Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-10-17

her loyel, bs correct. They are poor,
silly things, most of them, this enc es-
Pec1ally so-poor, for she lost her lover;
silly N that she had not chosen a truer
friend; but Alice never dreamed of the
storm raging beneath that calm exter-
ior; nor did Tom, who wondered at her
calmness; while she, under her eyelids,
saw, and felt too, his bright. flashing,
u knife crunching and dividing
WIN unerring certainty from morning
till night, till it seemed as if her heart
lay bare beneath the stroke. She
would not stay to be tortured so; she
would end 1T now.
Rls.ng from her seat, she folded the
work she had finished, and carried it
to be inspected; shc must pass TOMS
table on her way to the room below,
and She had resolved to lay the ring
before him without a word: she could
not breathe till that was done. But
some one stood in her path. Lifting
her eyes, she saw Alice. whom she had
not missed from her side. Though her
back was turned, Annie could see the
hush on her fair cheek, her pretty, shy
face raised to his, while she waited for
the bands he was cutting. They did
not notice her, nor even see her as she
passed, crying aloud in her soul for
vengeance upon them. She loitered by
the inspectors desk. and returned w til
lelsurely step, carrying her new work
in her arms; she had slipped the ring
from her finger, and wrapped it in a
scrap of clean muslin; the little pack
age burned her palm; she could not go
back to her seat with her purpose I'M
accomplished. Lingering by the door,
she looked within. How absorbed they
were! She waited with as much pa
thence as her .sorely tried soul could
summon, for he could not cut bands
forever, though he evidently prolonged
the task to its utmost extent; nor could
Alice tarry many minutes more, for all
her dainty counting them, and taking
them up one by one with her white and
slender fingers, and doubling that she
had enough until he counted them
AGAIN. Annie lost not q glance nor a
Smile; she would, woman-like, have
cleaned them all though purgatorial
pains were in them; and so they stood,
unconscious Of the flashing eyes that
watched them.
Could she ever forget those minutes
which seemed unending, or the long
room photographed forever on her
memory? Shining beneath his table.
the swiftly revolving shaft cleaned in
the waxing light, twisting noiselessly,
like a mighty snake in pain, turning,
now visible, now in shadow, as it had
turned for years before. Close to the
floor, and projecting beyond the end OF
the table, the treacherous rod spun
round till the air was blurred with its
molten, as it had spun harmless for
months. Once they had imprisoned it
in a h+x, which, carelessly broken, had
never been replaced. Noone could be
caught by it, or fail to see it. who
walked toward it, for its draught alone
was warning to n who approached
it, and who ever walked backward in .
place like that?
Alice, p%ertidious Alice! Moving as
ii to depart, she .saw-they both saw
the pale face, the Bonded prows, the
disquietlng eyes flashing upon them
in sstonished obsery alton, aud startled
into guilty recoil, she took that one
step backward. Something in that
dreadful look reminded her of death
and Judgment; while Annie, IN menta.
misery. was madly defending ven.
geanee.
Then for answer she saw her enemy
sway and totter, pulled backward
cry, and understood. The deadly
draught had caught but a wandering
thread of her tiounce. then the dress
itself, and last in a gigantic embrace,
from which neither her own strength
nor Toms could release her, they
writhcd to!ether, while her shrleks
paralyzed those who, having lost
presence Of mind, were powerless to
assist her. He had sprung to her
at her first CRY, knife in hand, but in
her unreasoning terror she threw her
self upon HIM, p~inioned his arms. and
chung to him, though he shouted and
entreated in agony. 'For your life, fol-
your life, Alice. let me go!"
She heard nothing, saw nothing; hel
head was on his breast, her arms around
him, and the knife fell from his grasp.
OF no avail to brace himself against the
table End hold her till the muscles
stood out upon his skin like whip-cords,
his one-man power against that of fifty
horses-which dragged them to the
floor, had them down upon their knees,
will grind them to powder unless some
angel intervene. She v 10 stood in the
doorway, looking with horror upon hel
answered prayer, saw i'll his face the
love he felt for Alice above the agony
of his struggling, and it had not flashed
into any mind but hers-hers-in al
that confused and flying crowd, the one
thing that will save them, Had she
prayed for vengeance? With tenfold
vehemence she cries aloud: "Now Goo
forgive me-" and looks about her
They have shouted to each other, thu
lookers-on, to stop the engine; but il
is in the basement, and there Is now
but the twinkling of an eye, an map
! probable fragment of time, between life
and q most dreadful dream. A woman
, has but two weapons, the use Of which
comes to her as naturally as if she hac
been born with them in her hands
One is her scissors, the other he1
broom. With the first she does al
her carpentering; with the other she
, goes forth to warfare or defense
and a broom now stood beside little
!, Annie at the doorway, where a careles:
!. sweeper had left it. The broad belt O