The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1898-03-08

him, the more gfdSprng anti arrogant ne
became. He asked her twice for money
when she had nothing to give. He sug-
gested her husbands desk. He knew
st Cyril kept by him large sums Of
money, and she could easily abstract
what he wanted without being mis-
trusted. This my mother perempto-
rily refusd to do. She would run all
risks rather than steal from this man
who loved and trusted her. Rudolph
went away in fierce anger, vowing ven
geance
about this time twins were born to
my parents girls. They were
named Evangeline and Genevieve, and
upon the arms of each of them there
was faint scarlet cross-a birth mark.
When these children were four months
old, the nurse took them out for their
airing one day, in little carriage, and
while she left them moment to speak
to friend, Evangeline was stolen from
the side of her sister. The terrified
nurse knew nothing beyond the fact
that she had left them for moment by
the side of a fountain in the public gar
dens, and on returning to take them
away, had found only Genevieve-
Evangeline was gone!
my mother was distracted The
shock threw her into fever, and in her
delirious rawlings my father learned the
whole story. Nothing was kept back.
He knew that she had loved Rudolph
that she had deceived him every day
since their marriage, and that this I'M
scrupulous man had visited her several
times since their residence at Auvergne.
He was proud and painfully sensitive
man, and his whole soul was outraged.
He fancied himself the most bitterly
wronged of all the human race. He
grew cruel and relentless toward the
woman he had so loved. When at last
she returned to consciousness, she
found herself deserted by her husband.
He had gone to the east, he said in a
brief epistle which he left behind him ;
he knew everything. He never wished
| to look upon her face again. He had
| left ample provision for her, and begged
her to bring up her children in the paths
of virtue and honor.
''This was a terrible blow to my
mother, but her affection for her chill
dren, and the care she was obliged to
bestow on them, kept her up. She
made every effort in her power to as
certain the fate of her lost Evangeline,
| but vainly. She never heard from or
saw John Rudolph for ten years. She
wrote to her husband, putting aside all
| her pride for her child's sake-wrote to
entreat him to try and find the lost girl;
but if the letter ever reached him he
gave it no heed. 1t was never replied to.
Then she applied to her father in Eng
| land. But he was stern old man, and
he fancied his pride injured and his
house dishonored by the fact that his
daughter had been deserted by her hus-
band, and he refused to take any step
in the matter. So my poor mother was
left desolate Nothing, think, but her
strong love for Genie and myself kept
| her alive.
"'Ten years after Eva was stolen, late
one evening there came to our house
| tall, dark man, whom [ now know was
John Rudolph. He was closeted long
| time with my mother, and when she
came out her face was paler that it's
wont, and her eyes were red with weep
| ing. Then I did not know wherefore,
but now I know that he had come to tell
her that Eva still lived; that she was in
| America, and that if she would raise
| him certain sum he would reveal the
child's exact whereabouts. This condi-
ton she could not comply with, and he
| left her in rage.
ct think the constant worry about
| this missing child wore out my mothers
life. Her days were shortened by it.
Two years ago she received a letter
| from my father. He was lying on his
death-bed, in an obscure Russian viii
lage He confessed how much he had
wronged her, expressed a sincere re-
pentance, and begged her to come to
him. He longed SO inexpressibly for a
sight of her face She was not really
able to undertake the journey, but could
not be dissuaded from attempting it.
went with her. We found my father
| just on the borders of the mystic river,
but waiting to see her ere he crossed
over
ct was solemn scene. He lay on a
great bed, heavily curtained, in a lofty
room, gloomy with shadows; his face
as white as marble, but for the hectic
Pushes in his cheeks. His great, eager
eyes were fastened upon the door by
which we entered-he was watching for
her to come. He started up at the