Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 edition. Excerpt: ... breath to those ice-cold lips, and warmth to the cold, white hands, so like the frozen petals of a lily. He returned home on the next train, bearing with him what he supposed were the remains of his darling, lost Uldene, and a few days later they were placed in the marble vault of the Chesters, and on the cold, white tablet were the chiseled words: Sacred To The Memory Of ULDENE, Beloved Wife of RUTLEDGE CHESTER. Aged 17 Years and 11 Months. Rest in Peace. CHAPTER XXV. "it Is Best That He Should Believe Me Dead." As the train had rushed on through the darkness, Uldene had turned away with a bitter cry. She saw by the dim light of the stars a path running parallel with the iron rails, and her feet struck into the path. She knew not, cared not, whither it led. She walked through the fragrant, starlit darkness of the summer night like one in a hideous dream. "What should she do? Where should she go?" she asked herself. And again the wild prayer rose to her lips: "Would to Heaven death would come to her and end it all!" But, alas! the boon of death seldom comes when the wretched call. "I have lost all that I hold dear in the world," she sobbed, piteously. "I am parted by fate, more cruel than death, from Rutledge. What is there left to live for? If I had braved fate, would it have ended in a tragedy?" she whispered, below her breath. "I dared not risk it. Oh, no, no, no! Better to part from Rutledge while he loves me, than wait in terror, too pitiful to be described by weak words, for the hour to come in which he would know all, and hate me with bitter hatred. My head aches. I am too tired to think," she said to herself. How far she traveled that night, or which direction she took, were details Uldene could never remember. When the red gleam...