if It k ah In TERMSi-LSO Per Year,) it TxmrmmTTkmTm -nmrTTTr mwcinmrm ( 75 Cents for 6 Months; in advance. AN, INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER. j 4oct.fors month. Vol. VIII. New Bloomflcld, Pa., Tuesday, July 14,1874. TVo. 28. ffii IB rCDUSnBD 8VBBT TUESDAY MORNING, BT , FEANE MORTIMER & CO., At New Bloomfleld, Perry Co., Ta. Being provided with 8team Power, and large Cylinder and Job-Presses, we are prepared to do all kinds of Job-Printing lu good style and at Low Pricea. ADVERTISING It ATKS I Traniimt-H Cent perllno fbr one insertion 19 " " twolnsertlons , ,. , , . 15 .". "three Insertions 1 Business Notices In Local Column 10 Cents per line; , , v ; , , WVFor longer yearly adv'ts terms will he given upon application. i , THE UNFAITHFUL GUARDIAN. CHAPTER IX- ! .-.. , : '. YEAR had passed, a long, . terrible year, whose records were better left to perish, silently. The early summer brightened once again over the old house, and, as ot yore, Nellie , Lennox sat on the vine-wreathed terrace, and watched the sun go down behind its temple aisles of blue and gold. . She was changed almost sixteen now grown wo manly and tall, with a sent of anxious shadow dimming the tranquil beauty of her face. She was looking down the long avenue dreamily and still, and saw Robert Morris riding toward the house. ' "Nellie, dear Nellie, I have not seen you in 1 such an ' age ; ' oh, how you are grown, Nellie 1 you look pale too." "You almost frightened me, Robert, that is all." " But you are glad to see me say that you are glad?" , "Always, Robert, always 1" " And Mrs. Dexter, she 1b well ? Have you seen your guardian lately ?" " Not for several weeks. I am expecting him and- " 1 -..iwf '' She broke off with a little sbivertgrowing red and pale. : 1 , (','' ' ; ', ' ! , .' " You certainly are not well, Nellie 1 They leave you here too much alone, you ought to have more sooietyV . "Ob, I don't mind; I like the quiet,' I am tfsed to It you know." " But you were not used ' to wear ' that dreary sort of look I . don't like it some thing is the matter, Nellie." " When I tell you no, Robert t But come into the house, Mrs. Dexter will be delight ed to see you back." " Not just yet, Nellie come down to the arbor with me first don't you remember the last time we sat there, when I read you William Bears' poems f" She started', drew a little back, looking at him with an eager, inquiring expression. ' Don't you remember?" i f "Oh, yea, yes it is so long ago." " ' f " Then you have missed me thanks for that." . i ' ) He took her hand and led her gently down the steps toward the arbor, where they had sat that pleasant summer evening, which seemed to Nellie so far bock in the past. '.'"",. ' Nellie was not looking at her companion, or she might have seen that be had put off the usual gaiety which mode his face so buoyant and light-hearted, seemed serious, almost sad. " I like so much to find myself here onoe more," be said, looking around, "after all, this seems to me the only happy valley." "Nellie smiled, growing glad again as she looked in his face and met the glance of those clear, honest eyes. ' ' " Now you look like yourself; I know you once more." "What do you mean, Robert? It is you who look serious 1" ' ' "I was thinking how happy we had been here." ' ' "l" "And did that mako you serious?" " " No, no ! But I remember that we had left all that far behind you are almost a woman now." i ' " I am sorry, Robert, I wish we could be children again, there never will be any happiness like that." ' " ' " But there will, Nellie, if you choose to seek it I I don't want to be a child again I am glad that you are grown up ; there is something I have wanted to say to you for uch a long, long time, aud I never could I" A womanly consciousness came over her, she looked down, blushing, but happy, for getful of everything In the pleasant sound of hi voice. i " I Jovd you, Nellie, and I thluk you love me j we are both very young yet, but I want your promise, that as soon as your guardian will oonsent, you will marry )." Those words broke the spell Nellie snatched ' away the hands which he had been holding, looked into his face with a frightened gaze, striving in vain to speak. "Nellie, Nellie, what ails you? You are not angry you do love me say that this does not come from the thought of being my wife." - - She dropped her head upon the rustic bench, and hid her face with a burst of low weeping. ' '' ' " I can't, I can't !" she moauod ; "oh, ; Robert, I am married already. ! He regarded her in incredulous astonish ment, but she still concealed her face iu her shining hair, weeping silontly as be fore. ' . ' . 1 , , ' " Yon must be crazy, Nellie ; ' don't talk such nonsense ! T could not jest about a thiDg like that." ' ' "Jest! Docs it look as if I were jest ing?"'1 She threw back her hair and raised her head, " I tell you that I am married, Robert." . ' ''..'