Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-05-24

quick, it will be midnight before we
get there!'
i should think you would be afraid
OF the snakes. / said, stumbling along
the rocky path, following Kate's light
rapid steps.
Pooh : was all the answer | got
1t wanted ten minutes of midnight
when We reached the entrance, and
we sat down on the grass, Kate with
her open watch in her lap. The cave
faced the north, and looked douhly
dark and uncanny with the fresh
bright moonlight falling all about it.
In the stiffness Of the night, the sound
of water slowly dropping, came out to
us from the further end of the cave.
Kate took off her shawl and hood.
III the Sibyl eats me, as she did
poor John Silver,you may have these,
Auntie,' she said, tossing them into
my lap.
Don't go, Kate' | cried, resolved
to make one last appeal, and desper
ately catching hold of her dress.
Really, there are snakes in there. and
you know it is pitch dark even in the
daytime
Kate laughed a low, soft, derslve
laugh Kate Silver afraid Of the
darkl' she said, and pulling her dress
through my hand, with one last mer.
ny glance over her shoulder, was gone
before | could stop her. | do not
know how long it was, but it seemed
to me an hour, before she staggered
out and sank down at my feet, with
the moonlight falling on her face, out
of which all the color had faded.
There some one - there she
gasped, and then her head fell back
upon the grass, and the white lids
dropped over her eyes.
| had never known Kate to faint
before, and | was thoroughly fright
ened, and l knelt by her side. chatting
her limp hands, and calling to her to
open her eyes and tell me she was not
dead. In my anxiety for her, even
though remembering that she had
said there was some one in there |
felt no sense of personal danger, and |
was not even startled when | felt a
hand on my shoulder, and looking up,
saw a mans figure bending over US.
Have frightened her to death,
Miss Silver? said Royal Payne's
voice, though how | recognized it |
do not know. the tones were SO alter
ed. His face was almost as white as
Kato's-- altogether we We're a ghostly
trio, enough to have scared the Sibyl
herself, if she had ventured forth.
'She has only fainted,' | said, feel.
ING my courage come back, now that
| could feel that Kate was not quite
unprotected. will you please set
my handkerchief in the river? 1t is
nothing to be alarmed about
Il was the cause of her fright he
said, coming back with the dripping
handkerchief, aud bathing her fore
head with it. i didn't feel like sleep,
and came down here for walk, aud
in search of cool place. | might
have known it would have startled
her, but when she knelt-close by
nv side. Miss Silver and WHISPERED,
Dear Sibyl, does Royal Payne love
me?' | could not resist whispering
syes,' and then she gave little low
cry, and was gone before could
take her IN my arms, as | meant to
DO
| do not think he thought of this
as o breach of confidence; mingled
anxiety and JOY seemed to have de-
prived him of all other feeling. Kate S
eyelids were beginning to culver a
little, when he turned to me with a
pleading look in his brown eyes, and
said, IF could kiss her just once
that was the way the Prince awoke
the Sleeping Beauty, you know. May
/, Miss Silver?'
How could l say no? could only
bow my head silently; and then he
stopped and laid a kiss upon each
eyelid tenderly, as one would kiss a
sleeping child. | always thought
Royal Payne must have had good
mother, to teach him that reverence
for woman.
When Hates eyes Enclosed, her
first look was into Royals face, as he
bent over her. At first she looked
bewildered, then, as it came back to
her, a burning blush overspread her
cheeks and brow, and she turned to
hide her face in my lap. But Royal
just slipped his arm under her neck,
and drew her head to his shoulder,
whispering, The Sibyrs answer is
yes, darling, yes, and yes forever
| turned away my head, and fool
ish tears fell upon my cheeks OF
course there was really nothing to
cry for, but the water always stood
near my eyes.
oh, Auntie!' Kate whispered to
me the next morning under cover OF
the breakfast table chatter. Royal
says we are to be married next month,
and | must go home tomorrow and
get my trousseau ready. And isn't
it stranger dropping her voice very
low, she has loved me all this time,
and | didn't know it
Aud how was it with Kate? !
asked, gathering the coffee-cups, but
Kate never answered, only bent her
radient face over her plate to hide
the telltale Joy in her eyes.
The next week Royal sent an art
list friend down to Cawley, and his
wedding gift to his wife was a picture
of the Sibyls Cave, done in oil. 1t
now hangs in Mrs. Royal Payne's
dainty sitting-room, looking just as
it did on that memorable night,
only there is sunlight instead of
moonlight, and the bright slanting
beam falls through the trees upon
the spot where Hates head lay when
the prince kissed her back TO life.
AN ORIENTAL AIsCULApIUs. - DIR.