Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 October 1879 — THE DEATH CHABM. [ARTICLE]

THE DEATH CHABM.

A Story of Love and Crime. Along a broad highway in the State of Maryland rode two persons, mounted upon two spendid animals, with the easy grace of equestrians accustomed to the saddle. One was a maiden of scarcely more than 16, with a fresh, lovely face and a form developing into perfection, wearing a dark-blue habit and a slouch hat with a heavy ostrich plume. Gauntlet gloves incased her tiny hands, while about her there was an air of high breeding. Her company was nearly double her age, attired in the undress uniform of a Captain of cavalry. He was a strikinglooking man, with a frank, fearless face that was very fascinating. That there was a love affair existing between the two—young as was the maiden—their glances indicated, and the course of true love, in their case, seemed to be running smooth. Presently they came upon a crowd of men in the roadway. A youth lay bound upon the ground, his face pale and bleeding, and about him bent a half dozen rude fellows, talking in angry tones. “Carter, what means this disturbance?” asked the maiden, sternly, addressing one of the men. The man touched his hat politely and replied: It means, Miss Lulu, that we’ve caught a Tartar here, but we’ve got him tied fast now.” “ What has he been doing, Carter?” “ Well, you see, miss, I saw him coming out of the forest, where, you know, your father allows no gunning, and I called to him to stop and he paid no attention to me, so I calls the boys from the field and we gave chase and caught him, though he fought like a tiger.” “And have you dared attack a man in the public road, sir? My father shall hear of this at once,” said Lulu Sanford angrily. “He’s nothing but a gypsy, miss, from the camp over the hill yonder,” sullenly said the man. “He is a human being, and was doing no harm. Unbind him at once sir!” . ’ The young officer now sprung from his horse and quickly released the youth, who was secured with a rope, and said kindly, “ Get up, my man, and return to your camp.” The youth turned liis dark eyes upon the speaker and said, faintly: “ I cannot, sir; I am badly hurt.” Shame on you, Carter!—a number of burly men to beat a poor boy as you have done! You shall suffer for this all of you!” cried the maiden, indignantly ; and, as the men hung their heads abashed, she continued :

liaise him in your arms and carry him at once to the mansion, while I ride by and send Dr. Moore to see him. Tell Jane to put him in a comfortable room.” Anxious to redeem themselves in the eyes of their employer’s daughter, the men raised the youth in their arms and bore him away, while Lulu Sanford and her escort, Oapt. Fred De Laney, gal loped on after the physician. An hour after the two rode up to the door of a very handsome mansion surrounded by ornamental grounds, flower gardens, and every indication that those who dwelt there were possessed of wealth and refined taste. At the door an elderly gentleman met them, who called out pleasantly: Well, Fred, I am glad to see you, my boy. Richard told me you had arrived this morning.” Yes, Colonel, I received sixty davs’ furlough and stopped to see you on my way home; and this afternoon Miss Lulu and myself ran off for a ride,” replied the young officer. And 1 arn ver y glad we did, papa, for I found your overseer, Carter, and five of the hired men had beaten a boy severely just because he did not stop when commanded to,” said Lulu. Yes, the doctor is now with the poor boy, and his father, too. I fear the youth is badly hurt, and Carter and the f? en . leave my place at once, for the little fellow was doing no harm, and his being a gypsy is no crime. But come into the house and get ready for „° er > f° r have a surprise for you.” A surprise for me, sir?” said Lulu. J-es, I have found a governess for you-one in every way competent to teach you in singing and instrumental music, as you desire, and who speaks Italian perfectly; she will be here in two weeks, and I have engaged her for y ear8 > 80 you can complete your education under her.” lam so glad—l was afraid I would have to go to boarding-school.” And Jjulu ascended to her own room, white

