ill -llli t It? i I It 31 IK VI if H V II i! TEBMSI-91.BB Per Year,) ' . TTTTiTnvT-rkTiTm nrTTr .wf1T, (78 Centt for 6 Month$; in advance. AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER. doctor 3 month,. "Vol. VIII. Now Bloomfleld, J?a., Tviesclny, July SI, 1874. No. 29. IS PUBLISHED EVERT TUESDAY MORNING, BY FRANE MORTIMER & CO., A.t New Bloomfleld, Terry Co., Ta. Being provided with Hteam rower, and large Cylinder and Job-Presses, vie are prepared to do all kinds ot Job-l'rlntliiK In good style and at Low 1'rlccs. ADVERTISING ItATKSI Trantient 8 Cents per lino for one insertion 12 " " twolnsertloni 15 " " " three rnsertlons Business Notices In Local Column 10 Cents per line. .Por longer yearly adv'ts terms will lie given upon application. THE UNFAITHFUL GUARDIAN. CONTINUED. "A1 ND after," broke suddenly from her contracted lips, "after?" "After what do you mean ?" " When I have seen him when wo have partod what am I to do then ?" He shrunk for an instant beneath the look in her eyes, but the thirst for ven geance which had grown tho master passion in his soul and swallowed np all other sen timents, dispelled the brief emotion. " We shall see follow me." William Sears had juBt awakened from the tranquil slumber into which he had sunk a few hours before the first untroubled rest that he had known for months. Catharine, was supporting him in her arms, his head lying upon her shoulder, and her hair mingling with his darker locks as she bent over his forehead.'' He woke without a start, looking round for an instant in the belief that he was dreaming still. A glow of joy broke over his whole face, and his feverish eyes softened into a beau tiful calm. "Then I was not dreaming 1 Catharine, my Catharine, you are really here." " Why were you lying in this room alone, William? whero are your attend ants?" "I don't, remember, darling havo you been here long? Have I been asleep or sick? . is the night over?" " It is hardly dark yet, you have slept for several hours." "You will not leave me again, Catharine never, never?" " Not till you are well. But where is Nellie, your wife, you know?" " Nellie ? oh, yes, little Nellie 1 Don't let her come here this is no place for her 1" " Does any one know that you are here , William?" " No one don't tell them, doar wo will be by ourselves, for you will stay with me, Catharine you won't leave me ?" " I have promised did I ever break my word with you? Hut you must lie down now ; you are ill, William, and I must send for a physician." " I will not see him I do not choose to got well yon will go away if I do." He struggled up from the pillow where she had placed bis bead, reaching forth his arms with a gesture of entreaty. She bent over him anew, speaking his Dame and striving to quiet him with her voice. There was a sound without a quick step the door opened, and Mr. James appeared be fore them like some evil spirit come to mar their happiness. Catharine shrunk toward the bed the sight of that man overpower ed her. William saw who it was sprang almost from the couch, exclaiming, " Tako that man away, be shall not come here he has tortured me enough, at least I will die in peace." "Anil this girl," returned Mr. James, drawing ZTyllie into the room, smiling tho while his cold, terrible smile ; " this girl, shall she be driven away also your wifo your own lawful wife?" va "Nellie," murmured mlliara, sinking back, overcome by weakness and the vio lence of hiB emotion, poor little Nellie !" " Ay, Nellie !" hissed Mr. James, draw ing her forward still, while she looked from one to another In muto horror that found no vent in words. "And you, macl.tm I" continued Mr, James; "do you recognize this fuce? do you know whom I have brought here? Come forward, Nellie Lennox Mrs. Boars, stand face to face with your sister and the mistress of your husband I" " Liar 1" exclaimed William, struggling again to riso, but falling back helpless and exhausted. ' Catharine did not spoak her arms drop pod to her side she looked bluHtod by those horrible words. " Do you bear, Nellie ? Your sister, de graded, lost the base companion of that man." "Sister my si6tor!" moaned the girl, "I have no sister take me away, Mr. James, take me away." Shs clung to him as if she would have forced him from the chamber, shrouding her face in her hands to shut out the ob jects before her gaze. Catharine did not move ; through her piirted lips came the broken murmur, "Nellie, little Nellie?" 