The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1883-12-01

- SS'aAAAb e@aO AaC
for me that e~vening-that evening when /
lost - I lost her IL / found RosalieIr
'TYou lost her them" / said, to break the
silence that ollowod.
al will tell you. The two were In
separable. II l walked or rode or
nailed with one, the other was not far
awny. Resale was a little gay, tormenting
sprite. Alicia was a pensivo saint. It was
Alicia's home; her father was a man OF
wealth, and Rosalie was visiting her. RIOS
allie had no home, no fortune; she had just
finished school and WINS to be governess,
dreading IT as a butterfly might dread being
broken to harness, dreading It all the more
for this glimpse of luxurious life in her
friends home since school. / myself had 4
fortune in my own right, and had been
guilty of the follies of most of the jeunesse
doree OF that period, which, II comparatively
Innocent, were Troublesome enough to the
authorities OF my college to need discipline,
and l was passing q year OF most unhappy
rustication in the place adjoining Alicia's
home. Never shall I forget the first moment
in which l saw Alicia running down one Of
the orchard aisles with her white garments
Tutoring about her, and her fair head bent
over the branch OF apple blossoms In her
hand. II lightning had fallen, the revolu-
ton that seized me could not have come more
quickly. l seemed to be changed in a
tWlnkllnB, 10 nave deem DOrne INTO
another planet I felt as II sun
shine had pierced and penetrated once i'm
penetrsbie gloom. When l fell asleep in the
grass OF that orchard, and woke with that
heavenly creature bending over mo, l rose
only TO walk on air. The little brown face
of Resale, with its carnations, with the CLINT
and glance Of Its great brown eyes, with its
food Of brown curis that had a touch Of gold
on them, with the giittering teeth OF Its
beautiful laugh, was just over her shoulder,
but | merely know I saw 1t by remembering
1t afterward- She was only q shadow to me
In those days; and as for me, l was only
Alicia's shadow myself. She lived and
moved In some exalted atmosphere, to my
perception. She does now. Her father wore
the front Of Jove; I could not say that he did
not carry the thunders l felt myself a mote
In tho broad beam Of their sunshine, as
though | were something hardly visible in
their large range of vision, as IL 1t required
an effort to make myself perceived by them
/ h~esltated to make the effort-I worshipsd
from afar. When she spoke to me my heart
beat so I had hardly voice to answer; when
she touched my hand 1t thrilled me through
and through. And 1 asked no more. 1
thought of 10 more for a while than Just to
~ontinue so forever; to see her from my win
dow walking under the long aisles
of the low-branched orchard like
some medieval picture; to walk
besides her sometimes; now and then
70 ven. ire reading from the same page with
her; now and then to be her partner in the
dance. That Rosalie should be about with
me, riding here, strolling there, walking to
church. reading with the old pastor. In whose
charge there was n fiction that | was, and so,
in a way, studying with me-that was all a
matter of commonplace; she was sweet, she
was fresh, she was charming. But what
was all that when an angel was in the rooml
One night l was on the gallery just out
side their drawin2-room, looking in at the
long window, and Alicia was singing. All,
how delicious was that voicel The cherubim
and seraphim who continually do sing, II
l ever hear them, will not sing so sweetly.
/ wonder to whom that voice Is singing now
Besides her, that night, was this scamp who
had come to the place more than once, a
proud, commanding fellow in his undress uni
form, a man whom her father plainly in
tended she should marry. l can see the scene
now-the rich and dimly-lighted room full
OF purple shadows, the air laden with the
scent of flowers; Alicia ih her white drapery,
more mystical, more beautiful, more
holy, as she sang, than IL revealed In the
glow of her beauty; outside the violet depths
of the sky, and the moon just falling, like
some great golden flower, low In the west:
I anu IN Ehit,A = WV NshA n thoii "a
bell tones coming-far and fine and free across
the water, like echoes of her song in heaven.
My heart swelled with a fullness of rapture;
life seemed too rich, too sweet, too sacred;
md then l saw that man stoop and kiss her
brow. The action turned me to stone for a
moment till he came sauntering to the win
dow, and / knew NO more what was doing
than that bronze Perseus in the corner would
il he moved. l lifted the hand that had
seemed stone, and as he passed me 1 struck
him on the mouth, the mouth that had done
the proclamation"
And Mr.. Fernalde was quiet a little while.
"And that was the end of all things he
resumed. The fellow laughed at me for a
mad boy. Her father launched one of the
thunderbolts, and forbade me the house.
What n stricken day and night OF wretched-
nessl What u week of hop~elessness, Of ami
hilaticni But perhaps Alicia felt otherwise.
Why should i not discover Why should /
suppose she had any other sympathy with
that creature than the sympathy of the star
and the wormi And IL my glad hope p~eradvsn'
ture were true, why then we could fly FROM
these places that should know us no moro,
the world was us, heavens gates were
open to us And l wrote. my hand trembling
at its sacrilegious daring, just a dozen lines,
without address, without signature. She
would know what it meant. And ! sent II
by the parsons boy, And / waited for her,
lying on the grass beneath the orchard trees,
In the deep gloom just gilded by the influence
OF the unseen moon. There came the rust
ling Of garments. the tripping OF a foot; my
heart beat, my eyes grew dim. Was II she
coming up behind me, as l lay lifted on my
elbow, kneeling and putting her arms abou,
me, rainiuR swift kisses on my facet-wtld,
sweet kisses in that shadow; wild, passionate
whispers In that silencel And then a great
pang smote me, and | rose and went out with
her into the less dim darkness-and IL was
Resale.
''She never knew said Mr.. Fernalda, "she
docs not know to-day that l died that night
l can't ray how / lived through those mo.
ment. even, They were but moments she
had stolen away. She had to return at once.
We parted at the foot Of the mock orange
walk, and | went to my bed and lay there in
a francs OF despair. Perhaps sunlight
brought some relief. The parson told
at the breskfast-table the news that Alicia
wa betrothed to the army officer | had seen
over the hedge. 1 wrote a word, saying
was called away, and ] was gone a week OF
moro. But in that blank | must nave some.
thing TO love me-to have an interest in.
Better Rosalia than the absolute n~egation OF
those days. She thought nothing OF my alb.
sencs after my return. She was as full OF
romance as a flower Of nectar. And, 10 sum
1t up, II she was not the rose, she had lived
with the rose. One day we married, and
here we are. A long life, a happy life, and
nave mover regretted the day in II that | made
her my wife. After all, one cannoI
marry among the angels-clay mus
mate with clay. What do yor
sayi Not owe her, my child
You never were more mistaken | love hei