Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-03-20

SAID, either To vessels off IL or people on it.
quicksand and be sucked down-to China for
anything know. And here-give me your
hand-step on that rock-now this-there! isn't
that pretty cradle to lie down in and let the
put you to Sleep"
"Iselinr' cried ssls that a proper wav tn falt.e
What do you mean by ite What would Mr..
Sanghurst say to hear your"
,.na san l she said with bitter, short
iahsn. de say how superior Agnes Fair
weather was to that sort of thing. She Is
a ,, superior. She gives me such fine adj
she cried In one of her sudden furies; ~ call
II r lIs3'en emf 8, talked that way to any one
es II wouldn't S" Sassy
added presently, skipping back to my side
along the jutting rocks, .it would be pleasant
make a great sacrifice. wouldn't it? 1f I'm not OF
going to make 1t for herr she cried. "Im
not going to make IT for her. It's for him-all
Tor him! know he'll be happier and better,
and live out his own life, and all that, with a
woman than with child, sprite, a little imp
like me:' And down she went crouching in
the pool of salt water and crying tears as salt;
and succeeded in pulling her up and getting
her out on the shingle, and turned homeward
FOR rapid walk. only after her skirts were
dragged nearly to the waist. ugh! how cold
water is! I'm such a little thing it wouldn't
spreading her wet skirts as # to take dancing cling
steps, and the rest of the way she was as joyous
as She had been gloomy.
That evening the wind began to blow: light
scud OF clouds obscured the stars, and mfsts
came driving in from sea and surrounded the
house in spectral sort. 1t was chilly with a
penetrating chill; and Madame Sanghurst had
great log fire built in the drawing-room that
might have made the windows resemble coast
beacon. 1seiin sat on a hassOck in a corner by
the roaring blaze, like little salamander, as II
she should never get warm enough. Mr.. Sang
hurst was having lively wrangle with Miss
Fairweather about q Dantean passage, and
went to get his manuscript, for he was engaged
on one of those amateur translations where the
help and counsel OF other scholars are precious
When he returned they bent over it together
with vivid interest, and now there was a
and no o. Miss solfss aad now s,as laugh
were ripping through that sweet southern
tongue, and now Mr.. Sanghurst was look
with the color In her cheeks and the luster in
her eyes. Other people were singing and play
Ing. was busy with my gold and silver
threads, Madame Sanghurst was half asleep
and nodding over her needles, when suddenly
Iseln, all rosy with the fire and with her wrath,
stood on the other side of the table before Mr..
Sanghurst and Agnes FairWeather. "You will
not nave to make love In Italian any more!'
she flashed out And as sud denly she was gone,
astonished lover thought to conjecture where.
And as for him, really, he had of late become so
accustomed to her tempers that he did not re-
gard this as anything very especial; and then,
moreover, fancy he had just a tritle ofrghteous
indignation that caused him to go back to his
book as II nothing had been said. And Agnes
Fairweather's voice rippled on, and the piano
and violin playing was just as soft as before and
nobody but me heard the whistling and wailing
There was no Eselin to bid anyone good night
that evening, and in the morning there was no
lselin to make an uproar at the breakfast table
with her "quips and cranks and wreathed
smiles" But there was uproar enough outside
in the tossing of the broad elm boughs. the roar
ing of the storm, the crying of the great white
seas, white out as far the eye could see through
mistS and bursts of rain. 1t was later in the day
before anyone began to inquire about Iselin, it
being then full time that she was either seen or
heard OF.
1t was MIR. Sanghurst who came into the
Nir,fy, 1Sf, fI.lr
anyone seen Iselin:" And somehow, without
knowing why, there was one outcry through
the whole house. "Has anyone seen Iselin?"
And nobody had.
What a day it was! How full and how fearful,
MIR. Sanghurst had his horse saddled and went
gallOping through the storm to the next house.
