Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1893-06-07


beauty waned? No. Xartella's red !
jar would have given to me supernst- !
ural loveliness. Ra:her was it because |
he deemed my crown more blest than |
his
81 left this thing which had evoked |
from mummy life. This creature of |
the shades. 1t was no forgotten fate. |
1t was a woman who would restore |
herself to q majesty which would be |
most terrible to Artossa.
But where had the living gone. |
TIE beautiful resurrected, aud the
baleful restored became so unendur-
able to me, that, during the prolonged
absence of Xartella and Artossa, | hid
myself IN the recess of the fountain.
There L counted the slanting beams OF
fourteen sunsets before L heard weird
music and the sound of Xartella's
! voice. Then L forgot my loneliness,
forgot Aphlah and myself in the glory
of the picture presented in the old
stone halls.
"Artossa WAS enthroned beside
Xsrtella. Rest had restored her re-
splendent beauty. Her HAIR was cojled
and dIademed. A gossamer robs of
gold and rose WAS bound about with
bands of gems. Her feet were cased
In DrOldere1 snOeS-
"Before the thrones whirled all the
host of beautiful youths and maidens.
Waving salutstions with their white or
tawny arms. Tossing their long, loose
hair and moving, in a mechanical ac-
cord, with discordaut music, twanged
from stringed instruments struck by
hands of dark skinned musicians. 1t
was bewildering. Majesty, splendor,
beauty @ entered upon the throne. Cor
geous hues FURNISHED, motion glinted
the foreground of the scene. Even the
! jarring music, here, was not unpleas-
| ant.
"a great Sarcophagus, of transpar-
ent substance, stood, consplcuously,
close by the thrones. The lid was
raised. From time to time Artossa
| glanced toward it, almost with dread.
But her white hand lay in the clasp of
| that one dark and strong. TIE touch
seemed to control her.
Then l heard Xartella explain, in
! soft voice, with an oriental figurative-
ness of expression which transformed
| to translation the real horror of the
desired sacrifice.
''Artossa must consent to enclose
herself In the mysterious casket. Death
was sure in the thousandth of an In
slant. Resurrection, Xsrtells insisted,
was, by his art, just as certain. She
would be able TO procure, through her
intercessjou, souls for all his restored
| multitudes. When she returned more
glorious than other earth creatures she
should reign with him for centuries.
Not in that dark, contracted realm, be-
meath a pyramid already crumbling,
but in such visioned land as, l was GER
tain, was not buiided above the seas of
earth and only had foundation in the
imaginings of this half god. And this
must be willing sacrifice.
Listening for her answer XartelIa
paused, forgetting the Tagging dancers.
Like dolls they began to drop IN their
places.
lyon see,' he said, they have no
souls but mine. For their new life,
Artossa, will you go?
"1 will go, replied Artossa, but
how can l go willingly and leave you?
"You will return
"I may not find the weary way
Glove will lead you back
SIN that other sphere may be no
love. In the place whence 1 am to pro-
cure all these souls love may be dead.
Love may even forget.
"'FOrd heart, there are not mo-
nents an eternity TO make true lore
forget"
at was Aphlahl and as she suddenly
appeared before us and uttered these
words l wondered had she not changed
into an angel. Her majesty and beauty
paled those others as the sun pales the
moon and all the stars. She might
have been moulded from moonlight
and robed in woven dew drops so mar
velous was her humanity, so unreal her
shimmerlng garments.
"Xarteils spraug from the throne to
approach her. A look of rapture trans
figured his stern face.
"'Aphlah, my WIFE
"His words were interrupted, this
woman OF glory lifted to her bronze
gold hair that same crown which l had
lifted from the dust. And, as she
raised it, in dust fell down the antique,
brilliant crown which graced XarteIla's S
naughty head.
"'Xartella, this is my crown. For
this crown man has destroyed the one
best loved. But, It's an ancient ring
of power. b hold how newer diadems
shall fall before 1t.
al had drawn close to the throne
and as Artossa's crown crumbled into
dust it fell upon my hand. The maid.
en-, forgotten, at this suprenemomeut,
by her captor, turned to me and with
the cry of young girls terror, flew.
from the splendid throne to my arms
a. do not wish to die, she sobbed,
Il do not dare to bring those souls, t
wish to return to- my fathers palace. =
dc not wish to Cross the chill river
death. q, to float once more in glory
nfa 1fnh 1ap ha falr
my feet, weeping, frightened, impl6r-
ing my aid, and L comforted her With
common words of earthly encourage
ment which seemed strangely out Of
place"
gus.
.Xartells, upon what shore dwells
man when he has died to higher hfe?'
LET others ask the question,
Apnlsh. Not such as theH.'
"'Not yet soul for all these dear
ones?'
"'rbere is but one dear, on earth.
Let these dead rest. Go DOT across the
boundary
81 will be your ambassadress.
will seek some friendly archangel anil
may return with the souls to light your
empire OF the dead
"Eartella moved to prevent her but
he seemed chained The thing which
had thought a fate forgotten now
proved itself the more powerful of the
two. Aphlah dropped, like a cloud of
silver, into the fatal casket. With a
heavy jsr the lid flashed down.
"'Come bsckl l never meant to let
you really perish. There Is no light
left in ny earth. =. 1 do not know that
1 can bring you back I only waited
o, Aphlah, 1 never meant that you
should die or really be forgotten
"a fearful sight it was to see the
powerful Xartells striving vsinly to