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THE CHIMNEY CORNER, 345
~ ann NN
A
Thad not seen her previous to the trial, for the; to appear, tbat I am as guiltless of the sin im-
I cannot tell whether joy or sorrow predomin- | gait toward Byrne’
shock of that fatal night had brought on’a brain | puted to me as the angels in heaven.
whether jos ; and I followed as well as
ated on the receipt of this intelligence. Character | my fears and totter! i
pbs woul
fever, during which, I was told, she frequentl She rose slowly from the seat, placed her two | an v very dear to one so young as entered the house by the kitchen, and the first
called me by name, and confessed herself the| small hands on my shoulders, and, with a look in was, but still I loyed my mother beyond all other | Tmet who knew me was Dan Byrne, He wrung
murderess of her husband; but they heeded not | which pride and sorrow struggled for the mastery, | considerations ; and, though IL had no hopes of | my hand in silence.
her ravings, gazed long and searcbingly in my fuce. ever bebolding her dear face again, my affection | “Mary!” I exclaimed, “Where is Mary?”
When the verdict of guilty was rendered, and|~ “Say no more, my beloved—say no more, my was not diminished, but intensilied, by time and He shook his head sorrowfully, but said no-
the judge about to put on the black cap, a com-| brave lover,” she softly murmured; “1 under- | distance. . wy. | thing,
motion was observed in the densely packed audi-| stand all now, God will bless you for your fitial| ‘The next ship brought my pardon, and with it “She is sick ?—dead, perhaps?”
ence, Presently all was hushed, and a voice] sacrifice. {f Iam to lose you, 1 thank Him that | a long letter from Mary, redolent of love a “No, not dead, thank God, but very sick!" he
sbrieked out: itis in such a cause.” . replied, “James, my heart bleeds tor you. I
“Not guilty, my lord—not guilty! Oh! spare} Overcome by her feelings, she fainted; and, t am glad you have come, and 1 am sorry for you,
my only child; he is not guilty! It was I who | calling in her brother, I had her taken away while | years: after I had left my country a convicted | too.
did the deed!” - et insensible, . felon I landed on her shores once again a free| The doctor entered at this moment, and upon
I turned round and beheld my mother, wan and |” It was a long time before I saw her again, man, . | learning who I was he gave bis consent to my
worn, with the lurid light of fever still burning in| Before day of execution arrived, on the| I hastened with all speed to K—; every foot | going up-stairs,
her eyes. etition of the jury and some of my father’s old | of ground I passed over seemed to be'a mile, and | Tentered the sick-room to find my poor darling,
She bad evidently eluded the vigilance of tier friends, my sentence was commuted to transport-| every mile to lengthen intermiuably us I neared | pale, thin, and alinace motionless, propped up in
attendants, and had come unnoticed to the court- | ation for life; and 1 was summarily transferred to | my goal, | | . achair, and surrounded by her mother and some
house. I was shocked beyond expression at her! Spike Island, and then on board’a convict-ship | ‘At last the village was reached, and, jumping! male friends, many of whom were in. tears,
appearance. though my footstep ¢
i “Silence in was as light as a pan-
4 court!” exclaimed t ther’s, the moment
4 judge. “ Who is that passed the threshold
creature that inter- the recognized it;
rupts the proceed- nd, springing from
; ings?” . her chair, 1 was just
| “ My lord,” explain- in time, ‘by catching
| ed one of the counsel- er in my arms, to
| s, in a low voice, prevent her falling.
{ “she is the prisoner’s “James—my dear,
| mother, and has been dear James!” she sob-
of her mind since bed, “I knew I would
his arrest.”” ou once more,
“ Crier, remove that Oh, my own love, how
} | woman!” ‘said the I longed to look at
i magistrate, in a less your face again! M
tf tone — “rem: ther, dear, leave us
| ier gently, and clear alove a while; I want
| the court, if any more to say something to
{ disturbance is made.” him alone.”
i After sentence o The chamber was ac-
j death had been duly cordingly cleared, and
pronounced, I w kneeling down
conveyed ‘back to side, ber wasted hand .
rison, with an aching clasped in mine, a1
4 eart, more, however, ber eyes devouring, as
] for the sake of others it were, my face,
5 than for myself. Ketened’ to her sweet
j ad borne the ter- voice.
; ‘ors of the law un- “James, love, don’t
fiinchingly, but my fret,” she’ gently said.
q strength was to be fur- “ ing to an- _- -
7 ther tested, world, where -
ted
oe
now all.
er of a farmer in the ‘our mother’s
vicinity, named Byrne. fault; but 1 hope she
Mary and I had been is forgiven for it.
j "> playmates together, have waited and long.
. manya tine, when ed for you those
ee she was ‘a mere child, ears, but the sickness \U-
{ i I have carried her B ns at last stolen me
- rms across the rom you. Bea good
i treams, and plucked man, dear James,eben
wild flowers for her on Iam gone, and’don’t
the- romantic hills of forget your poor Mary,
my native countr; who loved you better
4 en T was abroad than her life, and——” 5 s
' as sister ‘and brother ing fre of
musketry in the picket
front cut short the
i crown =U) eautiful sergeant’s pathetic
girl, well-educated and narrative, We both
* full’of aifection, I ask- sprung (o our feet, and
her to be my wife,
are that we ensued, and the eue-
should be married is driven back €>
: soon as I me es- in ten minutes. Quiet
: tablished in my pro- having been restored,
fession. I proceeded to ascer-
\ She was more than tain our loss.
m:
ter,’ perhaps, than I
deserved.
