The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-10


For how could I approach such won-
an with familiar touch?
1 played my part as best I could
in the days that followed. 1t was not
unsuccessfully done. The children
chung to me from the first, Mr.. Car
ter was like a father in his kindness,
Constance only was cold. But I did
not wish to remove the barrier be-
tween us, / was not such a villain
as that, and from the first my cal
culations had only extended to the posi-
ton held by my brother in the bank
and mill, not to that i'm his wife's af-
fections. l was married, and Lenora
loved me.
But my plans changed. I saw that
it would not be polite to take the
position of cashier, even if it could be
obtained. and l decided to renounce it
and. for the present, all designs of APP
propriating its funds or those of the
mill; for my overpowering love for
Constance increased day by day while
1 lived under the same roof
And then the tempter came in the
person of Marks. Marry her, he said.
for l see you love her She is rich,
and you can help the rest of us. Bus
mess does not prosper as it used: our
operations are too we'll understood"
Marry her!" l echoed: "how can I,
when Lenora is alive?"
An evil smile lit up his face, but
he only said. "Lenora may die, she is
Far from strong" but l thought moth
ing of all this. for l did not think he
was bad enough to attempt her life
Now l know that he was, I know
that it was he who sent the poisoned
ring in my name to her.
/ saw notice of her death in a
newspaper which, no doubt he sent
to me. But there was nothing con-
corning the suspicious regarding the
cause, and, indeed, I do not think they
awoke until Bruce began his investi-
cations in the claimant case
Marks came to me soon afterwards
and asked me about her for he knew
that l wrote to her at long intervals,
and | told him she was dead and show
ed him the notice. He then told me
he knew it, but thought 1 might not,
and came to tell me of it.
had long ceased to love Lenora,
though l appreciated her single-h heart
ed devotion to me. But now that she
was dead, I said to myself, exultant-
ly, l would press my pretended claims
upon Constance as I never had done.
But | said nothing about it to Marks
with whom and all my evil associates
l determined to break for, strange
as it may appear, l had fully decided
to begin a new upright life, to be in
reality what Vane had been. l would
I'Cl SOdQG NOllSIdHCe ~ marry Inc OH lne
plea of beginning a new life together
and then / decided to be so kind, so
good and true, that she would never
mistrust l was not the real Vane Ham
ilton. Build my reformation on a lie!
Now I see the futility of such an effort.
Then | did not. / actually thought it
could be done
The good, pure moral atmosphere of
GrOvedale seemed to have uplifted my
GnlIl 10 hpttar thiDoG ha
known. began to see that honor real
ly existed, that there We're true hearts
in the world, people who strove to do
right, who were full of charity and
gentleness; that such a thing as re-
ligion existed, not sham, not a cheat,
not a cloak, but true, earnest, indy
ing religion, and-will you believe it?
I fancied 7 could feel it struggling
to uplift meme, who was basing my
reformation on a lie! Little Clare
would kneel beside me when she pray
ed, and sometimes / prayed with her,
in my heart, and fancied l was sin
cere. I know now my soul was strug-
Cling to free itself of the terrible tolls
of sin: but how could l think that
forgiveness was mine, or that it could
come to me in the midst of the wicked
deceit of my daily life Constance was
| almost gracious at times, and I thought
| the day would come when she would
| receive me as her husband, when we
would be married.
About this time I began to feel con-
scious of an uneasiness regarding Pri-
mus Edes Not that I mistrusted Con-
stance of any wrong. Far from it,
But I feared that she might have
romantic attachment for him. as he
was said 20 resemble her husband i'm
some degree. / called him to the of
flee and talked with him. The re-
semblance existed, but not TO an un-
usual degree. I had not the slightest
idea he was Vane Hamilton-nOt the
slightest, for Vane, l was convinced.
had been drowned. When he left the
office after rejecting my proposal to
give him better job in another mill
l warned him to keep off my premises.
My premises, and he the true owner
Marks was keener than I, and,
think, mstrusted him from the first.
But he said nothing to me about it. II
was his hand that fired the shot at
Primus Edes, as he was called. OF
that | am firmly convinced, though /
did not see him about Grovedale. In
deed, I supposed him to be in another
state. But Marks was desperate. At
fairs had not prospered recently, and
though / supplied him with small sums,
they were insufficient to satisfy his
need or wants l think he conceived
the Scneme OF removing LenOra and
Vane from my path, and then of hold
ing it over me afterwards as the means
# getting large sums of money from
me, which he reasoned / would pay
rather than suffer the matter to be-
come known.
But I never even mistrusted It until
Vane recovered his reason and brought
suit against me. Then love- jealousy,
fear, and the old instinct to pit my fac
uties against the world arose within
me. There seemed no other course
open than to oppose the suit and
everything seemed in my favor This
was at the outset. But as the days
went on, and I saw the anguish of
Constance the detection Of Vane.
great, shuddering pity for them both,
and horror for myself awoke in my
soul. The utter wickedness of my
course arose before me, and could
not escape the constant contemplation
Of it. At times such a rush of re-
morse overwhelmed me that / would
cry out in actual pain. / would think
of our mother, of her love for us both,
of her dying request to Vane. of his
long search for me. of my treachery
in allowing him to fall into the clutches
of the law in my place, of his recov-
cry to reason, only to find me In his
place. and the cumulative wickedness
of my course would grind me as If
had fastened into the tortuous iron
frames used upon criminals in oden
times.
But slowly up from under all this
L.