The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-17
The Love of a Gargoyle.

ones. 1t is looked upon as a monstrosity,
a grotesque with which TO frighten child
| rem, fashioned in an ugly and foroidding
| form by a sculptor who had once held
high art ideals, but had failed in carrying
them out He would probably be a man
who had been dismally unsuccessful IN
counterfeiting representations of the hu
man form divine. and he had taken to
| carving gargoyles because they gave
| him an opportunity TO vent his spleen
| He parodied humanity in their construc-
| ton; he made them a hideous and hend-
] ish libel on mankind. This was not a full
| fllment of his early arr dreams-t was
| his latter-day nightmare.
| II was a morbid sculptor who carved
! the gargoyles on the parish church of
! Mitchell Hampton. he had taken peculiar
| pains with one that jutted over a corner
of the chancel wall. 1t was with a grim
satisfaction that he shaped its long,
| pointed ears, it's three google eyes. its
stumpy legs with web feet, its fiat nos
| trils, bumped shoulders, and cavernous,
gaping mouth. When he had finished he
dubbed it "Quintin,' leered at it. rubbed
| his hands, went home, and, within three
hours, died of an apoplexy. Success kill
ed him.
But he loved Ethel Halliday. 1t is true
| there were scores OF human beings who
| loved her, nor was Quintin the only IMAM
| innate thing that adored her. The white
| grayestones in the green graveyard glis-
] tened and cleaned when she approached.
| The lych-gate creaked eXcitedly as she
passed through its embrace, the cobble
walls of the church glinted and winked
at her, and the red-tiled roof blushed
when it saw her. The stones that she
trod under foot whispered their joys to
| each other, and sometimes, as she walk
ed, a little flint would fly a yard away
to tell it's tale TO some companion that 1t
| finally nestled against.
Quintin, the gargoyle, would peer over
the wall at her, his google eyes beaming
bigger and more than ever like gooseber-
| ries; and he would dearly have liked TO
| compress his gaping mouth into a smile.
And Ethel scarcely ever passed along
the gravel path that skirted the chancel
| wall without turning her blue eyes upon
! the gargoyle. AS a child she had shud
dered at it, but she grew up to notice it
and to look upon 1t as a friendly ac-
| qUaintance up there on the roof of the
| church. She was never too preoccupied
to find a moment in which to glance in
| friendly way at poor, grotesque Quintin.
and he began to wait for her coming with
all the ardor and fever of an affection
| that had been pent up for 300 years
Ethel was IS then, and there had scarce
| been a day since she ran along that had
not seen her give a quick look. and some
! times a smile, of recognition to Quintin.
He treasured up those glances, goodness
knows why, except 1t might be that he
was so much in love. And he actually
grew jealous.
1t CHANGED one summer evening that
| young Ralph Plumnler, the miller'S son,
was waiting a. the lych-gate at the time
| Quintin was expecting the coming Of his
| lady-love. When Ethel saw Ralph at the
| gate she flushed and AMI almost decided
| TO retrace her steps. But she overcame
her little attack of naidenly bashfunoss
and went along the path to meet him.
The young gentleman colored up and
went red, but he was man enough to be
decided, so he took up a position by her
side and marched away with her.
| Quintin, the gargoyle, saw this, and
would have gone green with jealousy had
! his constitution allowed him. He tried to
| gnash those dogs teeth that the sculptor
had given him. And all that night his
| three stone eyes stared up at the staring
stars in mute complaint.
| Il is extraordinary how frequently and
| regularly young people can meet if they
| have a mind to- Next day, and the next.
| Ralph met Ethel by the lych-gaIe. and
| day after day they left the grave stones
| behind them and wandered off hand in
I hand by the side Of the wheat and apple
| peoples. And poor Quintin's state was
| bad indeed.
Just at the fall of the leaf, Ethel and
Ralph fingered a little longer than usual
| at the verge of the old churchyard And
the poor, heartbroken, fearless garsoyle
saw the young mans arm steal around
the maiden's waist, and she was drawn
closer to him, and the swain showed her
pretty ring set with tiny garnets, and
! tenderly upon her finger, and then he
| kissed her and she kissed him.
That was what the gargoyle saw. A
! few weeks later he heard something. A
| couple of old crones, bent double with
| age, tottering, and leaning on their sticks,
passed along the path beneath him.
"These young folks be fules. a-dreamin'
| O. happiness in this world. Shes a white
and-red-faced lass, and ne a big, manly
| boy, but they'll ha their share O. trouble,
| though things do seem so bright for their
wedding"
"Ah. Ethel. be beautiful enough. and
Ralph he ibs a smart 'un, but they be a
couple oprecious fules. as ye be a-sayin'.
An when's it goin' to be?
| Come Sunday week, it'll be done and
gone. An, and the dinner and the nips'll
| be gone with it,
| And the old couple hobbied on.
| Poor Quintin! SO Ethel was to be mar
/ ried in fortnight. The gargoyle's stony
| body shook and shook again. The sgony
| of his straining eyes was intenser, and he
! yearned TO curse Ralph, humanity IA
| general, the skies and the sculptor who
I had fashioned him. But. most of all. he
longed to curse Ethel. the whilom dream
! of his lonely days and lonlier nights.
| The afternoon wore on to dusk and the
| twilight crept over the fields. The scar
| let peoples and the blue cornnowers turn
! ed black in the shades of evening, and
/ the stars came out and blinked at the
/ gargoyie up there on the corner Of the
/ ohancel.
! And the hinges of the Iych-gate creak-
/ ed. and a little lissom lass came through
and turned her face with smile towards
| Quintin. And he could see that It was
! the sweet, pretty face of Ethel, the face
/ that was soon TO be nightly piliowed side
/ by side with Ralph's
! And Ethers gaze was WITHDRAW from
! the gargoyR, and she came slowly along
/ the narrow path that Skirted the chancal
/ wall, and Quintin's poor heart seemed to
| be bursting within him and he strained
/ 10 be free and as the mortals are
/ And EtheTs steps had brought her just
| beneath QUintin. In another second she
I would have turned the corner.
! But at that momen the gargoyle toppiei
over
! They said that the poor sweet girl had
/ gone to join the bridegroom in heaven,
and that she who or earth was the lily