Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-05-31

about him.
Even as she spoke she seemed to hear |
Laurie Carrigton's voice, with its tone |
of passionate devotion: Il love you so
i love you so dearly, my beautiful |
queen"
He might have been false in every |
thing else, but he was true in this, his |
great, deep, passionate love for her.
Forger, thief. criminal. reckless gam
bier, dishonorable man he might be,
yet he loved her with truth, depth, and
purity, and she knew it.
She had answered all the questions
Lord St. Norman asked, but the effort
to control herself had been great; her
limbs trembled, her hands shook.
II must leave them" she thought to
herself, cor they will discover my Sc
cret"
That was her one dread-the dread
that haunted her by night and by day,
that stood like a grim, gaunt skeleton
by her side. that darkened the sun
shine, that took the last lingering
brightness from her life.
How do people live" the unhappy
girl would ask herself. year after year,
with secret like mine? How do they
bear the dread. the suspense, the con-
slant haunting fear? But 1 would
rather die any death than that my ter
rible secret should be known"
There were times when she could
hardly realize her position-When it
seemed to her that she must have been
in some long, terrible dream. She was
only eighteen, young and beautiful. a
wealthy heireSs, one of the most ad
mired beauties of the day, the daughter
of one of the noblest peers of England;
and yet she had been privately mar
ried to a felon. She wrung her hands
in silent dismay as she thought of it,
and a great, dread cloud of hopeless
ness came over her. Of what use was
her life? She could not enjoy it. OF
what use was all these richest gifts of
providence? She was bound in heavi-
est chains, and nothing could free her
She often wondered if the law could
not free her. She was married to
[ man with false name, and she would
have given much to know whether that
made her marriage illegal; but she
never dared ash the question. It
seemed to her that, if she did so, every
one would at once suspect Even if
| the law could free her. she dared not
apply to it; she could not make that
wretched story known. Married at
eighteen, in secrecy and haste-married
less from love than from desire of re-
venge; who would believe her? She
could not bring such unutterable shame
and disgrace on her proud, indulgent
father. There was no resource but to
bear her lot with as much patience as
she could
After all, she would say to herself,
1T is my own fault I was so proud.
so willful, SO defiant. l thought of
nothing but revenge on the woman
whose kindness and gentleness have
never yet failed me. 1t is nv own
fault; but surely no sin was ever so
terribly punished. Peopel have com
mltted crimes thousand times great
er than mine, yet have not been pun
lshed one-half so hardly"
Even to herself she never excused
herself.
1T was al my fault" she would re-
peat. Il have no one to blame but nv
SELF
She looked sometimes in the papers
IN the vain, vague hope that there
might be some news of her husband
CnaC she might discover wnere he was
undergoing his punishment; that she
might know whether he was living or
dead.
Perhaps one of the hardest trials she
had to bear was that a veil of oblivion
hdo Iallen over him. Since she parted
with him at the gate leading to the
Woods at St 1na's, she had no word
from him; since he had covered har
lace ana her hands with parting. pas
| slonate kisses, she had never seen him.
! II she could have heard that he was
| living, 1t would have been some relief
from the terrible anxiety that weighed
upon her. The oblivion that seemed To
nave fallen over him and over every
thlng connected with him, had its own
terrors for her.
Looking back, she could not imagine
how she had mistaken her feeling of
liking for love. That was the greatest
mystery to her. How could she ever
even IN her widest moments, have
even fancied that slight liking to be
love?
/ was a foolish, ignorant girl" she
would say to herself. But. ah, me.
how terribly I am punished for NV
sins,"
If she could have forgotten her
trouble for one-half hour, it WouId
have been the greatest relief to her:
put IN her dreams by night, and her
thoughts by day, it was ever present
NO matter how bright the scenes in
which she moved, no matter how great
the magnifcence that surrounded bar
Tue one thought was ever in her mind:
/ nave no right to be here-I have
no place here-for I am the wife of q
felon.''
The beautiful face had not lost its
exquisite loneliness; the sorrow that
always seemed to cloud it softened if:
the proud serene calm that never
changed its brightness suited the noble
features.
Those who saw Ethel could never
forget her; from crowd of a thousand