1 " Who spoke my name? whose voice is that? Mr. Jumes, speak, what does this mean?" " It is I, Nellie, your sister, Catharine !" "Oh, no, no," she shrieked, with a ges ture of loathing ; "I had a sister, but this is not she come away, Mr. James, come!" "You see, madam !" said the tormentor, " lost ruined disgraced even this girl casts you off forever." "She does not, she will not!" cried Catharine, roused to utterance by bis mock ing words. "Nellie, that man has de ceived you leave him, come with me, Nellio, come '." "And share her husband's love with you," returned Mr. James, laughing again. " Listen to me, Nellie," for the girl had retreated stop by step as Catharine ap proached, fiingiug out hor hands to keep her aloof. "Nellie, remember your child hood, remember my love I William, speak to her, contradict this slander." lie heard her voice it would almost have roused him from the insensibilty of death. "Nellie," he said, "little one, come hove come close, this is Catharine, your sister." " And the woman who has thrust her self betweon your heart and that of your wife," broke in Mr. JameB. " ou will not believe this, Nellie, you do not listen to me oh, believe your sister !" "You are not my sister!" exclaimed Nellie, rousing herself from that stupor of horror; "I will never believe it never! I am going now Mr. Sears, I shall never trouble you again farewell." "Come back, Nellie," pleaded William, " that demon has done this ! It is your sister pure and good !" " Nellie looked in Mr. James' face with her wild eyes. "Contradict that," she said, with a choking sob, though she had lost all power to weep, " toll me that it is false." " She is your sistcr,Nellie," ho returned, "come, leave her to her shame." " My sister ! my sister !" " He separated us, Nellie," moaned Catharine, " he tore you from me I be lieved you dead and with our angel mother in heaven." " Her own wickedness separated you, Nellie," cried her guardian ; "hor dying husband cursed her t erased her namo from his will." William Sears had struggled in vain for many moments to rise, but those fiendish words so maddened him that he sprang from the bed and grasped the man in his fevered hold, his long, thin fingers clutch ing the throat of his opponent. Mr. James shook him off, for he was weak as a child, and Catharine aided him back to the couch. Mr. James followed, bent over the pillow and whispered in his ear. William covered his face with a moan of anguish, writhing upon the bod like a wounded bird struggling bonoath the fas cination of some deadly serpent. " Wretch, you are killing him !" shriok ed Catharine, pushing him off. " Go leave us you shall not torture him 1" During that moment which seemod an eternity, Nellio was crouching close to the door, watching tho scene with hor frenzied eyes, longing to fly, but without strength to move from the spot. "Come, Nellie," and Mr. Jamos returned to her sido, aiding hor to rise. " You have seen them both husband and sister ! Catharino Lennox, there is no escape this time, your husband's weakness saved you from disgrace before, but now I will drag your bamo through every tribunal in tho land, and make your infamy so publio that you dare not even walk the open streets !" "Nellie!" she pleaded, not heeding his words, and striving to make one last appeal that should move the creature for whom she had endured so much ; " in our moth er's name hear mo !" "I cannot I dare not ! Let me go let me go !" . " You shall 1istcnI am your sister, I cared for you in your childish years " "And siheo, why did you leave me? where have you beon ?" Nellie spoke the words brokenly, hor head averted, unable to roalize anything except that this woman was there between her and the man whom she had married. "I have been away, I was Booking you ! This man made me believe that you were doad." " It is only a falsehood with tho rest," said Mr. Jaines. " Say no moro !" and Nollio clasped hor hands to hor head as if to shut out his words ; " I can bear no more ! Qo back, madam, go back to that man for whom you have destroyed your sister." " Nellie, he 1b sick, dying, perhaps he lies there now pale and insensible have mercy, have mercy " " Oh, my God, protect me, they will drive me mad 1" oried Nellio, yielding for the first time to a burst of insane weeping. " Mr. James, let me believo hor do not curse them !" "She relents she doe believe I" ex claimed Catharine. Come, Nollio, sister, leave this bad man, come to mo, come !" Mr. James caught the sobbing girl and drew her away. " Will you be deceived even now," he exclaimed, "after all that you have seen?" "Sister, sister i" moaued Catharine, and Mr. James lookod in her face with his ter rible Biieer. "The hour is come," he whispered, "I swore to bo reveDged I will keep my oath I" He hurried to Nellie, and would have borne hor from the room, but Catharine followed, clinging to his aim and striving to thrust him asido, uttering still that name, "sister, sister 1" , , , "I forgive you,'! she gasped, " pray to God for pardon, but I will never see you again !" , Hot head fell upon Mr. James' shoulder, and he bore her away. When Nellie recovered, she was in her guardian's bouse, but that transient wak ing only gave place to the incoherent rav ings of a brain fever, from which it seemed impossible for one so young and frail tore cover. For many moments Catharine remained standing where they had left her. At length a low moan from the bed aroused her ; she remembered that her duty lay thero, and closing the door she went back to William's side. Ho was just recovering from that long swoon, and calling feebly upon her name. "I am here," she said, "becalm, Wil liam, I am here." " What has happened ? was that man hero?" " Ha has just gone oh, William, he has taken Nellie with him !" She sank down by tho bed, hiding her- face in tho folds of the counterpane, en deavoring