Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1895-09-03
CUAYl
), ,Xife's

When Francis Arr. sswife's
room. he did not go TO his own room,
but q hietly descended the stairs, went
to the library and sat down. The lone
liest thing in the world is to be tete-a-
tete With ones conscience. A man may
have bad hour with an enemy, sad
hour with friend. peaceful hour
with himself, but when the little dwarf,
consciE Ence, perches upon every hillock
of Remembrance and makes slow signs
-thos 10 symbols of the language Of the
soul 10 him. no slave upon the tread
mill S tffers more.
The butler came in to see IL anything
was r, huired. but Armour only greeted
him silently and waved him away. His
brain was painfully alert, his memory
singulk krly awake II seemed that the in
cident bf this hour had SO opened upe every
chann,kl Of his intelligence that all his
life rab past him in fantastic panorama,
as by That illumination which comes TO
the drbwning man. He seemed under
some strange spell Once or twice he
rose, ribbed his eyes and looked round
the robm-the room where, as a boy,
he had spent idle hours, where, as
student, he had been in the hands Of his
tutor. hnd as young man had found
recreathons such As belong to ambitious
and ar hent youth. Every corner was IA
miliar. Nothing was changed. The
books upon the shelves were as they
were placed 20 years ago And yet he
did not seem a part of it, II did not
seem nhtural to him. He was in an ut
mosphdre OF strangeness-that atmos-
phere which surrounds a man, as by o
cloud, when some crisis comes upon
him, ahd his life seems to stand still,
whirliI|g upon its narrow base, while
the wo}ld appears at an interminable
distancb even as to deaf man who sees,
yet canhot hear.
Therb came home to him ut that mo-
ment, With o force indescribable, the
shamelkssness of the act he committed
four We AIRS ago. He had thought to come
back tb miserable humiliation. For
| four yekrs he had refused to do his duty
as a MAN toward an innocent woman, q
womanl though in part savage. now
transformed into gentle, noble creature
Of delikh and goodness How had he
deserved it? He had sown the storm; 1t
was bull Just that he should reap the
whirlwlnd He had scattered thistles;
could lie expect to gather grapes! He
knew that the sympathy Of all his IA.
theirs house was not with him, but
with thb woman he had wronged. He
was glah it was SO.
Looking back now, 1t seemed 30 poor
and paltry o thing that he, man,
should Itoop to revenge himself upon
those who had given him birth as
kind of insult to the woman who had
lightly i|et him aside and should use for
that puEpose helpless confding girl
To revebge ones self for wrong to ones
self is bbt q common passion. which has
littlo dignity; to avenge some one
whom obe has loved, man or woman
and bef,bre all, woman-has some touch
of nobility, is redeemed by loyalty. For
his act khere was not one word Of do.
Tense to be made, and he was not pre-
pared te make It
The cigars and liquors were beside
him. buF he did not touch them. de
seemed Fery far away from the ordinary
details c|f his life he knew he had be-
fore hirh hard travel, and he was not
confident of the end He could not tell
how lon,k he sat there After time the
ticking u the clock seemed painfully
loud to him. Now and again he heard
. cab rsktling through the square and
the foohIh song Of some dsunhen lotteser