Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-04-02

1 would have been removed there by the
| time she landed in England. SO one hot
August night. as he paced 10 and fro
! along the terrace. he was not surprised
! TO hear the sound of wheels. and TO see a
carriage driving rapidly along the avenue.
/ Now that the moment he had dreaded so
! long was here close at hand, a stony
I calmness seemed to settle on his heart
! The dusk had fallen, a light wind blew
! some over-ripe rose leaves along the ter
race, and their scent seemed TO touch
him, and bring back a vision OF little
mound in a quiet churchyard, where write
! blossoms lay heaped in fragrant pile.
As the memory came back to him with
something Of beauty and solemnity, like a
low, hushed strain Of music falling across
the discord and sorrowfulness of life, the
carriage stopped. some one sprang out,
and in the deepening twilight they two
stood face to face.
Il have travelled night and day." she
said, and the voice had so worn and
weary a sound that it hurt him even more
than the look upon her face. How ara
they?"
For an instant he was silent. How hard
words are to find when they can only
speak desolation, suffering. death!
Perhaps the silence answered her. or
the look upon his face, or that indescriba-
BILE instinct which flies straight to the
heart and realizes grief by signs too
slight and unceo in for explanation.
For an instant Ivors arm went out to
catch the slender figure that reeled and
swayed like a sapling in storm, but al
most as he touched her, she seemed to
recover. stood upright. faced him with
wide and stony eyes,
TOO late" she mOaned. II knew it.
Oh, why did | ever leave them?'
He thought to see her weep, or sob, or
faint; but, no. She only stood there, dry
eyed, white as marble-an image of de-
spair more terrible than ever his fancy
had dared to paint. The sight of her
face. the memory of this scene stood out
in sharp outline to his mental vision, and
then her voice smote him with a fresh
sense of pain:
Take me in; want to be aloner'
He led her into the great hall, and to
the room prepared for her, and there left
her with one stifed entreaty:
God bless you, and help you to bear
it."
He saw her throw herself on her knees
by the bed, and bury her face on her
arms, while all the rich glory Of her hair
fell around her like cloud.
Then the door closed; all was silence
Some hearts bleed inwardly, and the
wounds are the harder to stanch.
1t all seemed an awful dream to her
now. The hurried preparations, the voy-
age. the GROWING agony of the news for
which she had been preparing herself
And now all was over. Life was a blank
-an emptiness.
Never again would she feel those warm
arms around her neck and the childish
kisses on her lips, or hear the sTeat bab-
Bile that had made up the richest music
of her life. Never again would she watch
that wondrous light dawning ia her darl-
ing's eyes, the light that deepened and
intensified with each new discovery Of
the wonders Of life, as day by day it
unrolled itself to their wondering gaze
The house was horribly still the room
was chill and sad. She rose in a dazed
sort of way TO her feet. and mechanically
wound up her long hair. and then opened
the door and looked out,
iYor was pacing up and down the corri-
wv lit A4du htNtE tELt II lHtSG ANESe
long, weary hours.
He approached. and she looked up at
the kin lily face with her dazed aud sor-
rowful e.es-looked up-then, suddenly,
something in their soft compassion and
wordless sympathy seemed to pierce
through he mists that clouded reason
and obsct red thought. She stretched out
her hands:
Tell .ne ALL" she cried; II can bear
ii now"
And the ice melted, and the tears rush
ed to her eyes, as that gentle, manly
voice told her the simple pathetic words
that had been little Jacks message to
mummy"
Me will 90 and meet her." the child
had said. and then dropped off into his
last, final sleep.
Perhaps that saved her reason and her
life.