The Carlisle independent., 1915-06-24
and draw back from them. They con

ana draw Dack rom them. They con- vict you, James"
 Now 1 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 how l could have brought myself to the point of loving you'
 Loving mel Good heaven, woman, what do you"
 Loving you in spite of myself she cried, beating upon the table with her hands. "I have tried to convince my self that it was not I but the spirit of Matllde that had come to lodge in my treacherous body. l hated you for myself and l loved you for Matilde She loved you to the end She never hated you. That was it. The pure, deathless love of Matilde was constant ly lighting against the hatred 1 bore for you. I believe as firmly as l be- lieve that am alive that she has been near me all the time, battling against my insane desire for vengeance You
 
 have only to recall to yourself the mo- ments when you were so vividly re- minded of Matilde Valeska At those times 1 am sure that something of Ma tilde was in me. l was not myself. You have looked into my eyes a thousand times with a question in your own. Your soul was striving to reach the soul of Matilde An, all these months have known that you loved Matilde- not me. You loved the Matilde that was in me. You"
 "I have thought of her-always of her-when you were in my arms"
 T know how well you loved her." she declared slowly. "I know that you went to her tomb long after her death was revealed to you know that years ago you made an effort to find Fever | elli. 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 rificed as"
 'I-I-good God, am I 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. I have her dying word for it. She declared it in the presence of her God Wait! Where are you going?"
 T am going down to him!"
 Not yet, James. I have still more fc say to vou-more to coufecc Ha-of Take this package of letters. Read them as you sit beside his bed-not his deathbed, for I shall restore him to health, never fear. If he were to die, 1 should curse myself to the end of time, for I and I alone would have been the cause. Here are her letters and the one Feverelli wrote to her. this is letter to her son and yours! You may some day read it to him. And here-this is document requiring me to share my fortune with her son. It is a pledge that 1 took before my fa- ther died few years ago. If the boy ever appeared, he was to have his mothers share of the estate-and it is
  He is independent of you. He need ask nothing of you. I 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 dumfounded to see that it was not re- vealed in his steady, appraising eyes.
 Your plan deserved a better fate than this Therese. It was prodigious! I-I can almost pity you"
 "Have-have you no pain-no regret no grief?" she cried weakly.
 "Yes," he said, controlling himself with difficulty. Yes, I know all these and more" He picked up the pack age of letters and glanced at the sub- scription on the outer envelope Sud denly he raised them to his lips and, with his eyes closed, kissed the words that were written there Her head dropped and sob came into her throat. She did not look up until he began speaking to her again, quietly, even patiently But why should you, even in your longing for revenge-why should you have planned to humiliate and degrade him even more than could have done? Was it just to your sisters son that you should blight his life, that you should turn him into skulking. sneaking betrayer? What would you have gained in the end? His loathing, his scorn-my God, Therese, did you not think of all this?'
 T have told you that I thought of everything I was mistaken. did not stop to think that I would be taking him away from happiness in the shape of love that he might bear for someone else l did not know that there was a Lydia Desmond. When came to know. my heart softened and my purpose lost most of it's force. He would have been safe with me. but would he have been happy? I could not give him the kind of love that Lydia promised. I could only be his mothers sister to him. He