, 1891-10-24

lightly that they responded, as it were.
in a whisper of melody.
81 have something to do" she replied.
81 have lost three years already. L can,
not go On so. 1 must devote myself to
that only"
ITO what? Cannot l help youg"
lyon don't know what you are ask
ing, Count de Lisle," she replied, glanc-
ing at him over her shoulder. ''You
know-I have told you-thatI love some
one l wish to devote myself to him.
How can you help M in that"
"Do you mean
~ mean Keppel Darke. There is no
one else that / can love"
"Ah-Keppel Darke! You are Jest
ing, after all. a sentiments memory
is not love. This is not your true rea-
son. Why do you play with mey'
"Do you think Keppel Darke is dead?"
asked Olympia, h~armonizing her tones
with the notes she was drawing from
the keys. 81 thought so once, but l
have begun to feel that he is alive. l
know 1t in my heart. l see him in
dreams. He is often near me. l am
happy in this communion with him.
Whatever disturbs it l wish should
cease. And nothing disturbs it so much
as the Count de Lisle."
Olympia, you are not speaking seri-
ously; you are smiling"
why should 1 not smile? l am happy.
What am 1 to your
you are everything to mer' he said
i~mpetuously. 81 love your
"Is that the first time you have said
those words to a woman" she asked, fac
ing him.
The question embarrassed him, and he
hesitated. She laughed.
II will not take you at your word"
she said. "Keppel Darke loved no one
but me; 1 gave him my promise, and it
shall never be broken. Would you break
your promise in my place, Count de
Lisle? Or would you wish me to be your
wife, knowing that l loved him?"
Indeed 1 wouldl' he exclaimed.
She shook her head. ''The man /
would marry must be jealous of me-"
jealous of a dead MANI
why do you say Keppel Darke is
deadI Have you killed him.
II only say marry me, and you may
love him all you will"
Olympia rose and closed the piano.
The count also rose, and they confronted
a other for a moment.
81 will marry you" she said al length,
when you bring Keppel Darke here,
and he bids Inc do So"
He bent forward and looked in her
eyes. There must have been in them
some speaking light, revealing what her
woman's tongue refused to tell.
"Olympial" he cried, in a voice too
weighted with emotion to be loud, you
know me-you have made a fool of me
but you love mei'
His arms closed about her, and a fire
of new life seemed to flame up in his
heart as he felt her soft pressure against
him. 1t went glowing through his veins,
and images of ecstacy trembled in his
brain. Across what gulf of darkness
had he passed since last he had held her
thus! But peace and joy were only here.
They kissed each other with "a slow, deep
kiss, full of memories of pain that was
past, and of a present delight so exquisite
that they half feared to move their lips,
lest all should prove a dream and they
should awake. Such happiness comes in
moments only, yet when it comes the
soul recognizes it as its true estate-a
glimpse of the eternity in which it was
meant to dwell forever. No dream is
half so fair as this brief reality, whose
intensity makes all the rest of life seem
dreamlike. In such a moment lovers
live in heaven and are the peers of
angels.
"Oh, Keppel, why have you denied
yourself 80 longy' sighed Olympia at
last. 81 should have known you at the
first if l could have brought myself to
believe that you would hide from me So"
"a disguise like mine is something
more than a cloak that can be thrown
off and resumed at WILL" he replied.
From the first l have been as strange
to myself as l have appeared to others.
But for you l should never have found
my real self again. With that change
zane so many changes 1 began to forget
that l had ever been Keppel Darke, and
all my youth and what belonged to it
seemed never to nave been; but | was as
if born middle aged, with no youth or
kindly associations to humanize me. If
it had not been for you l should have
lived on so, and at last died so, if u man
without a childhood and a soul can be
said to die"
Yes, you are yourself again nowr"
murmured Olympia. 81 have felt a wall
between us all this while; l knew, in
some secret place of my heart, that you
were on the other side; but yet | did not
outwardly know it until the last day or
two. 1t was like the fairy tales. when
the prince is enchanted, and the princess
cannot recognize him; but at last the
spell is dissolved, and then they know
each other. 1 am not afraid of You now;
1 can see through your beard, and your
hair, and your eyeglasses; you are only
Keppelr" and she gave a little laugh and
drew down his face and kissed him.
II feel as if l were nothing but a mere
child" said he, laughing, too. II want
to do nothing but sit here with you and
love you, and talk to you and neal you
talk and be sirly-that is, really wise,
Ny heart feels so light! Does yours
MY heart sings like a bird-snd I an
the song! And the song says: 4 Low,
Keppel Darke! lam glad he is alive, anC
that the Count de Lisle has vanishedr
81 hate that stiff, conventional phan
tom, too. But he has his uses, and w
will make him be useful to us. He i
rich, and he is devoted to your
HDo YOU wish to give me IN to him