036 THE LIVIXr. AND THE DEAD. 



most deliberate aim, and, without a word or an exclamation, pulled 

 both triggers at once. The report was followed by a groan and a 

 shriek, and Clinton and Mrs. Ashe fell heavily on the floor of the 

 piazza at the same moment. 



Without stopping to ascertain whether life animated either of the 

 prostrate bodies, Colonel Ashe walked hurriedly past them into his 

 wife's chamber, and, forcing open every drawer and cabinet, secured 

 every paper he could find, and rushed out through the back of the; 

 house without exchanging a look or a word with the terrified do- 

 mestics, who were flocking from every direction to the scene of the 

 disaster. 



The unfortunate sufferers lay weltering in their own and each 

 other's blood. Life was extinct in both. An open lancet lay beside 

 them, with the remains of a basin which had been broken by their 

 fall. On the outward sill of the piazza-window nearest to where 

 they lay, was an instrument for drawing teeth, with a white cambric 

 pocket-handkerchief wound around it as. for immediate use. On 

 examination, the gum about one of Mrs. Ashe's teeth, on the lower 

 row, was found to be partially lacerated preparatory to extraction. 



What the unhappy husband had mistaken for amorous dalliance, 

 was merely the ordinary position in a dental operation ! 



. The writer of this melancholy narrative being in the neighbour- 

 hood at the time, and ,well acquainted with the parties, and also with 

 both the counsel for Colonel Ashe on his trial, and the law-officers 

 of the state appointed to arrange the affairs of all persons dying in- 

 testate, was allowed to inspect the letters and papers found in Mrs. 

 Ashe's chamber, and those left by the unfortunate Clinton. Among 

 the latter, the only one in the handwriting of Mrs. Ashe, the first and 

 last ever addressed to him by her, was the note he had received on 

 the morning of the catastrophe, and alluded to by that lady's groom. 

 It ran as follows : 



" For God's sake, come to me as soon as possible. I have had a 

 dream which has filled me with the most melancholy forebodings. I 

 fear something dreadful is impending over one or both of us. I 

 never was so thoroughly wretched in my life. That tormenting tooth, 

 too, is considerably worse, but the pain it occasions is rest and sere- 

 nity compared with my mental agonies. I have made up my mind 

 at last to allow you to take it out so do not forgot the necessary 

 instruments. Again and again come to me without a moment's 

 delay, or I shall go mad if it be possible to be more so than I am 

 already. Is it not singular that these croaking and complaining lines 

 should be the first I ever penned to you ? Will they be the last ? 

 Oh ! come to me without a moment's delay." 



The following extraordinary answer was found among Mrs. Ashe's 

 papers : 



ts I should have been inclined to have smiled at the seriousness of 

 your apprehensions about your dream, had I not myself had one last 

 night, that has made an impression upon me that dream never did 

 before. But we will smile over the matter together when I join you, 



