Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-10-27
CHAPTER ".

~
do her duty. She had not expected t
be happy. She had not looked forward
to any brightness in her life, but SHE
had not expected what she did meet
and that was positive ill-usage.
The only bright part of the picture
was that they were doing so much bet
ter at home. Allan Maclise held his
head high among the neighbors, now
that his daughter was lady at the
manse. The weather, too, was getting
better, the children growing out Of
hand There was some little comfor
in that. But she herself was wretched
unutterably miserable. For some three
or four months after her marriage Nal.
colin Ross was kind to her-that is, he
swore in moderation, and never raised
his arm to strike her. He taunted hel
occasionally with her poverty and hel
sad face: he laughed at her dead lover
as though it were capital joke.
After that the fierce fancy he hat
felt for his new toy was withdrawn
He began to dislike her because she
necer laughed at his coarse jokes ol
enjoyed his course wit. He said things
on purpose to bring the crimson fiusf
into that fair face, and then, when she
openly showed her annoyance at the
offensive words, he struck her.
The servants told at the trial how il
was no unusual thing for them to heal
their young mistress sobbing anC
weeping throughout the long night
They could hear the sound Of heavy
blows and passionate cries, but she
made no complaint. The maid who
waited upon her told how often the del
icate white arms were marked witt
heavy purple bruises; how often ir
the morning her mistress's eyes were
50 swollen with weeping she could not
see.
| She never told them at home; tC
them she always wore a smiling face
no matter how her head ached. Hel
servants, believing their young mis-
tress's life in danger, often consulted
among themselves as to whether they
should tell or not. They all dearly low
ed their gentle young mistress, except
Mrs. Mackay, the housekeeper, who
was jealous Of her. having always be-
lieved that her master must eventually
marry her
She could not have been more mis-
cradle, poor child. At the time Of the
trial one of the men swore that one
day when she went into field where
he was to give him a message, he de-
liberately raised his riding whip anG
struck her across the face, leaving a
mark on her cheek for hours after
wards.
Two years passed away. One morn
ing, full of her own unhappy thoughts
she had gone out into the pine woods
AS she sat there, thinking Of her blight
ed life and her lost lover Donald, he
suddenly appeared before her. Believ-
ing it was a vision, she flung herself
on her face; but he said:
You need not fear to look at me
Flora: you have broken my heart; you
need not fear to look in my face
But she cried out in a loud voice:
"Oh. Donald, Donald? 1 thought you
were dead-indeed, did"
II would sooner have died twenty
times over than have found you false,
he said. $50 you married for money
and forgot me, Flora?'
"Oh. Donald" she sobbed, do not
make it harder; have never forgotten
you, and never SHALL"
Il have worked as no man ever
worked before" he said. Il have come
home a rich man, ready to buy the
best farm in the country and take my
darling there l little dreamed of find
ing the girl, who was to be my wife
married"
! She only sobbed the more bitterly
until at last he sat down by her side
and she told him all.
Il can see it," he cried; this old mar
i wanted YOU. and so he forged the lie
But it was such a stale trick, Flora
Did your own heart tell you that was
dead?"
II believed it," she said IF l hat
| not believed it, Donald, l would sooner
have died than have married this
man."
MAY the curse of God rest on hin
and his forever mOre!" cried Donald
Then he bade her goodbye. He loved
her better than life itself, but she wa:
another mans wife now, and coulC
be nothing to him.
Shall you stay here long?" she ask
ed.
mo: only for a time. l shall no
see you again, Flora; l could not beal
it,"
That day there was a most terrible
quarrel at Ross House. Flora wen
straight home-straight to he nus
bands presence, and asked him:
Did YOU know, Malcolm, that Don
aid Macdonald was not dead, but liv'
ing?"
He swore and cursed; she retorted
, he struck her--she cried out for help
The frightened servants rushed be
tween: he followed her into the room
and beat her without mercy.
: The next day Malcolm Ross diet
81 suddenly, and the doctors who attend
ed him said he was poisoned by arse
mic. There was a coroner's inquest
One of the servants, a most unwilling
witness, swOre that Mrs. Ross brough
her master a cup of beef tea at /
O'Clock, while he was in the room
j Malcolm took it, drank half of it has
tily. threw some of it in his WIFE
face. and cried out that she had pols
Oned him.
= He was seized with violent sickness
burning in the throat and terrible pain
The doctors were summoned in haste
, the remains of the cup of beef tei
were analyzed. and arsenic was found
in il. There was no doubt he was per
fectly right; he had been poisoned.