Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1900-06-07
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Or Under a Spell.
. . . .
CHAPTER xxv-(Continued. :


There might have been some trace of
Sybil discovered if he had waited
longer. His father would take no in
terest in the search, how that he han
gone Indeed. had he not said that
the matter must be dropped entirely
He had hurried away. at a moments
bidding, like thoughtless. unreason-
ing child and left his love, his darling
lying in nameless. bloody grave, un.
noticed. unavenged!
Oh. he had been mad-weak AS we'll
as mad-to let his fathers stern preju-
dices of caste influence him at such a
time. Sybil. his beautiful. gentle, sor-
rowful Sybil-ah it had been surely Il
prophetic shadow that had warned her
from. his side. presentiment of evil
that made her shrink from visiting his
Lome-that home within whose fatal
borders she had found a cruel death!
Everything spoke of her to his tor
tured memory. The pale moonlight
seemed to typify her delicate beauty;
the foaming waves recalled the first
night of their meeting, when they had
stood together on the steamers deck
that was carving her forward to her
doom.
How strange had been her smile
W hen sine spoke of the stern Fate
guiding our life barques. How signif-
icant her words seemed now! Truly.
truly the spell that had led him to
her side had been fatal one-truly.
love had been her doom!
He lit his cigar and began to pace
the deck restlessly. 1t was deserted
now. save by an officer ever and anon
of duty. and then as swiftly disap-
1cariEg again. The ladies' cabin was
lust bereatl, him, and as he reached
the stern of the vessel. strain Of soft
music. floating through one of the open
windows chained him to the spot. So
low and sweet was the strain, that it
seemed as if the hidden singer We're
breathing it to herself alone:
I'll bind thee with a charm, my
love.
I'll seal thee with spell,
That thou shalt love me more than
Shalt love me more than well!
for all my dover is magic power
\ power | dare not tell
still his own hcart-beats to hear That
song SYPHILIS song-and oh. heaven.
surely, it was SYPHILIS voice. weak and
low. as if it struggled from unspeak-
able distance. vet still SYPHILIS voice!
"Tha4 spell shall bind thee fast. my
love,
But life shall pass in tender dreams,
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Dream ed only for my sake.
In che brief hour WELD a power
That Death alone can break
The strain died away again into 81
fence. and Herbert Give lifted his face,
white with a strange. solemn awe.
1t was Svbil who sang-Sybil! This
was no dream. unlcSs-unlesS he were
going mad. 1t was SYPHILIS voice. SYPHILIS
song-the song that was in1elibly writ
ten on his heart-the song that had at
first charmed him.
The mystery that had Swallowed her
life and darkened her death was
around her STILL What power had she
to cross the portals of the spirit land
that was denied all others? Had she.
indeed. been being of different mould
from the mortals around her? Had he
loved no mortal woman. but visitant
from another sphere?
And as if in confirmation of the wild
idea. her last words drifted back to
him:
"Think of me as speaking from an
other world when l say to you that
might, but for the gulf that divides us.
have found earth's sweetest happiness
ut your side
To Herbert's morbid. excited fancy
no thought seemed too strange and i'm
probable. The common-sense philoso-
nhy of everyday life had no voice in
the turmoil Of his heated, tortured
mind
A beautiful Danish tale he had read
in boyhood REQUIRED to him, of a mer-
maiden who left her ocean LONE, ana
lived life of pain and sorrow, to win
mortals' love and mortals' hope.
Had there not always been some
thing strange and unreal about Sybil,
some subtle fascination that either
drew or repealed all with whom she
came in contact? And how unnatural
had been her sadness. her silence, ner
strange, morbid reserve!
Herbert paced the deck hour after
hour, and yet no solution of the PROB
lem was reached. 1t was SYPHILIS voice
and SYPHILIS song that had reached his
ears-he could tell no more.
But the morning light gives differ
ent shape to our midnight fancies. A
few hours of sleep, brought on by utter
WEAKNESS. refreshed Herbert in spite
of himself. and. after his matutinal
cup of coffee, he was prepared to look
upon his nocturnal experience by the
sober light of day.
His first step (as little knowledge
could be cleaned from his fellow pas
sengers otherwise) was to look over
the passenger register and see what
ladies' names were entered as his COM
panions on the voyage.
None in the long list were familiar to
him: but two singularly attracted his
attention. perhaps from the hand-writ-
ing, which, bold and irregular as it
was. he had vague idea he had seen
somewhere before.
Serawled upon the top of the page. in
a mans careless hand. were the names
of Miss Marie Laponte and her attend
ant. Madame Gillette.
!. 4 e. f. M