The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1888-07-25 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

OWD." These words were spoken as the lovers stood under the spreading branches of one of the noble trees in the park. Possessed of a heart that from childhood had yearned for the love and affection of others, and feeling painfully sensible of her own false position as an illegitimate child fcr she looked upon herself almost as an outcast, a being of an inferior order—wbat wonder is it that this impressionable daughter of the ill-fated Colonel Brookes spoke, out of the fulness of her heart, the words of avowal which William Palmer solicited?  Only a few words, uttered with hesitation, as though the blushing melded was ashamed to put in language the love that she felt; but he who had set himself, from mere selfish and sordid motives, to win her affections, was prouder of that brief but eloquent confession than of all the words of hot passion that he had heard from other lips. It had not been difficult to win her, but elated a'. his success Palmer intended to try to keep the vow of constancy which he breathed in her care. She never doubted the keeping of her pledge. Annie Brookes had often indulged in the maiden's dream of picturing in her mind the "brew wooer" that should one day come to seek her love, and had credited thi,. hero of . . .  her imagination with possessing all the graces of manhood; and now that hero had come to her he did not seem to fall short of her ideal. Her mercenary lover had played her part so well, that, with clever aptitude he had disguised his real self, and for the time, enlightened and purified by " the sunshine of her spotless mind," he had become in some degree what her fancy painted him. Which of these natures, so opposite, and destined to ran their course together, will- snowed in transfusing iteelf into the other? Will the morally deformed be transformed in reality into noble manhood? or will the true woman be dragged down to the low level of evil to which he found it so easy to incline? The time when Palmer was necessitated to Acorn to the pursuit of his medical studies in London had arrived. Many other walks . . . _ _ . _  had taken place in Bagot's Park, and beside the clear waters of the winding Trent. In one of these walks they passed by the "Weeping Cross" where criminals in generations bug passed used to be executed. " Bee, William !" said Annie Brooke, pointing to the grim relic, "that cross is said to be the spot where unhappy wretches who had taken the lives of their fellowcreatures used to be hung. Well may it be called "Weeping Cross." Why if I had taken tue life of anyone I thing I should weep till, from the cross, a river of repentant tears would flow that would almost out-rival the floods of the Trent; and if anyone belonging to me had committed that dreadful crime of murder my heart would break. It almost broke my heart when I heard how my Poor father had bereft himself of life. Oh, William! it is so wise to be good, and then if we come to the Cross we can weep for other's sins which is better than weeping for our own.  _ This sudden outburst of sentiment alarmed and annoyed her lover. lie had often passed the old monument of crime and its punish. ment, but he had seen without thinking, and these passionate and unexpected words of  Annie raised in his mind mingled feelings of I fear and disgust, and he exclaimed with almost brutal anger, " What have we to do with crime and criminals, Annie. It I. true your father shot himself, land that his brothers killed themselves, but I never heard of any of your family killing any but themselves." "Oh, William," I said the poor girl, thus abruptly reminded of the dreadful family record of the Brooke's, " It is cruel to speak to me in that way 1" and Annie Brookes sank on ;the stone steps of the cross and wept at this rude reminder of the race of suicides to which she belonged. " Pity me, William," she continued, "for I often feel sad, nay almost despairing lest this family taint should overtake me. I have thought that there might be lurking in my blood a passion of evil and despair that , would one day raise this little hand to take I my feeble life, and I could not help saying what I did when I saw this cross and thought of its terrible meaning." Her lover saw that he had committed a great blunder. The subtle power of self accusation within him had applied her words to himself, and to turn it away from himself he had rashly raked up this doleful tale of the family to which his future wife belonged. "Forgive me, Annie," he said, taking both her hands in his and raising her from her sitting posture. "I did not know what I said. I, like you, was betrayed into hasty words. Let WI quit this spot and never more think of these things." And William Palmer led her away from the "Weeping Cross." Still the tears stood in her eyes, and in &Heresy@ they often gathered there when she thought of their meeting that day at the weird Roman cross, where Staffordshire Catholics used to kneel, and on which Staffordshire clowns had climbed to see a fellow creature die.