The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-03-04

Our wo5ing may close with these
words-let all the rest be sacred. The
trees around alone know what passed
between us. as their kindly shade fell
on us where we sat and interchanged
our words of love whilst hour after
hour of our second and real wedding
day slipped by. At last we rose, but
fingered vet awhile, as though 10th 10
leave the spot where happiness had
come to us. We looked round once
more and bid farewell to hill and valley
and stream: we gaZed long in each 9TH
er's ewes, our lips met in a passionate
kiss: then we went forth together to
the world and the new sweet life await
ing us.
We walked as in a dream. from which
we We're only recalled by the sight of
houses and people.
~Pauline.S Whispered, "can you leave
this place tonight? We will go to Lon
dom"
And afterward?' she asked, wistful-
Can you ask me? To Italy, of course"
She thanked me with look and press
IRE of the hand We were now at her
home. She left me, passing Priscilla,
whose honest ewes We're now glowering
at me. Priscilla had called me fool; |
must be revenged.
Priscilla" l said, gravely, I am GO
ing by this evenings coach. l Will write
when | get TO London"
had my revenge in full. The good
old soul almost fell weeping at my feet
"Oh. Master Gilbert, don tee. go, sir
That poor Young lady, Miss Pauline,
what win she do? She loves the very
ground YOU tread upon"
| had bargained for reproaches, not
sentiment of this kind. l laid my hand
upon her shoulder.
But Priscilla. Miss Pauline-Mrs.
Vaughan. nay wife, goes with me-"
PriScilla'S tears came more cOpiouSly
than before. but they were tears of joy.
Ten DAYS later and Pauline stood be-
side her brothers grave. BY her OWE
wish she visited it alone. | waited at
the gate Of the cemetery until she re-
Joined me. Her face was very pale, her
ewes showed traces of many tears, but
she smiled as she met my anxious glance
Gilbert. my husband" she said, Il
have wept. but now | smile. The past
is past. Let its darkness be dispersed
bv the brightness of the present and the
promise of the future. Let the love
bore nv brother be carried into the
greater love / give my husband. Let
! us turn our backs on the dark shadows
and begin our lives"
Have l more TO tell? One thing only.
/ Years afterWard | was in Paris. The
/ great war had been fought out to the
/ bitter end. Traces of the conflict be-
/ tween the two races had almost vanish
/ ed, but those of the second and inferno
/ cine contest were visible everywhere.
/ The Gaul himself had destroyed what
/ the Teuton spared. The Tuileries, with
/ sightleSs. empty eyes. gaZed sadly to-
I ward the Place de la COncorde, where
/ stood the statues of the fair lost prov
/ nces. The NendOme column lay pros
trate. The fair city was charred and
/ blackened by the incendiary torches OF
! her own sons; but the flames had been
| some time eXtinguished and ample re-
/ Venge had been taken. \ gay young
/ officer, friend of mine. took me to see
/ military prison. We were chatting
and smoking in the open air when a
small body of soldiers appeared. They
/ were eScOrtIng three men. who walked
with fettered hands and bowed heads.
Who are thew" | asked.
"Blackguard Communists"
where are they taking them?"
The Frenchman shrugged his shout
| ders. Where they ought all to be taken
to be shot, the brutes."
Brutes or not. three men who have but
a minute to live must be objects of in
| terest if not sympathy. | looked close
| " at them as they passed us. One OF
/ them raised his head and stared me in
the face. 1t was MacariI
/ started as his eyes met mine, but !
am not ashamed to say the movement
| was caused by no feelingO of compassion
| CeneTi. in spite of myself / pitied. and
would have aided had it been possible
but this rutfian, liar and traitor should
| have gone TO his doom, even if | could
| have saved him by lifting a finger. He
| had passed long ago out of my life, but
| blood still boiled when | thought of him
| and his crimes. | knew not howhe had
lived since | last saw him-knew not
! whom or how many he had betrayed;
but if Justice had been slow in claim
ing him, her sword had at last reached
him and his end was close at hand.
lie knew me-perhaps he thought
had come there to gloat over his punish
| ment. \ look of bitter hate crossed his
face. He stopped and cursed me. The
guard forced him on. He turned his
head and cursed me until one of the
soldiers smote him in the mouth. The
act may have been cruel. but there
was little mercy shown to Communists
in those days. The guard and their
prisoners turned round an angle of the
building.
shall we see the end?" said my friend,
Tipping the ash off his cigar.
NO, thank YOU"
But we heard it. In ten minutes the
rattle of rifles sounded. and | knew that
the lastand guiltiest of AnthOnyMarch' s
murdeTers had found his deserts.
| | remembered my promise to Ceneri
With great trouble | managed to get a
message sent which l believed would
reach him. Six months afterward a
letter stamped with innumerable hero
glyphical pOstmarkS was delivered to
me. 1t told me that the prisoner to
whom | had written had died two years
after his arrival at the mines. So the
lesser criminal had not the satisfaction
of knowing the fate of the man who had
betrayed him.
My tale is told. Ny life and Pauline's
began when we turned from that GENE
terry and resolved to forget the past.
Since then our joys and griefs have beer
the same as those of thousands. AS
write this in my happy country house
blessed with wife and children, / won
der if | could ever have been that blind
man who heard those fearful sounds
and who saw afterward that terrible
sight. Could it have been | who rush.
ed from one end of Europe to the other
to set at rest doubt which | blush al
even harboring? Could it have beer
Pauline, whose eyes now shine with love
and intelligence, who lay for months
even years, with the sweet bells of hel
intellect tangled and out of tune?
Yes, it must be so; for she has read
every line l have written, and as we
peruse and revise this last page hel
arm steals round me, and she says. in
sisting that | shall record her utterance
~Too much, too much of me, my hus
band, not enough of what you did anC
| have ALWAYS done for mplr
With this, the only difference of opin
ion that exists between us, my tale may
end.
THE END.
| The Wifp