Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-04-24

upon building of stone, surrounded by a
neglected garden. There were fruit trees
in it, still bearing, and as ate some of the
fruit, | looked admiringly at the stained
and painted windows and at the beautiful
house, the like of which l had never seen
before.
"sWho lives here:' 1 asked myself !;
zone of those gentlemen who would kick
me from his path if crossed it,.
81 knocked at the doors, without recelv-
ing an answer. l tried both doors and
windows and found them fast. There
were pillars in the principal entrance,
reaching to verandah stretching out
from some of the handsomest windows in
the building. Determined to see the inside
of the house, climbed up one OF these pill
lars and stepped on to the yerandah. One
of the windows was loose without break
ing it 1 managed to open it, and by that
means obtained entrance. The house
was entirely deserted; not sign
of life was visible, with the ex-
ception of spider-webs in all the corners.
The walls were hung with beautiful
pictures the furniture was gold and
velvet. | could not hear my football as
walked on the thick pile of carpets. l
strolled through the rooms in kind OF
dream, and came to one into which the
full sunlight was pouring. 1t was bed
room, with delicate fripperies in it, which
l handled with care There were two pic
lures in this room which fixed my atten-
ton one of gentleman dressed in court
fashion, the other of lovely young girl.
The faces in both the pictures singularly
affected me the features of the girl were
faultlessly beautiful the handsome mouth
of the gentleman was opened, and showed
his regular white teeth; his hands were
delicately shaped, and there was an air
of distinction about him which was new
to me- passed my hand over my face,
and was seized by a longing TO look at
myself in clear water, as my mother had
bid me do. 1 turned to a table upon
which stood mirror, the first | had ever
seen, and in the glass l saw a reflection
of myself.
What kind of monster was it that
peered eagerly forward to look into my
face? Could it be the hideous and faithful
likeness of one who was neither beast nor
humans; or juggle created by some fiend
to madden me? l dashed my fist into the
mirror, and cut my fingers to the bone. l
did not feel the pain of my wounded flesh.
My soul was quivering with the keener
torture of the indignity which had been
fastened upon me by Nature. Why was
] sent into the world in this shape,
horror to all that beheld' me? If
l could destroy myself as 1 had destroyed
the reflection of myself, would 1t not
be good thing done? The idea held
me for an instant only. No. Why
should I take my life? Better to think
myself other than / was, transformed to
beauty, in the likeness of the handsome
gentleman whose portrait | was again
examining. Without any absolute direc-
ton of my will 1 aped the graceful posture
of this fine gentleman, aped the motion of
his dainty hands, aped his smile and the
pose of his head. liz this disguise l gazed
at the portrait of the lovely girl, and kissed
my hand to her; and the next moment,
with some sudden notion of the truth, l
burst into passion of tears, and staggered
from the room. Down the stairs l
stumbled with but one thought stirring in
my mind-despisal of myself l found
myself now in room which, but for the
dust that lay heavily about it, might have
been supposed to be quite recently occu-
pied. Bottles and glasses were there; in
the glasses were the crusted dregs of wine,
and thick stains of split liquor were on the
table; two chairs lay overturned on the
ground, and by their side a rusty rapier. l
took no conscious mental note of these OBJ
jects, but they imprinted themselves upon
nv mind. l was in paroxysm of rage at
| nv deformity. On sideboard were some
bottles which had not been uncorked. |
knocked the necks off two, and pouring the
contents into huge silver goblet with
double handles, drank the wine with
greedy enjoyment. 1t exhilarated me, and
changed my mood to one of passionate
hope and exultation. ! shouted, sang,
danced, and drank more wine, until / fell
to the ground and slept like log.
81 did not awake till early morning,
and l opened my eyes to the singing OF
birds. The sounds came from my own
lips, inspired perhaps by a woodland
dream. / rose to my feet, and thought OF
all that had passed; the wine had not af-
fected me otherwise than to make me
sleep my head was perfectly clear.
'' l made further examination of the
deserted house, and walked through the
rooms from the top of the house to the
| DotIOn. Ine uooIs ind1 "oie iOeheu
opened with ease even the cellar doors,
which led to vaults where rare old wine
lay buried, ripening to rarer perfection.
"There remained but one room still un
explored; it was locked, and had moi
yielded easily to my pressure. l returned
to it, and using all my strength, forced il
open. Leontine, it was full of books
The walls were lined with them protect
ed by glass cases from dust, they reached
from floor to ceiling The windows were
emblazoned with richly-colored pictures
beautiful groups in bronze were set about
the ceiling was carved into quaint faces
whose eyes looked down upon me will