Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-09-05


and life would take it, he could hardly
bring himself to say, Then let death
come 1t takes much to give death
when he Is asked for the best gift. But
yet, what q chance for two lovers to
have died together sol"
She drew rather a deeper breath, but
made no spoken answer.
Down at the fair horizon the late
moon was rising, vague and cloudy. A
ghostly light, bringing in Its wake mys-
terious shadows. spread slowly as the
moon drowsily lifted herself and drop
ped the mists from her shoulders. The
man, looking down in this clearer
light to the water. started and said:
.'It In coming up much faster"
She stopped and looked. Then their
eyes. lifting. sought each other. Both
faces were pale In the moonlight. On
both sat the human shrinking from this
upward crawling fate. Yet it was
something to see each other.
''How long is il t. mornIng?" she
asked.
He drew out his watch, but there
came q cloud across the moon, and they
had to wait.
SIT is just past twelve, " said he.
"Perhaps they will come out by
moonlight"
Perhaps" said he. But neither of
them had any trust in the hope.
He had seen in the moment when
they looked at each other that she was
indeed younger than his first supposl-
tion, though hardly so young as his
second. She might be ive-and-twenty.
1t was not the face Of girl. She had
returned to her former position. and
now, leaning back against the Chin
ney, lifted up her face to the sky. Her
eyes were closed and her lips drawn in.
There was but time to look before the
lip, curved again into smile and the
eyes opened to a calm gaze.
The man sitting beside her heard the
changing and deepening tone of the
water as it came up and up.
"You are too young for this" sail
he abruptly.
His voice had changed and deepened
like the tone or the water.
mo, no." she answered after a mo-
ment. ''Don't trouble about me-"
II do trouble about you. 1t is horri-
bic! horrible!"
She again kept silence for a little
space; then she said:
when / heard you say-that-in
the boat, and get up to stay, L felt,
suddenly, as il 1t was cruel thing not
to stay with you, too-aS well as to
save them.''
She had been obliged to speak the
last words loudly, for the wind rose
suddenly and fiercely, and the shock of
the water broke noisily on the walls.
And as she ceased came a terrible
crash; the whole building creaked and
swayed, there were heavy splashes in
the water, and water spouted over them
as they caught and clung to each other.
Long hair was blown before his face.
They held each other fast, painting and
trembling. She freed a hand and
drew aside her hair. There was a
sound of water trickling and dropping.
The calm moon. pursuing hsr lelsurely
pathway, passed out from behind a
cloud and showed them that the plat
form at the other end of the house had
given way, and the stack OF chImneys
opposite had fallen
"lf il had been thesel'' she said.
They crouched nearer together, each
still holding to the othe.. The fear in
each mind now was the fear of being
divided, of losing all human compan-
ionship, The waters were rising faster.
faster, It seemed, with a malignant,
hungry joy.
at can't be long now," said the
man.
"No," said she.
There were a few mere lifelong mo-
ments IN which they sat silent, breath
ing hard The wild gust of wind
abLted; the moon found a wide, open
archway, among the clouds; the face of
the waters grew by comparison still
again.
"And So" said me-" it was for me
you stayed, and even at the end can't
60 away in peace without pulling down
some one else And you, who stayed,
are q stranger, and we shall die here
| together, strangers. Oh, the irony of
this worldl All my life L have been
solitary and deserted. 1t has been ny
rault-no doubt It has been my fault;
and now life Is over. It's all too late,
and there's no time"
She renamed silent, and tire monoto-
nous pulse of the water throbbed
below.
But if, by sny miracle, we should
now" said he.
"Do we? Well, the depths, perhaps,
OF each other. but not the shadows.
| II We were to be saved we should feel
like friends till We came to land, and
then you would 60 your way and i
| mine; and II We were to meet once a
week for o twelve-month we should
| speak to each other at first, and then
We should nod and smile, and by-and-
by we should pass and take no notice.
| No, what knowledge or friendship we
have does not belong to this lifel''
"You believe, then, In another?r
''It is hardly that believe in an
other life so much As that L can't be-
lieve in death. We could not be capa-
ble of so much, and desirols of SO
much and nothing come. We
have not half enough. feel so much,
much more. No, 1 am not afraid.
| There's more"
He in his turn was silent. Perhaps
he foretold, out of pity, to put forth a
word against her hope. Perhaps in his
soul, too. a like hope, which he had
taken to be long dead, began TO stir
and murmur.
The moon had put on, minute by
minute, fuller glory; it was lllumlnat-
ing an arch OF clouds, and beyond the
arch lay measureless, liquid, lurid
depths. She looked and pointed up
ward. The full glow shone on her face.
He saw in her dark eyes q slow, inef-
fable softening; In all the lines Of her
features breathe1 a spirit of exultant
reception
THE open doorway of innnity." said
he, fitting to this radiance its apt
poetic description, but without any
thing of the poets rapture OF belief.
Her lips moved to a recognizing smile.
"And can you lsok up TO that and
despair" she asked.
THAT has no voice for me. 1t is
too far of, too silent, too unmoved.
That glory may come back as serene.
TO look down on my drowned face.
But you hive to die with me. What
hope there Is n life or death you have
shown me. don't know that IL is
lasting or good for much; but such as
it Is, it comes from you."
Again the watS came rushing over
The fallen chimrSys and they looked
but in momentary apprehension. But
the sudden torrent subsidized and the
| Ratars Wonf ON rfsfnO again slo~lv ne