Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-01-08

t, voice that pulsed with feeling. Then
he repeated it:
t-Roxane, farewell, Death watts for me
This very night he claims me, dear,
And all my soul, bowed with the weight
OF love untold. feels him draw near"
How you read it, cried Roxane.
But Cyrano did not hear. He was read
ing with his heart, full of the stored
! love of years:
| Il die. never more shan watch
With wistful eyes the quiet grace
With which you move your hand 10 brush
Your little curls or touch your face
The purple deepened into black about
them. Roxane waited. Still he read
on:
II cry to YOU my dear, my sweet.
Not once has my heart swerved. my own
And am he who now-and then
Beyond the starS-is yours alone.
His voice rang out, triumphant, glo-
| rious. The letter rested in his hand.
RoXane touched him. 1t had come to
her like a great revelation
you read the letter you had never
seen, and look-it is too dark to see.''
'Roxane, he cried, with "a great
start.
For fifteen years you've played this
part. the kind old friend that comes to
laugh and chat All, blind that | was!
l should have known, l should have felt
your voice each time he spoke my
namei"
"Roxane." cried Cyrano again, past
all other speech.
Those words of fire and honey dew
all yours, all yours The voice that
thrilled my jasmine vine to me-yours,
yours! Your soul, your soul in every
thing!"
Indeed, indeed it is not so" pro-
tested he. 1T was your husband"
You loved mel" cried Roxane,
Il loved you not
''See how you falter!''
mo, no, my dear. 1 swear 1 never
loved you"
Your letters and your tears I've
worn above my heart--the letter every
word of which was yours"
But all the blood stains his"
why did you keep such silence?
Why?" begged Roxane.
Cyrano hesitated, and while she
looked to him for answer through the
gates there broke Ragueneau and LIE
Bret
"Madman!" cried LIE Bret "Ah.
madame, pardon me, but he has court
ed death by coming here"
"True!" laughed Cyrano. 81 forgot.
The chronicle was never finished.
Here is an item-'On Saturday at din
ner time the assassination of De Ber-
gerac.' Mark you my bandagesi'
He took his hat off, and for the first
time RoXane saw the bandaged head
! Half wild, she begged for enlighten-
ment
"All that I asked or hoped" said
| Cyrano, was but to die a heros death
- point upon my lip, point within
my heart And see! | am struck down
by footman from the rear. Mocked
even in death! There, Ragueneaul
Why weep you so? Come, come!
What is it you do now?"
Il trimmed the lights for Moliere's
stage" sobbed Ragueneau, but I'll
| do so no more; but yesterday he
brought on 'Scapln'-and whole
| scene was yours-the one beginning
Que diable allait-il faire.' All! How
| they laughed"
THAT was life," said Cyrano. ITO
be the one who prompted them and
whom they all forget. Roxane, do you
! recall the night when Christian talked
| to you beneath your balcony? All.
| WE'LL That was the story of my whole
! life there While l stood low deep in
the shadow, the others climbed to
| snatch the kiss of glory. IT'S justice,
and here upon my graves dim sill
approve it. Moliere's genius, Chris
I tian's beauty"
Down the chapel alleyway the sis
| ters, darkly seen through the after
glow, walked. The chapel bell rang.
SISTER," cried Roxane, starting to-
ward them.
Nay" pleaded Cyrano. do not go
| for any one. When you came back, |
should be gone. Listen. The organ
| plays."
Il love you," cried Roxane. Live,
live for mel"
Nay" smiled Cyrano sadly. I'm
fairy tales alone do the i'll starred grow
beautiful when at the end the lady