Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-06-23


deny it. No human eyes may have
seen you; but neither you nor any
other can escape the all-seeing eyes OF
Him before whom you have SO
mercilessly sent Gladys Rane. Your
crime is known in heaven, if not on
earth
Cowed and terrified by her words
the miserable man made no attempt
at self-defense.
"You cannot prove it," he Kissed
rather than said.
"That is true. I cannot prove it.,
but I know it, and you know it. You
may tremble, for the wrath of
Heaven is most surely upon you. You
would have slain meme, your step
daughter, who has never hurt or
injured you-and you have killed the
woman whom you professed to love
instead"
He turned his CHASTITY face to her.
What mad folly he cried. why
should 1 seek to kill your"
She met his gaze unfiinchingly.
II will tell you,' she replied. You
wish me dead because you want my
mothers inheritance. | know all your
plots and schemes; know how you
persuaded my poor loving mother to
make that Infamous will by which my
fathers money should come to you Ill
the event of my death. You per
suaded her to make it, and to keep t
a secret from me-"
"And she has betrayed mel" he ex
claimed, angrily, unable to conceal
his rage.
''She has exposed you," said Angela,
scornfully, land the will is destroyed.
If you had succeeded in your design
yesterday, and had flung me into ne
lake instead of Gladys Rane, you
would not have been one step nearer
to my mothers fortune, which now
will never be yours. | may tell you
more,'' she continued. "You persuad-
ed my mother to make that will, and
| then you doomed me to death Only
Heaven knows what you meant to do
with my mother. She would have
died soon after me, no doubt. You
would then have been rich and free,
and you would have married poor
Gladys Rane. But Heaven, in its
wisdom, has interposed, and you have
slain with your own hands the womah
for whom you have sinned so ter
! rihly." 4 ~
: He looked at her in helpless amaze
ment These things, that he had be
lieved were locked in the depths ii
his own heart, were all we'll known
to her She had fathomed secrets
which he had hardly acknowledged
even to himself.
"You wondered, she continued,
"and my dear mother wondered, why
IT left home. 1 will tell you. l know
that, so long as that will was in ex-
istence, my life was IN danger; you
were bent upon comprising ny death
You believed that the plans you laid
were unnnown % me; but they we're
not You sent me purposely that
winter day where the ice was weak,
and you knew it would not bear me;
you tempered with the boat, hoping
that should be drowned; you would
found you measuring so carefully the
drops of a deadly drug; and l re-
! solved to leave home, and not to re-
turn until the will was destroyed.
knew that, while it was in existence,
my life was not safe from hour to
hour and that, Captain Wynyard,
was why left home"
l. To hnfWonn
clinched teeth.
II did not tell my poor mother"
continued Angela, "why was going
away; but | wrote to her secretly,
asked her to have that will destroyed,
and, when it was done, to let me
know by certain sign, when l would
return home. I have received the
sign, and I am returning to her, never
to leave her again. l might have ex-
posed you then. as | might expos
you now; but for my mothers sake
refrain. You have married her fife,
broken her heart, but you shall not
through my agency bring disgrace
upon her name"
Again muttered curse escaped
him, and, had it not been that the
man was utterly unnerved Angela
Rooden's life would probably have
been cut short.
eff ever a man was caught in his
own tolls, you are that man; if ever a
man was scourged by his own SINS,
you are that man.
"Say no more!" he cried. 81 haVt
heard enough"
81 have something more to say
she cried, "and you must hear it.
J., have been in your power, and now
you are in mine. do not know
whether I do right in letting you &C
free. aud in not exposing you to the
world; but l do it for my mother'e
sake, to save her from further misery
I will keep your hideous secrets, AND
say nothing of what know, on one
condition. Are you prepared tc
accept it?"