The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-09-10

vi was up w
she had left off. AS in sleep our last act
or idea is apt to recur in dreamland, so
her mind went back to her husbands
bitter words.
That morning he had told her the
gods had punished him for marrying be-
low his station by putting gossip on the
tongues of those who saw her as she
was. And she. who had only been
thoughtless and done that which her
heart prompted. had replied in anger.
He had left her with curse on his lips.
while she sat still and silent. thinking
that life was wrong and happiness all a
mockery.
II would that he were dead" she
thought, but, startled that her mind had
dared to form it, she crouched deep in
her chair and held her hands tight
clasped before her eyes. Then, gaining
courage, and remembering his curse,
she repeated the thought, and wept that
he had ever lived.
Slowly and uncertainty she arose and
walked to her desk on the other side of
the room. Almost mechanically she
took up her pen, and without knowing
the words it fashioned she wrote:
"Your curse and your memory are
alike to me. The evil l have done you
does not compare with what you have
visited on me. go to join one whose
life may be as you say, but whose heart
is still true and pure"
The brown eyes were fearless and
dull and the hand was firm that folded
the note, placed it in an envelope and
addressed it. The determination to go
and be done with everything that had
been her life was on her and her heart
beat madly at the thought of freedom.
She went from room to room, gather
ing few necessary articles of wearing
apparel. For a moment she stood be-
fore the hall rack, pinning on her hat,
and debating which gloves she should
select. With womanly instinct she ar
ranged her desk neatly, and placing the
note she had written in a conspicuous
place she walked firmly toward the
door.
Without one look backward, without
enc thought of the home she was leav-
ing, of the friends she was never to
know again. she passed through the
portal and out into the night.
For moment after reaching the
veranda she paused. She did not care
for the rain, and yet she realized that
she should not venture out in such q
storm. She would not return for the
other covering and walked quickly
down the few steps and reached the
gravel walk.
Then she stopped. The click of the
iron gate and the sound of voices
reached her ears. People were coming
to the house and she knew she ought
not be observed leaving at such time.
Quickly she turned and secreted herself
in the shrubbery that guarded the walk
from the lawn.
The noise of approaching footsteps
grew louder, and she peered anxiously
through the darkness. The idea struck
her that it was strange her husband
should have brought home friends in
such storm. Then she laughed, for she
thought how funny it would be for the
friends when he read her note before
them. Indeed, the DEVILS mood was on
her.
Now the party were almost upon her
and still she could not see. A sudden
flash of lightning and her gaze fell upon
four men, who bore between them what
o0Daorad m ha n baouv lnod Tho srlo ra
showed her the presence of large
number of people near the gate.
"She may be there where the light is"
voice was saying. my God, who will
break it to her?"
They paused and she crouched lower
in the shrubbery. The rain beat pitt
lessly upon her already drenched and
shivering form. A thorny branch tore
her cheek and drew the blood, but she
needed it not. Her senses were as numb
as her body, and she did not realize what
it all meant. She wondered vaguely
if she was needed, but her one thought
was to get away unnoticed.
Another voice came through the dark
ness and downpour. The speaker was
so close that she was startled and the
shock almost brought her back to self.
He had just fallen when reached
him. We would better carry him in"
Slowly they moved forward, and, i'm
PEELED by something she knew not
what, she rose and followed. The rain
fall drowned the sound of her foot
steps and she reached the veranda
UNDECIDED just as they deposited their
burden under the shelter. One of the
party stepped forward to open the door.
It was not locked and yielded to his pres
sure.
A broad sheath of light fell upon the
strange scene and lit up the still re-
Ginning mass on the floor. One of the
men turned, and, seeing her, respect
fully removed his dripping hat. She
did not recognize him, and her eyes
swept slowly over the others without
discovering a familiar face.
No one spoke and this seemed strange
to her. With painfully unwilling steps
she moved to the burden the men had
laid down and knelt before it. She did
not want to kneel there and wondered
strangely what the visitors would think
of her. With the movements of an au-
tomaton she lifted the cloth and looked
down upon a face that gazed back at
her unrecognizingly. A dark-red streak