The Queen of The Isle OR SIBYL CAMPBELL'S LOVE

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume IV, Issue 1098, 20 September 1904, Page 4

The Queen of The Isle OR SIBYL CAMPBELL'S LOVE

BY MAI AGUES FUSiIiNG

Author 'A "Tlio Hcirr-ss of Glen Gowcr," "Tlio Unseen Bridegrdom," etc

CHAPTER XXl—Continued "So nearly two years passed. Berth 11 dwelt sometimes in Wostport and sometimes in the island, Mark Campbell hail a schooner, and kept llvo or six rough looking sailor fellows, half smugglers »nd wholo villains, constantly about him. I managed to obtain employment about the place, and was thus enablod to remain an tlio island, and, uususpoctod, watch over

Bertha. " Bertha, wlion in tho island, always lived in somo of tho upper rooms, where tho children and sen-iints never came. Ono day, when sho was yi Wostport, I chanced to enter a litllo dark closet off ono of tho largo rooms, and knelt (bwn to grope for something on tho floor, when my hand pressed heavily on HOtutlliing which I know now to bo a spring; a trapdoor fell, and Ic i.no very near being'precip'uatod down twolvo feet to ono of tho rooms below —a largo, empty upiu'tinont, tilled with old lumber, " When I rocovered from my astonish" rnont, I examined the trap and found it could bo opened from below, and .vlien ahut it could never be discovered, I was at no loss to account lor its object as it had evidently been constructed by some former occupant for no good purpose, I felt convincod, howovor, that tho present proprietor know nothing of it, and I rosolved to say nothing about it, not knowing for what evil he might use it. _ " I was .light when I felt that this hasty marriage between Bertha and Mark Campbell could bo productivo of nothing but misery. Already ho was wearying of hor, but that did not provent him from boing madly jealous. A stranger, a tncro youth, had met Bertha somewhere, and was deeply struck by her beauty. Ho was a gay lad, and Mark Campbel l , overhear* ing some spot dies he had made about her had oil his lierco jealousy aroused, lie set spies to watch Bortna; hor every word and look wero distorted into a confirmation of hor guilt, and poor Bertha led a wretched life of it,

" Ono night one of his spies camo lo tho island, and sought an interview with Mark Campbell, What its purport was I know not, but ivhen it was ended his faco was livid with passion. Two of his villainous crow wore dispatched iii ii boat to Wosk port, and when they returned they brought, with them this youth, gagged and bound band and fool.

" I had a presentment that something terriblo would occur that night, but I never dreamed ofthe awful murder llmt was perpetrated in ono of the uppor rooms. It was«stormy night, but the men wero sent off again :o a *-' ill sotuo in Irs below Newport, and wh."i ihey came hick I hey had with them another mm, gagged and

bound liko the first. '■ I could not rust that night, bat sat anxiously in my room, in the basement story, longing with a strango dread for the morning. Suddenly I heard one wild torriQc scream, from someone I knew must bo Benin. Half mad with terror, I stolo into the lower hall to listen. For upwards of half an hour I rom&iuid thus, but nothing broko the deep st llness until heavy footsteps began to descend tho stairs, and 1 saw two ot tho worst of Campbell's gang coming down and leading tho man they had last brought to tho isle, Thoy placed him in a boat and rowed awav, I saw two others of tho crew talking in low hushed voices as they descended to tho shoro, I followed them to listen, and judge of my horror when I learned that Campbell had murdored this strango youth, and in his infernal bar'aarity, bad cast his wifo and tho body of her supposed loyer into a room together-con-signing hor tc a death too awful to eontemplate. The man just taken away was a mason who had wolloti up tho only door to tho room.

