The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-12-31

done TO your Would you murder your
own sister-Marguerite MontaubanT
One moment the guilty woman gazed
at him wildly. A gasp, struggle, a
faint cry, and she sank In awful con-
vulsions at his feet.
That was fearful night which fol-
lowed, but it was only the commence
ment of season fraught with agony.
The marquis returned to the chateau
from the deathbed of his brother, to find
Helen struggling between life and death.
For weeks she lay unconscious of every
thing about her; only coming out of the
dull stupor that wrapt her, to fall, ever
and anon, into those terrible commissions,
in which it seemed that nature must
sink, worn out with the contest. The
agitation produced by this circumstance,
strange and sudden as it was, and the
death Of his brother, would have been
beyond his power to bear had it not been
for the inexpressible happiness which it
was permitted him to enjoy in the dis
covery of his long-lost child. How would
he have shuddered had he known the
fearful fate which that sweet child had
30 narrowly escaped!
But the scenes enacted within the walls
of the chateau that night were mercifully
concealed from him. Fortunately for
Helen Montauban, in the illness which
succeeded the overwhelming denouement
of the dark tragedy wherein she had TAX
en- so terrible a part, there was no de-
lirium, or her wretched secret would in
evitably have been betrayed; and NJ.
Merry, who tended her constantly, had de-
stroyed all evidence of her guilt, of which.
on that night he had so providentially
been made aware by returning, unan.
nouneed, and entering the apartment of
the invalid just before the stealthy ap-
proach of the murderess. Her illness he
allowed all to attribute to the agitation.
anxiety and excitement attendant on the
late danger of Rose, trusting that, il she
recovered, she would bitterly repent, in
secret, her sinful attempt on her sisters
life, and unwilling to add to the shame
and agony which she would feel by be.
traying her guilt. He could guess at the
cause of her enmity towards Rose; for
Nj. Merry was a shrewd man; and he re-
solved to expedite the union of the lovers
as much as was possible, that, In case
the hatred of Helen should be still un-
satisfied, the young girl might be safe
from her reach, under the protection of
her husband.
Meanwhile the burial of Henri took
place. 1t was quiet, unostentatious. He
was laid in the family vault, to rest at
last, after weary life of sorrow, of
desperation and of crime. Only the mar
quis and the immediate members Of his
family were made acquainted with the
history of the unhappy man, in the rec
ords which he left behind Louis return
ed from Paris in time for this burial.
Returned, in anticipation of his an
preaching marriage day, to find his in
tended bride but just recovering from a
dangerous Illness, and Helen Montauban.
as many believed, at the gates of death;
to learn the story Of the strangely
chequered life of his deceased relative.
and recognize, in his beloved Rose a
cousin, and the child so long mourned as
lost by his uncle. What an astounding
revelation was this.
In the evening preceding the bridal
day the marquis called Rose to him in
the library, and after some remarks, care
less and Insignificant enough in them.
selves, but accompanied by a manner
that betrayed the emotion agitating him.
he said, suddenly:
Rose, my child, you have loved your
fatherT
20, yes, monsieurT she replied, earn
estly, and with tears standing In her
eyes.
And you have also loved me- RoseY'
His voice trembled, despite his efforts to
control himself.
"Ah. my friend, my benefactor. what
have you been to me but a second faith
erg'
He seated himself beside her.
1T is sweet, my child, to hear you say
this-ah. you do not know how sweet to
me. Rose, did not tell you once that
lost fourteen or fifteen years ago, a
ehild-a lovely, gentle infant, whose pic
ture you have seen in the saloon-a child
who was stolen from meT'
Yes, monsieur"
And l have told you that you were
what that child would be now il she were
living. 1t is why you have ever been so
dear 10 me- All many time poso I