The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-02-23
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CHAPTER xXv-(Cont1nued. :

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CHAPTER XXV-(C0nt1nued
He had left too soon, too soon
There might have been some trace Of
SKbil discovered If he had waited
longer. His father would take no in
terest in the search, now that he hao
gone. Indeed, had he not said thai
che matter must be dropped entirely
He had hurried away, at moments
sng child and left his love, his darling
ayiRg IN naneless, bloody grave, I'm.
aettced, unavenged! . z'E% ..5# s&z
Oh. he had been mad-weak as well
as mad-to let his fathers stern preju-
-dfces of caste influence him at such q
time! Sybil, his beautiful, gentle, sor-
gowful Sybil-ah it had been surely a
prophetic shadow that had warned her
from his side, .presentiment of evil
that made her shrink from visiting his
home-that home within whose fatal
= borders she had found cruel death!
Everything spoke Of her to his tor
Gured memory. The pale moonlight
seemed to typify her delicate beauty;
the foaming waves recalled the first
might Of their meeting, when they had
stood together on the steamers deck
that was carrying her forward to her
doom. 8, ~ ''T
How strange had been her smile
when she spoke of the stern Fate
guiding our life barques! How signif-
'~1caRt her words seemed now! Truly,
truly, the spell that had led him to
sher side had been a fatal one-truly.
dove 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
moving silently across it on his round
'oc duty, and, then as swiftly disap-
tpeariEg again. The ladies' cabin was
Just beneath him, and as he reached
the stern of the vessel, a strain Of soft
music, floating through one Of the open
windows chained him to the spot. So
E0w and sweet was the strain, that it
seemed as if the hidden singer We're
breathing it to herself alone:
SsL'u bind thee with charm. my
love-
Eli seal thee with a spell,
That thou shalt love me more than
Shalt love me more than well!
For all my dover is magic power
4 power I dare not tell" T.
Herbert Give listened az If he would
still his own heart-beats to hear. That
Gong-sybil's song-and, oh, heaven!
surely, it was SYPHILIS voice, weak and
low. as if it struggled from unspeak-
able distance, yet still SYPHILIS voice!
THAT spell shall bind thee fast, tSn nv
love.
Gut life shall pass in tender dreams,
And thou shalt ne'er awake;
Dream ed only for my sake,
I'm one brief hour WELD 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.
Ii was Sybil who sang-Sybil! This
was no dream. unless-unless he were
going mad. 1t was SYPHILIS voice, SYPHILIS
gong-the song that was indelibly writ
ten ON his heart-the song that had at
arst 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
chat was denied all others? Had she,
indeed. been a being Of different mould
from the mortals around her? Had he
loved no mortal woman, but a visitant
from another sphere?
And as if in confirmation Of the wild
idea. her last words drifted back to
shim:
''Think Of me as speaking from an
other world when | say to you that
might, but for the gulf that divides us,
EfN Zee hon
sat your side"
To Herbert's morbid, excited fancy
> no thought seemed too strange and i'm
probable The common-sense philoso
Dhy of everyday life, had no voice in
che turmoil Of his heated. tortured
~aRind ~
A beautiful Danish tale he had read
I'm boyhood REQUIRED to him, of a mer-
maiden who left her ocean home, and
lived life of pain and sorrow, to win
Eyportals' love and mortals' hope.
Had there not alwa"s been some
ching strange and unreal about Sybil,
.89gne subtle fascination that either
drew Or repealed all with whom she
came in contact? And how unna tural
had been her sadness. her silence, her
strange, morbid reserve! 49, ~ i
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 a 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. @5S $s6
His first step las little knowledge
.Guid 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
UaniGns on the voyage.
None in the long list were familiar to
hfna; but two singularly attracted his
attention, perhaps from the hand writ
ang, which, bold and Irregular as it
was. he had a vague idea he had seen
somewhere before.
Scrawled upon the top of the page, in
q mans careless hand. were the names
OF Miss Marie Laponte and her attend
amt. Madame Gillette. <e2.@ss