Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1895-09-12

gQutN En8 nave huBWU WIKI manner
OF man it was that she thus invited
10 kneei in the sanctuary However,
1 said no word OF objection. and she
babe me follow her. AS We left the
Don / asked:
as the countess welly'
.She seems so.'' returned Mere Mar
guerite: .'she follows her religious du-
ties with exactitude, and makes no
complaint Of fatigue"
We We're now crossing the great
hall. / ventured on another inquiry.
"She was a favOrite pupil OF yours,
I believer"
The nun turned her p~assioniess face
towards me with an air Of mild sur
prise and reproof.
II have no favorites," she answered
coldly. "Al the children educated
here share my attention and regard
equally"
l murmurec an apology, and added
with a forced smile:
You must pardon my apparent In
q~uisitiyeness, but as the futsre hus-
band Of the lady who was brought I'D
under your care, / am naturally Inter-
ested in all hat concerns her"
Again the searching yes of the relig-
ieuse surveyed me; she sighed slight
ly.
II am aware Of the connection be-
tween you," she said In rather a pain
ed tone. nina Romani belongs to
the world. and follows the ways OF
the world. OF course marriage is the
natural fulflment of most young girls
destinies; there are comparatively few
who are called out Of the ranks to
serve Christ. Therefore when Nina
married the estimahle Count Rnmani,
Of whom report spoke ever fayOrabiy,
we rejoiced greatly, feeling that her
future was safe in the hands Of a
gentle and wise protector. May his
soul rest in peacei But a second la
riage for her is what / did not expect,
and what l cannot in my conscience
approve. You see | speak frankly"
am honored that you do SO, ma
e." | said earnestly. feeling a GER
respect for this sternly cOmpos-
ed yet patient featured woman; yet
I though in general you may find many
reasonable objections TO it, a second
marriage is, i thirk, in the Countess
Romanis case almost necessary. She
is utterly without n protector-she is
very young, and how beautiful
The nuns eyes grew solemn and al
most mournful.
Such beauty is a curse" she an
swercd with emphasis; "a fata-a
fearful curse! AS a child ii made her
maynard. AS a woman II keeps her
maynard still. Enough OF this, Sig
nor" and she bowed her head; excuse
my plain speaking. Rest assured that
! wish you both happiness"
We had by this time reached the
door Of the chapel, through which the
sound of the pealing organ poured
forth in triumphal surges Of melody.
Mere Marguerite dipped her fingers
in the holy water, and signing herself
with the cross, pointed out a bench at
the back of the church as the one that
strangers were allowed TO occupy. /
seated myself and looked with a GER
tain Soothed admiration at the pictur-
esuue scene before me. There was the
sparkle of twinkling lights-the bloom
and fragrance OF flowers. There were
silent row of nuns blue-robed and
white yelled, kneeling and absorbed in
prayer. Behind these a little cluster
Of youthful agures in black, whose
dropped heads were entirely hidden in
wells of flowing white muslin. Be-
hind these again, M woman's slight
form arrayed in heavy mourning gar
ments; her veil was black. yet not so
thick but that / could perceive the
sheeny glitter of golden ~hair,-that
was my wife. / knew. Pious angel
how devoted she looked / smiled in
dreary scorn as l watched her: I
cursed her afresh in the name of the
man I had killed. And above ali, sur
rounded with the lustTe Of golden rays
and encrusted Jewels. the uncovered
Host shone serenely like the CLEAN
of the morning star. The stately ser
vice went on,-the organ music swept
through and through the church as
though it were a strong wind striving
to set itself free,-but amid Ii all | sat
as one in a dark dream, scarcely see
ing, scarcely hearing-inflexible and
cold as marble. The rich plaintiff
voice of one OF tie nuns in the choir
singing the Agnus Del, moved me to
a chill sort of wonder. "Qui TOLLS pee
cata mundi."- who takest away the
sins Of the world" No, no! there are
some sins that cannot be taken away
the sins of faithless women. the lit
tie" sins as they are called nova
days;-for we have grown very lem
lent IN some things, and very severe
in others. We will imprison the mis-
cradle wretch who steals five francs
from our pockets, but the cunning fe-
minnie thief who robs us of our pres
tige. our name and our honorable
standing among our fellow-men, es-
capes almost scot free; she cannot be
put in prison or sentenced to hard Ia
bor-not she, A pity IL is that Christ
did not leave us some injunction as
to what was to be done with s1ch
women-not the penitent MagdaleEc,
hut the creatures whose mouths ae
full of lies even when they pretend 10
p%ray-they who would be capable of
trying 10 tempt the priest who comes
TO receive their last confessions-they
who would V e act out a sham re-
pentance on their death beds In order
To look well. What can be done with
devils such as these? Much has been
said l~atterly of the wrongs perpetrat-
ed on ONE by men: will no one take
up the other side Of the question? We,
the stronger sex, are weak in this