Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-05-06
H..

THAT night-he saw Frank no more.
for he had stayed to dine with Sir Ar
chibald R~hodes-that night Van Maer-
en- could not sleep; the widest fancics
kept him wide awake. Illusions and
schemes whirled through his feyercd
brain; strange voices buzzed in his
ears, kissing like az angry sea. lie
saw himself sitting with Eva, In a cab.
passing through the gloomiest and
foulest parts OF London. Squalia tig-
ures stood in their way and came close
to Eva. lie laughed as he saw her
dragged away by men with brutal
faces, and then come back to him with
her clothes torn. sobbing because she
had been insulted. A fearful headache
hammered in his brain, ana he groaned
with a painful effort TO control the
wild etravagance of his fancy. tie got
up, rubbing his eyes, as If TO drive
away the melodramatic vision, and
wrapped his burning head ia n wet,
cold towel. He in~voluntarily looked in
the glass, and, in the subdued giimmer
OF the nightlight, his face stared back
at him as pale as death, drawn and
haggard, with hollow, sunken eyes and
gaping mouth. His heart beat violent
iy, as IL it We're rising into his thoat,
and he pressed IL down with both
hands. After drinking n glass OF wa
ter he lay down again, forcing himself
TO he calm. Subtler fancies low crowd
ed his mind. like fine threads of gold
athwart and acrosss-w webs mingled in
Il ike an inextricable tangte OF
lace: and his imagination worked out
the intricacies of weariful i~ntrigues, as
though he We're q poet who, during a
night OF lucid sleeplessness, constructs
a drama, and, not content with its plot,
goes through it again and again, to
master the great conception III his
mind before writing ii out.
Now he saw therorgies of 4 past day
repeating themselves in The sitting
ROOM. He saw the Skating-rink, and
Frank and himself drinking cham
payne, and laughing and singing. But
suddenly the door opened, aud Sir AR
chib.ld came in with Eva on his arm. |
Sir Archibald cursed Frank with tre-
mendous words and vehement gestures.
and Frank hung his head; but Eva |
threw herself between them. with
words Of anguish and imploring hands.
And it was all the last scene OF the
fourth act or an oTera. The singing in
his ears, and the dreadful thFobbing |
in his aching head were like the thun-
der Of a full orchestra, excited to the
utmost by the beat OF an energetic con
ductor, ana the loud, strindent crash
of hrass Instruments.
BERTHE Moaned and tossed from side
to side, compelling himself to picture
less violent scenes. Now II was like a
modern comedy. Eva, at his sugges
ton, was suspiciously watching Annie, |
the maid and housekeeper at White
Rose Cottage. Eva was jealous, and
then a grand catastTophe-Eva finding
Annie In Franks arms!
Sick with thinking, bewildered by his
own imaginings, he drove away the
vision. Exhaustion Overcame
him; his frenzy was worn out, though
head was still burning, throt,bing,
bursting; although acute pain shot
through his brain, from his brows to
his neck, as II he were being scalped;
although the blood In his temples
f~uriously in his veins, with
torture. And In the immedi
ate torment Of physical suffering, his
pride, which was to defy fatality, col
like a tower crumbaing into ru-
ms. His imagination became vacancy;