1 S1W P til j ""i"! AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER. "JST.USS' "Vol. VIII. Now Bloomlleld, ln., Tuesday, July SiN, 1874. No. 30. be IJIoomficIb &hnfs. IS PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY MORNING, BT ' FRANK MORTIMER & CO., At New Bloomfleld, Perry Co., Ta. Being provided with Steam Power, and large uyiiimer ana timi-rresjws, we me pifpivrcu to do nil kinds of .lon-l'rlntliiK lu Kood style and at Ixw Trices. ADVEUTISING HATES: Trantient 8 Cents per lino for one insertion 13 " " twolnsortloni 15 " " "three Insertions Business Notices In Local Column 10 Cents per line. .Forlonfreryearly adv'ts terms will be given upon application. THE UNFAITHFUL GUARDIAN. CONTINUED. S11E looked full in his face with her dear, truthful eyes, whence a groat sorrow broke, and thoir language wont to the old man's soul as no protestations in words could have done. "Madam," he said, in a changed voice, " you are strangors hero, your mode of life has appeared singular from the first we didn't know what to think." " We did not come here to argue," broke in the selectman, seeing that the minister was about to soften, "your arts are all wasted on us ; we como in the name of the law to warn you out of this place as a crim inal." " Peace, brother," whispered the pastor, "you are too violent." Catharine looked at the speaker in si lence, but he shrunk from the truth in her eyes and the grandeur of her face. After a moment she glanced suddenly toward the clergyman, "Sir," she said, "havoyou a daugh ter?" The old man turned away his face, point ing to the weed upon his hat ; scarcely three months had passed since he buried the darling of his' heart, the fairest girl that the whole village could boast. The deacons themselves were Boftened by the sight of their pastor's emotion, and Catha rine saw that they were almost ready to re linquish their hard purpose. " By that daughter's memory," Bhesaid, " I ask you to deal kindly with one greatly injured, but innocent as sho. Tell me now what you require ?" ' We should not have spoken to a wo man," said the deacon, more kindly, "where is the young man ?" " Did I not say that he was ill ? tell me your errand." They looked at one another, and she looked calmly at them, but no one seemed inclined to break the silence. " You wish us to quit your village," she said, "is that it?" - "It would be bettor," returned the pas tor, hesitatingly, "better for all, if you would do so." She made no answer, but moved toward the door at the end of the apartment, and motioned them to follow. They obeyed hor gesture, and looked into the shadowy room beyond. The curtains were flung down over the casements, and on a low couch in the gloom lay the wasted form of a sleeping man. His face looked mourn fully youthful in that heavy slumber, the features so thin and sunken in the uncer tain light that the gazers started back, almost believing themselves in the pres ence of death, i Catharine closed the door, and turned again toward her visitors. " Will you drive that man forth from his last shelter?" she said. "The Saviour whom you worship was less hard upon sin ners than you I Even though he were the moral leper you deem him, could you not allow him to die in peace? he asks only that not evon a grave after." Without a word those men passed slowly out of the chamber with downcast eyes, where the tears would come in spite of their firmness. When they reached the outer door, the old minister turned to Cath arine, "Forgive us," he said, "for verily we know not what we did I" "Oh I sir," she said, not bitterly, but with quiet mournfulneBs, " oh 1 sir, so many unasked pardons have gone from my soul that I could not hesitate here ! You are old men, but your span of life is not so near run as his whom they are hunting to his grave. Surely here we might be loft in peace there is no sin on his soul or mine, and yet we are without proof against their accusations." " Any help," suggested the hard old deacon, "watchers, anything that our womenfolks can do 1" " Thanks," she replied, " if I need thom I shall not forgot your goodness ; farewell." They bowed with solemn aspect, and Catharine stood watching thom disappear down the walk. Painful as that scene had been, it loft almost a fooling of pleasure they wore notjwholly outcasts ! For once that man's schemes had failed, or turned, to the advantago of those whom he sought to ruin. Sho re-cntored the little parlor and sat down, waiting until William should wake' and require her presence Upon the table by hor lay two books which she took up, looking at them with a sorrowful bitterness it was her own last work and a volume of William's poems. They had won fame those two what an added woe it seemed at such a season 1 She wondered if the clouds which en veloped her would over clear up ; years had passed since she ceased to struggle, be hoving that all attompts to penetrate that dreadful mystery would be in vain. The Bight of William's sleeping face had brought the countenance of her dead hus band so vividly before her must she go into eternity without the power of solving that secret 1 She checked the thought, almost smiling at hor own folly there all