Year: 1876

assertion. One by one, each separate bone
and Joint was taken out and systematically
arranged, forming a complete human frame.
No part of it was missing, from the grinning,
ghastly skull, to the heshless hands and feet.
To judge from the size and appearance, it was
that of young person, and fema le-the
victim, possibly, of some foul crime, handed
thus, for some mysterious reason, into the
keeping of those whose distance from the
scene Of it's commission made them its safest
recipients.


"What dreadful thing" said Mrs. Lyn-
don, with a shudder "Stop, Edward what is
that in the bottom of the chest?"


It was manuscript; old and yellow, close
ly written in faded ink. Mr.. Lyndon took it
out eagerly, and scanned it by the candles
fickering light.


"AhI this will throw some light on the
subject" he cried. "See, Margaret, here is
the title written on the first page; but what
a strange, cramped hand"


"What does it say ?" asked his wife.


"It is called MY Confessions History Of
Crime Good heavens to think that lega'
cy like this should have fallen into my
hands. Is it not fitting rebuke for my ini-
quitous desires2 And that I should have
perilled my immortal soul to obtain it ltis
a just punishment for SIM"


"Dear Edward, put aside such dark
thoughts. The question is, what will you do
now with this mysterious bequest?" ,


II cannot tell what to do. | must read
that paper, suppose, and find out something
about it. But first Of I'll, these bones must
be replaced in the che for the present at
least. How thankful I am that did not
open it in the children's presence. The Sc
cret connected with it is probably one which
it will be most fitting to keep from their
knowledge"


Silently the strange relics were restored to
their hiding place, the chest re.locked and
pushed back in its former position against the
wall, and Mr.. Lyndon, drawing a long breath,
rose from his STOPPING posture and stood erect


"Margaretp he said, with a look of misery,
"the hand of God is in this. feel as if some
awful doom were hanging over our heads
First, my sin-my horrible, my loathsome
sin-the memory which will haunt me till |
die. Then this frightful legacy falling 20 my
lot, the forerunner, perhaps of fresh evil. 1t
is all so strange, so mysterious, so unprece-.
dented that cannot but think | am marked
out as an object for the special vengeance OF
the Almighty"


"You must not talk so, dearest" she an
swered, in her gentle, soothing tones. "You
have been so wrought up and excited, it is no
wonder you are full of uneasy fancies but
you must shake of this morbid feeling, and
give up brooding so gloomily on the past
You have been grievously tried and tempted,
and have bad a narrow escape from great
and terrible fall but dwelling hopelessly on
the memory of your error can do you no good.
You must press resolutely forward now, and
atone for the past in the rectitude of your fu.
ture life As to this bequest, l cannot but
think that it must be an evidence of madness
in the person who made it, or else, still worse,
an evidence of guilt; but in any case l do not
see how it can injure you, or involve you in
s4K PS5aI sFS1eS G a1 UH 7na5 Up poTbs shalt
we not read it at once p


Eyes, it will be BEST" said the rector, turn
ing it over in his hands, "But it will be diff
6cut to decipher it by lamplight-the ink is
so pale, and the writing is so cramped."


II think I can make it out" replied his
wife as she looked over his shoulder. Bring
it into our room, and, if you like, I will read
it aloud and you shall listen."


Mr.. Lyndon agreed and having brought
reading-lamp from the study, which was
Just across the hall, Mrs. Lyndon, locking
their door to he doubly safe against Interrupt
ton, seated herself at the table, and COM
menced to read aloud the MS, which bore
so strange and startling title


THE MANUSCRIPT.


MY CONFESSIONAL HISTORY OF CRIME.


Ere these aged fingers drop nerveless at my
side let them, as a last task pen the history Of
my life; life commenced with farest promise,
but blighted by misfortune, and stained by the
commission of one deed whose record will stand,
at the Judgment Day, ineffaceably written in let
ters Of fire against my soul.


:ris said that there is punishment hereafter for
guilt and crime. Ifthat be so, shall be doubly
tortured; for no anguish of Unsuitable worm or
consuming flame can exceed the pangs which for


five and thirty years have rent this suffering soul
ofmine.


am the younger of two brothers. and the only
one now left. Rudolph, my senior, has been
dead twenty years. I was about to say, has prece-
ded me into the next world but whittier he has
gone may not hope to follow him. II there be
Land of Rest he is now happy in that land but





hereafter, save this enforced rest Of body, which
chains me to a couch whence my feebleness will
not permit me to escape.


I, born with more delicate frame than my
brother, but with a more active brain and higher
mental qualities, was ever the favorite child ofthe
the mother who bore us. She made no marked
distinction between us two yet was permitted
to realize in many little ways that her heart came
out most fully to me, her youngest born. Her
affection was returned. loved, nay, worshipped
her, with all the ardor of my enthusiastic nature
and it is the drop of consolation in my cup OF
woe and remorse, to reflect that in the eyes OF
this pure being I was always pure. She was
called from earth ere yet sin had blackened my
soul; and never had the grief of knowing me as I
afterward became. Her last words to me were,
"We shall meet again in Heaven" Alas I have
forever cut myself adrft from that blessed hope
of reunion with her sweet spirit; sanity upon
earth, now, doubtless, many times gloriied in her
heavenly abode The son she least loved, alone
proved worthy to join her there.


NV brother and loved each other well in boy
hood, though in many respects we were not r1u-
tually congenial. He was strong, agile, active in
all vigorous and manly exercises, full of redun-
dant health and spirits. was slighter and weak
er, not precisely sickly, yet lacking that physical
element which makes constant exertion delight
full and always more prone to lounge over book,
or sit idly building chateaatr en- Espagne, than to
Join in my companions noisy and violent sports.
1t was this delcacy, think, which especially en-
deared me to my mother. would sit for hours
near neT kHee, Wulle TSuuolpH was dluuSlilS uiIn-
selfout of doors; and this constant companionship
drew us very near together. AS 1 grew older,
boys laughed at me and called me girls names,
and grew keenly sensitive to their ridicule. It
did not draw me away from my mother, but it
had the effect of making me moody and reserved,
and of causing me to brood sorrowfully over my
constitutional defects. Rudolph never laughed at
me-he was good and kind and in some respects
as gentle as a woman. He rather strove to shelter
me from the scorn of others, and to make forget
that waS it's object. But having nv ewes Open-
ed to my physical inferiority, acquired a NOR
bid jealousy of his superior strength, and shrank
even from his advances. barrier thus insens-
bly, sprang up between us; and to divert my