Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-04-09
Observation-Disclosures

M chllds shame when the truth is
known. | married iE direct defiance to
my fathers wish. He disinherited me-
/. spendthrift, a ne'er-do-well, who had
never occupied myself with one serious
consideration, found myself unable to
earn living. My wife died. Ethel was
sick. My last guinea was paid for the
advice of a physician. He declared that
Ethel could lie saved by being taken to
Madeira for a time, but could never live
through To: winter in this climate. At
that juncture my father died, leaving
everything to an adopted infant. for he,
Ike me, was friendless, unlovable man.
BY strange coincidence the adopted
child was weak-not expected to outlive
childhood. Ny father knew this, and left
his fortune to her Will. reversion to me,
simply as a means of prolonging my pun
ishment for a few years longer. And
now this question was presented to me:
Should | suffer my own child to die,
when | might save her life by destroying
the child who was not expected to live?
/ did not hesitate ar instant My child
was everything to me- the other was moth
ing to anybody. l stole the child, and
ss l believed took her life away with
an opiate. I believed that she was dead
when / gave her into the hands of Peter
Beamish. May heaven deny me mercy if
this is untrue" He paused, and then,
in softened tone, ne said: II do not
wish to exonerate myself. Time will
show that ] have paid the penalty for
the woe l brought upon poor unhappy
Psyche"
i 81 Aoj
tried to believe that her father was Sc
curing relief from physical sufferings
abroad. A month passed, and we heard
no tidings of him. One day my grand
father came to me with a scared look
ON his face. ''Sonny," he said, in the
hectoring tone he had learned from his
father, you've got to come along of me.
You've got to put ON your hat and ask
no questions, but just hear what I've got
to give you as we goes along"
/ put on my hat and went with him.
We turned in the direction of the Half
way House.
Il don't see much good in reforming"
he began, as we trudged along. Seems
to me if you go a bit out O your right
course at the first start, not all the
tracts or total abstemiating in life amt
going to put you straight again."
whats the matter?' l asked.
you speak when you're spoke to and
not before, sonny, or you'll go wrong like
the rest of the family"
Having walked on some distance to let
this warning sink, he recommended.
Il don't see what's the use oG it.
Here's father been out on the loose over
a month and never come anigh me.
You've got to go down in that cave again,
sonny"
stopped short, chilled to the heart
at the very thought of revisiting the scene
of my poor Psyche's captivity
Come on-you'Ve got to CO. he said,
dosgedly. "rd go myself If I'd got the
strength, and it amt the fear of
comm up agen stops me, neither. I'd
know what's the good OF an old fellow
like me Arranging on in this world"
''Who is down there" l asked, the
truth flashing upon me.
Hes down there-Sir Henry Dun?
cam"
How long has he been there?"
"A month, sonny. He came to me and
told me | should have the old cottage
as long as 1 lived if l served him as /
served the young 'un. And SEEM it was
kinder right and pious he should do by
hisself as others had been done by
through him, agreed to it. Day by day,
I've whistIed to him, WELL as near as 1
could like | whistled to her; but there
wasn't no pretty song came back; but
he emptied the basket all right but with
never a sound till it come yesterday.
and all day long | was a-calling him and
whistling. but no answer came. and this
morning the victuals is in the basket Just
as left 'em. So you've got to go down,
sonny. and see what's amiss."
went down sick with apprehension
and the dull pain of awakened uneasi-
ness Once more | lit candle and CROP
ed along the passage into the shadowy
cave. | found him stretched and dead
upon Psyche's bed, with the evidence of
Psyche's life about him. In the alcove
over his head hung strips of the colored
rags she had hung there for ornament;
in. the wall the scroll she cut; in the
sand a print of her little foot. What
place, what means, could he have found
more fitting for his terrible expiration?
The clouds have lifted: the sun shines
now. Ethel is my wife. and when |
hold her hand in mine l feel that l pos
sess all the happiness heaven can give.
Last night we fingered long in the gar
den after the afterglow faded away; the
heavens filled with stars. and we watch
ed them in silent happiness.
flush" murmured Ethel. stopping
did you hear it?''
A faint sound far away rose and fell.
and died away impereeptibly.
There il is again." she whispered
low. lit is the first nightingale
1t sounded to my ear like the lost
voice of Psyche singing of the new hap
piress of a new world.
(The End.)