— ^ - i———— r —■ i VOL I. JOHN II. seals,|propkS:tor! ATLANTA. GA., SATURDAY. APRIL 17. 1875. TEEMS i *3 EER ANNUM, -LEiiAiYlfe, | m auvaNCE/ NO. 1). [For The SuuDy South.] GRAY EYES. FROM THE MSS. OF W. W. HEXDREE. Poets may rave about flashing black eyes, Or sigh o’er the charms of the blue, Or praise the soft hazel's voluptuous dyes— (They all have their charms, it is true); But yet, in despite of wliate’er they can say. I own I’ve a fondness for gray. In the black, there is passion and pride of high birth, In the blue ever trembles a tear; And the hazel still sparkles with laughter and mirth ; And the brown is bewitehingly dear; But we turn by and by from their bright, restless play, To the peaceful repose of the gray. There are hearts that the black with their fire cannot storm; Nor the brown with their witchery move; Nor the blue with their infinite teuderness warm; Nor the hazel awaken to love; Yet their pride is o’erthrown and their coldness gives way ’Neath the calm, steady light of the gray. Black eyes may lighten with anger and scorn, And the blue through their sorrow may smile; In the depths of the hazel is merriment born, Yet they often mislead and beguile; But the light we may trust to, that ne’er will betray, Is the passionless lustre of gray. Imperious black is the hue for a queen; Fair blue for the sweet, winning maid; Bright brown for the dryad that sports on the green, Or dances amid the green glade; But the eye of a wife that will please us alway Must possess the soft charms of the gray. [Written for The Sunny South.] TWICE CONDEMNED; OR, TJie Border Mystery. BY MARY E. BRYASI. FULL SYNOPSIS. The reader will here find a full synopsis of this great story, giving all the successive links or steps in the grand plot. This we give as a substitute for the back numbers, which cannot he furnished. The synopsis covers the first twelve chapters. The thirteenth chapter is con tinued in this number—Editor Sunny South. ‘WAS THIS THE KNIFE THAT STRUCK THAT CRUEL, COWARDLY BLOW?” PART FIRST. mg “grit” in this case and evidently favored sending the criminal out of the State instead of hanging him, influenced, no doubt, by pride j and dread of the disgrace that would fall on his daughter and her unborn child. That night the men proceed to carry their de in-law of Neil Griffin sits in Cheap John’s store in the arm-chair that is the seat of honor, and the eyes of the men turn to him as to an oracle, while he calmly listens to the discussion. He hears it bruited that the miner spent the night under Neil Griffin's roof, and that he, Neil, put him over the river this morning at daybreak. At last, it is decided to send for Neil's wife and take her testimony. The messenger finds The story opens in a village or rude settlement her in her cabin home keeping the breakfast on the outskirts of Western civilization. It is warm for Neil and in the act of sitting on the called Bear’s Bend, from the curve of the river j floor and feeding her pet kitten, showing the on which it is situated. At sunrise there is com- youthfulness of this child-wife who is not yet motion in the liquor-shop of Cheap John, where fifteen. She hurries to “tliestore,” unconscious the male population congregate for their morn- of the trouble, but fluttered at sight of the stern ing "pipe and dram.” It is found there has faces that turn upon her as she steps upon the been a murder committed on the other side of stoop. She catches sight of Neil and flies to the river near the block-house, where the nu- him, asking what has happened. He soothes cleus of a settlement had formerly been built her, liegs her not to worry, caressing her with and abandoned. Two hunters who had gone his left hand. The other he hides in his bosom, out after bear early that morning are seen re- But she catches sight of the blood upon it, and, turning across the liver, having with them wild with anxiety, begs her father to tell her “strange-looking game” that turns out to he- the what has occurred. At length, they question body of a murdered man. He was a miner re- her and learn that the miner had eat and slept turning to the States. He had purchased liquor at their house the night before—that they had of Cheap John late the day before. The body is sat late around the tire listening to his stories of red with the signs of murder; the rattlesnake- the land of gold; that warmed by liquor he had skin vest has been torn off, and there are other grown confidential and showed them how he tokens that robbery was the inducement to kill. 1 concealed his treasure of gold and diamonds The two men tell their story of the manner in 1 about his person,—part in a girdle around his which they found the body. It was lying un- waist and part quilted in the vest of rattlesnake- der “Gallows Tree” by the block-house, and a j skin which he wore. He also showed them a man was stooping over it with a bloody knife ring made out of a nugget of gold in which a j Neil free by stealth, when he must fly the in his hand. "And there stands the man," large, rough diamond was set. | country, while Milly returns to the States'with and they