Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-05-04
CHAPTER xxx.

The sullen, gray ligth of dull
November sky fell over land and sea.
The great hill that lay between the
wide woodlands and Southwood
looked brown and arid. The tide was
high, and the huge waves doomed at
the foot of the rocks. 1t was a chill,
uncomfortable evening, with a cold
wind blowing, the clouds falling
lower and lower and threatening
rain, mist spreading from sea 10
land, clingin., TO the trees and hedges,
and lying like soft clouds on the
grass. There was no sound of a
birds song, no glimpse of a flower
Even the pretty little town of South
wood looked dull and gloomy. All
around 1t was still and silent except
| for the sullen roar of the waves and
the wailing of the wind. All the
sweet summer sounds and scents
were dead; autumn reigned supreme.
/ Inside Martin Rays cottage the
scene was even more dreary than
without. There is no room so sad as
that in which a man has lain day
after day, week after week, dying.
When there is any hope in the
nursing, it is not so dreary. There
I is the prospect of a pleasant ter
minat.on; there is the looking for
ward to a time when all the para
phernalia of medicine will be done
away with. But in this case there
was not such hope. The long illness
must end in death, and death was
long in coming. II seemed at times
as though nothing but the fierceness
OF hate kept life in Martin Ray; all
that ne had jisliked, scorned, de-
nounced in his youth and his
strength, was more odious than ever
to him now. More than once his
doctor, looking at the stern, vinjic-
I tive face. said TO himself
ct is strong feeling that keeps him
alive"
That Hettie was = model nurse, as
she had always been a model daugh-
ter, surprised no one. She never
seemed TO think of herself; she
scarcely slept or rested, for the
dying man was afraid 10 be left
alone.
you must never leave me, Hettie,"
he said TO her one day. while you
are in the room some of my old
thoughts of the angels come to me;
the moment you go have horrible
fancy"
What Is ftp" she asked, touching
the gray hair with her white fingers.
when you leave the room, it fills
with huge black dogs, their flaming
eyes all fixed on me. l know it is
fancy, because they only bark. They
never touch me-"
She could only bend over him in
loving pity, and murmur sweet
words OF comfort
II was a terrible death-bed to
Hettie. II would have been terrible
TO any girl, but IL was more so to
her, for she was so sensitive, so
spiritual, and the man dying there so
sadly the reverse. She never forgot
those long night-watches. II was
horrible TO turn from the lines OF
light that lay upon the sea to the
gray head tossing and turning on the
pillow, to the palhd lips whose utter
ances were at times so terrible.
One night Martin called her to
him.
I Send for Leah" he said; 81
cursed her, and I cannot die"
He knew nothing of the beauty of
patience, Of the value of suffering;
all that he knew was that his time
was come, and yet he could not die.
The doctor had wondered at his
prolonged life; and once-ah! would
Hettie ever forget that terrible day?
the kind-hearted rector of South
wood had made HIS way to the sick
mans room. Hettie never knew all
that passed; but, when he was leav-
ing the house, the good clergyman,
with a shocked, Mortified expression
on his face, said,-
pray for your father. He wants
all the mercy Heaven can give him.
! II is nothing but hatred that keeps
him alive"
Il was a lonely and terrible task,
nursing that stern, cynical man.
Hettie grew paler and thinner every
day. Deep in her heart lay the secret
of her lost love. She had put it out
lof sight; there would be time enough
when her father was gone. Her mind
10 think of it. and mourn over il,
and thoughts were so much en-
crossed with him that she did not
dwell, as she would otherwise have
done, on the fact that Leah would
soon be with her-Leah, whom she
had seen last in all the splendor On
her magniicence.
The bleak November evening wore
on, the gray head and the white face
turned restleesly TO and fro.
"Hettie, is she come yet" was the
hoarse cry from Martins lips. Your
sister deserted me, and I cursed her,
and I want to take the curse away
| from her"
The devoted daughter who had been
so true and faithful TO him, who had