The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-06-14
,d 1 plucked up courage to address

and I plucked up courage to address
her.
/ was about twenty-five years old at
that time, and | gathered from her
looks and manner that the lady was
some three or four years my senior, so
that, in every way, l felt myself her
inferior.
1t was not without an effort that /
lifted my hat and said, timidly. that |
had carried the kitten in safety to its
home. She thanked me: her voice was
low toned and musical, and the dim,
soft light of her eyes shone on me while
she spoke.
She was so kind and gentle in her
manner that in q moment or two |
found myself talking freely and with
out effort, and | turned and we walked
on together.
We paced the length of the pier and
back again slowly, and perhaps for the
space of an hour, but to me it was the
shortest hour | had ever spent. And
yet we had spoken only of things in
different We had, soon discovered,
a common interest in the sea and sky.
She loved them both, she said, but only
in their quiet moods. Happily the day
was one of preternatural softness; the
waters scarcely trembled as they lay
outspread beneath us, and the azure
sky was tleckled with cloudlets woven
of gossamer. | asked whether she in
tended to remain in Southbeach, and
she answered with some reserve that
she had visited it under medical advice,
and did not know what would be the
length of her stay. At any rate | was
rejoiced to think that she would not
leave Immediately.
My interest in this pale, lovely
stranger deepened daily. We met
frequently, and it was a sweet pleasure
to me that she had quietly accepted me
as a friend and allowed me to share
her walks on the narrow wooden path
above the sea. We met nowhere else,
though | know the house on the cliff
where she had taken rooms. was not
long in coming to the decision that she
was the most extraordinarily interesting
creature | had ever seen. She had read
widely, and had the rare gift of drawing
upon her books in conversation. My
own reading had been to some extent
on similar lines with hers; wehad both,
for instance, dipped pretty deeply into
theology; and religion and religious
literature, as discovered, had an in
tense fascination for her; chiefly, how
ever, on the metaphysical and specu-
lative sides. Her affections were with
the Church of the Middle Ages, at the
period of the dawn of Romanism; and
she wandered and wondered often amid
the mazes of medieval mysticism.
1t was in this connection that she
once disclosed her inner self to me
more ully-and yet how slightly!-than
she had ever done before. 1t was even
ing, the first evening thatwe had walked
together, for she had always returned
to the shore with her maid at dusk. |
had looked for her all the afternoon,
and was leaving the pier disappointed
when | saw her coming.
The moon with sad steps" climbed
the sky, and the multitudinous stars
shed q quiet light upon the sea.
The maid was with her, but walking
at greater distance than usual in the
rear. had noticed, from the first, that
the relation between the beautiful young
llloUl CoS anu IlCl IlldlOl vas uCliuCI IL
friendly nor an intimate one. The
maid, thought, had a stolid and sullen
air, and seemed devoid of that regard
for her mistress which l thought would
have been natural feeling in one who
stood in the position of protectress to 50
tender and gentle a being. My fancy
had created for the lonely visi-
tant of the pier history of mingled
pathOs and mystery, but it rested on a
basis unsubstantial as air, for she had
never spoken of herself except in
phrases involuntary and remote. This
evening, when we had reached the end
of the pier and had stood for awhile
watching the lights flash upon the water
from vessel anchored in the distance,
| noticed that she was paler than usual,
and that her eyes, whose restless, visit
full glance always affected me strangely,
had an anxious and troubled look, also
q certain indescribable something |
had never seen in them before. | pre-
vailed on her to sit, and we placed our
selves on bench beneath the lifeboat
which, swinging in chains overhead.
formed a sort of extempore roof.
| wanted to speak to her, but knew
not how to begin. Presently, of her
own will, she turned and said quietly:
"You have noticed something strange
in me-
Ireplied, in confused and hurried
way, that had sometimes feared she
carried some heavy trouble with her;
that had shrunk from speaking of it;
but that 1 longed, if it were possible, to
be of some service to her.
"You are right" she said, sadly, sin
supposing that have trouble, and
indeed it is a heavy one; but you can
not hel p me-no" she said with a ges-
ture and accent almost despairing, when
| made as though | would offer some
help or counsel, sit is not possible. My
life is as it is. l can not help myself,
and no one else can help me-"
Then her voice sank to q frightened
whisper, and the fear in her eyes height
ened. as she said:
"Have you not seen that 1 am
watched?"
| cast an angry look in the direction
of the maid, who was pacing the pier at
a little distance from us; and my com
panion also glanced that way and whis-
pered
Eyes, you have seen it; 1 knew you
had Everywhere and all day long l
am watched and followed. l can not