The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1893-04-21


heard others say that she 10 not dead.
that they have heard in their turn
from others that she yet lives.
An hour ago knew not
what to think. To-day saw
her in q crowded church.
| heard her voice. though l could not
reach her In the throng. struggle how
| would. followed her In haste, I
lost her at one turning. l saw her be-
fore me at the next. 1t last q figure.
clothed as she had been clothed. en-
tered your house. Whether 1t was
she l know not certainly, but l do
know that in the church / saw her.
She cannot be within your dwelling
without your knowledge; II she be
here-then l have found her. my
journey is ended. my wanderings have
led me homo at last. II she DO not
here. II l have boon mistaken, / q
treat you to let me set eyes On that
other whom ! mistook for her. to for
give then my m~annerless intrusion
and to let me 60"
Un0rna had listened with half. closed
eyes, but with u~nfaltering attention.
watching the speakers face from be-
meath her dropping lids. making no
effort to read his thoughts. but weigh
ing his words aud impressing every
detail Of his story upon her mind.
When he had done there was silence
for a time. broken only by the plash
and ripple OF the falling water.
She is not here" said Unorna at
last. "You shall see for yourself.
There is, indeed, In this house o young
girl to whom I am deeply attached.
who has grown up at my side. and has
always lived under my roof. She Is
very pale and dark, aud is dressed al
ways in black"
Like har l saw
"You shall see her again. l will
send for her." Unorna pressed an
ivory key in the silver ball which lay
beside her. attached to q thick cord
Of white silk. ASK Sletchna Axneia
TO come to me-" She said to tho ser-
want who opened the door in the dis
lance. out Of sight behind the forest
of plants.
Amid less unusual surroundings tho
Wanderer would have rejected with
contempt the last remnants OF his be.
lief in the identity Of Unorna's COM
panion with Beatrice. But. being
where he was. he felt
unable to decide between the
possible and the impossible. be-
tween what he might reasonably ex-
pect and what lay beyond the bounds
Of reason itself. The air he breathed
was SO loaded with rich exotic per-
fumes, the woman before him was SO
little like other women. her strangely
mismatched eyes had for his own such
a disquieting attraction, all that he
saw and felt and heard was 80 far re-.
moved from the commonplaces Of
daily life "a to make him feel that he
himself was becoming q part of some
other persons. existence. that he was
being gradually drawn away from his
identity. and was losing the power Of
thinking his own thoughts He rea-
soned as the shadows reason in dream
land, the boundaries OF common prob
ability reccded to an Unreasonable
distance. and he almost ceased to
know where reality ended and where
Imagination took up the sequence of
events.
Who was this woman who called
herself Unornap He tried to consider
the question and to bring his intelli-
gence to bear upon it. Was she q
great lady of Prague. rich. capricious,
creating a mysterious existence for
herself, merely for her own good pleas
ure? Her language. her voice. her
evident refinement gave color to the
idea, which was in itself attractive to
a man who had long ceased to expect
novelty in this working-day world.
He glanced at her face, musing and
wondering, inhaling the sweet, inIox-
icating odors of the flowers and listen
ing to the tinkling Of the hidden foun-
tain. Her eyes were gazing into his,
and again. as if by magic, the curtain
of life's stage was drawn together in
misty folds, shutting out the past, the
present and the future-in fact, the
doubt and the hope-in an interval Of
perfect peace.
He was reused by the sound Of q
light football upon the marble pave
mem. Unorna's eyes were turned
from his. and with something like a
movement of surprise he himself
looked toward the new conner. A
young girl was standing under the
shadow Of a great letonia at a short
distance from him. She was very
pale indeed. but not with that death
like waxen palor which had chilled
him when he had looked upon that
other face. There was a faint resem-
blance in the delicate aquiline
textures. tbs dress was black, and the
figure Of TIA girl before him wa as
suredly neither much taller nor much
shorter than that of the woman he
loved and sought. But the likeness
went no further, and he knew that he
had been utterly mistaken.
Unorna exchanged few Indifferent
words with Axneia and dismissed her.
.Ycu have seen her." she said, when
the young girl was gone. .Was it
she who entered the house just now?"
.'Yes. l was misled by q mere re-