Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-02-16

hour Of those six months with yearn-
ing passion. sickening remorse that
| left those lines you see on my face,
| and streaking my hair with gray be-
fore I had reached the prime OF life.
when we returned she came across
my path again. and necessity compell-
ed her to confide secret to me. When
! learned by It how shamefully she
had been treated. believed had mis-
| Judged her cruelty. and was only eager
to offer reparation in my power. /
felt that no sacrifice or exertion
could make would atone for the ire
parable wrong done her by one Of my
name. and"
your brother Arthur, you mean;
he had"
He had forced her-an ignorant
thoughtless girl OF sixteen-to marry
him secretly when she was staying
with an invalid aunt in London"
"of sixteenr' she exclaimed eager
ly. You mean that she-she was
your brothers wife before left you
all-all that time she was with US,
your brothers wife?"
Yes. yes. At first the excitement
and adventure had pleased her, but
later on, when she came to know Ar
thurs true character and mode of his
life-how he had squandered his for
tune. was Stunned by honest men and
respectable women--when her uncle.
who had heard some rumor of child
ish attachment between the pair. In
formed her that. II she exchanged an
other word with Arthur. he would not
| only alter his will and leave her pen
niless. but would expel her from his
home. her complacency changed to
state Of misery and almost unbearable
suspense. which by degrees taught her
to hate the cause Of her selfish ter
ror. and made his existence a posi-
tive nightmare to her.
"At last, after a stormy interview
Arthur consented to emigrate to Aus
tralia. pledging his word to remain
there until the General should die, and
Edith's inheritance be quite safe.
He sailed. but after a time tirins
of Colonial life, broke his solemn
promise, and month after our arriv-
al at Colworth he turned up at South
ampton. and Edith in her terror Of
discovery confided her secret to me,
implored me to help her and induce
my brother to return to Australia at
once.
II promised to help her by every
means in my power. wrote at once to
my brother. begging him to leave; but
he refused point blank until he had
had at least one interview with his
wife. whom. with all his faults. be-
lieve he truly loved, as his conduct
within the last seven years has amply
proved. Seeing he was not to be shak-
en-. we arranged that the meeting
should take place at Colworth, where
there would be less chance of detec-
tion. It was In vain. 1 begged Edith
| to let you share the secret; she was
infiexible on that point. Her motive
for that reserve at the time I thought
trivial and unreasonable; but I have
since fathomed the terrible overween-
| ing vanity and heartlessness of the
woman. and can now understand 1t
perfectly. She was jealous Of you, my
darling; that l should have 80 quick
| ly recovered from her wanton attack
was a stab her vanity resented bit
terly; she saw more clearly than
could see myself-dull fool!-how
thoroughly happy was. how dear you
were to me; and so she set about,
with a thousand nameless, almost in
tangible wiles and artifices, to wreck
the happiness of man who was shell
tering and protecting her. fighting to
preserve her fortune and honor. With
| broken, half-stifed hints and inun-
does, she gave me to understand that
l would have been her choice had /
spoken long ago, before my brother
tried by every means in power to wean
me from your influence, to force on
me the fact that had made tremen-
dous sacrifice in marrying you, that
my chivalrous and tender bearing to-
wards you awoke in her feelings that
made her own wretched fate almost
unbearable, and at the same time, l
presume, from what I've heard, that
you, my poor darling. did not escape
her"
paul, that time when you left me
alone with her, when you went to Lon
| dom
ITO meet her husband-yes?"
"She told me-not at once, you
know, but by degrees-it-it took
three days, Paul-that you-you had
loved her passionately for years, that
you had proposed to her few days
before you met me, that, even after
her first refusal, you had followed her
about London, trying to make her
change her mind, and that, failing
that, you-you had rushed back to Ire
land in wrath and despair, and-and
married me-"
"She told you that-the jade?'
mot boldly, as l tell you now, but
with little hints and jokes, half laugh
ing sighs that were almost worse"
my poor brother! Well, my darl-