Iselin's words and looks of last night may have
rushed over him with new force; and all the
men on the place were sent up and down the
shore and into the town, telegraphing and in
quiriug, and all in vain, while work and play
and almost life itself seemed suspended in the
house, and still the storm ragged on.
AT nightfall Mr.. Sanghurst came home. There
was not a trace of lselin. / myself had been
out battling with the tempest as tar as the place
she had SHOWN me the day before, but the
cradle was a boiling pit of foam and spume
that no one could approach-only ON a Jag of
wool, a rag of Iseln's skirt. 1t might have
caught there the day before, as she clirn bed and
skipped about the rocks, light a mountain
goat. But all that could be certainly known
was that she was gone and that her long water
proof cloak was gone with her. They reasoned
she had gone out into the storm last night for
her bed had not been slept in; as yet they
hardly dared state the superstition to them
selves that doubtless some tide, some wave,
some wash of the sea had swept her in as she
ran along the shore in the sudden fury with
which she had seized her cloak and ran ont 7
hardly dared look at Mr.. Sanghurst: he did not
keep still a moment, white as ashes and restless
as a leaf In the wind, out in the storm and in
in.
And what night it was! The tempest re-
sounded through the black heavens and the
house rocked and trembled; the huge waves
pounding on the shore sent a thrill through
every timber; the scream of the breakers made
US start and sh1ver; sheets of rain slapped
against the eastern windows with a force that
made the heart every now and then stand still
in sense OF suffocation. Through it all we
heard far OF faint repeated minute gun. And
10 think OF this little creature out in all this
tumult OF the eiements-we could not think of
sleep, we did not think of Separating for the
night; when the clock struck two we were still
IN the Drawing room, or going and coming
about the house; nearly every room in the
house was lighted; and one after one the search
ing parties had returned. drenched and worn
and unsuccessful. At length Mr. Sanghurst
came in Tor the last time His mother went ont
TO meet him; and Miss Fairweather started up
and took his hand and led him to a seat, faint
darkness. And just then, l know not WHY or
how, perhaps moved by sudden blast of cold
air from an opening door, perhaps by the COM
mon impulse OF our Overstrained nerves we all
turned TO one OF the long windows and there
cloaked 10 her feet, her hood thrown back and
all her hair flying in the wind and rain a little
form leaned against the frame as if blown there
and little white tace pressed against the pane.
wild and CHASTITY, with wide-Open eyes, fixed in
a sort OF horrOr-nOt because of the storm or
any of Its fatal possibilities, but because OF Miss
Fairweather there, leading Mr.. Sanghurst to his
chair. She could not contain herself ~ see
you! You mustn't think don't see You p
piped her voice shrily above the gale,
"Iselin! Iseiin., cried Mr.. Sanghurst.
at is her spirit!' cried his mother "It Is not
Iselin. 1t is u little ghost"
But almost before any one spoke Miss Fair
weather had lett him, and Mr. Sanghurst had
dashed through the open door in the hall and
round the piazza, and had grasped the little
ghost and brought her In among US strug-
CLING and fierce. What in the world is ali this
fuss abOut?" she exclaimed breathIessly
''Oh, Iselin.' cried the mother, wringing her
hands as il she lamelted her lamenting aYOu
have given US SUCH a fright! We feared you had
gone out-we feared you had destroyed your
seif-or been lost in the storm"
What should destroy myself for?' cried
lselin. because / couldn't destroy Miss Fair
weather? hope have a little spirit! You must
tinued, throwing off her cloak, ~ will tell Won
the truth; did go out to lie down i'm the cradle
and let the waves cover me-but it stormed so +
was afraid-and ran back and went up into
the west attic and stayed there till it should be
pleasant again. do so hate q sformt And 7
thought at last would come down and get
something to eat, and have breath of air and
found all this TODD, and the house lighted as if
there were going to be a wedding and"
There Is going to be wedding" said Mr.
Sanghurst. taking her arms and drawing her