The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1889-11-30

her own room, among her own familiar
furniture and ornaments. She could
see the sunlight on the wall playing
with the shadows of the laburnum
leaves. She could hear the tick Of the
clock, the loud chipping OF the SPAR
rows at the windows and the distant
roar of the street traffic. She could
smell the faint perfume of the mig
nonette in the flower boxes on the sill.
But she could neither stir nor speak.
| No movement resulted from her fren-
zied efforts to rise, and when. in agony
at the discovery. she tried to call for
help, no sound followed. Though
acutely sensible Of the horror Of her
position and of her own helplessness
and danger, Dolly satdumb and motion
less; and by degrees the senses OF sight
and hearing, hitherto clear and &C.
curate, became dim and distorted. The
well-known objects surrounding her
took strange and fantastic shapes, aad
the customary sounds assumed new
and unnatural meaning. Dolly was no
longer in her own room in the little
lodging in the borough. Those bios
SONS which surrounded her were not
the counterfeit flowers of chintz and
carpet, nor that monotonous hum the
roll of distant wheels. They were real
flowers, and they fringed the margin of
a bright river that glided by to the
cadence of its own soft singing. And
along its banks walked Dolly, and
Jack was with her; but how sadly
altered; he moved silently at her side.
There was no caressing touch, no
look of love in his eyes. no
tone of tenderness in his voice;
and at every step he seemed
to force her nearer to the rivers brink.
Then the aspect of the river itself
changed, and its ripples seemed to ut
ter sounds of warning and woe. The
lights that had flecked its shadows dis
appeared. and the flowers that had
edged its margin dropped and faded.
Tho stream once glittering in its own
brightness, and borrowing further
beauty from the earth and sky, grew
murky and Opaque. Strange shapeless
monsters seemed to writhe and wallow
beneath its surface; and still Jack
pressed closer to her side, till the
narrow pathway crumbled under her
feet, and she fell headlong into the
depths of the rushing torrent. Then
succeeded an Unreasonable period OF
rapid transit through seething waters,
and afterward of silence, of darkness.
of insensibility, OF humiliation.
When Dolly returned to conscious
ness, and found herself in her own bed
she at first imagined herself to be wax
ing. after an ordinary nights rest. She
was however, soon convinced by a
sense of prostration and indefinable
fear that something unusual had oc-
Cured. This conclusion, moreover.
was confirmed by she presence of two
strangers, who presented the appear
ance of nurse and doctor in attend
ance on her. Before, however, she
had had time to satisfy herself of the
truth of her Impressions she relapsed
into insensibility. On reopening her
eyes after an interval she observed nc
change in the character of her sur.
roundings. The doctor. indeed, was
not visible; but from a conversation
which she overheard she had little
doubt that it was he who was describ.
ing to some interested inquirer in the
adjoining room the nature of her OWL
malady. The voices of the speakers
were low, the door between the bed
room and dressing room was nearly
closed. and yet with morbid acute
ness OF hearing Dolly caught distinctly
the meaning of every whispered word
and recognized the questioner's voice
to be her husbands.
"And you forbid me to see her even
for moment?"
; "Most positively. Through thu
whole of the delirium this extraordi
nary dread of you has been her on,
dominant idea. If she caught sight o
|. you now, could not answer for thu
consequences.
but thought you said the crisi
was past. and that she would probabl,
wake again in perfectly rational con
ditiou."
Quite so; and in ordinary circum
stances you would naturally be tn,
first person she would be allowed t,
see; but must tell you honestly tina
!. these are not ordinary circumstances.
: What do you mean?"
> Il mean this. Rightly or wrongly
your wife has the gravest suspicion
about you. She believes you to be en-
: gagged in some conspiracy against he
life."