Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-07-03
CHAPTER XIV.
a pERILoUs DESCENT.

connection with the statue OF EVangellne !;
but there was another reason for remem-
brance in the parallel which suggested
itself between the childless woman and
Clarice. paid another visit to the market
place at midnight, and again met the
woman, who was almost as much an outcast
among the islanders as myself. She claimed
me as an old-time friend, and again asked
me to accompany her to the grave of her
child. I humored her, being curious to
learn the particulars Of her story, but she
did not crafty my curiosity until we met
for the third time in the same place.
- asked her, said Bertha, poin ting to
the statue, whether it was right for me to
meet you here and talk to you she said I
could trust you. Tell me your name
SO Rant
Mine IS Bertha
''That night she told me her story.
There was nothing new in it, so far as re-
garded herself. Sac trusted and was de-
ceived. and the man who brought disgrace
upon her was killed in open fight by her
father
"'My mother was dead, said Bertha,
and my father turned me from his house.
He had no other children he might have
been kinder to me. But he was man
who always acted rightly, so the islanders
said. Then it is right never to forgive. 1
had friends, as 1 thought, girls, and men,
and children. Not one of them had a
heart, not one. Is it not strange to go
through the world SOTO kiss and embrace
you, and then to thrust you away And
for father to turn from his child | do
not understand it. Why, if my baby lived,
and grew to be a woman, and did wrong
unconsciously, or was unhappy in any way,
in disgrace with all the world, should
take her to my bosom and comfort her,
and whisper to her, ''Do not grieve, my
child your mother loves you, though all
the world is against you" And we should
be happy again; it would not then be
always night there would be sometimes a
bright cloud in our lives.
81 allowed her to talk without Interrupt
tion, and presently she spoke again of her
lover.
al knew that my father was seeking
him; l had been told SO. not out of kind
ness, but out of malice. "There will be
blood she'd" they said, and they looked
upon me with horror, as though the crime
were mine. tried to find him and warn
him. All the day and far into the night
wandered from place to place, seeking him,
and at length I saw him lying dead upon
the ground. 1t drove me almost mad.
ran to my fathers house; beat my hands
against the door till the blood came he
opened window above, and asked me
what wanted "There has been murder
donet !" I cried. THE guilty has been
punished, " my father said sternly, and he
babe me go from his house and never dare
to set eyes on him again, for he no longer
had daughter. was overwhelmed, and
sat down on the doorstep, in the dread
hope that the world was coming to an end.
And all the while my baby was in my
arms, sleeping peacefully. and as 1 looked
at her sweet face in the dim light, 1
thought, "What does it matter We have
each other" took her to her father, and
waking her, made her kiss him; / kissed
him also, for the last time, and have never
seen him since do mot know where they
have buried him; they would not tell me.
We were walking to the grave of her
child, and she stopped and looked around
with wandering eyes, seeking the shadow
of the man she had loved too well.
Then / was alone in the world, she
said, as we walked onward again, no one
to speak to, except my baby no one to
love, except my baby. Every one had
fallen off from me, every one; only my
baby remained. Then it happened that
came in The night to the market-plsce, and
discovered what no other person in the isle
but you and l suspect-that what they
call statue lives and speaks. When she
first smiled upon me it was like rain upon
a parched field. My eyes had been
scorched and dried up with grief; alb,
what pain what anguish And when
Eyangeline smiled, the tears came and re-
lieved my heart. She spoke to me, and
comforted me, and prevented me from 60
ing mad. We are sisters, and by-and.by
we shall know each other better in the
spirit land, where l shall have my baby
again in my arms And my father viii be
there, and baby's father, too. What will
my father say when he sees me come there?
Will he say, Come to me. my daughter,
all is forgiven ?" Whatif answered him,
g Had You been merciful to me, my baby
might have lived, and | should not have
been condemned to wander night after
night and day after day from valley to
valley, from field TO field, in search of
kind look or word. Then, if there be
Justice. the priests will be dumb. Do you
like them
"'The priests
"' Yes. Do you like them ?
- have no reason to- answered,
slowly.
90 am glad, because you are not like
the Others, and you strengthen my belief.
What do they mean when they say, "God
is love?" There should be something more
than words, should there not? "God is
love" Then He viii know have done no
wrong, and He will take my little one to
His bosom, and me, from whom she drew
life. I shall watt shall wait-and on
the judgment day shall say to the priests
-" You told me that God is love, and you
- l.. T L Y