Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-12-06

shodow,~where, unobserved, he could see
her movements He saw her tear up
the photograph and get the dagger,
which for a few moments paralized him
with amazement.
Arthur returned to his room, lighted a
cigar, sat down by the window and gave
himself to reflection. 1t was a beauti-
full night, the harvest moon was shining
high in the blue vaulted dome of heaven,
her rays Silvering the glossy leaves Of the
magnolia falling on the dew-steeped grass
making it one scintilatng mass of pearls
and opals. The perfume of the honey
suckle and jessamine mingled with the
rich fragrance of the rose. In willow
that stood at the corner of the veranda
a hooking bird was sweetly thrilling. A
katy-did was singing down by the gate in
a cluster of shrubbery where in between
the dark green leaves fireflies flashed
To his right above the dense shadows of
the trees could be seen the ivy crowned
bedfry OF the church, where in the church
yard under tangled grasses lay slumber-
ing many of his kin. On his left the lawn
sloped down to the tower-shaped stone
springhouse that was shaded by thick
cluster of elms and naples. In the dark
ness of the overlapping branches on a
limb of an elm, an owl sat patiently wall
ing for the moon to go down. In front
of him across the turnpike was the negro
quarters with it's two rows of log cabins
a reminder of ante-bellum days, from
whence song foated out on the dewy
incense breathing air of that midsummer
night ever to be remembered by him. An
old negro woman was singing there in
the dead Of night one of those sad refrains
pertaining to her race, which seemed to
have grown out of rapture so akin to
pain that one never knows whether to
be glad or sorrowful when they strike
the ear.
Her intonations were that peculiar to
her race, 1t hoated. out and up into the
h1Ia of M it -ce "a If the great
sturdy oaks ard tail poplars were hold
ing their breath to listen. Arthur heard
it and it made his heart sad, it was al
ready knawed by a bitter pain. He felt so
| lonely and uncared for The hall was
grand old brick building with its YER
andas and colorado porticos and he dear
ly loved it, 1t hurt him to see the de-
vastation time had made on 1T, which
showed plainly in the moonlight despite
the roses and ivy that chung to its walls.
His family had been a rich and prosper
out one once. but that was before the
war so long ago that the mist of obscur-
ity seemed to have swallowed up all but
its memory The women of his fam
lily were gifted with beauty and spirit, the
mon We're handsome and chivalrous, gem
tlemen of the old school. The war freed
their slaves and since then ill-fortune
had logged their footsteps like an aveng-
ing fate. Whatever enterprise they at
tempted turned out wretched failures.
for the benefit of their fallen estate, only
left them deeper in debt. But Arthur.
when he became of age and took control
of the hall might have saved himself
great deal of pecuniary embarrassment
and host of minor mortificatiorS, had
he been contented to have lived the life
of an ordinary farmer, but a European
education had untitled him for such a
plain unostsrtatious life. He preferred
to spend his money in new ventures and
l.; t. rn1li lie
a great many southern people, went
abroad after the war to educate thsir
children. The schools in the south We're
impaired and their feelings toward the
north were too bitter to send them there,
On coming of age after spending awhile
at Oxford Arthur left his mother and
sisters in France. his father having died
there and returned to the land of his
birth-the home of his boyhoodw. But
he was to certain exten an alien IN
his own land. In those institutions of
learning in the old world, it is impossi-
blbe not to imbibe the ideas and preju-
dices of the aristocracy which are dis
tasteful to every true American. 1t had
untitled him for the plain duties of a
farmer and by not having kept up with
the shifting views OF American politics,
he found himself unable to cope with
the controversies of the times
So, when his first disappointment in
love came, he sailed across the sea to
WANDER d1nlQ tNe ClllGS anu uluS VI LII
eign lands. The seductive beauty of the
night and the song of the old negress had
aroused in him memories of by-gone
days. Around the broad fields and wal
nut-crowned hills that stood outlined in
the dim distance against the clear blue
sky, clustered recollections the fondest
and dearest. But through the mist or
gathering tears broad waste stretched
out before him, strewn with the wrecks
of grand possibilities and many oppor-
tunites, and their phantom forms came
rushing like sea tides into his mind, hll-
ing his heart with sorrow and desolation
until he felt a craving FOR love and ten
derness, a longing for the good and true.
Men make the laws that bind women,
and they make them TO suit their own
conveniences, yet there are many men
with loving hearts yearning for affection
whose doom is to pass the best part OF
their lives lonely and uncontrolled. They
have loved once, for the goblet of life Is
held to each lip, each must drink as 1t
passes Deeply or slightly, all must
drink of that cup, and they who have
not loved have not lived. But there IS
no more cruel pain than to love with all
the passion and tenderness of which your
heart Is capable, and feel you have given
your love unworthily, to think the one
you thought true and kind, mean and
selfish. Arthur had loved once, but as he
thought unworthily. He did not know
1t was Florence, who during season
at Old Point Comfort four years ago,
where he had followed the woman he
loved with all the passionate depth of
his strong manhood-had intercepted
note of his to her and with an Unborn
feeling of self-love, watched them drift
apart; she into anothers love he to for
eign lands with a4bitter feeling toward
her sex. 1t was left for Leonie, with
her blue eyes and fair hair, to reclaim
him, who. was at that hour sleeping the
sleep of the innocent, dreaming of her
handsome, dark-eyed lover who was
coming to WOO her with soft, tender
words and passionate kisses.
The moon had passed over and was
hanging low in the west not cloud
swept across the pale, pure stars gleam-
ing beyond in the blue heavens; rot
murmur stirred the leaves on the trees;
the night was still the sweet silence was
unbroken. the old negro woman having
long finished her Gregorian chant, save
by the low note Of a bird stirring dreams
lily in its nest, when Arthur threw tho
stub of his cigar out of the window and
retired for a few hours sleep, with an
uneasy feeling about Leone. He could
not but think that the tearing UP Of the
nh NJ nj nd the taking nf the dig p I