Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1897-05-23
AN UNSEEN SINGER.

was alone in the little seaside town.
the solace of work being denied me be-
cause of the illness that had brought
me there 10 seek for health. For a
year past had longed for a period OF
license such as was now mine to enjoy,
but the granting Of my desire had come
in such a fashion that it gave me not
the smallest pleasure. | was desper-
ately tired. and my nerves were in a
state that rendered all enjoyment i'm
possible I used TO lie late in the
mornings, for there was nothing to do
but wander idly on the promenade, and
the trivial pleasures Of the crowd veXed
me unutterably, because l could not
share in them.
| had been. perhaps, fortnight in
the place when | first saw the lady Of
whom | would tell you. Ii was only
for a moment as she drove past in the
company of an older woman, but that
moments sight was enough to fill my
thoughts until I saw her again upon
the morrow. She was beautiful be-
yond all words: I fancied she could
hardly have passed the age OF 20; and
speech and hearing had been denied
that remains while they are yet young
with some who are thus afflicted. She
looked upon the world with beautiful
bright eyes. and in spite of fate, was
we'll pleased TO be alive. But she was
talking with her fingers 10 the elderly
lady. her companion, in whose eyes as
they looked on the girl l saw an inf
mite pity expressed.
That pity instantly invaded my
heart though its object was gone out
of my sight within few seconds OF
her appearance; and, despite the fact
that I knew not so much as her name,
there was mixed with the pity a sense
of angry rebellion against the fates who
had thus wantonly afflicted her. wan
tonly robbing Of its value a generosity
that. through her, might otherwise have
gladdened the wide world. | could not
refrain from laughing at the emotions
so suddenly aroused in me. | might
have been her lover. and this inability
TO hear and speak was a calamity
quite newly fallen upon her.
On the next day, at about the same
hour. the carriage passed along the
length of the promenade. She was still
innocently glad to be alive, and content
10 accent her burden. It was with
gentle smile that she looked into the
pftving ewes of her companion, and |
could fancy that the messages she was
conveying with swift moving fingers
were humorous appreciations OF what
she saw around her.
Nv earlier questions had been adj
dressed to a quaint elderly waiter at
the botel-a man who had in some sort
made it his special task to see to my
well-being. and who was theme Arrest
approach to a friend I possessed within
a hundred miles of the place. II hap
pened that I was lunehing at the open
window one day when the carriage
passed. a little earlier than usual.
THAT is the lady Of whom | was
speaking" I said 10 him.
He looked out of the window with
o0uick interest. "A dear little maid,
if I NAV say so. Yes. and the girl is
deaf and dumb; she's talkin upon her
fingers. Well. 7 thought from what
YOU told me they must be strangers IN
these parts. and so they are. / don't
even know the horses nor the car
rage"
Thus passed a period Of several
DAYS. began to find myself vastly
better. and. with the growth Of energy.
to look forward pleasurably to the
time when I should return to my work
in London. had. on divers occasions,
set forth on foot and explored the coast
and the inland lanes for myself.
vent alone. but never felt the absence
of COMPANIONS. for my expeditions al
WAYS took place before or after the
hour at which she might beexpected
10 pass along the promenade. and so my
thoughts were always busy, whether
with anticipation or remembrance.
Never once did she fail me; never
urce did her afliction seem to mar
rha beautiful galety of her rJci II
apDeared that she saw and enjoyed
every little thing that could be seen;
nor was il altogether a young mans
vanity that made me wonder whether
she had noticed the fact that a certain
sallow individual was always idling on
the promenade at the hour when she
drove by.
I had come to understand the routine
of their daily outing. They were mani
testify living somewhere to the west OF
the town. Every day they went
through the inland lanes at the back Of
it until they were a mile or two to the
east. and then, descending seawards
drove home by the promenade and the
road that skirts thesea.
Some dozens or so cottages and
little pier stood at the margin of the
sea. Inland a few houses were seen
among the slope there was a little
space Of wild wood. and this, as I
looked across the flower garden hedge,
tempted me to rest. l climbed the in
tervening barrier and lay down in the
shelter OF a little oak tree. The sun
light flooded wealth of bracken. fox
gloves and golden harvest weed.
Law at ease. content to watch stray but