The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-01-08

the room with her.
Then all ut once she sprang after some.
thing that rolled away, and cried in n
lsercng voice; ooh Margaret! my ring!
my ringl 1t ~ broken--it has come Off
the stone Is gone! Oh, what am 30
do? Oh, i, was his mother'sl" she cried
forgetting all about Haydons presence
"fIe said 1t was sacred | mustn't tell
him; lie will think took no care of
it. And ! was dancingl' And she was
moving everything, looking everywhere,
searching IN vain for the stone and the
broken fragment Of the fragile setting
with 1t.
at is of no use," thought Margaret ~
won't have the child suffer so for the few
hundred dollars another stone would cost
And she came down and handed the broken
ring to Hayden Roth, asking him to leave
it at the jewelers. and have it repaired, and
the stone replaced ut any.pricc before the
next noon
Rose descended dressed for the opera
when her lover came that night. There
was time only for Gordon to note singu
lar agitation and a heightened color about
her, while she wept and laughed at the
music in half hysterical way, and trem
bed ms he handed her up the steps at last.
Oh" she said. Nesting n moment in his
embrace as they parted in the dim dining
room, nothing could ever let you leave off
loving mep"
"No power in all the universe" he an
swered her
81 shall have to tell him tomorrow"
said Rose tearfully after he had gone.
"Oh, tomorrow we may find it," said
Cousin Margaret, land afford to laugh
about the whole thing"
a half hour afterwarl, as her maid was
taking down the great coils Of hair some
thing bright a. any star was seen to hang
fixed in the meshes 1t was the diamond
that her rapid turn of hand and wrist had
torn away from its slight stem OF gold
after it had caught in her hair.
Yes" said Cousin Margaret. I'VE can
tell the whole story tomorrow. and shall
have diamond TO spare. You didn't
know had sent the ring to the jewelers.
did your"
And tomorrow Gordon Penmore met
Hayden Roth drawing on his glove over
an obstructing ring upon his little finger.
where did you come across that ring,
may askf" lie exclaimed. pausing directly
in front of the other
And moved by that spirit OF mischief,
Hayden answered: at belongs to lady
with whom was dancing yesterday after.
noon. ! DO not like to take liberties with
names; 1t is enough that it was given to
me by a lady
In another moment he would have ex
planned his poor jest, but Gordon, his face
as white as ashes. had merely bowed and
passed on.
She had danced with another man and
against his wishes, and she had given away
his mothers ring. He left that town that
night without word Rose waited for
one year, waited half "A score.
If he were dead, her heart was in the grave
with him. and whether lie were dead or
not she could not know.
1t was wintry night In one of those
islands that are the outposts of our north
ern coast, where person ssG young, still
but with stranSe still sadness
In her beauty, who had chanced upon the
place in its summer radiance Of smiling
seas, had come again to make home the
year round, to teach the children of the
fishermen and to live the life OF Sister of
Charity among the dwellers in the fishing
huts, half driftwood and half primal rock
She Ind her dead Cousin Margaret's for
tune, and she spent it. with her own, on
these people, but she gave them more than
money, for she gave them all herself, read.
ing to those that could follow, talking to
those that would listen, working with
them and for them, and finding Ter only
cheer and consolation so.
1t was the last night OF the year. A
group OF the young girls had come down
to Roses cottage to bring her their gifts OF
shells and seawecds and were lingering
there, when suddenly in one Of the awe
struck silences came the sharp report and
rolling echo Of gun.
In moment men were running to the
boats, the women thronging to the shore;
the young girls and children, and Rose
with them, were building a bonfire on the
cliffs Dmly could he discerned on dis
tant reef the dark outline of huge steam
ship that had struck the reef with ire
force, had broken in two, and
with frightful rapidity was settling to
her fate. With ropes about them the fish
ers wadcd and swan out; thrown back
breathless, once again venturing; at length
one awful screaming billow, seeming to
soar into midair, and then throw them all
together in II mass upon the shore.
1t was more than an hour that the aud
wives OF the place worked on the uncon
scious being whom the sea had cast up,
and whom they had taken into the nearest
cottage--the cottage where Rose dwelt.
AT length long shiver ran through
his frame, and he opened his clouded eyes
and murmured something huskily and fell
into deep sleep.
1t was an hour or more afterward that
he awoke The Others had all gone, dis
missed by her. Rose sat at his feet, dis
tinct against the sapphire vault OF the
moon lighted sky seen through the uncur-
tained window, and only q low CLEAN of
the fire now and then falling across her.
Rose is dead, them" he said. "And you
are some mocking spirit in her form. Oh,
you cannot deceive me, though you comb
the curl out of the yellow hair though you
put nuns cloth on that supple shape for
you wear my ring upon your finger, and
she never looked SO till broke her hearth
"You are talking in your Sleep" she
said, bending forward and taking his burn.
ing hands. "rhis is Rose Your Rose
All the rest is nothing now"
He gazed at her steadfastly a moment,
the cloud clearing from his eyes, the op-
preston from his brain. "Nothing!' he
cried. "nothingl" the words coming in