Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1894-10-19
SHE.
A History Of Adventure.
TBy II. RIDER HACGARD.
XVII. coNTINUED.)
lis it too lateg" | gasped.

lis it too late?" | gasped
She hid her face in her hands. and made
no answer, and |, too, turned away. But
as did so heard deep.drawn breath.
and looking down. perceived line Of
color creeping up Leo's face, then another
and another, and then-wonder OF won
dersl-the man we had thought dead turn
ed over on his side.
Thou seest," ! said, in a whisper
81 see," she answered hoarsely. HE
is saved. ! thought we were too late; an
other monochrome little moment more
and he had been gone and she burst into
an awful flood of tears, sobbing as though
her heart would break, and yet managing
TO look lovelier than ever as she did it,
AT last she ceased
Forgive me, my IIolly-forglve me
for nv weakness" she said. Thou seest,
after all, am very woman. Think
now think Of it. This morning didst thou
sneak OF the place of torment appointed
by his new religion Of thine. Hell or
Hades thou didst call i,-a place where the
vital essence lives and retains and indivi-
dual memory, and where all the errors and
faults of judgment and unsatistied pas
sions and the unsubstantial terrors OF the
mind wherewith it hath at any time had
TO do come to mock and haunt and gibe
and wiring the heart forever and forever
with the vision of its own hopelessness.
Thus. even thus, have | lived for two
thousand years-for some sixty genera
tons, as We reckon time-in Hell, as thou
callest it-tormented by the memory OF
crime. tortured day and night, with an un-
fulfilled desire-without companionshlp,
without comfort, without death, and led
on only down my dreary road by the
marsh lights of Hope, which, though they
flckered here and there, and now glowed
strong, and now were not, YET, as my Skill
told me. would one day lead unto my de-
liverer.
"And then-think of it still, oh, Holly,
for never shall thou hear such another tale
or see such another scene, nay, not even II
| give thee ten thousand years of llfe-and
thou shalt have it in payment if thou wilt
think; at last my deliverer came-he
whom | had watched and waited for
through the generations-at the appointed
time he came to seek me, as knew he
must come. for my wisdom could not err,
though | knew not when or how. \ ct see
how ignorant ! was! See how small my
-
knowledge, and how faint my strength :
For hours he lay here sick unto death, and
| felt it mott who had waited for him
for two thousand years. knew 1t not.
And then at last see him, and behold,
my chance is gone but by hairs breadth
even before had it, for he Is in the very
laws of death, whence no power OF mine
can draw him And if he die, surely must
the Hell be lived through once more-once
more must face the weary centuries and
wait and wait till time in its tullness shall
bring my beloved back to me- And then
thou gavest the medicine, and that five
minutes dragged along before | knew if he
would live or die, and | tell thee that all
the sixty generations that are gone were
not so long as that five minutes. But they
passed at last, and still he showed no sign,
and / knew that if the drug works not
then. 1t, so far as | have had knowledge
works not at all Then thought that he
was once more dead, and all the fortunes
of all the years gathered themselves into a
single venomed spear, and pierced me
through and through, because once again
/ had lost Kallikrates! And then, when
all was done behold. he sighed, behold!
he lived, and | knew that he would live,
for none die on whom the drug takes hold.
Think of it now, my Hollv-think of the
wonder of it! He will sleep for twelve
hours. and then the fever will have left
him,
And then she stopped, and laid her hand
upon the golden head, and then bent down
and kissed the brow with chastened
abandonment Of tenderness that would
have been beautiful to behold had not the
sight cut me to the heart for | was jeal-
ousl