The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-28
Author of ''The Leavenworth Case"

till quiet was again restored, and only {
circle of listening faces confronted tn,
man who had just stirred whole room
full to its depths. Seeing this, and real
izing his opportunity. Frederick at one,
entered into the explanations for Which
each heart there painted.
This will be overwhelming news II
him who has cared for me since in
fancy. You have heard him call m,
son; with what words shall overthrow
| his confidence in the truth and rectitude
of his long buried wife and make hin
! know in his old age that he has wasted
years of patience upon one who was not
, OF his blood or lineage. The wonder, the
! incredulity you manifest are my best
excuse for my long delay in revealing
the secret entrusted to me by this dying
/ woman.
An awed silence greeted these words
Never was the interest of crowd more
( intense or its passions held in greater
! restraint. Yet Agnes tears flowed free
ly and AmabelS smiles-well, their ex-
preston had changed; and to Sweet
water, who alone had eyes for her now
they were surcharged with a tragic
meaning, strange to see in one of her
callous nature.
Fredericks voice broke as he pro-
ceeded in his self-imposed task
THE astounding fact which I have
just communicated to you was made
known to me by my mother, with the
dagger still plunged in her breast She
would not let me draw it out She
knew that death would follow that act.
and she priced every moment remain
ing to her because of the bliss she en-
joyed of seeing and having near her
her only living child. The love, the
passion, the boundlesS devotion she
showed in those last few minutes trans
formed me in an instant from "a selfish
brute into deeply repentant man. 1
knelt before her in anguish. / made
her feel that, wicked as l had been, 1
was not the constituencies wretch she
had imagined, and that she was mis-
into her presence. And when l saw
by her clearing brow and peaceful look
that l had fully persuaded her of this.
l let her speak what words she would
and tell as she was able, the secret
tragedy of her life.
1t is a sacred story to me, and if
you must know it, let it be from her
own words in the letters she left be-
hind her. She only told me that to
save me from the fate of the children
who had preceded me, the five little
girls and boys who had persisted al
most at birth in her arms, she had
parted from me in early infancy to
MIS- sutherland, then mourning the
sudden death of her only child. That
this had been done secretly and under
circumstances calculated to deceive Mr..
Sutherland, so that he had never
known l was not his own child and
she enjoined me never to enlighten
him, if by any sacrifice on my part 1
could rightfully avoid it. That she
was happy in having me hear the truth
before she died, that the joy which
this gave her was so great that she
did not regret her fatal act, violent
and uncalled for as it was, for it had
showed her my heart and allowed me
to read hers. Then she talked of nv
father, by whom I mean he whom you
call Philemon; and she made me prom
Use 1 would care for him to the last
with tenderness, saying that 1 would
be able to do this without seeming
improperly, since she had wiled me
all her fortune under this proviso.
Finally, she gave me a key, and point
ing out where the rest of her money
lay hidden, bade me carry it away as
her last gift, together with the pack
age of letters l would find with it. And
when had taken these and given her
back the key, she told me that but