Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-08-07
Continued.


plain truth, simple truth; and l can
die easily now that l have told it.
Sir, as surely as heaven is above us,
Lady GILMORE killed the child. I saw
her do it with my own eyes. will tell
you; you shall judge for yourself
There was no help for it; l was
compelled to listen, and / had begun to
fear-ah me, how terrible!
You remember she said, that the
baby was taken i'll, and that we nursed
him assiduously, no one more tenderly,
more kindly than Mis- Nest. The night
he died we were rather anxious about
him, and Miss Hardwood said she
would sit by his cot while | went
down to supper. | was quite willing.
/ went to see if the child was all right.
He was fast asleep, and looked to my
thinking, better; there was more color
in the fair little face AS l left the
room, Sir Rudolph, | was struck by
the peculiar expression on Miss Halle
woods face. l could not describe it
a cruel look it seemed to me. / went
downstairs, but Miss Hazlewood's
look haunted me. Not that I had any
fear; l would rather have suspected
saint of doing harm to the child than
Miss Lakewood. | could not rest
downstairs. l wen, back. l saw Miss
Lakewood on her knees by the side
of the cradle. She held a little bottle
in one hand and a spoon in the other.
AS | walked in at the door, saw her,
with a steady hand, drop two drops
from the bottle into the spoon. Then,
before | could cross the room, before I
had time to speak, the child had swal-
lowed the contents of the teaspoon. I
caught her, as | may say, red-handed.
She neither saw nor heard me, she was
so deeply engrossed in giving the child
the fatal dose. | sprung forward.
What are you doing?" l cried.
For a moment she seemed almost
paralized with fear.
What are you doing?" | cried
again, almost beside myself.
Giving baby his medicine" she
said. ut is just time
She tried to hide the bottle; but
| would not let her, and in the struggle
she dropped it.. The contents were
spilled upon the pillow. | picked up
the bottle. On it was label with the
one terrible POISON"
"You dropped some of this into
the teaspoon" l cried you guilty,
miserable woman, you have killed the
child"
She did not deny it. She fell at
my feet, grOvelng, crying out that it
was such fragile little life, and that
it parted you from her. She chung to
me with cries and tears. She told me
that your regiment was ordered
abroad, and that it would be years be-
fore you could return and marry her
long years-but that, if the child died,
and you succeeded to the baronetcy.
you would be obliged to sell out and
then you would marry her at once.
And | love him so' she cried, plain
lively; Il love him SO dearly." That
was all she kept repeating-'T love
him SOL" 1t was terrible scene, sir
the child already dead in his cot. and
the beautiful lady, with her white.
despairing face, crouching on the
ground.
moaned. "He has been so faithful. so
loyal, so good; he has loved me so
well. Every one else's love prospers.
Why should we spend all the best
years of our lives apart? He might
die abroad, he whom I love with my
whole heart. And it was only this one
little life, so fragile, so weak, that
stood between him and wealth.
She bent over the little ones
body.
See" she cried; sit has not suf-
fered; it breathed only for a short
space, and then died. A few minutes
ago 1t was weak, struggling little
creature; now it is a bright angel in
heaven. l have done no serious wrong.
| have set the little soul free. and
need not part from my love. | have
given him fortune, wealth. all that nv
heart desired for him
The law will tell a different
story, Miss Hazlewood," 1 said. I'm
the eyes of the law, as we'll as before
heaven, the life of a little child is as
sacred as that of a grown-up person"
DO you know, Sir Rudolph said
the nurse, L do not think that I'D to
that time she had looked upon the |
deed as murder? She had thought !
only OF removing the obstacle that Law !
between you, sir, and wealth-that Law |
between herself and her love. She had |
never thought of the fact that she had
put herself within the power of the |
law. If you bad but seen her when 7
told them that she had committed a
murder and deserved to be hanged! To
prove the truth of all say, sir. look at
this | have saved it from that time
to this
She drew from beneath her pillow
a little bottle, with the word Poison
on the label of it, and frilled white
linen pillow-case in which holes had
been burned.
You can tell how deadly the poison
was when you see that it has burned
the linen in this fashion, said the
nurse. But the child did not suffer
one minute; it died at once. Well
sir. Miss lakewood cried. went
prayed, pleaded, until at last 7 prom
lsed not to tell her secret; but I can.
not keep it in death ~
How am l to know this story is
true" l asked. These things Won ,
SHOW me are no proof. {
A soul on the brink of ETERNITY
does not lie, sir. Lady Culmore Maid
me well to keep the secret hut boro ,