The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-19

protest. out the earl gave him such a look
that he sank back speeches. into his chair,
and, leaning his elbow on the top of it, waited
in silence to hear his sentence pronounced by
the woman he had so cruelty wronged in the
presence of the woman he had congratulated
himself on having easily won.
AS for Lady Lillian, she sat very erect and
pale as marble, with her large eyes fixed upon
Odllle. Odille rose, but remained where she
was in the background, leaning both her
arms, folded, against the chair on which she
had been seated. There was not a vestige
of color in her beautiful face but She held
her head proudly, and her dark eyes shone
with the light of a supreme resolution
Il have promised Lord Roseraye-since my
warning is not sufficient-to tell him in the
presence of you all, why Rene Laroque is no
fit husband for Lady Lillian Hereward, or in
deed for any pure and honest woman, and l
will do so. 1t will not take me long. Painful
and trying as the ordeal u.s. l am determined
to save Lady Lillian at any COST
She paused a moment, then, with an effort
and with downcast eyes, she continued
1t is true that Monsieur Laroque and my
self met for the first time in France at F'lam-
neville, about three years ago, while l was
on visit to my aunt. But everything else
that he has chosen TO say is but a tissue of
lies. He paid me a great deal of attention.
was very young at the time-only seventeen
ana helress to certain fortune, which since
has been swallowed up in the bank failure
that ruined my father | was fascinated and
drawn towards this man. He told me that he
loved me, and asked me to be his wife. I ac-
week when the news reached me that my
father had lost all his money, and that l was
penniless. L cOnfided my trouble to Monsieur
Laroque, and he appeared to sympathize with
me very greatly. l was naturally pleased to
hear him say that my loss of fortune would
make no difference to him. But l remember
that from that moment he began to urge me
continually to marry him in secret. He had
an uncle, he said, who was very rich and had
no children to inherit his wealth
According to him, this uncle had set his
heart on Rene's marrying certain cousin
or MIS- so that he (the uncle) might leave his
money to the two of them. Were Rene to in
sist on making me his wife in opposition to
his uncle's wishes, he would be cut out of the
old mans will; and were such a thing to hap
pen, Rene, who already enjoyed a handsome
allowance, would in single day find himself
almost destitute. At the same time he swore
that he would never give me up, and pro-
tested that he could not live without me.
Would L consent to marry him privately and
keep my marriage for little while a secret
from everybody?
AT first l refused. He accused me of not
caring for him, of being selfish, and declared
that II did not consent he would throw him
self into the sea. l was young and very fool
Ish-I believed him. L knew nothing of the
ways of the world, having lived all my life
hltherto with my parents in the country. In
the end | yielded. It was foregone con-
cluson. We were married by a Catholic
priest in the church of small village not
many miles from Flammevile. 1 wished to
be married by a Protestant clergyman also
by the rite of the English Church. but this
he told me was impossible, and again and,
again L begged him to make sure that the
ceremony thus performed would be valid He
look oHense at my fears and l dared not
make any inquiries my own account lest
L should betray my secret
We were married, and for a few short
weeks | was his wife. Then one morning I
received a letter recalling me to England
Inc man had married appeared greatly dis
tressed at the news, but when 1 asked him if
ne would come with me and confess all to my
parents, he said it was out of the question
He could not, for time, at any rate leave
the country but he promised to follow me as
soon as he could possibly arrange to do So
and he also promised to write to me regularly
once week. 1 gave him an address in Eng
land that would always find me- and left
Flammeville.
The hrst thing did on reaching home was
TO let hlm know Of my arrival. Some weeks
passed before he replied to me, and when he
olo W VII 1t was to ask my forgiveness. 1 was
not MS legal wife, Taking ADVANTAGE of nv
ignorance of the French marriage law which
only recognizes as legal and binding the civil
marrlage-the religious ceremony that usually
IoiloWed being regarded merely as a sort of
berediction, and therefore optional-he had
persuaded me to go through what was from
every point of view nothing but a farce
Even the catholic church, of which he was
member, repudiated his union with me-a
Protestant married without special dispensa.
tlon. On every side my position was hope
less 1 had been his wife without being le-
gally wed There was nothing for me to do
put to keep my secret and accept my fate
L did so. Not even to my mother who has
often wondered and fretted over the sadness
that weighed me down, and that I could NOT
snake on, did L confide the reason of the
change she observed in me. My one hope and
prayer was that 1 might never again meet
the man who had so cruelty betrayed me-
Fate, however, willed otherwise At a
moment when 1 least expected it, we were
ed with oh ofla