Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-02-07

him then, when I saw chance of his
recovery, I was driven to the railway
station.
When there, I found I had made a
mistake; had an hour to wait. l wan
dered through the neighboring streets,
thinking of my patient, when some one
addressed me.
I do not know German; he did not
know French but finally I made out
that he was offering to sell me some rel
les. The thought of Gilberte flashed
through my mind, / remembered her IA
matte devotion Here was my present!
[ followed the man into shop for the
sale of religious objects, and l selected
ga little piece of bone from one of the
eleven thousand virgins"
The pretended relic was contained in
delicious little antique silver box, which
determined my choice.
put the thing into my pocket and
jumped into my carriage.
On reaching home l wanted to exam
inc my purchase anew I took it out.
The box was open, the relic gone! In
vain I searched my pocket, turned it in
side out; the tiny lone, no bigger than
half a pins length, had vanished.
AS you know, my dear Able, have
but luke warm faith. You have sufi
cient friendship and greatness of soul to
tolerate my lack of fervOr, and to leave
me free, waiting for future developments,
as you say but am absolutely incredu-
lous as to the goods of these secondhand
dealers in religious relics; and you share
my unqualified doubts in this respect
Accordingly, the loss of this fragment of
some sleeps carcass, did not distress me,
and readily procured similar splinter
which l carefully inclOsed in my silver
box.
And I went to call on my betIothed.
AS soon as she saw me she rushed to
me, eager and smiling:
"What have you brought to me ?"
pretended had forgotten her COM
mission she would not believe me. I let
her beg and entreat and when I saw
| that she was nearly wild with curiosity
[ offered the reliQuary. She was over
come with delight. GA relic" and she
kissed the box fondly. l felt ashamed
| OF. my fraud.
But s suspicion futtered through her
brain, and instantly became a horrible
dread; and, gazing straight into my eyes
! she asked:
care you sure it is genuine ?'
absolutely certain"
GLOW can you be?''
I was caught To confess that bought
| the bone of an itinerant peddler, meant
ruin. What could I say? A wild idea
rushed into my head. 1 replied in an
undertone, with a mysterious air:
81 stole it for you"
She looked at me with admiration and
amazement.
ooh! you stole it. Where?"
"From the cathedral the very
shrine of the eleven thousand virgins"
Her heart throbbed; she was weak
| from joy; she murmured:
COL! did you do that-f0r me? Tell
me-tell me the whole storyw
1t was all over. I could not retra e
my steps. I invented an imaginary
story with precise and astonishing details.
l said that gave the sexton so francs to
| let me visit the church by myself. The
shrine was undergoing repairs, but had
| hit on the hour when the WOrkmen and
the priests were at dinner Taking out
a panel which afterWard carefully re-
placed, I managed to extract tiny bone
from a quantity of Others q said a
quantity, thinking what must have re-
suited from the skeletons of II, 900 vir-
gius.) Then [ went to a ieWeler and
bought a.jewel worthy of the relic.
was not ill-pleased to let her know
that the box had cost 500 francs.
But she did not waste a thought on
that. She heard me, trembled with ecs-
tasy. She whispered: GLOW love yOuw
and fell into my arms.
Notice this: I had committed a sacri-
lege for her sake. [ had stolen; I had
violated church; violated a shrine; VIC
lated and stolen sacred relics. She
adored me for it; thought me loving, per
feet, divine. Such is woman, my dear
Able, such are allwomankind
- 4 81 oIO
ing of lovers. She arranged a sort OF
magnificent chapel in her room TO hold
that splinter of a mutton bone, which
she thought, made me achieve that divine
crime of love; and she knelt before ii
night and morning.
I had sworn her to secrecy, for fear, as
I told her, I might be arrested, con
demned, and carried to Germany. She
kept her promise.
But early in the summer an insane de.
sire to see the scene of my exploit. took
possession of her. She coaxed her father
so long and to such good effect (without
: acknowledging her secret reason), that
} he took her to Cologne, cOncealing the
trip from me at his daughters request.
need not tell you that had not seer
the inside of the cathedral. don't know
where the tomb (if there is a tomb) o.
the eleven thousand virgins stands Il
seems that this sepulchre is inaccessible
alasl
A week later [ received brief epistle
breaking off our engagement; also al
explanatory letter from the father, bel
tardy confidant.
On seeing the shrine she suddenly IN
derstood my fraud, my deceit, and at the
same time my real Innocence. On asking
the keeper of the relics if any theft had
been committed, the man burst out laugh
ing and proved the impossibility of such
thing.
But from the moment that she learned
1 had not broken into a sacred place anc
plunged my profane hand into the midst
of venerable remains, was no longer
worthy of my fair betrothed.
I was forbidden to enter the house