point to Neil Griffin, whom they had “Is this the ring?” calls out a voice, and she \ him (her father) and becomes the accomplished brought hack with them from the woods—Neil is shown a ring upon her husband’s little finger, i woman he has always meant she should be Griffin, whose father had been hanged on that Frightened and bewildered, she yet admits that same “Gallows Tree years before on a charge of it is. Questioned farther, she says she has not joining the Indians to rob and murder the seen the miner since he went away at daybreak accompanied by her husband, who was to put him across the river and show him a “nigh cut” to the cross roads. “A nigh cut to—tother country,” calls out a rough voice; and then Milly is shown the gory, stark body of the miner stretched on a bench inside the door. Then she hears that her bus- entrance into'society, the courted and flattered belle; her home intercourse with the talented and noble-looking father she loves with such worshipping devotion: her marriage with Mr. Avery: her happiness and content until this strange and unprecedented experience. What can it mean ? She shrinks from confiding it to her husband, especially since she knows not whether these are recollections of real events or delusions of a brain that is giving way. She has heard from Colonel Archer hints about the man that was hanged at “Gallows Tree ” which in duce her to think he knows more than he has told. She seeks him, learns from him the whole story of the murder and the hanging, feeling all the while that he only repeats what has been stamped on her recollection in times past, sud denly clouded and suddenly brought to light again. Colonel Archer confides to her the secret of his sojourn in this town. He is here on a mission of revenge. That murdered miner was his father returning home with his wealth after his long absence in Mexico. Ever since the son has grown to manhood he has devoted himself to searching for tidings of his father. He has sought him in the wild lands of gold without suc cess. At length he has traced him here—has learned that he was murdered and his murderer hung. Circumstances occur to induce the belief that he did not hang until he was dead. He has reason to believe that he was ent down before life was extinct and resuscicated by his mother. Then he begins his search for the murderer; is baffled and put on a false scent, hut perseveres and traces him, so he thinks, back to this place—- back to the scene of the murder, led by some morbid fascination and by the desire to he near I his kin. Colonel Archer declares his belief that Neil Griffin is somewhere in the vicinity, hut he has not yet succeeded in finding him. He has just employed a detective to assist him in the search, and will leave no means untried to ferret out the murderer of his father—the destroyer of his broken-hearted mother. Melicent listens to this with absorbing interest; exacts from Colonel Archer a promise to keep her informed of all that is done or found out in the matter, and then goes to her room to write to her father as the only one who can clear up the mystery that threatens to destroy her reason. She conjures him if he would save her from madness to tell her the truth concerning her past life. When his answer comes it confirms her fears Yes, it I is-^rue; sue is tnat Miny Drown who was married to a man hanged for a murder. When the shock of seeing him struggling in such a death had thrown her into a swoon and afterwards into | convulsions, in which her lifeless child was born, he and the old black woman had taken her insensible from her bed, conveyed her to the boat near by and carried her off under cover of “traitor's son ” denying his guilt, and most ag- makes the shock she has had most dangerous. gravating of all, refusing to give up the treasure, That night, the house of Captain Brown is ,, , ,, , pronounce his doom and proceed to lay a plan burned to the ground— being more than half the H « lu \ d stopped on the way long for its execution without the knowledge of Cap- consumed before the settlers discover it. Noth- ® nou 8j 1 r ®*? 0 F e lpr ^ heal h o hot y, le tain Brown or his daughter, in order to “save ing can be seen of Milly, her father or the ser- her mind still impaired by that fearful shock feelings.” He is to be taken to the block-house vant, but it is believed they have perished in the an< ^ hy the succeeding convulsions, remained and hung upon the spot where the murder was flames. Only a few hones and some pieces of w ftn dermg and unconscious. As this wore away committed -hung upon “Gallows Tree,” where blackened flesh are found when the tire has L er „ f !