The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-01-08

i He p3tieI neF nanG. ana just glanced at
! ths untouched food beside her.
Eyes he said, quietly. Il shouldn't
worry, nurse; let her sleep And under
stood
Towards evening she opened her eyes
\ and becsoned to her sister, who was
/ sanding by the bedside, to bend low.
"Jeanie, she whispered, do you think
i.wrong 10 deceive any one when it's for
their own good?'
az don't know said the girl. in dry
.sk9
"tJeanie your voice was always some
thing like miae--do you remember, they
used to mistake Us at home. Jeanne, call
out for me-jus. tiIi-till he's a bit better;
/ promise me-
"They had loved each other, those two,
more than is common among sisters.
Jeanie could not answer, but she pressed
l her sister close in her arms, and the other
was satisfied.
Then. drawing her little stock of life to-
gether for one final effort, the dying child
4 raised herself in her SISTERS arms.
"'Good night, Jack, she called out. loud
ard clear enough to be heard through the
| closed door.
..'Good night, little wife, he cried back,
cbeeriiy: are you ali right?'
"'fes, dear. Good night
"Her little, WORKOUT frame dropped
back upon the bed and the next thing I
remember is snatching up pillow and
holding It tight pressed against Jeanie's
face for fear the sound of her sobs would
penetrate INTO the next room, and after
wards We both got out, somehow, by the
other door and rushed down stars, and
chung TO each other in the back kitchen.
"How We two women managed 70 keep
CO the deceit, as for three whole days we
DID. shan never myself know. Jeanne
sat IN the room where her dead sister, from
its head to its stickIng-up feet, lay OUT
llned under the white sheet; and / stayed
beside the living man. and told lies and
acted lies, TIL L took. a JOY IN them, and
nad 10 guard against the danger OF over
celebrating them.
"He wondered at what he thought my
new merry mood and told him it was
because of my delight that his wife was
out OF danger; and then | went on for the
pure devilment of the thing, and told him
that week ago, when we had let him
think that his wife was growing stronger,
We had been deceiving him; that, as
matter OF fact, she Was ut that time in
great peril, and / had been in hourly
alarm concerning her, but that now the
strain was over. and she was safe; and I
dropped down by the foot of the bed. and
burst into lit OF laughter, and had to
clutch hold of the beGstead to keep myself
from rolling on the door.
He had started up in bed with a wild
white face when Jeanne had first answered
him from the other room though the sis
ters' voices had been so uncanniiv alike
that had never been able to distinguish
one from the other at any time. told
him the slight change was the result of
the fever. that his own voice also was
changed little, and that such was always
the case with person recovering from
long illness. To guide his thoughts away
&-1 IL ..-E-s l.
broken DOWN with the long work and
that, the need for her being past, | had
packed her off into the country for a
4 short rest. That afternoon, down stairs,
we concoCted q letter to him, and l kept
Il Jeanie's eyes wiped while she wrote it, so
Il that no tears should tall on it, and that
night she Travelled twenty miles down the
treat western line to post it, returning by
II the next up train.
h NO Suspicion Of the sruth ever occurred
= to HIM. and the doctor helped US out with
Il our deception; yet his pulse, which day by
II day had been getting stronger, now beat
II ieebler every hour. In that part of the
Il country where was born and grew up,
Il ihe hs say that wherever the dead lie,
there round about them. whether the time
be summer or winter, the air grows cold
and colder. and that no fire, though you
Hnay pale the logs halfway up the Chin
Raey, will ever make it warm. 4 few
hmonths' hospital training generally cures
Hone Of all fauciful notions about death.
Ilhut this idea l have never myself been
liable 10 get rid Of. Ny thermometer may
lishow me CD, and ] may try To believe that
ll'he temperature as 90, but if the dead are
Ibeside me feel cold to the marrow Of my
hb0nes. | could see the chill from the dead
Nl0om crawling underneath the door, and
Hsreeping up about his bed and reaching
NeGt its hand to touch his heart
IL ''Af tirnRa knowing that
Hanother moment in these rooms we should
Escream, We would steal softly out and
Erash downstairs and. shutting ourselves
foat OF hearing in a cellar underneath the
t!ard. laugh till We reeled against the dirty
walls. think we were both getting a
little mad.
l zone day-it was the third Of that night
ynare life, so learned afterwards, though
Afsr all / could have told then IL might
have been the three hundredth, for time
seemed to have fled from that house as
nom dream, SO that ali things We're tan
Ie.ed-i made slip that came near ending
the matter then and there.
/ II had gone in to that other room,
JEANNE had left her post for moment,
and the place was empty.
Il did not think what | was doing. |
had not closed my eyes that | can remem-
Der since the wife had died. and my brain
ana my senses were losing their hold of
L
IferlormarCe of talking loudly 10 the thing
tanderneath the white sheet, and noisily
IpattIng the pillows and rafting the bottles
or the table.
/ 'On my return he asked me how she
vas, and | answered. half in = dream, oh.
feonny, she's trying 10 read little. and lie
lh.Sed himself on his elbow and called out
~ her, and for answer there came back
: ence-nOt the silence that IS silence. but
fiae silence that il like voice. do not
Know If You understand what | mean 10y
fIfaat. II you had lived among the dead
lt much as | have you would know.
III Il dayted 10 the door and pretended 10
HOOK IN. She's fallen asleep | whispered,
iIsosng it; and he said nothing, but has
pes looked queerly at me.
IL That night Jeanne and | stood in the
pal taking. lie had fallen ia sleep early,
slsd ! had locked the door between the
V'so rooms and put the key IN my pocket.
hLd had stolen down To tell her what had
Happened and to consult with her.
What can We do! God help US. what
tan We 10" was al that Jeanjc could saw.
tse had thought that III q day or two he
Fenld he stronger ana that the truth
fght be broken 10 him. BUT instead Of
IT, he had grown SO weak that To excite
Iss suspicious now by moving him OF her
spou.d oe - kill him.
'We stooI looking b!ankly in each
Pune faces. wondering how the problem
Foaid he solved; and while we did so the
ETob EN- solved itself
lac one woman servant had gone out.
p t.c house Wa very silent-so silent
p / could hear the ticking Of Jeanie's
sIaatch INSIDE her dress. Suddenly into