The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1899-10-05

AaAANS SOA1SN41AlCS IElN Sl1E II 2
ike her-if only the nearest woman
could be invested with the spirit OF
the dearest one-then it would be easy
TO love as the Law says.
When l feel most positively that
Zohla is near me. l close my eyes
and press Lois hand over them. She
speaks To me. and the voice Is 10 I
nltas; but no. a lost soul cannot re-
observation-disclosures is a delusiye /
hope
must shake off this Iethargy. IN .
my abstraction l have lost the keys /
/ am fortunate, after retracing my
steps only half a block. 10 find them
lying where they fell. And here is
the house. II is imposing from the !
street. The facade is a counterpart +
CT the one --onita admired. 1t would /
te a coincidence if she came TO this
land of independence and erected an
establishment TO suit her fancy.
The interior decorations are COM
fortable-I am impressed with the
sensation that someone resides here
now. The staircase has the very rail-
ing We ordered for our new house in
Paris
Memory: why do you haunt me
thus? l wish to live in the present.
Help me to forget the past-do not
recall it continually.
A breakfast room. The breakfast
room to me, Am l dreaming L is
idle, foolish to be thus unnerved- I
am not in Paris. Soul of my soul.
surrender l am again in our lost
paradise.
Every room reminds me Of you.
dear, but where is yourself?
There must be an atelier-al artists
have them-and every woman of Paris
has the soul Of an artist. She may
trim her bonnet to perfection. or broI
a partridge to suit the fastidious cpl
cure; be her accomplishment what il
may, If she come from Paris. she is an
artist par excellence.
At last I reach her studio. Here
she painted the portrait OF myself-I-
was a pastel, one Of her best Here,
too, was finished the picture which
made her famous. How the critics
marveled that vanishing day" Idly
I watched the graceful strokes OF her
brush-tO live again through the dolce
far niente Of that season,
All Heaven, can she be hidden. a.
of old, by that screen? Alas. for
human hope! Here is the easel l made
for her-crude and unshapely-but she
! praised my attempt.
Why did that man wish to torture
me? why was l given the key 10 this
chamber OF memories What is this
number-here are words in Italian on
. the tag. They thought me ignorant
: OF their meaning-she spoke the
tongue with such musical cadence
This phrase Haunted house, sell al
any price"
Not haunted. kind friend; only KEEP
, in waiting for me.
She whispers. Search. you will find
;. me-"
I'll look around-she may be bidder
= in some dusty corner, laughing
through the cobwebs which cover her
]. seem pitifully unsuccessful. MOI
:. cher mon cher. appear before me
Then tease me as you will.
= never dreamed she would havI
4 carried this little escritoire. which
a gave her, to her new home. How
r covered with dust it is-somethin
! taps me on the head-what is it
Through a broken pane in the sky
p light a great tree pushes one of it
r inquiring branches. There are 10
{ of tiny green worms on it; they Wi
fall in here and die-be literal worm
of the dust-there is enough of II [
smother them. Why! here are a mum
Der of them on the top of the desk
they lie in regular rows. Maybe the
are dead. that is why they are
ouiet-but what funny shapes-the
form letters, and those letters az
vords-those words compose a SCI
tence,
In heaven; telephone"
What a queer illusion. Can it
meant for joke? Has some skept
killed and placed taem here? NJ
: they are alive. AMI changing the
Z positions. now. Perfectly motionles
thew say in silent eioquence:
Forgive you all-speak to mel"
Strength and reason seem leavir
me. | am growing very. very tire
will rest upon this couch she call'
memento of the harem. What swe
music-it comes through this lit
Golden case on the tabourette near II
l. bead-I'u listen A zephyr is WAITE
ed to me. past me through it. and on
Nv wings it bears words spoken in sol
nv est accents. Victor, Victor. say 20
no heart is still mine l have suffer
much. vet I love but you. my on
love, reply.
-as Thank heaven, Zonita! | "
ris clasp the little golden casket in 4
as hands, l can speak to her through
ne magic.