Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1889-01-05

cove on tho shore, 1 sore wed my oour.
age TO the sticking place and told her
/ must 90 to Rome.
I had had very tiresome letter. and
was out Of tune, like the day. and did
not saw il nicely.
Why DO you 60 p she asked. loolsins
ut me where she sat, close against tha
eternal rock the. glorious strong sea
crashing and foaming az her very feet.
/ threw stone into the water and
waited TO see where IL fell, Then l said
quite steadily:
Because there is no use in my stay
ing"
Certainly not, since you are well
enough 90 go back TO your work. she
assented for go to my Already because
do not sleep in Romel. Yet knew she
had understood me.
She threw a stone into the incoming
wave IN her turn, then she spoke, slowly
and carefully:
Are you going back TO your wife p
she said.
"Who told your" said /, not having
voice for more.
" The princess, / think-the morning
you came into the studio and she was
there"
l seldom entered Suzon's house One
morning had gone TO ask her abous
photographing a picture, / remembered.
and Princess Mathilde was there.
What did she say p | asked.
Precisely? She said what very
handsome man you were and what sad
story yours was"
Ali" l said, stupidity.
:" Where is your wife ?n Suzon spoke
with careful civility. II suppose you
will Join her in Rome Pr
My wife, mademoiselle, is, or rather
was, in maison dc sante. She suffers
from 1ncurable homicidal mania"
beg your pardon" said my comrade,
softly, and held out her hand to me-
took 1t as it was offered and let
1t go again.
She did not ask me any more, nor
nd tell her. OF what use was it to
say that three times had that woman
tried to murder me, when crazed by
drink, till her own people had had her
shut upp Or why should 1 say to my
bon garcon that 1 had only that day
received letter from the doctor at the
asylum telling me that my wife had
escaped and he did not know where she
was; could / tell him of any haunt In
which she was likely to be foundP
saw no sense in telling all this to
Suz0n. When q man at the age of
twenty-three marries q woman thirteen
years older and finds out soon after that
besides being addicted to drinking she
40 VI uuSOuuQ anu
attempts to murder him, she and her
doings are not subject on which he is
likely to dwell. So / held my tongue.
never thought she could find me out
in my pleasant land, though she had
been there once with me, long ago; l
never thought that in her mad hatred
she would remember how / invariably
spent the spring months there after my
winters work. But l fancied l should
find her in Rome.
What are you going to do?" l asked
Suzon.
Work." she said, quietly.
She never spoke of it. but l knew she
painted for her bread, and that she had
no idea of saving money, but lived from
hand to mouth So | was anxious about
her. / could not trust myself to think
about it. / would keep an au courant
with her doingS; that was all could do
for her, though knew she was horribly
poor, and the life of beautiful woman
in Paris is not easy in that case.
We will have one more talk before
! 3 gs,'. I said to su70n' and she SAID
So the next day we walked up the
reached the olives and the wheat, and
then the bean-felds, and, wandering on
at our own sweet will. we were happy
and innocent, God knows.
We sat down at last ON the long grass
OF the edge of the cliff overhanging the
sea, here little wind came up to us.
We did not speak of being our last
day I've talked as usual, comrade to
comrade, while nightingale somewhere
about kept trying his voice in broken
ecStacies.
1t was like heaven.
lay on the grass; Suzon, not far off,
read Leopard aloud. Why she chose
that philosophie de desespoir, she who
had still, la joie de vivre, do not know.
But presently 1 ceased to hear her voice.
do not sleep at night and, like all
people who have insomnia, am utterly
unable sometimes to keep from falling
into deep sleep, especially in the open
air.
And so did that day.
And while / slept that woman must
have been creeping up to us For
started, dazed from my sleep to sec
Suzon struggling in the grasp of mad
woman ON the very verge of cliff:
or course knew who it was. was
on my feet like fash, but not in time:
for before / could reach her saw my
comrade flung out over that awful height.
And then two men who had been
working in the fields came running and
caught my wife. l did not wait to hear
them tell how they had seen her creep
up on me, not seeing was not alone;
how, just as she held the knife at my
back, Suzon had leaped like a cat and
caught it from her hand, and how that
she devil had turned on her. All that
/ heard afterward. Now / ran down that
zigzag path to the shore and lxnelt by
my little comrade.
i thought she was dead, for nearly
every bone in her body was broken and
her eyes were closed in stupor. l CROPPED
for her hea-5 with my hand Il who had
never touched herr. She was alive, for
] felt it STIR and then she opened her
eyes and looked at me.
She knew me, but she did not, think,
remember where she was or what had
happened. The poor lips tried to speak
and failed.
Try again, my, darling, ma cherie |"
/ cried Tell me, are you in pain p
Though did not think she was, for her
back was broken.
Saw it again." she whispered.