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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1886-10-29, Page 22 THE BRUSSELS POST ,n.i,ur+•••••••"^nv.wnwrr nr.,01,.1Kwmm1.0TCOMMIMWI nim.+n14,00W4w:WAsvas-.ep IACOM w•.. ... ... .,.. ._ _.. demonstrative remorse. " I have killed her—I have killed her 1" he moaned to the group of frigh- tened people from drawing -room, bil- liard.rocm, and servauta'-ball whom his cries brought quickly into the hall, " heaven forgive mo, she is dead I My poor, pretty little wife 1 Oh, I am a brute, a beast 1 Annie, Anuie ! She Will never speak to me again 1"—and the slight frame he held in his arms and pressed to his convulsed and swollen face shook with the violence of hie sobs. It was deep genuine grief that prompted this outburst; but it was the grief, not of a man, but of a child who in a lib of thoughtless anger has taken the life of a pet dog or bird. They took her from him with diff, culty, assuring him that she had only fainted; and George and Wilfred led him away, while the women tried to re- store her to consciousness. It was a lona time before they succeeded ; then Lady Braithwaite came into the billiard - room where the young men were. " She must have a doctor. Some- body must ride to Beokham at once," she said. " I will 1" Dried Harry, jumping up. "Nonsense; you are '.not sober enough," said George curtly, He was bearing his share of remorse at the re. suit of the day's work. But before he had reached the door, Harry passed him with a rough push and an oath. The shook had sobered the lad for the time ; but ho bad been drinking since to drown his remorse. However, he was so familiar with the staple as to be able almost by instinct to find what he wanted ; he put saddle and bridle himself on to the fastest horse there, and, once in the saddle, he was all right, for, drunk or sober, Harry could ride. He got back before the doctor, and ran, all breathless, heated and splashed, up the stairs to the door of the room into which Annie had been taken, knocked as softly as he could, and opened the door. She was lying on the bed, and his mother and the house- keeper were with her. They made ges. tures to him to go back, but he stood there, his face all quivering with wist- ful anxiety. " Only let me say just one word to her," pleaded he hoarsely. He eras panting still from the speed with which he had come. • Annie, who had been lying half un- conscious, opened her eyes and turned to Lady Braithwaite with a low cry. " Don't let him come near me," she whispered. But Harry heard; and he slunk out of the room stunned as no physical blow could have stunned him. Annie lay ill for weeks, and in all that time no messages, no entreaties would induce her to see her husband. The only glimpses he got of her were by stealth, when she was asleep. For the sweet hope of being a mother, which had made her secretly, silently happy under all his neglect, had now been taken from her, and she felt that it was his brutality which had snatched away the one joy her wretched mar. riage had brought her. Lady Braithwaite tried to soothe hex mind and induce her to forgive her bus. band. But the submissive daughter-in- law was strong in her weakness ; and no persuasion on the part of the elder lady, who had now grown as kind as sho had formerly been cbld, could 'exact more than— "Tell him I forgive him; but don't let him see me." She was so obstinate in this decision that, even when she WES well enough to be carried down -stairs, she refused to move from her room, and the women about her knew that it was the dread of meeting her husband which kept her a prisoner. So that Lady Braithwaite had to make her way to Ilarry's room one night, and persuade him to go away for a time. It was a difficult task for a mother, for the lad's passion broke out vehemently in alternate fits of rage against his wife and of fondness for her. First he said he would go to the ends of the earth, if that would do her any good, and the next minute he swore she was a hard, ungrateful little vixen, and de. served to have her ears boxed. However, at last Lady Braithwaite carried her point; and he agreed to go away for a fortnight to some relatives of here in Leicestershire—no very great hardship, in truth, as the hunting -season was not yet over. So one morning, before Annie was awake, he stole into her room with ela- borately clumsy movements expgressive of his intention not to make tele least noise, all ready for his journey, except that he was without his boots—he had loft them outside the door for