Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-06-20

Z
Fooled, baffied, desperate, Beatrice
Lady Beatrice no longer-returned to
I her own room. She fastened the
door, she secured herself from all OBJ
servation, and then gave loose to the
] hot, angry passion that ragged within
her Her eyes cleaned with fury;
her face, in its livid passion, was ter
rible to see. She set her teeth, she
clenched her strong white hands; hate
and murder ran riot through her veins.
She had schemed, she had man
oeuvred, she had planned, size had per-
severed in evil doing. She had de-
| liberately set herself to break the
heart of a fair, innocent woman who
had never wronged her; she had, with
keen, unerring wiles and bitter satire,
divided man and wife; she had, by
dint of cruel, relentless persecution,
driven that hapless lady from home,
as she once believed, to death. And
then the hour of her triumph came,
when she filed her rivals place and
bore her name. Even then she had
persevered in her evil-doing. No one
but herself knew how cruelty she had
lay in her power to make home wretch
ed and drive him from it as she had
done his mother before him. And
when her own son was born-when
one might have thought the mother
love would have softened her heart,
I.a 10
they reached such a height that it
seemed to her a small wrong to do that
which should take Rupert's last chance
of life away, and make Lance the heir
of the Selwyn titles and estates.
She tried to quiet her conscience
by saying to herself that she did little
harm to stealing away the opiate, for
that even with it he must die. Good
and bad had warred together until her
whole soul was filled with tumult, and
had conquered. She had sought and
found bottle exactly the same as that
containing the opiate; she had filed it
with clear water, resolving TO substi-
! tute that for the draught which was to
restore life TO the boy who stood be-
tween her son and a splendid inheri-
lance.
| Hate and envy urged her on until
she was blind to right and wrong.
Rupert must die! She was taking
from him mis- last aad only chance of
life. Then with him ended all that
wretched past. No grandson of a poor
country solicitor should sit on the
throne of Selwyns; no half-plebeian
rule, where some of the noblest of the
/ lald might have been proud to reign.
I Her beautiful Lance would be Lord of
Selwyn, and who so worthy, so fitting
for the post as he? One little effort,
and il would all be over. So with
noiseless footsteps she had stolen
into the ante-rCom. Listening intent
/ ly, but hearing no sound. she came to
the conclusion that the bay was awake,
but the nurse sleeping. How little
she dreamed of the loving eyes watch.
ing every change on that wan face
How little she dreamed who watched
over him Then, noiselessly enough
she put her hand through the opening
in the red hangings, placed the bottle
on the table. and stole the opiate
away; but not unseen, thank Heaven,
net unseen. Violante, so keenly alive
TO every sound, to every movement,
saw it-and her son was saved!
What she suffered of agony. of ter.
ror, of fear too great for words when
/ Violante spoke, could never be told
At first she almost believed that the
woman before her had risen from the
dead to save her child. When she un.
derstood it, and knew that Violante
had never died. her heart sickened
with unutterable hate.
81 will not bear it," she cried, fierce
/ ly: Il will not bear it,"
What could she do? Hating Violan,
/ te bitterly as she did. she could not
/ help owning that her story was true
! She could not refrain from acknowl
cdging. even to herself, that she had
drawn down her fate. If she had not
tried to injure Rupert. Violante would
have lived and died with her secret un
known. She had destroyed herself
by her own crime Violante had
faults; but Beatrice knew full well
those sweet and gentle lips had never
been stained by lie. She was forced
70 believe. even against her will. that
Vio'snte had sacrificed herself for the
welfare &C her husband and son. and
not 10 bring shame and disgrace tc
her.
Even while she loathed and detest
81 her. she was forced to do homage
To the beautiful soul Of her rival, Il
the sublime spirit Of self-sacrifice. tc
the abandonment CT all things for her
sons sake-greater far than she could
over have practiced. She was Obliged
10 own to herself that, although V:o