Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-06-09

l being satisfied that because am free
| from prosecutions therefore that man must
be dead. And yet the reasoning II sound.
Even now. in spite of.your mysterious let
ter. I cannot think that he lives whiN I
am at peace. But prove 1t, prove It be-
] yond the shadow of a doubt. and 1 will re-
venge you for the wrong you have re-
ceived-this terrible deception practiced
by a loving heart. Listen, then. my
friend. If 1 am his wife and not his
| widow l will return and live with him.
| All, Heaven, that will be a penance In
deed! l shall slip from your arms back
into the arms of the soiled beast OF the
| gutter, and your sister will say that I am
| justly punished.
No vindication Of herself could have had
so great and powerful an effect on him.
| He caught her wildly in his arms.
I'd rather make his death a certainty
myself" he muttered, than see you re-
turn to him. You are more mine than
his"
A swift. triumphant smile flashed across
her mobile face. Yours" she whispered,
land yotrs only, and for ever if you will
have it So"
"Helga." he asked, why did you not
divorce this man long ago? From what
you have told me. it seems he gave you
cause enough. You were separated from
him a long time before you thought him
dead. You must lave been. for you a
often spoken to me OF his following and
threatening you. Why did you not put
him out of your life in the only reasonable
way?" She did not answer Immediately.
and he went on. 1T is not too late even
pau, Va,,r 1ifa hoe bsa, bIon,alaee apl if
he is still above ground we will make
him stand forth, the cur that he is, and
get the law to remove the bonds which
he broke, leaving the letters on you"
He trembled in the intense excitement
Of this new idea. With feminine sophistry
she had convinced him that he had not
been greatly %wronged, that she had not
acted a shameless, but only a foolish part,
and his heart was as fully opep to her as
ever.
The woman's hands were elapsed to-
gether, and lines of care were tracing
themselves upon her brow.
why did 1 not?" she reiterated. "Ah
1t is so easy to talk thus. to talk like a
child. Ii l could have freed myself should
l have waited for death to help me? II
L could free myself now should l care
whether he rots above ground or under
it?"
"Helga," he whispered, an accent of
doubt in his voice again, surely, surely
you can free yourself if you chose? No
country would refuse her freedom to a
woman so shamelessly wronged as you
have been. provided she herself were
blameless."
Il am Il Pole" she answered, in a low
voice, land my country is Russia, Holy
RUSSIA" And she laughed a bitter, mirth-
less laugh.
But" he protested.
No matter the Russian laws" she in
~terrupted him imperatively. '"They can
not help me. [ was married in st. Peters
burg; [ lived with my husband there.
There he committed those acts which give
me a moral right to freedom, but"-she
lent forward and locke into his face, for
she was still standing, and he had dropped
heavily into a chair-'I should only pur-
chase freedom for my soul at the expense
OF my body. I should exchange there, in
st. ePtersburg, the chain of a hated union
for those other chains that are only too
plentiful there"
My God!' he cried. What do you
mean?"
(To be C~ontinued)