^!f fed^^^at she^liad his lather had swung some years before. This burned down. They know it is not the w r ork of was to be done by torch-light that very night. Indians, for the Captain’s fine horse stands in But first, Neil Griffin was to be offered every in- the stable—the horse so long coveted by these dneement for him to show where the gold and savage foes of the border. And so, to all appear- diamonds were hidden. The plan was kept con- ances, Neil Griffin, his wife and father-in-law cealed trorn Captain Brown, for though their disappear from Bear’s Bend and from the face of leader heretofore, he had shown himself want- earth forever. in a great measure lost her recollections of the past. He took advantage of this, persuaded her that the glimmering reminiscences that came up were delusions of ner long delirium, and by put ting her in a convent among girls of her own age surrounded her with scenes and associations that soon made these vague remembrances fade into dream-like dimness. Her father had be lieved they would never start up afresh. He had PART SECOND. permitted her to accompany her husband to his m, , . . ,, , , Western home in this belief, though he was not The curtain rises again upon the border vil- aware that the city of Allu * ia was near i y lage after eight years have passed It is a border the old * ite £ f tL J e settle ment of Bear’s settlement no longer. Railroads, steamboats i tj. „ a-l hi _ „ *i. j. sign into effect. Neil is conveyed to the block- and immigration have wrought their usual magic ^ SI ?, , ■ ’ 1 KC • la , house. He persists in refusing to tell who the work. The forests have given place to fields. bad re , v f lved f S ^ murderer is orto show where the treasure is hid, Bear's Bend is a dilapidated suburb to the flour- ; , ° I J 1 j, e ^} . . I »incite , , " and they prepare for his execution. His fierce i ishing town of Alluvia. There are mills and of double identity which had compelled her old mother bursts upon the scene and seeks to work-shops owned chiefly by the Mayor of the father to reveal the secret of her life. But while ail is in vain, she breaks from her would-be Avery, who is also a favored candidate for polit- captors, gajlops back to Captain Brown, where ical honors. He has just brought home a lovely nis i 1 OU( ^ r ncr own p <* h 8?tog on, »„d accomplished bride-the "onlv dangh.cr if are earnestly conversing upon the moonlit porch, an influential citizen of an Eastern city. She whites. The men regard him with lowering brows. He and his mother and his brother are already objects of suspicion and hatred in the settlement. His mother is called a witch, his brother a traitor. The shadow of the gallows on which their father perished hangs over them all. Neil himself is lately married to pretty, love, his honor and her own peace of mind. He He had left Bear’s Bend in secresy because he feared the settlers Miliy’s father has just'pledged himself to set has been received with joy by all classes, and ' ^Griffin .^H^LdNeptThVtTOthTromTS daughter because he did not, wish to cloud her new, bright life with saddening and shameful memories. She was safely married now to a good and worthy man, and she had only to keep her secret locked in her own breast and all the usual complimentary dinners and fetes are given in her honor. She is returning from one of these—a dinner at the house of one of her husband’s country friends. All day she has burying out of sight all memory of her degrading been strangely affected. She has struggled marriage. against a singular feeling that comes over her , ,, rr,, „„ „ __ At this juncture, old Hagar dashes up, her in spite of every effort—the fee’ing of a double ^ vi r V +1 o 1 l. 1 id ^ n r gray hair streaming in the wind, while she cries existence-a dual consciousness, as it were. for H’"P 0 *t J out that they are her son's murderers; itistoget Strange, vague recollections flash through her ? re , a ^ f i , a 1 •, " money to please them that her son has robbed mind ever and anon, and though she exerts her- bft ? d ’ He f « ebs ? an , d ‘“tEc ‘fit and murdered, and now they sit here idle while self to please, the task grows weary and she wenL, the rope is around his neck. She calls on him pleads to he taken home. She is accompanied ', bcb ( ! ^oddished to come and help her save him-Captain Brown by Colonel Archer-* tall, dark man-a splendid betweenGiem is productive of much trouble to It emboldens Colonel Archer and turns into passion. It gives him a cer- 1 Melicent, for she fears to excite , knowing that in that case he „ , her of his plans to find Neil. „ „ . . „ eye nas noted tneabstraction ot JVlrs. Avery , n manding voice and a controlling eye—a born the miner near the cross roads. He had gone hold the duskv figures moving in the red glare and her dream v, troubled face. She is beautiful, eh nse «> scenes anci expressions tnat ruler. He had come to Bear's Bend some years but a little way when a cry for help caused him of torcli-light. ‘ They are straining up the hill at and he watches her with the interest of admira- — -S 1 -. aw - eD . r ’ - *2 s l ealous suspicion, previous in a remarkable way.