The age-herald., 1899-08-06
THE MURMUR
 OF THE WORLD

1 VI H. W O1NLD 1 There was song at twilight. and the
 shadows softly fell. The song did not
 come from her; it fioated inSupon the view
 less wind from somewhere, 1t mattered not | whence. Just song, a greeting to the l deepening shades of the night; just a song l to move a woman and thrill the heart of a | man. Somebody loved somebody, the story
 of the music ran, as it runs its way around
 the green globe, that makes its notes in the
 music of the spheres. They two were silent.
 He reflected somewhat bitterly that in ev- l cry instance in a mans life a womans 1 face was radiant with interest. The vines | that clambered up the piazza cast deep l green dark shadows. In these shadows she | lounged restvey. She looked out upon the | gathering blackness, and listened istlessly | to the notes of a mock-bird moved by some | strange impulse to sing in the gloom. She shifted her position with apparent uneasi-
 ness, seeming not to know what to do.
 She saw him not but in the soft shadows
 she heard the beating of his heart. Timo
 she ceased to measure by the clock; she could count it by heart-throbs-the only
 way known to woman by which any time
 can be properly accounted.
 She shifted her place uneasily. he having | ceased to plead. The vines rustled as if | some spirit stirred them; the song had ceased; the mock-bird was silent. The sharp strident chirping of a cricket and beetles call to beetle alone broke the still
 ness of the outer darkness of the deepened shadows. At the moment of supreme ten sion tha pl0u0e that hp eli rt- ed and the moonbeams fell in a glorious
 light upon that wondrous figure of the wo-
 man, languorousiy loving and loving lan- guorousy. She reclined almost outstretch-
 ed there, the beautifulest realization of
 mans mad dream of beautiful women ever yet known by any love-mad man upon this planet as 1t rolls with the dust of a thou | sand vanished races, She lay there, tho heiress of all the ages known of God. About that incomparable Penelope clung the gos- | samer garments of the southern suntime | of seductive and seducing heat. Around | that Hebe's form were loosely gathered the | draperies that did but half conceal outlines | that even Ixon would have turned from Jupiter's queen to gaze upon. No-not that She was only a Psyche with her l lamp forever held aloft. No Juno she Penelope, Psyche, Parthenia-all these in one-she rested there where the moonbeams played, the vines rusted and a mans heart was wildly beating. Had some Ingomar
 wandered there he must have fallen to his knees and worshped. She knew the effect she realized that she had wrought the spell that could be wrought alone by an incomparably exquisite woman upon re- fined brute of man, monster of passion tanned by breeding and culture No word was spoken for space. He looked at her hungrily. She looked through the unspeak- ing vines to the unspeaking stars and the moon that responded not. Her 1.-the limbs
 were limned in the moons golden glow. She crossed herself, and one little foot dan gled, black-covered from the white drapery of the maiden.
 Her feet beneath her petticoat,
 Like little mice, peeped in out
 As if they feared the light
 He thought of Stockings lines to the bride, and asked himself if it were possible she could ever be his. To that question his
 soul gave dumb answer Under his gaze felt through the gloom outside the line of the moonbeams' fall, she moved uneasily Then it was she appeared the most radl- ant woman who ever led man to glory or the devil since woman began to lead man in the world. Her lustrous eyes were shaded the mass of hair was turned amber by the moons magic, the thin proud lips quivered the thin proud nostrils expanded the lssome figure, so divine in its light clinging draperies, shook as If some storm
 ragged under the heaving bosom of snow. 1mpulsvely, this shapeliest, beautifuest,
 most divine of all women known of man, threw her arms upward and rested hee
 white hands upon the proudly poised head Her arms were made bare, divinely uncon-
 cealed. Her left foot was raised to the rail- ing, where the vines grew The mockbird
 sang rollickingly in tree hard by, some
 beetles of the night rustled the leaves, a freiy glowed in the darkness; far off a bell sounded across the mountainside. She was langourous, silent. stirred by mighty spirit. As for him his senses reeled. He arose to his feet staggered-was mad. To his last cry of the moving why she gave
 no answer. He knelt beside her in blind
 impulsiveness, and spoke no word The in-
 cense of proud purity arose from her and
 filled his soul with longing unspeakable.
 Slowly, reluctantly the fair hands were un-
 clasped above her head. She was tenderiy
 calm. One hand she rested upon his
 shoulder, and she said with infinite teHder-
 ness: ''Thou shalt lead me-
 The beetles of the night were left to drone
 their own tales in the vines that grew h
 the night.
 THE MURMURER. ANOTHER COUNTY RESPONDS