Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-04-22

room. May approached the sofa. Harry
still slept. His face was pale and his
features appeared sharper, pinched. as if
the cold of the night had chilled them.
Midnight had sounded, and it was al
ready Easter day. May knelt beside the
couch and softly chafed the cold hand as
a gentle means of awakening him. Then
be opened his eyes and looked at her.
There was something so profound. stead
fast and strange in this gaze that her
heart ceased to beat; words Of endear+
ment remained frozen on her lips. Sud-
denly an awful change swept ever the
young mans face; terror dilated his
beautiful dark eyes; quivering light
irradiated his pinched features.
May, he gasped, threw his arms about
her neck, and leaned his head upon her
shoulder.
Silence succeeded. The lamp waned;
white arctic light invaded more boldly
the chamber. What had happened?
What dreaded presence and power was
here? The head on Mays shoulder be-
came heavy, inert; her lover, bridegroom,
husbaDd-was dead.
A lifetime of anguish may be cont
pressed inte twenty-four hours. Thus
the young wife occasioned more anxiety
tG those about her than her dead in the
days following that awful Easter morn>
ing. She demanded of the kind doctor,
with haggard eyes, if the young man
above stairs had been her own husband,
and he endeavored to sOoth without un
her. She besought the in
animate clay to forgive her for sleeping.
I did not know we should have only a
few moments more together before our
life would end,' she meaned. Then she
demanded quickly of her companions,
the earth, the sky: Where has be gone?
How shall | ever find him again?'
Words of consolation and resignation
fell ON deaf ears. The landlady and the
women wept in helpless sympathy. but
May shed no tears. She sat beside her
dead with clasped hands, speechless, her
face of tie same blue pallor as the mar
BILE face on the pillow.
The landlady detained the doctor out
side the door.
She has not slept or tasted food for
twenty-fOur hours she whispered. Her
brain will turn. The shock was too
great for her, and she has the look of
mad woman already
The doctor held a letter. An idea
came to him. The letter had just arrive
ed by the post, and could net concern
the recent bereavement. He entered the
of death, approached May and
presented the letter, saying in natural
tones:
This letter has just come. You will
be kind enough to open it,
Surprised, she raised her head, receiV-
ed and mechanically tore open the en-
velope. An Easter card was disclosed.
An uprooted plant dropped on stone
parapet, with rays of sunshine slantiRg
down in a golden tide, and in the rays
these words were traced:
Il am the Resurrection
And the Life"
May read the card and turned it over
in her hand. The doctor paused behind
her; the landlady stood in the door way.
Then a sound became audible in the
room, a tumultuous sobbing. and the
widow fell on her knees, clssping one Of
the dead hands and covering it with
tears and kisses.
L am the Resurrection and the Life,
she repeated tremulously. 'Ob, beloved,
1 shall find you again.
The Easter card had fallen on the floor.
The doctor raised it and placed it on the
feet of the bed.
When the winter of another year
brought its SHOWS and clear, star-lit
aights, Agnes Clement still wrought in
her studio, the glass covered piazza. The
place was changed. Flowers now bloom
ed everywhere, with the difference be-
tween the piazza and the conservatory
that the artist had painted them. Roses
swayed lightly on their stalks in the
sketches on the wall; violets and daisies
were scattered in profusion over boxes
and fans; fairies peeped from blossoms
on ornamented cards; portrait heads
smiled from the center of dishes gar
landed in ivy and ferns. A glance into
the domain of sister Anne would also
have revealed little additional luxurieS
and comforts unattainable with the mod
est salary of Humphrey. Agnes bad
learned to love her task, and dealt ten
derly with the flowers. hence her success;
Occasionally her attention strayed to q
distant corner, conseerated to Beatrice
in Paradise and 'Ophelia, and at such
moments she sighed.
Opposite. the superb conservatory still
bloomed in the sunshine, and here sp-
peared occasionally pale young lady in
deep mourning. whose grave face seem'
ed to have forgotten how to smile. The
artist recognized her as the girl in the
pink dress and jewels. and associated
her garb with the absence of the brilliant
young man. That was all. Between
them was a gulf. and thought did not
span it. Had Agnes penetrated the spa
cious mansion of her neighbor she would
have seen in Mays chamber, placed
where her eyes beheld it as the first OBJ
ject in awakening, an Easter card, franz
ed in ebony and veiled with Grape. I'VE
are all so intertwined that the same
wave beats on every shore"
VIRGINIA W. JOHNSON.
A Walking Skeleton.