The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-09-07

~ WOO Siooo oPoiA ~ "hch AZ iciAS Va
be quilted the house. The mood of the
hight had changed. A light drizzle filed
khe air. A red vapor rolled across the
bky, broken in places and giving glimpses
bf deeper murliness beyond. Fog horns
beloved from the river. Freight trains
like dingy serpents crawled past the
western boundary Of the college campus
bnd went kissing into the fog. He paused
|rresolute for moment after the gate
tlanged behind him, then crossed the
ttreet and entered the college grounds.
An unquiet spirit possessed him as ne
|trode along the familiar paths. He was
5nly trespasser in this place where
hitherto he had roamed at will, but
whether he was seen or not was of little
consequence. He had escaped from his
|uiet room into the wet. massy darkness
question himself. The vapor that
arbed every tree in ghostly robes, the
light sweep of the wind passing his ear
Ike woman's sigh, the peace here and
be reminders of life on the river and
parket places beyond were all old and
ear to him. They had helped him be-
pre.
It was not of his rejected play he was
blinking. Somehow the keenness of the
hing left by failure had subsidized. In
Incy he saw a woman's face-Virginia's
bee. It seemed to float before him,
bmetimes the eyes hidden as with
bill, sometimes the sweet, proud mouth.
He was filed with this new feeling
bat In the twinkling of an eye had
hshed over him. Was it love? Love!
b, the ecstasy ringing in the soft VOW
b as he murmured them in tender
|1nitone!
Hitherto he had written of love, had
blieved that he understood it. But to-
ght In every fiber he felt tho illimita-
%, untranslatable difference. He had
ben like blind man dwelling on the
psuty Of the light he had never seen-a
ay at home describing the marvels of
nds never journeyed through. His
art had been sleeping while in his
ritings he had prated Of passion.
But this sweeping forgetfulness Of self
ZEN in . bitterly critical moment; this
aching ont to and flooding immersion
the personality Of another; this mad
- that shook him, trailing its seduc-
Fe sweetness over his soul and making
b light headed; this insistent burning
his blood; this yearning newly born
b was love.
Hc flung himself into . restful position
ainst tree and looked over at the win
ws where at times virginia's shadow
nched the shade. His face had grown
ggard; his eyes were alight. Oh, he
red herl Itseemed now he had always
red her.
TO tell her--oh, to tell herr was his
uttered cry. "Oh, if had something
offer worth her taking-not my beg
re portion, not the ashes of my dreams.
rginia dear, tender, sweet voiced,
ong hearted Virginia, ! am not fit to
70 you"
And now . state of feeling beyond ex-
ession or definition assailed him and
ID him as in coil. 1t was strange,
btls, exquisitely sad. The mist and
(n wore part Of it. the blustery dark
ss, tho troubled breath in the trees, the
hging and indecision in his soul, the
he Of passion, the ambition SO limitless
a unavailing, the dull acquiescence of
conquered.
How merciless destiny seemed in that
pment! How empty the worldl The
Go so long, SO firing, ending-even at
b best--in what;
He was stirred to an ecstatic sadness.
|mething vital quickened in his con-
ousness-
The serenity Of his fair, Uninterrupted
Dars sank from sight. and he seemed e
oh down an illuminated depth into tn,
by heart of life. Love and death wer,
lere; agony and sin; joy, derision, temp
fion, despair; the curse of the suicide
% laughter of young girls, the sorrow
atc cries In the night. twas all so ter
bly, clear. 1t racked him, inundate,
Ia, knitted itself to him.
One after another faces arose, youn,
ID old; hands seemed outstretched. III
ard words that contained the glory an,
. Of diamonds, so real they We're, o.
enchant. Oh, If he could but writ
en- ~ they thronged into his mind-i
could tell the wonderful story tina
hfolded itself before him like scrol
bonfthe darkness-might not some stant
ID listen?
he shivered and looked around, emerg
g from his waking dream as from {
ance, and almost startled to find him
II alone.
What was this marvellous Change? III
emed ON the threshold Of a secret, tho
)or open TO his hand. He was as one
prn again under new conditions, will
Dener faculties for reasoning and feel
q. A FIRE had touched him-a fire o1
We. II lightened the dark places Of hi
hture, melted the crust that held thu
prronts of knowledge imprisoned, an,
felt stimulated TO walk victoriou
here before he had stumbled.
He thought Of the play that but a sh6r
hiIo since had been 90 dear thing 4
m- Crude. false and sterile it scenes
bw.
And yet 70 venture again dare he do II
Even while he questioned he knew h
nsk His fingers tingled to graspa per