fear of their creaking. He stood looking at her wistfully for a few minutes, and then crept close to the bed and softly kissed her. She did not move or wake. Then ho took out of his pocket a letter, di. reoted rather quaintly to " Mrs. Harold Braithwaite Garston Grange Lan- cashire," He had first written outside it simply " Annie ;" but then it had oc- curred to. him that the dignity of the offended husband required the full title. This letter he trtoked gently under her shoulder, as ho did not want anybody else to see it. Then, with another kiss end the murmur, " She doesn't deserve itr—I'm blest if she does 1"—he left the room. When hr, got outside the dear, he hesi- tated a moment. " Wonder if it would hurt her to wake her? Shp might just say good -by. Oh, well, it is only for a fortnight!"-- and he put on his boots and wont down- stairs. Only a fortnight—so ho thought 1 When Annie woke that morning, she found the letter, It was badly written, strangely spelt, not punctuated at all, an euthontio uninspired document evi• dontly. A VAGRANT WIPE. Br F. WAunie. Anther of "TRH douse ON TAE HARM" "AT Tixe Woarn's 11Csncv," ETe. that, and delighting hiin by her arch- ness; only ono person at the table no. ticed how feverishly bright her eyes were, and the nervous play of her deli• cate fingers when she was not speaking. For Stephen never took his eyes off her; he drank scarcely anything and ate no. thiug. Aunie was pale to the lips, and the sound of Harry's voice made her start. Only Lady Braithwaite and Wil- liam were quite their usual selves. " So this is the last Christmas I am to spend as Miss Braithwaite ! said Lili- an. "I wonder how I shall like married life." "Ask Annie how she likes it," sug- gested George. The young wife did not look up; but all could sen that a shiver passed over her slight form. Harry made a restless movement on his chair. "Confound her!"'' William, who sat next, heard him mutter ; and the boy's blood took fire. Wiser than George or Wilfrid in the interests of his playfellow, however, he said nothing, and clenched his hands together under the table to keep himself from punching his bro. ther'a head. Such acts as that had not been unknown in past times at the Grange dinuer•table, and a repetition of them seemed perilously near. Wlieu they at last Dame into the drawing•room after dinner, after sitting an unusually long time over their wine, Annie was seated—it almost seemed that she was hidden—in the shadow of one of the window -curtains close to the conservatory. Lady Braithwaite was happily dozing as usual, and Lilian was flitting about the room, more anima- ted, more restless than usual. She look. ed at her brothers searchingly as they came in; they were all talking and laughing loudly and discordantly. Ste• phen was the only one perfectly sober, he, white to the lips and silent, was more excited than they. Ho watched Lilian with glistening eyes full of fear and anxiety. She had scarcely listened to half a dozen sentences of her brothers when she left them and crossed the room. " Where are you going? We want you to play something." "I think you can amuse yourselves better without me to•night," she .said, wibh playful insolence—" at least fox Via present. Alt come aown presenory, when I've finished my letter to aunt Constantia, and give you ' John Peel.' " She calculated upon their having found some other means of passing the time long before they thought of hor again; and, before they could stop her, she had left the room. The little black figure in the shadow of the curtain sprang up, and was at the door to follow ber example, when Harry's voice thun- dered— Annie, stop where you are 1" But for once she took no notice, and she was turning the handle when he sprang forward and stumbled over a foot- stool. George laughed. William darted across the room to Annie, and, holding the door open, said— ' Go dear—quick 1" But the power to do so had gone from the frightened woman's limbs. She hesitated. In that one moment Harry had recovered himself, and, just as Wil- liam was giving her a gentle little push, her husband reached them, and, seizing Annie's arm roughly, swung her round into the middle of the room again. There came a sullen imprecation from the lips of every other man in the room, and William, with a howl of rage, felled his staggering brother like an ox to the ground. Wilfred, sober for the moment, turned to the wife, whet had clasped her bands in fright as she saw her hus- band fall. Go, my child, gol" he said earnestly. " He isn't hurt. For Heaven's sake, go