Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1900-07-12
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 hints it right? Tell me, quick!
If could liye-oh, God, if could only
liver
cit 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 1 did it. Tell
him that waited, I watched, 1 never
wearfed-that in the dead of night 1
crept around Give Towers, like-like
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 IL felt my
blood warm and my hand strong, and
II throttled her as she walked in the
darkness! IL Come nearer, Harry
Bond-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, 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"
lows, writing 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
SIT is all right" he whispered. "Poor,
deluded Rizpah! May God judge you
more mercifully than man. 1t is all
right"
fright! right!"-she sprang up with
a dying effort while her sunken eyes
seemed to glitter with supernatural
fire. ''Aye, it is right! Have not the
stars told me Of this hour for five-and-
twenty years-the blood-red star, the
star Of triumph, of justice, of death!
Aye, aye! have lived to see it. And I
charge you, Harry Bond, in, the name
of Sybil Lee, to see that my boy-that
her boy-has his own. 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.
That same night, hideous, livid
corpse was found on the forest path,
leading by the haunted hollow-a slen-
der, blaclrobed woman, whose light
grey eyes were protruding horribly
from their bloody sockets-whose ev-
cry feature was distorted by the ago.
MES of a terrible death.
There were dark purple marks
around the throat that seemed almost
like the prints of a wild beasts tai
ons, and the white, slender hands still
clutched in their stiff fingers shreds Of
gray hair, that told of a fearful strug-
gle between the mad woman and her
victim
But the purpose that had lived il.
Rizpah's breast for five-and-twenty
y
with fearful power, and Mrs. Wyllis
had fallen a 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 a ''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 a man, whose
sterling metal needed even further
, proof.
After the first greetings, cordial, al
though grave. as beftted the occasion,
were over, Herbert himself began the
conversation.
81 Jam 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 a shadow resting upon me
and mine-a cloud upon my fathers
mem0ry-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
C1fve-a compromise, disgraceful
compromise. that alone could shield my
dead fathers name from obloquy!''
ssYou refused, then" said the doctor,
eyeing the young man keenly.
ST eordered her from the door, an.
swered Herbert, haughtily. "Whatev.
er may come upon me, 1 make no
terms with Gishonor. I scorn amy
safety that must be purchased by
aught so debasing as BRIDE"
-Bravely said!' exclaimed the doe
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 nre no weak woman, to need an
anodyne. and speak to you as a man
to u man. Here is the secret of which.
this wretched woman gained nossps-