—riding up at to hasten back only to find the old man speech- topmost speed when suddenly a man’s form tion. A storm is threatening, and to shorten twilight of an early autumn day on a jaded less and dying. The hunters claim that this is shoots up to sight from the shadows of “ Gallows the way, Mr. Avery orders the driver against his horse and carrying only his trusty rifle and a not all his story—that when they came upon Tree”—shoots up and swings out from the will to'take an unfrequented road that leads over fair-liaired little girl. His daring courage and him he was wild and confused, and in answer to swaying limb in ghastly prominence. Driving a hill on which looms up the old-time, black- his excellence as a marksman won him favor their question, said “Yes, he had seen the mur- the rowels deep into his horse's bleeding sides, ened block-house and the tree—“Gallows Oak.” with the men. and the child opened to him the derer: he would to God he had never seen Captain Brown dashes up, shouting: “Hold! As they near it, the horses stop short, plunging hearts of the women. She became the pet of him !" but afterwards refused, and persisted in hold! he is innocent!” He cuts the rope with and snorting. “No wonder: they see the ghost the village and grew up as wild as a fawn, neg- refusing, to tell where he was or to disclose where one sweep of the knife he holds, and leaping of Griffin," says the driver. Melicent Avery lected in education, wayward but warm-hearted, the treasure was hidden. Seeing his danger from his horse, bends over the body. “Too looks from the carriage window, sees the block- Doting on her grace and prettiness, her father and the circle of stern-faced men that narrowed late! too late !” he utters; “he is dead—his pulse house and the oak, and is instantly smitten by a held to the declaration that he meant to take her around him. Milly clings to him and beseeches is gone." Then there is a silence broken by the vivid memory as by a flash of lightning. The back to the States, put her to school and make a him to save himself by telling who the murderer tierce curses of the maddened mother. She vague, dream-like recollections at once took form lady of her. He never seemed to remark that i s , even if it is his own brother for her sake, stands over the body like a wounded bear over and connection. Overwhelmed and bewildered, she was fast growing up to be a woman. Sud- He clasps her in his arms, but firmly and sadly her dead cub. and none dare approach. They she sits shuddering over the past as it now un- denly. the impulsive Milly dashed liis hopes to refuses. She appeals to her father, and Neil’s slink away, leaving her there with her dead— rolls itself before her like a dark panorama. She the ground by marrying Neil Griffin. A stolen eves turn to him intently as he slowly and with leaving Captain Brown to carry home the insen- sees unfolded the life of Milly Brown, the bor- match with a member of a despisbd family ! It some hesitation enjoins on his son-in-law that sible form of his daughter. * der girl, the wild, romping child, then the child- had angered the Captain terribly, but after a his first duty is to the woman he has married: Next day. when they venture to the spot, they wife of an obscure and contemned man, happy find a new-made erave not far off. mourned over in li<-r nubin home with the tender devotion of while he seemed to become somewhat reconciled if he thinks it best for Milly that he should tell The feeling, though manfully shaken off, returns until he treats with cold distrust the wife he lately idolized. She bears this with patience, knowing how deeply though unwittingly she has wronged him. She has the additional dis tress of knowing that if Neil is alive she is not Mr. Avery’s lawful wife. But in the inidst of these troubles she keeps one purpose instinct ively in her mind. She determines to thwart Colonel Archer’s schemes for ferreting out Neil Griffin. She resolves if she can to find and warn him herself. She will save him no matter at what risk. She is led to this by the feeling of his innocence—by the power of old recollections and the remorseful tenderness they have begotten. In pursuance of her object, she goes to the “Wild-Cat’s Den” and has an interview with old Hagar, in which, while she does not reveal who she is, she endeavors to gain the old dame's con- „ _ _ . „ ^ _inging from a rope's end and struggling blood -stained knife that rare Spanish blade Milly, I would die. at the point- of death, watched over only by her the agonies of death. These recollections that of blue steel with the silver-mounted hilt which Milly is carried home by her father, and father and an old black servant, for Captain rnsh upon her like overwhelming waves are in tells her he all the village knows to be his. inherited from when they are gone, the settlers, having no Brown, who is believed to have medical skill, some way connected with the memory of her eats a’most father to whom it was said robbery or mur- doubt of Neils guilt, feeling themselves ag- forbids her to be disturbed by the visit of anv past life as Melicent Weir—her quiet, convent had given it—now at this moment the father- grieved by this trifling and outraged by the neighbor. Her condition of expected maternity life of study and refined association; then her years— an Arab of the streets and woods, who tells her he sleeps “of night” at “granny’s” and anywhere. He catches fish and traps birds for a “living,” and sells the fish and kets of a “friend” who lives “a good piece INSTINCT PRINT
