Bloomington Progress, Bloomington, Monroe County, 17 November 1899 — Page 3

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Charlotte PH. Bicne

i CHAPTER XI. 1 The room was a large one, well furnished, but seldom used. In the hurry of the morning they had not thought of drawing the blinds, so that it was now al! dark and dim; a soft, gloomy light filled it, through which one could see the bedstead, with its rich crimson hangings, and on it the stiff, straight outlines always so terrible to see. Lenore went up to it alone. She turned down the white sheet which had been thrown so reverently over the face of the dead; no cry, no sob escaped her lips; she stpod there white as the dead as cold and as still. The chief constable came up to her and pointed to the fair, clustering hair that was thick with gravel and soil, pointed to a black bruise on the white forehead. "That shows," he said, gently, "that he fell on his face. The shot must have pierced his heart." She looked at the beautiful, placid face, so calm, so still, so full of noble majesty looked at it with a pain she would never have known had she loved him with her whole heart; then, bending her head, she laid Her living lips on his dead ones. "Austin," she said, "I would have died to save you." . The full realization of the fact that he was dead came over her in its fullest

sense, as she raised her head from his. She remembered his passionate delight if ever she caressed him-how his face shone, and his eyes, how bright they grew how he had loved her, this man so foully slain. That very night, even, how tenderly he had bade her farewell. Then she looked at his neck, and cried out to the chief constable: "He has been robbed as well as murdered!" she cried. "Last evening I fastened a silk scarf, with a pearl brooch, round his throat. Where is it?" The chief constable turned the sheet still further down. "There is no scarf here," he said; "but there is every sign of one having been torn violently off." From the glossy pleats of cambric a piece had been torn with great violence, the button had been wrenched off, one of the gold studs was missing, the other two were there studs that Lenore remembered -well. She had given them to him herself. "It hardly looks like robbery," said the chief constable, "or why should these be leftr He pointed as he spoke to the gold studs, to the rings on the finger, to the watch and chain. "I cannot understand it," he said; "there can be no doubt of its being a foul and unnatural murder. But for the violent dragging off of the scarf one might imagine that he had been shot by mistake." The very word seemed to pierce. her heart. "Who would shoot him?" she asked;

"he has not an enemy in the whole wide world not one!" Again she bent her head over the white, still face. "If you could but for once speak to me," she cried, "but once, and tell me the secret of your death." But those white, rigid lips were never more to unlock in this world, no laughter was to part them, no smile to play over them, no words to leave them they were locked in the silence of death. Suddenly she, his wife, looked up into the pitying face of the head constable. "I am quite sure of one thing," she said, "that the person who shot him has taken the scarf and brooch away, and remember my words, although years may pass before they are verified, that brooch and scarf will be the means of bringing the murderer to justice; remember my words when they come to pass. Now go, all of you, and leave me alone with my dead." There was a sensation all over the land; a murder at any time fills the community with dread and awe; but this was such a terrible murder; done in the sweet, soft gloom of the summer night, done in the midst of sleeping flowers and restless leaves; near where the deer lay resting and the birds were asleep; done, seemingly, without the least provocation. It was a murder that no one could understand. The sweetest of singers was cruelly slain; a great poet, a teacher of the people, a writer of noble poems had been most cruelly slain. The horror of it was deepened by the knowledge of the fact that it seemed very unlikely Mrs. Audley would ever recover from the blow. She, like her daughter, had thought and spoken much of the brooch and scarf; both seemed firmly possessed with the same idea, that they would ultimately lead to the detection of the murderer. It was wonderful how that idea haunted them. The usual terrible routine was gone through with all possible state and solemnity; a coroner's inquest was held; witnesses were examined; but not even the least trace of the crime could be found. The most commonly received opinion was that some tramp passing by had murdered him in order to rob him; then, had been disturbed before his plunder was complete. The only difficulty in the way of this belief was that tramps did uot, as a rule, carry pistols, mar, if they

intend to commit a robbery, do they leave it half done. So round the coffin of Austin Chandos

all these rumors grew and died away; the mystery was one which it seemed

would never be solved; the only thing

was to wait. Lenore felt her trouble hard to bear

If his death had been a natural one, it

would have been hard; but this most foul

and unnatural murder added such horror

to it. That which made it worse was,

Mrs. Audley never recovered from the

shock; Lenore took her back to the Man

or House she tried everything, but it was all in vain three months after the

murder, the gentle, patient lady died, and her last words were: "Now, Lenore, I shall know who killed my son!"

