THE HEART OF A WOMAN.
“While there’s life there’s hope, so I’ll not despair yet; but I would
rather be at the stake than facing this monster, whose eyes glare into
mine whenever I open them. Bound as I am, it is enough to drive me mad;
and yet I dare not appeal to Kate for mercy; no, no, for a woman’s love
turned to hate is deadlier than the serpent’s sting.”
Thus thought Kent King as he gave a glance toward the door through
which Panther Kate had gone into the other room. As he turned his head,
Satan gave an ominous growl, and once more he closed his eyes.
Yet with closed eyes, Kent King could see those red lips, white teeth,
and glaring eyes above his face. Brave man though he was, the sweat
stood in beads upon his forehead, and he became strangely nervous,
which increased until human nature could bear no more, and he shrieked
forth:
“Kate! Kate! For the love of God, kill me and end this misery.”
At this cry the huge dog sprang upon the prisoner, his teeth ready to
bury themselves in the man’s throat, while he growled savagely. A quick
tread followed. Panther Kate entered the room and asked quietly:
“Well, sir, did you call?”
“Great God! Have you no heart, woman? Do you not see this monster upon
me, and that I am going mad?” he groaned.
“Ha! ha! ha! Then you can be made to feel, Kenton Kingsland? I
believed you callous to every emotion, though time was when you
professed feelings such as other people possess. I am happy now, sir,
for I gaze on you writhing in mortal anguish.”
Her voice was hard, her eyes burning, and her bosom heaved
convulsively, as though the inmost depths of her being were stirred.
“Kate, I have wronged you bitterly; more than human being can forgive,
yet I beg you to remove this devilish beast from my breast or I will go
mad,” he said pleadingly.
Something in his tone told her that he spoke the truth, and she called
to the dog. It at once obeyed her, and, walking to the corner, lay down.
“God bless you, Kate, for that act,” said the prisoner. “If you desire
my death, kill me, but do not torture me beyond human endurance again.”
“I have sought you to kill you, Kenton.”
“Then do so: life has no charm for me now, and I have often sought
death, but it would not come to me.”
“You speak falsely, Kenton, for you have ever clung to life with
strange tenacity.”
“Once I did; but, Kate, since--since----”
“I am listening, sir.”
“Since that night that--that----”
“Let me complete your sentence; since the night you saw me raise to my
lips the fatal drug you had prepared for me, you have been haunted by a
phantom.”
“Yes, Kate, and bitterly have I been punished for that crime. I was mad
then, for I knew that you loved me, and I loved you more than all else
in the world; but I owed large gambling and others debts, and had no
money to pay them with. I had an opportunity to marry an heiress, who
was to turn over into my keeping her vast wealth.
“My marriage to you was a secret one, and none knew of it, and, driven
to desperation by my debts, I one night prepared two glasses with
poison, intending that you should drink the one and I the other, and we
would die together.
“Coward that I was, I saw you drink the fatal draft, though I touched
not my lips to mine; and before I could summon aid you were, as I
believed, dead. Oh, Kate! No one knows my misery then. In terror I fled
and sought a refuge amid wild scenes and wilder men.”
“Have you told me all the truth, Kenton Kingsland?” she asked in a low,
stern tone.
As if determined to hide no atom of his guilt, he continued:
“No, Kate, not all; for, possessing, as you know, a strange power of
imitation, I wrote a note, copying your hand, and saying that you were
tired of living and had ended your own life.”
“I have that note with me, sir.”
“That caused people to believe you had committed suicide; more I cannot
tell you, Kate.”
“But I can, sir; I was believed dead, dressed in my shroud, and buried,
aye, placed in my grave, Kenton Kingsland, and left to my last sleep
among the dead.
“But avaricious eyes had seen that my diamond rings were left on my
fingers, and that night ghouls of the grave came to rob me. When they
broke open the casket, the effects of the drug had worn off, the fresh
air revived me, and I arose in my shroud and put to wild flight the
base robbers of the dead. Can I forgive you that, Kenton Kingsland?”
“No, I do not ask it--yes, I do ask it, for you can forgive me if you
love me as I do you; forgive, forget me, and I will go happy to my
death.”
The man tried to stretch forth his bound hands, and half raised himself
from the floor, while his voice was full of pleading, and his eyes bent
on her with all the fascination he could throw into them.
She was a woman, and she had loved him with all her soul. She had
suffered much, but she believed he had also. Her love had turned to
hatred in a night; but now, in a minute, it flew back from hate to
passionate idolatry, and she flung herself upon him, bound as he was,
and cried:
“Kenton! Kenton! I do forgive you all, and I will forget all; only come
back to me, and love me, as in that olden time when we were both so
happy.”
A triumphant light flashed in his eyes; but he said sadly:
“This is beyond all hope, Kate; now I can die content.”
“Die! You shall not die, Kenton, for I will protect you; see, I sever
your bonds, and--aye, we will fly together from here, for I have two
fleet horses in the stable. Come, throw off those suits that disguise
your form; pistols, rifles, and all I have here, so come with me, and
woe be to him who would stand in our path.”
The woman was now almost hysterical with delight and nervous dread
combined; but a few calm words of the man soothed her, and an hour
after they left the cabin, both of them disguised beyond recognition.