Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-11-06

a GOOD zeal pIOutt6l oi'tli 20 wv
won't have you say such Things. o(
stop"
IF you're so very proud, then, why d
YOU leave room for my suspicious ~
.sGod help me | can bear this no Ion
gerl'
ono. nor | either; I've made vow l
shall come to an end this day"
elbow cruel it is" she walled out, It
90 on worrying and tormenting woman
who has trusted herself so fully to you
and has begged and prayed OF you as haV
been doing"
She was near again beginning to weep
but with a sudden change OF feeling sh'
exclaimed:
Eyes, + see how it is, you think by pro
voking and exciting me, you'll get things
I out of me p
She looked at him Indignantly, and turn
ed aside.
Then she heard him say slowly, word by
word
evil You, or will you not -
II will not, replied she, stretching ou'
her hand mot if you give me all we cal
see from here - She went from him, hel
bosom heaved, and her eyes wandered tt
and fro, but mostly looked towards INN
now sternly, now sofrowfully, then stern
" again. She leaned against tree and
wept; then ceased weeping and returned
to her former mood
sEAh, l knew very we'll you didn't love
me- she heard next, and became in mo
ment the most humble and penitent OF
creatures.
Twice she tried to answer, but, instead
she flung herself down upon the heather
and hid herfac in her hands.
BotoIf came forward and stood over
her.
She knew he was there, and she waited
for him to speak, and tried to prepare her
self for whatever he might say, but not
word came, and she grew yet more dis
turbed. and felt obliged to look up. She
sprang to her feet instantly; Botolf's long
weather-beaten face seemed to have be-
come sunk en- and hollow, his deeply-set
eyes staring prominent, ard his Whole H.
cure monstrous; and it stood over her with
some strange influence that made her see
him once more upon the ship just as she
saw him on the night Of the wreck; but
now his strength was boundless, and it was
all turned against her.
ssYou have been untruthful with me.
Aasta.7
She turned away, but he followed her
and continued
:sAnd your have made me untruthful
too; there hasn't been perfect truthfulness
between us q single day eyer since we have
been together"
She stood so near that she could feel his
hot breath: he looked straight into her
eyes till she felt quite giddy she knew not
what he might the next moment say or Go,
and heclosed her eyes. She stood as though
she must either fall Or rush away; the crisis
was coming. In its prelude OF deep ST.
lence. Botolf himself became afraid. Still,
once more he began in his former strain
ssMake everything clear; make an end
of all this miserable trickery and conceal
ment-do it here-noW ~
Eyes, y she answered, but quite uncon
sciously-'fso I say-do it here-noW -
He gave a loud cry, for she rushed past
him, and flung herself over the steep. He
caught q glimpse of her golden hair, heI
uplifted hands, and the kerchief, which
spread out, slipped off and fioated slowly
down after her by itself. He heard no
Shrek, and he heard no fall into the water
below; for it was very far down. Indeed,
he was not listening, for he had sunk to
the earth.
Out from the sea she had come to him
that night at first; into the sea she had
now passed away again. and with her the
story Of her life. In the midnight dark
ness of that silent deep lay all that was
dear to him; should he not follow? lie
had come to that place with firm deter
mination to make an end of the thing that
t0rmented him: this was not the end ;
and now it could never come the trouble
was, indeed, only now in reality beginning
Aasta7s deed cried out to him that he had
made q terril lie mistake, and had killed her.
Even If his misery should become ten
times greater, he must live on to find out
how all had happened. She, who was al
most the only one saved on that fearful
night, had been saved only to be killed by
him who had saved her. He, who had gone
voyaging and traf1iickin about as if the
whole world were nothing but sea and
mart. had all at once become the victim OF
a love which had killed the woman Of his
choice. and must now kill him. Was he q
bad man He had never heard any one
say 50, neither had be ever felt it himself.
But what if, after all, it were SO He rose.
however, not to cast himself over the
steep, out to return to the valley: no man
kills himself just when he ha5 found great
enigma which he wishes to solve.
But the enigma of Aastas life could
never be solved now. She had lived il
America ever since she had grown up, and
she was coming from there when the ships
ran into each other. In what part Of Anne
RIGA should his quest begin? From what
part OF Norway she had at first cCme, he
did not positively know, and he was uncer
tain even whether her family name ha(
not been changed since then. And thai
foreign skipper ? Who could he be ? Die
he know Aasta, or was it only she wh(
knew something of him ? To question
thus was like questioning the very sea
and to journey forth to investigate was lik'
plunging into itsdepths
Surely he had made a terrible mistake
A woman penitent on account of SOM
guilty thing would have found relief il
confessing it to her husband and one still
impenitent would have sought refuge il
some evasion or other. But Aasta hat
neither confessed ANYTHING, nor had re