before he gets up 1" They were all between her and the door now, swearing fallen husband and the rest. She turned, fled through the conservatory, and out into the garden ; she ran, ran—over the steeply -sloping lawn and down into the shrubbery at the bottom, too muoh soared to stop herself. She fancied she saw a tall black figure among the trees in front of her, and called ' Lilian 1"—but there was no answer. Then, having reached the path that ran between the trees all round the garden, she leaned against a tree to get her breath. The next min- ute she heard a man's footsteps coining hurriedly down the walk. Her excited fanny told her it was her husband come to wreak his disappointed fury on her; she tried to got behind a tree, but there , was a wire fence which stopped her. She grouched down on the ground with her face hidden, until the footsteps Dame quite close and stopped, " Don't, don't 1 I can't bear anymore!" sho said hoarsely. But an arm was put round her very gently, and tried to raise her from the ground. " My darling, it is net your brutal husband. Don't you know who it is ?" Oh, George !"the cried, with a gasp of relief, as he raised her from the gronnd. `,hr hrotg en his arm, quite mill, ex- cept for a convulsive trembling from time to time, for a few minutes, until her shaken senses began to return; then she tried to stand along, "1 ate hotter now, thank you, George. But, oh, I was so frightened 1" "Lie still in any arms, my darling," said he, his voice shaking. Ile drew her more closely to him, and she could feel the quick beating of bib heart against here. "Let mo go, George; I am canto well now. Yon frighten -Me too I" the said piteously, impploringly,trying to unlook his hands with her slender angora. Ho held her more loosely at once. I frighten you, Annie I I would not hurt a hair of your beautiful head for the world. Oh, my darling, my darling, tell me you aro better I Look up at me, Annie." She raised her eyee timidly to his faoe, then dropped them again as his passionate gaze met hem. " I am much better. Let mo go, George, please. Won't you do what I ask you ? I am tired, I want to go in— to bed, Oh, George if you are really sorry for me, let me go in, or I shall die out here in the cold I" "You shall not the, you shall not he cold in my arms. Do you want to go back to the husband who is waiting to bully you, perhaps to strike you, away from the man who loves you with all hie soul?" Annie gathered all her strength and gave one ringing Dry— " Harry I" The bare branches of the shrubbery- trees hrubberytrees rustled and cracked, as a man sprang into the pathway and tore the trembling woman from the unprepared. George. She looked up. " Thank Heaven 1 Colonel Richard- son 1" George looked at him too, dumb with surprise. But his eyes saw what Annie's did not. From the opposite side of the path Lilian's handsome eyes were flash- ing in the moonlight in jealous anger at the woman who lay unconscious in Colo. nal Richardson's arms. CHAPTER X. Careless of herself and her own secret, in the burning desire to be revenged upon Annie, Lilian sped' back to the house, not knowing that George had seen her, and found Harry with the rest in the billiard -room, still quarrelling hotly about the scene in the drawing. room, of which she had not yet heard. Stephen had been forbidden by her to leave the house that night, and he had been tortured wibh anxiety on her ac. count ever since he saw Annie go into the conservatory, and then noticed a few minutes later that George also had dis- appeared. Lilian beckoned Harry imperiously out of the room. "I have something important to say to you." Her wide glistening eyes, panting bosom, and resolutely subdued manner checked his oaths at this interruption. He followed her into the hall. " George and Colonel Richardson are in the garden, in the copse at the bottom, quarrelling over your wife. I am sorry if I have startled you, but I thought you 'had better know.' " She is the blight of my life," hissed out Harry, with a bitter imprecation, trying to steady himself. Hadn't you better do something more than stand here and abuse her?" asked Lilian drily. She turned in disgust from the infuri- ated lad and went into the drawing. room. He was on the point of follow. ing ber, when Annie Dame into the ball from the garden by another door. There was not a trace of colour in her face; she crept slowly, and it seemed to her drunken husband guiltily, towards the staircase. " Stop!" growled Harry. " You have something to say to me now. Where have you been ?" " In the garden." " Whom were you with ?"