Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-03-24

do not pretend to explain the phe-
nomenon, but that night I went to bed,
for the first time in ten years, without
my usual snight-cap." Yet there stood
the fatal narcotic by my bedside, pow
erful enough to plunge most men into a
Lethean torpor of twenty-four hours
duration, but which had only the effect
of dragging my over-excited brain for
a couple of hours disturbed repose at
the most. Neither can l claim the merit
OF resisting the tempter. simply for
got it. It was as il some good angel
had spread an invisible wing around
me and my evil genius had momem-
tarily departed.
Next morning 1 awoke early, and
more refreshed than was nv won't.
None of US failed to keep our appointed
tryst. Gentle reader, as I can not inn
part to you my own eyes wherewithal
to see the incredible fact, so shall 1 not
complain of your hardness of heart if
you withhold your belief from my bare
assertion. Yet a wise man once said:
~ believe it because it is incredible.''
For ten long years had 1 never once dis
pensed with my s'stirrup-cup'' on rising
OF morning; and vet it is a fact that
my oblivion of the previous evening was
repeated on this very morning. I left
my morning draught, my 1spick-me-
up,." untouched on my dressing-table,
and sailed forth with a brisk step and
smiling face to greet my fair compan-
ions. l had again literally forgotten
my temporary remedy-mv chronic
poison! Nay, more! encouraged by
b unobtrusive but ever-ready sympa-
thy of my now constant companions, I
never once relapsed into my former
l1asabats of excess, during the whole of
the ensuing week. Having the house
entirely to ourselves, for the season was
now far advanced, we naturally became
inseparables. Together we enjoyed our
daily walks and excursions, shared the
same meals, held our long and ever
more sympathetic and confidential tete-
0-tete i n a snug corner of the public
sitting-room. 1t caused none of us the
least surprise when, at the weeks end,
we felt as if we had never been strangers
to each other.
To one of us, at least, the idea of part
ing, perhaps forever, became almost in
supportable. Forgetting my former
presentiment, l had now become a prey
to the daily incubus of an impending
farewell! Yet, I vas not in love! Long
since had I taught myself the bitter les
son that %celibacy, in its dreariest aspects
and phases, was my p~reordained lot. l
was more than what society calls ga
detrimental"-I was, literally y, San i'm
possible" Such, at least, was the stern
Judgment which my self-scrutinizing
conscience had finally and i~rrevocably
pronounced against myself. My morbid
s%ensitiveness and quick self-conscious-
ness had, as it were, branded me, to my
own eyes, with the stigma-the bitter
brow-mark-of q social Cain! But the
eyes of love are proverbially bandaged,
or rather love beholds its object through
colored s%pectacles. ::
The last evening had arrived that we
were to spend together, and I proposed
a farewell visit to the Lake of the Col,
a favorite place of resort for tourists. A
brief h%alf-hour's walk from the auberge
brought US thither. Never was a more
lovely autumnal evening! All three sat
down silently on the shore, side by side,
No one uttered a word for some min.
utes; each of us thought the more. 4
light shower had fallen a little while be.
fore, and the distant mountain range
was still SPAWNED by the faint arch of s
rainbow. We looked long at it and a
each other alternately and speechlessly
The stiffness at last became oppressive,
for there is a silence which, like dark.
ness, may be felt. The spell was broken
by Sylvia.
"How beautiful is yonder rainbow!'
she said.
eyes," [ murmured, half uncon.
sciously; Sand just as yonder brilliant
arch melts away into the dusk of the
cleaning, so shall the brighter hues OF
my present life fade again into the outer
darkness of the past"
"Yet," she whispered, edging un.
consciously nearer to me, "there is a
beautiful old Greek fable, which repre-
sents Iris as the chosen messenger of the
gods of mankind, the divine harbinger
of hope and love-"
The last m~onosyllable futtered a lit
tie, l thought, on her lip, and caused me
~instinctively to raise my face to hers.
She slightly changed color, and in that
glance | read the oracle of a woman's
eye. Yet even then my conscience
smote me, and [ shrank and recoiled
from accepting the full Interpretation.
~Involuntarily 1 clasped her hand and
~passionatety exclaimed:
."Sylvia! would to Heaven we had
never met or met never more to part.
Nature has endowed you with her
choicest gifts and graces of mind and
person-whereas 10 God!" 1 cried, in
an outburst of passion and resentment
against my fate, "Why hast Thou made
me thus and cursed me with the Tan
talus gift of a brain to conceive and a
heart to crave after that which my bodily
presence and speech ~eternally forbid me
to hope for and realize?"
Uttering this wild imprecation rather
than prayer, 1 hid my face in my hands
and buried my short-lived hopes in the
lowest depth of despair.
How long 1 remained thus know not,
but a ray Of light suddenly flashed upon
my eyes, and I ie!t both my hands gent.
ly but firmly s:asra>l in those of her ]
dared not love. Then a whisper, soft
and low, yet clear as a crystal bell, fel
On my ear "To me, at least, since the