The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-06-07

De up anu oOlQg. Wndt a uOlSo INC WlEO
makes and the rattling of the windows
and the doorsi If he sleeps through this,
he will sleep through all. Noiselessly
my bare feet tread the carpet as approach
the bed. Noiselessly my left arm raises
the heavy curtain. What does it hide! Do
| l not know? The bestial features, half
hidden in coarse, black growth; the mud
dy, blotched skin, oozing foulness at every
PORE Oh, know them too WE'LL What
a monster it is! How the rank breath
gurgles through his throat in his drunken
sleep! The Dyes are closed now. but /
know them, too-their odious leer and
the venomous hatred with which they can
glare at me from their bloodshot setting.
But the time has come at last. Never
again shall their passion insult me or
their fury degrade me in slavish terror.
There he lies, there at my mercy the man
who for Is years has made Gods light a
shame to me and his darkness terror.
The end has come at last-the only end
possible, the only end left me. On his
head be the blood and the crime. God
Almighty, am not guilty. I can bear
my burden no further.
''Beareth all things, endureth all
things"
w
are in the Bible, the precept of charity.
What has that to do with me? Nothing.
heard the words in my dreams some
where. A white faced man said them, .
white faced man with pure eyes. To met
No, no; not to me. To girl it was-an
ignorant, innocent girl, and she accepted
them as an eternal, unqualified law. Let
her bear but half that have borne; let
her endure but one-tenth of what have
endured, and then, il she dare. Let her
speak in Judgment against me.
Softly now. / must draw tho heavy
coverings away and bare his breast to the
stroke-the stroke that shall free me.
know we'll where to plant it. l have
learned that from the old lady's Italian.
! Did he guess why 1 questioned him so
closely of tho surest, strightest road to q
mans heart? No matter. He cannot
hinder me now. Gently. All, have dis
turbed him. He moves, mutters in his
sleep, throws out his arm. Down, down,
crouching behind the curtain. Heavensl
If he wakes and sees me, he will kin me.
No. Alas, if only he would! would kiss
the hand that he struck me with, but he
is too cruel for that. He will imagine
some new and more bellish torture to pun
ish mo with. But the knife! have got
that. He shall never touch me living
again. He is quieter now. hear his
breath, hoarse and heavy as wild beasts
painting. He draws it more evenly, more
deeply The danger is past. Thank God!
God What have to do with him? A
God of judgment Ha, hal He'll cannot
brighten me. 1t will not be worse than
earth Only he will be there too. Not
,ot xrif int IN, hl,
lowest circle of torment, but not with
him. There, his breast is bare now. Is
the knife sharp? Yes, and the blade is
strong enough. Now let me strike-my
self afterward il need be, but him first.
Is 1t the devil that prompts mes Then
the devil is my friend and the friend of
the world. No. God is God Of love. He
cannot wish such a man to live He made
him, but the devil spoiled him, and let the
devil have his handiwork back again. 1t
has served him long enough here and its
last service shall be to make N. a murder
ess. How the moonlight gleams from the
blade as my arm swings up and back!
With how close a grasp the rough hilt
draws my fingers round it. Now!
A murderessf
Wait moment. A moment may make
Wait.
has dragged its slime over my soul. Shall
his death poison it with q fouleS o0rrup-
tion stillY
MY own SOULS warden"
What was that?
Dream memories again.
Resist, thrive, endure"
L. CL.k AZ R1~
me? To creep back now to bed by his side
and to begin living again tomorrow the
life which l have lived today? No, no. l
cannot do it. Heaven cannot ask it of me.
And there is no other way. That or this;
this or that. Which shall it be? All, 1
have striven, God knows. / have endured
SO long that hoped even to do so to the
end. But today! Oh, the torment and
the outrage! Body and soul still bear the
stain of it. thought that my heart and
my pride were dead together. but he has
stung them again into aching, shameful
life. Yesterday I might have spared him
to save my own cold soul from sin, but
now it is cold no longer. 1t burns; it
burns, and the fire must be slaked.
Ave. will kill him and have done with
1t. Why should pause any longer? The
knife drags my hand back for the stroke.
Only the dream surrounds me. The pure
mans face is there, white, beseeching, and
Gods voice rings in my heart:
ITO him that overcometh.
But 1 cannot overcome. Evil has gov.
erned my life, and evil is stronger than I
am. What shall l do? What shall do'
God, if thou art stronger than evil, fight
for me.
The victory of the cross is ours
Yes, / know it. 1t is true; it is true.
But the knife? I cannot loose the knife
ii 1 would. How to wrench it from my
own hold? Thou God of victory, be with
me! Christ help me!
/ seize the blade with my left hand.
The two edged steel slides through my
grasp. A sharp pain in fingers and paJm
and theh-nOthing
''That is the room in which Hugh Mef-
vyn was murdered by his wife," Alan ex-
planned TO Evie on the following morning.
The subject is never mentioned. 1t is
closely connected with one intensely pain
full to our family, and besides If spoken OF
there would be Inconvenience arising
from the superstitious terrors of servants
and the natural dislike of guests TO sleep
in a room where such a thing had hap
pened.
Indeed i. was largely with the view Of
wiping out the last memory of the crimes
locality that my father renewed tbs in
terror of the room some 90 years ago. The
only tradition which has been adhered to
in connection with it is the one which
has now been violated in your person
the one which precludes any unmarried
woman from sleeping there Except for