The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1890-12-20

became USED 10 the noises In part; sh
thought them the result of the gentle go
ing to decay of an old building, the wint
in crevices or the faint sucking and sough
ing OF the tide in the caverns underneath
the cliff. But before she settled to tina
belief she might well have asked if th,
place were not den of robbers, if ther,
were not in upper and remote chambers
man paralyzed in all but brain swarmins
with evil fancies or woman there in man
iacs chains, or else if the intelligence ot
dead and gone Beltrans were not striving
to come back aad warn these two living
Betrans of the future. But she never
shaped her thoughts to such words; all was
but inchoate sensation, a part of the atmos-
phere surrounding her.
1t was a terrible life for so young q
creature. The only approach to pleasure
that she had in it was when she sat at the
piano and her father sat near by, his el,
bows on the arms of his chair, his fingers
tipped together before his eyes, while he
listened. Except for the monosyllabic con-
versation of the table, it was almost all the
communication she had with him, or indeed
with any living being, except the old char
woman, mumbling like one half mad. Was
he gloomy man just on the verge of mel
ancholia with his solitude and grief and
recollections, or was he man loving still
an evil life and occupied with his evil plans
and plots? She only knew that he was
different from all the world Of men of whom
she had ever heard or dreamed, and that
sometimes when she played her best, and
had half forgotten herself in her music and
the room was echoing with harmonious
chords, riples of true and flowing melodies,
he broke his silence and spoke almost gen
tly, beguiled as any brute might be with
music; and then suddenly he would stop
and glover at her as if she had made a
theft of his confidence and stalk from the
room in a kind of smothered rage She
never undertook to explore this long ram
bling house, where the dust seemed to sift
cut of the walls, that before she had gone
far she did not meet this strange father,
who conducted her back to her starting
place and babe her be less curious and add
ed with his mocking smile that Ewes
daughters inherited all her desire for the
knowledge of good and evil.
care we rich people, father p she asked
once, when they were alone at dinner
erich ?" he said, lowering the brows
over his dark eyes. erich in recollection.
No. We live only from hand to mouth. ="
"Then why do you not sell this great
place and live with the money in some
happier spot?"
ITO whom ? The place is ready to fall
about u.s."
"But, then, certainly We do not need
this army of working people. Oh, my
father [ should be glad to let them all
go and do everything for you myself, if
you would only love me !"
''Tush! They are all as much part
of the place as the walls. There is only
one way to mend our fortunes and that lies
in your hands. | expect you to make a
marriage that will justify all the past of
the Beltrans
"I?" she said, her young voice in its
gay laugh ringing like mockery through
the place. "And with my own shadow ?"
Whenever she went out to walk she
found the walls high and the gates locked
in every direction of the thick-set buildings
of the town; the sea made impossible bar
riers about the cliff, and often she was
blindly aware of watching eyes or following
forms. She had a dim sensation that even
out of doors under the broad sky she never
was alone. Once she slid down a little
fssure of the rock and found herself hid
den by an overhanging crag, and stayed
there in delighted relief watching the play
of the waters underneath. But wearying
of them at last, she rose to her feet to
climb back again, saw cleft leading into
one of the water-worn caves and made by
recent fall of the rock, and followed it a
few steps in an idle curiosity, for want of
anything better to do. There was dim
light in the place, reflected from the waters
below. Before she recollected herself she
had penetrated several yards along the
narrow way, and then turning to retrace
her steps she found herself unable to
determine which one of the many angles
and openings of oozy rock was the one that
she should take. OF course she took the
wrong one. Going along, holding by the
slight projections on the faces, her heart
beating, her knees trembling, she was not
quite sure if she passed ip the dim distance
the likeness of great casks and crates II
she did, what of it? If the house Of the
Beltrans was the rendezvous of smugglers,
that were better than robbers; men might
be smugglers and traitors at once, but
women, who made no laws nor consented
to them, need not disturb themselves about
it. This was but dim suggestion, for in
the growing dark and the bewilderment
and fright that were getting possession OF
her she hardly knew she thoug ght at all
she had lost her way, and she stopped
stone-still with fear, turning faint and icy
chill. How long she stood or crouched
she could not have said; but after while
it was getting lighter-the tide was falling
and the shine of the outer sea was playing
again upon the walls; she fancied it lighter
ahead of her, she crept slowly forward, ant
came out suddenly upon the open face o.
the cliff over the waters edge, leaving al
the unexplored recesses of the caves behint
her and feeling like a bud let loose. Ther,
was bright blue, tumultuous sea beneatl
her, blazing, beautiful sky above and
wind sweeping between that must seattle
everything dark and foul back to its ele
ments. As she sat there, buoyant witt
her escape and freedom, elated with release
suddenly she began to sing, the sweet
strong tones yelling and swelling up til
they might have filed all the loftiness o
that sky. 1t was the first time in her lif
that she had ever had vivid sensation Q
JOY, and now it seemed to her she onl
wanted wings.
All at once she stopped. Another voic
was singing with her-a clear tenor tha
went on and finished the strain and then
young man in a gunner's suit, with HI
gun in his hand, came clambering aroun
the corner of the cliff and looked up {
her, with his arms resting on the lede
where she sat.