Evening star., 1900-12-15
OVER A CLIFF TO LOVE.

| OVER CLIFF TO LOVE.
| A "LOver's Leap the Coast of
Maine That Has Story.
ooh, yes" smiled fair married woman
of forty in response to an inquiry, there
is story goes with my marrying the doc
tor, and 1 always like to tell it. 1 think,
maybe, 1t may prove a lesson to other
young girls who are thoughtless, and In
any event 1 like to tell 1t because it is the
story of my conversion from frivolity and
coquetry. / was twenty that year, very
pretty, so the men all told me, very much
fattered and an arrant f1irt. My husband
that is a successful young physician.
and he was so much in love with me that
l simply treated him as l pleased and had
no fear of losing him. You know, men
are that way when they are really in love,
and any girl may know it if she will stop
| long enough to see for herself Most girls
| do 1 think. l know l did, and the more
| desperately Harry made love to me the
more l put him off and made him miser-
able. In July he had gone to wild place
| on the Maine coast for a months vacation,
| and my parents Joined his there two weeks
| later. 1t was a romantic spot, great cliffs
| rising sheer out of the sea- straight up as
walls and with huge black rocks at their
| base over which the beat and roared
| and dashed in showers of spray. The
morning after our arrival Harry took me
| out in a boat to show me the cltfrS, and he
| told me, as we sat rocking on the waves,
| gazing upward at the beetling crags. of an
| Indian who was said to have leaped from
| their summit into the sea because of un-
requited love. I laughed at the story,
| though the ugly cruel cliffs, with the sharp
| black rocks at their foot. did make me
have the shivers and fill me with kind Of
| nightmare. That night Harry proposed to
| me- which was the first time, though he
| had been making love to me for at least
| two years, and L told him l couldn't an
swer him then but would later. The next
| day We went up to the top of the cliffs
where he said there was a fine view, and
| it was an easy walk from the land side
| We sat down to rest at the summit, which
| he told me was four hundred feet above
| the sea, but | did not dare go near the
| edge. You know how giddy it makes some
| people to look down from high point?
| | suppose we We're about the width of the
| street from the edge. and we had not been
| seated five minutes until Harry began to
! beg me for a final answer. He said life
was nothing to him without me, and he was
| SO handsome and gentle and his eyes were
| so deep and his voice so true and his face
| so pleading that was persuaded there was
no other such man in all the world, and |
! loved him with my whole heart, but the
| young are ever cruel and thoughtless, and
| instead of telling him what 1 thought L
| laughed at him and said 1t was absurd to
| talk of my marrying him. | said a whole
| lot of other things, not meaning them, of
| course, but just because | loved to see him
| suffer and had the power to infiict the suf
| fering. He stood up before me as some
| noble slave Of old before his captor and
| looked toward the cliff.
The Indian did It, he said, and he suf
fered no more than I do
| "'Lo. the poor Indian, whose untutored
| mind quoted aggravatingly.
" But not untutored heart he answered,
and threw aside his coat as if to make
| ready for his leap.
Il laughed again and dared him to try
| and before T cOuId we'll think what had
happened he had run straight to the edge
and a with wild scream that I shall
never, never forget, he leaped over and dis
| appeared. For an instant I sat stunned,
| and then the dreadful truth that 1 had
| killed him fell on me like a lash and 1
| sprang to my feet. From silly. frivoling
| flirting girl l changed in a second to
woman, loving. tender, true and frenzied.
I never thought of seeking aid doing
anything to save him. 1 only believed I
had killed him and there was no atone
ment but to follow him. He had gone to
his death for my sake and I could do no
more for his, and running with all might
in the little path he had followed to the
Ige, l plunged over.
"If I knew anything beyond the resolu-
ton had taken and carried out so quickly
1 was not conscious of it, and when 1 did
| regain my senses 1 was lying with my head
in Harrys lap and he was bathing my face
in cold water and calling me by all the en-
dearing names known to lovers. For a
moment 1 thought we had met again in
heaven, ana closed my eyes IN Sucn per-
feet happiness and content as | had never
known, and then he dashed handful of
water in my face and l gasped and half
sat up. His arms were around me in
minute and 1 namely asked, Where am +"
just recovering people almost always
do. and he laughed a little bit of laugh,
like the song of bird, it so glad. In
a very short time l was able to get on my
feet and when I stood up and looked
around l saw that instead Of the cliff going
sheer down at that point there was shelf
quite wide, about four feet below the edge
and this 1 had dropped, Harry had,
only he knew 1t was there and I did not
and he fooling me, while I was in
real earnest. Some girls. or women, even,
might have resented a bit Of deceit like
that, and that was my first impulse, but
such change had been wrought in me
by that moment Of agony as I saw
Harry disappear that I could only be glad
he was safe and I with him. I
wouldn't even listen to his blame Of him.
self for giving me such shock. for it had
brought me to my senses, and only a des-
perate remedy could have done that.
was not quite myself for month after
ward, but we told no one Of our adventure,
and Harry extended his vacation until
had thoroughly recovered, and then we an
nounced our engagement. There, that Is
the story, and there comes Harry now
with our three boys, and the oldest ones
name Is Cliff, just plain Cliff, and not
Clifford as YOU might Supnose If Won didn't