Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-01-16

luu BukQCus
A man was cutting the grass, and the
hall door stood open.
The servant who answered his ring
drew back the poftiere before the little
drawing room where the sunshine filter
ed in through a simmer of pale silk.
He waited fully half an hour for her
coming, a blur making everything in
distinct before him. Just behind him a
little clock struck the half hour after o,
the silvery, threadlike notes stirring
him with painful sense Of uneasiness.
He had not counted on this delay.
The train that would carry him to the
boat in time to keep his appointment
with Mark left shortly after 10. Why
did she not come? Surely such an early
visit must augur something important.
How cold his hands were! A feeling
Of deathly sickness rushed over him a
horrible, nervous something kept rising
| in his throat.
He had reached the front windows in
his restless pacing when he heard a
sound, and turning saw Marian. At
sight Of the living face his tenderest
memory of her paled.
In her passage through the room she
crossed mirrors face and touched it
with coloS Her plain muslin gown of
delicate blue and loosely braided hair
| gave hor an enchanting look Of youth
and abandon. Her eyes were still warm
from her dreams. Her face glowed. She
had parted with regret and now reck-
lessly held out her hands to love, cost
what it might. The whole woman had
\ awakened; her happiness followed her
like melody, and she was adorable as
the bunch of wild flowers in her girdle.
But Hugh did not move to meet her.
By an effort unspeakably hard he con-
quered the quivering of his pulses, the
rush of yearning transfxing and chok-
ing him. His arms remained stoically
folded ON his breast his lips were ashen.
How long does it take woman to
read the face of the man she 1'ves, and
read it unerringly? A momehE No, not
SO long. A glance? Scarcely that.
1t was two days since she had seen
Hugh In the interval she had waved
aside penitence and was again the mon
daine who lived but in the moment.
Once the desire for good was taken from
her, she made no struggle, and forgot
everything in abandoned, stormy rev.
cries Of her love. For this was love in
deed. It had opened nsw life to her.
She looked ON transfgured world. Il
was to be the whole ecstatic giving O.
herself without a thought as to the right
or wrong of it. If it were called sin,
then he was worth the SHINING. Passion
and reverence were in this feeling-the
most vital she had ever experienced.
The night before she had dreamed of
Hugh. 1t had seemed that all but they
two had died and the vacant world was
theirs only. Oh, the delight that had
wrapped them about as they stood look
ing over an unknown sea of bewilder-
ing vastness into the crimson clotted
clouds of an unearthly sunset, with not
sail on the desert Of waters, not a
sound but the harmonies of nature-they
two the only living things beneath the
sky. In that dream she had felt his
heart bounding against hers, had been
thrilled az dazzled under the passion
| glittering in his eyes, as their signing
lips met in close, breathless kiss.
| Then she awoke to the emptiness Of
the room.
She did not know whether Hugh were
still away or if he had returned during
the night. She did not know where he
had gone, but she knew of a surety that
her world must be where he was; that
without him life now had nothing tc
offer her.
She lay on her bed filed with these
thoughts, her dreaming eyes looking
beyond the confines of the room, seeing
nothing but the shadowy memory of his
face, when the sound Of the gate closing
had made her spring mp, her cheeks
suddenly rnddy as the heart Of a rose,
and hurry to the window.
He was coming up the path to hel
door.
Yes; he had come back. After re-
morse of which she was now incapable
after unsuccessfully fighting his heart
he had sought her again.
Her fingers trembled as she hurriedly
dressed. The blood throbbed in her lips
She was tingling with excitement and
happiness She pictured their meeting
his savage tenderness, his admission o.
defeat because his eternal love was tot
strong to be mastered or limited by th,
considerations of the hour. It would bt
a sweet moment when she heard thil
from his lips.
And the future-their future. Oh
it was indefinite, delicious What mat
tered it how they spent it or where, 81
that they We're together? Had he no
, said sof
Hugh was poor. She was rich. Tha
he would not use penny of her wealth
for himself she we'll knew And sh,
laughed in feyerish, exultant way al
she pinned the starry flowers in her belt
thinking how sweet it would be to g
away from this place where they wer,
known and live with him even in small
close rooms-work for him, with him
too--and be his helpmeet truly as wo
man with brain and imagination only
could.
So she had dreamed until she stoot
before him, and in the twinkling Of al
,, eye had understood all that his pale, un
yielding face and altered attitude i'm
piled. He had come back. Yes, but moi
as she had fancied. He was the maste,
, where she had looked for the slave How
fortified, how secure he wasi That hi
had suffered was evident, but in the
glory Of his eyes she read an aspiration
. almost divine that lifted him beyont
her.
For moment she stood rigid, fasci
mated, dumb, but only for a moment
ere che threw out her arms to him with