The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-11-30

drowned in it.
Look yonder, Monsieur, down that
deep, narrow pathway, where the trees
arch overhead so closely that the sun
light does but sprinkle sparingly the
ground beneath. Do you see, high up
on the tallest tree, a white cross cut in
the bark. That sign, cut by these
hands, is a memorial of the foulest
murder ever done in this land. There
is not lonelier spot in all the forest
than the little glade that lies beneath
that tree. 1t is Autumn now, and the
leaves are spare; but in full Summer
the tiny pathway you see yonder is
covered up with foliage, and long grass
so rank that only forester's eye can
trace the track; and scarcely any but a
forester's foot can follow it, as it winds
down, over crags and precipices, into
the solitary dell below. In that dell the
underground is cleared away, giving
place to softest turf; and through the
midst there runs little rill, trickling
music all the day. Lilies of the valley,
forget-me-nots and wild roses edge the
stream, with many other herbs and
flowers, for which my rude, unlettered
tongue can find no name. But Elmire
knew them all, and she came hither
constantly in Summer time to Gull and
dry them in the sun. Except for that
tall, solitary tree, the dell is open to
the sky, and though it is so small that
a man may pace it from end to end
within minute, yet here he seems to
breathe freer, fresher air, as, looking
upward, no shadow falls between the
face and the blue heavens.
"Think of the loneliness of this spot,
where pebble flung into the stream
startles the ear, and the sound of a
football comes like a wonder. If a
shrek of agony-if a cry for help went
up to heaven from this lone place, no
human ear would hear it. If some
dreadful deed were done here, no hui
man eye would witness it-no tongue
could ever testify against the evildoer.
Ten years ago, one August day,
when the sun was blazing in the sky, L
crept away from my fellows, and bent
my steps toward this dell. All the hot
morning, as | worked, | had thought of
it longingly, and the sound.of the cool
rill tlickling over the pebbles had
haunted me, whispering of rest and
freshness. So, while the others betook
themselves to their siesta beneath the
trees, | crept away, and wound round
through the wood, following the music
of the brook.
"Somehow, it seemed to me that |
did not step through the underwood
but that | broke through it suddenly,
like man would in dream, and then
| saw Elmire lying on the grass, in the
glare of the MONDAY sun. 1t did not
come upon me gradually that she was
dead. | knew it like flash, even as |
beheld her.
"The place was silent as a wrecked
ship in mid-ocean might be. Not leaf
stirred in the hot air, not a blade of
grass quivered as stood looking at her
| saw she was dead, yet would not see
i'll would not believe it. So, as the
color came slowly back to my face, as
my heart began to beat again, cried
softly:
"' Elmire! Elmiren
"TherS was no answer-no move
ment in the PROSTATE form; and then |
hneW lIlc sIencc was Iue SlleHCe VI
death.
Il sprang across the brook and lifted
her in my arms. do not tell you what
felt. As have said before, suffering
has no words. The tongue cannot be-
tray the agony of the soul, strive as it
may. No; it cannot even utter the
pangs of the flesh; true grief and pain
are silent, and the woes that chatter of
their smart are nothing.
"She was stabbed before she died. [
could see the blood upon the grass. |
could see the places where she had
knelt and begged for mercy. And from
her knees she had fallen on her face,
and so found her-her hands clasped
as she had lifted them in prayer, and
her fair face pressed against the ground.
1T is Luc Leroy l said, as l laid
her back gently on the grass.
81 had not cried aloud for help, |
had not even Thought of it. Whether
the horror of the scene, or the instinc-
tive knowledge of the uselessness of
cries in this lone place kept me silent, |
know not. Neither do | know how
long | sat with my dead love in my
arms, before | reused myself, and
rushed from that dreary sunshine into
the dim wood.
~ came up this rugged path a mad
man, blind with grief and rage. Had
| met Luc Leroy then, should have
torn his heart out. ran on toward
the place where | had left my compan-
ions, but before | reached them, | met
her father staggering through the wood
stupidity drunken. He stared at me
with bleared eyes, and saw the blood
on me.
What's this?' he said. eagerly.
Seeing him helpless, would have
passed him in a silence that was hall
pity, half disgust; but the miserable
man seized me, and shrieked aloud for
help.
g" Let me pass onn L cried; your
daughter lies murdered in the dell"
1.-The sense left in him was so little
that he caught at the words wrong.
"'Do you dare to own that you have
killed her?' he shrieked. Help, COM
rades! help
I'VE were struggling together on the
ground when they came running to the
spot, and as they lifted me, my CHASTITY
looks might well make them deem me
guilty.