San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-06-20

nightly that they responded, as 1T WERE
in whisper OF melody.
81 have something to do" she replied.
81 have lost three years already. can
not go on so. 1 must devote myself to
that only"
ITO what? Cannot help you?"
you don't know what you are ask
ing, Count de Lisle," slS73nplied, glanc-
ing at him over her lder. You
know have told 20, kt 1 love some
one. 1 wish to dew yself to him.
How can you help IN 2hat?"
do you mean
81 mean Keppel Z Ike. There is no
one else that can 10 M
"Ah-Keppel Oar @t You are jest
ing, after all. A sen&ment-a memory
is not love. This Blot your true rea-
son. Why do you pl with me?'
"Do you think Kep$ei Darke is dead?"
asked Olympia, harm Dnizing her tones
with the notes she as drawing from
the keys. 81 thougH so once, but l
have begun to feel BIT he is alive.
know it in my he5 l see him in
dreams. He is ofte% near me. l am
happy in this coml1 lnion with him.
Whatever disturbs & l wish should
cease. And nothingS sturbs it so much
as the Count de Lisla
Olympia, you aresbot speaking seri-
ously; you are smiliNp
why should l nak'smile? am happy.
What am to you3l
You are everything to meT he said
imnatuonsly az 1--we WON'T.
SIS that the,firsts time you have said
those words to a woman?" she asked, fac
ing him. =,
The question embarrassed him, and he
hesitated, She laughed.
Il will not take you at your word"
she said. "Keppel Darke loved 20 one
but me; gave him my promise and it
shall. never be broken. Would you break
your promise in my place, Count de
Isle? Or would you wish me to beyour
wife, knowing that loved him?'
Indeed wouldr' he exclaimed.
She shook her head. 1.-THE man |
! would marry must be jealous of me-"
Jealous of dead MANI"
"Why do You say Keppel Darke is
dead? 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
each other for moment.
81 will marry you," she said at length,
"when you bring Keppel Darke here,
and he bids me 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.
"Olympia!" he cried, in a voice too
weighted with emotion to be loud, you
know me-you have made fool of me
but you love mer'
His arms closed about her, and fire
of new life seemed to flame up in his
heart as he felt her soft pressure against
him. 1t went glowing through hisveins,
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 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 i'll 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 moment lovers
live in heaven ard are the peers of
angels.
"Oh, Keppel, why have you denied
yourself 50 long" sighed Olympia at
last. Il 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 cloak That can be thrown
off and resumed at will" he replied
From the first | 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
came so many changes began to forget
that l had ever been Kcppel Darke, and
all my youth and what belonged to it
seemed never to have 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 50, if a man
without childhood and soul can be
said to die"
eyes, you are yourself again nowr'
murmured Olympia. II have felt a wall
between us all this while; knew, in
some secret place of my heart, that you