The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-12-04
CHAPTER XXI.

Cf1At' Eli AA1.
1t was four o'clock in the afternoon,
and | was standing at the mouth Of
Wsrren's cave, afraid to enter. For
there, on the bed of dry ferns, just Wis
ible in the Semi-darkneSS, | could dis
Germ an ominous bundle-the outline
of a woman's form. All day | had
wandered about the grounds, endeav-
oring to obtain some trace of the lost
nurse. My people, /. e., those outside
the Enclosure, had seen nothing of
her, but those inside were unanimous
in their belief that she had gone to
Manly, some said by the road, in the
early morning, and some believed that
with her strange Omnipotence she
had obtained the use of a boat and
been taken away. The only actual ev-
idence of her movements was obtain
ed from the grave-digger; he had seen
her walking right away toward the
Heads. Though it might be that she
had intended to throw any one that
was watching her off the scent, | de-
cided to start in that direction. |
had no doubt in my own mind that
she had destroyed herself, but eXper-
fence taught me that no woman di as
by her own hand without leaving
traces behind. If a man browns him
self his hat is found floating down
stream; woman's will be carefully
hidden in a recess of the bank, out
of the winds way, with the strings
and her gloves neatly rolled up and
packed inside. Twas some such evil
dence as this l was hunting for, but
from rock to rock, from cliff to cliff
| clambered without finding a trace of
her. | had been searching the coast
from the extreme point Of the Heads
right around, missing neither cave nor
promontory, for two hours, when sud
denly | found myself upon my fiat
rock, with my bath in the center.
sat down to rest myself upon the
very stone behind which | had hidden
that morning when Warren's cave
first became known to me. AS
looked along the rough outline of the
hill above, over which | had watched
the moving head of Mrs. Warren, and
so learned her husbands hiding place,
suddenly the thought struck me
Warren's cave. Was it possible that
she had chosen that as her last rest
ing place? An indescribable horror
of that place, and yet an irresistible
fascination for it, seized me. There
was no longer any hope of saving her;
if she had sought death she was long
since dead; however, | must see; and
so waking up the remnants of my
courage, l started, with my heart now
throbbing against my ribs and now
motionless, to Chamber up the face of
the cliff.
And there she lay like a child
asleep, with her head upon her out
stretched arm and without a muscle
distorted; for it was opium she had
taken-taken long hours since-and
the empty bottle was beside her. A
book had fallen from the other hand;
it was copy of Browning. that l had
given her years ago (when Browning
was my mania); it was open at BE
fore and After" the poem from which
she had quoted in her last letter to
me, only now it was after" that had
been last read. had to kneel to get
the light on the book. And so, close
down to her, and now without dread
of her, or of death, /, too. read 'Af
ter" and If you change word or two
was anything more fit and appropri-
ate? Was ever poem more applicable?
Take the cloak from his face and at
first
Let the corpse do its worst!
How he lies in his rights of a man,
Death hath done all death can,
And absorbed in the new life he leads,
He recks not, he heeds
Nor his wrong nor my vengeance;
both strike
On his senses alike,
And are lost in the solemn and strange
Surprise of the change.
"Ha! What avails death to erase
His offense, my disgrace?
| would we were boys as of old,
In the fields by the fold
His courage. Gods patience, mans
scorn,
Were so easily borne.
81 stand here now, he lies in his place,
Cover the face"
| did not cover the face; for now,
robbed of it's wickedness and its ca
pactiy for wickedness, clothed with
calm, restful peacefulness, it was
very beautiful to look upon, now, and
only now, could | realize what this wo-
man was with her devils cast out.
The reader will, perhaps, think II
strange that, as sat there, no thought
crossed my mind of the trouble this
woman lying dead at my side had
caused me.
e. L. ALL