Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-08-19

III hcr behalf, seeing, despite her efforts
at conccalmcnt, how love held back the
penGUi n Of her life until this man
should toe returned who had gone for an
indefinite period into place where men
were dying daily.
II dreamed of Won last night SAID
the distant lover III one Of his letters. Il
dreamed that the day we are hoping for
had come at last and that | was coming
down the pathway 10 meet you in the
woods. | found you there. of course,
and think you had grown more beauti-
full than ever. DO you wait in the
woodst"
Rachel's answer was this Il am al
ways III the woods, whether IN dreams
or i'll the body. You could not come
back, though it We're ever so secretly
and find me not waiting"
But there came a time when she bad
no need TO 90 down to the trysting place
since 1t was certain Eustace could not
come to meet her there. The bitter win
ter that killed so many had almost gone
from Cornwall, but in the Crmea its
grip was still unrelaxed Eustace had
long since ceased TO speak jeStingly of
the hardships suffered by himself and
his brother officers or Indignantly of
those that fell to the lot of the common
soldiers. But, though he took refuge IN
silence, careful lest he should arouse her
fears, the newspapers told her not Il lit
tie Of what he was suffering, and she
dreaded the news that any moment
might bring.
Some verses she had found in for
eign book were always in her mind:
All day, until the days end await
the message that is to come, and every
footstep speaks of death. Alright, sleep
less | say, What will the morrow
bringY and, in the morning, | think of
all the days to come and wonder wheth-
er this day will be cursed or another
But the days are silent, until the time
appointed. ! await the message that is
to come.
The letters came internationally, and
there was that III thom--rather of things
left vague than of things said-that
sent Rachel often TO the trysting place
up the valley. The spring came very
slowly, but the yellow primroses We're
out and amid green leaves the young
hyacinth had already faint tinge
of Blue, She spent hours in the very
place where she had sat with Eustaco
when they We're together for the last
time, and her heart followed her eyes
down the woodland pathway and across
the seas,
For at last there were no more let
tiers, and us these failed to arrive the
girl became every day more eager for
the newspapers, more terribly afraid to
open them because of the news they
might hold. Her father watched her
with a growing anxiety, and was for
ever seeking to allay her fears, while mt
the same time he was exceeding loath to
give them the support that recognition
Of their existence would have involved.
lie was himself seriously afraid for
Eustace. though there was no particular
reason why he should be more unfortu-
nate than his brothers. The old man
saw anxiety and fear We're telling on
his daughter; that from IA healthy wom-
an she had become within few days il
mere bundle of nerves. One morning
known afterward as the day when Eus-
tace got the wound that was to kill
him) she suddenly uttered a loud cry as
she sat at lunch with him, and il was
long before she revived from the faint
ing ii which Immediately ensued
From that hour Rachel's condition
became more and more a cause of solici-
tude. Her father was unhappy whenever
she was out Of his sight, and that was
frequently, for something drew her to
the trysting place among the woods and
early and late she would go down there
aud sit in the place where she had sat
with Eusrace, and where She had prom
iScd to await him whenever he should
be able to return. Some hint of the state
of affairs prevailing at the big house
had gone abroad among the impression
able people of the countryside and the
glade where she waited was held sacred
to her and scdulously avoided.
But at last CON the third day from
that of her faiDtiug fit and toward the
end of the atrornoon) she went down
returned. For a long time her father
suppressed his natural unrest, but pres
entity I've found that the servants were
oppressed, like himself, by m indefinite,
nervous dread. He determined to 20
down to the heart Of the woods and
bring Rachel home, One or two servants
accompanied him, bearing lanterns
\ thin mist had dullcd the sky and
hidden the stars They walked in ahso- |
lutte silence, and the night was like
huge empty house in which their foot
steps echoed.
Fear was upon them, and a sense of
something terrible impending made
them wayor betwixt cagerness to 20 for
ward and dread Of what they were TO
come upon. On the edge Of the wood !
lands the old man paused and cried
"Rachel! EIchclI'
4 dull echo was the only answer, and |
they moved on in the direction of tine |
glade. once again the old man raised |
his voice and called upon his daughter:
"Ruchel, Rachell'