her father took Capt. De Laney in charge. The gyissy boy was severely hurt, and for nearly a week the doctor feared he might not recover. His father hung night and day over him, never caring for himself. At length the youth rallied, and recuperated with such rapidity that the gypsy chief said he could take him back to camp, and asked to see Lulu, who had been untiring in her devotion to the wounded boy. Finding that the gypsy would go, Lulu ordered the carriage to drive them to their camp, a kindness that was accepted. “And, lady,” said the chief, with deep feeling, my boy owes you his life, and the prayers of our people will ever be for your joy. I have money to pay, yet 1 will not insult a heart that was kind—so kind that you brought my boy to your own home, and have cared for him as though he were of your own kin, and not a poor, wandering gypsy.” “Now, lady, I beg you to remember, if ever the world should turn against you, that you have true friends in the camp of Capt. Carl, the gypsy.” Lulu offered her hand in farewell to both Capt. Carl, as his tribe called him, and the boy, and the dignified manner and striking appearance of the wandering chief could not but impress her. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ The second day after the departure of the gypsies from Sanford Hill, as the rich old ex-army officer’s place was called, there was an arrival in the person of the governess engaged to “finish off” Lulu’s education. At the first glance at Viola Hale, Lulu did not like her; but in a few moments after she changed her mind, and seemed almost fascinated by the beautiful governess, for she was strangely, weirdly beautiful, with great black eyes in which slept worlds of passion, ripe red lips, teeth like milk and without a blemish, and hair that touched the floor when she was standing- hair blue black and with an inclination to curl. Her complexion was dark, almost bronze in hue, but there was rich blood in the cheeks, and her form was the very perfection of grace and beauty. Her age was hard to tell—at times she seemed like a girl, and then agaiu one might not be far wrong if he said she was nearly 30. From her entree into the mansion she ruled, and yet no one seemed to know that she held the reins, but Col. Sanr ford soon became her slave. Lulu seemed wholly under her influence, and no one seemed conscious that she made her power felt. She was an accomplished musician, and sang with a depth of feeling that would capture any listener. When at length Capt. Fred Do Laney came again to Sanford Hill on a visit, and met Viola Hale he seemed to Lulu’s surprise not to take a fancy to her. “ That woman has a history, Lulu, and a dark one, mark my words for it,” he said. “ She is very beautiful, Fred, and accomplished, sweet-tempered, and—and ” “And what, Lulu ? ” “And I do not like to have you find fault with my sweet governess.” “ Then I will not. She’s an angel—only she has a history,” and the persistent man could not be changed in his opinion. *

The next day Fred proposed a horseback ride, and when the horses were brought round Viola Hale appeared in a habit that set off her wondrous beauty strangely. Refusing the offer of Fred to aid her, she laid her hand on the pommel and leaped lightly into the saddle from the ground. “ She’s been in a circus, 111 wager,” said Fred, in a low tone, as he lifted Lulu to her saddle, and he was more convinced of this when he saw the perfect manner in which the governess managed the wild horse she rode. Whether Viola Hale realized that the young Captain did not exactly like her, it was hard to tell, but she suddenly began to turn her battery of fascination upon him in a manner that threatened to change his mind regarding her. But fortunately his furlough was soon ended, and he departed for his command on the frontier, a happy man, because Lulu Sanford had to become his wife when she was a year and a half older, and Col. Sanford approved the match; for the young officer came of good family, and was a brave and dashing fellow, possessed no evil habits, and yet was the richest man in the army.

A year passed by, and again Capt, Fred De Laney was a visitor at Sanford Hill, and delighted at the wonderful progress Lulu had made under her beautiful governess. “ Have you picked up any links, Lulu, that connect her with the past ?” asked Fred. “For shame, Fred! She is all that is lovely, and I believe that papa is really in love with her; and I assure you I would not object to her for a step-mother.” “ And does she care for your father, Lulu?” “ I thought so once; now I believe she only admires and respects him.” “ He has lost heavily of late, he wrote me.” “ Yes. You’ll not get the rich heiress you expected to, as papa is now barely well off.” “ I have been more fortunate, for my wealth has increased, and after I marry you, Lulu, I shall resign from the army, and settle down to take care of my vast estates.” “I am glad to hear you say so, for I have no desire to see your brown curls taken off by an Indian’s scalping-knife. But here comes Miss Hale.” As Lulu spoke the governess swept into the room, and more than ever gracious was she to Capt. De Laney, and during his entire visit did she devote herself to him in such a kindly way that when he again returned to the army he admitted that he had misjudged her, and believed her to be a.thorough-ly-true woman.

“I would like to see Miss Sanford—my boy has sent her some little trinkets he has made for her,” said Capt. Carl, the gypsy chief, appearing at Sanford Hill one day, two years nearly after his departure. In his hand he held a basket, in which were some shell and wooden ornaments skillfully carved. “ Miss Lulu has not been very well of late, and it’s a pity, as the Captain’s coming home soon to marry her, but I’ll tell her you are here,” said the butler, and he soon returned with word that he was to come into the library. In an easy chair, a book lying closed upon her lap, sat Lulu Sanford, looking pale, and with a haggard expression in her beautiful eyes. “ It was very kind of your son to remember me, and these are very beautiful indeed. I suppose, he is quite a man now?” ’ . But the gypsy made no reply, and his eyes were riveted upon Lulu. • Again she spoke to him surprised at this strange look, and then from his lips burst the question: “Where did you get that charm, lady?” Supported by a gold chain of rare workmanship that encircled her neck, hung a massive gold heart, with a single ruby of rare size in the center, and upon this the eyes of the gypsy were fixed with a startled look,

