Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-04-02

seated now, behind the hedge of clipped
yew, that she nestled close in his arms,
and they had known the first moment
of happiness in their deserted lives
1--WE must be patient, Paul"
Patient did she say? They had been
so long enough. His plans were ripe
now, and he was watching the light in
his uncle's window. The old man
would sleep well-he had taken care of
that-to-night If he awcl1e? Well,
that was provided for. Old men arc
not hard to smother. The night, dark
and damp, suited dark thoughts. And
the sting of long oppression, the blind
feeling after revenge for years of cruel
Sights and insults, had long engendered
such thoughts. And now came vision
of an earthly heaven, the hope of new
life beyond the seas.
"Yes, will fly with you at any time
you ask" the girl had said, resolutely.
''We shall be happy, rich or poor"
No, not poor. He would provide
against that.
The lights in the windows of the
mansion had gone out. Even the win
dows on the ground floor, which open
on the piazza, are dark. This is his
unclo's room. Paul rises from his seat
The dripping jasmine spray that strikes
his cheek as he leaves the little summer
house makes his heart stop for a mo-
ment. He fears even the faint crunch
of his footsteps on the gravel. There
is a dog baying in the distance, as if
conscious that thieves are about
He steals past the big pear tree at the
corner of the piazza, and trampling In
the soft mold of the flower garden, where
her jonquils and tulips grew, he creeps
breathlessly to the back porch. The
outer door is quickly opened. He
thrusts out his hand to find the knob of
the house door, and, taking latch key
from his vest pocket, he opens it too.
At the end of the hall is his uncle's
room. The house is silent But harkl
did he hear q football? 1t must be a
heavy football that is heard on the
thick carpet and steady floor of oak.
He had never before explored this old
rambling dwelling in darkness. 1t was
always to him sad and dreary place;
place of faded hangings, old-fashioned
and tasteless bric-a-brac, paintings in
sipid in their tarnished frames, and
books that echoed the fancy and opin-
ION Of dead Observation-Disclosures as
yesterdays news
He has reached his uncle's door.
There he produces dark lantern from
under his cloak. Drawing up the slide
for a moment he flashes the cone Of
light over the hall and up the staircase.
1t lights up for q moment oaken wains-
coting, crowded hat-raolz, the antlers
overhead, and the statue of Cupid, pallid
as ghost, and then falls on the stair
case. As it does so he snaps down the
slide, and all is darkness again
Yes, all is dark and quiet. There Is
no witness to his crime.
What would she say or think If she
saw him covering and crouching at his
uncle's door? The thought of her rises
like phantom in his mind; she is all
in white, yet calm, resOlute, and
beautiful-an angel in contrast with
the inferno Of his own troubled
thoughts-and yet it deepens his reso-
luton He is the martyr seeing the
martyrs crown, the soldier with the re-
ward of his valor before his eyes In
her purity, her strength, her peace, IL
seems 70 MIN ne would mo an escape
even from the torture and shame Of his
guilty mind he would bstbe himself