The Argosy — page 303: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

284 The Village Blacksmith. man, who but for God’s restraining hand would that night have been guilty of murder. And Janet, whom he had so crueily misjudged, was still his innocent Janet. She had erred, but not as he had feared ; she had deceived him, but not as he had suspected. She was the wife of a gentleman: Instead of being ashamed of her he had reason to be proud of her, for she had attained a position that in his wildest moments he had never dreamt of; nor to do him justice had he ever desired. That Mr. Reginald Tempest was the father of the child he had guessed on his way down to the mill-pool, when that awful tempta- tion was driving him to take an innocent life and lose his own soul ; but that he was also the husband of Janet was news as welcome as - it was startling. Even if Janet had been guilty—as he had suspected —how could he ever have faced her if her baby, by his act, were — now lying dead in the mill-pool? But now that he knew she was | innocent, Reuben thought if he had been mad enough to commit | that awful deed there would have been no place of repentance left for him. He must have fallen a victim to despair—the blue waters of that pool would have closed over another life that night. But when he thought this, Reuben was scarcely answerable for his reflections. His brain, already excited by fever, was still more excited by the events of the night; his head felt like a ball of fire; his limbs were aching so that he hardly knew how to rise from the _ ———— : <—s ws — yee damp ground ; the prayers he ejaculated were wild and incoherent. | He felt he was much more ill than he knew; his great frame trem- bled like an aspen, and it was with difficulty he pulled himself © together and made his way back to the tree where he had left the sleeping infant. His one thought now was to get it home safely and place it in its 7 - <a : mother’s arms before she awoke and missed it. No one then need © know the awful struggle he had been through that night, the terrible temptation he had undergone, the dreadful crime he had so | nearly committed. Through all the tangled thoughts that were } ! _ troubling Reuben’s brains this fixed idea now ran; to it his will was bent ; accomplish it he must or perish in the attempt—namely, get the infant safely back to Janet before she awoke. With this purpose in his burning, aching head, he dragged his i; weary limbs back to the tree ; but to his horror, when he reached it the hollow trunk was empty—the baby was gone! Reuben gave one agonised cry and fell senseless to the ground. (To be continued. ) ; Gomicdooks.com |