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  No. 1252.      25 Cents.

  [Illustration: Lovell's
  Library.

  A TRI-WEEKLY
  PUBLICATION OF THE BEST
  CURRENT & STANDARD
  LITERATURE]

  Annual Subscription, $30. Entered at the Post Office, New York, as second
  class matter, Oct. 16, 1838.

  COUNTESS
  VERA

  BY
  MRS. ALEX. McVEIGH MILLER,

  AUTHOR OF "A DREADFUL TEMPTATION," "QUEENIE'S TERRIBLE
  SECRET," ETC., ETC.

  _NEW YORK
  JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY
  14 & 16 VESEY STREET_




[Illustration: PEARLINE.]


Is better than any soap; handier, finer, more effective, more of it,
more for the money, and in the form of a powder, for your convenience.
Takes, as it were, the fabric in one hand, the dirt in the other, and
lays them apart--comparatively speaking, washing with little work.

As it saves the worst of the work, so it saves the worst of the wear.
It isn't the use of clothes that makes them old before their time; it
is rubbing and straining, getting the dirt out by main strength.

For scrubbing, house-cleaning, washing dishes, windows and glassware,
Pearline has no equal.

Beware of imitations, prize packages and peddlers.

  JAMES PYLE, New York.




LYDIA E. PINKHAM'S

VEGETABLE COMPOUND

IS A POSITIVE CURE

_For all those painful Complaints and Weaknesses so common to our best
female population._

[Illustration]

It will cure entirely the worst form of Female Complaints, all Ovarian
troubles, Inflammation, Ulceration, Falling and Displacements of the
Womb and the consequent Spinal Weakness, and is particularly adapted to
the Change of Life.

It will dissolve and expel Tumors from the uterus in an early stage
of development. The tendency to cancerous humors there is checked
very speedily by its use. It removes faintness, flatulency, destroys
all craving for stimulants, and relieves weakness of the stomach. It
cures Bloating, Headaches, Nervous Prostration, General Debility,
Sleeplessness, Depression, and Indigestion.

That feeling of bearing down, causing pain, weight and backache, is
always permanently cured by its use.

It will at all times and under all circumstances act in harmony
with the laws that govern the female system. For the cure of Kidney
Complaints of either sex, this Compound is unsurpassed.

Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound is prepared at Lynn, Mass. Price,
$1.00. Six bottles for $5.00. Sent by mail in the form of Pills, also
in the form of Lozenges, on receipt of price, $1.00 per box, for
either. Send for pamphlet. All letters of inquiry promptly answered.
Address as above.




COPYRIGHTED 1883.




COUNTESS VERA;

OR,

_The Oath of Vengeance_.

By MRS. ALEX. McVEIGH MILLER.




CONTENTS


  COUNTESS VERA.
    CHAPTER I.
    CHAPTER II.
    CHAPTER III.
    CHAPTER IV.
    CHAPTER V.
    CHAPTER VI.
    CHAPTER VII.
    CHAPTER VIII.
    CHAPTER IX.
    CHAPTER X.
    CHAPTER XI.
    CHAPTER XII.
    CHAPTER XIII.
    CHAPTER XIV.
    CHAPTER XV.
    CHAPTER XVI.
    CHAPTER XVII.
    CHAPTER XVIII.
    CHAPTER XIX.
    CHAPTER XX.
    CHAPTER XXI.
    CHAPTER XXII.
    CHAPTER XXIII.
    CHAPTER XXIV.
    CHAPTER XXV.
    CHAPTER XXVI.
    CHAPTER XXVII.
    CHAPTER XXVIII.
    CHAPTER XXIX.
    CHAPTER XXX.
    CHAPTER XXXI.
    CHAPTER XXXII.
    CHAPTER XXXIII.
    CHAPTER XXXIV.
    CHAPTER XXXV.
    CHAPTER XXXVI.
    CHAPTER XXXVII.
    CHAPTER XXXVIII.
    CHAPTER XXXIX.
    CHAPTER XL.
    CHAPTER XLI.
    CHAPTER XLII.
    CHAPTER XLIII.
    CHAPTER XLIV.
    CHAPTER XLV.
    CHAPTER XLVI.
    CHAPTER XLVII.
    CHAPTER XLVIII.
    CHAPTER XLIX.
  THE MYSTERIOUS BEAUTY.




CHAPTER I.


"Dead!"

Leslie Noble reels backward, stunned by the shuddering horror of that
one word--"_Dead_!" The stiff, girlish characters of the open letter
in his hand waver up and down before his dazed vision, so that he can
scarcely read the pathetic words, _so_ pathetic now when the little
hand that penned them lies cold in death.

"Dear Leslie," it says, "when you come to bid me good-bye in the
morning I shall be dead. That is best. You see, I did not know till
to-night my sad story, and that you did not love me. Poor mamma was
wrong to bind you so. I am very sorry, Leslie. There is nothing I can
do but _die_."

There is no signature to the sad little letter--none--but they have
taken it from the hand of his girl-wife, found dead in her bed this
morning--his bride of two days agone.

With a shudder of unutterable horror, his glance falls on the lovely,
girlish face, lying still and cold with the marble mask of death on
its beauty. A faint tinge of the rose lingers still on the delicate
lips, the long, curling fringe of the lashes lies darkly against the
white cheeks, the rippling, waving, golden hair falls in billows of
brightness over the pillow. This was his unloved bride, and she has
died the awful and tragic death of the _suicide_.

       *       *       *       *       *

Let us go back a little in the story of this mournful tragedy, my
reader, go back to the upper chamber of that stately mansion, where, on
a wild night in October, a woman lay dying--dying of that subtle malady
beyond all healing--a broken heart.

"Vera, my darling," says the weak, faint voice, "come to me, dear."

A little figure that has been kneeling with its face in the
bed-clothes,