.,.," He gvow pale and sick, there was that in her. face which made him feel that some thing terrible had happened, but his clear, acute sense refused to credit the tale he just heard., , . . . ,. . "Tell me all about it, Nellie, I must understand everything.", ; "Do not auk me, I eon tell you nothing ! I have already broken my word in saying this, she answered, sobbing again. "Itellyou what it is, Nellie Lennox," exclaimed Robert,' flushing with indigna tion, " if you don't tell me, word for word, all about .this confounded mystery, I'll make It worse for those who have brought this on ' you ' Now you are not married. Don't' tell me that, for I won't believe, it, you have taken an oath or some such thing, btat that Is all.? ' ' ' ' " I' tell you, Robert, that lam mar ried!" " "; '',.'," ' '.." ' ' Ho sprang up, as if he would have stood between her and some great danger, while his truthful face flushed and paled between a stern indignation and a great sorrow. ' "To whom, Nellie, to whom ?" " ' "'You must ask nothing more 1" " " Don't be silly, I will know everything ! Is it your guardian has he dared ?" " No, no, not he !" ' .' ' "Who" then,' tell me, I, will know! Where Is he? When were 'you married?" " Nellie only shook her head in answer to bis rapid questions. " I'll find out some way of getting to the bottom of this affair," be exclaimed, rush ing ou t of the arbor, ," I will, by heaven 1" " Stop, Robert, stop come back do, oh, dO I", f - He paused at the wild entreaty in her voice, returned and sat down by her again. " Then tell me all about U ! Does Mr. James know of it ?" , ., ' . . 'Twill not say another word .until you promise me to do nothing never even to speak of it to any human being until I have given you permission." r , " I promise yes who, who ?" ' " Do you remember those poems that we read?" "It Is William Sears great heaven !" ' " Don't grieve, Robert ! I didn't know I hardly uuderstood it is a year ago I was so young ! , We were married, and then he went away,. I have never seen him since." " Where is be now ?" .' " I do not even know he has not once written I Oh, Robert, pity me I" " Do you love him, Nellie ?" " I have only seen him once or twice ! I did not feel unwilling I did not think much about it until lately, and now " ' She bowed her head for a moment, and the hot tears poured scalding upon Robert's hands. "Don't cry, Nellie, something can be done ! ' Perhaps the marriage was not legal?" " I have seen the certificate I know the clergyman's name." " Curse them I I see it all it was Tor the money it was your fortune tempted them." ' " Not my guardiau oh, no I will never believe it I , He thought that Mr. Sears loved me, I know he did." ' Robert shook his head. ' ," You are so innocent, so unsuspecting ; poor Nellie ! Oh ! Ood will punish them for this crime, if it be. out of the power of man. But there is a way there must be you were so young " ; i "I will do nothing,' Robert, nothing I Perhaps he will never come bock." " And you will wear out your youth awaiting his return ! No, by heaven, that you shall not do 1 I cannot think yet, my head will be clearer by and by there is some plot and treachery here." "None, none! My guardian thought Sears loved me it may be that he believed so himself." I There was a sudden noise of wheels, and Nellie sprang up looking toward the house which was visible, though the arbor Itself was hidden from view. " It is my guardian it is Mr. James." " I can't see him I should tear his heart out on the spot t Good bye, Nellie, I will come again, kiss me once, just once, at least I can be your brother still !" She fort his arms tighten about her waist, the touch of his lips warm upon her cheek, and he was gone. . ! ' ' The next thing she heard was her' own name several times pronounced, it was her guardian's voice. ' She tried to move for ward, but before she oould leave the arbor, Mr.' James entered' it, pale and convulsed with some strong emotion. " Come with me, Nellie, quick !" ' " What has happened what is it?" " Your husband is in America !" - She fell down with a cry. He raised her tip, helped her toward the house. !!.'. "Your bonnet a shawl anything ! We have Only time for the train be quick !" " He here"-here I" " Yes, and but haBten ! We will see who shall conquer only come, Nellie, come !" ' ! ' CHAPTER X. , We most now go back to other charac ters in our story, and events which trans pired a few woeks previous to those related in the last chapter. . , ,i ' ' Catharine Lennox had returned to Paris at the close of that year ; which we left without: record.;, She had been for many month in the. north of . Europe she felt a sense of relief . in the companionship of nature: and the awful solitude of those mountain passes.;' How the days dragged on perhaps she herself : oould hardly have told, i For, a season she . was ill, watched and tended by her faithful Janet, the com panion of her wanderings. At length her very misery forced . her into action,- aud onoe more she took up her pen. ' 1 . v., i Whither Bears had gone she knew not there had been no communication between them since