The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-01-08

and tbe man mumDitng TO himself
could have laughed out loud from very
rage, for Ugo seemed TO be mesmerized to
the spot, bathed In the crimson light from
the setting sun, with look In his eyes
that was not his look OF one enthrallod
by evil. Far below the river seemed o
way Of blood and the forest trees black
and immutable. The idea of blood en-
tered my soul, and with 1t q terrible
thought l shivered and closed the case
ment, then hastenod away to escape from
the grewsome notion that seemed to pur-
sue me and take possession of my will.
had done it. The awful idea had re-
turned to me.
In the late evening stole through the
dark corridor to her room, and all the way
laughed to myself, for the strange mad
moss so possessed me that had neither
fear nor horror Then l crept away down
the stairs and out into the open by the
flowing river. There, as the cool air fan
ned my feverish face, / thought II have
done right She was an evil, horrible thing
who would harm lis. But, Ugo! What
will ho think? Still, " said aloud, II am
gladl am gladp'
"Why are you glad?"
turned round with little cry as Ugo
came out of the darkness and joined me.
II could not rest" he went on quite
naturally, $50 | came out here. did not
expect to find you" he continued, with no
warmth in his tone, adding; "Those peo-
pie got on my mind. felt an irresistible
desire to go and smother that brute-kill
him wish | had But somehow hadn't
the courage"
"Ugol'
"What Is it," he said.
~ have done it,. F."
"What?"
II have killed her."
"You are madr
II have killed her." repeated.
Heremained silent, pale to the lips, then
said hurriedly, "No one can possibly know
you did it9"
"No-unless
"Unlessf"
"He-he should divine"
"But he must die tooI' He sprang away
from my side, bitten by my madness
Don't you see" he said, looking oddly,
"such people must not exist. They are hor-
rible, venomous worms. They are not hui
man. They have the evil eye. They poison
the earth"
I followed slowly, possessed by q strange
calm. OF course 1t was quite right. The
world must be rid of such extraneous be-
ings. We cleansed our houses of all vile
accumulations, we swept our streets and
burned every useless thing, killed nauseous
insects and treacherous animals, extermi-
mating all that was loathsome. Why did we
stop at human vermin, and not purify the
world, too, of such defllement9 Then sud-
denly stood still. Ugo, few yards be-
fore me, was rooted to the ground, and
passing near were those other people. Yes,
shel had failed, then My stabs meant
nothing. She could not be killed. Ugo,
too had failed The blood In my veins
turned cold with horror, and, like him, 1
could not move from where stood.
At last he came up to me as one in
dream and said: ave cannot kill theml
Look They are some evil spirits, Little
one, he murmured tenderly, "come away
Come away from here. 1t is a poisoned
place. They may live forever, but they
shall not separate us. We were In their
thraldom. Was 1t dreamp Ugo's arms
were round me. II love youl love you'll"
uo odluI HuN6 Dteh W teil yuu,
and they, they came between us; but we
do not care, do WEI You were so brave
drawer than I-for you did not hesitate.
But 1t was no use We could not kill
them"
Our arms were tightly entwined. Moth
ing in the world could come between us
now. Those grewsome people were but
pygmies. What cared wep And we turned
with laugh toward them. Then we saw
what was indeed stranger than anything
that had yet happened at the old castle, for
there under our very eyes they changed, |
and she became oven rs l was, tall and |
fair, and he as Ugo, brave and beautiful,
till at last ID seemed that they were we
and we were they. Then, as the pale moon
cleaned from out the clouds and threw |
food Of light across our path, we found |
that we were alone.
"It is not truep' l murmured. II may |
have been like that, but not you" He |
oolored to his eyebrows 1.-THE portrait Of |
me was doubtless excellent, said he. 1.-THE |
other, Of course, was preposterous cal
umny."
But don't think either of us cared very |
much, for we knew that as long as our
hearts beat near one another's those other
people could not find way to come be-
tween us. And In very truth they were
seen no more at MONTENEGRO. Westminster
Budget