The Fort Worth gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-189?, 1891-04-30

Good night, dear Sister Paul VIII you
say a prayer for me!' She added the
question suddenly, by an impulse of which
she was hardly conscious.
Indeed will-with all my heart my
dear child" answered the nun, looking
earnestly into her face you are not
happy in YOUR life she added, with a
slow, sad movement of her head.
Mo- am not happy. But will be-
i fear not" said Sister Paul, almost I'M
der her breath as she went out softly.
Unorna was left alone She could not sit
still in her extreme anxiety. 1t was ago
niSing to think that the woman she longed
to see was so near her but that she could
not upon any reasonable preteXt. 90 and
knock at her door, and see her and speak 10
her. She felt also a terrible doubt as to
whether she would recognize her at first
sight, as the same woman whose shadow
had passed between herself and the Wan
derer on that eventful day, a month ago.
The shadow had been yelled, but she had
president consciousness Of the features be-
meath the veil Nevertheless. she might be
mistaken. 1t would be necessary to seek
her acquaintance by some excuse, and en-
deavOr to draw from her some portion of
her story. enough to confirm Cnorna's sus-
picions, or to prove conclusively that they
were unfounded To do this, Unorna her
self needed all her strength and GOODNESS,
the room, bringing her evening meal
There were moments when Cnorna, in
favorable circumstances, was able to sink
into the so-called state of second sight by
in act of volition. and she wished now that
she could close her eyes and see the face of
the woman who was only separated from
her by two or three walls. But that was
not possible in this case. TO be successful
she would have needed some sort of guild
ing thread, or she must have already known
the person she wished to SEE. She could
not command that ineXplicable condition as
she could dispose of her other powers, at
all times and in almost all moods. She
felt that if she We're at present capable of
falling into the trance state at all, her mind
would wander uncontrolled in some other
direction. There was nothing to be done
but to have patience.
The lay sister went out Unorna ate me-
chemically what had been set before her,
and waited. She felt that crisis perhaps
more terrible than that through which she
had lately passed was at hand. if the stran-
ger should prove 10 be indeed the Beatrice
whom the Wanderer loved. Her brain was
in whirl when she thought of being
brought face to face with the woman who
had been before her, and every cruel and
ruthless instinct of her nature rose and
took shape in plans for her rivals destruc-
ton.
She opened her door, careless of the
draught of frozen air that rushed in from
the corridor. She wished to hear the lady'S
footstep when she left her room to go to
the church, and she sat down and remained
motionless, fearing lest her own football
should prevent the sound from reaching
her. The heayy-toned bells began TO ring,
far off in the night.
At last it came, the opening of the door,
the slight noise made by tread upon the
pavement. She rose quietly and went out,
following in the same direction She could
see nothing but a dark shadow moving be-
fore her towards the opposite end of the
passage. farther and farther from the hang
ing lamp. Unorna could hear her own
heart beating as she followed, first to the
right, then to the left. There was another
light at this point. The lady had noticed
that some one was coming behind her and
turned her headt TO look back. The delicate,
dark profile stood out clearly. Unorna held
her breath, walking swiftly forward. But
in a moment the lady went on, and entered
the chapel-like room from which Il great
balconied window looked down into the
church above the choir. As Unorna went
in she saw her kneeling upon one of the
stools, her hands folded, her mead inclined,
her eyes closed, q black veil loosely thrown
over her still blacker hair and falling down
upon her shoulders without hiding her face
Unorna sank upon her knees, compress
ing her lips to restrain the incoherent ex-
clamation that almost broke from them in
spite of her, clasping her hands. desper-
ately so that the faint blue veins stood out
upon the marble surface.
Below hundreds of candles blazed upon
the altar in the choir and sent their full,
yellow radiance up to the faces of the two
women, as they knelt there almost side by
side. both young, both beautiful, but utterly
unlike. In single glance Unorna had un-
derstood that it was true. An arms
length separated her from the rival whose
very existence made her own happiness an
utter impossibility. With unchanging. I'M
willing gaze, she examined every detail of
that beauty which the Wauderer had SO
loved that even when forgotten there was
no sight in his eyes for other women.
Dit was indeed such i face as man would
find it hard to forget. Unorna, seeing
the reflection of it in the Wanderers mind,
had fancied it otherwise, though she could
not but recognize the reality from the i'm
preston she had received. She had i'm
agined it more ethereal, more faint, more
sexless, more angelic. as she had seen it in
her thoughts. Divine it was. but womanly
beyond Unorna's own. Dark, delcately
aquiline, tall and noble. the purity it ex-