world be made clear she could leave it stiV. to time and God She went into hor own apartment, opened a casket where those lcttors had lain for years, and taking thom out returned to the parlor. How often she had studied that handwriting, and sought a clue to the fatal packet ! Sho was folding them up to restore them to thoir place, when agaiu a sound from without aroused hor. She went to the door and saw in the hall a young man, travel-stained and weary, who scorned to have uncermoniously entered at the open door. Ho walked toward hor, saying quickly, " You are Catharino Lennox, I suppose, I wish to see William Sears." " He is very ill and sees no one." "I tell you what it is, madam," exclaim ed the determined-looking youth, "I have mndo this journey for an express purpose, and I am not to be defeated in my under taking. That man has destroyed the peace of the dearest girl that over breathed and by heaven he shall answer for it." "This is more of William James' work," said Catharine, calmly ; " you will scarcely wreak your vengeance upon a man so near death, I think." " James, yes, I believe that ho is a black hearted scoundrel t Look here madam, I have no idea that you are half so bad as they have said, for it don't scorn tome that Nellie's Bister could bo will you sit down and talk honestly with mo, and both try to get at the bottom of this thing ?" " May I ask your name ?" " I am Robert Mortis, a grand-son of old Judge Morris you used to know him." "Yes, yes; I have soen you too when you were a child ; it seems very strange to meet you here now. Yes, I will talk hon estly with you '. Tell me first of my Bister!" Robert's face lost its determined look, his eyes grew misty and his voice tremu lous with feeling as lie answered, " Poor Nellie 1 She is better now ; I thought she would die once If she had," and the fire flashed into his eyes again, and his voice grew hard, " by heaven, I would have killed William Sears and torn James' heart out of his body." " Has she spoken of me of Catharine ?" "Only once she could not bear It." "Did she curse me? did she think ill of me?" "Ob, madam, what could she think 1 But she never cursed you, she wept and prayed for you !" "And you too believe me abed, false woman?" "I did before I looked in your eyes I don't know what I believe now. At least you will own it has all been a mysterious thing." "Do you mean that charge? those letters?" " No, about Sears I don't know much about the first affair but James says you had been living with William for a year past." " Robert Morris, I have not seeu him for a year until I mot him in New York I I knew him first in Paris we were both free it was my right I In the midst of the only month of happiness came that James, he dragged William away, maddened him with his horrible falsehoods, brought him to America " " And then he married Nellie after he was betrothed to you then he is a villain, after all 1" ' " No, no, we were parted forever, James told him that I bad been his his oh, 5 canDot speak it ! William was ill, crazed, he married Nollie to preserve his father from ruin I He went back to Europe, found mo, and for the first time knew that he had married my sister whom I believed to bo doad." " This was James' doings how he must hate you 1" " He has followed mo for years liko a fiend ; to gratify his revenge on me ho has brought this misery upon us all." In their earnestness they had uncon sciously returned to the parlor and seated themselves. Robert sat leaning his head upon bis hand, striving to catch some con necting link in all this wickedness, with the mystery of the past. " Toll me all about that those letters," ho said, " I have only heard vague hints, for my grandfather Morris has kept it a secret, and Jamos fears him more than any other person in the world." Even under happier auspices hers would not havo boon a -confiding nature, and in her life she had learned to shut in upon hor heart the pain that ached and moaned for expression. But there she sat and told Robert Morris everything her departure for Europe her search for that darling sister her pov erty and privations cheerfully endured, with the thought that sho should one day find that cherished idol. Then came the tidings of Nellio's death another artifice of the arch fiend who had so pursued hor their toil for labor's sake the new found fame which fell so coldly upon the crushed and brokon heart ! All, sho told him all, sitting there tearless and calm, while he, unused to suffering and endurance, felt the hot tears falling fast as ho listened. "Oh, Catharine, and I you do not know how much I Buffer 1 It seems little in com parison with your wrongs, but I am so young, I loved Nellie so fondly, and to have all happiness torn from me I cannot bear it !" He clenched his hands in suddon passion and anguish, while Catharine looked at him pityingly as if he had been a brother. "And you love Nellie oh, this is hard ! And she, does love you, Robert?" " I think so, that's the worst of it all what are we to do? This Jamos oh, if I had my hands on his throat ! Look at it, Catharine, we might all be happy now if we were not in his infernal toils." " You are so young," sighed Catharine ; "alas 1 poor Robert, poor Nellie 1" There was a sudden cry from the room beyond which startled her, she rushed out with William's name upon her lips. Ho had wakened quickly, and finding hor gone called out for her with all his strength, be neath a terriblo fear that she had loft him a fear which haunted him always if he woke and found her absent from his side. When Robert Morris followed Catharine into the room, she was sitting by Soars' side, holding his hand and soothing his agitation. Robert could not. look unmoved upon tho man who had come between him and his happiness, but in an Instant the sight of that wasted face brought his better nature back, and he loathed himself for the sudden burst of passion which had swept over his heart. " Who is that?" William asked, pointing toward him. Catharine whispered in his ear, and the sick man hold out his hand, saying only, "Will you take it ?" Robert grasped the thin Augers without a touch of bitterness, though it seemed very strange to him. They returned to the other room, and at once William's qulok eye caught sight of the open casket of letters, which Catharine had forgotten on the table. "What are those?" "The letters which were the beginning of all this sorrow the letters that Mr. Lennox found in my desk, and of which I knew and know nothing." He held out his hand for them, aud be gan looking them 'Over. "I do not know the writing," he said, reading on. " Stay I Strange how famil iar this seems 1" "What, William, what?" "I don't know perhaps it is fancy why, Oatharine, I have read these be fore 1" " Never, you never saw them till now." " I know it, and yet " He broke off, opening more letters and reading hurried ly. "I tell you, Catharine, these letters are familiar to me I recognize tho ex pressions I could almost swear that I had Written them?" He looked so excited that Catharine was more disturbed than often happened. " Don't William, you only distress me ; do not add to the mystery." " But it is strnngo, it is strange I" re peated Sears, crushing thom impatiently in his hand. " If I could only think 1" Catharino feared this excitement, and sought to change the subject. "Where is Ncllio?" he asked, turning to Robert. "At Mr. James' houso in the city ; she was too sick to bo moved for a time, and since then sho has choson to remain thore." "I must seo her, William," continued Catharine, " I must go to hor. You are quite strong to-day I shall not fear to leave you a little time." " She will not see you, Catharine." "Sho will she must I Sho trusts Robert, ho will tell hor how bad and false that man is." " Oh, you do not dream of the influence that he has over her," returned Morris, "she has trusted in him sinco her child hood looked up to him as a saint, it will be very hard to make hor doubt now." William Soars groaned and laid his fore head down upon the table that man was his fathor it seemed tho most terriblo thing of all his father ! " I must go something tells me that it is best 1" exclaimed Catharine ; "indeed I must, William." "You are right," ho said, lifting his head, " go, Catharino, but come back be fore it is too late ; remember how littlo time is loft to us now." "I will return to-morrow Janet will watch you 1 Oh, William, it kills me to leave you even for theso few hours, but I must go I feel that something is about to happen." Almost unconsciously whilo speaking, sho thrust the packet of letters into her dress, shuddering as sho always did at their contact. "Go, Catharino, my Catharine God help you go 1" CHAPTER XII. Nellie had been much alone sinco her ill ness ; even the companionship of Mrs. Dex ter, kind and gontle as she had always been, was irksome to her. She liked best to sit in her chamber, her hands idly fold ed in her lap, looking dreamily out upon the children playing in the littlo park op- site the house, or watching the fountain as it cast up its glittering clouds of spray. She had boon very ill, but was now rapidly recovoring, though tho buoyancy of spirit which had mado her lovely was gone ; she looked like the shadow of her former self, and her voice was fast falling into that dreary monotone of suffering which is bo painful. Without possessing the genius which was .the fatal endowment of her sister, Nellie was a highly gifted girl, cursed with that peculiarly sensitive organization which had wrought half the misery of Catharine's life. She had remained a child longer than the young are apt to do, and the events of the past weeks had forced ber on to a maturity of thought and pur pose which brought with it its own wretch edness. Once Mr. James alluded to the subject, but sho checked him, and when he spoke of the redress which she must claim, and made her understand the legal rights which he intended to seek, her anguish was such that he had net again ventured to recur to it. But his will was immovable, and ho determined not to be balked of the full measure of his vengeance though he trampled hor heart down to obtain it, even as he had crushed that of the woman against whom ho had sworn a hate so dead ly and so lasting. Nellie was alone one day, Mrs. Dexter had gone upon some business to their house in the country, a place to which