Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1903-10-01

I had changed the Infants clothes. II
| this baby died, evidently OF huznble
| parentage. Judging from Ito garments,
let this heartless mother believe 1t
hers.
THE next day the child died, IS !
had supposed. In some way my mis-
| tress 'desertion Of her baby was dis
covered, and a dark cloud of suspicion
rested upon her head. 1t was suspect
ed dealh had not alone been the result
of exposure, but there was no positive
proof. and she was not held for trial
"1n all this / had been actuated by
no malice, but had learned to love the
little helpless thing which ! had nursed,
and ] took care to follow it's fortunes.
or that, more hereafter. My mistress
then went upon the stage. b
avenged the wrong which had been
done her, from the highest to the low
est. She spared none,
1t so happened that Pierre was en-
gagged at the theater when she played.
He was a scene painter-a handsome
fellow-above his sweetheart in station
and education. She saw him. His
handsome face attracted her, She
smiled upon him, 1t was enough
was forgotten. ven to her. On my
knees | pleaded with her to give me
back my lover.
"She laughed in my face, and dis
missed me. oh. the wretched days
that followed, Pierre grew pale and
thin. He was her shadow. In vain |
tried to win him hack. Her beauty had
bewitched him: he was a slave to do
her bidding; he worshiped her as a
queen upon her throne. AT length
| there came a day when she tired Of
him. The amusement was growing
dull. Another fly was lowering oyer
her web, Of larger growth and more
brilliant plumage.
Instead Of smiles, Pierre met with
frowns: instead of the sweet glance
Of recognition. the cold stare of va
cancy; instead of the gentle hand
pressure, she drew aside her silken
skirts that he might pass.
AT last he found his way into her
presence only to be repulsed -sith
scorn. He went out from her and
sent with his own hand a bullet
through his poor. bleeding heart. Over
his dead body | swore revenge: over
his grave / vowed that the brand Of
murdress should rest upon her. as it
deserved. Aye. Barbara Brettoni
you now know why / have served you"
The two women now stood face to
face, but on one face was the CLEAN
df triumph. on the other a haunted
look, as though her sin was coming
home to her.
But one part of the maids story
seemed to have reached her brain-but
one fact to stand out beyond all 9TH
ers-the fact that her child had not
died!
"Tel mel" re mother almost
shrieked. Does my child liver"
"You would know, then. the truth?
She lives, but lives rather to curse
than bless aef mother. She was taken
from La Madeleine and adopted by a
man whom the world knew as her
father. I have here the legal papers
which were drawn up at the time.
How / obtained them matters not.
would you see them? Would you
learn who Is your child? Would you
know the part you have played in her
young life? Looki Judge for your
self.
A quick premonlIion of the truth
darted through Richard Hayes mind.
even as 1t flashed through that Of Mil
ton Lennox.
The latter's face blanched to a dead
ly Wilderness. The formers first
thought was of her whom he so loved.
"You will kin her!" he exclaimed.
darling forward.
But too late. Barbara bad snatched
the paper, and In that brief instant the
name had burned its way into her
brain.
Her child had been beneath her roof.
and how had she received it? Her
child-Avice!
A gray paIlor crept owe the beauti-
full face; the paper dropped from her
nerveless fingers; then rallying. she
snatched the little vial from her bosom
and poured ii, drop by drop upon the
ground.
"oh, Cod" she said, '1n heart ]
murdered heri"
The old sense OF suffocation came
creeping about her. She gasped for
air.
Then death came in one gasring sob.