Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1884-10-12
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Be entertained Slso."
Bees smiled and vent back to where he
| vas sittins. There ives scme<hng IN nis
voice which she could not resist Ana
! stronger women than Bess had saccumbed to
\ its wondrous fascination. He threw away
his cigar and rose to his feet.
1 The sun set early IN the valley, and ere
they reached the village the shadows were
I falling.
"Good-nightF' he said, holding her aut-
tering hand for q moment in his and bend
ing his proud head to look in her velyety
ewes. good night There was longing
in his ewes she did not sea longing Tor
her pureness and beauty. But be set MS
teeth hard and strobe away through the
gathering shadows toward the hotel.
For long time after he went away Bess
stood with Eer hand upon the gate looking
upward into the still spaces OF tie silent
world above, and not until the red glo"
died away upon the South Dome, and the
stars erept over the white crest Of Cloud
Rest did she enter the little cottage, aud
even then, though there was bright hre
upon the hearth and tempting supper
NEON the table, there was q loneliness IN
her heart which she could not conquer. .
The weeks passed by and yet Harold
Fletcher made no effort TO leave the valley.
His friends at home wondered, but he wrote
them that he was occupied with his sketches
of the valley and they were SATISFIED de
scarcely dared acknowledge TO himself the
spell that held him there. In Bessie pure
ewes he had found an earthly Eden, and he
shut his heart to all the great world beyond,
whose waves Of care and sin and sorrow
beat so Gercely against bus white walled
paradise.
But his dream was Q short one. On
, reaching his hotel one evening letter was
handed him which filed him with sudden
despair. In the privacy OF his own apart
ment he reao its contents. II must have
beee q strange message, for q hot flush
crept over his fair face and be threw 1t on
the floor and ground his heel upon 1t. A
faint perfume Hoated upward from the
crushed paper, the odor made him faint:
lie threw open the main door and gasped
for air. Then with q bitter smile at his
sudden weakness he took the missive and
burned it slowly in the flames OF his candle
Waiting it with an eager fascination. a
shadow seemed to rise from its ashes wrap
ping Bess in its dark folds AMI shutting out
her pure ewes from his sight.
The night passed away and when the
morning came it found him worn and
weary He had not slept, and there was 8
strange pallor upon his face. After break
ast be sent for horse and rode away &c
he still heights of the mountains.
- u IL oxrn
given him strength and calmness, foe he
rame back at noon with quiet smile upon
his fine features I'll his restleSsness wa:
zone, and in its stead was his usual non
halant grace.
He passed the little school house, but
3ess was not there He inquired Of hel
.uut at the little cottage and learned tina
re had gone 70 the Point Then he rode
the hotel and ordered another horse Il
Vas shutdown when he reached the summit
+ the trail He gave his morse to James
Who volunteered the information that BeS;
al gone through the woods an half an
ouC before.
Harold found her at last, standing on the
arrow ledge of rock that was really the
clint proper She vas leaning over the
ron railing that had been ! 'aHed there fo
he protection Of visitors looking down into
be valley below. 1t required a clear head
look down that sheer precipice of thret
thousand feet. 1t was a sensation from
which many q man has recoiled with q
feeling akin to terror 1t made the brair
reel and the heart grow faint But Best
TODD there with no thought Of fear in hel
iusky eyes. She was thinking of tbs
miniature paradise below her, walled in BY
"a grand precipices of granite, and shC
,ondered if God had ever created a spo
more beautiful. But slowly the last CLEAN
f light faded away. The High Sierrat
we're still ba;hed in seas of spleudor vet the
little valley beneath wss losing itself in the
!usk. Only a faint golden reflection lay
Upon the calm bosom Of Mirror Lake, anC
he narrow thread of MERGED River wa;
oGched here and there with ripples Of gold
Fearing 10 startle her, Harold called he
lame softly. She turned and glad snilt
,fwelcome lit up her face. He led her
backward from the edge OF the precipice.
Queen Bess," he said, smoothing tht
hand that lay passively in his own, Il have
ONE to say good-by. Day after tomorroS
must leave the valley.
No" a shiver of terror swept over her
aud she crePt nearer 20 him. You vii
Aot 60
Yes" He drew the brown head clost
his breast and silently kissed the silker
raids ofhair He knew her pain was no
.reater than his own.
You will never come back She itteC
Ter head and looked him full in the face
L know it" 1t gave him a pa1g of re
morse to see how white her face had grown
md how her lips quivered.
Yes | will, Bess swear it, Here or
hese eternal heights OF God, with the silen
mountains to bear me witness, swear tina
[ will come back to you.
She turned her face away and said NJ
more She lid not question him.
All if she could only have known how be
lung to her stainless lo;e How it washed
Il the sins of his manhood away and made
us own heart pure for the sake Of the white
lesson that nestled there For her SAKE
&c was going back into the world to re
ounce all its glittering joys for the sake
f this redwood blossom he was going to
Est away the beautiful rose of sin who's,
crimson petals had lured him on to bitter
sorrow.
But he dared not tell her thiS-this fail
girl who looked into his eyes with al the
pureaeSs of her childhood yet upon her
with no thought of the passion of sorroH
hat lay in his heart. No, he would sooner
have thrust her over the precipiece into the
dark abyss below than TO have opened her
eyes to the despair Of his own soul.
The August moon was lighting up the
peaks with a white splendor when they
nalked back to the hotel, yet the moments
had flown By UNDECIDED. To Bess the night
wind whispered q sad music and the giant
pines nodded their heads in the moonlight
with weird shadows in their heads in their
swaying depths. In the midnight silence OF
her own room she looked out upon the still
white world and shivered. In that vast
solitude so close to the shining stars she
was all alone, and even the broOdiug peace
of the heavens brought with it no claim to
her troubled, human soul Even the near,
ness of God could not sweep away that aw-
. tul sense of loneliness and terror.
The next morning Harold Fletcher was
+ off by dsybreak. He could not bear the
! sight of Bess sgsin-the passionate misery