Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1914-05-28

now, tn1J 5ou s1ould torture her
young, credulous soul with these fan
ciful obligations; obligations which
no human being has any right to in
pose upon another, whatsoever the
Cause, holy or unholy, he represents?
Mercy? 1t is the weakness of the
easy soul. There is no ease here he
cried, touching his breast with no gen.
tie hand
Then you forget my money" sug-
gested Georgian. Can you expect
mercy from a man who sees million
just within his grasp? / know" she
acknowledged, as Hazen lifted that
same ungentle hand in naughty pro-
test, that it was not for himself.
do not think Alfred would disturb a
fly for his own comfort, but he would
wreck woman's hopes, good mans
happiness for the Cause. He admitted
as much to me, and more, in the in
terview we held that afternoon at the
st. Denis. I had to go to him at once,
and I had to employ subterfuge in or
der to do So" she went on in rapid ex-
PLANTATION, as she saw her husbands
eye refill with doubt under a remem-
brance Of the shame and anguish OF
that unhappy afternoon. 81 had not
the courage to leave you openly at the
carriage door. Besides, I hoped to
work on Alfred's pity in our interview
together, or, if not that, to buy my
release and retuf1 to you free wom-
an. But the wound which had chang
ed his face for me had changed and
made hard his heart. He had other
purposes for me than quiet living with
a man who could have no real inter.
est in the Cause. The money | in
herited, the rare and growing beauty
which he declared me to have, were
too valuable to the brethren for me to
hope for any existence in which their
interests were not paramount. |
might return to you, subject to the
same authoritative beck and call
which had put me in my present posi-
ton, or l might leave you at once and
forever No half measures were pos
sible. Was 1, bride, loving and be-
loved Ivy my husband, to listen to
either of these alternatives? l re-
belled, and then the thunderbolt fell.
81 was no longer on probation, no
longer subject to his will alone. l
was a fully affiliated member. That
day my name had been sent to the
Chief This meant obedience on my
part or vengeance l felt it impOssi-
BILE to consider. While l lived | need
never hope again for freedom without
penalty.
"'While I lived; the words rang in
my ears. I did not need to weigh
them; l knew that they were words
of truth. There is no power on earth
so unacceptable as that exercised by a
secret society, and this one has ter
rible safeguard. None but he who
keeps the list knows the members.
You, Roger, might be one, and l never
suspect it, unless you chose to give
me the sign. Knowing this, real
lied that my life was not worth the
purchase if l sought to cross the will
of my own brother. Nor yours, either.
1t was the last thought which held me.
While 1 dutifully listened, my mind
was working out the deception which
was to release me, and when I left
him it was to take the first step in
the complicated plot by which l hoped
to recover my lost happiness. And l
nearly succeeded. You have seen
what l have borne, what difficulties
| have faced, what discoveries eluded,
but this last, this greatest ordeal, was
too much I could not listen unmoved
to description of my own drowned
body. /, who had calculated on all,
had not calculated on this. The hor-
ror overcame mel forgot-perhaps
because God was weary of my many
deceptions!"