“This beautiful charm”—and Lulu raised it in her fingers —“ it was given to me by my governess a month ago.” “ Lady, I would know that gold heart with its single red eye among a million. It is the death-charm!” “ The death-charm! What can you mean?” “ Lady, let me see it, please.” Impressed by his manner, Lulu unfastened the clasp and handed itto him. For a moment he gazed intently upon it, and then, to the surprise of the maiden, touched a spring, the existence of which she knew not of, and it flew open like a locket. “ I knew I was not mistaken—it is the death-charm. See here, lady; do you see these little marks that look like engraving ? Well, they are holes through the gold back, as you see when I hold it up to the light. There, you see this sponge within this wire case? This is saturated in deadly poison—poison that you inhale day by day, until you gradually die, and none know the cause of your death. Lady, the one who gave you this wished to murder you.” As white as snow, and trembling with excitement, Lulu cried: “ No, no, no! It was given me by my dear governess, Viola Hale.” “Viola Hale! The first name is hers; she must be the one who is your foe, lady. Is the woman you speak of in this house?” As the gypsy spoke the governess glided into the room, an<L as her eyes fell upon the tall form near Lulu, she stopped, turned livid, and with a cry upon her lips sank upon the floor. “Oh, sir, call the servants, for she has fainted,” cried Lulu, in alarm. “Lady, let her lie there, while I tell you that she is not worthy of one kind thought. That woman is my wife!" “Your wife?” whispered Lulu. “Yes, lady, she is, like myself, a gypsy, and at 14 years of age became my wife and Queen of the band; but the year after the birth of our boy, whose life you have saved, she ran away from me to go with an Italian Prince, and when she had squandered his money she left him, too, to attach herself to a Spaniard, a sorcerer, and the man who made this death-charm I hold in my hand. She killed him with his own poisons, and came back to me, professing repentance. Alas! it was from a desire to get her boy; as I still doubted her, she gave me this very charm to wear around my neck, telling me it would bring back my love for her. “ Accidentally I found a paper one day that told me the secret of the deathcharm and its poison, and I accused her of her treachery, and so great was her assumed grief that I did not make known her intent to kill me to my band.

“The following day she disappeared and carried the charm with her. Since then I have never known what became of her; but, thank Heaven, I came here to-day 1” In horror Lulu had listened to the awful story, and then she felt all was true, for it came to her now how her old nurse had said the governess wanted to marry Fred De Laney herself; then how she had insisted that for love of her the death-charm should be worn day and night, and from the time she had put it on her health had begun to fail.

“Oh, how could she be so wicked?” cried the girl. “It is her nature, lady. Ah! she is recovering consciousness,” and the gypsy chief stepped toward the prostrate woman, and, in his own language, spoke to her sternly. With every nerve quivering, and her black eyes looking wild with terror, the woman arose and stood before her master thoroughly conquered. “Lady, farewell. Please send this woman's things to tilts address in the city,” and Carl handed Lulu a card, while he.continued: “ Keep that deathcharm, but take fiorn it that deadly poison. Keep it as a souvenir that Capt. Carl repaid the service you did his son.”

Then turning to the guilty, trembling woman, he said to her simply: “Come! ” Without a word, and with bowed head, she followed him, and Lulu was left alone in horror and grief. Thus her father found her, and from her lips heard the terrible story. He folded his daughter in his arms in a rapture at her escape, while he said: “I do believe her guilty now, Lulu, for I remember I believed she loved me at first, yet her manner changed as soon as I met with financial misfortunes; and it was evidently her intention to kill you and marry Fred De Laney, for she frequently asked about his riches. I will order her trunks sent off at once. I wonder what her band will do with her?” “ I cannot tell, father.” “ Then we will drive to their camp tomorrow and have a talk with Capt. Carl, who seems to be a splendid fellow.” And the next day Lulu felt so much better that she drove to the gypsy encampment with her father; but the wanderers had departed, and when they returned again to the neighborhood, five years after, Lulu was Mrs. Fred De Laney, and had a little boy whom they had named Carl, after the chief, who, with his son, came to Sanford Hill to visit them. The gypsy boy had grown into a handsome man, and Capt. Carl’s locks were nearly white, and a look of settled melancholy rested in his eyes. When asked by Lulu and her husband about Viola, he said, in a low, stern voice: “ She is dead, lady ; our tribe sentenced her to die by her own hand, and, being a gypsy, she obeyed.” And Capt. Carl and his son wended their way back to their woodland encampment, burying in their hearts a bitter secret.,