Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1888-03-17

but word Of his, stroke of his pen, would
let perpetual sunlight into their hives.
That evening he sat alone in the little study
in the house that had been his fathers Tho
house was full of solemn faced guests, but he
would see none of them. He had bowed his
head on his folded arms and tried to COM
mune with the dead; his dead There were
two. One his kind, tender father, whose
broad, florid face always frightened with a
smile at the coming of his son. The other of
his dead was a woman. He saw her as il
she yet lived What there was in this woman
of all others that should have called forth
such tender raptures of love he had never
paused to wonder She was not brilliant as
some women Her lips, that he believed
could have spoken so wonderfully if they had
cared, were oftenest closed in society. Her
eyes expressed to him the rarest of noble
thoughts, and it was as if she deemed tho
common world unworthy, but that by and
by she would speak He had thought her heart
spotless white, and the texture of her nature
finer and sweeter than that of all other
women Every eye that saw her must adj
mire the threads of fine spun gold she called
her hair, her soft skin as delicate to the touch
as baby's lips, and the queen like perfection
of her form, system OF bold curves and lines
of beauty melting into each other at their be-
ginning and their end But could there be
anv one 10 whom she was SO much beside her
beauty, for whom each phase of her thought
or tone of her voice was just what seemed
most fittingl And she too was gone, dead;
where no prayers or cries of his could reach
or teach her; dead, and yet forever alive for
him
"Wiu you see lady, sir?" 1t was Mary,
whose manner was subdued suitably to the
melancholy occasion. All these trappings
and pretenses provoked Philip strangely, as
did the low voices of his guests and their
drawn down faces. He knew well enough
they didn't care so much as all that. s'She is
very particular, Mr. Phi; l mean Mr..
Breton"
Then he forgot his impatience in strange,
thrilling thought. He rose to his feet and
walked to the window without answering the
girl. Could it be Bertha had felt his hunger
for her such as no other creature could have
for her presence2 Was it too unlikely that
such pain as ached in his heart might have
touched hers A throb of electricity goes
around the world; might not such longing as
his have reached her few short miles awayi
The maid began again.
':Will you see al
"Yes, yes; show her in" How wild he
was tonight Why Bertha was married to
the man she had chosen, long ago; if she
came back, what comfort for him? If she
were not happy with this man after ALL
Oh, God save her from such fate, since he
had paid such a price that she might be
happy. God forbid that all his torment be
for nothing. Philip was rapidly walking
the room. But suDposing- and his heart
almost stopped beating at the thought-she
were not married and had come back to
him after all-what other woman would
call on him now-what then, could he for
give her2
The door opened and a heavily yelled
woman came in. She was too slight of form
and not tall enough for Bertha. The idea
had been absurd, but human beings cannot
believe miracles in their behalf quite i'm
possible. So Philip was not required to
decide the terrible question he had asked
himself Much as he had longed for that
other woman who had not one throb Of pity
in her heart for him, his first feeling was of
intense relief when his visitor laid back her
veil and revealed the face of Jane Graves.
She looked little agitated and fastened
to speak. 81 know you are surprised to sea
me, but felt must