The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-04-20

couch, just as he had seen her months
before. Only then the candles burning
at Lpr head and at her feet shone upon
beauty that would reawaken to life,
and be&rt destined to throb again
Will. love and hope and fear. Now all
was ended. The beautiful. the gifted,
tne beloved would rouse ~ life no
more. Jenny Rogers was dead, and on
her bosom, amid blossoms so white
that they must have been destined for
her bridal. lay the letter!
Hamilton pegraw had no very dis.
tinct thoughts as he flung himself at
the side OF lis bride. ana laid his head
upon tie pulseless beart. She had
killed herself. but be could not guess
why and he had neither the courage
nor the sclf-possession to open those
tcll-tale pages that rustled upon tie
silent bosom. 1t was enough that his
hopes had perished, that his darling
lay dead, and that never again in all
the days to come would he meet the
tender glance of, her eye or the Wist-
ful smile of her mouth.
Tears lad risen to his eyes four
months ago at the sight Of these waxen
features. these seemingly pulScless
hands: bat he could not weep now.
Grief had gone too deep; his soul was
lost too darkly in the shadows of this
loss. He buried his face amid the
drapery that enshrouded her, and tried
to kiss her heart.
"Ah, darling. darling! darling" went
I'D from his lips; whatever thou hast
done l forgive thee"
And the row of lights burned on,
and an hour dragged itself heavily by,
| before another sob disturbed the sol
emn silence, and then it did not come
from him.
From whom, then? He did not know.
Starting up, he looked about him.
What angel of consolation was this
standing beside him? Hilary, in robes
Of white. Hilary, with tears flowing
down her cheeks ard with her arms
outstretched toward him. All, this is
10Y; this can make him weep. Hillary
loved her. Hilary can understand his
loss. Reaching out his hand, he drew
Jenny's friend toward him. ana to-
gether they mingled their tears over
the pulseless bosom that once respond
ed to their mutual affection.
Hillary, do you understand it," be
finally forced himself to ask. rising up
to look again upon the peaceful, al
most smiling face of his persisted
bride.
| Hilary shook her mead.
NO" she whispered, pointing to the
letter he had not found strength to
touch. There lies her secret
He was overwhelmed with grief, and
it was Hilary who raised the letter
and placed it unopened in his hand.
Read it!' she entreated; there may
be comfort there if not here
I give you Jenny's letter. Contrary
to what he had expected, it was not
the one addressed to his rival. but a
new one, which she had written to
himself.
Beloved: You have come! You
have seen your bride, and now / give
you-not the letter you returned to me
but this long one, written almost with
my blood, which will tell you all you
ought 10 know, and tell it in less chill
ing language than that with which l
addressed your generous rival.
Il cannot marry you! Do you ask
me why? Because l wish to retain
your love. and this would be leopard
lied by my life, as it will not be by my
death. For know your artist soul. l
know that when you see me lying amid
the flowers, as on that night when you
first gave NE your love. you will forget
that I have deceived you, and by that
deception awakened in your breast
passion I was not worthy to evoke.
You will forget, and l shall rest in
peace happy not to have met your
look Of reproach, or lived 10 experience
the withdrawal of that trust which
was my glory and my shame.
II have deceived you. l am Signor-
ina Valdi and / am Jenny Rogers, but
| am not the innocent-hearted girl l
have always appeared to be. The mil
lions which l received did not come
to me unexpectedly. l intrigued for
| them and obtained them through the
arts and by the contrivance OF the very
beings you thought to be ny enemies,
Montelii and tie Portuguese, Of whom
you have so often told me- to beware.
They We're my allies-I must say it,
for detection is On my track, and you
will hear the truth from others. if
not from me. They We're my allies,
| but l was never with them in any
harmful schemes. ard was, l swear to
you, only the tool employed by them
TO obtain control over Mr.. Delaney S
fortune.
She was the woman WHO starved
and ill-treated this gentleman in his
final days. You have suspected this,
and suspected, also, that she over
heard, in her sly way, the beQuest he
made to Mr.. DegTaw and its strange
conditions. But what yo1 cannot sus-
pect is that the woman you saw with
me in my room in -- street was
not the h-conspirator who fcrmu-
lated this plot. but her sister, Annetta,
a person of more sinister appearance
than she, but of less calculation and
| but little resolve.
Low the Cleveland lag came to
know Montelli and take him into her
plans have never heard. Neither have
I ever been sure what the real name of
| this man was. That he was no Italian,