LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1229, 11 February 1878, Page 3

LITERATURE.

BLACKMERE HOLLOW. By H, Barton, Bakeb. ( Continued.) ‘lt is this veiy trust,’ she answered, ‘ that urges mo to tell you all, that makes me feel so base. Surely God cannot be angry with me for castiog away deceit ? ’ * Let the past be as though it Imd never been,’ I said hastily; for her words filled me with dread: I feared to learn their meaning, ‘You say so now,’ she urged ; ‘ but a time will come when this secret will raise a dark cloud between as. Better even that we should part now, though that would be worse ih a death to me, than that coldness should come between us in tbe futi re ’ I felt that her words were wise, though I still continued irresolutely to oppose her wish : and so she had her way. But when it -was so decided sim paused, as if to gather strength for that which was to come; and I could feel her clinging arms tremble, and her heart throb againss my breast I drew her closer and closer to me, nestled her head upon my shoulder, and listened breathlessly. The twilight was fast fading into darkness ; the new moon shed a faint light upon our figures, upon her white upturned face, and just silvered the ripples of the lake as they broke upon the beach, with a low melancholy sigh; and at times a moaning breeze swept past us, making sad harmonies with the low soft music of her voice—harmonies so well befitting so sad a story.

Her fatter and mother had forced her into a marriage, when she was scarcely sixteen, w.th a bad dissipated man whom they imagined to be wealthy, but who was in reality only a vile adventurer. She lived with him two years. She told me nothing of that time; but her shudder when she mentioned him was more eloquent than description. Then came a catastrophe. He was leagued with a notorious gang of forgers—their head in fact. One day the law pounced upon them. He was condemned to fourteen years' penal servitude. Two days before my arrival at Blackmere, Mr Clifford had received from the prison authorities at Portsmouth the intelligence of his death. * You will now understand whj r I shunned you at Buxton,’ she said. ‘I was then a felon’s wife ; I am now a felon’s widow.’ She never once took her eyes off my face as she told this story. Mine were fixed upon the g - ound. 1 And did you think my love so worthless that it could be chilled by knowing that you had suffered, that you had been the victim of wicked people ?’ I asked, kissing her tenderly. ‘ When he was arrested,’ she went on again, laying her cheek against mine, ‘my father prevailed upon me to take a vow that I would never tell any person of my fatal marriage. It was on account of that he removed from London, and came to live in this out-of-the-way dreary nook ’ Strange that the news of the convict’s death should come just two days before my arrival. Was this merely a coincidence, or bad the father — I dared not complete the sentence even in thought.

It wasjchdly. J her*wa-Jt dew falling, and I feared she wouid cake c .Id. We rose, and slowly ascended the winding wooded path that led towards the house. Just as we had got clear of the trees, and turned into the bare road, I fancied I heard footsteps. a sound so unusual at that hour that I looked sharply round. Across the pale moonlight I saw the shadow of a man glide into the copse we had just quitted. Bella saw it also, and clutched my arm. ‘What was that?’ she whispered timidly. The person, whoever he might be, had disappeared so rapidly that I could not form the slightest idea of fa is appearance. I fel inclined to follow him ; but I perceived she was terrified, and I desisted from doing so. There was something in the incident—l knew not what, probably it lay in the morbid excited state < £ my imagination—that gave me a feeling of uneasiness. When I retired to my bedroom it became stronger than ever. Instead of going to bed I sat at my open window.

It was quite dark now, The moon had sunk ; there was no light save the dim reflection of the clear starlit h>ave n s upon which I sat gazing, until I fell into a dreamy reverie. I was aroused by the sound of creeping footsteps in the road beneath I had put oiit my candle, as the wind had made i 1 flicker and gutter. I was sitting back half behind the curtains, and could not be seen by any person below. The next moment there was a knock at the door—a peremptory insolent knock. I had left Mr Clifford iu the diuing-roorn drinking brandy and water, and I now heard his voice iu the passage demanding, * Who is there?: ‘All right; let me in,’ was the answer from without. There was a dead silence of some seconds. Then I heard the bolts withdrawn. I looked out of the window, but could discern only a dark form close against the door, which opened at the same moment to admit it. What mystery was this ? The story Bella had told me, the shadow across the moonlight, this strange visitor, formed a combination iu my mind filling me with insupportable dread. To remain quiescent was impossible. I opened, my door. 1 could hear the murmur of voices beneath. No longer master of myself, I crept down the stairs and listened Mrs (Clifford’s chamber was at the back of the dining-room. It was thence the sounds proc eded 1 could hear the conversation quire plainly now; and this is what I Heard ; * You’ll give rao up to the police if I do act jpptwjtJy ouit the

said. 1 You don’t dare to do it. If 1 had peached on the trial, you’d be ffit If'ortemouth yourself now. It wasn’t for your sake I didn’t, but for poor Bell’s.’ ‘ Are you not ashamed to mention that poor girl’s name ?’ said the father. ‘Not half as much as yon ought to be,* retoitsd the stranger. * Perhaps if I hai bean left to myself I should have fauna enough conscience to have spared her; but you, thinking I was a rich man, forced her •upon me. it was the biter bit. Informmtely you were not the only victim* But come ; it’s no use wasting time in talk; I in net have money. The pursuit is hot j £i,d if 1 am caught, I shall awing for kllll | the sentinel; and if I am caught, I’ll take good care that you don’t get off this time. But stay a moment. First of ail I have a serious question to put to you. While I was lurking about the road waiting for it to get a little later, I saw my wife coming up from the lake sde in company with a man. He had his arm round h«r waist.’ {To he mntiwiied.\ „■ „*