The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-06-08
AVENGED BY A SERPENT


When I got Georges letter telling me
that all was now ready for our reception
and We were to come at once l as de-
lighted. Within week we-mother and l.
were on our way out and in about three
weeks time found ourselves between the
swampy shores of the EsseQuibo, nearing
Georgetown, where on the quay the dear
fellow was waiting to take up to the
home he had made for us on his planta-
ton.
George Haden and had met a year be-
fore during his visit to the old country,
and the big, quiet. sunburned man and l.
who tell this story. had fallen in love with
one another almost at first sight.
We were to have been married before he
returned to Guiana, but he was recalled
suddenly by the death of his brother at
Rio and 1t was arranged that l should fol-
low later with mother.
You can-or rather you can't imagine
now delighted l was to see my sweetheart
again. But l was startled and a
good bit troubled by his appear
ance, he looked thin and worried.
At first put it down to his grief at
Harrys death: but later, after our quiet
wedding, on the way to my future home
gathered by degrees there was more than
that.
His brother Harry had married Span
iard-a beautiful woman-Mho had died
nearly eighteen Years before, leaving him
with one daughter, Teresa. 1t was chiefly
on this girls account that George had hur-
ried back, and he had mentioned In writ
ing to me that he had brought her up from
Rio to stay with him in Guiana until other
arrangements could be made. Since then
1 had heard little of her, and almost in
deed, in my own happiness and excitement
forgotten her very existence.
Now, questions elected from George
that she was not pleasant-tempe1td
young woman, or easy to get on with, but
my worst anticipation did not touch r;Ie
reality.
er, which dropped up at my husband
wharf, and We three walked up slope
through a wonderful tropical garden to
where long, white-washed, green shut
tered house shone clean and bright in the
evening sun.
On the veranda stood a tall figure In a
pale yellow gown, her black hair crowned
with crimson hibiscus. splendidly hand
some woman!
She looked at me in a half-disdainful way.
so you're my new aunt?" she said cas-
ualIy. And how do you do, Uncle
George?"
Her calm assumption of superiority was
| unbearable. George-big, steady, good-tem-
pered man that he was-flushed with anger.
| He whispered to me:
! ter; and it won't be for long"
But it was for longer than we reckoned.
She was to have been sent to her god
mother who lived in Madrid. But the old
lady was i'll and begged us to keep the girl
a While longer.
II was trying to a degree, and each day
&C. worse and worse. Teresa temper
was something unbedrable, ana her general
lack of manners only equalled by her
sN eetness when there was anything to he
gained by it. Still, for my husband S
sake, l bore with It,
Toward the end of the cool weatha. our
old English overseer died, and, as stop
gap. George took on a young Spanish
American. Ramon Martinez.
Ramon was smart looking fellow, but
there was something In his black eyes
! which repealed me. 1 always felt shrink
ing repulson for the man, and George
didn't care much for him. Still, it was
necessary to have some one who under
stood the sugar, and the men who lnew
anything were so scarce that you coulln t
pick and choose.
Teresa. who loved the cheap gayeties of
Rio, had been simply bored to dealt all the
winter. Ramon was godsend to her,
and the two used to chat in Spanish every
| evening over their coffee on the veranda.
Sometimes I blame myself for letting
! them be SO much together. but to tell
| the truth, the relief Of getting rid of her
even for an hour or two was very great.
And how could l know what scoundrel
| the man was, or what unspeakable wicked
ness those two were brewing together?
| And now l must pass over the events of
| the next 10 months and tell you what hap
pened on that dreadful day which so near
! ly proved fatal to all my happiness.
Old Juan, half-caste Indian emplOye on
| the place, came up that morning wanting
| to see my husband: They talked for a
| time, and then l saw George go out with
| gun on his shoulder. He saw me at the
| WINDOW and called out something. but ]
| could not hear what he said.
He was a keen collector, and I supposed it
| was some bird he was after.
The day passed and the short tropical twi-
light was closing over the forest when l saw
! George returning. He was followed by two
| negroes, who slowly dragged some long,
heavy object up the path to the house. This
| they pulled along trailing in the dust round
| to the south end of the house, where
| Georges big so-called study. really sort
| of museum, opened by two French windows
| on the lawn.
I was dressing for o'clock dinner, so did
! not go out. Soon l heard Georges long
] stride pass upstairs to my door to his
dressing room. which lies beyond my room
| at the extreme north end of the house.
To make you understand what followed I
must partly explain how the house was
built 1t was from north to SOUTH long and
| narrow, with a veranda all the way round.
| A wide hall ran through from east to west.
and long, narrow one from north to
south. The dining room was the front room
at the north end. under my room; Georges
study at the SOUTH under the room Teresa
occupied. There were two stair-cases, one
at each end of the house. A couple of
hundred yards away, higher up the slope
at the back Of the house, was the cottage
where Martinez lived. He, Martinez, gen
orally dined with u.s. and was to have done
so this night.
Now, so far 1 know, and judging from
what we made out afterwards from letters
we discovered in the cottage and in Tere-
sa's room, this is what brought about the
tragedy that followed.
Ramon must long before this have made
up his mind to marry Teresa. Her small
fortune was irresistible bait to the in.
dolent Southerner The only thing that
troubled him was that she was not of age
for another three years, and George was
her guardian and sole trustee He knew
Well enough what George would say or do
If he once heard Of his pretensions With
a man of Ramon's type-absolutely con-
sclenceless-the next idea was simply to
get George out Of the way. Once get rid
of the uncle, and what was there to hinder
his making off with Teresa and her money?
Undoubtedly he inStilled these ideas into