Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1908-08-12

shattering that should have come to
her. That is the cause of all my woes.
Where is the second Eve? Broken III
soul, broken maybe in body. There
lies the third, ordained TO be broken.
He folded his arms, was silent a whIIe
and then said; Tell me your tale.
How came my daughter to your
houSe?'
CHAPTER II.
Last Christmas tWelvemonth,' said
Ignatius Jordan slowly, l was on the
moor-Morwell Down it is called.
Night was falling. The place-where
the road comes alCng over the down,
from Beer Aston and Beer Ferris. i
dare say you came along it, you took
boat from Plymouth to Beer Ferris,
and thence the way runs-the pack
men travel ito the north to Laun-
ceston. 1t was stormy weather, and
the snow drove hard; the wind was so
high that a man might hardly face it.
| heard cries for help. found a party
of players who were on their way to
Launceston, and were caught by the
storm and darkness on the moor.
They had sick girl with them
His voice broke down.
Eve asked Ezekiel Babb.
Jordan nodded. After a pause he
recovered himself and went on. She
could walk no further, and the party
was distressed, not knowing whittier
| to go or what to do. l invited them
to come here. The house is large
enough to hold a score of people.
| Next day l set them on their way
forward, as they were pressed to be at
Launceston for the Christmas holi-
days. But the girl was too i'll to pro-
coed, and I offered to let her remain
| here till she recovered. After a week
had passed the actors sent here from
Launceston to learn how she was, and
whether she could rejoin them, as
they were going forward to Bodmin,
Then a month later, they sent again,
but though she was better I would
not let her go. After that we heard no
more of the players. So she remained
at Morwell, and l loved her, and she
but she was not sufficiently recovered
became my wife
You said that you did not marry
her
No, not exactly. This is a place
quite out Of the world, a lost, unseen
spot. l am a Catholic, and no priest
comes this way. There is the ancient
chapel here where the Abbot of Tav-
is took had mass in the old time. IC
is bare, but the altar remains, and
though no priest ever comes here, the
altar is a Catholic altar. Eve and
went into the old chapel and took
hands before the altar, and l gave her
ring, and we swore to be true to
each other'--his voice shook, and then
a sob broke from his breast. We had
no priests blessing on us, that is true.
But Eve would never tell me what her
name was, or whence she came. il
we had gone to Taistock or Brent Tor
to be married by Protestant minis
ter, she would have been forced to tell
her name and parentage, and that,
she said, nothing would induce her to
do. 1t mattered not, we thought.
We lived here out of the world, and to
me the vow was as sacred when made
here as if confirmed before minister
of the established religion. We swore
to be all in all to each other
He clasped his hands on his knees,
and went on with bent head But
the play-actors returned and were III
Tavistock last week and one of them
came up here to see her, not openly,
but in secret. She told me nothing,
and he did not allow me to see him.
She met him alone several times.
This place is solitary and sad. and Eve
of a lively nature. She tired of being
here. She wearied of me-
Babb laughed bitterly. And now
she is flown away with play-actor.
AS she deserted her father, she deserts
her husband and child, and the house
that housed her. See you,' he put out
out his hand and grasped the cradle
Here lies vanity of vanities, the
pomps of the flesh, the lust of the eye,
and the pride of life, nestled in that
crib, that self-same strain of leaping,
headlong, wayward blood, that never
will rest till poured out of the veins
and rolled down into the ocean and
lost-lost-lost!
Jordan sprang from his seat with a
gasp and a stified cry, and fell back
against the wall.
Babb stopped over the cradle and
plucked out the child. He held it III
thesunlight streaming through the win
dow, and looked hard at it. Then he
danced it up and down with a scofing
laugh.
See, see!' he cried; see how the
creature rejoices and throws forth its
arms. Look at the shadow on the
wall, as of a Salamander swaying in
food of fire. Ha! Eve-blood! wan
ton blood! I will cruelty thee tool
He raised the babe aloft against the
black cross made by the shadow OF
+I,o r,ou1J;or, ord +roucoT1 &c tho oh IA