The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1905-05-13
8 Bound by a Spell Yl

| what dissipated, but not vicious, just
returned from college to his, stately
home. But great change has come over
that home since he saw it last. His
noble. loving mother is dead. His father
has returned to The Willows; but not
alone Two strangersIladies- ac-
companied him from Switzerland-Mad-
anne Berne and her daughter. 1t was
| at the house of the former that his
mother resided during her last illness.
She is a rigid, austere fanatic, acting
up in all things to the letter of her pro-
LESSONS, but denying the existence OF
any good beyond them; all virtue and
all holiness are confined within the limits
of her ereed-beyond it, all is sin and
death. She has acquired powerful
ascendancy over Mr. Morant's mind,
weakened as it is by the affection of his
beloved wife's death. He has brought
her home to fill the position of house
keeper. and in short time she relgns
absolute and undisputed mistress over
him and the household.
From the moment she is first intrOduc-
ell to Edward Morant, she conceives a
hatred for him. The gay, light, mischiev-
Gus bearing, even subdued as it is now
| by the sorrow of his mothers death, is
repulsive to her gloomy soul. There is
soon open war between them. But Ed
ward is no match for his powerful ad-
versary His father, under the prose-
lytism of Madame Berne has become
as gloomy a fanatic as herself; all gaiety
of heart, all amusements, are sins In his
| belief. The Willows soon become an
uncomfortable home for the young man,
| and were it not for one all-pOwerful at
traction, he would have quilted it long
| ago.
That attraction is Frances, Madame
Berne's daughter, beautiful. melan-
choly girl of sixteen. He loves her pas
sionately, possibly because she is so en-
tirely opposite to himself; and she loves
him, possibly for the same reason. In
the course of time Edward prevails on
Frances to consent TO clandestine mar
riage. They are quietly married at
suburban church, and return to The Will
lows the same night.
A fortnight afterwards, yielding to the
prayers of his young wife, Edward de-
clares his marriage to his father. The
old man is willing to forgive the act, but
Madame Berne is furious. Her daugh-
ter shall not be delivered over to the
satanic influences of this vicious man.
A terrible scene ensues. Edwards
| fiery temper is thoroughly aroused, and
| all the bitterness and hatred that have
been seething in his heart burst forth.
There is not an insult, an epithet Of
loathing, that he spares his enemy. The
end of all is fathers curse, and his
expulsion from the home. the doors of
which he will never darken again. He
| would claim his wife by force of law. but
he has no home to take her to-he is
penniless and an outcast. She is kent
| a close prisoner-he will never SEQ Aer
| face again.
Very soon he falls into vage5JndSge,
and, gnawed by the burning sense of the
wrong that has been done him-savage-
| ly reckless, from .vagabondage he siEks
into crime, becomes implicated, through
his associates. in a robbery, and is con-
demned to three years penal servitude.
In the meantime, child has been
| born to him, of whose existence, or prob
able existence he. is ignorant. A sad
| life is that Of the mother. Mr. Morant
would have been kind and good to her,
but Madame Berne cannot pardon her.
, In the eyes of that fanatic, she is
lost soul-she has strayed from the paths
of righteousness, and to show mercy to
her would be to participate in her guilt.
In this daughter she had hoped to Gre
ate second self-a perpetuation of her
own austere bigotry-a mirror in whose
reflection she could worship her own inn
| age.
| Frances only consolation was her in
FAINT son; Madame Berne would have de-
prived her even Of this had not Mr.. Mo-
rant interfered, and for once carried his
point. At the end of three years the
poor girl died of lingering decline
When. Mt the end of his term of i'm
prisonment. the unfortunate husband,
now thoroughly vicious and hardened.
came back to The Willows to claim his
! wife, a funeral procession stopped the
way. An awful scene ensued: not even
the sacred presence Of the dead could
check the wild tempest of passion that
burst from the wretched mans lips. He
knelt down and cursed the woman the
cause of all his sufferings. From that
time he was utterly lost-remorse, con-
science, every better feeling, were crush
ed Out~of his nature.
After the mothers death, the child
against whom Madame HBerne felt vir-
ulent hatred. only exceeded by that
which she felt for the father-spite of
weak opposition on the part Of Mr.. Mo-
rant. was banished to the care of a
nurse. Two years afterwards the poor
| little unfortunate was consigned to the
| guardianship of the Rev. Mr.. Porter.
j Madame Berne determined that Ed
] ward Morant should never know OF its
existence, neither should the child be
made acquainted with its parentage. Be-
! fore it left the care of the nurse a friend
of the lovers, aud who frequently paid
a secret visit to the child, sewed up in
its frock a locket containing its mothers
portrait and a lock of her hair, adding
thereto the scrap of writing which Mont
gomery had now SO strangely discov-
cred. The locket had been given her by
poor Frances on her deathbed. 1t was
all she could do-dared do. Slight as
was the link, it might one day prove use
full to the boy in establishing his iden-
| tity.
| When, after his death, Mr.. Morant's
| ID