evou in that momout to change tho moan of anguish which broke from hor heart into a prayer for resignation and re pose. William laid his hand softly upon the gulden hair he loved so well, and a few tears wrung from his weakness coursed down his cheeks. " Bear up a little longer for my sake, Catharine," he said, "you will not fail mo now." She rose, with the prayer still on hor lips, very palo, but strong aud uncom plaining. " Tho end will come," she said, " at least we are together !" " Togothcr," ho repeated, " at last, to gether !" " We mubt go away from here, William, as soon as you can travel ; we will find some quiet nook in tho country, and I will nurse you well again." " Yos, we will go ! Poor, little Nellio, will she uover know the truth oh, that man, that man !" "This cannot last always, William, I am sure it cannot but it is hard to bear, vory hard !" CHAPTER XI. They wont away from that crowded city, whore no breath of free air came to cool the fevered brow of the sufferer away into the quiet of the country, and the re pose of a solitude so complete that it seem ed almost never to have been broken. The dwolling which old Janet bad chosen was a perfect bird's-uest of a place ; a quaint, - rambling cottage covered with balconies and porches, whore the creeping f iuwb au unrnuuuu uixi miiue, wuu many curncreu rooms mica wun tue rra- grance of the blossoms swept in at the open windows by every passing brcozo. s William was able to rise from bis bed, but he oould neither walk about much nor undertake the slightest occupation ; could only lio dreamily during the long hours of those summer days with Catharine seated by his sido, talking to hira in hor low, sweet voice, reading to him passages from the old poets that he loved, or soothing him with her smiles of consolation, when some wave from the past would dash its chill bitterness across his soul. And in all this I aver there was no touch of human weakness,no loaning toward hu man frailty. William seemed gradually wasting away he believed it to be death, but Catharine thought otherwise, though sho could almost have prayed that such consummation might be granted. There was a small room at the back of the house, which was William's favorite apartment. Every morning Janet wheeled his casy-chalr near the open windows that looked out upon a little break in the garden whero the grass formed a natural lawn, with a single weeping willow swaying its silvery branches to and fro in the sunlight. There was a grave, old doctor who visited him daily, but ho troubled him with few reme dies and no advice, so for Catharine's sake William managed to support his visits with a certain degree of pationce. They spoke little of the past, those two ; William's malady rendered him so excita ble that Catharine avoided every subject that could which cause him the least agitation. Catharine watched him, forgetful of her self, wearing the pleasant smile that ' ho loved, cheerful and hopeful always. , v But the man who had wrought them so much suffering had not yet completed his work, and Mr. James never relinquished a project of vengeance until his thirst had beon satisfied to the utmost. While Nellie remained ill and insensible at his house, he had been close upon the track of his two victims, weaving about them tho meshes of his plots, and prepar ing to plant another poisoned arrow in the hearts which he bad so tortured and wrung. The third week of their sojourn in that quiot place commenced, and the curiosity of the village gossips had become strongly elicited concerning the mysterious strang ers. . Hero they lived, never moving out, and tho two domestics, a cross old Scotch wo man, and a man servant equally uncom municative, seemed as little inclined to society as their employers. The religious people of the little New England village were solely perplexed, and one or two of the more prominent members of the church suggostcd to tho minister that it was his duty to inquire into the affair, and there were even some vague hints that it was a case which might well occupy tho attention of the select men of the town. The old parson had opposed this a rigid, Calvinistio Presbyterian, but with a heart which beat more kindly under his worn bosom than he himself dreamed. So the affair rested, though thero were nu merous tea drinkings given whore the sub ject was freely discussed, and tho men in power sorely blamed for their negligence. One day, there met at the old-fashioned parsonage house a company of the deacons of the church, who wore also among the select mon, dropping in almost by accidont to visit their pastor. Whilo they sat there conversing, among other things of the strangers, concerning whom even the vil lage doctor could give no information, for a physician had boeu employed from ten miles away, a letter was brought in and given to the clergyman. Ho took it, and seeing that the writing was unknown to him, began turning the epistle over in his hand, the invariable habit of persons to whom lettors are unaccustomed visitants. At length, when one of the deacons sug gested that he might find it more satisfac tory to read the contents, he broke tho seal, adjusted