my shoulder.
Though in a whirl of despair, | be-
lieved that | assumed kind OF mechanl-
cal calm / seem to remember that the
two English tourists offered their as
sistance: that, as we bore Philippa to an
extemporized couch in the shadiest and
coolest place we could find, / smiled, and
attributed my wife's fainting tit to. the
heat of the sun, the smell OF engines,
or something of that kind. Little did
those young men guess what their chance
words had wrought. Little could they
think that in speaking Of Sir Mervyn
Ferrands death they had, perhaps,
wrecked the happiness OF two llves. MY
heart was full of grief and fear, but |
believe / bore myself brayely.
In spite of such restoratives as we
could administer. Philippa's swoon lasted
for a considerable time. | troubled little
about that fact Indeed, to me it seemed
well that syncope should have super
vened. and, for a time, banished the
dreadful memories which had so sudden
ly invaded her brain. Could such a
thing have been possible, l would almost
have wished that her insensibliIty would
continue until we reached Seville. But
il was not to be so. By and by she
sighed deeply. and her eyes opened.
Consciousness and all it's dreaded Sc
quence was hers once more.
[ spoke to her, but she made no reply.
She turned her eyes from mine; she
stunned my gaze; she even seemed TO
shrink from the touch Of my hand. Dur
ing. the remainder of that dreary journey
not one word passed her lips. she lay
with her face turned to the side Of the
vessel. needless of curious glanceS from
fellow passengers, needless of my whis-
pered words of love; needless of all save
her own acknowledgements which led
her. / trembled to picture whittier.
Through all those long, sultry hours,
while the wretched steamboat ploWed
AI,o ddVyS fJS M 4
sat beside her. trying to find some way
out of our sorrow. Alas! every road
was stopped by the impossible obstacle
of Philippa's knowledge of what she had
done. For she knew it: was certain.
That look in her eyes had told me so
much The duration of her insanity had
been so short that | could gather no COM
fort from the fact that by some merci-
full arrangement maniacs who recover
their erring senses are troubled little by
the deeds they have done in their mo-
ments of madness. l felt that in my
wifes case my only hope was to endeav-
or by argument to bring her to my own
way of thinking; that is, to consider
herself unaccOuntable by any law, human
or divine. for her actions at the time
But I doubted if her sensitive, impulsive
nature could ever be induced to take
| this view of her act. l doubted, had
she not been the woman | loved with a
| passionate love, if / could have quite alb
| solved her from the crime, with the re-
membrane of her words, Basil, did you
ever hate man?' still with me.
! Yet. strange anomaly, | would, in
fair fight, of course, have shot that man
through the heart. and .gloried in
the deed But then, Philippa was
a woman. and had she not been the wom-
an loved, might have shrunk from the
one who, even in her madness, was urged
! to take such fearful vengeance.
| T
chance breath Of wind had tumbled my
| house of cards to the ground. [ smiled
almost triumphantly as / told myself that,
come what might-misery- shame-death
4 had won and held for week the one
desire of my life. Nothing could deprive
| me of that memory.
| Home at last! Still silent. or answer
ing my questions by monosyllables, Phil
ippa was brought by me to our once hap
| py home in Seville. My mother, with
arch smiles of welcome on her comedy
| face, was at the gate of the patio ready
to receive us. AS she saw her kind OF
| shiver ran through my poor loves frame.
| She let my mother embrace and caresS
her without any display of reciprocal af.
! lection.
''Philippa is ILL.," said, in explanation,
Il will take her to her ROOM
l led her to the apartment which my
mother had i'll our absence fitted up for
us. 1t was gay and beautiful with flow
ers. and there were many other careful
little evidences of the hearty welcome
which was waiting us. Pnilippa noticed
nothing. I closed the door and turned
i toward my wife.
| She looked at me with those wondrous
dark eyes, which seemed to search my
very soul BASIL she said, in low
solemn voice. tell me-tell me the truth
| What had | done that nighty'
CHAPTER XII.
SPECIAL PLEADING.
1t was over! She knew! The hope
which may have buoyed my spirits, that
Philippa's agitation at learning of Sir
Mervyn Ferrand's death was but due to
the fact that once she loved the man en-
tirely vanished. / could see no loophole
Of escape. no possibility of persuading
her that she was fancying horrors which
had never taken place. Moreover. al
| though / would have given my life to
have saved her from the knowledge of
| this thing, | could not meet the eyes of
her l loved. and lie to her
| did, indeed, if but for the sake of
gaining time, attempt to stammer out
| b,1t bn into Tod