The Lemmon herald. (Lemmon, Perkins County, S.D.) 1912-1917, 1915-09-15
I and draw back from them

NOW can see why you have taken
UP this fight against me. You-you
know she was innocent" he said in
low, unsteady voice.
And why l have hated YOU, ale,
But what you do not understand is
now | could have brought myself to
the point of loving YOU"
Loving me! Good heaven. woman.
what do you"
Loving you in spite of myself" she
crieo' beating upon the table with her
hands. L have tried to convince nv.
sen that 1t was not l but the spirit OF
Matiide that had come to lodge in my
treacherous body. / hated you for
myself and loved you for Matiide.
She loved you to the end. She never
mated you. That was it. The pure,
deathless love OF Matilde was constant.
~ nghtlng against the hatred / bore
lor you. believe as firmly as | be-
lieve that am alive that she has been
near me all the time, battling against
my insane desire for vengeance. You
nave only to recall to yourself the mo-
l:ents when you were so vividly re-
minded of Matilde Valeska. At those
times am sure that something of Ma
tide was in me. was not myself. You
nave looked into my eyes a thousand
times with a question in your own.
Your soul was striving to reach the
soul OF Matilde. All, all these months
l have known that you loved Matilde-
not me. You loved the Matilde that
was in me. YOU"
Il have thought of her-always Of
her-when you were in my arms"
Il know how well you loved her."
she declared slowly. Il know that you
went to her tomb long after her death
was revealed to you. l know that years
ago you made an effort to find Fever
elH. You found his grave, too, and you
could not ask him, man TO man, if you
had wronged her. But In spite of all
that you brought up her boy to be sac
rifced as
"I-I-good God, am to believe
you? If he should be my son!" he
cried, starting up, cold with dread.
He Is your son. He could be no
other mans son. / have her dying
word for it. She declared 1t in the
presence Of her God. Wait! Where
are you going?'
Il am going down to him!"
Not yet, James. i have still more
to say to you-more to confess. Here!
Take this package of letters. Read
them as you sit beside his bed-not
his deathbed, for | shall restore him
to health, never fear. If he were to
die, | should curse myself to the end |
of time, for | and ! alone would have |
been the cause. Here ara her letters |
and the one Feverelli wrote to her. |
this is letter to her son and yours! |
You may some day read ii to him And |
here-this is document requiring me |
to share my fortune with her son. 1t
is a pledge that | took before my IA
ther died few years ago. II the boy
ever appeared, he was to have his
mothers share of the estate-and ii is
not an inconsiderable amount, James
He is independent of you. He need
ask nothing of you. l was taking him
home to his own"
She shrank slightly as he stood over
her. There was more of wonder and
pity in his face than condemnation.
She looked for the anger she had ex-
pected to arouse in him, and was
to see that it was not re-
vealed in his steady, appraising eyes.
Your plan deserved better fate
than this Therese. 1t was prodigious.
II can almost pity you
"Have-have you no pain-no regret
no grief" she cried weakly.
"Yes," he said. controlling himself
with difficulty. "Yes, know all these
and more" He picked up the pack
age OF letters and glanced at the sub
on the outer envelope. Sud-
lenly he raised them to his lips and,
With his eyes closed. kissed the words g
hat were written there. Her head !
irooped, and sob came into her
hroat. She did not look up until he I
,egan speaking to her again, quietly,
wen patiently. but why should you, q
wen in your longing for revenge-why
hould you have planned to humiliate {
md degrade him even more than l r
ould have done? Was it just to your O
listers son that you should blight lis o
ife, that you should turn him into . b
kulking, sneaking betrayer? What Z
would you have gained in the end? His d
oathing, his scorn-my God, Therese, d
id you not think OF all this?" b
II have told you that | thought OF
verything. was mistaken. l did not d
ton to think that / would be taking
i'm away from happiness in the shape a
{ love that he might bear fol- someone
lse. | did not know that there was q D
ydia Desmond. When ! came to know, a
" heart softened and my purpose lost u
,ost of It's force. He would have been nj
afe with me, but would he have been tt
Apply? l could not give him the kind 81
. Love +bat lydia prOmised | could vi