Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1888-06-20
tiful; but he was dIvine-Apollo Belve-
| dere coma tO life

dere come to life.
lone day he said to me. ''Wiu you
be my wife?' and L said, Yours or no
man's.' And we changed rings. My
gift was a pearl, his an opal So we
detied fate-for pearls mean tears, and
woe to love that is pledged in opals.
BURY my opal with me, and his
hand on my heart with the pearl upon
its finger. Yes, has hand. 1 see you
shudder, pretty ones. L did not
shudder- L took it. cold as it was, and
kissed it. l have kissed it every day
for eighty years. I dared not tell you
i could not tell you-but now you
shall know. Leo came from India
yellow, splendid with jewels. panther
like in movement, with a panther's
eyes, and he asked my father for me.
LEO was a cousin far away, far
away-buI cousin; and oh, how rich
he was. and Rawdon was not, and nv
father bade me marry Leo and my
mother forbade me TO meet Rawdon
and i wept and besought, but in vain.
And 1 even told Leo that L loved an
other and begged him to leave me. But
he was of ignoble soul. He laughed.
81 love you,' he said, and L will
have you If / can, whether you love
me or not
"And those were days when girls
were given by their parents, and We're
not their own mistresses as they now
are. And Rawdon. forbidden the
house, used to meet me in lonely spots,
until they found us out, and 1 was
locked up in my chamber, when one
day my maid brought me letter. 1t
was signed with Rawdon's name, and
1t told me that. losing all hope of win
ming me, he had left the country, never
to return, and that his advice to me
was to marry Leo.
''Oh, at that L went quite mad for
while, and when vas well of the fever
that fell upon me, 1 cared not what be
came of me. So they told Leo | should
be his, and they set to work on my
wedding garments. And L did not
weep. 1 sat thinking and thinking.
One thought oftenest in my mind, my
secret meetings with Rawdon. We
had one place of rendezvous that we
thought no one could discover. 1t was
a cave to which strangers sometimes
came out of curiosity, but of which the
neighborhood took little heed. 1t was
deep and dark, but within 1t was a
spring. Of the water no one drank,
as it was sure death to do so; but as
suredly 1t had a strange property.
Whatever lay within it for time was
turned to stone. Little crawling
things, fish, and even toads had been
found there all petriied. Here in the
hush of evening we wended our way.
lit by our dark lanterns. The place
was cold and murky; but our hearts
were warm, our love sweet and bright.
Happy, happy had L been there, and L
longed to 60 there again. longed for
days and for hours, and at last when
the very eve of my bridal had come L
donned my old nurses cloak and hood
and stole away over the misty mead
ows, where will-o'-the-wIsps danced
before me; through the woods where
the owls hooted; down into the hollow W
where the cave lay. AS | entered the
cave bats tapped their wings in my
face and felt a snake glide by; but L
opened my lantern and the light fell
upon the stones, and the water of the
spring caught its rays, and the stalac-
tites that hung from the roof glittered,
and thought white spirit form glided
by me-perhaps it did; and / heard Il
voice call me by name, and a horror
fell upon me, and was kneeling by
the spring. Something lay beside me.
IL was d ohCltlOH hON-ch ShCIClOl Cltlu
in garments blue with mould, but with
a dagger still sticking In its breast
that proved thai the man had been
murdered, but as 1t fell it's left hand
had dropped into the petrIfying water
of the springs pool and lay there still,
a hand of Stone-wlth a ring upon its
nnger and stone lace upon its wrist.
The water could not change gold and
gems. l knew the pearl ring L had
given Rawdon. Pearls for tears
pearls for tears. Eighty years ago
but L shudder, L tremble, L culver all
over as write-and L know as l knew
then that Leo had murdered Rawdon;
and took the hand of my love to my
heart, and fled through the night,
waking it with shrIeks for help. They
came to me, they gathered about me,
they went to the cave, they saw the
sight L had seen, they found on the
dagger Leo's name, they found in the
cave letter forged to lead him there
signed by my name, and they knew it
was Leo who forged it. But he was
4 kinsman, and he was wealthy. He
fed and they did not pursue, and they
left me alone with all that was left of
my dead lover, and spoke never more
of wedding me to any one. This is the
story L could not tell. You know 1t
now, and / know all that death can
teach me. Adieu."