" I listened, tny lifeblood freezing with horror; but judge of my feelings when, from iheir description cf the room, I know it to be tho one with tho hidden door. In tht instant everytlnig was forgotten but tho ono thought of freeing hor who wns dearer still to mo than life, I procured a ladder, mado my way to tho deserted lumber room, nsconded it, and carefully let lull the trap. Tho lifeless form of tho murdored man lay across tho opening, but I pushed it aside and sprang into tho room, thinking only of Borthr,. In tho farthest cornot sli6 sat, a gibbering idiot. Tho terriblo shock had driven her insane, " What I felt at that dreadful sight no words can ever tell, I raised her in mj

arms and boro her down into tho lumber

room, I closed the trap, and, carrying hor as if 6he were an infant, I lied from the spot, Sho never uttered a singlo cry,

but lay passivoly ill my arms. There were boats on tho shore. I placed her in one, and with a strength almost superhuman, rowed over tlio heaving waves till morning. When morning ciuio, I found myself on tho shore below this place Hither I boro Bortlm, and beforo noon 1 had constructed a sort of rude hut to screen her from the boat of tho sun nnd tho night dow. Then I wont to Newport for such nccessarios as I immediately re quired, and resolved that hero I would spond tho re.>t of my lifo watching over my poor insane cousin, " For the next lew weoka I labonrod to construct this honso and tlio rudo furniture you iee here. It was a labour of love nnd I heeded not faiigtio nor want of rest until it was completed. No child could lmve beon more gonlle than Bertha, but I saw that reason bad lied forcvor. 1 fancied alio would always remain thus still and gentle, and never dreamed sho could bo attacked by paroxysms until I was startled ono night to find her raving mud. All ( ,ho events of that terriblo night seemed to como back to her, ami sho lied from the bouse beforo I could detain hor, sprang into the boat, and put off for the island. Sho knew how to manage a bout, and reached tho island, entered Campbell's Lodge, still making tho air resound with her shrill sliriota of Murder. Fortunately, in tho dark she was not perceived, and I managed to seizo her, and bear her oil' to tlio bunt beforo anyone dse beheld her. "A fortnight after, whon I visited Now-

port t learned thai Mtirlt Campbell was dead, "Of Bertha's chill I could discjver nothing. How ho disposed of in unknown lo nic to this hour, " And so llortha and I have lived hero for fourleon yuiirs unmolested, and our very existence is, doubtless lon{» since fogoltcn. She is, »c/itlo nud harmless, but sho still hud those periodical attacks of violence, hut in a lesser dogreo than at first, At such times, she always seeks the isle, enters Campbell's Loilgo, and rocs wandcrieg tlironijli tlio rooms, as if vacan'.ly trying to rcmcinbsv something, something that is pa.it, These nocturnal visits have given the Lmlge the reputation of being haunted, which her appearanco at dift'erent times upon tlio bland lias confirmed. As the house was for several yeai'S deserted after tlio death of Mark Campbell, sho could roam with impunity through the rofllitf--sometimes even pushing biek bolts and entering ap»rtlaenls that wero locked. Hitch. Christie, is tlio story of the manicc, Bortlm" All this time Christio had been listening in eilont amazement, at all ebe heard. The taystery of the haunted bouse and

tlio spirit of the isle was cleared up at last, "And the child-lid your oyer heat anything more of it?" inquired Chrittio. " Nothing concerning it havo I hoard." "Then it may still bo alive?" "I is very probabk'. But enough of this; it is wearing Into, and thco looks tired, Christie, Good' night, my daughter," Christie sought her couch, to wonder and dream qver what she had heard, and forgot for tiio time her own grids in thinking o( the ones of poor Bertha. How similar, too, their faios I Tho suflorings of both had originated in tboso fatal secret marriages, Bertha's were over, but Christie's wore not; and wondering how hers were to end, Christie fell asleep. And thus days and weeks and months glided by in the little, lonoly forest cot, Tho dreary winter passed, and spring was again robing the trees in green, while the inmates o! tho cottage knew nothing of tho events passing in tho great world moro than if they no longer dwelt in it—drinming not of tho stinling donoumont to tho tragedy of tho isle that was even then listening to a close, until their peace was broken by an unexpected occurrence that roused Christie into electric lifo onoe more. But for the present wo must leave her and return to tho other scones and characters of our story. (7*o he continued,)