Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-09-09

| ing from the couch, he laughed again,
laugh that was shrill and weird.
There, there you see it," he said,
| gasping, there, where the moonlight
falls on the WALL
Il see nothing but the picture of
! beautiful face"
Picture! Ha, Il forgot. But it is
| no picture! 1t moves. My God! my
God"
But I see nothing" said his wife.
| who read the lines upon her husbands
face even through the darkness who
! is it?'
my wife. my wife! Margaret, the
| daughter of Fallairne. She has return
] ed to chide me. Do you see her
/ smile?"
| ST see but the face of a sad woman,
! looking through the moonlight"
Lord Erresdale staggered forward
| with uncertain step. His frame shook,
| for in his mind he saw the figure of
his dead wife coming towards him. She
had died of a broken heart and he
| had killed her.
| His promises were fair and good tve
| and twenty years ago, when he took
|
| naughty words drove all love from out
the tender breast; and lonely, unlovlng
| and unloved, with remorse eating at
her life, she was crushed like Salnty
| flower in the grasp of cruel hand.
| On the terrace this thought mad
| wandered across the years to her, and
| remembering that dead past he had
prayed some gentleness might come
/ 80 = bn iron hn
| away. But now with fiery brain he
| trembled in the center OF the room, MS
! wife of less than a day crouching IN
| fear and his wife of the past with SAD
| look and pale cheek, looking reproacn-
fully at him.
| II was like steel entering his soul,
| having those calm eyes fixed upon him.
| He groaned in the agony OF dismay.
| The thought that his wife long dead
! could see him bending over the form
of another woman was a stab at his
heart. The face was the same as he
knew it long years ago, but with an
| added sadness, and the pale beams or
suffused moonlight played like halo
around the head.
| For while he stood, his eyes fixed
upon the apparition.
"Begone!" he cried "Begone! Why
| do you haunt me?"
! At the sound of his voice the startled
J Isabel looked up and saw her lord like
| one distracted
She had shuddered at his touch; she
/ knew not why, save that hoSsor seized
her when she looked into his face.
But now she understood One of the
periods of mental eclipse, Of which she
! had heard strange whispers, had seiz-
ed him. She sprang from the couch
anG went to him.
MY lord" she pleaded, placing her
hand upon his shoulder, while her gol-
den hair hung in a mass about her,
my lord, this days excitement mas
made you i'll Pray rest, and let me
drive these fancies from your brain.
The only answer was a mocking laugh.
My fair countess" said he. see you
the pity of the fair countess who once dld
bear my name. She thinks you do usurp
her place Why does she not advance and
say her say? She stands there like as in
years gone with no reproach upon her lip.
but only in her eyes.
He chuckled. The terror which at first
had seized him vanished away as the mad
| ness further laid hold upon him He spoke
in banter as though he scoffed at all the
world
Hush. Hush. his wife Isabel urges
Hush Hush" said he in turn. And
do you dare to command your lord to
hold his silence when he would otherwise?
All weep. pretty chicken, weep, Twill
make thy eyes more bright and maybe
more kind"
The vision seemed TO move and raise
its hand in reprimand.
"Dost know what she would say?' Lord
| Erresdale asked his trembling wife.
| Shed say beware to thee: for I have
an exquisite cunning in playing upon fine
heart strings till they break. TO flush the
| eyes with tears by single word, and
bring a quivering TO the lip by look.
| All. yes sweet Margaret. We know your
tale. 1t is as pretty and as sad as an
| Italian romance" Once more he laughed.
Il do beseech your lordship TO rest
| awhile and give no rein to those strange
outbursts," Isabel pleaded on her knees.
| so you would teach your Lord said
he, anger mantling his cheek. while his
| fingers twitched convulsively.
/ He waited for reply, but no reply
! came. There was only a hafsmothered
| sob.
| The mailman walked the room with
| haste. stopping often to look al the two
women. He bent over by the edge OF the
couch. and with heetled brows gazed fixed
/ ly upon Isabel. A wild shrek broke the
| stiffness of the night. Leaping forward
! he seized jeweled sword which lay with
| in a corner of the room. He lunged 1t
J forward at the dead Margaret. Once more
a shrek sounded through the castle ard
/ pale servants started from their sleep.
With hesitating steps tfsy stood about
/ the door. while the light of the lamps
| penetrated the darkness
| Good Lord. what strange doing Is
this?s gasped the steward.
Mercy on US ali. prayed the women.