that parting in the valley of Chamounl but she felt that he was yet alive, maddened perhaps and desperate be neath the long night through which she till looked up to heaven, though no star broke the Impenetrable darkness which en veloped her. . in He was living still, that she knew.' Was he with Nellie? No, that she felt to be Impossible, then ' she remembered all that the child herself ' might be enduring her little sister, whom she had prayed to and blessed as an angel in heaven ! Even her she could not seek there was a barrier between them ' impassable as that which separated her from Bears. There was no help, no hope, nothing only endure, to bear on unto the end and trust in the mercy of God. ' " Tho days passed in her northern dwel ling ; she was not waiting or expecting any. thing, but she felt. that the end was not yet, she was to meet Sears once more ; how or when she knew not, but she was to look upon his face again this side eternity. The year ended, 1 and she returnod to Paris, not for herself, but to make some settlements for her faithful Janet, In case that her own death should occur unex pectedly. One evening she fait unusually depressed and a strange sort of anxiety came over her, for whioh she was unable to account. She could almost have believed that some thing was about to happen ; formerly those presentiments bad never failed to be the premonition of some 111 tidings, but what oould occur now even death to herself or the one afar could have nothing of terror iult. , . A she sat there the door opened, and a visitor entered. Janet was out, and Cath arine had not even given orders to deny callers, believing that her arrival in Paris was unknown to her acquaintances, She looked up, not even surprised or moving from her seat nothing startled her now, ' She recognized the intruder It wai Duval. ' ' "Are you surprised to see- me, Mrs. Grant?" he said, advancing toward her. "No," and she motioned him to a seat " I believe almost I was expecting you." " i meant you to tie bo, for you are troubled to-night ! You do not know the cause?" "There can be none nothing can troub le me now." "One thing might" "What do you mean? What have you heard?" " Where Is Soars ?" "That is it the U ill." " I believe it," returned Duval. " But I do not know where ho is !" "America he sailed not long since." " I must go too I will leave to-mor row." "You are right I came for that fare well!" He left the room. Catharine hardly per ceived his absence, she only knew that the time had come. , Stronger than ever came back that strange thrill ! She knew what It portended it was a warning Seats had need of her ! Catharine trusted so implicitly to that presentiment and to Duval's words, that on the morrow she sailed, following In the track of him for whom she had lived and suffered so long. . In a cliambcr of the hotel at which he bad descended .on landing, William lay feeble and wasted from a long protracted illness. The past year hod changed him so much that he was scarcely to be recognized. He lay back upon his pillows, with his hair falling in damp masses over his forehead the temples hollow, and the eyes beneath burning with an unnatural brilliancy, which gave sure evidence of the disease that preyed upon his frame. He had landed only the day before, and was not yet able .to quit his chamber, or even the bed upon whieh he had thrown himself for a little rest , As he looked back upon the past year, be believed that he had been wholly mad the fabled wanderer of all time had not held a more restless course than ho. - But there was no refuge no change- earth had no cure, and no voice came from the beyond to bid him hope. ' There he lay, not sleeping, but unable to arise, ' though he was not conscious of physical pain, and he had so long counted the pulsations of his heart that their added beating was unheeded. , , . . . . The door opened, but he did not move ; a woman stole across the room and knelt by the bed. . He opened his eyes and looked at her. . , . . "I am mad then," he said, aloud, ." ut terly mad 1 I see Catharine's face olose to my own I can almost feel her breath upon my cheek." . . ' " It is Catharine," she whispered ; " it Is no dream William, no frenzy It is I, Catharine I" . , , . .. -. .. ' He raised himself, evincing no surprise, but looked inoredulous still. " Catharine, Catharine ! . Then it Is not a dream I am not crazed ! Oh 1 this will be too terrible if . it prove unreal ! Speak again that voice I cannot believe it." "It is I, William, it is 1 1 You called me and I came !" . " Ay, every night while on those stormy waters I called upon your name I bade my spirit seek yours and summon It once there was a spell upon my soul, which made me believe that you had heard." "I did, William, it was no delusion, I heard and I obeyed." " Let me Bleep, Catharine, I have not closed my eyes for many nights I am 111, I think ! Let me lean my head upon your shoulder I can sleep so.' She - lifted his head, wrapped his dressing-gown more closely about