Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1894-02-16
UNDER THE SOFA.

UNDER THE SOFA.
The room was hung in pale blue
silk the Prayer from Orpheus was
open on spinet; the chairs had lyres
for backs; Il mahogany writing-desk
white bed with its decoration in
roses painted doves in pairs along
the cornice; the whole seemed to
smile with tender grace. The lamp
shono softly, and the Aickering fire.
light filled the dusky corners as with
palpltatlng wings. Seated before the
writingdesk in loose gown, her del
icate neck inclined under the pale,
magnificent aureole of her hair, Juli-
ette is looking over old letters, which
have lain, tied up with ribbons, for
gotten in the drawers.
The stroke Of midnight sounds; if is
the sign Of the merging of the old wear
into the new The dainty clock upon
which laughing, gilded love is
PEE ahed, announces that the year Of
,.bi. . is ended.
he moment when the hands CON
little phantom appears. A
ty child issuing from a tiny room
where he sleeps, comes to
pself into his mothers arms
her happy New Year.
fppy New Year, Pierre, I
Pu; but do You know what
eyear is?"
4lnks he knows, but she wishes
Uss the lesson still deeper.
sear is good, my darling, for
who have p3sss~i itsssj4 hs.-
.o kisses nm -T-Hd carffies him back
Re bed he has left, and then reseats
rself before the desk. She gazs
at the flames glowing on the hearth
,eh at the letters, from which
lowers are dropping. 1t costs her
>burn them, butt must be done
these letters, if discovered,
send to the guillotine him who
and her who received them. If
were in question, she would
roy them, so weary is she of
o4g iot her life; but she
thinks ST him, hunted, prescribed, de-
nounced, at this very moment hiding
in some hay-loft at the o.aer end Of
Paris. 1t would take but a single one
,o1 these letters to track lin out and
give him over to death.
Pierre is snugly asleep in the next
room, and the two servants have re
tired to the upper regions. The deep
silence of the season of snow reigns
without. The sharp pure air quickens
the flame in the fireplace. Julie is
going to burn the letters, but it is a
task she knows she cannot accomplish
without deep and sad reelection. She
is going to burn the letters, but not
without reading them
They are arranged in order, for
Julie infuses everything pertaining to
her with the exact1ess Of her mind.
Some, already yellowed, are dated
three years back, and Julie, i'll the
silence Of the night, lives over again
ichanted hours. Not single page
is consigned to the flames before the
beloved sgllables thnt cover it are ten
times spelled
The calm is profound around her
Occasionally, as the hours pass, she
goes to the window and, lifting the
curtain, sees in the silent darkness the
spire Of Saint Germain-des-Pres sill
vered in the moonlight; then she
takes up again her work of slow and
regretful destruction. And how can
she refrain from drinking in for last
time these delicious pagesG How can
she give to the flames those dear lines
without first engraving them forever
on heart? The calm is profund
around her. and her soul is palpitating
with youth and love. She reads
II see you when absent. Julie.
walk surrounded by the images my
fancy creates. I see you, not motion
less and cold, but warm, alive always
changing, always perfect / draw
around you in my dreams the most
magnificent spectacles of the universe.
How happy is he who is jules lover!
All things charm him, because he
sees her in them all. Loving her, he
loves to live; he admires the
world that she illumines; he eherishes
the earth that blooms under her foot
steps. Love reveals to him hidden
meanings in all that surrounds him
He understands the infinite forms of
creation, they All picture forth jules
image; he hears the innumerable
voices of nature; they all murmur
jules name Enraptured, he let's his
gaze float ont upon the broad sea Of
daylight, knowing that the same radi-
snco bathes jules face, like a divine