The Bowbells tribune., 1900-07-13
Her Hearts
Secret
BY JEAN WARNER

(, twenty years-it was the secret that
| Wyllis had torn from his dying hold
it was the marriage certificate of Basil
Give and Sybil Lee.
sis it rights it right?' asked the
quivering, ashen lips of the woman be-
fore him-'is it right? Tell me, quick!
If could live-oh, God, if could only
livew
'It is all right said the doctor,
soothingly. "Poor Rizpah! may heav-
en- judge you more mercifully than
earth. You have, mad and bloody
though the deed may have been, re-
stored your boy to his rights. This pa
per makes the son of Basil Give and
Sybil Lee the heir Of Give Towers"
'My boy, my boy!' murmured poor
Rizpah. 'Tell him that I did it. Tell
him that waited, watched, never
wearied-that in the dead of night I
crept around Give Towers, like-like a
vengeful ghost, till knew that She
she, the false, silent woman-had the
secret of Robert Give; and then-then
the blood-red star was shining-the
star of fate, Of doom-and II felt my
blood warm and my hand strong, and
II throttled her as she walked in the
darkness! IL Come nearer, Harry
BoEd-come nearer. IL cannot see
you. Tell him, my boy, my nursing
that was true-true to the last. When
he is great, and rich, and honored. let
him think Of o, Lord. I suffer! II.
Her eyes are on me, but II do not
fear. Let the boy think of the wild
wolf that nursed him, that reared him,
that lived for him, and-and died for
for minded for him alone"
She fell back, mid the lounge pill
lows, writhing in the death agony, her
livid lips still striving to articulate the
loved ones name, her hands motioning
wildly towards the paper the doctor
held in his hand.
"It is all right" he whispered. 'sPoor,
deluded Rizpah! May God Judge you
more mercfully than man. 1t Is all
right"
Fright! rightv'-she sprang up with
seemed to glitter with supernatural
stars told ME of this hour for five-and-
star of triumph, Of justice, Of death!
| aye, dSc: L udfc 1lteu " SC0 IL anu
charge you, Harry Bond, in the name
of Sybil Lee, to see that my boy-that
her boy-has his own. I charge you
with my-my dying breath!'
The doctor caught the tottering form
in his arms. 1t lay there, stiff, and
gaunt, and helpless. Rizpah's hour Of
triumph had been her last.
Trl, i,;1
corpse was found on the forest path,
leading by the haunted hollow-a slen-
der, black-robed woman, whose light
grey eyes were protruding horribly
from their bloody sockets-whose ev-
cry feature was distorted by the ago.
nies of a terrible death.
There were dark purple marks
around the throat that seemed almost
like the prints of wild beasts tai
ons, and the white, slender hands still
clutched in their stiff fingers shreds of
gray hair, that told of fearful strug-
gle between the mad woman and he1
victim.
But the purpose that had lived il
Rizpah's breast for five-and-twenty
years had nerved her murderous hand
with fearful power, and Mrs. Wyllis
had fallen victim to her own venge.
full purpose, even as she was bending
her steps toward Lawyer Grey's to tell
him all.
Before the inquest was held at Give
Towers, DR.. Bond sought an interview
with Herbert Give.
He found the young man in his
fathers study, pale, stern, yet COM
posed.
He had never looked so manly. so
handsome, so fitting "master" in the
home of his birth. All his boyish light
ness-the impulsive eagerness Of other
days-seemed gone.
Care and sorrow, doubt and danger,
had come to the glad child Of fortune,
and moulded him into man, whose
sterling metal needed even further
proof.
After the first greetings, cordial, al
though grave, as befitted the occasion,
were over. Herbert himself began the
conversation.
II am glad you have come, doctor.
There is an old standing pledge OF
friendship between us, and that now
call upon you to redeem. have come
home to find shadow resting upon me
and mine-a cloud upon my fathers
memory-a suspicion resting upon his
grave. This unfortunate woman who
has just met SO terrible death, taunt-
ed me last evening with words that my
blood would boil to repeat. She dared
to propose to me-to the son of Robert
Clive-a compromise, a disgraceful
compromise, that alone could shield my
dead fathers name from obloquy!"
"You refused, then?" said the doctor,
eyeing the young man keenly.
s1 ordered her from the door, an.
swered Herbert, haughtily. "Whatev.
er may come upon me, make no
terms with dishonor. scorn any
safety that must be purchased by
aught so debasing as a bribe."
"Bravely said!" exclaimed the doc
tor. grasping the young mans hand cor
daily. You ring out true to any
blow, my friend, and I'd give every
thing am worth, to shield you from
the heavy one that awaits you. But
you are no weak woman, to need an
anodyne, and speak to you as man