Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-05-12
of the Arikhalna


as il is 1t will be better not to know
Oh, nv God what shall / do.'' The
Survivors of the Arikhama, Where had
they been Years had gone by,
''Oh. this is folly-folly, Pull Your
self together Mary Stacey; pull Your
self together Nerve yourself. woman.
Don't he coward Face the worst:
know the worst. and get IL over. Any
thing il better than suspicious and the
paper Will tell YOU
So she took mp the paper with nerve
less, shaking fingers. smoothed it out
and lent her eyes upon it They refused
their office, Merciful nature spread
curtain between her palpitating heart,
her daZed brain and the cruel news
which the printed columns brought
She could Sc nothing
She shook herself together This is
foolish her heart said. ''lou are un-
nerved Mary Stacey. Rub Your eyes
hard, and don't be- Il coward. Read the
notice.
Slowly the printed words appeared
through the miSi-the merciful mist
FNIIN ~ OF 4l IN Al anu
then the paragraph went on 10 tell this
wundruus tale of the sea. How Il sailing
brig. under stress of weather had found
herself driven upon a rocky lslet IN the
( far Pacific 1t was not an unknown is
| land, but an uninhahited one. being too
| far ont of the ordinary track of vessels
and too small and poor in quality of
J l.. 1. 6
to settle there. The sailing vessel, find
ing herself driven very near. put in to
renew her stores of water and TO the
astunishment of the captain and crew,
discovered three men and a dog III pos
session of the island These We're the
/ captain and two of the crew of the i'll
fated steamship Arikhama. who after
drift ing about in an open boat for many
weeks and suffering unheard of priva-
tions, had found themselves tossed upon
! this faroff strand, which had been to
them 50 long living grave.
Captain Conway and the two seaanen
were the only three men out of nine
who had survived the hardships and pri-
vations of that long and terrible voyage
and the cruel life of isolation which fol-
lowed. Then came description of how
the rescued men had lived. Penguins
eggs. occasional fish and roots of vari-
ous kinds had formed their chief susie
nance The whole account ended with
details of how the three men had wept
/ like madmen on meeting their rescuers,
and the concluding sentences said
when we tell our readers that Cap
! tain Conway had only been married
few months when he set out ON the
Arikhama's last i'll fated voyage, it will
easily be understood that his anxiety tc
have news of his wife was overpower-
/ ing The captain and crew of the Live
/ ly Jeanne, however. We're not able to
satisfy him on this point, but they sail
ed the following day for Melbourne, and
I Captain Conway will set sail for home
> immediately on arrival at that port.
So she knew the worst, and worse
than the worst could not be. SO all her
new found happiness had fallen about
her ears like a house of cards All was
at an end.
She sat there, still holding the paper,
staring with wild eyes round the luxu-
rious room SO her happiness had all
come to an end. Her radiant life was
over. She who had been for three bless
ed years Alan Stacey's honored and de
voted wife must be outcast-outcastl
She repeated the word over and over
again to herself, as if to try by repeti-
, ton to din its meaning into her bewil
dered brain Could it he truel Yes.
That heading still stared at her-''Sur-
vivors of the Ariklram;i. She had read
, the account There was Edward Con-
WAYS maine Ii was all true -tco true
And up stairs, i'll and PROSTATE. lay the
man who had come TO be all the world
to her the man who had taken her
poor and alone as she was, and made
her the mistress of his heart and of his
home. And he WAS ignorant! She would
have to tell him to tell him that she
was not his wife to tell him that she
was the wife and not the widow of the
man who had bought her with a price,
who had outraged her who had struck
| her
( And be had told that story of how he
/ had been only few months married to
young wife She wondered bitterly
whether he had told them that he had
so far forgotten his marriage vows that
he had struck the young wife in those
early days of their marriage? Three
! years-three years-three wholly bless
ed Years without one sad thought, with
out one harsh word, without one regret;
three years of pure and unalloyed hap
piness. Well. she would always have
that TO look back to. Perhaps she ought
not TO gcunble or TO he surprised that
fate had been minded to tring her hap
plness to an end 1t was like the regis
tration Of Sunshine in London Some
people got little happiness filtered out
in dri5iets over long life Of great dull
ness. She had had three blessed years
of glory. and now the time would be all
gray, like London fog. She had regi-
tered three years of sunshine, and, like
poor London, she must put i'll the aver
age of mist and fog
She sat for some little time longer.
indeed until John came 10 clear the ta-
BILE Then. from some woman : instinct
of hiding the tragedy through which
she WAS passing. she rose and carried
the paper 10 the fire and stood there
reading all account of the fancy dress
ball givea by the lady mayore.s of Lon
lon-aye, and reading it attentiveiy
They had been present thereat Her
dress was described-her dress and