Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-22

I
| EXPRESSED. Il have seen you for minutes;
have known you for years which are minutes
/ Is the length of life to be counted by dial
shadows or by feelings. This morning
was child; this afternoon am an old
woman. What was then am not now.
Perhaps died TO live again; do not know.
Before the illness of which spoke you were
not in my memory; since then you have
never been out of it. am bold again, but
cannot help myself I am ashamed and
am proud. Who can explain it?' She
paused for a moment to pick idly at the
mummulitic stone before her, then said sud
denly: This pyramid had heart What
was hidden in it? A kingi The riddle read
only after long centuries, in fash of light
ming or not at all, is still the same. A sepul-
chre called heart and the king is hidden in
it. King Pharaoh, Bedouin or fellaheen.
When the sepulchre breaks the King is
seen, but only by alien eyes. But the heart
and the King; the soul and the soull Are
they what strangers see; only stone and
mummy; the mist on the mountains gross
enough to be seen by human eyes, or the
mist invisible, the soul OF the mist?' She
sighed, then pointed to the pyramid. Where
is Pharoah?'
"'You are sad
? 81 speak what your heart is whispering;
and 1 speak despite myself. Look at me;
fate Knocked me with my eyes; my heart is
weeping, they laugh. Who is responsible?
Suddenly all melancholy vanished; face,
voice and manner changed. 1 was in the
presence of light-hearted, thoughtless girl.
Look, our friends are returning; they rise
higher than Pharaoh, then they come down
to Pharaoh's level-or below it'll That is the
last fragment of prophecy; remnant from
something better. 1 have lost my wings.
You must come to see me at Cairo
"At Cairo learned that Mile. Carcinet
was engaged to be married to the son OF
rich Egyptian; that on one side there were
love and jealousy; on the other obedience
from sense of duty and Indifference. was
introduced to the adopted parents of Almah
and found them delightfully."- amIable. They
knew me by reputation, and at nv third
visit to their house requested me to paint
the portrait of their daughter. They showed
me a large room that was to serve as studio,
and in their good nature insisted I should
make their house my home during my stay
in Cairo.
at will be a vision Of fair France
again, said the old man with sigh, and
we have been exiles SO longP
"Should 1 have refused? Fate was
stronger than I, and resistance was unavail-
ing. 1 accepted the invitation, notwith-
standing that 1 heard the surly lover had
uttered an angry protest, and that he was
dangerous animal when his blood was fired
bv jealousy. Could help myself? 1 had
been drawn into the whirlpool, so I folded
nv arms in perfect indifference to the
roaring vortex toward which 1 was
circling. Ny friends treated me
rather as if were a loved son than a
stranger, and 1 was very comfortable, de-
spite the frowns of the lover whom I knew
II
duced to him, but we we're not friends In
his opinion it was a desecration that his
future wife should sit for her portrait to a
stranger This, Notwithstanding the fact
that he had unreservedly accepted European
civilization, and had nothing but mockery
for his orthodox Egyptian or Mohammedan
friends. Almah's scornful eyes lashed him
as if they were whips.
"'He loves me as his races loves, no
deeper than skin. His soul is as dry as the
ashes of this cigarette She was smoking
one at the time. Even his dagger will kill
me without reaching NV heart
"'What do you mean?" asked in alarm.
'Happinessp she answered, leaning back
her head, and putting out little spiral of
smoke.
"'Ir you fear him, why marry him?'
"'Our friendship was born complete; it
was never added to. questioned her with
out fear: she answered without doubt.
"'Why marry him? For nv good parents
sake; it will help repair their shattered
fortunes-if it ever happen. What will be,
will be. For their sakes am sorry; for nv
sake am glad
"'Glad and sorry for what?'
"She answered, somewhat impatiently,
For what you are pondering in your heart.
Had Won met me as the daughter of the
II hou
spoken, but am civilized. A hieroglyphic,
like nv civilized sisters, with two distinct
and opposed meanings to each character.
. "'What do you mean by a wandering
soul" Mile. Carcinet"
"'It you are speaking to the civilized
woman. she does not knowP
"fAlmah, then.
That is better. A wandering soul, ac-
cording to the superstition, is an unborn
soul waiting for its mate. 1t hides in woods
or near running water, and its grief is that
it cannot make itself evident to the ewes of
him for whom it waits and to whom it
belongs. If its love is intense it may tenn
porarilv enter into and reanimate the body
of some dead person, but it cannot long
dwell in that desecrated temple. If it is
lucky it may enter the body of child just
at the moment the child dies. Then it has
long wears of life before it; but In accepting
the form of humanity it must accept
humanIty's limits and suffering. 1t cannot
escape from its voluntary prison until the
body dies
"'And then?'
"'Then do not know
"'You believe in this superstition?'
"'Do you?'
"T would, were it not for your eyes, L
answered.
trT1l-- L r. : Il, !
III am q wandering soul, made mis-
take in selecting my coffin. The soul that
preceded me left its impress in the eyes, and
poor spirits must accept and lose their power
on entering their prison. Are you fond OF
life?'
"'Less fond than formerly"
"Tf you could help yourself might give
you some valuable advice
eff could help you, Almah, would
give you my life
"'Can one give what is not his?' she
laughed, 'or one accept what one has al
ready? Make the portrait. my painter.
What pity that the soul eludes your
'You, my friend, who feed on nothing but
facts, you who are listening and staring at
me in wonder mixed with content, wish
you could see with my eyes and feel with
nv heart; but here we are miles apart.
do not know even how to explain my feel
ings to ydn, and SO I tie myself down to
the facts, assuring you that am not exag-
gerating. Every word in the conversation
was spoken as 1 speak it, lacking the voice
and the presence that made earth heaven.
Is it another dream? 1 wish it were for your
theory's sake; fortunately it is as true and
as real as any fact with which you amuse
yourself under the microscope. But let me
bore you a little longer One day in the
studio said to Almah: "Ara is becoming