The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1902-01-31
VIE steamer had already
started when / first .aw her.
La ,rnn N Loudly Innn lnN- and

ITeSCOeu mere uuu ih'i' WV" 1900
fantastic pearly clouds. like hocks OF
vagrant swans.
There were not many passengers and
none of them / knew
But all seemd as gay as the weather
all save her. She sat on deck, hav'
ing chosen one Of the rear wooden
seats.
Her dress was very simple; some
times white cleaned at her throat, ara
browns and blacks vested her slender
frame.
She might have been five and TWEEN
ty, but you had TO scan well the wan
delicacy Of her face before you quite
decided that suffering alone must have
made her seem older.
Both dark -gloved hands rested in her
lap. She appeared perfectly needless
of everything about her.
She had the most beautiful eyes
have ever seen--large and gray and
fathomless; they glorified her face,
and they were infinitely pcnsiye.
1t shot through my mind: How
many tears they must have wept! They
looked straight ahead, too, plainly see
ing nothing of the jocund and scin-
fillant sea that fronted them.
wondered if other people would no
tice their hopeless and helpless gaze,
Unconsciously and with simplicity
that pierced my soul, she appealed to
me In terms Of absolute despair.
Every line of her figure, too, ac-
corded, by some mysterious sympathy,
with this rapid impression of her
wretchedness.
Till nightfall she sat there, immov-
able. The faultless weather continued.
There was no moon, hut the starlight
shone almost vivid enough to mimic
one, and i kept getting gllmpsts of her
fixed. colorless face, which now
haunted me more and more.
Often since that night | have been
at sea, and never do | hear the peculiar
harmonious kissing ana rushing sound
which vessel gives when ii sails
through placid stretches of ocean, with
out memories of those desolatcd fca-
lures, that plaintless yet woe begono
air.
Meanwhile / had got to know a Ger.
tain table companion, and had told him
of how this lady's evident misery had
touched me. He was Frcnchman,
who gave his name as Guijean, dap
per little person. with horid checks,
big curvilinear mustachcs ana teeth
sparkling white.
He spoke English with great fluency
and l could readily believe him when
he informed me that he had mastered
several other tongues.
'She is evidently most unhappy
woman" he had told me, after having
glanced, during the afternoon, at this
forlorn object of my sudden and acute
sympathy.
Something in his tone made me start
and clasp his arm. felt certain, just
from his few words, that she was now
the object of his sympathy, no less
than mine.
In a rich, intuitive fash. felt NOR,
that he, whoever he was, had ma
ture amply receptive to compassion
IL have crossed before on this line,
he said. after the tragic stranger, who
had equally concerned us both, had de
parted from her shadowy lodge below
the huge smokestacks and their con
comitant masses of iron equipment
and while the bland marine June stars
seemed to drop lower like mellowins
fruit from invisible boughs. Frankly
l have grown TO dislike our captain
very much he is man OF hard, harsl
disposition he is capable of crue
acts
IL know that on this same ship Ia
has committed several which hav,
made him unpopular both among hi
fellow officials and the common sailor
besides. But the second officer. MI
Gladwyn, is of widely diffcrcn
type. OF him | will make certain In
quiries and join you later"
And later, that same evening. Mon
sieur Guijean did join me. in the smob
ing room.
"Gladwyn tells me-" he said. "tha
she has registered simply as a Mr.,
Verschoyl. She has cabin all to her
self, and neither he nor any one els
knows the faintest item concernn
her AS we have observed. she has nC
yet appeared I'm the dining room. IN
since her retirement into lower qua
ters, she has given no order whatev,
to any Of the servants"
This information reached me /;
about o'clock.
Before 10. while | sat with n nov,
IN one of the upper saloons. Guijea
appeared at my side. all his galliar
jauntiness had gone: he still locke
like the Frenchman he was. and v
like that most mounrnful OF things.
Frenchman who has lost his gayety.
ut is terrible" he stammered. lea
ing down and brushing my cheek wi
one still curve of his mustache. IL
you-can you-dream what that DO
woman has done TO herselfT"
l rose. / can now hear the SO
rattling thud Of my novel as It (,
upon the floor.
"Not--suicideT
"Nes. Cyanide Of potassium. s
must have rung for the stewarde
just before she drank II. They fou
her dead. and the bottle-a dose to K
an ox-was clutched In one hand"
I felt my blood freeze.
1T was In her face" I falter,