But she was a very pretty woman, by all
accounts, and her husband had seen, courted, and married her in a
high tide of infatuation, after a very short acquaintance, and with
very little knowledge of her heart's history. He had never found
reason to regret his choice as yet, and his anxiety for her recovery
was great.
She was supposed to be out of danger, and herself and the child
progressing well, when there was a change for the worse, and she
sank so rapidly that she was soon given over. When she felt that
she was about to leave him, Annetta sent for her husband, and, on
his speedy entry and assurance that they were alone, she made him
solemnly vow to give the child every care in any circumstances that
might arise, if it should please Heaven to take her. This, of
course, he readily promised. Then, after some hesitation, she told
him that she could not die with a falsehood upon her soul, and dire
deceit in her life; she must make a terrible confession to him
before her lips were sealed for ever. She thereupon related an
incident concerning the baby's parentage, which was not as he
supposed.
Timothy Petrick, though a quick-feeling man, was not of a sort to
show nerves outwardly; and he bore himself as heroically as he
possibly could do in this trying moment of his life. That same
night his wife died; and while she lay dead, and before her funeral,
he hastened to the bedside of his sick grandfather, and revealed to
him all that had happened: the baby's birth, his wife's confession,
and her death, beseeching the aged man, as he loved him, to bestir
himself now, at the eleventh hour, and alter his will so as to dish
the intruder.
Pages:
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190