Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-04-11

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Ito be done, ard beg 70 subscribe cur
fselves your ladyships obedient ser
wants,
Barnard & Macivors
ITO the Lady RIVERS
What did it mean? She knew nc
firm OF Barnard & Macivors. OF
whose marriage were they writing {
her? Her mind seemed suddenly
blank.
Then a terrible though flashed into
her mind, an idea so horrible that il
seemed for few moments to paraiyze
her. She read the letter again, and
again looked at the address. It was
not for her-that was certain. She
had opened letter intended for Ran
dolph's mother, and had read its ION
! tents. Quite slowly the dreadful
truth came home to her. She had
opened her morther-in-law's letter
who had evidently been writing to this
| firm Of lawyers to see if it were pos
sible, on any ground whatever, to
annul her marriage with Randolph.
Slowly but surely the truth came
home to her. This was what her hus-
bands mother had done She sat
silent for some time with the silence
of despair; then she said to herself;
Il will take the letter to her, and~I
will annul my marriage myself
CHAPTER xXXViII.
The dowager Lady RIVERS was in
her own bOudoir, a room on the lower
corridor of the west wing of Tie
house. 1t was nearly ten o'clock, and
a cold November morning. Her lady
ship had ordered her breakfast to lie
sent to her own room. The fire
burned cheerily in the crate. Her
ladyship, in a warm dressing gown,
with picturesque little cap of fine
point-lace on her head, and holding
the morning newspaper in her hands,
looked the very picture of comfort
She wondered just a little why she
had had no letters that morning; she
never thought of the new footman, or
of the possibility Of any mistake. She
had been expecting an important
letter from London for some days, but.
as yet, it had not arrived.
That letter she fervently hoped
would put an end to the present I'M
pleasant state of things. With every
day that passed her dislike to her
sons wife increased, and she hoped
to find that in the eyes of the law she
was not really his wife Then all
would be plain sailing. She trusted
to her own influence over her son; she
willfully blinded herself to the fact
that he worshiped his wife; she chose
rather to believe that, if the law gave
him chance of escape from a tie
she hated, he would avail himself Of
it.
Of course there would be a little
scandal and wonder that could not he
helped. She comforted herself by
thinking that many marriages had
been annulled in this fashion-she re-
membered several No one had
thought it very strange or wrong.
She knew that all the fashionable
mothers would sympathize with her;
she never though at all Of the harm
she might do to Violet. Randolph
could go to London in season or SO,
and marry whom he would She
smiled to herself as she finished her
chocolate. 1t did not occur to her that
she had the strong passion and the !
lifelong love of man to deal with |
had always submitted to her |
sway; why should he not do so now? |
Then, and most unexpectedly, came |
an interruption in the shape of a |
quick sharp rap at the door.
"Entrez!" said her ladyship, who |
the French word far more |
elegant than the English equivalent; |
and there entered Violet |
She was new Violet to the |
1owager-no longer the girl she could |
insult and humiliate at will, but a |
stately woman, with head proudly |
carried and flashing eyes, woman
whose whole figure and bearing spoke |
Of outraged dignity and pride. There |
was on hesitation, no faltering; Violet |
walked straight up to her, holding the |
open letter in her hand.
"By mistake" she said, this letter, |
with another, had been brought to me |
his morning: AS they were address, |
ed to Lady RIVERS, not the dowager |
Lady RIVERS, have opened and read |
them, thinking they were my own"
But the voice that spoke was not |
the voice Of Violet; it was strained |
and hoarse, full of pain; nor we're The !
lips that uttered the words like hers;
they were white and stiff.
''Will your ladyship," she went on, |
read this Infamous letter, and tell ME |
if it be some miserable jest, or if it be |
true?" |
To be continued.