The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-01-19


dreamed OF, and instinctively she put her
hand into her pocket.
Half q dozen pair of arms were held out
toward her, and half dozen faces turned
expectantly in her direction, but the hand
came out of the pocket empty
81 have nothing she exclaimed, re-
membering with a shock her own state Of
restitution, and realizing that she was
quite unable to confer anything on these
poor wretches.
Nothing she repeated sadly, s'at
least nothing but this" and dropping her
gray fur muff into the hand of the pale
young girl, Clara entered the church
The interior Of this place of worship
was like all Greek churches, by means of
pillars and arches divided Off into the diff
ferent sections respectively reserved for
the priest, the male and the female por-
ton of the congregation. 1t was in this
latter outside division that Clara took her
place, sinking down exhaustedly on to the
first bench which came in her way.
The narrow grated windows let in but
dim and mysterious twilight, so that
coming from the open daylight Clara was
at first hardly able to distinguish the OBJ
jects around; but by degrees, her eyes be-
coming accustomed to the darkness, nu-
merous forms and figures seemed to start
up out Of the obscurity around Grin
ming, threatening devils were Turk
ing in every corner, and quaint BY
zantine saints, with pale golden aureole
and shadowy palm branches, smiled
upon her from out each vaulted niche.
At another time Clara might have
cared to walk round the building and
examine the curious fresco paintings, by
e Il. IL ~
endeavors to make Ineligible to illiterate
humanity the rewards and punishments of
future state. Just now, however, she
was too weary, too foot and heart sore to
have other thought but one of thankful
ness for the sense of repricval and peace
which began to steal in upon her BY and
by she would have to go out again into
the noisy, bustling street, but not until
she had rested and gathered strength TO
battle anew with the world, and mean
while she was here quiet safe and secure
The church was deserted, for the hour
of service was past, and only a faint odor
of incense hung about the atmosphere
Clara bent back luxuriously against the
hard, wooden bench, and thought she had
never been seated so softly in life. With
lazy enjoyment her eye rested on pict-
ure on the piece Of wall just opposite to
her. 1t represented pale faced, long
limbed saint, holding fat woolly lalnbin
his arms; and as she sat here, plunged in
a sort of day dream, this image got some
how entwined with her thoughts
She had great deal to think over, for
this was the first quist moment she had
enjoyed since starting on her journey,
ard so much had happened within the
last week that no wonder she felt a little
dazed. and found it difficult to obtain
clear view of the situation. The death of
her little pupil her sudden dismissal from
Count frolof's family, the meeting with
lingo Weyprecht, and the rapid growth
of their intimacy up to the moment of his
unexpected treachery-all these she
thought over in turn, dwelling principally
on the last most painful point. How could
she have been so deceived in him9 and
yet how impossible not to be deceived.
He had looked SO upright, so honest, so
trustworthy How could fAlsehoed look
so like truth? treachery so Ike honestly
She had trusted him so implicitly, and
whyf as She now asked herself For no
logical reason atall she recognized, merely
because he had pair of steady looking
brown eyes and grave thoughtful smile
After all she knew nothing of this man
her heart; and passing over in review
every word Of his, she wondered that it
had never struck her before how very
reticent he had been about himself and
his business She had talked and ne had
listened, lglt had given little or no infor-
nation abtut himself beyond mentioning
that he was a native of Hamburg and had
been living some years in Russia; but
where, or in what capacity, he had failed
to say. They had discussed Schiller and
Goethe, Beethoven and Mozart, Canova
and Thorwaldsen together, and on each of
these subjects he had shown himself TO be
well informed and intelligent, but she had
bean unable to form conjecture as to the
particular branch of science, trade or art,
to which he himself belonged She saw it
all now clearly, and only marveled how
she could have been so blind before. Was
not this abnormal reticence about himself
proof positive of his guilty intentions2 In
her tardy clearsightedness it seemed to
Clara that no explanation was too mon
strous of the part Hugo Weyprecht had
played toward her; perhaps he himself
was in league with the brigands, and had
all along intended to rob her Of her earn
ingsl That he had admired her was evil
dent, but he had no doubt merely sought
to enliven the monotony of tiresome
journey by passing filtration, and had
thrown her over without compunction at
the first necessity.
Some women might have thought of
applying to justice, and endeavoring to
recover the lost property by bringing an
action against the man who had caused
the loss, but such a course did
not even occur to Clara. Fer only wish
was never to meet him again, and, if pos
sible, forget him.
AS soon as she had rested sufficiently
she would resume her task of service
seeking She must find some engagement
before nightfall il she did not wish to beg
her bread in the street. But she was not
yet rested enough by any means, and
must sit here a little longer She felt so
comfortable, so safe in this secluded sanc-
tuary, with its incense scented atmos-
phere, and that pale faced saint with
great calm eyes keeping watch over her.
BY and by her weary eyes began to close,
and Clara had fallen asleep in the corner
of the church bench
VIII.
Clara had slept for more than an hour,
and the short winter day began to close
in around her. Out there in the street it
was still light, but it was very dark with
in the church, and the figures on the wall
could scarcely be distinguished Still she
ell and f1...n 800 No