Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-02-06


lie 10 him. He could not. He must return
to see her, 70 Plead with her afrssh for
the pardon she had so cruelty deniel He
thought, no honestly bsliev d, that IL she
had forgiven hi lie coull have ,tayel
away. but she Lad refused him absolu ion,
and always that pale, small, sorrowful, un-
forgving face was before him.
He could not re t. IL was Madness, no
doubt but she drew him to her with q
forco he could not resist
There was no train to lie had at that late
hour when he felt that overpowering desire
TO SEQ her ag in grow upon him, with a
strength not TO be cohquered; so he had
borrowed a horse from his host, on an ex-
Gu Q of in tant business and had st out
upon hi'.long ride to Ventry with fever
bh impotence t. at ron cred h.m imper-
vinus TO cold or rain or fad cue.
Now, Il last as the m les grow fewer, he
confesses TO himself that he is in degree
tired two nights without sleep will toll on
most mon. be they ever 50 happy, Tut with
n gnawing pain forever at the heart the
loss of those prec Gus hours of forgetfulneas
is sometimes worse than death itself
Everything seems to re,u' to him with a
Startling vividness as he DIES on his size 1T
way, ev, rything connected with his i'll a l.
| His first meeting with her years ago, when
she had come, a tall, slender, wo derfrliy
self possessed orphan, TO share her aunt 8
| home till she should be Of age lie re-
| III mhers now with rather idle wonder,
! how lovely he then had thought her; he, q
! We young man at tina time, a mere strip
! ping, only one or two years her senior.
| Then there was tho cousiniy relation be-
| tween them, that ever. seemed to draw
/ them closer together, and the natural pleas
ure he had felt when it dawnel upon him
that she was warm and tender in her man
ner TO him alone whist cold to all the rest
OF the world And after that there was
The insen,ible drifting into that closer tie
the knowledge, vaguely but certainly con-
veye to lin how, or by whom he hardly
knew them that marriage between the
cou ins was a mat er widely digcusse
and loOkeI forward to by the world at
large. To draw back now wo IL bring
down on katherine the sneers of their many
fricnds TO sub ect her TO much unpleasant
ness, nay, TO leave himself open to q charge
that touched his honor.
! There was but one thing to be me, and
he had done it with a sufficiently good
grace. 1t seemed TO he tho most natural
thing in the wor d. Katherine SO evidently
lad expected it---Gnd so had his mother.
7 zero was no chance for wi h travail, and
besides it had really seemed a very usual
finish 10 long friendship; 80 the betrC hi
was speed y made publi', with a rapid ty
INDEED that had astoni,ned him at the time,
and affairs had arranged themselves, and
everyth ng had settled d wa into the usual
commonplaceness of an orthodox betrothal.
And {! en- came Norah!
How loud the wind roars; what sui.
len cry arises from the sea Delaney who
Is mo g worn out in body, md specially in
soul, than he a. al believes, rees little
in his saddle, and then pulls himself to-
'ther again, W tl fierce, vain wish that
it might all enl now, here. this moment
Life What n worry, turmoil 1t Isl So
much Ia or Of spirit, so little rest little
None, SONS to him.
What a fash was that, so blue, so vivid
yet no thun Ter. There is strong promise
Of rain for the morrow, TO come out OF
those lowering claulS Delaney hardly
heeds tie tenpestuols signs coming
storm, riding ever onward in a half dazed
fashion, and conscious only of passionate
longing TO see Norah once again.
The moon again! How clear, how wildly
brilliant it ma ;es all things seem! To his
disorderei ia 4cy 1t lights tho dark and
gloomy earth wi h a radiance almost super
natu nj; aud somehow too at this time he
cannot help thinking that something is run.
ming ly his side but what'
lie looks down inv lultarily, and-it Il
tbsurd of course-he alno laughs al jud
at this fantastic trick his O. are playing
hin--lut is it little child that il clingin
b. his strrup leatherl a little dead oh Ii
with white uplifiel face, and wide unseeing
eysl
The moon goes out again, leaving the
world once more to its darkness, but still
DE aney has seen that little form, and feels
certain it is there, runni IS with him, al
ways with the tiny iff fingers entanglel
! in he stirrup lea her, and always with the
little dead face upl fled.
An now 1T last he reaches the gates ol
Ventry, and passes through them down the
long avenue, the dead chill entering, to-
ard clingIng to him.
All a. once horrible certainty smito.
upon him, n certai ty that it, the sad corpse
face, is Ike Nornh. Norah! What mad
ness! lie con reason still, yet a strong
shud Ter shakes him a. the thought d ,clare.
1t eff 1t follows him all the way roun &c
the stables, where he dism In s, anil, with
that W | fan y still srong up him. &C
tually in the darkn IS bru-kes down tn II
ride of the sadd Q where the small still
RAND md seemed to be--to end, OF course
nothing.
He breathes rather more freely after
that. pre~es his hand to lis foreheYd
which IS hrob ing 10 an agoniz ne d CO.
The who e thing waS ridiculous, he t.il,
inset as he fin the relns to sleepy
groom, ard yet t W "A pow rfu bit oil
imagination, like presentilnent--a pre-
s'nt M mt OF deith. ut death 10 whom
A hid oIs fear thrills him. Yes, the facC
he is sure now-resembles Norah s.
Rn'eriny the house by small side door,
heavily clamped with Iron. Of which he has
the key, he goes 80 fly up the stir ase ~,
lends 10 the hall above. II any hing shou d
kave happened TO Norah! le.haps Ell
ROY, as he stands here useless, some acci-
dent may be taking pace. On, to he GER
tatn that she is safe ut Clontrce with tn
others He has opened the door " the
Ii rary and l. sanding just inside it, h s
mind full Of one thought on,y, one Iongi az.
TO zee Noraa again, alive, SAFE His eyes
wander carele sly rolni III, room d
then oil at on he starts convulsively.
What Is that ing over there,
Almost il seems to him IL must be Norah's
lfele%s lody, the realization OF his fear.
AMI his presentiments--so stiIl, so death