The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-06-04
HER SECRET.

mousse, Tor Its mistress lay sick unto
death. No longer was it the abode of
laughter, for tears had taken its place,
md real sorrow had usurpcd seeming
joy. Carriages still drove up, but it was
over the straw covered road they came,
and their occupants only tarried for in
Quiry
Tho mistress of the house lay sick I'M
to death, she who was so beautiful AID
so glad. Strange that she should be sum-
noncd when there were others, sorrow
marked and stricken in years, who wait
ed for the call and prayed it might come
quickly, yet waited and prayed in vain.
There were others, too, not old nor gray
before their time, who might have Slip
ped away into the unknown almost un-
noticed, while this woman had so many
tics to bind her to carth-hcr husband,
her child, her relations, her legion of
friends
twas hard slo should be called away
SO early from the rich banquet that lay
spread before her
Yet the angel Of death was expected.
His clnissarics had arrived and told of
his approach. which may not be staid-
nay, nor even long delayed.
The doctor, who knew too we'll the
signs of these fateful ENJOYS, shook his
head gravely in reply to the anxious
queries of those who loved her bcst-her
sisters, her mother, her husband-but
he gave no CLEAN of hope, for she lay in
deadly lctlargy from which it had
been impossible to rouse her. In vain
her mother spoke to her as she had done
i'll days long gone by, when she was vet
Il child. In vain her husband stood by
her side and took her hand and called
her by every endearnent she knew so
we'll In vain her child clutchcd her
breast and cried for her mother to look
ut her and talk to her again
Surely if it We're possible to bring her
back from the edge of the grave these
dear ones could do it. But there she lay,
stonily impassivc, with her great eyes
staring into space, cold and unheeding
as tho sphinx. She gave no sign of life,
and the hours fraught with hope sped
slowly on, and each one registered step
nearer the grave.
One by one they Withdrew from the
chamber of death, the husband being
tho last to obey the doctors orders, and
now mono was left in the room but the
physician and the nurSe-hcr old serv-
ant, the one upon whose knee sho had
climbed 20 years and more ago.
How slowly the hours passed for the
watchers, and yet surely they passed too
quickly-just so many hundred more
vibrations of the pendulum, just few
striklngs of the hour, and all would be
over for her so richly endowed with all
that should make life worth living.
The doctor never left her side He
sat there with his keen, observant eve
fixed upon her, ready to note any change,
but there she lay impassive, and the
watcher could scarcely SEQ that she
breathed
Her beauty seemed even more perfect
now than he had thought it.
Absolutely faultless was the chiselinp
of those clear cut features. Her dark
hair waved loosely around her Grecian
brow and trailed across her shoulders, q
fit setting for the marvellous whiteness of
her face. The great violet eyes-her
chief glory-wcre wide open, staring
with terrible fixity into nothingness, or
was it into the something beyond? Her
lips had lost their vivid color, but this
was scarcely fault; her hands were
outside the coverlct, white marble faint
ly marked with blue, her wedding ring
the one discordant note.
For long there had been no sound in
the room save the cracking of the fire
and the faint ticking of the clock
Suddenly the doctor bent eagerly for
ward Her lips moved. With cagerness
he listened. "Linley,' she scarcely
more than whispered Then all was 81
lence again.
Tho nurse rose hurricdly from her
chair by the fire. She had only heard u
sound.
The doctor raised his hand, and she re-
sumed her seat Long, long he waited,
hoping for another sound Of returning
consciousness, hut more came.
At last lie came over to the nurse.
did you hear herr
"What did she say, sir:'
Cone word only-'Linley.'
The nurse suppressed an involuntary
exclamation.
"What did it mean, rursc?''
But the woman only shook her head.
Strange, Euttercd the doctor. as
with knitted eyebrows he reflected and
strove to catch some clew. Then he re-
turned to the bedside. There she lay as
impasSlvc a> before.
"Linlcy Linlcy' he kept repeating.
"What did she nean:"
The nnrse made no reply, but sat
looking into the fire.
Nurse, tell me. D." he said at length,
''have you an idea what the mistress