Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-22


while YOU we're speaking that YOU were
making this poor fellow suffer in himself
the hideous agony You described ! would
have stopped you. You blinded me, as you
dominated him. But l am not blind now.
You shall not torment him any longer"
And how would YOU have stopped me?
How can YOU hinder me now?" asked
Unorna.
The Wanderer gazed at her in silence for
some moments. There was al expression In
his face which she had never seen there.
Towering above her he looked down. The
massive hrows were drawn together, the eyes
were cold and impeneirable, every feature
expressing strength.
BY force. if need be, " he answered, very
quietly.
The woman before him was not of those
who fear or WELD She met his glance
boldly. Scarcely half an hour earlier she had
been able to steal awav his senses and make
him subject to her. She was ready to renew
the contest, though she realized that q
change had taken place in him.
You talk OF force to a woman" she e1-
claimed. contempiuously. You are indeed
brave,'
You are not woman. You are the in
carnation of cruelty L have seen it. q"
HIS eyes were cold and his voice was stern.
l
as though she were cold. Whatever else
was bad and cruel and untrue in her wild
nature her love for him was true and pas
siouate and enduring. And she loved him
the more FOR the strength he was beginning
10 show, and for his determined opposition.
The words he had spoken had hurt her as
he little guessed tney could, not knowing
that he alone of men had power to wound
her.
You do not know, she answered. How
should you?'' Her glance fell and her
voice treh bled.
81 know enough" he said. He turned
coldly from her and knelt again beside Is
rael hafks. He raised the mans head and
supported 1t upon his knee, and gazed
anxIously into the face, raising the lids with
his finger Is though 10 convince himself
that the man was not dead. Indeed, there
seemed to be but little life left in him as he
Law there with outstretched arms and twisted
fingers, scarcely breathing. In snch place,
without 50 much as the commonest restora-
tive to aid him, the Wanderer saw that he
had but little chance of success.
Unorna stood; aside not looking at the
two men. 1t was nothing to her whether
hafEa lived or died. She was suffering her
sell. more than she had ever suffered in her
lille He had said that she was not woman
she whose whole woman's nature wor-
shipped him. II had said that she was the
incarnation Of crueitv-and it was true,
though it was her love tor him that made
her cruel to the other. Could he know
what she had felt, when she had understood
that Israel kafka had heard her passionate
words and seen her eager face, and laughed
her 10 scorn? Could any woman at such a
time be less than cruel?
Then she heard footsteps on the frozen
path. and turning quickly she saw that the
Wanderer had lifted Kafka's body from the
ground and was moving rapidly away,
towards the entrance OF the cemetery. He
was leaving her in anger, without a word.
She turned very pale and hesitated. Then
she ran forward to overtake him, but he,
hearing her approach, quickened his stride,
seeming but little hampered in his pace by
tue burden he bore. But UDorna, too, was
feet of foot and strong.
''Stop % she cried, laying her hand upon
his arm. stop! Hear mel Do not leave
ME so %
But he would not pause, and hurried on
ward toward the gate while she hung upon
his arm, trying to hinder him and speaking
IN desperate agitation. She felt that ii she
let him 20 new he would leave her forever.
In that moment even her hatred of Kafka
sank into insignificance. She would dc
anything, bear anything, promise anything,
rather than lose what she loved 50 wildly.
stop T. she cried agaiu. Il will save
him viii obey you-1 will be kind 10
him--he will die in your arms if you do not
let me help you-oh OF the love of heaven,
wait one moment Only one moment!
She so thrust herself in the Wanderers
path, hanging upon him and trying to tear
Kaika from his arms that be was forced to
stand still aud face her
Let me passH' he exclaimed, making
another effort to advance. But she clung to
him. and he could not move.
"No-I will not let you 60" she MUIR
INJURED. "You can do nothing without me;
you will only kill him, as l would have
done a moment ago
And as you will do now," he said,
sternly, ''if l let you have your way"
BY all that is holy in Heaven, 1 will
save him-he shall not even remember-''
do not swear. l shall not believe you
You will believe when you see-you will
forgive me-you will understand"
Without answering he exerted his strength
and, clasping the inSensible man more
firmly in his arms, he made one or two
steps forward. Unorna's foot slipped on
the frozen ground and she would have fallen
to the earth, but she chung 10 him with des-
perate energy. Seeing that she was in
danger of some bodily hurt If he used
greater force, the Wsnderer stopped again,
uncertain how to act. Unorna stood before
him, painting little from the struggle, her
face as white as death.
L. . a1 brAr