Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-05-12
The WITCH WIFE.
By /. K. Ii.

! biting polar winds sway the stunted
! pines, lived Helva, descendant of Norr-
land Sagas. Like the sunlit foam was
her yellow hair and her eyes were blue
and clear as the mOonleSs skies of the
Arctic winter, while her heart was as
frozen as the eternal SHOWS. Very fair
was she, but her beauty was of the
icicle that forms in the iceberg's cav
ems. None knew her parentage, nor
from whence she sprang. The old men
shook their heads as she passed by, and
the young maidenS stood unwittingly
aloOt from her in their mutual pas
times; but Helva only smiled cold,
passionless smile, and gIided away to
some solitude where she could watch
the sunset or the wild surf break in
| thunder on the beach. 50 wall rose
| up between the gOldeG haired Helva
and her companions.
! But when the old women whispered
! from freSide to fireside that she was a
! sOrcereSs and a witch-wif and the tale
reached her ears, she only laughed out
! to the surf until her eyes shOne like
pole star, for she knew that it was true.
How she knew it, by what secret rite or
incarnation in the caverns of the noun
tainS, on the cliff summit, or lonely
OeaCn, cannot De tOlu.
She wandered alone more than ever
now, and her eyes grew brighter and
her laugh more chill.
Eric of NesO ck loved her-Eric, tall
est aud stateliest of NOrland hunters.
Broad was his chest and long his arm;
the bow and spear were but as straws in
his sinewy hand; his fishing boat SEEM
ed fraught with life when guided by his
Skillful oar. He was the envy of the
young men, the pride of the Old, the
lOad-star of the maiden'S eyes. But he
only tossed his ruddy hair down his
shoulders, and sped to the chase. He
| cared for none of them until Helva,
passing by, cast her eyes upon him and
smiled. Bow and spear lost their charm,
his boat tossed idly ut its moorings, and
everything was forgotten in the witch
cry of that smile, the lure to his destruc-
| ton. He saw no eye but hers; he had
| no will but To do her bidding.
The old men frowned darkly, anu the
! young maidens with pity; for they saw
| the face of the witch wife, while Eric
7 beheld only the soulleSs mask with the
chilling smile.
! How he loved her, She saw it, and
/ smiled on; she had no other return to
The sOrcCress was shut out from the
] possession of Freya's most precious
gift to mOrtals; She must be Us the elf
/ side when the storm beats upon it. So
Helva smiled on the surf, the storms,
I the night phautoms, aud Eric, aud
| cared tor him least fall.
/ There came a time when the passion
| ate heart of the man lOngCd for some
/ thing more than changcleSS smiling.
| however bewildering it might be. The
/ craving passion which consumed him
/ had somewhat dulled the earlier faSci-
! nation. He prayed for some return,
: something to show him his devotion
/ met with a recOmpense; but he I'M
| plored n statue of stone. Sac had her
/ will of him, and now she was weary.
! OF a love like his she had no cOncep-
! ton; and so when he sank at her feet
with murmured words of passion, she
! laughed low and cOldly, looking out
( over the sea. The laugh stung him to
, the hearts core. He searched her face,
but her eyes followed the waves and
/ she saw him not.
! He went out Dlindly from her pres
/ ence. His ears rang with the echo of
! her laughter. Did he dream, or were
/ evil spirits busy with his senses? He
! covered in the shadow of the pine trees,
| and shuddered. How he loved her.
J She came walking on the beach, as
the tide went down with the sea. lie
saw and moved to meet her, longing for
/ the smile that destroyed him. AS she
cast her eyes that way, and they fell
/ upon his face, their light flicRered and
they shone like the aurora, and her
mucking laugh rang out over the sea
until the waves caught the echoes, and
: it seemed to Eric as if thousand lips
Knocked his despair and anguish. And
he rushed away to the mountain cav
ems, while Helva walked unheedingly
on, the shadow of her laughter hover
/ ing on her lips.
The night was black and moOnlesS.
| Out of the dark mans figure stood on
the bank above the Sw2lchie whirl-
pool. 1t was Eric of Nesock, watching
the hurrying swirl Of the water, think
I ing only of his love, and the terrible
/ laughter which rang in his ears. n
wOman's face seemed to gaze upon him
ont of the gloom, wreathed round with
golden hair, its eyes and hooking lips
alive with the cruel smile that crazed
I his brain. With cry, thinking only
/ to escape the hideOuS mockery, he
! sprang into the pool. The waves drew
I him down into their clinging embrace,
and a moan rose up into the black sky,
across which the storm clouds were
wildly hurrying.
The moons came and went. Eric OF
| NesOck appeared no more, and the
| maidens had ceased to weep for HIM.
Darker grew the glances of Helva, who
rocked not of their import, nor the ruin
She had wrought. Other prey she
sought to draw TO her. Bjorno, the
strong. handed, the lover of Norma, fair
est of the maidens of Stroma. But the
faith and pure heart of the girl were as
q shield ofproof to guard her lover nom
the witch-wife's arts.
But Helva did not despair; many re-
sour, Is were hers. One morning as she
paced along the beach, watching Tor
Whatsoever the waves might bring into
her, she saw lying over the edge OF a
rocky basin, o mans hand. she drew
nearer to examine it; the glitter of
ring caught her glance, and, bending
down. she knew it to be the same she
! had given her lost lover in the days OF
| his mad infatuation-a magic ring
| which insured to her the love OF the
wearer: and she reioiced at its recov-
ery. The hand, too, was hers, to use
for her own dark purposes. But hrSt
she must withdraw the ring. Win
this talisman, the victory over her rival
| was certain. -,
She knelt on the sand where the tide
| in its outflowing had left the surface Is
smooth as marble and strove to draw
the ring from the icy fingers, but could
not succeed. She strove more, yet still
yainlr. Now she would, by muttered
charms and spells, achieve by magic
what she lacked in strength. Bootiess
endeavor! her power was powerless
against the dead.
Long she strove, angrily, impatient.
ly, w0oth that so puerile thing should
defy her highest skill. But Is she still
knelt, she felt the surf spray wet her
brow, and with an upward and onward
glance she beheld tie tide rising slow