Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-02-17

cealed by his full, light moustache. He
might have been any age from twenty
to forty, for his boyishness seemed
rather matter of constitution than
years; and his fair, silky hair, tossed
and blown, might have, belonged to
young child, and the marks about his
heavy-fdded blue eyes one could as
easily attribute to dissipation as to ma
turity. He kneeled with one knee in
the seat of a chair, laying his exquisite
delicate hands over the back of it, and,
always seeming about to speak, said
nothing, but drew his breath quickly
through his parted lips.
$. You promised me never to say any
thing more to me On the subject, and
you have broken your PROMISE" said
the lady. Her voice, which was strange
ly sweet, seemed to qualify the severity
of her words. The man seemed to an
swer the voice: I'D a. ..
"You couldn't expect me to keep it.
I didn't expect to meet YOU
"No, [ couldn't expect you to keep
it, and [ didn't mean to meet you. [
shouldn't have come here had known.
"What made you come % ..
With little, low, sshalf sad laugh, the
lady said: CT was afraid of a ghost. "
II should think you might, perhaps,
be afraid of a ghost. You seem afraid,
OF nothing real You might, perhaps,
like a GHOST better than a flesh and
blood man"
She laughed again, half embarrassed.
I could fancy in the shadow that she
blushed. Perhaps / might. as
"You grow morbid shut up with
books in sick room"
Was this the explanation of the slen-
der white hand and wrist, the forehead
and cheek, so pale in the half light,
coltrasted with the dark hair and dress !?
She was an invalid. Yet her step, re-
member, was full of a springing grace.
Ono, / only learned some new
things. !" # # rs .a
"And found that didn't satisfy you.
Before, you half fancied that I should,
Friday that I found you writing letters
by theTwindow, when [ brought you
your ring [ had found in the lily pond.
You never explained it to me-
The lady turned gravely and said:
elbow can one explain ones own de-
velopment That day ] saw myself
and you. You but fancy yourself un-
happy. That you cannot gain me
serves you instead Of other excitement,
and the moment you had won me
would be the moment in which you
would be again adrift. It is notmyself
that you love. Forgive me for trying
to make you see your own mistake.
AS if to change the subject, she
pointed with her fan to humning-
bird. at this moment poising above a
cluster of honeysuckles, and raising
from her chair, stretched her arm up
the dark vine and plucked the blossom.
She was mere bodkin of d woman,
with slender throat and little waist,
Her motion was exquisite, depending
on certain poise and balance. She
drew my heart with every step. Her
companion seemed half stupefed as he
watched her. She stopped near him,
fastening the honeysuckle in her dress.
Now that saw her face, it haunted me
with q resemblance to / knew not
whom. Somewhere had seen it-yet
surely not this face. It might have
been that of an enthusiastic nun.
There was holy fire in the eyes, and
the impetuous mouth was strangely
sad.
"You don't know hatyou ask-what
you would ignorantly take on your
shoulders. Marriage would be to you a
calling tie-an impossible responsible
ty. Ii I loved you I would not marry
you. It is we'll that L do not. 1t would
be hard for us both. There should be
the sympathy that outiasts youth, and
has it's roots in the secret springs of the
mind and SOUL .e
"You don't know what you say"
said the man, springing up and stand
ing befor her. you don't know VIVA
it means to love-" He paused as with
a sudden fear. EDO you? Is it not ?"
81 don't know" she said softly.
A sound in the room started me to
a realization of my position-eaves-
dropping But the people were stran-
gers whom [ should never see again.
The sound was from my first acquaint-
ance in the hotel after the host-the
stout old lady-who had entered the
room without my observing her, and
fallen asleep in the chair [ lately left.
OF her cheerful rest she was giving
audible evidence.
I went to my room with an uncom-
Portable sense of restlessness, pursued
by the remembrance of that strangely
sweet voice and exquisite motion of the
nameless lady, and her fairy-like figure
came over between me and the vision of
my intellectual, plump cousin. ga
sympathy that outlasts youth, and has
it's roots in the secret springs Of the
mind and SOUL" [ took from my bag
a little pile Of letters very precious to
me, and counted them over by the light
of my small lamp.
It must have been in the small hours
of the night, or morning that I fell
asleep, and woke to find with the healthy
daylight healthy impatience to see my
cousin; and the strange little lady in
the gauzy black, with her strange com
panion, seemed to me creatures OF a
dream, gone like the humming bird and
the moonlight.
The earliest train found me the earli-