Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-06-20
IN THE MIRAGE.

was waning, the sky was clear and opa-
lescent and the air was still. A man and
his young wife-a laughing girl-step-
i ped out on to the platform. They had
been married that morning. A servant
waiting ON the platform collected their
/ luggage, and they passed through the
/ dingy booking office. Outside, the sleek
carriage horses fretted impatiently. A
short drive took them to the lonely gray
house up on the hill among the pines.
Some hours later they sat together in
| paneled room overlooking the avenue.
On the walls of the room were the
1 things that great traveller and a great
sportsman brings back with him. 1t
had grown chilly and a fire had been lit
there. Wax candles burned in brass
sconces ON each side of the fireplace.
The girl was i'll white Gas she had been
that morning in the church). She lean
ed back in her chair, still smiling and
showing pretty white teeth. One hand
| played with ti.e pearls at her throat, a
| gesture showing the beautiful curves of
her bare arm. The man stood watching
her. He was middle aged, tall lean,
why and clean shaven. His face was
tanned His eyes were exceptionally
dark and striking. AS she looked down
at the tiger skin rug in front of the fire
she said:
Ibid you kill that?''
The man nodded.
eyes, killed it. -
'FYou never tell me enough" she
went ON, half jestingly, "about things
that you have done. What is the use of
being a traveller if one does not come
back laden with stories of wonderful
things?''
Zone tiger story the man replied,
sis generally very much like another. /"
"But there are other things she
said. ''Have you never been captured by
brigands, have you never been nearly
killed, or experimental with wonderful
drugs in Chinese dens or been dying Of
thirst or seen the mirage?'
He sat down in the chair facing her.
His expression was one of habitual mel
ancholy, just as hers was one Of con-
tinual light heartedness.
Eyes" he said, Il think 1 can lay
claim 10 all those things. have been
captured by brigands, have experiment.
led with hasheesh, have been practically
dead, have seen the mirage, and''-
He paused.
"Well?" she said eagerly.
Il have also, he said, "been in the
mirage"
'How can that be?'' she said. 81 was
taught about the mirage in my govern
ess days, all about the density of the
air and the temperature and SO on
Sometimes it is lakes of water, some
times it is city with houses and tenn
Piles and people, sometimes it is feath
ery palm trees, sometimes ships that
Bail across the sky, keel upward but it
5 never real. How could you be in
thing which practically does not exist?'
eve had been marching four days., r"
be said dreamily. 1.-The sun was awful
by day, but the nights were cold. 1t
was ON the morning of the fifth day that
hey turned ON me. They took what
here was and went off. l was left on
he sand for dead-indeed, for some
hours l must have been dead. -
$50 on, - said the girl, leaning for
ward now, watching him intently, no
onger smiling "How long ago was it?''
'Ten, dozen years ago-when you
we're bowling your hoop in Kensington
ardens. And most of the story is very
yearisome, but the fact is interesting
hat / was actually in the mirage. -
"What was it like?"
1T was city of ghosts. They moved
flently about the gray, ghostly streets
they wore the costumes of all ages and
III countries 1t hada weird and bizarre
fleet. When 1 first came to conscious
ess in the mirage, the first thing that
saw was a city man, silk hat, frock
pat, expanded waistcoat, all the same
ray tint, all shadowy. He was talking
18th the ghost of a beautiful Egyptian
oman. They spoke in whispers Ev
~ one spoke in whispers. -
s'Did any of them speak to your"
YES; hesitatingly at first, just as
rangers do among the living. They
I'D me that I was dead, that all these
ties of the mirage were cities of the
cad. They f1oated and drifted through
e air, settling down now and then on
le sand, as a bee might alight on a
Dwer, passing onward again through
ace when any living being approach
them. Every ship that is sunk sails
yain through the sky, manned by its
owned crew.
"You arc saying this seriously?' she
ked.
"Ouite. 1 know the scientific ex-