CHAPTER XII.

It was a year and a half since Austin's

death now; the snow lay on the ground, and the pretty robin redbreasts were beating their wings in despair at not finding bread crumbs everywhere; cold northern winds were blowing, and the great trees stood gaunt and bare; the hoarfrost hung white and bright on the hedges. For many days Sir Cyril had been saying to himself that surely now he might speak; he had waited long enough; he could not content himself

much longer; he must speak to Lenore, must tell her that he loved her madly as ever and ask her to marry him. He wrote to her through the post and told her that he wanted very particularly to see her; would she fix a time for seeing him? Lenore's face flushed and her hands trembled as she read that little note, so sweet in its very imperiousness. "That which I have to say to you, Lenore, is important," he had written, "and must be said. Do not drive me mad by arranging a time to see me in which I shall find myself confronted with Miss Beaton. It is you I want to see, Lenore only you." So she took sweet compassion on him. An invitation came for her and Gladie to dine with Lady Mostyn, and meet some officers. Lenore declined, and Gladie accepted. Then Lenore sent Sir Cyril a note, saying she should be at home on such an evening, and would see him if he came. He wondered afterward how he lived until that evening came. Lenore was vexed with herself. Why should her face flush and glow? why did the white, jeweled hands tremble? why did something like music rise every moment from her heart to her lips? why had the world changed again for her? She rose when his name was announced, but it was lest he should see the trembling that she could not control. He went straight up to her and took both her hands in his. "My darling!" he said, "at last at last!"

Who shall blame him that a great sob rose to his lips as he clasped his arms around her? He had loved her so passionately and so long. "At last!" he repeated; "and, oh, my darling! with no barrier between us, free to love and live for each other. At last, sweet!" Then he looked at the beautiful face, blushing and drooping from his. "My darling!" he cried, "I have been longing for weeks past to speak to you; but I dare not, lest I should speak too soon. I have suffered for my silence, but I have kept it. Do you remember our parting, my heart's love! that cruel moment in which I did not dare to hope you would ever be given back to me? Do you remember it? Tell me, do you love me as

much now as you did then?" "I believe that I love you a great deal more," she answered, with that straightforward simplicity which always characterized her. "We have both suffered so much since then." He shuddered at the words. "Yes," he said, in a low voice. "Heaven knows that we have suffered, both of us. But, Lenore, do you really love me? will you really be my wife?" "I do not like the word 'wife,' Cyril," she said, quietly; "to me it has only been another word for sorrow." "We will soon change all that, Lenore. I think the word wife is the sweetest in any tongue. Will you be my wife?" "Yes," she answered; "but not yet, Cyril not quite yet." He did not wait for the. conclusion of the sentence, but fulded her in his arms and held her there as though only death should part them. Then, releasing her, he said: "There are some moments in life which pay for all, Lenore. I would have suffered a thousand years to be happy as I am now. And, oh, my darling, in your innocent sorrow and sadness, how little

you know the horrors I have endured. So you will take me, but it must not be yet, love not yet?"

She shook her beautiful head gravely. "You see, Cyril, it is but eighteen

months, and poor Austin well, it was a terrible falo for him, and the world does not know now it really wasdoes not

know that I married him loving you; let me show all respect to his memory. Do nrtf e!r mt t:-r mp nnfMtioii atran until

quite two ytttrs have passed. Come to

me next July, and I will have a kinder answer than this." He stood looking at her with tender, loving reproach in his dark eyes. "I have wailed so long," he said, gently, "so long, my darling, and now you send me back again." "It is only for Austin's sake," she said, "not for yours or for mine. You will be better pleased in the after years." "It is six months six whole months, Lenore," he said. She smiled. "They will soon pass, Cyril," she answered. "And am I to stay away from you all that time?" he asked. "Must I never visit you, or be received as your lover? What a task you set me, Lenore." She folded her white hands and laid them on his broad breast; she raised her most fair face to his. "Darling, you will not be angry with me," she said. "Do you know I cannot help it. I am frightened even to think of our happiness, because it grows out of a grave. If Austin had not died, we could never have been happy, and it seems to me that our happiness is purchased by his death." He kissed her face in a passion of love. "My darling," he cried, "have I not told you that even to purchase one moment of such happiness as this, I would most cheerfully die?" "Yes, because you love me so," she murmured.