—" With George,. " And Colonel Richardson ?"—" Yes." She spoke wearily ; all spirit seemed to have been taken out of her by the scenes she had gone through since H ry's first bullying that afternoon. What were you doing there ? Tell me at once." " I was doing nothing to be ashamed of ; you know that perfectly well. I will tell you all about it to•marrew. It would be of no use to try to make you understand now," said she, glancing up at his flushed face with an involuntary shudder of disgust. "You will tell me now, whether I un- derstand or not—that is my look out," returned ho doggedly. "I've had enough of your infernal airs of superio- rity, and I mean to show you I'm master. You go about with a long face, tolling everybody you are too good for me,while all the while—" " Take care what you say 1" she broke in with sudden spirit. " What wore you doing in the garden, then," thundered he. "What was Colo. nal Richardson there for ?" She did not answer. It was not so much to shield Lilian as from fear of another and worse quarrel between the brothers that she was silent, and ex. citement, fatigue and disgust were mak. ing her reckless. " Do you intend to answer me or not?" asked Harry, laying a heavy hand on her shoulder. His touch mado hor defiant. aze0e,e. " Not now." He raised his hand and struck her. It was not really a severe blow; but it was enough to throw the fragile little creature to the ground. " You brute,you cruel, cowardly brute 1" she cried, in a low sobbing voice, looking up at him with passionate (lark eyes full of Hatred, from where she 1nel faiiuu. " You may have :tilled your child 1"—and her head fell back upon the floor at his feet, while he stood still in stupid, dumb bewilderment. Only for a moment. The rough, drunken fellow was not heartless. When his dim dazed eyes caw clearly the white senseless face at his feet, and his dull ears began to admit a suggestion of hor meaning, he flung himself down be- side her and gathered the unconscious woman into his arms in a passion of loud ryl1T.L WILSON FOUNDRY, AT GREATLY Reduced .Prices ! Wo have on hand the following, viz.:—Land Rollers, Plows, Har- rows, Scujllors, Horse Powers, Straw Cutters, Turnip Cutters, Grinding or Chopping, Mills, best made, and 1 good second Band Lumber Wagon. Take Notice. • Wo have started a Planer, and 11Iatcher to work. Parties wishing to have Lumber dressed and match- ed, or flooring sized, tongued and grooved may rely on getting first- class jobs on the most reasonable terms. Repairs of all kinds promptly attended to at the Brussels Foun- dry. • Wm. R. Wilson. T URON AND BRUCE Loan & Investment Co' This Company is Loaning Money OR Farm Security at LOWEST RATES of Interest. MORTGAGES PURCHASED. SAVINGS BANN BANCE. 3, 4 and 5 per cent. Interest Al- lowed on Deposits, according to amount and time left. OFFICE. --On corner of Market Square and North street, Goderich. Horace Horton, MANAGER, Goderi eb ,Au g.5 th 4881 BRUSSELS PUMP WORKS. The undersigned begs to inform the public that they have manufactured and ready for use PUMPS OF ALL MHOS, OS, WOOD to IRON. Cisterns of Any dimension. GATES OF ALL SIZES. CLornEs REELS of a superior construction. Examine our stock before purchasing elsewhere. A Call solicited. We are also Agents for 11lcDougall's Celebrated Windmill. Wilson & Pelton, Shop Opposite P. Scott's Blacksmith Shop P. S.—Prompt attention paid to all re- pairing of pumps Rea. • AGENTS WANTED Steady Employment to Good Men. None need be idle. Previous experience not essential We pay either Salary or Com- mission. 100 1811 Waned to Canvas for the sale of Canadian grown Nursery stock. The Fonthill Nurseries, Lamest in Canada, Over 400 Acres. Don't apply unless you eau fur- nish first-class inferences, aril want to work. No room for lazy men,but can employ any number of energetic men who want work. Address Stone & Wellington, Toronto, Ont. OOT. 20, 1880. AR,M i -.,.i .' AI BUILJER$ JARDWAIL Glom Sz Fusty, Lath & Sb.l t r VES —AND— Stove Pipes Tavel. Felting, Alabastine Paint. Mixed Paints ALL COLORS. t b AD & BRUSSELS -Woolen Mill. Any Quantity o • Weep ¶¶AMTRD Highest 4'i hrket Price PAIL/ IN Cash or Trade I have in stock a good assortment of Blankets, Slrirtings, Flannels, fine and coarse, Full Cloth, Eine Tweeds, Coarse Tweeds, Yarns, &c. Also an assortment of • Cotton goods. I am now prepared to tape in Carding, Spinning, Weaving, &c. eati.siaet .on uaTa,teec.. KNITTED GOODS MADE TO OPi Pr. Give Me a Fall before taking your wool elsewhere. YOURS TRULY, Geos Eo" 'e.