Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-10-22

/ dear ring in sorry satire. 81 have in
| formed you more than once that I can
not satisfy your singular craving''
| sit is not that" she said, with heat.
vet with self-repression, too. ssIt is a
natural desire. simply demand of
you that you shall permit the worth or
worthlessness of your fathers discovery
to become known by us BOTH
s'That I will not do" he replied.
| s.You will not do it? you will not?"
Lucia broke forth, flushing and slipping
nearer to him. .'Ah," she went on.
you have the manuscript concealed, no
doubt, in this very room!''
IF l have!' he shot back, bitterly.
"what then? Do you wish to play the
| thief and steal it from me?''
She laid her hand on his arm. .I
wish to play the adviser, the giver Of
good counsel"
He shook her hand from his arm at
this 1.-The devils own COUNSEL he NUT
tered.
SYLVAN she breathed, little gasp
ingly. This is the first time you have
ever insulted me.''
sYou drive me to it,
| 81 seek to d;ssuade you from casting
a slur on your fathers memory
''My fathers memory! Pah! What
| do You care for that? You want the drug
the discovery as you call it. And it's
all the merest riff-raff of clever mans
decaying Notwithstanding more
His tones were very acrid; he seemed
transformed from his usual mild self.
She watched him for a second or two,
with her eyes MOSTLY shining and
| CULVER of her lower lip.
IF you so believe it, Sylvan, then
| why do you hide it like this?''
Because it's an outrage against God.
I've said so to you before, why make
me say it again?'
Yes, you've said it before. But how
can your fathers wish or design be an
outrage against God when, as you your
self concede, the brain that comprised
the whole idea was in state of semi
ruin? Oh, Sylvan, let us test the truth
| or falsity of that avowal.' Again she
put her hand out toward him, and this
time she rested it on his shoulder. But
he repulsed her with an excessive rude
| ness, and she now saw on his working
features the kind of pallor that was
| easy to explain as wrath.
''You wish to tempt mel" he cried;
'syou can not succeed. My mother long
ago taught me-
.'Oh, your mother!" she flashed. ST
knew it was she.' Then her voice sud-
| denly trembled and softened. Sylvan!
l thought you loved me. You've so
often said that you did. What 1 ask is
such little thing, after all!''
what YOU ask" he retorted, sis a
large and shameless thing. If loved
you as God himself loves his children
land may the blasphemy be pardoned
meD l should never yield to this desire
of yours-never!'
The next moment she saw that he
was intensely agitated. His reeling
step disclosed this, as he advanced to-
ward the desk at which he had been
| seated. From packet he drew bunch
of keys, and with shaking grasp thrust
one of them into the lock of lower
drawer. Swiftly he drew forth a long
and somewhat dingy envelope, which
Lucia seemed to recognize the instant it
met her gaze.
Springing erect and facing her, he
waved in air the object he had secured.
Il am going to burn this he pro-
ceeded; ''to burn this before your sight.
Look She peercd at the written name
for brief while, and then he withdrew
it just as her quick sweep of one hand
sought to tear it from his clasp. He
sped toward the gas-burner that in a
cone of green shade illumed his desk.
"See," came his next words, 81 give it
to the oblivion it deserves" Already
its frail paper edges had begun to flame,
blackening and curling. She darted to
him with outstretched hands and for
lorn cry:
''Oh, Sylvan, don't burn it like that!
Don't! I'll promise"
Then she paused. 1t was now fiery
mass, and it so lit his angered, defiant
face that she realized how hopeless
would be any effort her feeble strength
might make to wrest it from his hold.
He lifted it on level with his head,
letting it redly flare until there was but
a scrap of it left, and that scrap gave
threat of suddenly searching his fore
finger and thumb. Then he flung it's
charred remnant on the floor and COW
cred it with his foot.
There" he said, in his throat, '.the
things done. Now I hope your folly
has ended with it,
She made him no answer. She quilted
the study with staggering limbs Her
torment seemed to her like that of 2
mother who had seen the massacre of a
child.
She got into her own private room
and closed the door. Her head was
whirling; she wondered why she did
not swoon. But something appeared to
keep her from that. What was it? All.
she knew, she realized, in very surge
of cognition.
1t was her unspeakable hatred of him.
newborn and yet born as they said
malign beings were, with all it's teeth.
She had never loved him; now her in
difference had turned loathing intense.
He had killed that splendid hope.
She had witnessed with her own eyes
it's hateful holocaust. Live with him
-, N 8 |