Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1898-11-17

..-n.- IN.
the bride and bridegroom to the
Grange, one bright June evening, just
like this, she put on her wedding
dress and veil, slipped down to the
river unperceiyed and flung herself in,
hoping, dare say, that the food
would carry her fair body to the sen
as gracefully and smoothly as that
leaf YOU"
"Well-well--and II didntY inter-
ruptcd my wife,
ut carried her aB far as the Red
MIL below tho second bridge, where
poor, foolish wenchl--she and all her
bridal hnery were ground to pieces"
"oh what horrible storyl" cried
Helen, with shudder, Poor Cecllyl
II hope she was dead before she
reached tho machinery"
History does not say, but / pre-
sumo she was, Her idea was poetlcal
enough, and would have been very ef-
fectlye but for the interference Of fate
In her case. You know the river pass
es under the Grange terrace, whore
every fine evening In summer II was
Master Ronald's habit to sit drink
Ing and smoking far into the night,
and Ceclly meant TO float down,
shrouded IN her wedding veil, like
blaine Of old, under her faithless low
er's eyes"
"Then no saw her." broke In my
wife eagerly-"he must have seen
her, Paul; for you know the Grange
Is about half mile above the mill.
Don't spoil the story by saying he
was not there when she passed.
"Im afraid, my dear | shall have to
spoil II by most disseminating de-
movement, II you want the truth and
nothing but the truth. However, II
you wish, III turn the story"
mo, no; keep to the text"
"Well, the text Is, that when Miss
Cecily passed Henshaw unfortunately
had Just opened his third bottle and
his sight In consequence was tribe
misty; he Just turned to his wife,
who, report said chung to the de-
cantors almost as devotedly as her
lord, and hlccoughed drowslly--
az say Betty, there goes another
car-case Of Thompsons. That is TO
fourth sheep he's lost this season by
Overwhelmingly beggar' - to
which Mistress Betty nodded acquies-
cence with closed eyes. The body of
the young lady was carried unchecked
to the mill, where, next morning, there
was not enough Of her found to fill
even a corner OF the coffin her afiiict-
ed relatives laid in the family vault,
not enough to fashion the faintest
outline Of q ghost wherein to haunt
the Grange and hurry Mr. Hernshaw
to remorseful self-destructlon."
"Then he llved?"
"Lived-rather! Lived to marry
two other wives and die at the patri-
archal age Of ninety-three."
1T had no effect on him-the poor
girls awful death?"
ooh, dear, yes; It had a certain
effect! He left the Grange the day
after the funeral, had fortnlghts
heavy spree In London. which seemed
to have steadled his nerves and
drowned his remorse, for before the
end of the month he was home again,
as hale as ever and INDUCING In his
usual pastimes."
GLOW could woman love and die
for such a--a-man--he must have
been half an ANIMAL" muttered Helen,
her eyes cleaning
"Thats the very remark my poor
father used to make when telling me
the story. Old Ronald was alive, you
know, when he was a boy, and my
father has often remarked to me
that of all the hldeous bloated disrep-
utable looking old boys he had ever
seen Hernshaw Of the Grange was
the worst and that II poor Cecily could
have looked on her lover in his latter
days she would have bitterly rued
the fatal plunge that robbed her per-
haps Of happy useful life and a quiet
leathbed surrounded by her chldren's
faces"
ITO be Continued