Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1892-04-17

II had been months since he had laid
aside this pistol, which for years he had
worn habitually. During one OF his
visits to Mrs. Beverley in the weeks sub
! seouent to his return to Virginia he had
allowed little Ran to draw the weapon
| from his pocket and was thoughtlessly
! beginning TO explain its mechanism to
! the child and TO instruct him in its use,
when Mary, in wild alarm, descended
| uDon the pair and almost Snatched the
revolver from the boys hands. She
entreated Anthony never to come near
| her sons again with pistol in his
! nocket. as there was no telling what
/ chastity accident might be the result.
He had been amused at her terror,
which he considered superfluous and
foolish, but he had been moved by II to
Law aside his pistol. Tonight, however,
the old feeling of comradeship for the
weapon. the old liking for the feel Of it
against his breast, returned with the
memories and associations called up by
the sight Of its familiar stock and bar
rel, and he slipped it lnstinctively to its
old place.
Leaving the door OF the house on the
| latch. as was his custom, he started
briskly across the ravine to the quaint,
prettv parlor, where he expected to
I find the party as he had left 1.-THE
girls at the piano, with Dan and per-
| hans the Young fellow from Richmond
/ in attendance, Mrs. Beverley in her
/ fayorite low chair near the hear;hru 3
and the children mercurially revolving
] hnfnra tho
waning OF the evening dispatched them
! to the nursery.
The air was still oppressive, although
| a little fresher than at nightfall; there
was no breeze stirring, nor any suggest
ton that breeze might spring uD later.
| The moon, a silver bow, rested on the
! topmost branches oil the dark old cedars,
its power of illumination feeble still,
/ but on the increase. The silence OF ma
ture was so profound that extraneous
sounds were intensified and made more
penetrating.
As Anthony leaped lightly across the
| brook at the bottom OF the rayine the
sound OF music stole down to him-soft,
! slow musjcs with tender hushing ca
dence, as olRmother wooing slumber
to her baoe+Tsome one was singing
| cradle bong. Z
ThroAgh the garden he went, between
/ the std box borders and past the old
rose treAs. bowed down with the weight
/ of bloSsdms. He struck at them with
his cane as he passed along, sending the
pink petals and the little buds to the
groundin showers. The gate swung to
softly after him, and he crossed the
ward with his heart as light as boys,
his thoughts busy with anticipstions.
As he neared the window through which
he had gazed that evening in November,
nine months before the same impulse
seized him to approach and look in on
them, himself unseen; and some boyish
idea OF a practical joke, such as striking
suddenly on the window ledge or vault
ing in among them, presented itself.
The window was wide open and the
long lace curtains hung straight, I'M
swayed By the motionless air. Anthony
parted them with his hand aud looked
in. The room was still, the light clear
and soft, the music whose sound had
reached him as he crossed the ravine
was hushed, and instead of the gay
party he had expected to surprise, there
were only two figures in the ROOM
man and a woman.
The woman sat in low chair and the
man bent over her; her head was
thrown back, her eyes raised TO other
eyes which gazed down into them with
look easily interpreted. No need to