The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-02-15
The T hiding Of
! Sheila's Soul.
0'0'e'@-.o.9.00.Nos.e.o.e.4

lie saw her first on the brow of the hill
standing in the sunset there, on the sky
line. her hair yellow as ripe corn in the
brilliant evening light. while he was still
IN the shadow of the wood. All was Quiet
save for the soft sounds which rose from
the strings Of the violin she held pressed
against her chin. Nature herself seemed
listening To the strain. Two wood doves
were perchcd upon bough above her
head. their breasts matching the hue of
the fartheSt Cloud; the rabbits close to
her were unafraid; the very sun seemed
TO linger, unwilling to lose the gentle
harmony. Then, as if tired with its wait
ing, 1t fell suddenly behind the hill; the
clouds turned from silver to gold and
from gold TO gray; the shadow of the
wood spread till il touched her feet And
then she ceased playing, the pigeons flew
away. and he stepped forward on to the
heather by her side. When She saw him.
she smiled, changing as she did so from
the fairy player in a fairy wood to a girl
attractive and conscious of her charm
She picked up the hat that lay beside her
on the ground, and after the common
places of greeting had been exchanged
they went down together to HE house b.
low. And then, during dinner. she show
Cd him another side Of her nature still
like a miScEievouS child. proud of lis
power TO torment, told her father with
glcc Of his surprise mt finding this mad
musician on the hill-aud when i'm the
evening he asked her to play gave him
nothin" but airs which seemed to laugh.
too. at his discontinue, for Ronald Gre
vile WAS both aStoni~hcd and discounted.
When after Tpuplfpl iuvttoti4nS Lr haI
ut IaS' proposed hihScH fer a visit tn
inc man VINO during l'IS ll'ona!d'S uni
NerSl'! Gays nAd he'n known us the mn
s'cal aoH az oAlofd' me TACT that ms Old
Lfl'ha was NOT only Wld"Wer but had Il
dauEH'er' hdd almost shipped ms memory.
Ana now II was certainty something OF Il
ShocA to ma TINS gIrl, drought up in the
DOGS OF ireland. rs he PIT 1t 70 himself.
not only possessed Of rare beauty and
rarcr GIFTS. nut also of perfect social CON
huehce ana Il humorous perception of ms
own surprise. lie said something If her
talent 70 her father when she had gone to
bed wv ny, | don't know much about
music myself but do know that | never
heard anything IN my life that gave me
such intense pleasure to listen to. She is
genius. sir. She would be famous Whcr-
WV 'H'i' w -Ati'l 'LiV lNllttilN A'INi me
she ana not remember what she had been
playing; that she was only stunning. y
All. yes, Grevliic,' Mr.. O'Neill an
swcred, "it is all true enough what YOU
say up TO certain point. When Shcla
is playing there out Of doors, when she is
alone with the nature she loves, giving
out music like the song of the birds or the
whisper OF the wind among the trees.
there is no one like her. But bring her
indoors. give her some human emotion to
interpret, some human longing to express.
and it is failure, Just failure
As the days of his visit wore on he saw
how true his hosts words We're Shcila
was Ike sunbeam about the place. as
bright and as careless. The oldest and
grumpiest of the villagers would cheer
up at her approach. the crossest of the
farm dogs Wa%ged their tails as she drew
near, the wild animals were tame with
her and the tame followed her as her
shadow. 1t had been so, her father said,
from her bahyhood, linen when some
boys from the garrison ut the neighbor-
ing town came over, as they often did to
spend the day at Cloncllon it was clear
that she could twist them, too, as the
saying goes. round her little finger And
yet all the while she seemed not to care
very much for her power, TO have very
little love for all those people who loved
her so well She laughed and talked with
all alike and seemed happest when alone
with her dog and her violin on some quiet
hillside, for her music she really loved.
ana though sometimes she would throw
down her instrument like child in a
rage declaring that as she could not play
what she wished she would never touch
1t again. i've minutes later she would be
playing her veNatlon away by bright
melody or some grooming Irish lullaby.
ANA II was III those latter softer moods
mat GrevlIle liked her best lie felt
nearer to her then, and 1t was in one OF
them the day he had to rejoin his rcgi-
ment at the Curragh that he found cour-
age to tell her his whole mind. "You
nave seen me every day. practically all
Day Tor the last four weeks. Miss Shcia.
he said. GU must have seen what my
feelings are for you, although il has
pleased you to play at ignorance, and
Won nave had plenty of time to show me
that you ana not want my love if that
was So 10 Keep me like this may be
PHEASANT 10 you, hU' cannot stand II any
Longer am not going TO waste my life
IKE some oil these boys see. You know
mat want to give you the best thing,
however bad 1t may be, that have to of
Ter. " III you take Y or notE II not, this
must be goocby.
ii was NOT IKE. most lovemaklng' which