The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-10-23
From Belgravia.
The Diam Ostd BtEIEeE.

AOoA0 1dC SAtJ ClACCeo acIA0n6C
and silent as the streets of city In a
dream. The snow upon the house
tops and in the quiet hooks where it
lay white and pure had the effect of
moonlight. The familiar forms of
things changed under it and that
change extended to a little old city
church dedicated to an obscure saint,
and so lost in blind alley that its
very existence seemed to have been
forgotten.
Years before, st. Huge-the-Less had
been hustled and elbowed out of the
made hideous. Time had been when
it had enjoyed the dignity of a church.
yard, in which, tradition affirmed, city
magnates slept their last sleep under
the shadows of rustling boughs, mu-
steal with the chirp and twitter of
city sparrows. But this was in the
dim past. There was no church-yard
now, and its main approach was
through e deserted court.
The porch of the church projecting
into this court was deep and dark on
the top the snow lay in clotted mass
and from which shining ieiele spikes
descended. Underneath there was
shelter, for the flakes drifted past and
left the worn steps black and bare.
Here was good protection from the
weather, and this had been taken ad-
vantage of, for as the cracked chimes
in the belfry, up in the dark, began to
tell of midnight, woman's face was
thrust out into the snow. For mo-
ment eager eyes glanced in all direc-
tions; then the face drew back and
was lost in the gloom from which it
had emerged. A sweet, haunting
face; beautiful but sad. Its beauty
that of youth; its sadness as from the
accumulated sorrows of long years. 1t
also bore tae stamp of aristocratie re-
finement, which in itself is kind of
loveliness.
The wheeZy chimes had barely got
through their asthmatic burden, the
echoes of which fingered in the dense
air, before faint tramp of footsteps
in the snow was audible, and the
cloaked figure of man suddenly en-
tered the church court. Snow-fakes
lay thick upon his head and Shout
ders. Without hesitation he made
direct for the porchs
An exclamation of surprise or de-
llkuI CcCdpCu bAlC ups vi lAC OOn-
cealed woman, and she at once step
ped forward and held out her hand.
The new conner bowed low, and press
ed the fingers with his lips
"Not minute late, Armaud ~ said
gracious voice out of the darkness.
"That would have been impossi-
ble," was the obsequious reply,
"Yet you were in Moscow? You
must have travelled day and night ?"
"Day and night" was the quiet re-
sponse; then there was a mom6ntary
pause. In spite of apparent calmness
and studied courtesy it was clear that
both speakers were animated by earn
estness of purpose, and not little ag-
itated in this strange meeting. 1t was
ArmaGd who resumed.
"You are on the track ?' he asked.
"Yes. After five years OF wander
ing in caYeTnous darkness, a ray of
light steals in. Olympia is in Eng
land.u
"Good; though our country is not SO
small but that one may hide in it."
"Trre-in ones grave ?"
The words dropped from the lips of
the speaker, slowly, one by one. Thus
uttered their effect was startling.
There was little in them; but ana
lyzed the venom of the cobra and of
Ia DANA 6lGnco yields only a little al
bumen. ATmaud listened with n
shudder, but the night was cold.
"And now, as ever, you do not de-
spair OF finding her ?''
despair % There was a scornfnl
fieeeness in her voice. Think what
I have suffered, and that I live! Look
back. Recall the past, and ask your
self if q just heaven can deny me JUS
tice. 1t dare not. Armand; trust me,
it dare notw
Excitement lent ferceness to her
utterance. Waving aside with an
impetuous gesture what the young
man was about say in return, she con-
| tinued:
"You recall the old happy days
Surely it was all sunshine then. We
were SO hsppy-yOu and /. Love
crowded sorrow out of life; there was
no gloom, no sadness, and the future
stretched before US like sea of light.
And then Olympia came between oul
hearts; she, with her hideous loveli-
ness, and her sleek, seductive ways.
/ hated her, and feared her fiom the
first. You felt her fascination and ]
saw it. The splendor of her tropiC
beauty oyerpowered you. Her insid.
uous accents poisoned your soul Sht
flattered yon with s fisttery that haC
its slanderous side In praising yoU
she disparaged me; in raising herself
in your regard, it was my heart OF
which she was mounted-my hear
she trampled under her feet"
"But she did not succeed" the list
ener answered.
nAnd il she failed,n the woman re
turned in bitter accent, SIT was be
cause her entire arts defeated them
selves. You saw too much. To ad
miration succeeded revulsion. IheI
she changed her habits. Where sh
could not fascinate she sought +
bribe; IL she could not win your Low
she would buy it.n
"Her vanity was piqued," Armau'
! interposed. @zal
"Or, like-God knows I--she suffer
ed. She was woman. Put it at tn
best-and then! She had worme'