CHAPTER XIII. The six months of waiting passed as time does for all, and then they were married, and it seemed that the marriage was universally approved; no one had a word to say against it except Elsa Grey. They were married, and the first week in the glorious month of August, Sir Cyril took his wife home to Eastwold. Nothing could have equaled his kindness to Gladie. By his own orders a beautiful little suite of rooms was set aside for her in the western wing, and they were beautifully fitted up; and some weeks afterward Sir Cyril sent for her to meet the family lawyer, and they proceeded to draw up and sign different documents, by which the sum of five thousand pounds was settled on her. She was speechless, her pale face and shadowed eyes puzzled the lawyer. For a time it softened and soothed the deadly hate, the burning rancor, the deadly sense of wrong, the jealousy that strove like a fiend in her heart. So they lived for a time, and the beautiful Lady Vernon was the admired of all. Every one liked and loved her; she was queen of the county; she had all the gayeties and festivities; she was one of the most charming hostesses ever seen at Eastwold. Miss Beaton shared all Lady Vernon's gayeties and pleasures they were exactly like sisters there was just this one difference between them Lady Vernon

gave to Gladie a true, loyal, kindly, sin

cere love, while Gladie gave to her the keenest, most bitter, most jealous hate

that one person could give another. It

was well concealed, eirefully hidden, but still it was there it uanud out at times, and they mistook it for overzeal; but there was hate enough in Gladie's heart for murder. But the time when Gladie hated her

most was when her little son was born; that was one fine, warm, bright day in

June, when the smile of heaven, as shown

in the summer sun, rested on the land, and the air was filled with music. Then

it seemed to Lenore that her cup of happiness brimmed over, when they brought a lovely babe, with Sir Cyril's dark curls and her blue eyes, and, placing it in her arms, told her it was her son. She wondered afterward that she hal not gone

mad with the very excess of her joy. A son! it was the one thing to complete her bliss.

The child grew in strength and beauty,

Gladie's hatred seemed to grow with it.

The time came when he could begin to talk, when a sweet, shrill little voice echoed through the hall, a voice Sir Cyril thought sweeter than the bird's music or the whisper of the wind; and once this was when little Audley was one

year old, and could run from room to

room he saw a white dress in the distance, and thought it was Lady Vernon.

"Mamma," he cried, running to it, but

it was Gladie, who stood waking. "Mamma," he cried again, in his shrill, sweet voice; then Gladie caught him in her

arms; there was pain amounting to despair in her face.

"I am not your mamma," she said;

then she clasped him to her breast. "I

ought to have been your mamma, but I am not; if love forms any clailm, then, oh, surely, above all other women, I had that claim!" The child cried, and the passion of love

in her face changed to the pasaion of hate. The nurse took the little one, sobbing in her arms. She hurried away with her little charge, and Gladie stood still while the wild, mad passion raging iu her died away. There came another day, when little Audley had reached his third year, and she took him out while his nurse was otherwise engaged; she took him to the top of a steep hill which formed a precipice, and was called the "Gray Rock;" there, in her moody fashion, she sat down on the grass, leaving the child to play with the flowers. Suddenly she thought to herself how easy it would be to let him go too near the edge, to send him to gather one little flower, to give him one touch, a gentle touch, and he would go over. What a grand revenge! She rose suddenly from the grass, and stood panting, trembling with the influx of murderous rage. "How she would scream and cry how she would toss those white arms of hers in the air, and moan for him! What a grand revenge! But, no!" she checked herself. "Something better has occurred to me. Ah! to strike her through him! Why did I not think of it before? My sure revenge is in my hands at last!" (To be continued.)

THfiEE WILL DIB.

