Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-06

parently in order to show that in her hand
she held a further and more powerful
weapon; she had not sought to break off
his marriage with Mary, but had rather
stood by, swallowed her anger, and calmly
calculated upon a fierce vendetta at mo-
ment when he would least expect it.
Truly those startling words spoken by
Sir Bernard had been full of truth. l re-
membered them now and discerned his
meaning. He was at least an honest,
upright man, who, although sometimes a
trife eccentric, had my interests deeply al
heart In the progress l had made in the
profession l owed much to him, and even
in my private affairs he had sought to
guide me, although L had, alas, disregarded
his repeated warnings.
I took Up one after another of the letters
my friend had examined, and found 1t to
be the correspondence of a woman who was
either angling after wealthy husband or
who loved him with all the strength of her
affection. Some of the communications were
full of passion, and betrayed that poetry of
soul that was innate in her. The letters
were dated from Neneford, from Oban, and
from various Mediterranean ports, where
she had gone yachting with her uncle, Sir
Thomas Henton, the great Lancashire coal
owner. Sometimes she had addressed him
as Dearest at others as Beloved, usu-
ally signing herself Your own SO full
were they of the ardent passion chara cter-
istic of her that they held me in amaze
ment. 1t was passion developed under It's
most profound and serious aspect; they
brilliant side of intellect.
In Ethelwynn's character the passionate
and the imaginative were blended equally
and in the highest conceivable degree as
combined with delicate female nature.
Those letters, although written to man in
whose heart romance must long ago be
dead, showed how complex was her char
acter, how fervent, enthusiastic and self
forgetting her love. At first l believed that
those passionate outpourings were merely
designed to captivate the old gentleman for
his money; but when / read on l saw how
intense her passion became towards the
end and how the elimination of 1t all was
that wild reproachful missive written when
the crushing blow fell suddenly upon
her.
Ethelwynn was woman Of extraordinary
character, full of picturesque charm and
glowing romance. To be tremblingly alive
to the gentle impressions, and yet to be
able to preserve, when the prosecution of
design requires 1t, an immovable heart
amid even the most imperious causes of
subduing emotion. is perhaps not an impos-
sible constitution of mind. but it is the ut
| most and rarest endearment of humanity.
1 knew her as woman OF high mental
powers touched with melancholy sweet
ness. l was now aware Of the cause or
| that melancholy.
| Yet it was apparent that the serious and
| energetic part of her character was founded
on deep passion, for after her sisters mar
riage with the man she had herself loved
and had threatened, she had actually come
| there beneath their roof and lived as her
| sisters companion, sitting all the hatred
| that had entered her heart, and preserving
| an outward calm that had no doubt entirely
| diSarmed him.
| Such a circumstance was extraordinary.
| To me as to Amber Jevohs, who knew her
| well. it seemed almost inconceivable that
| old Mr.. Courtenay should allow her to live
| there after receiving such a wild communf-
| cation as that final letter. Especially curl
| Gus, too, that Mary had never suspected or
| discovered her sisters 1p9lOuSV Yet
skillfully had Ethelwynn concealed her in
| tention of revenge that both husband and
| wife had been entirely deceived.
| Love, considered under its poetical as
! pect, is the union of passion and magma
ton. I had foolishly believed that this
| calm, sweet-voiced woman had loved me.
but those letters made 1t plain that 1 had
| been utterly fooled. LIE mystere de Tex
istence." said Madame de Stael to her
daughter, "c'est la rapport de nos erreurs
| avec nos peines."
character. and in her terrible situation q
concentration of all the interests that be-
long to humanity, she was nevertheless a
murderess
1.-THE truth is here" remarked my friend
laying his hand upon the heap Of tender
correspondence which had been brought to
such an abrupt conclusion by the letter
have printed In It's entirety. "It is strange
romantic story, to say the least"
Then you really believe that she Is
euilty?" ! exclaimed, hoarsely.
He shrugged his shoulders significantly
but no word escaped his lips.
In the silence that fell between US
glanced at him. His chin was sunk upor
his breast his brows KNIT his thin fingers
idling with the plain gold ring.
"Well?" 1 managed to exclaim at last
what shall we DOR
dor" he echoed. "What can we do. my
dear fellow? That woman's future is In
Il your hands"
why In mine?" asked I'm yours also
surely?''
NO" he answered resolutely, taking my
hand and grasping It warmly. mo, Ralph
l know-I can see how you are suffering
You believed her to be pure and homes
-woman-one above the common run--a wo