Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1889-03-11

fingers, Il shall not need him, dar-
ling" she whispered softly, "I was
always frail, and easily bent, you
know, but Nina, the flowers stem is
broken 1T last, and | I'M so tired dear
tired"
L sat by her till she fell asleep, then
rising up | flung a cloak about my
shoulders and hurried out of the
house in the direction of the cliffs.
l was growing daily more morose and
bitter, and ] could not shake off a
deep feeling of melancholy that seem
ed to have taken possession of me j;
of late my eyes had a wild, haggard
look about them that [ tried to hide
from Alice, whose failing health was
driving me mad.
There in the loneliness and soli-
tude of those woods that seemed but
a step to the edge of that awful depth,
in which, below, among the rocks
the sea roared and tossed with mighty
force, | could throw off all restraint,
and give vent to the sorrow that was
wearing my very life out. I lay pros
trate upon the ground, with my head
pillowed upon a stone and my hands
locked rigidly across my forehead,
trying to Danish from before my
eyes the picture of my dying sisters
face and the great hollow eyes that
tortured me with their pleading light.
The stiffness was becoming unbeara-
bly, awful to me, land | raised my head
in a sort of s~tupefaction. Suddenly
the solitude was broken by a cry for
help uttered in a woman's voice!
In a moment [ was on my feet with
blanched face and wildly throbbing
heart. My first thought was "Alice,'
but as the cry was repeated, | knew
my fears were groundless, and was
soon flying along the cliff in the di-
rection whence the sound had come.
One swift glance and [ knew all.
Hanging over the edge of the cliff
was a woman clinging with desperate
hands to a root that would soon give
way, and then death in it's awful
majesty awaited her below on the
merciless rocks. She had evidently
been sketching, for artists materials
lay scattered about, and in her ca
gerness she had reached too far over
for the little flowers growing along
the edge of the rocks. When | came
to her my terror had all vanished
and l looked with cold, pitiless eyes
down upon the white, horror-stricken
face of Meta Darman.
For a full moment we gazed at
each other, she, pleadingly, helpless
ly, L, coldly and triumphantly.
"For Gods sake, Nina" she said
with a strangled sob of terror, ''don't
let me go!"
"No," said |, in a low, unnatural
whisper, ''not for Gods sake will [
save you, but for the sake of Alice [
will let you 60"
L was leaning YEARLY against a
tree, tired out with my run, and
watching with a curiously unemotion-
al feeling, her desperate struggles for
life her cries for help died away
with a weird, hollow sound among
the rocks about us, and once o
she turned to me. "Oh, Nina, as
you hope for mercy in another world,
save me-" she implored, her voice
hoarser and broken, for she was grow
ing weaker with that awful strain up
on her, II will own | wronged Alice
and 20 away from here forever. Only
reach out your hand to me, Nina, for
l am slipping, slipping. and Oh, God,
it is so awful below with all those
rocks seeming to mock me, and no
help near but you! Nina, Nina, [
plead with you for the memory of my
childhood, stretch out your hand to
me. Oh, God! have mercy
ssIt is too late," / answered in q
tone of deathlike calm, and noting
with remorseless eye how fast the
roots were ~loosening. 81 have sworn
to kill you sooner or later and you
will fall down, down upon the rocks
below a shapeless-"
One wild cry of bitterest despair, a
sound as of %loosening earth, a dull
thud far below me, and | was left
alone, staring with a maniac's eyes
upon the spot where Meta Darman's
false face had stared up at me, white
and ghostly in its horror!
Merciful heavens! how awful the
silence after that sound how the
trees seemed to mock me with their
lofty height pointing up to-Heaven
And oh, those hideous, jeering faces
on that wall of rock yonder, how they
tortured, maddened me! [ covered
my eyes with my hands to shut out
the horrible sight, and covered back
against the tree that was so near, SO
very near the spot where she had
gone down, was it a moment, OIL
weeks ago?
On a sudden / started violently
and pressed my hands upon my wildly
beating heart. What sound-what
voice was that? Was it a voice thai
had whispered that awful word near
me, or could it have only been the
wind moaning through the trees?
Heaven and earth seemed slipping
from me and my brain reeled with
the echo of that ''losti lost lost !!
I flung out both hands before me
in tho dusk and cried ont AGAINST i