The Cotton Factory Times. — 1889-12-06 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

CRAHLE9 H. BEINTON."  The r..a.ding of this letter, and the way in which it had come, produced a deep impression. Up to that time no one seems to have noticed the absence of Charley, or, if they had,. attributed it to his having gone to his owl home, which lay at some miles distance.  She had been nervous and ill all the morning, and when the judge came to tell her the carriage was ready to take her. she uttered a fervent, "Thank God I" that showed how the strain of the previous night had told on her. She was put into the carriage, which drove off to the town of Mortimer, leaving the house to the black servants, the whole family of Kenton and Brinton having scattered to the various houses where its members resided, while the great house, known as the Beeches, was left in charge of old Chrissy, who seemed strangely elated as the last carriage drove off. As the carriage containing Margaret Hardin reached the head of the avenue of beeches, and rolled out into the road, the girl said to the judge: Oh, Cousin Simon, I do believe that another night there would have driven me mad. Oh, if we could only undo what was done last year." They were alone when she said it, for Tom had gone to the town, and only the black driver on the box was near them.  The judge stirred uneasily in his seat, as he said, . . _ .  , " hat's done can't be helped. You ought not to grieve for it. You are my heiress, and you are gong to marry the man you love. You should be the last to grumble at this thing." . _ _  He had always been a favourite with the rest on account of his pleasant ways and gentle disposition, and the news that he was in the r,wer of the dreaded Voodoo Man produced a shock of alarm, and made them reluctant to proceed with any hostile acts agamst one who held a member of their family in his power. Jack 13rinton was the first to speak. "Cousin Simon, that's another reason why we should go slow. We don't want to have Charley killed for nothing." "How do we know this letter comes from him ?" asked Tom Brinton. "I shouldn't wonder but what some one had forged it, knowing he was not in the house, and wanting us to think they had got him."  He did not answer her savagely, as he had done ;Tack Brinton, when he said almost the same thing in a different manner.  Margaret seemed much agitated at his words, as she answered:  "Yes, I know that, Cousin Simon. Yon have been very good to me ; bnt, oh, if yon could only believe it, I would rather be what I was, a poor dependent, with no hope of ever marrying Tom, if I could only bring Juliet back to life.'; . . .  Her words caused the old man to look at her keenly.  " 6ne would think, to hear you talk, that you had something to do with the way she died," he said, dryly. The girl, whose conscience had been torturing her till she had lost almosi all control over herself, and who had spoken unguardedly under its influence, trembled violently, and drew her breath as if in pain. At that moment the struegle in her mind, whether to own the truth or not, was terrible. But a feeling of fear choked back the words on her lips, as she said, with a nervous little laugh :  Oh, you mustn't mind what I say. I'm sick, and hardly know what I am talking about."  " I should hope not," he replied, gravely. "If I thought you knew anything of the way in which Juliet got that Voodoo poison, it would alter my mind with regard to you, Margaret.''  "What do you mean?" asked the girl agitatedly. " How should I know anything about it ? She took it from her bosom all in a moment, ag I told her to come down, and drank it before I could stop her."  The judge frowned and fidgeted again. " You need not repeat it so often," he said, irritably. "They all hold to it that I drove her to suicide by sending word that she must marry