Nellie would not return, thinking of it only with an added pang, and Mr. James was also absent. She sat for a long time in bor chamber, and at length descended to the floor below, wandering about the vast apartments liko some desolate spirit doomed to keep that unquiet vigil. At last her strength be gan to fall, and she sat down in the library which her guardian usually ocoupied as his study. She looked idly around for something with which to occupy herself, and was at length attracted by a quaint old cabinet at the farther end of the room. She went up to it, and with tho childish curiosity of recent illness, opened the numerous doors and drawers, without ever thinking that there could be anything im proper in her airaloss researches. At length she reached a compartment which was locked, but the key, apparently from thoughtlessness, bad been left in tho lock. She unlocked it, and found an antique casket of tarnished silver, curiously wrought and of singular form. Sho took it out with an exclamation of pleasure, and, finding it heavy, set it down on tho table to examine it at her ease. It scorned to bo locked also, for the spring did not yield to her hand, and sho mado no effort to open it. Around tho front edgo of the lid wore several curiously cut ornaments, and sho stooped to observo more closely the workmanship, passing hor hand over each in succession. As her fingers touched the centre-piece, the lid flow open with a sound which startled hor, giving to view a roll of manuscript that seemed to have lain thoro for a long time. She remembered then that she had no right to examine those things, and was about closing the lid, when the door open ed suddenly, and a woman entered tho apartment. Nellie gave a littlo norvous cry, for sickness had rendered her timid, but bofore she could recover from her , as tonishment, tho stranger had crossed tho room, and throwing back tho heavy veil, revealed to her the features of her sister Catharino. The girl looked round, as if for help, feeling no anger, only a vaguo terror and desiro to escape her presence. " What do you wish?" gasped tho frightened girl ; "you can have nothing to say to me lot me pass." " Nothing to say to you 1 Oh, Nellie, am I not your sister?" "Don't speak that namo, don't !" sho returned, shivering from head to foot. "What, Nollio?" " I can't explain I hardly understand I could forget weakness, sin ; but oh, Catharine, he was my husband, and you my sister !" " My name, you have spoken my name bless you, heaven bless you t Listen Nellie, I tell you that there is no guilt in my heart, nor in my life." "But I saw you were thore it was his room you had come from Europe with him !" she uttered these words in broken gasps, supporting herself against the tabic, for there was a suddon mist before her sight which was like the faintness of death. " It was true that you saw me, but I did not come from Europe with him I bad not met him for a year 1 I knew that ho was sick, and I hurried back to this placo that I might see him before he died." "You love him?" Nollio exclaimed; "you love him?" "I did love him when I had the right, there is no feeling in my heart now for which I need blush, nor you condemn I" " And he loved you why did he marry me? I toll you it was wicked, terrible 1" " It was that man's work too ! Nellie, ho wished to complete his revenge on me. Ho told William that he had spent your for tune, and called upon him to marry you lost it should be discovered." " But why did Mr. Sears consent it was so wicked ?" "Because that man was his father, could he refuse to save him ?" "Nellie Blid slowly to the floor, sitting there with ber face hidden, rocking to and fro gasping for breath. "Do you believe me, Nellie? will you trust me ? I am your sister I love you so fondly 1 When they drove me away,home less and friendless, I went searching for you afar in a foreign land then they told me you were dead, and I was all alone in the world I Fathor mother and my lit tle sister all dead, and I loft without a friend. Oh, Nellie, Nellie, do trust and believe me. - Nellie half rose from the floor, extended her arms, and Catharine sank into thom with a burst of weeping, which eased her heart as nothing had done for years. Noithor spoke for many moments, there they knelt locked in each other's arms, a murmured thanksgiving upon the lips of the older. Tho girl nestled close to her bosom like a young bird, murmuring through her tears : " I know your voice now I know your voice 1" " And you trust me ?" " Feel my heart beat, Catharine, every pulse throbs in witness to your truth." " And we shall part no more?" " No more, never more I Mr. Jamos will consent, oh, I know he will." " Oh, heaven, I bad forgotten him I Come away, sister, come away, he will tear you from me make haste, oh, come 1" It was Nellie's turn to comfort her, and to calm her agitation. "I tell you, Catharine, there is no pow er strong enough to separate , my heart from yours 1" "But that man oh, Neliie, you do not know him 1" " I hope not oh, I hope you are deceiv ed, Catharine 1 I have loved him so long, trusted him so entirely." Concluded next week.
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