Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1899-09-28


| left to die alone"
In the clear, calm stiffness of the
bright Italian night she laid herself
down upon the bed she was never more
| to leave fhe rich masses Of her hair
| fell over her shoulders,--a few tears,
so burning that they seemed to scorch
her face, ran down her cheeks, the
last poor Inez would ever shed.
The hand that raised the fatal
phial to her lips never faltered; some
! thing Ike prayer, a wild cry for
mercy, escaped her, then the nerveless
hand fell down, and Inez, Lady Lynne
slept well" at last
Agatha wondered for some little
time over her sisters strange visit,
but her thoughts wandered to Allan,
and then she forgot it in her busy
| dreams. 1t was the broad, clear
morning light that awoke her at last,
"a sunbeam, peeping right into her
room, and seeming to reproach her for
sleeping so long.
| It was not until she was wide awake
that the young girl remembered her
sisters visit, and the letter. True to
| her promise, she first looked at her
watch,--it was just half-past seven;
then she turned to the papers. and be-
gan to read them.
A Mortified expression gradually
stole over her face as she read that
confession. Pity, compassion, and
shame succeeded each other rapidly In
her mind. Could it be that her beauti-
| full, gifted sister, had done this,-had
married secretly, and never even told
Philip? When she understood 1t fully,
and found that it was the count who
had blighted that young life, she
shivered with slckening apprehension
That her sister, Lady Lynne, OF whom
they were all so fond and so proud
could have deceived her husband so
baselyl--oh, why had she not told
him all when she found the count still
lived? Pity came after anger. What
had she not suffered!-what hidden
anguish, what untold torture!--and
then, with evergrowing surprise, she
Ttdu now sue utlS udu bcoH NC
trayed.
"Then he did love me, after ALL"
she cried but 1t is best as it Is. Allan
would have been wretched without
me Poor Tnez! she has been sinned
against as well as SHINING"
Then the reading of that sad letter
alarmed her. What was coming on
the day which had already dawned?
What did she mean by speaking of
death and dying?
A dreadful thought flashed across
her for moment; 1t rendered her
helpless, and she fell back, unable to
move What might be happening
while she delayed? stlll, true to her
promise, she destroyed the letter be-
fore she quilted her room. She was
hurrying along the corridor when she
met Stephanie, her sisters maid. The
girl looked pale and frightened.
twenty times at my lady's door, and
she has never answered me"
Agathas heart almost stood still
with fear; she knocked, and called
Tnez but no answer came. Then she
opened the door gently, and entered
the room All that was mortal of
Lady Lynne lay upon the bed before
her her beautiful face white and still
the lips forever silent and cold.
Fetch Lord Lynnel" cried Agatha
with a low cry as she fell upon her
knees.
1t seemed but a moment, and the
terrified husband stood beside her
Great Heaven he cried, in voice
they never forgot, she is dead"
Yes, dead and at rest with look
rQon the exquisite face that awed them
by its peaceful solemnity,
Doctors were summoned, the terri
fed servants, with loud cries, seek
ing aid, but it was all in vain. She
had been dead for hours.
Il will not believe it, cried Lord
Lynne she was not i'll last night
not III enough to die. am mad or
dreaming-I cannot believe IT,
they could not persuade him to
leave the room whore she lay; he
would not, could not believe that she
was dead.
1t was not until the first bewilder-
ment OF this surprise had passed
away, that they thought OF asking
how she died. Alas, the question was
soon answered There lay the little
phlal empty. and marked "Laudanum
poison" and the odor OF it still
fingered upon the white cold lips.
Then the weeping. frightened
Stephanie told how her lady suffered
agouies with neuralgia, and how she
took little opium TO lull the pain.
Last night" said the poor girl, my
lady was ill with il; she must have
intended to take enough to quiet the
pain and have taken too much"
So every one believed; there was no
reason TO doubt IT, The wretched and
unhappy commit suicide; but ne care
or trouble. they said, had ever come TO
/ the brilliant and beautiful Lady
/ Lynne
The news gradually spread, and a
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