The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-06-18

'.Why I do that now, you silly boy.
Aren't you Ncttie's brother? Why
shouldn't l love .yOu-very, very
much" and STOPPING, warm kiss waA
left on the pain-drawn forehead.
For hours and hours Ted sat just
where she left him. his head thrown
back against the cushions. his eyea
closed. the magazine upon his lap I'M
turned, the dinner BY his side untasted.
From time to time Collins looked in to
urge his being wheeled out upon the
porch to enjoy the splendor of the bay,
the glitter of the sunshine.
"Twill ring when 1 need you" was
the almost fierce reply, angered at being
reused out of these rapt musings. How
that kiss took possession of his forehead!
Her own-her very own-a voluntary
ono. Why had he not pinioned her
then and there and told her how he
loved her? Wilder and wilder sped i'm.
agination, as leaving the body far be-
hind, it sported in illusory realms Of
sweetness and health and rest-her arms
his shelter, her bosom his resting-place,
her voice his inspiration and her smile
his heaven. Every once and awhile, with
great shuddering, soul and body
would seem to come together again, as he
sat up and looked out drearily upon the
glittering sunshine, the blooming flower
beds. Oh. heavens! He, the dishonor-
ed, despised, deformed. The cruel
mockery of fate; natures healthy long
ings in such unhealthy shape. The
misery of consciousness being unsup-
portable, back to his mind orgy he went;
her face in the sunshine, her form in the
shade-ficker, her caress in the breeze
that lifted and let fall the rings upon his
forehead. The room flooded, fell into
shadow, and then into moonshine. His
brain reeled, his limbs ached, his heart
was b ounding wildly. Collins, in the
destinations of the housekeeper, had
forgotten him; should he ring to be re-
moved or await and try to gather from
her face what such professions meant?
But it was too late; there they were;
jolly voices and light wheels over the
gravel. The curtains would screen him
where he lay. "You and Mr.. Goldth-
waite sentimentalize in the moonlight, :"
Nettie laughed lightly, springing out,
''while 90 and put these traps away.
OF course our dear boy is in bed hours
and hours ago." Almost within arms
reach Parquette swung herself into the
hammock. her drapery decorously adj
justed, tiny bootines silt over the edge
of her air canoe and kerchief knOttcd
sailorwise under
1.-THE archest chin
That mockery ever ambushed in"
Ted could have reached and touched the
wind-blown tresses. "A Lorelei, Undine
and Tethys in modern yachting cos
tune" Goldthwaite protested admir-
ingly. Zone almost looks for some
cruel wave to upset your canoe and
write out this enchantment. By the
way, why did you insist upon that mon
ster's going along with us to-day? He
affects me horribly. My sensibilities,
like Goethe's, are only for the beauti-
full. And, do you know, half believe
he is gone on you-a sort of Beauty and
the Beast affair with the final meta
morphosis left out" "You shan't
speak SO unkindly of Nettie's BROTHER"
the girl said, springing erect and warm
ing to the defense. Il know you wrong
him. He doesn't dream of such a thing.
These unfOrtunates are sacred, set apart
from cruel testing. That is the hardest
part of it, to behold yet never to grasp,
as we may, the beautiful, the grand and
the ideal" There was writhing as of
some serpent upon the floor, wall,
gasp, gurgle. 1t was unearthly, ter
rible, piteous. Goldthwaitc's levity
to horror. Parquette, springing
up, murmured: ''Tade," and Nettic,
the dish she was placing,
sprang across the hall screaming:
Lights! lights! lights!' Lights were
everywhere. The spasm was heart
rending, the face ashy, shrunken,
deathly. Nettie moaned aloud. Gold
thwaite fled for doctor, but Parquette
kneeling beside the chair, took the
quivering form into her clasping arms,
laid her face upon the distorted fea-
lures, and whispering words of sooth-
ing, sweetness, peace, won back the
spirit for moments fitting. Kind
death was hurrying on apace, the face
grew wanner, winter, ghastlier. The
eyes took on the enjoy of that embrace,
and till the light went out she held them
with her own, then laying the stiffened
form back upon its cushions, she cried,
falling in limp prostration: ''Oh, Net
tie, he loved me, and did not know it.
Woe be the day that wrought me in his
life. IN. C. Bisldnd, in N. o. Tines
Democrat.