Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1905-05-05
s Bound by a Spell 8:

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 strangers-ladies- 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-
fessions, but denying the existence Of
any good beyond them; all virtue and
all holiness are confined within the limits
of her creed-beyond it, all is sin and
death. She has acquired powerful
ascendancy over Mr.. Morant's mind,
weakened as it is by the afiiction of his
beloved wife's death. He has brought
her home to fill the position of house
keeper, and in a short time she reigns
absolute and undisputed mistress over
him and the household.
From the moment she is first introduc-
ed 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, a 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 a clandestine mar
Piage. They are quietly married at a
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 a 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 kept
] a close prisoner-he will never sec her
| face again.
Very soon he falls into vagebondage,
| and, gnawed by the burning sense Of the
| wrong that has been done him-savage-
| ly reckless. from vagabondage he sinks
| 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 q
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 ere.
ate second self-a perpetuation of he1
own austere bigotry-a mirror i'll whose
reflection she could worship her own i'm
! 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 hi.
point. At the end of three years the
poor girl died of a lingering decline.
When, at the end of his term of i'm
prisonment, the unfortunate husband
now thoroughly vicious and hardened
came back to The Willows to claim hi.
wife, funeral procession stopped tn,
way. An awful scene ensued; not eve1
the sacred presence of the dead coult
check the wild tempest of passion tina
burst from the wretched mans lips. H,
knelt down and cursed the woman th
cause of all his sufferings. From tina
time he was utterly lost-remorse, con
} science, every better feeling, were crush
) ed out of his nature.
After the mothers death, the child
|
ulent hatred, only exceeded by tina
: which she felt for the father-spite of
weak opposition on the part of Mr. Mo
rant, was banished to the care of
nurse. Two years afterwards the poo
J little unfortunate was consigned to tn
guardianship of the Rev. Mr.. Porter.
Madame Berne determined that Ed
ward Morant should never know OF it
existence, neither should the child b
| made acquainted with it's parentage. BE-
: fore it left the care of the nurse frien
of the lovers, and who frequently pai
secret visit to the child, sewed up
: its frock locket containing its mother
portrait and a lock Of her hair, addin
! thereto the scrapt of writing which Mon
. gomery had now so strangely disco,
: cred. The locket had been given her b
poor Frances on her deathbed. It wa
all she could do-dared do. Slight 6
5 was the link. it might one day prove us,
t full to the boy in establishing his idel