The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-12-29

-
ha! Mr.. Herbert, perhaps you are not
so grand a catch as you think you are.
There is skeleton in your closet ,eh?
and my name is not Marian Grey un-
less drag it to the light yet!''
CHAPTER VIII.
Beside the River.
In no very pleasant frame o. mind,
Herbert commenced his homeward
walk. He was vexed with himself,
vexed with Miss Marian, and. such is
loves inconsistency, vexed with un-
conscious Sybil. < 80
Why did she choose to set herself
apart from her sex? Why did she
make enemies and critics of, those
sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued beings, who
can forgive all things but superiority?
What was this veil Of mystery sur
rounding her that could make one so
sweet, and pure, and gentle, the object
of so much distrust? ea,2..y
All, LOve-immortal Love itself-is
not invulnerable to the shafts of NAL
ice! and Herbert, who, only few
hours before, had vowed to Sybil that
no shadow could ever darken the sun
shine in which her image dwelt, even
found himself questioning, fearing, nay,
even doubling. the woman who ruled
his heart! g.
Truly, Miss Marian knew how and
when to wound. .-.,-.
In his present uncomfortable mooi1,
Herbert felt no wish to return home.
He had no mind for Fannies gay bad
image, or his fathers more earnest con-
verse; he did not care to meet Lau-
renee or Fenton, who had asked him to
stop in the formers bachelor sanctum
until their arrival, when Fenton was to
concoct some remarkable beverage,
whose proportions were solemn myster-
les to the civilian world. = III, -.
So, striking into a by-path that led
through the grove, the heir Of Give
Towers proceeded to indulge his
gloomy meditations by a walk to the
river. -.
The road wound close to the shore,
and the quiet waters seemed to muir
muir their peaceful music at his very
feet.
The yelling mists, now illumined by
the light Of a queenly moon, foated
around him like transparent clouds,
and gave strange, unreal, dream-like
aspect to the familiar landscape. He
was in a world of vague fleeting shad-
ows; all about him was vapory and un-
certain. He could grasp, he could hold
nothing; and, like a weird echo from
|. some far-off shore he seemed again to
hear the melody Of Sybil's sunset song:
''Thou in the sunlight -
= And I in the shade;
Yet, ah. by the sunlight
The shadow is made!
Thine be the gladness
And mine be the gloom;
For love, though thy triumph, a.,
Is only my DOOM -
The memory of the sweet, sad face,
upturned to the rose-tinted sky-of the
wistful glance in the soft gray eyes
the tremulous pleading of the beautiful
lips-came back to Herbert with a
force that swept away all other feel.
ings by gush of noble tenderness.
My love, my love-my own sweet.
| sorrowful love - though the whole
world should turn against her, my
heart shall be faithful and true! my
love shall be her refuge, her safeguard,
her shelter! One CLEAN from her pure,
| sweet eyes-one faint smile from her
|
voices Of a thousand such frivolous,
worldly-mi critics as Marian Grey
Sybil, my darling-my own sweet
Sybilv' X %. -.
1t was only the unconscious cry of a
heart stirred into renewed tenderness;
but, as if his words had magic power
over her, a white form glided through
the n:ists, and Sybil herself, or her dis
! In1 I'D nil Inf n ~
! Tor moment Herbert Give, sound
! minded and practical as he was,
thought he looked upon some unearthly
vision; for, yelled and shrouded in
garments Of clinging white, with her
/ pure face wearing a look Of dread des-
! pair, and her eyes fixed in a gaze of
stony uncCnsciousness, she passed him,
like the wrath Of her living, breathing
self, and glided on, with outstretched
arms, to the silent, sleeping river. 81.
Then suddenly, as if aroused by a
lightning flash from q dream, Her
bert's sober senses awoke, and, with a
low, startled cry Of 3 ybil!,' he caught
I the girls arm even as she poised her
. self for a spring into the waves.
NaSybil! Sybil are you mad or dream,
ing /? God in hea ven, what is 1t you
would dc? .5.f. M ,= 5s5:
She gave one Wild terrified glance
into his face, and then sank, covering
and trembling on the sands at his feet.
feet.
Z Oh here p she VIII ispered, brokeniy
4 you you? Then there must, indeed,
be God who watches all gXs
Yhat is III you would d? he re
4 peated. sternly, for the mighty love
!. swelling in his heart made him her
/ censor now. ~ ere you; seeking death,
ssybil II