TRAIN WRECKED NEAR ALEXIS, MICHIGAN.

Deliberate Work of Thieves Who Hatd Hoped to Profit by Robbing the Bodies of Victims-Fishplates Holding the Rails Removed.

Train No. 310 on the Michigan Central was wrecked about 8 o'clock Thursday night three miles north of Alexis, Mich., evidently for the purpose of plunder. The plates holding the rails together had been removed, and as the heavy train passed over them they spread, throwing the six coaches into the ditch. Three persons were fatally injured and a large number were hurt more o less severely. Other passengers were bruised and shaken up, some of them receiving slight wounds. William Hamilton, the engineer, was thrown through the window of his cab and was badly bruised by the fall as well as cut about the face and head. He retained, however, sufficient presence of mind when he recovered from the shock to hurry to his engine and draw the fire, thus preventing an explo

sion. The train left Toledo at 7 o'clock under command of Conductor Harkens. It was running at high speed when Alexis was passed and dashed off the track while going at the rate of forty miles an hour. The crash sent passengers in every direction, and it was at first thought that many were killed. That noue lost their lives was due to the fact that the coaches were very heavy and withstood the shock. After the wreck two men were detected in pilfering and were chased two miles. They had taken two overcoats, and these were recovered. The men were not captured. Two freight trains had passed over the road in safety a short time before. Where the rails were spread it was found that the bolts that held the fishplates had been unscrewed. The nuts were lying on the ties and the threads of the bolts were not marred in any way. A couple of big wrenches, such as section hands use, were found lying beside the track, indicating how the rails had been loosened. The early reports of the wreck were alarming, and the railroad company summoned every available physician from Toledo and elsewhere. A special hospital train was ordered from Detroit, and the injured were taken there. Some of the less seriously hurt were taken to Toledo on a Lake Shore train.

WARNING TO THE POWERS.

IMMIGRATION TO BE CHECKED.

-Laws Asked to Protect Island Possessions from Imported Labor. The annual report of Commissioner General Powderly of the bureau of immigration makes recommendations for legislation of a comprehensive scope which will enable the bureau effectually to protect the citizens of the United States

from the evils of increasing emigration

of an indiscriminate character.

While the total arrivals reported reach

the number of 311,715, exceeding those reported for the preceding year by 82,416,

the opinion is expressed that at least 25,

000 were not listed in the above number

through a defect in the law, as well as

an indeterminate number from Canada

and Mexico who are not under existing

regulations accounted for.

The increase over the figures for last

year is represented largely by immigra

tion from Europe, specifically from Italy,

Austria-Hungary and the Russian empire

and i inland.

In addition to 796 paupers and 303 alien contract laborers debarred on the

Canadian and Mexican borders, there

were refusea admission l laiot, iy in

sane persons, 2,599 paupers or persons

likely to become public charges, 348 dis

eased persons, 8 convicts, 82 assisted immigrants and 741 contract laborers, making a total of 3,798. Efforts were made to extend the appli

cation of the immigration laws ana regulations to Hawaii and the islands of

Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines. A bill was prepared to accomplish this object as to Hawaii, but failed of enactment. Unofficial information has been received that since the annexation of the said territory July 0, 1898, 25,000 Japanese coolies have been imported to work its sugar plantations. , With regard to the islands now held by military occupation as a result of the war with Spain, the opinion is expressed that the prompt extension of the immigration laws to them by order of the Secretary of War will avoid many embarrassments which would otherwise arise in this connection.