! % In spite of all bei y
family and neighbors
t ? could say cr think, she
would not bel i our, Ds
my guilt, a1 eu ed, carclessly, “T:
wanted in reratched, one badly
isit
jail a3 soon as she had
‘heard of my imprison-
ment. .
At first I positively
declined to see her;
ee cmcrerenyg oimet- mt eee ceey i
but now that all was They laid the corpse
over, and the world at my feet,
fast fading from my Poor fellow! his
w, L had not cour- resentiment was too
age enough to refuse ue. I examined his
repented solicita- - £2 SE ; " | clothes before giving d :
q tions, and the day after oe =: - 2 3 : Pig ts OEE hima soldier’s grave, | :
the termination of the L OBL: eee SLE WEES p e ? 2 and found next his th
trial she entered my pr feet See PALI e Ligne, Ghee PST PORE EP AO |. heart a miniature of iy
cell with a younger f A ZG f i LEE aly, A 4 a KEI : s ,, "7 what seemed, by the
brother, Dan, who Im ip ; ; doubtful Tight, to be a
with
b
met the original in a
better world than this,
om
Veremeaanita: My +
into my arms, weeping : -
and sobbing as it her MEG,—‘' SHE DROPPED ON ONE KNEE, AND TOOK DEADLY AIM. THERE WAS A FLASH AND A REPORT, WITH A FIENDISH GL RE, HE SWAYED FROM SIDE
heart would break, TO SIDE, REELED, AND PLUNGED HEADFOREMOST OVER THE LOG INTO THE WATER.”—SEE PAGE 343, ———_—_
When somewhat com- - ° fino hot springs
d I placed her in . - . Po Da ae ' ‘ . of the Ouacbita,”’Arl
the only seat the place afforded, and endeavored ) about to sail for Van Diemen’s Land. My mother | out of the mail-coach, I fairly ran along the road | were known to the aborigines, and have been How. :
to console her. was still too sick to see me before my departure, | leading to Mr. Byrne’s farm. 1 was almost in | ing for about twenty-three hundred years, accord- .
. “Tell me, James—dear James—that you are| but was slowly recovering, I understood, under | sight of his house when that fatal Presentiment of | ing to scientists. "They were fancifully called
jf f this horrible ‘crime !”” she said, be-| the delusion, gotten up by her charitable neigh-| misfortune fell upon me. I stopped, staggered, | among the Indians the * Waters of Lift y’ and were
j tredn hey tears, “for, though T feel you arg, in-| bors, that siuge my Iifo bad been spared I would | and finaly sat down upon a stone by the wegelds, {eee ee by De Soto, and Ponee de Leon sought ,
5)
/
4
Ech elapse 0 ket ns Tae boo mn
i Kk
I t to hear it from your own lips. soon be allowed to return to her, shaking like one with the ague, . unsuccessfully for these ‘‘ Fountains of Youth,”
ord To evade the question, but_ could not; |. For the first few weeks of our dreary voyage I { was a starlight night, and at a distance I| They are ituated on the western slope of the
she would be answered. ‘the position was em-| lay ill and delirious; but my time had not yet | presently saw two horsemen galloping toward me, | Hot Spring Mountain, one of the Ozark group, at
4
barrassing. To assert my innocence was to direct | come, and I reached my destination ia compuara-| and then slacken their speed to a walk as they|an elevation of thirteen bundred and sixty feet
public suspicion toward my mother; to deny it] tively good health, . | rose on the hill in front, I recognized one as tho | above the level of the sea, forming day by .
was to doom the gentle being before me to ever-| I spent nearly four years-in the penal colony | doctor who succeeded my father, and the other | immense de osit of ferruginous and calcareous tua, ~
lasting sorrow, and my own memory to eternal | with something like comfort; for the authorities, | rider seemed to bo Dan Byrne, now grown to | in a ridge along the line of the springs, from fifty .
disgrace. me useful in the hospitals, allowed me | manhood. . . to one hundred feet high. There are Bitty six
What could I do? Love conquered; 1 temt- | many privileges. Js she so very bad this evening?” I overheard springs in all, having a mean temperature ol
orized, At last the startling news came of my mother’s | the former say, as they passed by me. to 150 degrees. Their constituents are mostly
‘* Mary,” I said, after some reflection, “promise | decease, of her deathbed confession exonerat-| ‘Very, I'm ‘raid,’ was the reply. “Sho asks | the comes quality, though varying ia quantity.
me that what I say shall never be told to mortal. | ing her son, for whom she praxed in her last | constantly for him,'and appears more anxious
y the
I declare to you, in presence of the Searcher of | hours, and an intimation that, next mail, I| than ever to see him.” . A man who finds new arguments often has to
all hearts, before whose judgment-seat I am sure | would be set at liberty. T heard no more, for they resumed their rapid | wait for new understandings: .
emaineemmnat : = ay
es we ne ~ Se =
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