Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1870-11-12

The few drops she had drank Of the
wine seemed already to have put her "a
sleep, at least, she opened her eyes only
with great difficulty while she spoke.
"It is easy enough for you to say that
Stephen; but you don't know what {
dread l hate always had If coming in con.
tact with death; for you know that fsthe,
died away from home, and was with
aunt when mother died. The lame tailor'a
was the first corpse I saw; and his face
was SO serene that I thought it could NO,
be so hard to die, after al. Just then
Freddie came homo, whisthng It'd shout.
ing, because they had vacation at school 70,
an indefinite period !; and I scolded him foz
being so ttoisy, when the good tailor, who
had made his pretty new clothes was lying
dead. o dear his shouting was soon
over; aud he kept crying in his agony,
and begging that I should not let him die
alone. You must h0ld my hand, and 20
with me, he said-and I promised. But
when it grew dark before his eyes, he said
Hattie, you are leaving me aud l haye to
60 alone. They were his last words-but
I still hear him crying, night and day.
Perhaps l could forget It all again, some
day, if could only have cried but even
when my dear aunty died, I had not a
tear for her. 1t was frightful to see her
waggihg her chin, and hear her chatter
ing, and see her jerking her fingers up
and on the counterpaue, as if she was
playing the piano: it made my hair stand
on end, and. 1 could not get rid of the
sight, even after she had been buried.
And just when had closed her eyes, and
was tired to death, and old Lizzie had laid
me on the lounge to rest, some one came
to the door and wanted to speak to me.
It was the servant of the Auditor my be-
trothed-"
"The Auditor-your betrothed-you
are engaged to be married, then, Hattie ?"
"Yes-or I was it's all the same nov" "
she continued, monotonously, As though
speaking Of something in which she was
not the least concerned. ellis name was
Hector, and 1 did not want him at'all, be.
cause he reminded meof bull.terrier aunty
once had his name was Hector, too; aud
he had just such round, blue eyes. But
aunt said had better have him: 30 he
gave me ring to wear, and my aunt said
I must give him one in return. I always
hated to see it on his lngcr; and when
his servant said, The Auditor sends his
compliments, and he died last night at
two o'clock, and he requested that this
ring should be returned to Miss Hattie
l said, Give it to me, quick But all at
once cold shudder ran through me; I
had put the ring from dead mans hand
on my finger-and now I was af6anced to
Death itself; and must follow" =
She was silent, her eyes were closed,
and horror seemed to have ohoked her
voice; Stephen passed his hand softly over
her icy cheek.
"You are superstitious here, drink
this wine, and go to sleep. The Auditor
is dead-so much the better. Drink this,
now: it will give you strength"
at is too late perhaps, if you had
come to me sooner-but no, you had al
ready forgotten me, the last time you came
home to see your mother" t
"What do you say, Hattie had for
gotten my little playmate! You know I
was sick, when was here last, and could
not go out"
eyes, you had taken cold. I would
have gone through fire and water to see
you, or to take your hand, only but it's all
the same, now; my sorrows commenced
then, and all that had happened later only
fastened my death-but it had been in
my heart, since knew you had forgotten
me-"
She spoke as if she was in q trance, OF
under some magnetic inauence-her face
and form alike immovable. A deep pity
stirred Stephens heart aud he could with
difficulty restrain himself from throoing
his arms around her, to draw to his breast,
as if he would have done child, frightened
and benumbed with cold.
'sI wrote it all in letter, yesterday,
when l knew my time had come. You
will find it in my aunt's Seeretasye; and
another paper on which I had written that
you are to have all my things after my
death. I thought, perhaps the court
would allow it; though I did not quite
know how to write such q document. Let
me drink once again; think could fall
asleep then, without the least pain and
never wake up again"
While he was still leaning against the
table, bewildered from what he had just
heard, she had gained the door, with slow,
dragging steps, holding Peter fast in he'
arms; and when Stephen made move ID
hold her back, she said:
"No-I am tired to death, and l want
to 90 to my room, to be alone when
die"
Stephen seemed in dream, when she
had closed the door behind her.
Hattie !" he called aloud long after
she had left him. Hattie-is it true
have I been so bliud-and have you 90
loved me p"
But no answer came through the night
save the rumbling Of the hearse, ~ II
stopped al a ncighboriug house for 1T
ghastly freight. and then returned, like an
evil spirit, to the gloom and darkness from
whence it had come. He closed the win,
dow, aud throwing himself on the wide