his spectacles, and began to peruse the clearly written page. The fur rows on his brow grew deeper, and a stern indignation gathered over his features. Some broken exclamation warned tho doa- ooub that it contained tidings of import ance, but by no means pleasurable ones, and they waitod with impatieuce while the old man re-read the epistle, always with in creased excitement. " My friends," he said, at length, "our brethren were right these strangers are children of iniquity. Two fugitives have hidden themselves in our villago, the man leaving a fond wifo to. pine and dio, while he yields himself to the caresses of this Delilah." When the nyittor was fully explaiiiod, and the letter read in council, it was deter mined that they should act upon the mo ment. They loft the house, that little band of stern men in whose veins the puri tan blood and puritan prejudices flowed uncontaminated, and walked in solemn procession toward the cottage. They reached tbe gate of tho cottage, opened it and passed in, each wearing a sort of horrified sancity, which would have been singularly imposing to the common herd of parishioners had they witnessed it. Yet they did this thing in the honesty of their hearts, acting up to the precepts of the sect in which thoy had been reared, even as their fathers before them. Tbe hall door was open, and Janet Brown was sweeping away the rose-leaves which had blown over tbe porch. She paused in hor occupation, and recognizing the minister, dropped a low courtesy with the true reverence of a Scotch Presbyte rian. "I wish, my good woman," said the clergyman, in bis hardest voice, while hiB companions waited a little in the rear, one old deacon absorbed in silent prayer, "I wish to speak with the man who resides here." ' " He is very sick, sir, ' and cannot be fathed with seeing any one." " Then the other person " "Doyou mean the lady?" interrupted Janet, somewhat forgetting her respect in tbe Indignation she felt at hearing hor mis tress styled a person. " Then you can't see hor either, sir." " Let me pass, woman," said the minis ter, setting his stick firmly down ; " I have come here in the exercise of my duty, and I must speak with tho person who is within." ' "Indeed then, there's no person that you'll need to meddle with," returned Janet, in a louder voice, "and parson though ye be, I'll just say good morning to you and them that's in your company." She would have . closed the door in his faco, but he held it back with his stout cane, while the little baud of deacons fairly groaned in pious horror. " I tell you that I will enter; this is a house of iniquity, and I come to warn all herein of the wrath, human and divine, which is at hand." " Good Lord 1" cried Janet, dropping ber broom, "tho man is daft, clean daft a raigular Bedlamite." , " Peace, woman, aud let us pass ; we must speak with the female ; our village shall no longer harbor the depraved and sinful." At this moment a door at tbe farther end of the passage opened and Catharine ap peared, roused by the unusual sound of voices. In spite of their indignation, thero was something about her which moved the clergyman and his followers. ' "What is the matter, Janet?" she said, "did these gentlemen wish anything ?" "It's the parson," whispered Janet, "and ye'll never see a March haro that's maddor ; as for them that's with him they're only worse." ' " I am tho clergyman," said Mr. Gray, with all his former severity, " and I come to you, , with these friends, upon a painful errand, but one from which we do not shrink." "Excuse me, sir," Catharine said, cour teously, " I think there is some mistake." " None, madam, none, do not attempt to decoive me but this letter will say all." He thrust into hor hand the letter which he had that morning received. Catharine recognized the writing, shuddering slightly but very calm. - "Will you walk this way?" she said, moving toward a parlor at the front, "there is a sick man near here, and I would not have him disturbed." The minister and his companions follow ed her, impressed by the simple majesty of hor words and manner. Janet Brown looked after them with hor scarce spent wrath still shining in her eyes, picked up her broom, and with some Scotch ejacula tion retreated to hor own dominions. Catharine stood and read the letter, while those frowning mon gathered about hor, silonced by the calm dignity of her de meanor. Its contents caused her no sur prise, and as for the pain, it was so slight in comparison with that which bad lain at her heart for years, that she scarcely heed ed it. As Bhe had supposed, it was anoth er stab of her implacable enemy. Mr. James had traced their movements, and written to the clergyman a tale well calcu lated to rouso his puritan blood. It called upon him as a father of the church to do-' nounce and drive forth the guilty pair who had taken refuge in hiB village, aftor do sorting a dying wife and bringing lasting disgrace upon all connected with their name. Whon Catharino had finished the letter, she returned it to the minister, saying only: "And you believed this thing ?" To be continued.
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