San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-06-22
An Absorbing otofq
OF
American Life and Love,

UEhhHAWTHoRNE.
t.lk and be sily-that is, really wi-<.
My heart feels so light! Does yours?"
"My heart sings like bird-and am
the song! And the song says: I love
Keppel Darkel lam glad he is alive, and
that the Count de Isle has vanishedr "
81 hate that stiff, conventional phan-
tom, too. But he has his uses, and we
will make him be useful to US. He is
| rich, and he is devoted to your
"Do you wish to give me up to him,
sir?'
oh! He wants to marry you, am
"And you will let him marry me if
only I promise to love your But tell
me, Keppel, why were you such fool,
dear? Why didn't you come to me at
once? The next time you delay so ]
sha'n't wait for your
GLOW could l know that you would
want me? Dead people coming back to
life are sometimes very much in the
way. thought it wiser, for your sake,
to send some one to find out how the
land lay"
"For my sake? For yours, 1 Think
They both laughed again. .
"How did you come to find me outT'
he asked. "You had accepted the Count
de Lisle so long that the last thing ex-
pected was an inquiry for me-" /
"There is something mysterious about
that" replied Olympia, turning grave.
"When that strange man of yours
Garcia-has put me into the magnetic
| sleep, which is not a sleep at all, but q
deeper waking, that makes ordinary
waking seem sleep in comparison-in
that state, whatever it is, can see my
own thoughts, just as one sees things
with ones bodily eyes. And see things
that have happened to me, not as they
seemed to me at the time, but as they
really were. So l began to have i'm
pressions of you, and at first could not
understand them, for there was no rea-
son that knew of why you should ap-
pear to me. But at last noticed that
| the meetings between us Gin my visions)
were the times of my meeting the Count
de Lisle, and from that l was not long
| in solving the puzzle. When the count
came this afternoon was so angry with
him for having deceived me that was
almost ready to let him go off and take
you with him! If you had not looked
| through his eyes at the last moment,
and so given new turn to things, you
would have been nicely punished-and ]
| should have died"
This terrible picture called for conso-
lation on both sides, and the two lovers
| administered it to each other. They
| were sitting in the embrasure of the
window, deep, well cushioned divan,
protected from the room by the piano
and pot of ferns, while the light of the
western sky, now golden with the set
ting sun, came softly through the semi
transparent silken window shades. They
had put one cushion up on the window
| sill, and both their heads were upon it;
| Keppels arm was round Olympia's
| waist, and the hand of that arm held in
| it her hand. By turning his face only a
little KeppePs lips would come in con-
tact with white and alluring region
| just beneath Olympia's ear; but if she
happened to be turning toward him at
| the same time, as might easily happen
in conversation, it was no longer the
| place under her ear, but her mouth
that advanced into the proximity with
| Keppers. This arrangement was con-
venient enough, one would think. to
| satisfy even two lovers; but they had
improved even upon this by system of
| signals, which could be felt, but not seen.
Whenever Keppel wanted Olympia to
turn her face toward him he pressed the
hand that has already been mentioned
as held in his, and he did this so fire.
quently that it might have been regard
ed as reflection upon Olympia's profile,
only her profile was too ravishingly
beautiful to be liable to reflection ex-
cept in a mirror. Ravishing though it
was, however, the full face was not
thereby prevented from being more
lovely still; not because it more nearly
approached classical perfection, but be-
cause it carried with it the glance of her
dark, deep gazing eyes, and the full
curve of her mouth, and the faint fra
GRANGE of her breath. Either way, it
was choice of felicities for Keppel. who
could not have been better off unless he
had had both the full face and the profile
at the same time; and a casuist might
have called even that in question.
But" said Keppel. after while, "do
you remember everything that happens