The Carlisle independent., 1915-06-17

plans have gone awry. It gives me ;as opportunity to see you curse yourself"
 Her sisterl' uttered the man unbe- lievingly T have married the child Therese. ] have held her sister in my arms all these months and never knew. 1t is a dream. r."
 "Ah. but you have felt even though -"
 He struck the table violently with his fist His eyes were blazing What manner of woman are you? What were you planning to do to that un- happy boy-her son? Are you a fend to-"
 In good time, James. you will know what manner of woman | am" she in- terrupted quietly. Sinking back in the chair she resumed the broken strain. all the time watching him through half-closed eyes. She died ten years ago. Her boy was twelve years old. She never saw him after the night you turned her away from this house. On her deathbed. as she was releasing her pure, undefled soul to Gods keeping, she repeated to the priest who went through the unnecessary form of ab- solving her-she repeated her solemn declaration that she had never wronged you by thought or deed. had always believed her. the holy priest believed her, God believed her. You would have believed her. too. James Brood. She was a good woman Do you hear, And you put a curse upon her and drove her out into the night. That was not all You persecuted her to the end of her unhappy life. You did that to my sister,"
 And yet you married me-" he nut tered thickly
 Not because l loved you-oh. nol She loved you to the day of her death. after all the misery and suffering you had heaped upon her. No woman ever endured the anguish that she suffered throughout those hungry years You kept her child from her. You denied him to her, even though you denied him to yourself. Why did you keep him from her2 She was his mother. She had borne him, he was all hers. But no. It was your revenge to de- priye her of the child she had brought into the world. You worked deliberate ly in this plan to crush what little there was left in life for her You kept him with you, though you branded him with a name 1 cannot utter; you guard ed him as if he were your most precious possession and not a curse to your pride; you did this because you knew that you could drive the barb more deeply into her tortured heart. You allowed her to die. after years of pleading, after years of vain endeavor. without one glimpse of her boy, with out ever having heard the word mother on his lips. That is what you did to my sister. For twelve long years you gloated over her misery. Oh, God. man, how I hated you when I married youi" She paused breathless.
 You are creating an excuse for your devilish conduct" he exclaimed harsh ly. You are like Matilde, false to the core. You married me for the luxury could provide. notwithstanding the curse I had put upon your sister I don't believe a word of what you are saying to-"
 Don't you believe that am her sis ter?"
 "You-yes. by heaven, must believe that Why have I been so blind? You are the little Therese. and you hated me in those other days. I remember well the"
 "A childs despairing hatred because you were taking away the being she loved best of all. Will you believe me when say that my hatred did not en- dure for long? When her happy, joy. ous letters came back to us filled with accounts of your goodness. your devo- ton, I-I allowed my hatred to die. forgot that you had robbed me came to look upon you as the fairy prince. after all It was not until she came all the way across the ocean and began to die before our eyes-she was years in dying-it was not until then that be- gan to hate you with a real, undying hatred"
 And yet you gave yourself to me-" he cried. You put yourself in her place. In heavens name. what was to be gained by such an act as that?"
 T wanted to take Matilde's boy away from you" she hurried on. and for the first time her eyes began to waver. The idea suggested itself to me the night l met you at the eomtesse's din ner. It was a wonderful, tremendous thought that entered my brain. At first my real self revolted. but as time went on the idea became an obsession. l married you, James Brood, for the sole purpose of hurting you in the worst possible way; by having Ma tides son strike you where the pain would be the greatest An. you are thinking that 1 would have permitted myself to have become his mistress. but you are mistaken. 1 am not that bad. l would not have damned his soul in that way. I would not have betrayed my sister in that way. Far more subtle was my design. 1 confess that it was my plan to make him fall in love with mo and in tho end tO rim