The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1896-05-11
4 MIDNIGHT MIRAGE.

was QOne, anu lne ClOtlieS lay HSatSN vi
the table in snowy piles still hot from
the iron. Ann Quinn drew a chair up to
the little kitchen window that over
looked the river and sat down with a
sigh of pain, for her back achcd. She
rested her chin in her hand and stared
through the faint tracery Of familiar OBJ
jects on the glass to the water beyond,
lying dark and glossy under the stars.
II wonder if Mis- Niles wants that
Clipped beef for breakfast,' thought
Ann Quinn, for she was both a cook and
a laundress. Guess I'll fry them cold
potatoes left from dinner, too" she con-
tinued, her eyes resting on a faraway
cluster Of electric lights that trembled
like a diamond pendant.
Presently, as she sat there, the red
rim Of the moon pushed itself up behind
some trees on the opposite shore. Ann
Quinn watched it rising, with a medita-
tive look. Its terrible red. Them lit
tie branches looks like they was drawn
on it with a pen. I wonder what that
black thing in the water is - she broke
Ou DIS u 1tSlcI Va 1uOOuAASue cAlppCu
across the river to where something
black and long bobbed stiffly in the cur
rent She shaded her eyes from the lamp
and pressed her face close to the glass.
Looks like a man." she muttered. As
she spoke the thing wheeled about and
began drifting in toward the stone
breakwater beneath the window. Slow
" it drew near, the little moon sparks
dancing in its wake. 1t 1oated into the
shadow, and she strained her eyes in
vain to follow it.
"Guess I'll go to bed" she said, Civ
ing one more look into the darkness.
She did not 60, though, for suddenly
she saw a lean hand thrust over the
breakwater, then another, and the next
moment the figure of a man crawled out
ON the stone below her.
Ann Quinn started back, her heart
pumping like a steam dredger, for she
heard the thick splash Of wet feet COM
ing up the steps, and she saw a face
pressed against the window that she had
Just quitted-a drawn face, yellow, pale
as the handkerchief knotted about its
throat.
LET me in, Ann QUINN" said the
lips, though she heard no voice. LET
me in"
She stood staring, her broad cheeks
whittier than the plates III the dresser be-
hind her, but she did not move. The
man waited a moment; then he pushed
up the sash and swung himself into the
room.
The lamp blinked and guttered in the
draft, and a door slammed. Ann Quinn
quivered from head to foot. The man
stood looking at her with famished eyes.
"A lifetime, a whole lifetime" ho
whispered at last, and his voice sound
ed cold and empty as the echo in a
vault.
go away!' cried Ann Quinn. And
take your wet hand off my ironing"
The man moved and stared at the
piles of clothes on the table.
did you do that?' he asked in a low
voice. And are you tired?"
Yes, l did it, and I am tired she
replied, stealing her way stealthily to,
ward the door.
AS she moved, her terror lent a new,
catlike grace to her awkward body. She
looked almost like another woman in
the swaying light-a woman with mar
row, wicked eyes and 1.-the motions.
The man stepped quickly before the door
and stood there, his clothes flooding the
black river water ON her clean floor.
And all this time you have worked,
while l have had more, a Thousand
times more, than l could use. And we
have lived near each other here in the
same city and never knew it," He GOV.
cred his face with his hands and groan,
ed. Our sin-what was it that We
should reap such lonely years in punish
ment?" Then he moved toward her, hi.
arms outstretched MY love, my lost
love! Give me M kiss, my first since
that other grave closed over u.s."
Ann Quinn gulped, and her hair rost
softly. If you touch me, I'll kill your
she said hoarsely, catching a knife NJ
from the shelf behind her. The mar
seemed not to hear her; he grasped hel
in his arms and crushed his mouth OF
hers, and his lips were wet and cold.
Ann Quinn leaped away from him ant
buried the great knife in his heart. 81,
looked into her terrified eyes, and
shadow fell ON his face.
See he said mournfully, "yo,
have stabbed me-again but this tim
it is to late.
She looked, and there was no bloc
gushing from that great slash-only tn
drip, drip Of the thick water. Then sh
covered her face and prayed, for she sa,
that the man was dead.
There was a long silence, broken b
the chime Of clock in the house benin
them. The man shivered. IAN, hou
more, dear God, only an hour more!
he pleaded, and he wrung his hand
crying hurriedly How can l say it al.
How can / make her understand 7" n
seized Ann Quinn's arm and shook he
fiercely.
Remember, woman! Try to remen
berl Have I forgotten? Have I not live
alone-waiting-and you never came:
She brushed her rough hand over b,
eyes, something stirred in her torpi