The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1895-09-05

I gathered about the city. and tried to
hush it all in vain. She dreaded the
falling of night as children dread the
| grave. ~.
| How she had hated him. -
And then a golden thread twined
into the web Of her tangled young life.
| One, in the midst of the ignorant and
the careless, understood that she was
in the prison house of despair, and
stayed awhile outside the grating of
her cell to whisper of comfort. The
dew fell upon the poor, parched flow
er. and she opened her petals to re-
ceive it. But so secretly, so secretly.
Surely. no one else knew. Outside the
garden room, in the dark, he came
when all was quiet. The jailer was
away. He came, and he came again,
and he taught her to see the stars
through the grating of her cell, and he
told her of the rising Of the moon.
And when he came it seemed to her
that the nightingales We're always
singing.
And now the jailer had gone away
forever. The prison doors were open.
She stepped out into the starlight and
the moonlight. He lay dead in the
room below her. She had not seen
him dead. She must go down into
that silent place where he lay in ST.
lence. She thought only of him. Her
small face was very white as she
walked softly down the stairs. She
saw the merry notes dancing in the
clouds Of gold dust that the sun had
shed obliquely through the loaded lat
tees of the hall. and she turned her
eyes away from them and wished the
sun would go down. With the dark
ness. her strange cOnstraint of calm
might fade away. She longed to feel
more natural. She passed through the
door very quietly, and closed it behind
her and locked it. He had been lain
upon the wide couch where she sat
sometimes ut eventide alone. A white
covering shrouded the great form that
her girls flesh had shuddered at and
shrank from so often. A ray of dying
light Tinted where the head was.
When she drew back the covering, the
ray shone upon the gray, swollen face,
into which she gaZed for long while.
The upper lip was drawn back from
the strong, white teeth. The mouth
seemed to grin callously. She could
fancy that the flown soul of the dead
man was laughing somewhere, afar
off, and the body, which in life had so
often Obeyed the spirit. with the weak
ness of custom, still mechanically
bowed to it's will, still revealed out
Wardly that which was no longer pris-
Oned within. Yes. as she looked at
the mouth she felt that the dead
mans soul was laughing
She wondered why, and as she stood
wondering, over the smooth-shaved
lawn, past the sun-dial and the leap
ing silver of the fountain, one came to
the garden rOOm-the man who under
stood her and had striven to comfort
her
He did not know vet. He stole so
softly because he believed her husband
was living and not because he knew
he was dead
lie stood at the window and whis-
pered her name, and as he spoke a
rush Of joy swelled through her heart
she left the dead face uncovered and
crossed to him.
us he gomez" he asked.
''Ie is gone" she answered. "Kiss
me-
He caught her passionately and
pressed his lips to hers.
''How I love your he murmured.
GLOW l love your
AS he said the words she turned
round from him and looked back into
the slowly darkened room.
when will you give yourself to
me:' her lover whispered Il have
waited so long! Come, leave your
prison house. Let the jailer find tlyo
cell door open when he returns, the
prisoner escaped
A strange, horrible fancy seized her.
She thought she heard the dead man
laugh.
She answered him:
'"He will never return to find me-"
He held her closer to his heart.
"1ou have resolved to dare all, then;
to dare all for my sake?"
A wild triumph shone in her white
girls face, a wild triumph thrilled in
her sweet girls voice, as she replied:
1.-THE prison house has crumbled to
the dust. The prisoner is free"
He strained her yielding body in
his arms
"1ou mean that you will come that
you will leave him to long for you!
You will forsake him? I love your
But she shrank from him again and
trembled. She looked behind her into
that still, shadowy room. The warm
blood in her young body seemed to
freeze. Surely she heard the dead
man laugh again in the gathering
darkness!
you will leave him? You will
Gomez"
'There is no need" she said.
lie kept her in his arms His kisses
never left her face. He whispered:
"Why?'
"He is dead"
He loosened his arms from about
her. His mouth left hers.
She pointed backward into the room
which was now quite dark. 'He is
there, lying dead. And you love me,
and I am free.'
She lifted her face to his, and her
eyes were full of happy tears. But
he looked at her and muttered a curse
between his teeth. The love died from
his face and left it hard and wild
with impotent disappointment and de-
spair.
Then he turned away. He turned
away and went out into the twilight.
across the smOOth-shaved lawn. Dast