Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1906-10-23

| traordinary fact that this was the day
i of his relief had he served his full two
/ months on the rock.
Today by his own design the second
era of his checkered career would have
come to a peaceful close. Within
little while he would have taken Con-
! stance and Enid, If unmarried, on that
| long contemplated continental tour
But the hurricane came when the
! blast of the terrible ones is as
Storm" and the pillar, the refuge of
| his distress, became the center of inf1u-
ences destined to mold his life afresh.
What did it all mean? He bowed
his face into his hands. He heard his
wife's low, sweet voice continue:
Il lived there nearly six years. Then
nv manager died He was an English
man named Vansittart Within a
month his wife died. There was some
fever about the place, and l became
frightened. A longing for the old life
seized me, and l went east but not as
Mrs. Brand, the name which L always
bore in Nebraska. l had done with 1t
and with you. as I thought-Constance
never entered my mind save as fee
bic memory-so l became Mrs. Eta
VanSittart"
Brand raised his head and looked at
her again. She was speaking now in
curiously subdued tone. She was
giving evidence against herself and
giving it truly.
In Newport, Saratoga and the Adj
rondacks in summer, in New YORK
during the winter, l lived in droWsy
content. People who take drugs must
reach that state, but their condition is
pitiable when they are aroused. Many
men asked me to marry them. l laugh
ed at the idea At last met Mr.. Trail.
We were friendly for quite five years.
came to Europe to the Engadine,
where I found that Mrs. Stephen
Brands troubled life was forgotten,
7 but Mrs. Vansittart, the rich widow,
was popular There | saw Mr.. Trail
: AGAIN. He offered me marriage, and
I fancied it would be well to ally my
self with a man so distinguished and
1 widely known on both sides OF the AT
c lantic. 1 die not love him. | respected
? and admired him-that was all. L ac-
cepted him, but stipulated that L
I should go back to the States and wind
Ii I'D nv affairs there, returning to Paris
for the wedding. That was necessary
l. IF would maintain my deception. So,
e Stephen. after lifetime of vagary and
II wandering this is the result. am be-
spattered by the mud of my own acts.
I see my forgotten daughter grown 10
beautiful womanhood I meet my hus
:. band, whom I might have loved anG
honored, patiently following the patf
into which my neurotic impulses drove
' him. Stephen, do you think my punish
ment is complete?"
- The bitter self condemnation in he
~ voice was not defiant, but subdued
4 She had travelled far in spirit through
- the vale of tears since the Gulf Rocl
barred her onward progress
Though she asked a question sh
seemed to expect no answer. Brand
thinking to render her task less trying
- was still looking through the window
y. and watching the steady churning o
- the tender toward earn du and theme
to the lighthouse.
!, At last he spoke.
y, when 1 entered this room,' he sale
~ 81 meant to avoid a scene which mus
- have been as eXhausting to you as 1t
painful TO me. Yet as 1t happens 1t
we'll for both of US that you have ifte
~ the veil from what has gone before
Nov it should be d-opped-foreveT.'
bo Tell me what you wish to do.
~ will obey
~ Don't you think it will be better
we defer a final settlement? You haV
III already taxed your frail powers b'
a. yond their limit
+ M
faint nor yield to weakness. l wi
70 live Have 10 fear. Death does NJ
II come as sllillful healer Of the wount
ra ed conscience 1t may be sought, and
NJ have thought Of that. But Constant
PC would suffer, and if it will spare ht
pain will endure to the end. Surely
owe her that reparation. l committe
~ moral suicide once in my life. Let
nj suffice"'
,St The fixed plan of the study, with i
OH carefully arranged phrases, was not
ut readily acceptable to the man no'
va What would become of his wife if
. a drove her forth this time of his oV
nj accord to live in mournful solitud
, brooding over q wasted life and loo
at ing forward only to an occasional Wis
ed from her daughter?
,ca A host of impossible ideas jostled
VS. his brain. He strove desperately
nd find some easy way of suggesting t
nv settlement which appealed to him
7 the fitting one, but his soul revolt
,olz from the notion of formulating {
i'm. cree of Punishment against this etf
fs- real, ghostlike creature who had be
er- thrust back into his very keeping frc
,ci- out the heart of the storm.
OIL. He stood up and faced her, carele
ica whether or not the stress of inwa
ka conflict In his eyes belied the ca
ION gravity Of his words