Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-03-19

when the sun was high and the eartt
aglitter with gladness-like shrlVer
soul arising from purgatory.
He had called on his discovery In his
time OF stress, and it had saved him
Thenceforth it should be his Bible! lie
knew not what it was that IL had re-
moved, for the removal was iorgeuni-
ness: but whatever it was, IL had oeeI
a nightmare uncomfortable save by mad
ness or death, and now il was gone. [
the omnipoence OF knowledge! Was
he not much more than man, since
events which ruled others were
subject to his call and dismiss
al? Onward strobe Prime triumph
ant. exultant, like Perseus with
Medusa's head. Little did he dream
that evil is its own biographer and that
its handwriting is iDdelible. lie tried
to calm and compose his rapture as he
entered the house, dreading lest its i'm
pertinence should be misjudged. But
no, the fear was an idle one, for Ruth
looked up anxiously and said: Poor
boy, how wretched, how sad you look!
You must not grieve so. Remember
how good you always were TO him."
yes" replied Prime sincerely, II
know have been true friend TO him. "
Il was true that Ruth had ever loved
Prime: that within her pure heart he
was enshrined as her hero, her Bayard,
her king. And so when he returned
after long tour they were married.
Luke was not forgotten, but they both
believed that he would wish that they
should be happy. Prime certainly was
so; existence was an ecStacy to him,
but Ruth-she looked very white and
frightened as she said in the carriage
by his side.
I'VE have at last found our heaven,
haven't we, dear?" Prime asked ten
derby as he leaned over her.
~ don't know" faltered the girl as
she shrank from his embrace. There
is something between u.s."
Prime attributed her mood to the shy
ness of brides, though he was 10th to be-
l'eve that Ruth could be coy toward
him. But when their honeymoon was
over, he locked himself in the labora-
tory and through the grateful might OF
his discovery did away with all remem-
brance Of it.
Time passed on for this husband and
wife, rolling for the one, dragging Tor
the other; bringing health felicity,
fame and riches TO the o2e, inflicting an
ever-increasing sadness on the other.
Not that troubles did not come to Prime
as to every other human being, but ne
had no patience with them, AID with
the wand OF his discovery would bid
them avaunt. Thus, unweighed
by the burdens OF the past, he faced
the future with the complacency OF an
immortal. Yet Ruth dropped, though one
would have predicted that love would
have been oxygen TO her; but that one
so predicting would have included trust
in the conception OF love. Prime no.
ticed the change; but he could endure
its perception; so each day he waved II
away, yet each night it returned TO his
bewilderment.
One evening when Prime was alone at
his work Ruth entered the study,
stepped hurriedly toward the further
door, hesitatcd, stopped; then turned
aud threw herself on her knees by his
side, Sobbing softly like one beyond
consolation.
my darling, what is it?" asked
Prime as he pressed her TO him.
Ruth laid her head against his shout
der; yet she quiyered under his touch.
Il think am losing my mind. do,
indeed" she protested. 81 have the
strangest fancies about you, dear one
so ridiculous, yet so real. 1t seems as II
you were not yourSelf-that your gen
teness, your goodness, were mask
that yelled iniQuity. When you sym
pathize with me your voice has a false
ring, as if you had never known sorrow.
Your are always happy, yet your face
is deep-fnrrowed and your hair Is gray.
Oh, if 1 could only see your soul through
your eyes! But it shrinks away, and
your words and deeds are so sweet
Don't heed me, but don't touch me. 1
can't help it. I love you, yet l abhor
YOU" And with a dissuading gesture
Ruth rushed from the room.
Prime pondered for hours with head
buried in his arms, and finally thus he
concluded: BY sefshly hiding himself
from himself, be had committed moral
suicide more surely than ever did opium
eater. Instead of being a man ac-
Quainted with sin and suffering and
hence sympathetic and lova6e because
human, he was a similacrum as CHASTITY
as an electrified corpse. He knew not
what it was that he had forgotten; but
whatever il was that should return 10
him. As he had paralyzed his faculties,
so he would restore them. Nothing
could be so bad as to be the alien and
unnatural creature that he was. For
DAYS Prime strove within the laboratory.
At length his vast erudition and skill,
nerved by iron resolution, achieved sue
cess.
The test was in readiness. Stead
tasty Prime submitted himself 10 1t.
There was surge OF scorching blood.
Oh! what had he done? What had he
done? A vast volume Of blackness
rushed through his brain. All the re-
grets, griefs, despairs OF years In one
awful moment pressed upon him and
crushed his heart. ALI the sins OF his
life thronged before him and called him
accursed. Now he realized why Ruth
had loathed MIN. All, what a
pitiful, imuotent, boasting mite
was this human knowledge. Even
pure intuition could surpass 1t.
How it would shrivel before divine ON
niscence Oh, miserable man that he
was, who should deliver him from the
body OF this deathP What had Ruth
said on their very wedding day? There
is something between US" Aye, 50
there was-the body of his murdered
cousin. He had thought to rise superior
TO natures laws; well, to the condemn.
alton Of those same laws would ne yield
himself Luke's fate should be his own;
the grave could not increase mortal
agony; perhaps, indeed, within it be
might find a forgetfulness that orooked
no return.
Prime entered the house and went