bis form and sat supporting him, while he dropped gradually away into a tranquil slumber. "I shall And you when I wake Catha rine?" " Here whllo yon need my care, be loved." " Perhaps I may die here," he said, after a pause ; " that would be too great a bless ing but let us hope It." ' His eyes closed, bid breath came even and undisturbed, and still Catharine sat clasping blm in her arms, breathing only a prayer of thanksgiving that the appointed moment bad come, and that she had onoe more found the ouly companion which her soul had met upon Its whole pilgrimage. ' Nellie and her guardian made that hur ried ride almost In silence. She asked no other questions, for the railway carriage was filled with people, and in her excite ment it seemed that every eye was fixed upon her.' Mr. James volunteered no re mark, sitting upright and stern,' still pale from the icy gust of passion which had swept over bis features on first encounter ing the girl. There was a soit of steely glitter In bis bard eyes, and a peouliar contraction of the thin lips, which to one who hod studied his face would have given evidence of some unusual emotion. The deep-locked recesses of that heart were moved, but it could have been no general feeling which paled his countenance into that frozen hardness. On descending at the station, they en tered a carriage and drove away, but neither spoke until they drew up feefore the private entrance of a hotel. Nellie began to tremble as Mr. James gave bet his arm. " Is It here?" she asked, "is it here?" He led her into the house in silenoe,gave some directions to a servant, and they were left alone. "Are we to wait for him here?" Nellie questioned, in the same frightened voice. " No, we will go to him In a few mo ments, but I have something to say to you first." " Let me sit down I am very weak." He gave her a seat, said a few consoling- words, but there was no softness in his. tones, no sympathy In his face. " I am ready," Nellie said, after a little,. " I can go now." She was trembling so violently that she could scarcely stand. Mr. James turned quickly upon her " This is not joy you are not longing for this meeting?" ' " Joy joy I Oh, Mr. James, why was this thing done ? what is to become of tuv all?" . . i ; . ... " Hush, child, don't be girlish now I Can you be strong enough for that whioh I -wish you to do?" .. "What, what?" . " Do you know who is with your hus band at this moment nursing him fond ling him?" he hissed from between his clenohed teeth. "Husband, my husband?" she gasped, only conscious that he had spoken those words. " Yes, your husband, and with him " he broke off abruptly and turned from her, muttering in a tone which did not reach her ear ; " we shall see now oh, Catharine woman, I can crush you this time ! . This girl that you believed dead this sister so ' long sought meet her now stand face to face with her I oppose it no longor meet meet " That was a terrible face, but Nellio could not see it, aud It was well ; the sight of it would have haunted her for weeks like a nightmare. " Are you rested, Nellie, are you strong ? Will you be a child forever ? Rouse up, It is time to prove yonrsclf a woman and to act" " A child would that I wore ! No, Mr. James, you have taken my childhood from me it is gone forever." " It was his work all his, and he la here now to insult and outrage you in his very chamber is the woman for whom he has renounced you." '. ' She started back, looking in his face, soaroely able in her innocence to compre hend the meaning of his word. " He is married again 1" she said, "and I what is to become of me ?" " Married no, no, a lighter and a pleas anter tie ! Can't you understand? I tell you that he has forsaken you, his wedded wife, for a bad, miserable woman ; that he loves her, and will bring shame on you to gratify her malice." " Mr. James 1" The crimson rushed up to her forehead, and the horror, half un derstood, broke from her dilated eyes. " Let me go, Mr. James, let me go ! This is no place for me why have you brought me here?" - "Stop!" You must see him stand face to face with her." " And you married me to him oh, Mr. James I But no, no, I did not mean that you did not know him you thought all for the best ! Only take me away do take me away, Mr. James !" " You must see him, you must cast them both off forever." " Both ! Who is this woman ? what is she doing there?" " Come look her In the face, and 1 will tell you her name ay, I will tell you," and he ground his teeth like a wild animal crunching its prey. " But he was my husband he swore It ! Tell me that It is not true, Mr. James, only prove that he is not my husband, and let me go away." ; " I tell you that you were lawfully mar ried he can neither disown nor break the tie. You must go with me come !" She struggled no longer her eyes, pur ple with fear and pain, her bosom heaving with dry sobs, but she suffered him to draw her along until they reached (he door.' To be continued.
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