Salisbury Sa c Britain Will Not Accept Intervention The address delivered by the British premier at the lord mayor's banquet in London, while it dealt to some extent with the issues of the Anglo-Boer war, was manifestly intended in the main for the ears of continental Europe, as a warning against any schemes of interference and a plain intimation that Great Britain would yield to no threats and no moral coercion. Intervention would mean war with the power or combination venturing upon it, declared Lord Salisbury in practically explicit language and., we may rest assured that no European power is ready to risk actual resort to arms.. Lord Salisbury set out with a reference to the growth of cordial feelings and happy relations between England and the United States. "We feel," he said, "that we can now always look for sympathy and a fair hearing among; those who share with us so vast a mission for the advancement of mankind." This alone, the premier implied, would' prevent hostile and hasty action by the continental powers, but In addition the Samoan treaty was referred to as something which, besides being satisfactory in itself and advantageous to both signatories, was particularly interesting atthis juncture because it showed the worldthat the British-German relations weifi) all Englishmen could desire. J After some discussions of the caused of the war and the alleged military mis-! takes of the Government, after emphatic declarations that not territorial' or pecuniary interests were actuating Britain in her African policy, but the desire to secure political equality and' security for all races, the premier proceeded to deal openly with the rumors, of foreign intervention. He reassured his audience and the vaster audience outside. Let no man imagine, he said, that, the conflict will be concluded in obedience to the dictation of foreign governments. In the first place, Great Britain will noti tolerate interference, and in the second; place there is no such idea in the mind' of any government in the world. International law forbids it, declared Lord Salisbury.

DEWEY IS MARRIED.

; Chili is to have a floatiug exposition. ' Single tax clubs are being formed in Germany. ' Copenhagen is to send a scientific expedition to Siam. Seven scientific expeditions are explore ing Central America. Great Britain is alarmed by the increase in the number of insane. ; One Briton in every five has an account in the postal savings bank. Sugar is so heavily taxed in Italy that its price is 12 cents a pound. Carlism is more active in Spain than it has been for many years. Men employed on municipal works in Dublin are to be paid $4 a week. The length of the transsiberuin rails way now constructed is 3,830 miles.

Weds Mrs. Hazen Privately but Without Secrecy. Admiral George Dewey and Mrs. Mildred Hazen were married at the Presby-. tery of St. Paul's Catholic Church, Washington, at 10 o'clock Thursday morning. In anticipation of this event; Washington society has been in a state of feverish excitement for the last two' weeks, since the engagement was an-i nounced. It was one of the simplest weddings ever held in the national capital. It. united fame with beauty and wealth, but; there was nothing to indicate either in, the simple ceremony performed in the. plain apartment of a Catholic priest.' There were no distinguished witnesses,! no bridesmaids, no flowers, no music; There was no gaping crowd of curious, onlookers, there were only the bride and! groom, the mother and sister of the bride, Lieut. Caldwell, the admiral's sec-' retary, Father Mackin and his two as-, sistants. In love, as in war, George Dewey had; no hesitation or ostentation. While the! world waited to hear when Dewey expected to attack the Spanish fleet, there came flashing under the seas and across two continents the brief but startling news that Dewey had destroyed the' Spanish fleet and held an empire in his grasp. So, while society waited anxiously to know when Dewey was to be mar-, ried, and who would be invited, the sim-: pie announcement went out from Father Mackin's house that George Dewey and; Mrs. Mildred Hazen were married in. the presence of proper witnesses at the presbytery.

e40 (PJBaES

Bryn Mawr offers a course in law to young women. Two-thirds of the Yale freshmen are church members. Free evening drawing schools are maintained by the city of Boston. Dr. Ernest G. Sihler is writing a his-, tory of New York University. The Chicago Y. M. C. A. evening classes number 1,000 students Amherst has a course in modern gov-, ernments and their administration. Students govern their own dormitories at the University of Pennsylvania. Ground has been broken for a new u firniary building at Vassar College. Johns Hopkins University now offers

Instruction in conversational Spanish.

Columbia University has added two.

professors to its Germ&n department.

Denmark has over eighty public schools-! for adults beyond the usual school age. New York University has a new col-;

lection of antiquities collected in Mexico.;

Only seven of the 101 freshmen at the,

Connecticut Wesleyan College are worn-;

en.

The Cleveland College of Physicians;

and Surgeons has a new building costing' $00,000.

Francis T. White of New Yoak has,

given $25,000 to Earlhara College, Rich-, moud, Iud.

The endowment of Birmingham (Eng-

land) University has been increased to $2,500,000. j

Only three colleges were represented at

the meeting of the Intercollegiate Tennis.

Association.

The Wagner Club, formed at Wellesleyi

to study the composer's work, has a mem-j

bership of 200. J

Vienna will soon celebrate the five hun; dredth anniversary of the foundation ofi its medical school. !