The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-28
me, 4 stranger, In the sole occupation Of

\ me, stranger, IN the sole occupation VI
their home.
While was yet irresolute whether to
go or stay, and while l was yet wonder
ing at the strangeness Of my position, /
heard, or fancied 1 heard, something
something that might have been the
wind, save that there was no air stirring
something that might have been the wall
ing of human voice; l held my breath
heard it again-followed it as it died
away. Ihad not far to go. A line OF
light cleaning under the door of shed
a. the back Of the chalet, and cry
bitterer and more piercing than any |
had yet heard, guided me direct to the
spot. WI.
l looked in-reoeiled, giddy with hor-
ror-went back, as if fascinated, and so
stood for some moments, unable to move,
to think, to do anything but stare help
lessly upon the scene before me. To
this day / can not recall it without
something of the same sickening SEN
sation. ... gn.
Inside that hut by the light Of a
pine torch thrust into an iron sconce
against the WALL saw the herdsman
kneeling by the body of his wife, griev-
ing over her, like another Othello, kiss
ing her white lips wiping blood-stains
: from her yellow hair, raving out mar
{ ticulate cries of passionate remorse, and
. calling down all the curses Of heaven
' upon his own head and that of some
+ other man who had brought this crime
! upon him! l understood it all now-all
the mystery. all the terror, all the de-
r spair. She had sinned against him, and
: he had slain her. She was quite dead.
a The very knife, with its hideons testi-
S mony fresh upon its blade, lay near the
u door, ..., N..
t ] turned and fed-blindly, wildly, like
t man with bloodhounds on his track
S now stumbling over stones; now torn by
It briars; now pausing moment to take
It breath; now rushing forward faster than
e before; now battling up hill with strain
" ing lungs and trembling limbs; now stag
gering across level space; now making
h for the higher ground again, and casting
never a glance behindl At length
|. reached bare plateau above the line OF
q vegetation, where 1 dropped exhausted
Here / lay for long time, beaten and
stupefed, until the intense cold OF ap
preaching dawn forced upon me the ne
T. cessity of action.
d A superb panorama lay before me
4 peak beyond peak, glacier, valley anc
+ pine forest and pasture slope. all flushed
and palpitating in the crimson vapors O.
@ the dawn. Here and there / could trace
the foam Of waterfall or the silvel
thread of a torrert; here and there tht
y canopy of faint blue smoke that waverec
s upward from some hamlet among the
- hills.
Thus standing, thus looking down,
= became aware of strange sound
;, sound singularly distinct, but far away
. a sound sharper and follower than tht
fall of an avalanche and unlike anything
y that I remembered to have heard
d While l was yet asking myself
what it could be or whence il
Il came, / saw considerable frag
ment of rock detach itself from.one oi
n the heights overhangiug the lake, bounc
rapidly from ledge to ledge, and fall
with a heavy splash, into the water be-
!, low. 1t was followed by a cloud of dust
:, and prolonged reverberation, like the
6 rolling of distant thunder. Next moment
+ dark fissure sprang into sight all down
d the face of the precipice-the fissure be.
s came chasm-the whole cliff wavered
e before my eyes-wavered, parted, sent W
It cataract of earth and sones-and slic
a slowly down, down, down into the valley
!. Deafened by the crash, and blinded by
If the dust, I covered my face with m.
D hands and anticipated instant destruc
# ton. The echoes, however, died away
d and were succeeded by solemn silence
IS The platform on which / stood remained
lie firm and unshaken. I looked up. Tn
e sun was shining sereuely, the landscap
Id sleeping as peacefully as be ore. Moth
le ing was changed, save that wide whit
! scar now defaced all one side Of the grea
Id limestone basin below, and a ghastl
at mound of ruin filled the valley at il
CO foot. Beneath that mound lay burie
in all record of the crime to which l ha
1e been an unwilling witness. The yer
he mountains had come down and covere
in it-nature had oblitersted 1t from tn
~ face of the Alpine solitude. Lake an
ne chalet, victim and executiOner, had di
IN appeared forever, and the place there,
a knew them no more.
epI Severol ST. Patricks,