The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1889-03-20

moHes drew her to me, pressing
burning kisses on her lips, hel
brow, but she was so coldl SO life.
lessi A woman of ice or marble
statue could not have been more in.
animate, more bloodIessl
"Draw me closer to thy side,' 8 she
murmureds acoyer me with thy
warm kisses tell me often thou
lowest me, for 1 have so longed for
love, there is naught to equal it
Thou vouldst be with mo always2''
cay. sweetheart, L would be with
You always and day, and if we two
could be together in the grave,
death could have no more willing
subject"
@Nay, nay" she pleaded, and i
could feel her trembIe violently,
"say not that, sweet love, lest thou
shouIdst forswear myself. Why
wilt thou talk of those things when
thou hast no conception of them?
To the quick there is a past, and a
present, and mayhap future, which
is change. "To the dead" and her
voice chilled me through and
through, s'there is past, immutable,
fixed, unvaryingI 1t is not strange
that the bravest are Ioath to learn
the dark secrets of the grave"
How long we sat, she resting her
head on my shoulder, L, with my
arm about her waist, her lissom
waist, 1 can not tell, but 1 would it
had been till the present. Twice or
thrice we heard them dancing, and
though the curtain swayed back
and forth, as if brushed by some
passing person, we were not dis
turbed in our retreat.
Gcntly she unclasped herself from
my encircling arms.
"Kiss me once more, for the last
time, if thou wilt" and our lips met
in one intense. yearning seal of affec-
tion. "And thou wilt never forget
Athanasia?" she whispered.
Ere 1 had answered heard, or
thought 1 heard, some one call my
companion, and stopped to listen.
The call, if such it was, was not re-
pcatcd, and the next moment rub
bed my hand across my forehead in
Iazcd wOnderment, for 1 was alone.
She has slipped away to frighten
me, 1 remember thinking; she would
return 1 knew; there was her little
lace handkerchief she had dropped
at my feet, and bending over 1 es-
sayed to pick it up. but instead of
tile handkerchief my fingers en-
eountcred a little drift of snow, and
at the instant the taper that lit the
alcove, guttered low in its socket,
fiickered, died. Just then 1 heard
the sound of shot somewhere in
the house, a sudden rush of hurry
ing feet, followed by such cries of
anguish and despair, as may 1 never
again, o Godl be permitted to hear,
not even at that great dayI Half
dead with fright 1 grasped the cur
tain, but it vanished from my fin
gers. Had not my senses utterly
departed, or was it all a dream?
for the hall was as bare and tenant
less as of yorel A rat scampered
from end to end as if it had never
known moIestation. Where was the
company SO lately occupying the
chamber, my host of the evening,
my pale love, Athanasia2 Gone
were the musicians, the paintings
on the walls, gone was the carven
furniture, the laughter, the fiirta-
ton, the fire on the hearth, gone
were the lights from the tapers;
gone, all gonel The bare walls, and
the snow-drifted floor alone con-
frontcd me, and as the gray dawn of
tie winter morning came creeping
in at the broken panes, I marveled
greatly that they had left no trace
of themselves or their presence.
But l had no time to losel already
the roof-tree was falling, and trcm-
bling in every limb, dragged open
the ereaking door, and fed from
the accused place. Hardly had 1
gone a hundred yards when some
thing caused me to arrest my steps,
and looking through the dim light,
saw the chimneys topple, the old
house tremble as if by an earth
quake, and settle with huge crash
OF broken timbers, and grating
stones into shapeIess mass, covered
as with a shroud by the snow that
had been on the roof.
Then 1 remembered!-I felt,
well knew, 1 had good reason for
believing to my life's end should
never forget AthanasiaI
The people of Dakota are looking
for new name by which to call
one-half of that Territory. The